《FAMILY ABOVE ALL: BATTLING AGAINST GODS》


 CHAPTER 1: FAMILY BEFORE ALL

    [Arlo''s POV]


    As I gazed at the broad back of the man before me, all I could see was a pillar that could lift the world even if it falls.


    He turned his head and looked at me with his light silver eyes as his silver hair waved in the air while the wind lightly blew.


    "Arlo, what should a man desire most in life?" He threw at me out of nowhere.


    "Power?" I answered, not sure of my response.


    Seeing him not respond as his eyes remained fixed on me, I thought of his bad habit that Mum wasn''t aware of and lightly replied.


    "Women?"


    "Hahaha," He laughed loudly. "You little pervert. You are just 7 years old, yet you are already setting your sights on women."


    "Don''t compare me to you," I grumbled lightly to myself.


    He ceased his laughter and cautioned me, "Arlo, my son, strive for power, money, and riches, but always prioritize family. What is the use of power if you are alone in the end? What is the use of riches if you don''t have those to share them with? However, if you place your family first, then the power you will get to protect them and riches, you will have to make them happy."


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    Seeing the air that screams regality that he was letting off as if what he said was the rule, I couldn''t help but blurt out, "But I see the way you look at Big Sis Anna every time we pass by her shop. Especially the way your eyes always get fixed on her chest, as if there is some sort of magnet there¡­"


    *Cough! Cough!* He coughed heavily as he looked at me in horror.


    But before he could say a thing, a woman with glistening golden hair and a veil covering her face walked up to us, carrying a food basket in her arms. I ran to her side and said with an innocent baby face, "Mum."


    She looked down at me and caressed my hair lovingly as she said, "My little Arl." She gave me a light peck on the head and then walked to my dad.


    "Are you okay? Why were you coughing?"


    "Oh!" I exclaimed before he could reply. I continued with an innocent and somewhat mischievous face, "I told Dad I see the way he looks¡­."


    "Hahaha," He laughed boisterously and freely as he took the basket from Mum''s hand and pulled her into an embrace with his other hand. "Our little Arl is asking about how we met and got together, after all, the way I look at you lovingly puts to shame the way other men look at their wives."


    "Huh!" surprised, and yet even though I couldn''t see Mum''s face, I could tell she was happy. So I just let it be.


    "Come, come," he said to me as he lightly set Mum down while they sat on the ground together. I looked at him with contempt as I walked closer to the two.


    I could not help but sigh as I thought, ''This is going to be a long story.''


    *****


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 CHAPTER 2: MEETING OF A LIFETIME I -TOURNAMENT BEGINS

    [PAST]


    The world of Goldsborn is a world of magic. It is called Goldsborn because the kingdom of Goldsborn is the one that rules over all other lands and kingdoms.


    In this world, everyone is born with a magical element from birth, be it commoners, noble classes, or royalties. Although there have been cases of people born with two magical elements in the Legends, the probability of that happening now is¡­negligible.


    The kingdom of Goldsborn was founded and ruled to date by the family of ''Goldsborn''.


    Today, the capital of the kingdom is bustling and filled with activities in preparation for a special event that will be taking place tomorrow morning.


    The entrance gate was packed full as one could see a procession of people on magical beasts, noble classes either with their children to take part in the event or simply to watch the show. Of course, there are also commoners either moving in groups or alone.


    But something to note is that the faces of those who passed the entrance, regardless of their class, were always filled with stupor and awe.


    Why? It was because of what lay in front of them.


    The capital of the kingdom of Goldsborn is surrounded by a magical barrier that acts as a defense and also a screen to prevent those outside from seeing what is within.


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    So aside from the tall walls that surround the capital and the large entrance gate, nothing else could be seen.


    But when one enters, they would see an entirely different world. Gold! That''s the only word that comes to mind.


    The outer walls of the buildings are painted with gold and the buildings are built in such a way that from the entrance taken as part of a large circle, the further inward you go, the taller and larger the golden buildings until you arrive at the very center where a magnificent and tall golden castle that seems to want to touch the sky could be seen.


    ¡­..


    In the golden castle


    On the balcony of the fourth floor, a young girl who seems to be no more than 12 years old with a light green veil covering her face could be seen. As she gazed at the shining kingdom, she could not help but have various thoughts.


    A maid appeared behind her, bowed, and said "Princess, the King said to be ready and prepared for tomorrow''s event and he won''t tolerate any form of disobedience". Seeing that the princess gave no reply, the maid bowed again and excused herself.


    ''Sigh''. Since I refused all the princes that came for my hand in marriage with the excuse of them being weak, you then make a tournament for the youths less than 15 years old with the reward being my hand in marriage?


    ''Sigh, I can''t help but feel like I have no say in my life''.


    My eyes hardened as I thought to myself, ''Well I just have to do what I do best and teach tomorrow''s winner a lesson then he will scram by himself''. I could not help but feel better with a smug smile on my face, ''No one tells this princess what to do, not even the King!''.


    What she or any other person didn''t know is that the event that is going to happen the next day is going to be the spark that ignites and engulfs their world and countless other worlds in a great war, leading to the death of an unimaginable number of people, even from dominant races such as Elves, Vampires, Werewolves, Giants and the strongest race of all, the Asuras.


    It was the prelude to the Catastrophe, Lord Evil.


    *****


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 CHAPTER 3: MEETING OF A LIFETIME II - DEBUT

    Next morning.


    As ordered by the King, the tournament will be taking place in the largest coliseum of the capital ''the Coliseum of Goliath''.


    The outer walls of the coliseum were painted with gold and it was large enough to contain hundreds of thousands of people.


    The Coliseum was already packed with people with hundreds of thousands of commoners occupying the lower seats, hundreds of nobles seating on the middle seats, and very few royalties from neighboring kingdoms on the upper seats making the upper seats relatively empty.


    Even though everybody was talking to each other, the place was not noisy at all.


    The Goldsborn family was already present at the top uppermost seats with the King occupying the largest seat, the Queen to his left, and the princess to his right, both of their faces covered by a veil.


    Surrounding the trio were other top members of the Goldsborn family.


    The signature trait of the Goldsborn family is their golden hair representing their enormous talent for the element of time.


    The people in the coliseum could not help but gaze at them with fervency.


    What further increased their admiration was how the men of the Goldsborn family were dressed in golden suits and the women in golden dresses making them look like immortals.


    The king stood up and was about to give a speech when from the distance two small dark dots appeared.


    The two dark dots seemed to get larger by the second showing they were traveling at extreme speed and in a mere five seconds, two large wyverns appeared above the coliseum.


    Both wyverns were green with a wingspan of about 80m.


    One wyvern descended in the middle of the opened field of the coliseum while the other went up to an empty seat meant for royalty where it lightly landed.


    A well-built man with dark hair got off the back of the wyvern, bowed toward the king, and sat down with grace.


    The king nodded to him and looked at the center of the coliseum where a little boy stood beside the other wyvern.


    He could not help but look him up close as he thought to himself, ''So this is the dark prince rumored to have dual magic that has only ever appeared in the legends?''.


    Shaking off the miscellaneous thoughts, he opened his mouth, causing a deep voice filled with power and demanding authority to resound in the coliseum, "I welcome you all to this tournament where our young geniuses have gathered to show us their talents. The winner of this tournament will get the hand of my daughter in marriage."


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    The people quietened and looked at the King with a respectful expression on their faces.


    "Without wasting more time, let the competition begin," the king said grandly as he waved his hand before he went back to his seat.


    Seeing this, a tall man located a bit lower from the position of the Goldsborn family stood up. This man was a Duke of the kingdom. Dressed in a white coat, with auburn hair and sharp eyes, he was the one overseeing this tournament.


    "Let the combatants come out," he said deeply.


    At the right bottom side of the opened field of the coliseum, a large gate slowly rose.


    Many young boys in the tens appeared from behind the gate, and they all moved to the center of the field where the dark prince was alone, the wyvern having left.


    When all the combatants appeared at the center, gasps could be heard all around the coliseum.


    This was because, among the nearly 70 participants, a tall girl with red fiery hair and eyes could be seen.


    The situation was very odd as she was the only girl amidst the group of boys and she could not be vying for the hand of the princess¡­right?


    The said girl seemed impassive to the attention she was receiving as she simply closed her eyes waiting for the tournament to start.


    The duke could not help but shake his head dryly as the ''said girl'' was actually his daughter, the best friend of the princess. ''You really took after your mother,'' he thought.


    He cleared his throat and continued, "You all will be given a box to choose your number. You will then be grouped..."


    "Okay, okay, we know already, this that this that blah blah blah," a lazy voice echoed out followed by a lazy yawn.


    ...¡­!?


    Absolute silence.


    All heads turned to the source of the voice, which was in the middle of the field among the combatants where a young boy of 12 years was seen yawning and stretching.


    He had silver hair with vibrant silver eyes that seemed to pull the world into it.


    He was adorned in¡­rag cloths, that is right, rag cloths. A simple shirt torn at the top and back with several patches here and there and short black pants that barely reached his lower thigh.


    Worst of it all was that the pant was slightly torn at the backside showing some soft white skin.


    With a small thin stick in his mouth and a left hand in his pocket, his appearance seemed to scream¡­ BEGGAR.


    Looking in the direction the royalties were sitting, the boy''s face flashed with defiance as he spoke:


    "All my life, I have been treated as air. I had no one to lean on and could only rely on myself..."


    The Coliseum became silent as all the people present gazed at the young boy intently, wondering what he was trying to pull.


    Nevertheless, the boy seemed unaffected by the attention he was receiving as he continued, "...That was until I awakened. The acquisition of a great power changed my life and filled me with hope. However..." the boy paused once again as he shot a glare at the king.


    "It turned out my power was treated as shit. The space laws was only revered for its teleportation ability and nothing else. When I heard this, I felt my world crumble before me. It turned out that in the end I was nothing, and society had no need for me. But, I discovered that I am different." the boy clenched his hands into fists before he continued:


    "Today I will show you just how gravely wrong you are for treating a supreme law as nothing."


    "Today, I will show my parents that abandoned me and the world that shunned me that you have seen wrong."


    "Today, this daddy here will open your dog''s eyes!" He bellowed out loudly acting all cool and mighty, the thin stick almost falling from his mouth.


    Everyone opened their mouth in shock and stupor, not believing what they were seeing. The entire place was engulfed in absolute silence.


    "What? Cat got your tongues...huh?"


    *****


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 CHAPTER 4: MEETING OF A LIFETIME III – A MISERABLE LIFE

    [Arthur''s POV]


    What is a miserable life?


    My earliest memory is of my three-year-old self being abandoned on the street. How I got there, I have no recollection.


    I learned in a harsh way that to survive, you need to depend on yourself. I called out¡­ hell! I cried out for money, for food, for help...


    But who would care about a dirty little abandoned thing that stinks like shit?


    Haa.


    From a young age, my eyes were opened to reality. I knew that to survive,  I needed to shed my old skin; and let off my childish mentality, if not I would just end up dead without a corpse.


    And adapted I did!


    To survive, I had to steal. At times, I got away with it, but most times I just ended up getting beaten to near death.


    Hell! I even picked up some weird fetishes after watching the interaction of men with their women on the street at night, seeing how the ladies are touched here and there¡­


    Ah! That was the only upside of my life.


    Call me a perverted child but that is your business. I had to do everything possible to find solace in my situation.


    But everything changed completely one day in a dark alley.


    As usual, to eat, I ended up stealing from one of my best friends, though he enjoys beating me to near death whenever I get caught.


    As fate would have it this day, I ended up getting caught again. But my then eleven years old ass was used to this routine, so to me, it was nothing new.


    I opened my now swollen eyes into tiny slits as I gazed at the fat man, flashing him my blood-stained teeth that seems to convey ''You beat me. Now what? I will still end up stealing from you again''.


    As the fat man saw my expression, he brought his right hand behind him and he seemed to pull something from his pants.


    ''Huh¡­ isn''t that a knife?'' my swollen eyes opened abruptly.


    "You little punk, I am fed up with you. Do think I don''t dare to kill you?" said the fat man with an enraged face. "You seem to enjoy pain¡­ huh?"


    "Then I will let you have your fill of it before your death," he said as he conjured up fire on his left hand and placed the knife into it until it became scalding red.


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    I looked up at him with a blank face, my brain still not registering what was going on.


    As I saw him un-summon the flame, stretch out his left hand to my face, and open my left swollen eye fully while bringing the hot knife closer towards it with a wicked grin on his face¡­ I could not help but think, ''If my life is not miserable then what is?''


    My eyes were already lifeless even before I felt any pain. I wanted to cry but even tears refused to shed... it felt like it also abandoned me. The pain in my heart was so stifling that I couldn''t breathe. I did not bother struggling because I realized that there was no need.


    ''Why?'' I asked myself.


    As if replying to my question, I felt a small flame lit up in my lower abdomen.


    Huh? Before I could wrap my head around what had just happened, the hot knife was a few inches from my eye. As I looked up with horror, a silver aura emanated from the small flame and wrapped around my entire body as I felt my world turn around.


    No, that''s wrong! It felt like I was flying but with no air around.


    When I felt the sensation stop, I looked up and saw no one. I looked around and found myself near a lake.


    ''Huh?''


    ¡­.


    I later found out that I finally awakened my mana core, and that I had an affinity to one of the ten supreme laws, space laws!


    It felt surreal. Like I was given a new lease on life with some kind of extravagant power.


    The next year of my life became somewhat easier. I still stole to eat, but only my ex-best friend who almost beat me to death. I would always teleport before I got caught, frustrating him to no end. Once, he even coughed up blood from anger, but I ignored it and continued with my revenge.


    Hell! I even made it a hobby to touch women at night with my soft, small hands. I would always teleport away fast before they even caught a sniff of me, earning myself the title ''invisible imp''.


    ''Huhahaha!'' Space laws is the best man.


    Or so I thought until a few days back, I found out that space laws is looked down on. Apparently, aside from the teleportation skill, the law itself is barely useful.


    So, in the army and even in the adventurer''s guild, people with space laws are barely useful. Aside from escaping in times of danger and building space portals in kingdoms, the law itself is useless.


    Do you know how it feels like to think that your life is miserable, then you find out that you are blessed with a special power making you feel you are a protagonist with a new lease on life, only to end up finding out that the so-called ''special power'' is actually ''crap''?


    It felt like a bird dung its crap on my face!


    During my period of anger and reproach, I heard the information that there would be a tournament in the faraway mystical ''Goldsborn kingdom''.


    I don''t know about the others, but when it comes to space laws, there are many ways I could apply it. Perhaps it is because of my talent or something else, but it just came naturally to me.


    In the end, I decided to show the world what I could do with my space powers and make myself known around the world.


    Now that I wield great strength, it is time for the world to feel my anger. I plan on letting loose!


    And this brings us to the present where I make my debut in the Goldsborn kingdom.


    ¡­.


    In the coliseum.


    The duke had a deep frown on his face as he commanded with authority, "Someone throw this beggar out of here!"


    Two guards appeared on the field as they made their way toward me.


    ''Heh!'' With a sneer on my face, I thought to myself, ''Beggar, huh?''


    ''Then, let me show you what this beggar can do!''


    My excitement didn''t allow me to wait for them to come. So, I ran towards them while calling out with vigor "LET''S GO!"


    *****


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 CHAPTER 5: MEETING OF A LIFETIME IV - DOMINEERING

    [Arthur''s POV]


    I ran towards the guard on the left, a look of surprise flashing on his face.


    When I was two meters away from him, he raised his hand and called out:


    "Fire chain!''


    Seeing this, I whispered:


    "Mirror clone!"


    An identical clone appeared in my position simultaneously as I teleported away.


    A 5-meter-thick flaming chain appeared around the clone, wrapping around its entire body and causing it to fall face flat on the ground.


    Contrary to the result, the guard put on a grave face.


    Before he could react, I silently teleported behind him, coated my right hand in a thick silver aura, and slapped out with force toward his ass.


    My hand passed effortlessly through his armor like a knife through butter.


    When I noticed that my hand was almost in contact with his skin, I expertly reduced the silver aura to a very large degree before I made contact.


    *PAAAAAA!* A resounding slap echoed out.


    The eyes of the guard bulged outward before his body was sent flying. A few seconds later, he landed face flat in a kneeling position with his ass pointing upward.


    There, a gap could be seen in the armor with red burning skin shown in the open.


    "Huhahahaha!" I bellowed out loudly.


    My laughter was cut short as I saw a flash from the corner of my right eye.


    I immediately turned around with my left hand stretched out and covered with a thick silver aura.


    Clang!


    I caught the sword thrust towards me but I couldn''t expel the sword to the void as I did before. I noticed that the sword was covered with a green aura, showing that the guard was contending with my laws using his own.


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    Very quickly, in a mere breath, I pulled the sword, drawing the guard closer to me. I already clenched my right hand into a fist, a thick silver aura covering it as I punched fiercely toward his stomach.


    *Bang!*


    "Huaaah!"


    The second guard fell to his knees as he clenched his stomach tight.


    Silence.


    There was absolute silence in the coliseum. Everything happened within a few seconds. The people couldn''t even react to what happened.


    The silence didn''t bother me though, as I simply turned to the Duke with a smug smile on my face.


    ''Heh.''


    The face of the duke was a bit red from shame. Two guards could not even handle a small kid. But he quickly got over it and lightly called out with his hand stretched toward me:


    "Freeze!"


    "Mirror clone."


    The clone froze immediately as the ground and the surrounding air around it was turned into an ice domain.


    I teleported high above the head of the Duke. Using the force of gravity to my advantage, I barreled down with my right leg whipped vertically toward his head.


    He raised his head slightly and gazed up at me calmly, as he merely raised his left hand to block my kick.


    Seeing my attack was ineffective, I lightly kicked off on his right shoulder with my left leg and flipped in the opposite direction with grace.


    In mid-air, a serene voice drifted into my ears:


    "Ice blades!"


    Tens of blades made from ice were summoned and directed toward me.


    I looked at this scene calmly and responded by lifting both hands, my left hand facing the direction of the ice blades and my right hand directed above the Duke.


    "Receive" I commanded in a deep voice.


    The space in front of me rippled like the surface of a lake, and all the ice blades got sucked into it.


    Still completing my flip in the air, I locked eyes with the surprised Duke, my right hand still directed above him as I voiced out lightly.


    "Reflect!"


    The space above the duke rippled and tens of ice blades rained down heavily from it.


    The duke was taken aback, as he did not expect such an attack. However, he still kept his composure and called out quickly with both hands raised.


    "Ice shield!"


    The tens of ice blades collided with a gigantic ice shield causing a frosty air that shortly blocked all vision to spread out around the duke.


    When the scene cleared out, what the people saw shook them to the core.


    There, a young silver-haired boy was standing mere inches from the duke, his left hand placed in the pocket as he silently looked at him.


    Whereas, the duke still had both hands stretched high as he maintained his posture for casting an ''ice shield''.


    There was a small lapse of silence before the people in the coliseum erupted in a clamor.


    "Isn''t the duke said to be in the ''master realm''?"


    "Is he? How come he can''t even handle a little kid then?"


    The people discussed with disbelief in their voices. They didn''t expect the Duke of the kingdom to look so weak before a little child.


    However, what they didn''t know was that the duke wasn''t weak, the little boy was just abnormally strong.


    It was during this period that a voice filled with power and brimming with might lightly echoed out:


    "Interesting!"


    The noisy coliseum instantly became silent as the powerful voice surprisingly came from the direction¡­of the king!


    *****


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 CHAPTER 6: MEETING OF A LIFETIME V – A SHOW OF TALENT

    [Rita''s POV]


    To be honest, I didn''t put the tournament for my hand in marriage in my eyes.


    When the dark prince arrived, my interest was piqued a bit, just a tiny bit, and that was all.


    It wasn''t until the silver-haired boy now standing grandly before the duke made a move that I had my entire attention stolen.


    Uncle Mike the ''duke'' had always trained me and his daughter Sophia since we were little kids.


    I have always been called a genius. Even when I heard rumors about the dual elemental dark prince, it didn''t move me at all.


    Now, seeing an age mate of mine trampling on my master in such a grand way, I can''t help but feel a little ashamed.


    Though, more than the shame, I feel excited. Excited to know that there are others in my generation out there who can compete with me. It is just a shame that I have never been allowed to leave the city since I was small, so I have little knowledge of the outside world.


    It was at this time that I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard a light voice sound from beside me.


    "Interesting."


    ''Oh Oh!'' I called out in my mind. Things are about to get messy. Others may not notice it, but I could feel a trace of anger in the voice of my Father.


    Luckily, before my Dad could make a move, my Mum the ''Queen'' lightly chuckled under her veil as she said:


    "Little warrior. You should return to the group so we may start the tournament. As for you being called a ''beggar'', I apologize for our mistake."


    Everyone gasped in surprise. Even the King had a look of bewilderment on his face.


    A young boy humiliated a grand Duke of their kingdom, yet they were to let him go?


    Seeing my father relent, I sighed in relief.


    For some reason, I wanted to observe the boy more.


    The silver-haired boy similarly looked taken aback. He looked at the veiled face of my Mum before his eyes shifted further down... down to her chest.


    Even from this distance, I could swear I heard him gulp.


    "Your Highness surely jests. I am not worthy of your apology. To not only gaze at your magnificent self but hear your graceful voice, even if I die, I will go in peace," said the silver-haired boy as he bowed in a gentlemanly way.


    ''The f*ck? What is with the sudden change in character? Where is that aura of defiance and that look of stubbornness?''


    Every high opinion I just had of this guy reached rock bottom.


    ''He is definitely a pervert yet he is acting all cool,'' I thought as I looked at him with utter contempt.


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    While many people put on weird expressions, my Mum merely gave a light chuckle while my dad had a slight frown on his face but he still kept silent.


    The silver-haired boy teleported back to the stage.


    "Now let us end this already. All of you can come at me!" said the boy as he faced the others in the group.


    The others looked at him with blank expressions. Only two people had different expressions.


    Sophia had a deep frown on her face. That was understandable, after all her Dad had just been stepped on in public.


    The dark prince also had a grave expression on his face. No one knew what was going through his mind.


    Seeing that no one made a move, the silver-haired boy took action.


    I focused my entire attention on the stage as I looked forward to what was about to occur.


    "Mirror clones!"


    Three identical clones appeared beside him. Before the others could react, the clones and the original body teleported away.


    In merely three breaths, the first set of people in front of him was directly knocked down. After that, they teleported again and another four instantly fell.


    It wasn''t until then that someone shouted:


    "If we want to have a chance, then we all have to work together and take him down!" The others woke up from their stupor after hearing the shout.


    They all threw varying attacks in the way of the silver-haired boy but what greeted them were silver flashes as the boy teleported in and out.


    Even with them working together, they all fell one after the other. The gap between them was just too great to fill with numbers.


    When the silver-haired boy stood still once again, his clones having been un-summoned, only three people were left standing on the stage: Sophia, the dark prince, and himself.


    He stood still as he stared at Sophia and the dark prince who had his hands crossed on his chest with narrowed eyes. I guess he could tell that they were not mere cannon fodders like the others.


    The audience didn''t even know how to react anymore to what was occurring.


    Sophia was the first to make a move.


    She made a sword from her ice magic and held it tightly in her right hand. She then summoned tens of ice spears above her.


    "You are too arrogant," she said in an annoyed voice.


    "Of course I am. After all, I have the strength to back it up." said the silver-haired boy impassively.


    "Humph, go!" she bellowed out, and the tens of spears were sent out toward him.


    Towards her attack, the silver-haired boy merely raised his left hand and spoke lightly:


    "Receive!"


    Again, the space in front of him rippled and all the ice spears were sucked into it. Immediately after, he closed his right hand into a fist.


    However, before he could do any other thing, Sophia flashed in front of him and swung her sword down vertically like she wanted to cleave him in two.


    He quickly shifted to the right, closely dodging the attack. He lifted his left hand as he slapped towards her moderately raised chest, his eyes fixed on it with an expectant look on his face.


    "Ice shield!" Sophia called out hurriedly and an ice shield was cast in front of her to block the attack.


    However, all she saw was the figure of the person before her fading away and she soon realized that at some point he had already teleported behind her, his hand now moving towards her slightly perky rear. It was too late for her to react.


    "Root of Yggdrasil" a voice resounded in the arena.


    Thick greenish roots sprouted between Sophia and the silver-haired boy, and they moved to attack the boy, but he instantly teleported farther away before looking to his left.


    There, a dark-haired boy had his hands raised with a calm look on his face.


    "I will make you pay dearly for ruining my fun," said the silver-haired boy with an annoyed look.


    "You PERVERT!" screamed Sophia as she quickly turned around to face the silver-haired boy, her face slightly red.


    "Hehe," he merely chuckled in return.


    "I apologize. But since I know I can''t match you, we will have to fight two against one," said the dark prince as a white aura covered the right side of his body while a starkly dark aura covered his whole left.


    "Sprout! Yggdrasil!" the dark prince called out.


    A ten-meter-tall ancient tree appeared behind him with a wide crown twelve meters in diameter, and long thick rooks and branches flailing about. But it seemed he wasn''t done as his voice rang out once more:


    "Summon undead!"


    A dark smoke spread out from him, and tens of undead skeletons with varying weapons in hand rose from the ground.


    "OH!" the silver-haired boy muttered with his mouth slightly opened, a weird glint flashing in his eyes.


    *****


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 CHAPTER SEVEN: MEETING OF A LIFETIME VI - CRUSH

    [Arthur''s POV]


    Huh!


    Doesn''t this look like a fantasy story where a legendary character only seen ''once in a million years'' appear before an overly arrogant side character with slightly better abilities and then trash him to the side like some useless fodder to be forgotten along with the flow of time?


    ''Is that so?'' I thought with a wicked grin on my face.


    ''Then I just have to crush you so you can''t show your face in public again.''


    As I gazed at this dark-haired, handsome boy before me, blessed with high talents, status, and even dual elemental magic, I could not help but let my heart fill up with rage at how unfair life is.


    A very handsome face, a renowned status as a prince, and finally the legendary dual elemental power.


    Ah!


    How unfair!


    Therefore, I just decided to take my rage (as the word jealousy never crossed my mind) out on him. I decided to crush him and make him experience part of the despair I grew up in.


    For the first time since this tournament, I decided to let loose a bit. However, even though it was just ''a bit'', both of my opponents put on horror and despair-filled faces.


    "SPATIAL DISRUPTION!" I called out grandly as a silver aura filled with space essence surged out wildly from my body.


    With me at the center, the space in the surrounding 100 meters cracked apart like a broken mirror.


    Since this was not a life-or-death battle, I could not kill my opponents, however, all the undead and even the grand ancient tree that looked like it could withstand the passage of time were instantly split into countless pieces from the fragmented space.


    Even though I couldn''t kill the prince, his movement was heavily restricted as he was surrounded by both tiny and large fragments of space slithering around like snakes.


    From one of the large space fragments behind him, my hand stretched out, and I grabbed him at the back of his neck and lifted him like a chicken waiting to be slaughtered.


    I canceled my move ''spacial disruption'', restoring order and calm as the surrounding space quickly closed up.


    A bit further from me, the red-haired girl was standing there blankly, but I didn''t mind her.


    I focused my entire attention on the raised prince in my hand and slammed him down with my full strength.


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    Bang!


    Blood instantly dyed the ground red.


    I wasn''t done yet as I raised my leg and started kicking him like a bully would. Seeing him curl up on the ground to protect himself, I put more force into my kicks.


    The funny thing is that for a few minutes after I started my ''teaching life'' session, no one came to save the prince as the whole coliseum was dead silent, their bodies stiff as if they were bound by a spell. All but one person.


    ¡­.


    A few minutes earlier.


    When I caught the dark prince in my hand, someone directly transmitted a message into my head.


    "Hey! Do you have a death wish or something? First, you disrespect the kingdom, now are you trying to kill the dark prince or something?"


    I looked far up out of the corner of my eyes and I determined the voice to be transmitted from the direction of the princess.


    "Hmph. Very few of those present can hurt me and even those that can, would not necessarily be able to catch me." I brushed off her warning as if it was nothing.


    "Oh! Your space power?¡­how envious! Your space laws seem convenient. If I had it, I wouldn''t be always restrained in the palace. I would have long..." she trailed off and stopped abruptly as if she just realized something important.


    I did not bother replying, and it was at this time that I slammed the dark prince heavily on the ground.


    "Hey! How about a deal? You know you can''t stay here any longer, right? Can you bring me out with you? Pretty please!" she said sweetly.


    "And why would I do that?" I raised my brow slightly as I thought the princess was pretty stupid asking someone she just met to take her away.


    "Huh?" she sounded surprised as if she did not expect such a reply.


    I raised my leg and started teaching the dark prince a lesson of his life.


    "From the way you look at my mum, I can tell that you are a perv¡­I mean a fan of hers," she said a little anxious, as she kept shooting glances at her stunned father.


    "Hmph. What does a flat chest like you know? I just admire her beauty, that''s all."


    "Fl-flat chest?" she shouted exasperatedly in my head.


    There was a brief period of silence, as I continued my beating session on the dark prince.


    "I have a drawing of my mum in her swimsuit. If you take me with you, I will show it to you."


    My raised leg stopped abruptly in mid-air as I screamed in my mind:


    "WHAT?" After realizing something I questioned with an icy voice "You are not playing with me, right?"


    "N-No, am serious," she answered quickly.


    My body trembled slightly when I heard her reply.


    It was then that I saw the dark prince curl up protectively on the ground; my still-raised leg brought down with renewed vigor. I decided to take out my excitement on this foolish prince.


    However, the temperature suddenly dropped low as I felt a strong burst of killing intent. An enraged voice bellowed out from the very top of the coliseum.


    "STOP!"


    I heard the air whistle strongly, and I felt someone approaching very quickly from the direction that if I remember correctly should be where the father of the dark prince was seated.


    ''Well, guess this is where the fun ends,'' I thought and kicked the dark prince on his bloodied head one last time before teleporting away.


    "I WILL KILL YOU!" a maddened voice bellowed out from where I just left.


    The voice did not faze me a bit, as I already appeared at the topmost seats where the Goldsborn family were situated; in front of the princess. I stretched out my hand before anybody else in the coliseum could react."


    "Shall we¡­" Before I could even finish speaking I felt a very soft and slightly plump hand on mine. I could not relish in the feeling any longer though as an anxious female voice screamed in my mind, a hint of panic present within:


    "HURRY!"


    *****


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 CHAPTER 8: MEETING OF A LIFETIME VII – THE CHASE

    [Arthur''s POV]


    Fear.


    Fear is a very dangerous emotion that could either propel one up or equally bring one down.


    In all my life, I can undoubtedly say that I have experienced fear only twice.


    First, was when I was almost killed in a dark alley for stealing food. An emotion that led to my current self, as I detested my weakness and helplessness at that moment. Of course, my great talent was the foundation of my current achievement, as I barely used any cultivation resources and much time to become an advanced mage.


    Second was the ''present time''.


    When I teleported before the princess, I made certain that the spatial fluctuations of my teleportation were completely masked so as to catch all those present off guard, and not give them any time to react.


    Those present had not even seen me reappearing; the king beside the princess was the same as he also couldn''t follow my movement.


    However, when I appeared before the princess with my hand stretched out, I could feel a gaze on me. A gaze that was looking in my direction even before I appeared.


    In this slowed time where all seemed to come to a crawl, I shifted my eyes slightly to the left; to the seat further left of the king, where I saw a beautiful veiled figure gazing in my direction calmly.


    Even though I could not see her face, I could swear she was looking at me with an amused expression.


    Inexplicably...


    I felt fear.


    As I saw her raise a slender finger in my direction in a gesture one would use to poke the air, my danger sense spiked wildly as I felt a grave threat heading my way.


    However, her movement came to a full stop when she saw the princess quickly take hold of my hand.


    Making full use of this opening, I quickly willed my mana, and space essence fluctuated out from me wildly, wrapping around the princess and me as we instantly teleported away from the Coliseum.


    ¡­.


    Seeing the hazy figure of the silver-haired boy and his daughter flash away rapidly, the king bellowed out angrily:


    "YOU DARE?"


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    Mana surged out from his body greatly, and soon after a golden aura instantly surrounded him before turning into a pillar that shot into the sky, as his golden hair flapped wildly.


    With an angry expression on his face, he raised his hand high up and voiced out in a deep voice:


    "STOP!"


    Numerous golden small magic circles appeared around him endlessly; and instantly spread out as they enlarged further, covering tens of thousands of meters.


    After covering such a wide distance, they came to a stop as they looked like large circular barriers that encircled everything in these tens of thousands of meters in a huge golden sphere.


    With the coliseum covered and the entire Goldsborn kingdom covered; every moving thing in the huge golden sphere came to a standstill as time seemed to be frozen.


    The king was the only one who showed a sign of movement, as he turned into a golden light that streaked across space as if he was teleporting, immediately giving chase as he still locked unto the aura of his daughter.


    ¡­..


    Tens of thousands of meters away


    Space fluctuated wildly, and two distinct figures appeared.


    However, they both came to a complete stop before they could make any move.


    A golden essence quickly wrapped around the princess, and she felt the shackles on her loosen a bit soon after. Still, she could only make small movements, as it would take some time to break the time restraint on her completely.


    Arthur on the other hand came to a complete stop as he was placed in a very difficult situation. If he were in his prime state, breaking this shackle would not have been a problem at all.


    However, he just teleported over a distance of about fifty thousand meters consuming a lot of his mana, not to mention that he was not alone while teleporting, which drained him of double the required mana.


    He looked out of the corner of his eyes (as that was the only part he could manage to move) and could see the princess struggling to break the restraint on her. It was only a matter of time, so he relaxed.


    Arthur had his eyes closed as he thought about what happened a few seconds ago. He thought about the veiled queen and her actions and could not help but feel his scalp tingle.


    He hated it; he hated it a lot. That feeling of having his life not within his control. After experiencing it once a few years back, he had promised himself he would never face such situations ever again, which was why we worked so hard on his space powers.


    Yet, he did today.


    He opened his eyes abruptly as he was pulled out of his thoughts.


    As he focused his vision forward, he could make out a golden streak that left a scar in space as it moved so rapidly in their direction.


    ''Sh*t!''


    He was so focused on the queen that he did not even stop to think about what placed them in their current state.


    Seeing the golden streak move ever so closer, he willed what little mana he had left.


    A silver essence erupted once more, shattering the void around him and breaking the time constraint that imprisoned him.


    He quickly surrounded the princess with his space essence and was about to teleport.


    "Boy, wait," he heard the voice of the king call to him. Within three breaths at most, he would arrive at their position.


    "Alright, be quick," he said with a gentle smile.


    When the king was a breath away from their position, he immediately teleported with the princess, not before waving a hand as if he were saying goodbye to his best friend.


    "BASTARD!" the king bellowed out angrily. He felt his face redden, as he believed the boy heeded his call.


    Discarding the embarrassment he felt, he quickly canceled the spell he cast, before casting it once again, putting everything within the surrounding tens of thousands of meters with his current position as the center at a standstill


    Once more, he gave chase.


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 CHAPTER 9: MEETING OF A LIFETIME VIII – PUNISHED

    Arthur and Rita appeared once more, this time on a grassy field.


    As they expected, their bodies immediately came to a stop when they appeared.


    Arthur quickly shut his eyes and controlled his breathing, as he sought to replenish whatever mana he could with the little time he had. He couldn''t help but relish in the feeling of playing around with a King even if it was only for a moment.


    ''Hehe.''


    Rita on the other hand just kept still, not even bothering to break the constraint on herself this time. She had a conflicted look on her face.


    A couple of breaths passed.


    Sensing movement up ahead, Arthur opened his eyes as he looked at the fast-approaching king placidly.


    The king simultaneously saw the two at the same time he was sensed.


    He gazed at the serene look on Arthur''s face from afar and uncontrollably, his anger started boiling within him.


    This time though, he controlled his rage and instead turned to his daughter as he questioned:


    "Girl, do you know what you have done?"


    A few more breaths and the king would arrive at their location.


    "Fa-Father I¡­" she was cut abruptly as she and Arthur simultaneously disappeared from the king''s view.


    Seeing this, three thick veins popped on the head of the king as he cursed under his breath.


    "This bastard..."


    Even as he felt like he would explode in fury, he sulked it up and continued to give chase.


    But.


    When he saw the two again, he felt his world turn around as he almost coughed blood from anger. He came to a quick stop a few hundred meters away from the duo.


    "Boy, you are going too far," said the king with blood-red eyes.


    There, by the side of his still daughter, he saw a boy with his back facing him, his knees bent, and his ass puffed out in his direction. His arms were raised by his sides, his elbows bent as he placed them in the form of a mantis.


    He performed some kind of strange dance, and as he moved his head sideways in sync with his hands, his ass also moved along ''in and out''.


    "Hahahahaha. My king, this is a dance that my people perform when paying respect to Royalty. Hope you enjoy it."


    At the side, the princess could not help but shut her eyes tightly as she stopped herself from laughing. Even though it was her father who was being made fun of, she couldn''t stop her shoulders from trembling slightly. When had her father the king ever been treated in such a manner?


    Seeing the reaction of his own daughter, the king did not actually burst out in anger but instead collected himself.  No matter what, his long experience wouldn''t allow him to be toyed with by a mere child.


    He stopped a few hundred meters from them and continued to watch Arthur dance with an indifferent gaze.


    A few breaths passed.


    Not receiving the reaction he expected, Arthur stopped his dance as he lost interest in continuing. He turned and faced the king.


    "Boy, I acknowledge your strength and talent but that does not give you the right to be so disrespectful. If you don''t have proper manners, even if you are so..."


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    "I do not need your moral talk. You are not my father. How I live my life has nothing to do with you." Arthur cut the king off, his voice turning cold. The King couldn''t help but raise a brow when he saw the playful smile wiped away from the little''s boy face, as a flame of anger burned in his eyes. It seemed he had touched upon a sensitive spot.


    "Indeed. Surrender and let my daughter go. I will be lenient in my punishment if you do." The King decided to take a few steps back. A part of him also wanted to draw in such a talent into his Kingdom. Aside from his wife and probably his daughter, he had never met anyone with such immense potential.


    "Haha," Arthur chuckled lightly before he spoke with an amused smile, "You can''t even catch me yet you want to punish me?"


    The King''s eyebrows furrowed, "You are mistaken, boy. I have not attacked you once, because my daughter is beside you. Do not think for a second that I can''t hurt you if I so wish to."


    "Why don''t you give it a try then?" retorted Arthur as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.


    The frown on the King''s face deepened. He was starting to find Arthur irritating. No matter how talented he might be, if he didn''t have a good heart, then in his eyes, he didn''t amount to much.


    ''Seems I need to teach him a little.''


    A fierce glint flashed past the eyes of the king.


    He lifted his right hand in Arthur''s direction and soon after, a chilling air spread out.


    "Since you are taking my kindness for granted, I have no choice but to show you what I can do."


    Arthur''s expression fell as he put on a grave face. The dangerous vibe he was feeling from the king told him he had underestimated the latter greatly. He thought he could match the king in prowess, but his senses that had brought him thus far were now warning him of the great threat before him.


    Realizing that he had to run, he moved quickly in the direction of the princess as he tried to get hold of her to teleport away.


    But.


    A soft but firm hand landed on his shoulder, causing his body to flinch and come to a stop.


    "That is enough," a sweet and pleasant feminine voice echoed out.


    The king stopped his attack as he called out lovingly:


    "Silvia."


    "Darling, there is no need for you to act," continued Queen Silvia with an alluring voice.


    ''When did she appear behind me? I did not even feel her presence. As expected, this woman is far more terrifying than the king. Shit! I should have at least investigated this kingdom before acting out like that before them. I overestimated myself.''


    All these thoughts went through his head in an instant as he berated himself inwardly for being too arrogant.


    "Mother please, it is not his fault. I am the one that asked him to take me. If you want to punish someone, then punish me," Rita voiced out pleadingly.


    "I know," said Queen Silvia as she continued:


    "I am not against you leaving with him, after all, he won the tournament, so he is your-to-be husband. Neither am I angry about his behavior toward our kingdom. But..."  her words trailed off before she continued, "For him to continuously mock your father, that I will not tolerate. Therefore he must be punished." Even though she seemed to be displeased by Arthur''s actions, her voice did not reveal the slightest emotion of anger. Instead, it sounded soft and charming.


    But to Arthur, It sounded more like the voice of the devil as he felt a chill down his spine. His senses were screaming at him.


    ''Shit!'' that was the last thought that passed through his mind before...


    "Time loop" Silvia called out lightly.


    Rumble


    The earth quaked and the sky shook, a testament to the reality-distorting power evoked by Queen Silvia.


    The huge spherical golden sphere composed of numerous smaller circles; the magic cast by the king, was forcefully dispelled.


    A bright golden light enveloped Arthur, and the king and princess were forced to close their eyes due to the intensity of the light.


    Arthur lost control of his body; his mind disoriented, as his body moved in reverse to the point in time where he was staring at the king with his hand raised about to attack, and further back to when he danced and made fun of the king, his body replaying all of his previous actions.


    Arriving at the point he was about to start dancing, his body stopped shortly before he started dancing once more. Time continued forward to the point where he was about to get hold of the princess and teleport before a fair hand stopped him in his path. And yet, time was once again reversed as retraced his previous actions all over again.


    To the king and princess, it seemed like Arthur was repeating his previous actions continuously, though his figure appeared distorted. However, to Arthur who had no control of his body and whose mind was thrown in total disarray, it felt like hell.


    "This will continue for three hours. Once he stops, you can continue on your journey," said Silvia.


    The king and princess were not surprised by the power she displayed, after all, they knew this was nothing compared to the power she actually wields.


    "Let us go, darling," Silvia said to the king before she turned into a golden streak that sped off into the distance.


    The king seemed to want to say something but reluctantly nodded his head.


    "Take care of yourself, Rita. You must return in three months, if not I will come find you myself." After saying that, he followed after his wife.


    With her parent gone, Rita looked at Arthur who was stuck in a time loop, and could not help but sigh.


    "What a mess!"


    *****


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 CHAPTER 10: MEETING OF A LIFETIME IX– A BUDDING FEELING

    The king caught up to Silvia.


    After a moment of silence, he could not help but voice out:


    "Are we not being far too lenient? He ruined the tournament and disrespected our kingdom in public and yet we let him go easily?"


    "Also, are we seriously going to leave our daughter with him?"


    After a short moment of silence, Silvia''s beautiful voice drifted into his ears:


    "Seems you are missing something important."


    "What?" replied the King, a bit confused.


    "Even though he is very strong, in the end, he is just a boy. You do not expect him to be mature, do you?"


    Silvia looked at her husband from the side of her eye and seeing him scratch his head embarrassedly, she could not help but chuckle.


    "From the look in the eyes of that boy, I could tell that he has gone through a lot. A child should not carry those types of eyes. It felt as if he wanted to rebel against the world. Therefore, it is quite understandable for him to behave like that. I am sure his past has not been easy. Of course, that is not enough reason to forgive him. Still, he won the tournament, so we shouldn''t go against our promise. As for our daughter being with him, I believe it is okay since they should be close to each other to bud some feelings. Besides, don''t you think it is about time we fulfilled Rita''s desire to explore the outside world,? We have been restricting her movement just to prevent her strange powers from being revealed to the world. But the boy is strong, so she shouldn''t need to act personally."


    Before the king could reply, she continued...


    "Besides, I gave her three protective talismans that would activate when her life is in danger."


    The king swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.


    His expression became visibly relaxed as they continued on their way.


    What he didn''t was that there was one more reason for which the Queen was being lenient with Arlo, if not, he would have been put to death if not worse.


    ''He is special, just like me!'' It was the first time she met someone just like her, and just his mere existence filled her with so much excitement.


    ....


    Three hours later.


    The effect of the skill ''Time loop'' wore off as the golden light surrounding Arthur disappeared.


    Arthur immediately collapsed on the ground and fainted right away.


    Looking at the worn-out figure of Arthur, Rita could not help but sigh once more.


    ''I have always wanted to leave the palace but to think when I finally did, I have to take care of an unconscious boy.''


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    She had already searched their surroundings. Right now, they were located on a flat plain. She already found out that a small building was a few kilometers away from them.


    She moved toward the fainted Arthur and clumsily raised him, and placed him on her back with both of Arthur''s legs trailing on the ground.


    ''Well, I am a princess so you cannot blame me for being so rough with you.''


    ¡­.


    After about an hour''s walk, Silvia appeared in front of the house.


    The sun had already long set, and it was nighttime; the stars shone bright in the sky.


    Huff! Huff!


    Silvia panted roughly, as she tried to catch her breath. Her clothes were already soaked with sweat and her golden hair was a bit messy.


    Arriving in front of the door of the two-story building, she called out weakly:


    "Hello!"


    "Hello!"


    Perhaps because it was already nighttime, the door was slightly opened after a few breaths which showed that her voice was still heard.


    A small head poked out of the door cautiously as a timid voice rang out:


    "Wh-Who is it?"


    Looking at the small girl of about five years, Rita replied as friendly as she could:


    "Hey there, could I perhaps talk to your parents?"


    "I-I don''t ha-have any parents," the small girl replied, her face a little pale as she seemed scared of Rita.


    Before Rita could reply, an elderly voice sounded out from the house, as the sound of footsteps pulled closer.


    "What are you doing Mia?"


    The small girl immediately turned back, and the door opened fully from her abrupt movement.


    "Grandma, there is someone here."


    "Oh!"


    Rita met eyes with an elderly woman with black hair partly dyed white from old age.


    She tried to bow but couldn''t because of the load on her back.


    "Hello ma, how do you do? My friend and I were passing close by, but he suddenly collapsed. Therefore, I was looking for a place to care for him and came by this place. Would it be possible to stay for the night? I would really appreciate it and would gladly pay if need be," Rita said politely.


    Looking at Rita''s grand yet worn-out appearance, the elder could not help but have pity.


    "There is a room for you to stay in. And there is no need for you to pay. Besides it is not safe for a girl to be out late. Come in dear."


    Hearing her reply, Rita could not help but release a relieved sigh as she thanked the elder once more.


    ¡­.


    In a simple room with only a small bed beside the window and a table by the side, Arthur lay unconsciously on the bed as Rita sat beside him.


    Arthur opened his eyes. His vision was a bit blurry, and he felt a slight headache. He opened and closed his eyes a few times to adjust to the light.


    When he came to, he was stunned.


    Looking at the golden-haired veiled girl place a small white cloth in a small basin on the table in front of the window and then place it on his head without even squeezing it, he could not help but blurt out:


    "What are you doing?"


    His face was already covered in water, and his hair was soaked. Even a small part of the bed was wet.


    "Shhh," Rita hushed him.


    She placed the wet soaked cloth on his head, then his eyes, forcing Arthur to quickly shut them. She pulled it down further to his nose and finally to his mouth before dipping it in the basin once more.


    "What the hell are you doing?" Arthur could not help but blurt out once more, this time quite exasperatedly.


    "I told you to shh, didn''t I?" she pulled out the cloth and smacked it on his head.


    "Ah!"


    "Again?" Rita shouted angrily and Arthur immediately shut his mouth firmly.


    "Humph," She harrumphed coldly.


    ''What is wrong with this crazy girl? Is this how you take care of someone?'' Arthur screamed begrudgingly in his mind.


    Though he said that, he could not help but have a weird feeling. This was the first time he was being cared for by someone. So he didn''t know how to feel about it.


    Rita on the other hand was in her world entirely.


    ''What a mess! I tried to help him but it just ended like this. He must think I am some kind of spoiled princess. I am so embarrassed right now.''


    In her flustered state, she could not react quickly as...


    *Swoosh.* The wind blew in wildly, lifting her veil.


    Seeing the face that had always been hidden underneath that veil, Arthur''s heart could not help but skip a bit. His eyes flashed wide open and his mouth widened to form a big O.


    Looking at his great reaction to her visage, Rita''s face reddened like a tomato.


    She dumped the white cloth in his wide open mouth and screamed "Idiot!" before she stood and ran out of the room.


    Arthur on the other hand, choked on the cloth.


    *****


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 CHAPTER 11: A WALK WITH DAD I

    [PRESENT]


    Arlo raised his hand prompting Arthur to stop his storytelling.


    "I have a class very soon, so I need to take my leave."


    "Huh?"


    Arthur was left speechless. He was just about to get to the interesting part of the story, yet he was cut off like that. If the boy left, to whom was he supposed to tell the story? His wife?


    Shaking his head lightly, he responded to his son:


    "Alright. You can head off. Be sure to show them whose son you are," Arthur grinned proudly as he gave his son a big thumbs up.


    Rita on the other hand nudged her husband at his side lightly with her elbow as she chastised him with her silent glare.


    "Okay," Arlo didn''t seem concerned with what his Dad said.


    He moved closer to his mom and gave her a long-sounding peck on her cheek.


    "Love you, Mum," he whispered to her before running off, not even bothering to wait for her reply.


    Rita felt her heart blossom with warmth. She felt so proud to have such a wonderful child.


    "He didn''t even say goodbye to me. Why does it feel like he is getting more and more distant from me by the day?" Arthur grumbled from the side.


    Rita stood up and rubbed her husband''s hair as she comforted him lovingly.


    "You know that is not true. I can tell that boy is afraid of not meeting your expectations."


    "But I didn''t demand anything from him. The word super genius fails to define his talent. I his father, is known as the strongest, but when my talent is compared to his, it is like the distance between heaven and earth."


    "Haha. However, he doesn''t know that dear. I believe he will open up to you soon. Just be patient." Rita planted a kiss on his head and continued "Now stop being a child and go after him."


    "Are you serious?"


    "Yeah. Didn''t you say you want to meet Blacksmith Drake today? Why don''t you follow him back then? Besides, I still have some chores to finish at home, but before that, I have to clean up here."


    "Hmm."


    His wife did have a point, so he readily agreed to what she said.


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    He stood up, dusted himself, and hugged his wife as he planted his own kiss on her head this time.


    "See you at home dear."


    "Hmm..."


    Rita gave a satisfied moan as her response.


    Feeling the close warmth she felt disappear, Rita could not help but feel at a loss.


    ¡­.


    Arlo ran to the village. Deciding this was a good opportunity to train, he closed his eyes as he felt the Ki in the surroundings.


    Having felt the surrounding Ki, he summoned it into his legs allowing his speed to be further enhanced.


    *Whoosh!*


    The wind brushed past him as he forcefully resisted the pressure. He regulated his breathing according to the technique taught to him by his father three years ago to channel the surrounding Ki.


    When his thought came to his father, he could not help but feel bad.


    He knew he was being unfair to his Dad, yet he couldn''t help it.


    Generally, ''Innate Traits'' are awakened at the age of five. Geniuses could even awaken theirs at the age of three, yet here he was about to turn eight in less than two months and he hadn''t yet awakened his innate trait.


    All his mates had already awakened long ago and could now wield mana freely but he still could not.


    How could he not feel ashamed?


    How could he not feel like he failed his father? Especially after knowing that he was strongest in the village.


    "How pathetic," he muttered sadly.


    "What is pathetic?"


    "Heok!"


    Arlo almost fell from fright when his father abruptly appeared beside him.


    "Dad? What are you doing here?"


    "I am also heading to the village so I decided to tag along."


    "Oh!"


    After a short period of awkward silence.


    "Arlo, I am sure you think am the strongest in this village but you cannot even phantom how far off you are from the truth. I may not look it but I am actually a legendary character. I am so strong that the world tried to get rid of me several times when I was still in my budding stages."


    ''Huh? How narcissistic!'' Arlo grumbled inwardly.


    "Tsk."


    "Haha!" Hearing his son''s response, Arthur simply gave a dry chuckle.


    As they sped off together, Arthur could not help but look at his son as he put on a very serious expression.


    "However, unlike me who had to work hard to get to where I am today, you my son are so talented that with little to no effort, it is already a guarantee that you will far surpass me. There is no limit to your talent. Don''t worry, when you turn eight, you will realize how awesome you are."


    Arlo was unconcerned about his words at the beginning, as his dad had always repeated the same thing to him all the time, but when he heard the last part of his words, he could not help but stop as his legs formed deep lines on the ground due to his abrupt movement.


    "What?"


    "Are you saying I will awaken when I turn eight?"


    "Yeah."


    "But why?"


    "That is a secret."


    Arlo''s brows furrowed deeply as he didn''t expect such a reply.


    Arthur came closer to his son, lowered his body, and placed his head on his son''s head, "Don''t worry, you will find out eventually. I trust you son, but still, I hope you won''t let the great power you possess control you."


    "Besides, genius or not, I will always be proud of you, son."


    Seeing the honest gaze of his father, Arlo could not help but relent.


    He drew closer to his Dad and hugged him.


    "I won''t disappoint you, Dad." Arthur could not help but give a satisfied smile. As his thoughts arrived at this point, he pulled away from his son and asked him:


    "Will you resume training with me?"


    "Huh?"


    Surprised, he didn''t know how to reply to his dad, but after giving it a thought he answered:


    "I will wait until after I have awakened."


    "..."


    After a short silence, Arthur gave a small smile.


    "Alright, let''s continue on our way."


    *****


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 CHAPTER 12: A WALK WITH DAD II

    Arthur and Arlo entered the village and made their way to their destination.


    About ten years ago, Arlo and Rita decided to settle down in a quiet and remote region. However, after catching a sniff of their location, a few of their friends sought them out and like play, decided to settle down near them. Over the years, along with a few other friends and a couple of regular humans that sought their protection, the village was founded.


    Even with time, the village only consisted of a few couple hundred people.


    As they walked along the road, they came across Anna''s shop.


    They both stopped and stared at the other and as if they came to a tacit understanding, they entered her shop.


    Looking at the different potions of various colors that filled the shop''s left, right, and back regions (practically the entirety of the shop); Arlo could not help but feel amazed.


    His ''Big sis Anna'' was well known in the village as the potion mistress.


    "Big sis Anna?" Arlo called out lightly as it seemed like there was no one in the shop.


    A woman stood up from behind a huge counter at the back of the shop.


    She was fondling a bottle of potions in her hands as she shifted her gaze to the new arrivals. Seeing her guests, a beautiful smile blossomed on her pretty face.


    "Master Arthur."


    "Little Arl."


    Anna bowed slightly to both of them.


    Her long straight red hair fell down her back. Her pale skin warranted attention and care from those who gazed at her. Most importantly, her womanly attributes were ''heavenly''.


    Donned in a fiery red dress, her twin peaks seemed as if they were about to fly to the heavens. Even from a front view, her perky ass was arched at such an angle that defied all logic.


    Sigh!


    ''This is exactly what father likes.''


    Sure enough, when Arlo turned to face his father, he could see his heated gaze on her chest.


    "Anna, I have told you to stop calling me that, haven''t I?" Arthur reprimanded her though his eyes remained fixed on her chest.


    She simply responded with a dry chuckle.


    "What are you concocting this time around?" Arthur threw out.


    She moved closer to the counter to bring the potion closer to their view as she spoke, her voice filled with excitement, "I am working on a big project...Ahh!" unfortunately, she could not complete her sentence as her leg got caught on something below. She lost her balance causing the potion she held to fall.


    Splash!


    The purple potion poured on Arthur''s chest, dyeing his shirt in the same color.


    "Ah ah, I am sorry. I didn''t mean to...let me clean that for you."


    She quickly used the scruff of her dress to clean his shirt but all that did was further worsen the stain. However, her hand continued to rub at his well-built chest.


    Arlo stared silently at the two from the side.


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    ''Wow! How I wish Mum could see this!''


    "Haha. It is all right. It is just a stain. There is no need to be so flustered."


    My father tried to lighten the awkward mood.


    Anna on the other hand didn''t seem too satisfied, as she turned around and headed inside.


    "Let me get some water and a cloth. Please wait for me."


    Seeing her retreating flustered figure, Arthur quickly called out to his son:


    "Let us go. Didn''t you say you have a class?"


    Arlo didn''t say a word but simply followed as they both quietly left the shop.


    As they both continued on the way, Arthur could not help but smile wryly.


    "Silly girl. I told her it was okay."


    They didn''t walk for long when they saw a well-built man with manly features approach them carrying a bucket filled with water on his left shoulder.


    ''Huh? Isn''t that the principal? He is also our martial arts master,'' Arlo amused in his mind.


    "Hey there Arthur. I was actually looking for you earlier. There is something¡­huh? What happened to your shirt?"


    He caught sight of Arthur''s stained shirt and couldn''t help but ask.


    "Just an accident. It''s nothing serious."


    "Let me help you then."


    He dipped his hand in the water and scrubbed the stained region on his shirt.


    He didn''t get to scrub for too long though as...


    PA!


    A resounding slap echoed out followed by a...


    Bang!


    Arlo caught sight of the principal kissing the ground before he bounced back up a little from the recoil. He lay sprawled on the ground, his mouth already full of foam.


    "The hell! Why would you rub my chest like that?" Arthur''s body trembled slightly, though it was unknown whether it was from anger or something else.


    "Besides I loved this shirt," he grumbled annoyingly as he ignored the body, no, the corpse sprawled on the ground and walked away.


    Arlo on the other hand didn''t know how to react. He looked around and saw the people continue on their way as if what just occurred wasn''t their business which rendered him speechless.


    He bent down and checked on the principal, but realizing that he couldn''t feel a pulse, he whistled as he quickly walked past the corpse. Only his thoughts betrayed his expression.


    ''Rest in peace principal. At least the school you built will move on without you, you have done well.''


    Arlo quickly caught up to his Dad, but seeing his seriously annoyed expression he could not help but ask:


    "Thought you don''t care about the shirt?"


    Arthur came to a stop, his expression portraying he just came to a very important decision.


    "Son, I believe it is time to tell you what makes a man a ''True man''."


    Gulp.


    Arlo swallowed his saliva, he became tense from seeing the seriousness his father rarely puts on as he blurted out:


    "T-True man?"


    "That is right."


    Arthur squatted as he brought his head to the same level as his son.


    "This world is made up of two kinds of people."


    It seemed like he was arranging his thoughts before he continued:


    "The big-chested people and the flat-chested ones. A big-chested person may be pardoned but flat-chested people must be dealt with appropriately when needed. You mustn''t give them any misconception that they are special. In fact if possible, send them to their maker, in that way, you give them a chance to complain."


    This!


    ''Is this what a father is supposed to teach to his son?''


    Arlo was flabbergasted this time around. Unfortunately, he could not even keep his surprise for long as...


    "ARTHUR!"


    A female voice called out loudly.


    Arlo whipped his head to the side and spotted a fat, scratch that, a very fat woman decorated with make-up and on high heels quickly making her way toward them.


    Konk Konk Konk.


    Her high heels kept making noises as she made her way over, catching the attention of every single person on the road.


    What really caught their attention though wasn''t her or her shoe, but the trajectory of her path which aligned with the little brother of the corpse still sprawled on the ground.


    Silence.


    Konk konk.


    As she inched ever so closer, the men could not help but instinctively squeeze their legs together while some even went further as to clutch their little brother.


    The fat lady on the other hand seemed to not notice a thing.


    In this slowed-down time, she finally reached the corpse and raised her right leg once more to step on the ''nuts of man'', a divine relic meant to be treasured if not worshipped.


    But.


    "Whoosh."


    Surprisingly, the corpse moved.


    It refused to have its nuts sullied.


    It vanished from the spot and walked away opposite the fat lady.


    Sigh!


    "What a pity! I love crushing dead nuts," the fat woman could not help but feel at a loss.


    The men felt a chill run down their spine as they clamped their legs tighter while the corpse wobbled on his feet. Whether it was from the bruise on his face or not, no one knew.


    "Arth¡­huh? Where is Arthur?" she couldn''t help but pout as she made her way toward Arlo.


    Arlo finally realized that his father had teleported at some point and deserted him.


    Staring at the Village''s Tailor move closer to him, he could not help but have goosebumps. He turned around and ran for his life while screaming.


    "AAAAAAH!"


    At the same time, he secretly cursed his father in his heart, ''Isn''t that a big-chested person? Why did you run then?''


    *****


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 CHAPTER 13: CLASS I

    Ari gazed at the students seated in front of her. When she noticed that there was an empty seat, she could not help but furrow her brows and feel a little displeased.


    However, upon realizing that it was Arlo, her master''s son who was absent, the emotion she felt immediately disappeared without a trace.


    Well, since the main student was absent, she couldn''t start her lessons. Making use of this opportunity, she decided to give some pointers to those present.


    ¡­


    A few minutes later¡­.


    The door of the main hall of the training center was swung open with force.


    Shifting her attention over to the door, Ari became surprised.


    Looking at the sweat-soaked figure of Arlo who had to lean on his knees for support as he gasped for breath, she couldn''t help but ask a bit befuddled:


    "What happened to you?"


    "Mo-Mon, monster."


    Even though Arlo''s words were a bit incoherent, she still caught onto what he was trying to convey.


    ''A monster? Impossible! How did it bypass the barrier erected by the master? Besides, a monster could enter deep into the village filled with so many masters?''


    With her mind now a bit shocked, she could not help but spread out her senses to cover the village.


    However, her senses barely covered a large distance past the training center when she sensed a person, an obese woman with make-up on, and on high heels, seemingly searching around for something.


    When her thoughts arrived at this point, realization dawned on her.


    She looked at the still-panting Arlo with a wry smile and shook her head slightly.


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    ''Indeed. Like father like son.''


    ¡­.


    "Please take your seat."


    Immediately after Arlo settled down, Ari commenced her lesson.


    "Today, we are going to talk about general information on cultivation, traits, and the dark universe."


    "Honestly, I do not know whether your era is lucky or not. It wasn''t until the recent great war that most of the information we have on hand was found. As for the unlucky part, you will find that out by yourself as you grow."


    She paused for a moment as she looked at the nearly thirty faces in front of her.


    "Let us start from the basics. For a person to become a mage, they must first awaken an ''innate trait'', something unique to them across the universe. A person''s trait determines two things: Elemental affinity and natural talent.


    "When an innate trait awakens, simultaneously the mana core also becomes awakened. Then, they gain the ability to control mana and wield a specific element; that is what I mean by elemental affinity.


    "Regarding natural talent, innate traits are graded into different tiers, and the higher a person''s tier, the farther they could go in cultivating their mana core. Even though I know all that I just said is general knowledge, if you have questions, please ask. I will be sure to answer to the best of my abilities."


    Getting no response after waiting for a while, she continued with her lesson.


    "Now, let''s move to ''cultivation''. A newly awakened mana core is colored black. The black color depicts impurities. To remove said impurities, one needs to absorb the surrounding mana and use it to slowly cleanse the core."


    "This brings us to the three grand stages of cultivation. The Preliminary stages, the intermediate stage, and the true stages of cultivation."


    "In the preliminary stages, all a mage has to do is to rid the mana core entirely of its impurities and turn it colorless. This stage is divided into three great realms, which are the beginner, advanced, and master realms. These realms are divided into four levels; early, mid, late, and peak."


    "In the intermediate stage which consists of only one great realm, the grandmaster realm, mages must divide their now colorless mana core into twelve parts. Each successive formation of three parts forms the early, mid, late, and peak grandmaster realm."


    "After dividing the mana core into twelve parts, you then enter the real stages of cultivation. Here, you absorb the atmospheric mana to improve the quality and quantity of your mana, causing your core to progressively gain the color red, orange, and yellow."


    "Therefore, in the real stages of cultivation, we have the red core realm, orange core realm, and yellow core realm. Needless to say, these realms are divided into twelve levels corresponding to the divided parts of the core. For instance, for a person to break into the red core realm, one part of their mana core must be dyed red confirming their cultivation as a first-level red mage; when two are dyed red, they become a second-level red mage, and so on."


    Before she could continue, a young boy sitting at the very end of the hall raised his hand.


    "Yes, go on."


    "I would like to ask why an awakened mana core is black from the start."

 CHAPTER 14: CLASS II

    "I would like to ask why a newly awakened core is black from the start."


    Upon hearing that question, the people present couldn''t help but gaze at the boy with odd expressions.


    Looking at the recently awakened student, Miller, who joined them in the previous lesson, Ari was at first taken back but she soon regained her composure.


    "It is first black because of the impurities contained within it."


    "Oh, I see."


    "Okay then, let us continue. Moving on to cultivation, recently..."


    "I am sorry but I am not done yet."


    "Oh? Do you still have other questions to ask?"


    "Yes, I have thirty-seven more questions to ask."


    "Thir-thirty seven?"


    Upon hearing the number of questions still left to answer, Ari almost fainted from surprise. Even the other students couldn''t help but suck in a long breath of air.


    "Yes, is that a problem? I mean we could ignore the other questions."


    Ari was immediately glad about hearing what the boy himself just said. She was about to give her consent when...


    "However, you told us to ask whatever questions we have. If you should go against what you said, doesn''t that mean that teacher is the type that doesn''t keep her word?"


    The young child voiced out with innocent eyes that seemed to convey that he wouldn''t believe the teacher was such a person.


    ''Keep my word? Indeed, she did say so, but you are not asking three questions, hell you are not even asking seven, but thirty-seven. Wait, how did you even come up with thirty-seven questions?'' Ari wanted to cry, but the tears refused to shed.


    ''Just where did they pick this boy from?'' she grumbled in her mind.


    "Are you such a person, teacher?" the boy voiced out once more.


    ''Are you your head!?'' Ari cursed in her mind.


    With an ugly smile on her beautiful face, Ari managed to squeeze out the words:


    "Go on."


    "Teacher really is the best." The boy chuckled lightly.


    Ari didn''t know why but those words sounded grating to her ears.


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    "Why does the intermediate stage only have one realm?"


    "Why are you asking such stupid questions?" A little girl could not help but blurt out before Ari could answer.


    "Excuse me? Since my question is stupid, why don''t you answer it?"


    The girl was left speechless, is there even an answer to such a question, but refusing to be on the losing end she still argued back.


    "Why would I answer such a stupid question?"


    "Haha. Just say you don''t know it. The intermediate stage only has one realm because it deals with just dividing the mana core into twelve parts."


    Hearing his reply, the small girl was taken aback. Still, she could not help but agree with his reasoning.


    "Little girl, when I was flirting with your mother, you were still in her womb. When your daddy is talking, a child like you should keep her mouth shut."


    The girl''s face turned red from anger. She felt her head swell and was about to explode, but Ari''s words stopped her from reacting.


    "Silence!"


    "Since you know the answer, why are you asking?" Ari asked, her brows tightly furrowed.


    "Eh?" realizing he just made a blunder, the young boy coughed lightly before replying:


    "I just wanted to confirm it from you."


    Not giving her any time to respond, he threw out his next question.


    "So if a person''s core is colored red in three parts, he becomes a third-level red mage?"


    "Yes."


    "What if it is colored red in eleven parts?"


    "Eleventh-level red mage."


    "Doesn''t that sound stupid?"


    "Is that your fourth question?"


    "Eh?...no."


    "Good."


    ¡­..


    "So if it is colored yellow in all twelve parts, what is the mage called?"


    "Twelfth-level yellow mage."


    "Pfft," a burst of muffled laughter rang out.


    Even though the laughter was suppressed, it still sounded loud in the hall.


    Why?


    It was because the hall had been in an awkward silence from the third question, as the boy had just been asking about the same type of question; the colored parts of the mana core and what the mages are called.


    Yet, the surprising thing was that the teacher kept answering.


    The other student couldn''t help but put on an odd expression at the awkwardness of the whole thing.


    ¡­.


    What the students didn''t know was that Ari was already at her limit. Her forehead was already filled with black lines. She had lost count of the number of times she almost wanted to send the boy a slap to death, yet she controlled herself at all times, making use of her well-groomed will to suppress her anger.


    This boy reminded her of a particular person in the past.


    He was so similar to her master, Arthur.


    ¡­.


    After she answered once again, she didn''t hear the voice that was beginning to sound like the whisper of the devil.


    She looked intently at the boy as she voiced out:


    "What about your twenty-sixth question?"


    The boy raised his hand as he gestured for her to wait while answering:


    "Oh! I am coming. I am still thinking about it."


    Huh?


    Ari along with everyone else was stunned.


    You are coming?


    So we should wait for you to come up with a question?


    Ari finally lost herself as she roared at the top of her lungs:


    "GET OUT!"


    "Huh?"


    Miller was shocked at the sudden change, but before he could even react properly, Ari roared out once more:


    "I SAID, GET OUT!"


    He quickly scrambled out of his seat from fear as he made his way to the door.


    ''Just where did the hell did this boy come from? Is he my life nemesis or what?'' Ari''s face had already turned purple at this point.


    Shifting her attention back to the ones remaining in the hall, she could not help but feel that she wasn''t looking at children but at little beasts.


    "All of you, get out!"


    "Huh?"


    "But teacher we didn''t do anything¡­"


    "Didn''t you hear what I said?"


    Looking at the once beautiful Ari that now looked like a deranged beast, the others couldn''t help but grow afraid. So they quickly made their way out.


    All but one student.


    A very beautiful young girl remained seated.


    Ari was just about to speak once more when the girl beat her to it.


    "Teacher, I just broke through into the mid-level beginner realm. I would like to challenge Arlo to a duel."


    *****


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 CHAPTER 15: CHALLENGE I

    Looking at the young beauty in front of him, Arlo couldn''t help but feel conflicted.


    Auburn hair, green eyes, pale skin, overall she was beautiful.


    They grew up together when they were small. If someone asked who his best friend was, he wouldn''t hesitate before answering his mom.


    Yet the closest he had as a friend was the girl in front of him, but for some reason three years ago, she started growing distant. Moreover, at this point, they barely even talked.


    ¡­.


    As much as Ari wanted to send these kids off, she couldn''t neglect her duty as a teacher. Thus, she brought them to the massive grassy field at the back of the training center.


    Besides, the students were excited to see this fight happen. After all, both students in topic were the strongest in the class.


    Honestly, she was a bit excited as well.


    ¡­.


    [Tina''s POV]


    "You should give up." I couldn''t help but give my advice.


    Previously, even though I was an early-level beginner mage, Arlo could still match me equally in a fight even though he hadn''t even awakened.


    This was truly astounding, as I am a genius in my own right. I could face off against mid-level beginner mages even when I was an early-level beginner mage.


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    But what about now?


    With my current cultivation, I am sure that I could defeat most late beginner mages.


    So how could he keep up with me?


    However, seeing the other party didn''t even reply, I got a bit displeased.


    Therefore, I decided to show him the gap between our current selves.


    I decided to start slowly, so I released my cultivation fully, letting my aura wash over him.


    However, he didn''t seem affected in the least.


    A bit annoyed by his reaction, I subconsciously released my innate trait, which is actually the strongest move in my arsenal.


    I erected a gravity domain 50m around with me as the center. In this domain, the power of gravity could be multiplied.


    However, since I just awakened not long ago, increasing gravity by three times is my current limit.


    At present, gravity is multiplied by a factor of two. Still, that is more than enough to oppress most late beginner mages.


    Yet...


    Why wouldn''t he fall?


    I looked at his trembling figure; long golden hair that fell past his shoulders, silver eyes that sparkled brightly like stars, and fair skin that looked so breathtaking that it looked like an immortal drawn out from a painting. His posture showed he could fall at any moment, yet seeing him grit his teeth through it by coating his body with ''Ki'', a power that the unawakened train in to cover their weakness, my eyes couldn''t help but redden.


    I just want to stay by your side. However, even though the adults seemed to want to keep this information a secret, I still learned it accidentally. That you are an unprecedented genius, one never seen before. How could I stay beside such a great person?


    When I learned you would awaken late because of something sealed in you, I saw hope. Hope to show my worth to you in your moment of weakness.


    But...


    Why do you resist me so?


    Shoo!


    My eyes widened when I felt the surrounding Ki surge around him. He now seemed able to stand the pressure albeit barely.


    Humph.


    ''NOT THIS TIME!'' I roared in my mind.


    I immediately concentrated most of the pressure on where he stood. However, before my attack even arrived...


    *Whoosh!*


    He disappeared from my view, causing my heart to skip a beat.


    "What?"


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are reading and following this novel. Please drop a review so I can know your opinion on the novel so far. Also, add the novel as a favorite if you have not.

 CHAPTER 16: CHALLENGE II

    Arlo knew there was no way he could stand against Tina currently. Just from the other party releasing her innate trait, he was rendered completely powerless to the point that he couldn''t move at all.


    ''How weak.''


    He clenched his fists tightly as desperation welled up within him.


    ''Even if I lose, I mustn''t lose like this.''


    His will surged wildly as he gritted his teeth to the point that his gums bled.


    He willed the surrounding Ki into his body to further boost his physical strength.


    Feeling the surrounding gravity lessen greatly, he took advantage of the sudden opportunity and vanished from the point.


    *Whoosh.*


    ''I must close in if I want to defeat her.'' That was his only thought at the moment.


    However, before he could even close in, he felt a crushing pressure trying to squeeze him to death. Even the ground cracked in its wake.


    ''Shit!''


    Realizing that he would suffer if he continued, he immediately stopped and retreated from the range of her domain.


    He looked at the spot he was at a few moments ago, and he could see that it had caved inward greatly.


    He couldn''t help but furrow his brows as he clenched his fists tightly until they drew blood.


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    ''How can I overcome this?''


    ''Think.''


    After a short moment...


    ''Hmm. What if I try this?''


    *Whoosh.*


    Instead of running head-first into the domain, he ran around it. Seeing the ground entrance of the domain cave in with his movement, he could tell that the other party was strengthening the area where he could enter the domain.


    ''Let''s move even faster.''


    He stopped absorbing the surrounding Ki into his body and concentrated them at his feet.


    *Whoosh.*


    With that, he became far faster as he left dust in his wake. Seeing that the cracking of the ground couldn''t keep up with him, his eyes lit up.


    ''Good.''


    He kept running until he left the cracks far behind.


    Seeing this, he gritted his teeth, ''Even though I can avoid the pressure of her strengthening gravity at an area, the initial gravitational force multiplied by two remains. Nevertheless, if I want to win, this is my only chance.''


    He flashed behind her.


    Then he willed the surrounding Ki into his legs and arms. He bent down with both hands touching the ground as if to start a race, applied force into his legs until the ground below him cracked, and then took off like an arrow shot from a bow into the domain.


    *Boom!*


    All this took a moment and Tina didn''t even have enough time to turn back.


    Like a drill, he forced his way into the gravity domain, the gravitational force not hindering him at all.


    He arrived at her back within three breaths, clenched his right hand into a fist, and hurled it towards her back.


    However, the situation didn''t play out as he had planned.


    ¡­..


    [Tina''s POV]


    "What?"


    He just disappeared, where did he go?


    I couldn''t keep up with his movement at all


    A few moments later, I felt a presence break into the domain from behind me, yet before I could even turn back, I immediately felt a presence at my back.


    ''Shit!''


    I roared out in anger:


    "I SAID NOT THIS TIME!"


    Since I knew I couldn''t react in time, I instantly increased the force of gravity in the domain by three times.


    *Rumble!* the surrounding ground shook greatly.


    Turning back, I saw his body planted face flat on the ground.


    ''Huh, I won?''


    However, as the thought registered in my brain and before I could wallow in my victory...


    Drip! Drip!


    I saw tears streaming down his face.


    "What?"


    ******


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 CHAPTER 17: A TALK WITH DAD III

    Ari looked at the scene before her, and she couldn''t help but blurt out:


    "Wow."


    To be able to contend against a late-stage beginner mage even before awakening, what kind of combat prowess is that?


    She had never heard of such a thing before, not even her master was capable of such a feat. And to her, her master was a god-like existence.


    She was just about to commend them for such a wonderful fight when Arlo rose to his knees, blood dripping down his nose, ears, arms, and feet. It seemed like he had overexerted himself and strained his body.


    However, what really cut her words were the two lines of tears streaming down his face.


    ''Huh? You are crying? You just forced a genius that could dominate most ordinary late-stage beginner mages to the limit yet you are not content?''


    She moved closer to him, wanting to comfort him but the other stood and ran away.


    "Wait..."


    Her call fell on deaf ears.


    "Sigh!"


    ¡­..


    [Tina''s POV]


    ''What happened?''


    ''Why are you crying? Did I use too much force?''


    ''I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to.''


    She stretched her hand out to him wanting to say that out, but the words wouldn''t leave her lips.


    Looking at his bleeding figure, she held onto her arms tightly, tears streaming down her face.


    ''I didn''t mean to hurt you. I just wanted to show you that I am worthy of being your friend.''


    Seeing him run off, she couldn''t hold it any longer and broke down on her knees.


    "wu wuuu..."


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    ¡­..


    It was already nighttime.


    Arlo returned to the area he camped out with his family this morning.


    He would always come here whenever he wanted to be alone.


    Motionless, on his knees, he looked at the two saber marks on the back of his hands.


    He wasn''t sure, but his instinct told him that this mark was the reason why he hadn''t awakened yet.


    ''I''m a genius?''


    ''I lost so pathetically to a mid-stage beginner mage. She didn''t even move at all.''


    ''I had to give my all to the point that I bled yet I still couldn''t touch her once.''


    ''A genius? How pathetic!''


    Tears streamed down his face.


    ''Dad, I have failed you.''


    At first, Arlo loved listening to the tales of his father. However, he didn''t know when they became a shackle. The fear that he won''t become a genius like his father and that he won''t meet his expectations always weighed down on him.


    ¡­..


    Arthur opened the door to his house, but before he could enter, his wife jumped into his embrace, her body trembling slightly.


    "Ar-Arthur, Arlo i-isn''t back yet. I have b-been waiting, but he ha-hasn''t come back."


    She was so anxious to the point that her words were incoherent.


    Arthur immediately rubbed her back to comfort her.


    He spread out his senses and instantly found his son.


    "Don''t worry, he is fine."


    Sigh!


    He couldn''t help but feel sad about Rita''s state.


    ''Arlo has become her weakness.''


    ¡­..


    Arlo didn''t know how much time had passed, but he had already collected himself.


    He sat down and gazed at the bright stars shining in the sky.


    Hearing the sounds of footsteps, he didn''t even bother to turn as he could guess the person.


    Arthur sat beside his son.


    "I want to be alone."


    "Why? Are you ashamed?"


    "Ashamed?"


    Arlo looked at his father gazing back at him, and couldn''t help but feel slightly angry.


    "I mean, a girl whooped your ass, and since you couldn''t go crying to mummy, you came here to cry."


    "You¡­"


    Arlo''s face turned red from shame. He couldn''t retort back though, as what his father said was true.


    "I know you have never cried before, after all, you always say ''shedding tears is for women''." Arlo countered after a brief silence.


    "Don''t try to change the topic."


    Arthur pounced on his son.


    "You... what are you doing?"


    "Since you cry when girls whoop your ass, doesn''t that mean you will go cry to mummy when I whoop it?"


    Arlo raised his hand and grinned slyly at his son.


    "Wa-wait."


    PA!


    "Ah!"


    PA!


    "GET OFF ME!"


    PA! PA! PA!


    A few minutes passed like this, the silence only broken by smacking sounds and the cries of a little boy.


    After a round of intense spanking, Arlo clutched his ass tightly with both hands as he lay on the ground.


    He couldn''t help but feel wronged.


    ''Wuu, Mum, Dad is bullying me.''


    Arthur on the other hand was already sitting back on the ground as he gazed at the sky, lost in thought.


    "You know, I lied to you when I said I have never cried before."


    Arlo was shocked as he sat right back looking at his father''s slightly red eyes. He had never seen such emotion on his father''s face. To him, his father was the greatest of all narcissists.


    "I have cried once before."


    Seemingly realizing something, Arlo voiced out.


    "Is it related to the reason why Mum never uses her power?"


    *****


    AN: Future chapters will be much longer than this. Also, the change in POV will be stopped.


    Thanks for following the story so far. Please leave your review, I would like to know your thoughts on the story.

 CHAPTER 18: LAST NIGHT TOGETHER

    Arthur looked at his son calmly.


    He wanted to encourage his son about his loss, but after a moment, he decided against it.


    Rubbing his son''s head gently, he said to him:


    "Father has lost once before. Let us not lose anymore."


    He removed his hand from his head, and bared his knuckle at him, with a smile on his face.


    Seeing that his father avoided his question, Arlo decided to leave it be.


    Still, looking at his father''s outstretched knuckle, Arlo couldn''t help but feel some emotions well up inside him.


    "Sniff..."


    He slowly knocked his small fist on his father''s and squeezed out a weak...


    "Yes."


    "Let us go home. Your mother is worried about you."


    ¡­..


    Feeling the embrace of his mother, Arlo reprimanded himself in his mind.


    When he came back home, he saw the unveiled face of his mother and he was shocked to the core.


    Her hair was unkempt, and her eyes were red and swollen. He could tell that his mother had cried a lot which caused his heart to tighten in self-reproach.


    "I''m sorry Mum. This won''t happen again." He wondered why his Mum didn''t bother to search for him and why she had been so anxious about his well-being, but looking at her wet face, he discarded those thoughts.


    Rita held her son tightly, afraid that he would leave her. Hearing his words, her mind finally settled down.


    Pulling him from her embrace, she voiced out her worries:


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    "What happened to you? Tell me about it."


    Arlo''s face blushed red.


    ''How can I tell you that I went somewhere to cry because I lost to a girl?''


    Afraid that his father might sell him out, he turned in his direction.


    However, seeing his father calmly make his way to his room, he couldn''t help but feel at ease.


    "Don''t worry mum. I and Dad have settled it."


    "Ah?"


    Rita was left stumped as she gazed at his red-blushed face. However, realizing that her husband and son had some time to bond together, she felt happy at heart.


    "Okay."


    "Have you eaten dinner?"


    "Not yet. However, I''m okay. But you Mum, need to take a bath."


    "Ah?"


    Rita was taken by surprise by her son''s words. Before she could react, Arlo pushed her toward the bathroom.


    "Be fast mum, I will wait for you upstairs."


    Seeing his mum enter the bathroom, he made his way to his Dad.


    A few moments later, Arlo entered his parent''s room.


    His Dad was lying on the bed with his face facing the roof. He laid his head calmly on his hands, and one of his legs was crossed over the other.


    He was left stumped on the spot, as he saw what was in his father''s mouth. It was a stick of broom.


    ''Father, are you a goat?'' Thankfully, those were not the words that came out of his mouth.


    "Hope you will keep what happened today a secret."


    "Which one?"


    Arlo was confused.


    "Which one? Is there any other one?''


    Arthur caught sight of his son''s confusion and decided to clarify.


    "Is it that you cried because of a girl or because I spanked your buttocks?"


    "You¡­"


    Arlo trembled from anger as he held the urge to spear his Dad.


    Gritting his teeth, he replied.


    "Both."


    "Alright. I will take them both to the grave."


    Arlo reflexively relaxed.


    "As long as I am in a good mood," Arthur added


    "You¡­"


    Arlo pointed his trembling finger at his father.


    ¡­..


    Rita entered the room, her hair still soaked. She had a towel draped around her body.


    She saw her husband lying on the bed and her son behind the chair in front of the mirror.


    Looking at this sight, she smiled brightly and made her way toward Arlo.


    Arlo drew the chair out so his mum could sit.


    After his mum sat down comfortably, he took a comb and started dressing her wet hair.


    Rita looked into the mirror and could see the bright smile plastered on her face.


    She felt so gleeful that her son was spoiling her.


    Closing her eyes in satisfaction, she reclined comfortably on the chair.


    Arlo continued to comb his Mum''s golden hair and he couldn''t help but marvel at her beauty.


    ''So this is why I am so devilishly handsome, huh?''


    With that thought in mind, he gazed at his father through the mirror.


    ''He is not so bad either.''


    Looking at the comfortable position of his Dad and the air of arrogance that he seemed to be unconsciously emitting, Arlo could not help but become a bit angry thinking about what happened earlier.


    ''Hmph, let me tease you a little.''


    "Mum, I want to report Dad to you."

 CHAPTER 19: LAST NIGHT TOGETHER II

    "Mum, I want to report Dad to you."


    Rita immediately opened her eyes in surprise.


    Arthur on the other hand showed no movement.


    "Go on," Rita replied calmly.


    "Hmph. Dad, should I talk?"


    "Darling, do you remember me crying when we were small?" Arthur suddenly voiced out.


    Arlo''s movement came to a sudden stop while a look of horror appeared on his face.


    ''I was just playing, alright! There is no need to take things seriously.''


    "Pfft, hahaha!"


    Rita burst out in laughter.


    "Mum!"


    Seeing his mum laugh, Arlo couldn''t help but feel a bit dissatisfied.


    "So-sorry, it''s just that I am happy."


    "Happy?"


    "Yes, seeing you report your Dad, and noticing the way your Dad seems to be threatening you, both of you look more like elder and junior brothers than father and son."


    "Huh?" Arlo couldn''t help but blush.


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    Arthur on the other hand stood up and started walking out of the room.


    "Huh? Someone is feeling shy." Rita giggled.


    Seeing his Dad walk out, Arlo felt he lost to him once again, so he tried to make a comeback.


    "You didn''t cry when you were small, but haven''t you cried once before?"


    Rita''s laughter and Arthur''s movement immediately came to a stop.


    Seeing his mother''s sudden sad face, Arlo realized he said something he shouldn''t have.


    Arthur moved once again and walked out of the room.


    "I''m sorry mum." Arlo felt despondent. He couldn''t believe he hurt his mum twice in the same night.


    "It''s nothing."


    Rita immediately collected herself and quickly held her son''s hand to comfort him.


    "Arlo, your father loves you so much perhaps even more than I do. I know you love him too, I hope you can show him that more often."


    Arlo was a bit surprised by her sudden statement, but he still nodded his head.


    "I will."


    ¡­...


    Arthur walked out of the house.


    A single tear slid down his face.


    ''Mother...''


    A moment later, the sad look on his face disappeared as if it was a lie. He steeled his heart and looked into the distance.


    "Those idiots camped outside a short distance from the village. Do they really think no one can sense them?"


    Arthur shook his head with a wry smile.


    "Even the weakest masters in the village can cover the whole planet with their divine sense."


    ''Wait.'' Arthur suddenly thought of something.


    ''What if I use this opportunity?''


    ''It is less than two months to his birthday and I promised the old fart to enforce the plan before he turns eight. I can make use of this opportunity.''


    ''However, how do I convince Rita?''


    Arthur felt a headache coming on.


    ''I guess I should just show her what she has been asking for.''


    Sigh!


    ''In the end, I still have to lay down my dignity.''


    He wanted to cry but the tears wouldn''t come.


    Like this, the long night slowly passed.


    Early next morning.


    *Booooooooooom!*


    Arlo woke up from the tremors that shook the house.


    "What happened?"


    "Dad? Mum?" he cried out, but no one answered.


    Arlo couldn''t help but grow anxious. He felt like something bad was about to happen.


    He quickly hurried out of the house and then he saw it; he saw his world crumbling before him.


    *****


    AN: Add the novel as a favorite.

 CHAPTER 20: BIRTH OF THE EVIL GOD; DARK LORD I

    While some were about to reach the turning point of their lives, some had already gone through despair as they lost all that they held dear.


    [PAST]


    Dean gazed at the roof of the room. He had been administered to the medical center for three days now. During this period, no one came to visit once.


    As the crown prince of the dark kingdom, he was respected by every member of the royal family and the commoners. Even his father the king, gave him a lot of attention.


    However, it seemed his status had gone completely down the drain after the incident of the Goldsborn''s tournament.


    ¡­..


    Dean entered the royal palace.


    All members of the royal family he came across disregarded him completely, a stark contrast to the attitude he received three days ago. People, whether the royal members or otherwise would always run to greet him and fawn over him.


    What about now?


    Shaking his head slightly, Dean disregarded all the surrounding whispers; the insults, and the mockeries. Even on his way to the palace, people would point at him and whisper things like, ''Look, that is the trash prince that brought shame to the kingdom.''.


    Was he angry at them?


    No, not at all!


    In the dark kingdom, strength was respected above all.


    Hell, he wasn''t even angry with the silver-haired boy who beat him down to such a state.


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    Truth be told, he felt a bit aggrieved. However, that was all.


    In the end, he was weaker than the other party, so he could only suck it up as his fault for being weak.


    At this point, all he wanted to do was to meet his mother. He was a bit confused. Why didn''t his loving mother come to see him? Perhaps something happened to her?


    With that thought in mind, he quickened his step and made haste.


    ...


    Dean entered his mother''s chamber.


    His mother was the favorite concubine of the king. She was even pampered more than the queen herself.


    "Mum?"


    Dean called out lightly.


    *Crash!*


    Dean flinched.


    Before he could observe the entire room, a bottle landed in front of him and broke in contact with the floor.


    Shifting his gaze to the direction the bottle came from, he saw a rather ragged-looking woman. Though she wore expensive accessories and clothing, her current appearance still looked completely ragged. It was obvious she had spent a lot of time immersed in drinking alcohol and it seemed she had equally shed a lot of tears.


    "MOTHER!" Dean screamed.


    Realizing the rather-looking ragged woman was his mum, he quickly made his way to her.


    However...


    *Crash!*


    The sound of another bottle breaking echoed in the room.


    This time, though, it wasn''t because it made contact with the floor but because it collided with Dean''s face.


    Dean''s movement abruptly came to a stop.


    The wine flowed down his face, but he ignored it. Instead, he could feel another liquid flowing down with the wine.


    Touching his forehead, he realized that he was bleeding profusely, blood streaming down both sides of his face.


    He gazed at his bloodied hand, his mind seeming not to have yet registered what just happened.


    "YOU USELESS SON!"


    "DO YOU REALISE YOUR POSITION AS A CROWN PRINCE HAS BEEN RESCINDED?"


    "THE KING HASN''T COME TO MEET ME THESE PAST FEW DAYS!"


    "I WAS ONLY ABLE TO GIVE BIRTH TO YOU BUT THAT WAS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR ME. ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS KEEP PLAYING YOUR ROLE AS A LEGENDARY GENIUS, AS A PRIDED PRINCE OF THE KINGDOM, YET..."


    She pointed her trembling finger at Dean, her words cut briefly as she seemed stumped on what to say. However, it didn''t take long before she continued:


    "WAS THAT SO HARD FOR YOU TO DO? IS IT SO HARD TO GIVE YOUR MOTHER A PEACEFUL LIFE?"


    "YOU ARE USELESS! WORTHLESS! WHAT NEED DO I HAVE OF YOU?"


    Dean was pulled out of his thoughts by his mother''s scream yet it wasn''t long before his eyes became clouded once more.


    A third liquid streamed down his face along with the spilled wine and blood.


    "Mother..."


    It was his tears!

 CHAPTER 21: BIRTH OF THE EVIL GOD; DARK LORD II

    He didn''t mind hearing such words from others.


    He wouldn''t even mind if it was from his father either.


    To him, his mother was his everything.


    However.


    For such words to come from his mother...


    ''It hurts.''


    ''It hurts a lot.''


    Dean clutched his chest, as he found it difficult to breathe, tears heavily falling down his face.


    "Huh?"


    "You are crying?"


    "Are you seriously crying before me?"


    "You ruined everything, yet you are crying?"


    Seemingly now mad, she picked two more bottles and threw them with great force, a bit of her cultivation added behind the throw.


    "GET OUT!"


    *Crash!*


    "I SAID GET OUT!"


    *Crash!*


    His face now bloodied completely with wine, he choked out the word:


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Mo-Moth..."


    "DIDN''T YOU HEAR ME, GET OUT!"


    She picked up another bottle, prepared to throw it, however...


    Dean turned back immediately and quickly scurried out of the room.


    He was barely twelve years old, when had he ever experienced such a thing?


    He ran, he ran more, and he ran yet again.


    His thoughts were muddled as he continued to run.


    His legs seemed to have struck an object, as he stumbled onto the ground.


    Gaining a bit of clarity, he gazed at his surroundings. It was then that he noticed that he was in an empty lot behind the capital city of the kingdom; this lot was a restricted area but at this time he didn''t seem to care.


    He kneeled and roared to the sky with tears streaming down his face like water from a broken dam¡­


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"


    He cried out in his heart. He poured out his pain¡­yet there was no one to console him.


    After crying for eternity, he suddenly put on a craze-filled face.


    ''Why?''


    A couple of images flashed through his mind.


    ''Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?''


    ''I hate myself for being weak.''


    ''I hate them all for treating me in such a way, like a useless log that has served its purpose.''


    Most importantly...


    ''I hate him for ruining me, for messing up my life.''


    ''I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you¡­''


    ¡­..


    [Finally...]


    [I have been searching for a way to draw him to me but to think he would come by himself.]


    [I must not lose this chance.]


    [Now, come to me, my child!]


    ¡­..


    Images continued to flash through his mind, but in the end, they all led to the image of a particular boy; a silver-haired boy of about twelve years old.


    He couldn''t bear feeling this way.


    He couldn''t bear holding all these feelings within.


    Therefore...


    He needed someone to blame, someone to direct all his anger and hatred at.


    He didn''t have to think much before he found that person.


    ''You are the reason I became like this.''


    ''You are the reason Mother now hates me.''


    On the train of his thought, a voice resounded in his head.


    [Child, come!]


    Two simple words, yet they carried a lot of impact as Dean''s mind was thrown into total disarray.


    He momentarily forgot the situation he was in.


    How would you describe this feeling of having a voice directly transmitted into your mind? It could only be described in one word:


    Eerie!


    *****


    AN: Add the novel as a favorite.

 CHAPTER 22: BIRTH OF THE EVIL GOD; DARK LORD III

    Dean studied his surroundings carefully.


    He was at the back of the kingdom. This entire region was a restricted area. He was currently on the large empty expanse connecting the capital of the kingdom to the Wall of Calamity.


    From his current position, he could see the tall wall of calamity seemingly stretching to no end.


    They loomed over the land as if to tell of what is not yet known but to come.


    The kingdom was named the dark kingdom due to the wall of Calamity that the kingdom had been tasked to guard, from an old ancestor several thousand years ago.


    He looked around yet he found no one.


    His face was still messed with the mixture of wine, blood, and tears. Dean was starting to doubt whether he really heard a voice when it happened once more.


    [Child, why do you cry?]


    Confirming that there was indeed a voice, Dean quickly collected himself and opened his mouth to ask the question that was currently plaguing him.


    "Who are you?"


    [...]


    After a moment of silence.


    [I am the ¡­. ¡­]


    "What?"


    Dean could not make head over what the latter said at the end.


    [No matter. Come to me, Child.]


    Dean was just starting to grow cautious. His mind had been telling him to turn around and run back home for dear life. He was just about to respond, when...


    [Do you know about the dark universe?]


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    "The dark universe?"


    Curiosity got the better of him.


    Perhaps he couldn''t react properly because his mind was still muddled from all he experienced earlier in the day.


    As for the real reason, no one knew. However, what he would later realize is that this event would mark the beginning of the greatest curse that he would have to bear for life.


    [That is right.]


    [The mortals seem to lack the knowledge about their home; about how large the world truly is.]


    [Although when thought about properly, it is quite understandable that they lack the knowledge, after all, they lack the means to confirm it.]


    Dean was confused.


    He couldn''t understand what the voice was talking about.


    Seemingly seeing through his confusion, the voice continued to resound in his head:


    [Nine universes make up the mortal plane.]


    [Then there is a higher plane of existence called the realm of the gods.]


    "What?"


    Dean screamed, as his eyes widened like saucers. He momentarily forgot about his condition.


    "Gods exist?"


    However, he didn''t notice that he was making his way toward the wall of calamity.


    [Indeed. From its name, gods only occupy the Realm of Gods; beings born with supreme powers from birth, a power that no mere mortal could ever wield.]


    ''Mere mortal?''


    Dean''s eyes widened further as his mind picked up an underlying meaning behind the information he just received.


    ''Don''t tell me¡­''


    [Among the nine universes occupied by mortals is your dark universe.]


    "Huh?"


    After a few breaths, Dean didn''t hear the voice anymore.


    Dean became stunned on the spot. It was not because of the disappearance of the voice but because he found himself standing before the huge gate of the wall of calamity.


    ''When did I get here?''


    ''How did I get here?''


    At this point, Dean realized that something was very wrong.


    ''Wait.''


    ''This region is a restricted area.''


    ''How could I arrive here without any obstruction?''


    ''How did I even leave through the back gate of the city?''


    ''What about the guards?''


    Previously, his thoughts were cloudy, so he didn''t pay attention to how he could leave the city and arrive at this restricted area.


    When his thoughts arrived at this point¡­


    Dean raised his head and gazed at the top of the wall.


    Even though the walls were huge and tall, Dean was a mage. Willing a bit of mana into his eyes, he could see the top of the wall clearly with his now-enhanced eyes.


    What he saw at the top was...


    Corpses!


    Corpses hung at various places at the top.


    *Ba-dum.* *Ba-dum¡­*


    Shifting his eyes back to the gate in front of him, only now did he notice the bodies of the guards that loitered the ground.


    *Ba-dum.* *Ba-dum.* *Ba-dum.*


    Dean felt his heart speed up. His whole back was already drenched in a cold sweat.


    He reflexively took a step back from the fear he felt.


    However...


    "Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!"


    The tightly shut massive gate slowly opened.

 CHAPTER 23: BIRTH OF THE EVIL GOD; DARK LORD IV

    Rooted on the spot, Dean fixed his eyes on the slowly opening gate.


    After a few moments, the gate opened completely, and what Dean saw left him gasping for breath.


    There was no ground; even with his enhanced vision, Dean could see no bottom.


    All he saw was a dark abyss that seemed to stretch for eternity.


    [Rejoice, child.]


    [You are about to acquire true power. You are about to begin the journey to shed your skin of mortality and ascend into godhood.]


    Dean found his body moving once more toward the abyss.


    The positive aspect was that at least now he could notice his movement.


    However, the only thing this left him was panic.


    [For I have decided to take you as my successor!]


    He crossed the opened gate and stepped into the abyss.


    He thought he would fall yet he didn''t.


    Even though what lay beneath him was empty darkness, he felt like he was still on land.


    He tried to gain control over his body but he couldn''t.


    His body failed to respond to his will.


    He felt so powerless.


    He opened his mouth to speak, wanting to convey his intentions of having no interest in being the so-called successor of whatever inheritance.


    Yet...


    No sound escaped from his mouth.


    ''What is this?''


    ''It is as if this body isn''t mine. All I have left is my consciousness.''


    He was pulled out of his thoughts when black tendrils began to rise from the deep abyss beneath him.


    They all drew towards him from seemingly every direction.


    ''AAAAAAHHHHHHH!''


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    ''SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!''


    He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.


    Having no control over his own body, all Dean could do was continue to watch the black tendrils move closer to him.


    He was engulfed by fear.


    ''Mother.''


    Dean felt so sad.


    ''Why me?''


    ''What did I do to deserve all this?''


    The endless black tendrils clung to him from all directions.


    His entire figure was soon covered.


    He thought he would die, yet...


    << INITIALIZING...>>


    A blue panel appeared in front of his vision.


    It was a stark contrast to the now endless darkness around him.


    << SYSTEM BOOTING FAILED! >>


    << REQUIREMENTS NOT MET. >>


    ''Requirements?''


    ''What is going on?''


    << REQUIREMENT:


    COLLECT SOULS: 27, 436, 850. >>


    ''Huh?''


    Dean''s mind went blank for a second there.


    << LARGE NUMBER OF SOULS DETECTED! >>


    <<COMMENCING SOUL COLLECTION! >>


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 27, 436,255>>


    More messages continued to pop up.


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 27,217,118. >>


    ¡­..


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 13,567,981. >>


    Dean''s mind was still clouded in confusion.


    For some reason, the number kept decreasing at a very fast pace.


    He had a hunch about what might be going on, but he subconsciously refused to believe such a thing.


    He could feel some movements around him.


    It felt like the black tendrils that were clung to him were releasing something.


    However, he couldn''t tell exactly what was going on.


    ¡­..


    The soul count kept decreasing until...


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 100>>


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 0>>


    When the soul count reached zero, a change occurred.


    <<EXCESS SOUL: 1>>


    <<EXCESS SOUL: 79>>


    ¡­..


    <<EXCESS SOUL: 1,234,567>>


    The number finally stopped rising.


    <<STARTING TELEPORTATION PROCESS! >>


    <<COUNTDOWN INITIATED:


    00:59:59>>


    A series of messages continued to flash on the blue panel before him.


    <<SUCESSOR WILL BE TELEPORTED TO THE LAND OF INHERITANCE AT THE END OF THE COUNTDOWN. >>


    <<RESTORING SUCCESSOR''S ABILITY TO MOVE. >>


    Still in his state of confusion, Dean felt the surrounding darkness begin to recede.


    The black tendrils that clung to him began receding into the abyss.


    When the black tendrils retreated completely from view, Dean finally felt the shackles on him broken.


    With the shackles now broken, he regained control over his body.


    He checked his body to see if there was anything amiss, but he didn''t notice any change.


    "What the hell just happened?"


    He gazed at the abyss beneath him and tried to find anything about the place.


    "Hello!"


    He called out.


    ''What about the voice I heard before?''


    "Hello!"


    Turning back, he was about to call out once more, but his voice immediately died down before coming out.


    Focusing his attention on what was outside the gate, he realized that the corpses that loitered the ground were gone.


    What was left of them were empty clothes and...


    Black dust!


    Dean had a premonition.


    *Ba-dum.* *Ba-dum.*


    His heart started beating erratically.


    He took a step forward.


    Two steps.


    Three steps.


    Until he found himself running.


    Coming out of the gate, Dean''s face turned pale.


    What greeted him was silence.


    There was no screeching of birds, no creaking of insects, there was only absolute silence.


    Aside from the silence, there was nothing.


    No grasses in view, no trees.


    There was only black dust.


    They covered the whole ground in his view, giving an impression of death.


    "No!"


    "It can''t be..."


    Tears started streaming down his face as he felt his previous hunch coming true.


    Gazing at the faraway city, Dean raised his legs and ran with all his might.

 CHAPTER 24: BIRTH OF THE EVIL GOD; DARK LORD V

    "Huff huff."


    As he ran, tears never stopped streaming down his face.


    "Please don''t be¡­"


    Sniff!


    ¡­..


    "Huff huff."


    Dean panted as he entered through the gate.


    Entering the city, the sight that greeted him left him retching on the spot.


    He couldn''t believe it.


    No!


    He refused to believe it!


    What entered his vision were empty clothes of varying sizes and different types.


    Men''s clothes, women''s clothes, and children''s clothes.


    What they all had in common was the black dust that filled them up.


    ''These people are all dead?''


    *Wuuaaah!*


    Throwing what little food remained in his stomach, Dean continued to pant for breath, as his heart felt stifled.


    ''I killed them all?''


    Drip! Drip!


    The tears felt endless as they continued falling.


    At this point, his eyes were completely red as if possessed by a demon.


    These were not eyes a child should have.


    It took him no less than thirty minutes to reach the kingdom.


    As if subconsciously realizing that he may not have much time, his legs moved as he made his way to the palace.


    ¡­..


    Dean entered the palace hall, and the sight that greeted him wasn''t any different.


    Ignoring the other clothes that loitered the hall, he moved closer to the throne.


    Arriving in front of the throne, he saw the crown, king''s robes, and black dust resting on it.


    He had hoped that his father wouldn''t die, after all, his father was the strongest in the kingdom.


    However...


    Dean knelt as the tears finally stopped coming.


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    His eyes were already clouded in despair.


    His heart was already riddled with pain.


    He was completely listless.


    He remained on his knees for a few minutes before he rose once more to confirm what he didn''t want to know.


    He made his way to his mother''s chamber.


    ¡­..


    Dean knelt beside the chair he saw his mother sit on this morning.


    The table was still filled with various bottles of wine.


    However, what remained on the chair were empty clothes and black dust.


    Grabbing the empty clothes, Dean pulled them into his embrace.


    "Mother!"


    His head hung down.


    ''I killed everyone.''


    ''I killed my father.''


    ''And I killed ...''


    Drip! Drip!


    The tears that had stopped cascading down his cheeks didn''t return instead what took their place was...


    Blood!


    Dean cried blood as tears!


    He didn''t cry out or wail loudly like a normal twelve-year-old would.


    No!


    He silently cried.


    "Th-this sin is too hea-heavy to bear," he choked out in between the streaming blood.


    There was a rumor.


    In ancient times a grandmaster physician once theorized that if one reaches the very limit one''s mind could bear, if one''s emotional state reaches a certain peak of pain and despair, the eyes would let out blood as tears to depict the emotional damage said person has received.


    Dean couldn''t take it any longer.


    His mind couldn''t bear to shoulder this pain.


    So he lost consciousness as he continued to kneel, blood streaming down his still-opened eyes.


    In his state of unconsciousness, Dean failed to detect the series of messages that were popping up before him.


    << STRONG LIFE FORCES APPROACHING! >>


    <<SPEEDING UP THE TELEPORTATION COUNTDOWN SEQUENCE. >>


    <<TIME REMAINING:


    00:09:46>>


    <<TIME REMAINING:


    00:04:10>>


    ¡­..


    <<TIME REMAINING:


    00:00:00>>


    <<COMMENCING TELEPORTATION>>


    *Zing!*


    ¡­..


    <<TELEPORTATION SUCCESSFUL>>


    ¡­..


    "Father, Mother, there is someone here."


    The voice of a little girl resounded.


    "What?"


    A man''s voice responded, and a series of footsteps soon followed.


    "It is true. There is someone here, let us just ignore him."


    "But husband, he is just a child. How can we leave him in such a condition?"


    "It is dangerous out here. We are about to reach the city. Let us avoid attracting any unnecessary trouble."


    "If it was our daughter lying out here, would you ignore her?"


    "Eh?"


    The man seemed taken by surprise.


    "Father, let us help him!"


    The young girl''s voice echoed out once more.


    "Sigh! Alright."


    "Yay!"


    Even though Dean lost consciousness, he could make out some voices echoing around him.


    ¡­..


    After an unknown period of time, Dean finally opened his eyes.


    His eyes were completely bloodshot.


    He gazed at the roof of what seemed to be a carriage.


    *Whoosh.*


    A little girl''s face suddenly popped out above him.


    "Yay! Big Brother is awake. How do you feel?"


    It seemed as if Dean was looking back at her, however, he wasn''t.


    He was looking at the message before him.


    <<THREE LIFE FORCES DETECTED. >>


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 03>>


    His hand automatically shot up and pierced through the chest of the little girl, bringing her heart out the other side.


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 02>>


    A new message popped up in front of him.


    Dean sat up, his eyes listless but bloodshot.


    He ignored the corpse before him and left the carriage.


    "AHHH!''"


    What immediately followed were cries of pain.


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 00>>


    <<NEW REWARD GENERATED! >>


    <<REWARDS NOT RECEIVED: 03>>


    Dean ignored the messages that appeared before him and continued walking in the direction the carriage was following.


    ¡­..


    A few hours later.


    A big city appeared before him.


    As he gazed at the city before him, a new series of messages popped up in his view.


    <<NEW LIFE FORCES DETECTED! >>


    <<COLLECT SOULS: 56,542>>


    After a few moments passed.


    <<GENERATING TITLE>>


    <<...¡­>>


    <<...¡­.>>


    <<TITLE GENERATED>>


    <<STATUS PAGE


    TITLE: DARK LORD


    LEGACY: TRUE SUCCESSOR OF THE EVIL GOD


    BLOODLINE: UNKNOWN


    TRAITS: SUMMON UNDEAD


    TREE OF YGDRASIL


    UNKNOWN


    STATS:


    Strength: 32


    Agility: 32


    Stamina: 33


    Mana: 90 >>


    ¡­..


    This is the path of Dean, the one true successor of one of the three only sovereign gods; the EVIL GOD!

 CHAPTER 25: ATTACK

    [PRESENT]


    Hearing the sound of battle and feeling the ground greatly tremble, Arlo quickly left the house.


    What greeted him was complete and utter chaos.


    People were running about, children were crying while the adults were shouting.


    Arlo ignored the surrounding situation, as he fixed his gaze on the barrier that surrounded the village.


    The barriers seemed to flicker in and out of existence as if they would seemingly disappear very soon.


    ''What is going on?''


    Arlo immediately made haste to the edge of the village.


    Meanwhile.


    Rita just came out of the barrier that surrounded the village.


    "What the hell are you guys doing?"


    Rita was shocked and speechless on the spot.


    There were varying battles currently going on.


    However, the most impactful of them was the battle at the forefront.


    She looked at how her husband was single-handedly fighting against three people and yet both sides seem to be equal in strength.


    Looking at the other battles, Rita could not help but ask in her mind once more.


    ''What the hell is going on?''


    She ran towards the fight closest to her.


    "Martin" She called out as she stopped a short distance from the battle between the two people.


    The bald man among the two turned to face Rita, yet he continued to clash equally against the other.


    The other man was visibly shocked at this revelation.


    "Martins, what the hell are you people doing? Even the weakest of us could defeat all these enemies combined with just the wave of a hand."


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    "Huh?" Martin, the principal of the training center was left speechless, as he didn''t know what to say.


    After a few moments, while still clashing with the other party, Martin finally responded:


    "You should meet the master."


    After saying that, Martin quickly shifted the battle further away from Rita.


    Looking at the obvious reaction of Martin that seems to say ''Don''t ask me, go ask him.'', Rita stomped her feet in anger and made her way to the battle at the very front.


    ¡­..


    Arlo made his way around the people that were causing chaos. Normally, it would take him less than 30 minutes to make his way from his house to outside the village, but because he was caught in various conflicts and disturbances along the way, even after spending an hour, he had yet to reach the barrier.


    "ARLO!" A sweet voice resounded in the chaotic area.


    Turning his eyes to his side, he could see a beautiful young girl quickly making her way toward him.


    It was the girl he lost to yesterday.


    "Where are you going?" she asked him when she arrived beside him.


    Arlo''s eyes looked conflicted for a few moments, but he still replied:


    "Outside the village."


    "Ou-outside?" Tina exclaimed.


    While others were trying their all to escape the source of the tremors, Arlo on the other hand was trying to go head-on into the battle.


    "However, you sh..."


    "I don''t have time to waste."


    Knowing what she wanted to say, Arlo cut her words short before he continued to make his way outside the village.


    Seeing him leave, she gritted her teeth and quickly chased after him.


    About 30 minutes later, Arlo was a few tens of meters from the barrier.


    He turned around a corner and was about to continue when a figure appeared before him and blocked his path.


    "Teacher Ari!" Arlo called out in surprise.


    "Where are you going?" Ari fixed her eyes on Arlo as she asked calmly, ignoring the other girl tagging along with him.


    "I need to leave," Arlo said with a resolved face.


    "You can''t." Ari refused vehemently, her stance very clear.


    Arlo was at a loss. If she refused to allow him passage, there was nothing he could do. It wasn''t as if he could beat his teacher, right?


    Not to mention he didn''t have the ability in the first place.


    "AAAAAH!" a scream resounded


    Arlo was pulled out of his train of thought when he heard a very familiar voice.


    "MUM!" Arlo screamed with a hoarse voice as tears welled up in his eyes.


    His body subconsciously moved to make haste, but he was still stopped.


    "LEAVE THE WAY!" Arlo shouted angrily, his eyes completely red as he failed to hold back his tears.


    Looking at his anxious and broken-down visage, Ari could not help but feel her heart clench tightly.


    She closed her eyes and turned aside to make way as she let out a defeated...


    "Sigh!"


    ''I will miss you, young master.''


    ¡­..


    A few minutes earlier


    Rita made her way to the most impactful battle, which was the battle between her husband and three other enemies.


    Even from afar, she could see her husband fighting on equal ground with his opponents whose auras were surprisingly the strongest among the invading enemies.


    ''What are you doing Arthur?''


    ''Why are you struggling with such weak people?''


    A few moments later, she arrived near the heated battle. She was just about to call out to Arthur when...


    "AH!" she screamed out in shock.


    A fourth person suddenly appeared behind Arthur, his sword raised and ready to thrust into his back.


    *Whoosh.*


    Rita immediately disappeared from the spot and arrived behind Arthur in an instant to shield him from the attack.

 CHAPTER 26: PAIN

    Arlo left the village, ignored the other battles taking place, and continued to run forward at full speed as he tried to find his mum.


    After a few seconds, he arrived just in time to see his mum shielding his dad from a sword thrust at him.


    "NO!" Arlo screamed in despair.


    However.


    *Whoosh.*


    Arthur turned around in time to shield his wife from the attack instead.


    *Splash!*


    Blood spurted out like water from a fountain.


    Arthur directed a pained smile towards Arlo, as he continued to shield Rita in his embrace.


    He took out a talisman and crushed it. Then, he and Rita became enveloped in a bright brown glow.


    "I''m sorry Arl," Arthur''s guilty voice drifted into Arlo''s ears. "Always remember that we love you..."


    His opponents on the other hand were confused. They were just about to finish the job when a bright brown light immediately surrounded the two.


    No matter what they did, they couldn''t move closer to them.


    Arthur on the other hand ignored them and continued to gaze at his son with a sad smile and pain-filled eyes.


    "Leave!" he waved his hand at Arlo who was being hugged tightly by Tina who stopped him from going any closer.


    Arlo became enshrouded in a silver light then his body started disappearing.


    "NO!" Arlo screamed in despair.


    Tina was also confused as she watched Arlo disappear from her grasp.


    [Old man, it is time to wake up. Don''t forget about the deal and please take care of my son!]


    Arthur sent out a telepathic message as Arlo''s body continued to fade out.


    Arlo on the other hand saw his parent turn to stone before he vanished completely from the place.


    *splash!*


    Arlo fell into a small pond but he was unaware of his surroundings.


    The tears never stopped falling as they rolled down his face.


    "AAAH!" he screamed out in pain as he clutched onto his chest tightly. He could feel his heartbeat slow down and under this effect, he had to gasp and choke underneath his falling tears.


    "Mother," he choked out in between his sobs. It was at this point a voice suddenly resounded in his head.


    [Boy, your parents are not dead. Do not underestimate your father.]


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    Arlo trembled greatly on the spot. He didn''t wonder where the voice came from and only focused on one word.


    "Father!" Arlo shuddered from the immense pain he felt.


    A series of memories flashed in his mind.


    "Genius or not, I will always be proud of you."


    "Would you like to continue training with me?"


    "You know your father loves you so much perhaps even more than I do."


    Recalling how he treated his father these past few years, another emotion flooded his mind and pushed down the pain that was overwhelming him.


    It was immense guilt.


    ''I never told him I love him...''


    ''I always acted like he was a bother.''


    ''I knew he loved me, yet¡­''


    "AAAAH!" Arlo screamed once more before he gathered Ki into his fist and smacked his chest.


    *Bang!*


    He coughed out a mouthful of blood. Ignoring the pain, he gathered Ki into his fist once more before he smacked his chest once again.


    *Bang!*


    And again.


    *Bang!*


    Again.


    *Bang!*


    [ENOUGH!]


    A voice suddenly shouted in his head stopping his suicidal action.


    His mouth was filled with blood.


    It was a very gruesome sight.


    *Whoosh!*


    There was a sudden movement in the lake.


    ]Sigh. [


    ]They must have been attracted by the scent of his blood.[


    ] Seems I will have to act this once.[


    A school of monster fishes that somewhat resembled a piranha but many times larger approached Arlo at a very fast speed, their mouths opened and filled with glistening sharp teeth.


    *Boom!*


    A fearsome aura suddenly exploded from Arlo creating a shockwave that evaporated the lake and everything within a radius of a thousand meters around him.


    The monster fishes were evaporated completely from existence.


    ]Haa! [The voice let out an exasperated sigh.


    ] It''s been a while since I last acted myself. [


    ] Now, how do I wake this boy up? [


    [Do you remember the talisman your father took out?]


    Since he couldn''t speak any sense into him, he decided to take a different approach.


    ''Huh?''


    Sure enough, a bit of clarity returned to Arlo''s eyes.


    [That talisman is called a ''seal'' talisman. Its function is to seal its target for some time, turning them completely into stone structures. When sealed, they can''t receive any form of damage. However, it is as if time itself has been sealed for them, so all their bodily functions are halted.]


    The voice explained slowly as if trying to give him some time to better comprehend his words.


    "Are you saying that they aren''t dead?"


    Arlo asked, his voice tinged with hope.


    [That''s right.]


    After several minutes.


    "HA!" He released a deep breath.


    He could feel all the emotions welling up in his body released in that breath.


    "Thank you," he said.


    He now appeared collected. The tears had seized to fall from his eyes, although his eyes were swollen from tears and the sides of his mouth were still tinged with blood.


    [Don''t mention it.]


    However, the voice''s inner thoughts were completely different.


    ] You sure adapt quickly. [


    "Aren''t they still in a dangerous situation?"


    [I told you that they can''t receive any form of damage in that state.]


    "No, I mean they can''t remain in that state for long, right?"


    [Hmm, that is right. They have about ten years before their body system begins to deteriorate with time.]


    "Then I need to get back to them."


    Arlo stood up abruptly, his body brimming with new energy from the newfound hope he just received.


    However, that hope was crushed not before long.


    [Calm down. Look around you. You have been teleported into a different world.]


    "WHAT?" he screamed out in horror.


    He quickly studied his surroundings, something he ignored due to the situation he was in.


    Sure enough, after looking around, Arlo found himself subconsciously opening his mouth.


    There was nothing around him, though the rocky ground was all cracked.


    The sky was dyed crimson red. It didn''t take him long to know the reason why, as he spotted a crimson sun high up in the sky.


    "What the hell?" he blotted out in shock.


    "Where is this place? It looks like a scene out of hell!"


    [Hahahaha!]


    "Why are you laughing?"


    [It''s because you hit the mark. This world is far more dangerous than your previous world. You had better be careful if not you won''t know how you died.]


    *Gulp!* he swallowed his saliva subconsciously.


    After a while, he realized the problem and quickly asked:


    "How do I return to my parent?"


    [Calm down! ]


    [There is a barrier surrounding this world.]


    "What? Are you saying I am caged in this world and I can''t leave even if I want to?"


    Arlo almost lost his sanity on the spot.

 CHAPTER 27: JOURNEY BEGINS

    He just received hope that his parents were still alive, yet before he could even rejoice, he learned he might not meet again.


    [I told you to relax.]


    As if having the opposite effect, Arlo''s face grew paler instead.


    ] Haa, this boy is a handful.[


    [The barrier surrounding this world is somewhat special as it is a spatial barrier. Unless you are very adept in space laws or you have reached a certain level of cultivation, you won''t be able to leave this world.]


    "So you mean I must be proficient in space laws or have a high cultivation base?"


    [That''s right.]


    ''I have not even awakened my innate trait so I can''t rely on the first method since it''s not sure my element affinity would be space. That leaves me with¡­''


    "How high must my cultivation be?"


    [You must reach the red core stage.]


    "WHAT? That high?"


    Arlo was left speechless.


    ''If I remember correctly, even the strongest masters in the village are red-core mages.''


    ''And I must reach that stage before ten years?''


    A feeling of despair started to well up once more.


    [Don''t underestimate yourself, boy. You are monstrously talented so it might not even take you a year to reach that stage.]


    "Hahaha!" Arlo laughed out, his voice tinged with mockery.


    "How can I be talented when I couldn''t even do anything to help my parents in times of danger? I am just some trash."


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    The old voice didn''t respond to him but Arlo still continued with his words.


    "I am tired of hearing that I am some sort of monstrous genius. Just who are you kidding?"


    [Then let me ask you a question.]


    "Huh?" Arlo was taken by surprise by the sudden reply but before he could say a thing, the voice continued:


    [How old are you?]


    "Seven," he answered subconsciously.


    [Do you think any seven-year-old child can think as you do?]


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    [I am sure you have noticed it too. From a very young age, you have always been smarter than your mates, and at your current age, your thought process even rivals that of an adult.]


    Arlo was speechless, as he had always subconsciously tried to avoid thinking about this point. It always made him feel different from the others.


    [You are different, boy, and you know it. Just wait until you awaken and you will realize just how heaven-defying your very existence is.]


    "Sigh!" He couldn''t renounce any of his words so he would just throw them at the back of his head for now.


    "Speaking of which, I thought I fell inside water when I was teleported but I can''t see anything of such now."


    [...]


    He looked around for a while before he picked a direction and started walking.


    While walking, he continued to gaze at the saber marks at the back of his hands.


    "So you really are the perverted old man."


    [Watch your mouth brat.]


    "Haha." he gave a dry chuckle as he recalled a certain memory.


    Three years ago, the female masters of the village decided to have a joint bath at a spring near the village.


    Around that time, his mates started awakening, so he was a bit downcast. Therefore, his mum decided to bring him to the spring.


    Even though he was smart at that age already, he was still very pure at heart, so seeing some of the most beautiful women alive in their naked state didn''t make him feel a thing. However, that could not be said about others as a voice resounded in his head at that time.


    [WHOAAAAA! WHAT BEAUTIES. LOOK AT THESE WONDROUS ASSETS. ]


    [HAHAHAHA. IT FINALLY PAID TO BE SEALED INSIDE THIS STINKY BRAT. ]


    He was so scared that he almost shit himself. He wanted to ask his mum whether she heard the voice too, but to his surprise, his mum had already started to get undressed.


    He subconsciously knew he had to leave, if not he would regret it so he quickly left the place.


    The women however thought he was too shy to bathe with them, so they just laughed it off.


    Since then no matter what he tried, he didn''t hear the voice again, which made him think it was all his imagination.


    ¡­..


    "So, I have been meaning to ask," Arlo spoke as he walked. If an outsider saw him at the moment, they would think he was mentally ill. Soon, a forest appeared before him.


    [Yes?]


    "What the hell are you?"


    There was a brief period of silence before a reply came...


    [I am an artifact spirit.]

 CHAPTER 28: JOE

    The sky remained crimson red, and there were no visible changes to its color.


    "An artifact spirit?" Arlo continued while walking towards the forest that seemed to stretch with no end. Gazing to his left and right, he couldn''t see the boundary of the forest.


    In addition, the forest had a somewhat eerie atmosphere to it.


    "What? Is that all?"


    [You are too weak to know more.]


    Arlo let out a cold snort.


    After a few minutes, he finally arrived at the forest.


    "I can''t help but have a bad feeling about entering this forest."


    [¡­..]


    "Hey, what do you think?"


    He still didn''t receive a reply.


    After taking a few deep breaths, Arlo finally set foot into the forest.


    Meanwhile, deep within the silent forest dyed with crimson rays of the sun, three adults could be seen chasing after a small boy of about ten years old.


    *Huff.*


    *Huff.*


    The boy ran for dear life.


    He didn''t dare to stare back as fear had already filled his whole body.


    Anymore, and he could be scared to death.


    ''Big sister'' Tears rolled down his face as he recalled his elder sister. He recalled what his sister told him.


    "Joe, our eldest sister has been held captive. I am the only one who can save her. So I need to leave and seek strength."


    Her face was filled with utmost resolve, but small Joe could not understand anything of such.


    "It will be dangerous to stay with me, so you will have to depend on yourself from henceforth."


    Saying so, she turned around and walked away. She gripped her fist tightly until they drew blood, but her step didn''t falter.


    "Big sister," Joe called out.


    "Please don''t leave me." He quickly ran to her and gripped her skirt tightly, refusing to let go.


    Her body trembled when he came in contact with her. She clenched her teeth to steel her resolve.


    She bent her body slightly and held Joe''s hand then she shoved him aside before she quickly sprinted away.


    Joe bruised his hands on impact with the ground, but he still crawled on the ground, his hand raised in her direction as he cried out:


    "BIG SISTER!"


    *WUAAH!* he wailed like a little child, snot and more snot running down his nose until they filled his mouth.


    ¡­..


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    "Boy, stop right now! If not we will punish you greatly before taking you back to the group," one of the men voiced out angrily as his patience was already nearing its limit.


    Joe ran even harder, leaving snot and tears in his wake.


    ''Big sister, save me. I am scared.''


    "Shit. This boy is really from the royal family. He is only a child, yet we still can''t catch up to him," Another one of the pursuers voiced out angrily


    "Maybe we should just attack him. That would make things easier."


    "No, we can''t harm him. He is a royal. If he is damaged in any way, we won''t be able to gain the maximum profit from selling him."


    It was at this time that they heard Joe shout out, his voice clearly filled with hope:


    "Please, save me!"


    "Help me, I beg you."


    The pursuers lifted their head in Joe''s direction just in time to see him embrace a kid who looked younger than him, filling the boy''s shirt with his tears and snot.


    "I beg you. Please save me."


    *Wuaah*


    After a few breaths, the pursuers arrived in front of the two.


    After studying the newly appeared boy, they could not help but exclaim in unison.


    "A HUMAN?"


    .....


    Arlo had already been walking in the forest for about two hours.


    At first, he was a bit enthusiastic as he shifted his head left and right, his mind filled with anticipation about what he would encounter in the forest.


    However, after walking for about two hours, he grew bored of the wide tall trees that were as high as hundreds of meters, and the occasional creaking of insects.


    Besides, he had been trying to start a conversation with the artifact spirit, but the other didn''t respond to him at all.


    Just when he started losing his mind, he felt some movement up ahead.


    Focusing his attention on the front, a small boy who was probably a bit older than him entered his vision.


    A smile automatically adorned his face as he raised his hand to call out to the other.


    However...


    After catching sight of the snot and tears on his face, his raised hand flinched a little.


    He was just about to move aside from the weirdo''s path when...


    *Whoosh.*


    Joe instantly appeared in front of him.


    Arlos'' eyes widened like saucers


    ''Fast...''


    Before he could react, Joe jumped into his embrace like a lifelong friend.


    It was quite comical as Joe was half a head taller than Arlo.


    Feeling his shirt immediately get soaked with Joe''s dirty liquid, Arlo gritted his teeth in anger. He gripped Joe''s shoulder and tried to yank him off his body.


    "Get off, you weirdo!"


    However, Joe held onto him as if his life depended on it.


    "What the hell is wrong with you, Get off me now!"


    "No, please save me. You are the only one who can help me!"


    A fierce glint flashed in Arlo''s eyes. He clutched Joe''s black hair and yanked it back with force as if he wanted to tear it off his head.


    "AAAH!" Joe screamed out in pain.


    "Will you get off me now? Or else I will¡­..AAAH!" Before he could complete his words, Arlo screamed out in pain as Joe''s fingers bore into his shirt and pierced his body.


    "Saviour, you...ah... are the only...ah... one that can save me."


    "You bastard." Arlo almost coughed out blood from anger.


    *Whoosh.*


    Arlo felt more movement as he caught the presence of three more people.


    Releasing Joe''s hair, and ignoring his embrace (which was basically Joe kissing his chest with tears and snot, and his legs dragging on the ground), Arlo focused his gaze on the three new arrivals.


    ''What is this feeling?''


    ''They look human but they don''t feel like one.''


    ''The same applies to him.'' he shifted his gaze down to the embracing Joe briefly before he returned his gaze to the three middle-aged men.


    "A HUMAN!" The man with black hair suddenly said, traces of disbelief visible on his face.


    ''Huh?''


    ''Aren''t they humans?''


    "What is a human doing out here?" another man, this one with yellow hair exclaimed, his body seemingly trembling from excitement.


    "A human has not been seen in years now."


    "HAHAHAHA!" the last man with long brown hair tied into a bun suddenly laughed.


    "Who would have thought this royal brat would lead us to such a treasure."


    The three grinned at him with greedy smiles, their eyes filled with malicious intentions.


    Joe suddenly turned around, with one hand still holding onto Arlo''s back, and the other pointed at the three men.


    "You are still laughing? How long can you keep that up?"


    "Huh?" the three men wore puzzled expressions.


    "Hmph." Joe harrumphed with a displeased expression.


    Using his raised hand, he wiped the majority of tears and snot off his face, before he swiped his hand in their direction, raining a murky liquid formed from the combination of tears and snot on their faces.


    Done with that, he smacked that same hand on Arlos'' chest before he shouted:


    "THIS BROTHER HERE WILL BEAT YOU. SCRAM OUT OF HERE BEFORE I RELEASE HIM BECAUSE ONCE I DO, I CAN''T GUARANTEE YOU WILL KEEP YOUR PATHETIC LITTLE LIVES!"


    *Haa haa,* he panted hard from shouting for too long.


    Meanwhile...


    Arlos'' body trembled greatly.


    ''This bastard wiped his shit on me.''


    However, Joe misunderstood his reaction as he turned to Arlo and flashed him a beautiful smile (although it didn''t really look like one) as he squeezed out the words:


    "Don''t worry. I will set you free soon. By then you can kill them as you like."

 CHAPTER 29: CAPTURED

    The three men simultaneously cleaned their faces with their arms.


    The greedy smiles were already wiped off their faces instead, they now put on gloomy and angry expressions.


    They focused their attention on Arlo and studied him intently.


    After a few moments, Leo, the yellow-haired man voiced out:


    "He is not a mage."


    "Seems so," Dio, the dark-haired man agreed.


    Joe suddenly loosened his grip on Arlo and looked at him with eyes as wide as saucers and filled with horror.


    "You....you...you..." he pointed his trembling finger at Arlo as he mentioned the word ''you'' three times, his mind seemingly not finding the right words to express his inner turmoil.


    After a few moments.


    He turned around and looked at the three men with an aghast look.


    "It seems you bet on the wrong person, brat," Rio, the brown-haired man said mockingly.


    Joe''s complexion paled further upon hearing such words, his teeth chattering from the fear he felt.


    "Huh?" A look of realization suddenly dawned on him.


    The three men were curious about the sudden change, when...


    Joe flashed them an innocent smile that would make the devil look like an angel as he spoke:


    "We were interrupted by this little brat, how about we continue from where we stopped?"


    He didn''t wait for their reply though, as he turned around and...


    *Whoosh.* he ran.


    However...


    *Whoosh.* Dio flashed before him and gripped his hand before pinning him down on the ground.


    "Did you seriously think we would fall for that again?"


    "AH! BIG SISTER, SAVE ME!"


    The other two moved closer to Arlo as Leo voiced out:


    "Don''t make things difficult for yourself, boy. You would only get hurt."


    "Don''t worry, I surrender."


    Surprisingly Arlo raised both hands expressing his intention to surrender.


    "Huh?" Both men were taken aback at first, but soon they laughed out gleefully.


    "HAHAHAHA!"


    "Nice choice."


    "We caught a human and he is a very handsome one at that. I have never seen someone with such an otherworldly appearance."


    "Even I was almost bewitched on the spot," Rio supported.


    "HAHAHA! All the more reason why I am so happy. Even the royal vampires might be interested in him."


    "We have nailed it big this time. The boss will be very happy with us."


    "He will definitely reward us handsomely."


    Arlo''s hands were bound with chains and he was dragged along behind the three men.


    ''Three late-stage beginner mages.''


    ''I can''t fight three of them at once.''


    Turning his eyes beside him, he gazed at Joe with eyes filled with pure hatred.


    ''This little bastard is also a late-stage beginner mage. Even if he couldn''t fight the three, he should at least be capable of escaping.''


    Joe with shoulder-length black hair and contrasting white pupils stretched like that of a reptile was like a glaring eyesore underneath the crimson sky.


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    Joe, as if sensing his gaze, turned his head to the side causing the both of them to lock eyes.


    The silent tears that had been streaming down his face all this while openly came to Arlo''s view.


    When Joe saw Arlo''s anger-filled eyes, he harrumphed in displeasure, "Junior brother, didn''t your mother teach you any manners? How can you look at your elder in such a manner?"


    ''This bastard. From hero to savior, and now to junior brother. He sure knows how to change attitudes like a flipping coin and he even does it with a straight face...''


    "When I saw you, I didn''t even bother to check your aura. After all, with golden hair and silvered eyes, and a face so fair that it almost seemed unreal, you look just like a legendary immortal. But who would have guessed the immortal would turn out to be trash....ah," he let out a tired sigh.


    Arlo clenched his teeth while Joe continued with a lost look on his face almost as if he was recollecting something.


    "Mother always told me to beware of beautiful girls as they are the bitter pitfall of men, however, to think that I would be done in by a beautiful boy..."


    "Mother, this child has failed you." The tears streaming down his face increased in intensity, like water from a broken dam.


    *Snap!*


    Arlo felt something snap within him. For a moment he lost sight of his goal, his parent, and even his currently threatened life. The only thing that filled his vision was the tearful Joe.


    ''I have to kill him.''


    ''He must die by my hands.''


    Unfortunately...


    "SILENCE!" Dio turned around and shouted at them, snapping Arlo out of his suicidal reverie.


    "One more word from you and I will break a limb." After giving a threat, he turned around.


    "Just kill me already. I am already tired of life," Joe suddenly said with his head hung down.


    "I won''t repeat myself. Shut your mouth," Dio threatened once more, his face filled with displeasure.


    Joe abruptly raised his head and looked at Dio with a strange gaze.


    "Are you stupid? You just repeated yourself."


    "That is it. I am breaking your arms." Dio walked toward Joe with a menacing aura around his body and unconcealed killing intent in his eyes.


    "Calm down." Leo''s hand landed on Dio''s shoulder.


    "Even though we now have the human, the royal boy is still valuable to us. We can''t afford to damage him."


    .....


    After walking for about thirty minutes, the group was just about an hour''s walk from the main camp.


    However, Leo who was leading the group suddenly stopped.


    "Can you guys smell that?" Leo asked as he put on a vigilant expression, his body already positioned in a stance ready for a battle.


    "Shit! Seems we have entered someone else''s territory."


    "No need to be scared. There are three of us, we should be able to ward off any opponent. Even if..." Rio''s words were cut short as Leo screamed.


    "SHIT! LOOK UP!"


    Dio and Rio reflexively looked up to see a shadow quickly approaching their position as it leaped from one tree branch to another.


    "Shit! It is a Torkun."


    The Torkun which looked just like a 3m giant ape with sharp bones protruding down its back appeared above them and swung on the branch of the large tree in front of them. It didn''t finish its swing though as when its body was perpendicularly aligned with the branch, it pulled with a great force and the recoiling force immediately propelled it down like a bomb dropped from the sky.


    *ROAR!* It gave a guttural roar, its hands laid out as if it wanted to smash Leo into a meat paste.


    Seeing the Torkun directly plunge at him and estimating that he didn''t have much time to completely transform, Leo quickly transformed his arms as they grew wider with furs covering them and his hands turned into beast claws.


    With that, he braced himself for the impact.


    *Boom!*


    A huge shockwave suddenly spread out from the point of contact, shoving all leaves and branches sprawled on the ground far into the distance.


    "AH!" Joe screamed as he clutched tightly onto a tree.


    The huge trees swayed slightly but after a while, they regained their stillness.


    Arlo on the other hand was pushed back a great distance from the shockwave.


    However nobody cared about him, as Leo''s feet sunk deep into the ground, the Torkun still held in the air with both their hands locked together.


    "Leo!" Dio suddenly screamed out before transforming into a two-meter beast that somewhat resembled a fierce tiger. His mane was black, and his fangs were far longer and sharper than any tiger''s.


    *ROAR!*


    He released a roar before he hurled his huge body at the Torkun.


    *Bang!* The Torkun was sent flying.


    It wasn''t given a rest though as Rio who at some point had similarly transformed into a two meters huge tiger (with two long hair-like structures protruding out the back of its neck) traced the path of the Torkun while it was still in mid-air, ready to attack once it lands on the ground.


    ''This is it.'' Rio thought as he opened his mouth wide and jumped at his prey ready to rip it to pieces.


    However, when the Torkun landed on the ground and was about to roll back from the impact, it immediately shifted its body sideways and swung its hand while it continued its rolling movement.


    *Whimper!* The Torkun''s fist connected with Rio''s Jaw, sending Rio up into the sky with low whimpers escaping his mouth.


    The Torkun on the other hand rolled back for a while before it stabilized itself on the ground.


    "Rio!" Leo and Dio screamed out.


    After a few moments in the air, Rio surprisingly landed back on all four, however, his mouth was covered in blood.


    Seeing this sight, Leo said angrily:


    "Let''s kill this bastard!" He immediately transformed into a huge tiger-like beast, however, unlike the others he was two and a half meters tall.


    *ROOAAAR!* A deep roar escaped his mouth.


    The Torkun on the other hand walked towards a huge tree with his front limbs supporting him just like an ape.


    It plunged its hand into a tree before it yanked out a huge chunk of timber.


    Using his other hand like a knife, it flattened the sides of the timber turning it into a somewhat crude staff.


    The three brothers approached it, their gaze very menacing.


    "A mere peak-stage spiritual beast dares to hurt us?" Leo spat out angrily as they surrounded the Torkun from three directions.


    While all this was happening, the four completely forgot that two other people were present.


    Joe was still clutching tightly onto a tree, his expression one of fear with two lines of tears streaming down his face.


    "Save me, mother...big sister."


    Arlo however was staring at the ongoing fight with a serious gaze. Only one thought crossed his mind:


    ''I need to act now.''

 CHAPTER 30: A TOUGH BATTLE

    *Whoosh.* With one hand holding onto the staff, the Torkun supported its body with its other hand and charged directly at Leo.


    "You guys should support me from the side." Being the strongest among the three, Leo also charged at the Torkun as he decided to attract the aggro. The other two also moved forward although they were a bit slower than Leo.


    A sly glint flashed in the Torkun''s eyes.


    When Leo was closing in on the Torkun, he leaped up, ready to pounce on it.


    However...


    Several branches sprouted from the ground and clutched tightly to his limbs before they yanked him back to the ground.


    Surprisingly, the Torkun didn''t continue its charge at the caught Leo and instead leaped very high into the air in Rio''s direction with the staff raised up high with both of its hands.


    Normally, Rio could erect a stone shield to defend against such an attack, however, because he was caught off guard, he didn''t have time to cast the spell.


    ''Shit!'' That was what passed through his mind before...


    *Bang!* his head was smashed deep into the ground, and a deep gash opened at the top of his head.


    The Torkun raised its staff once more to finish him off when...


    "YOU DARE!" Leo screamed out in anger.


    "Stone spike," Dio called out loudly


    A huge stone spike grew from the ground behind the Torkun before piercing its abdomen.


    *Roar!* the Torkun roared in pain and brought down the raised staff with its left hand while it swung its right hand at the stone spike behind it.


    *Bam!* the spike was smashed into smithereens.


    Before it could let out a relieved breath though, Leo instantly appeared behind it having escaped its plant magic.


    He swiped his huge claw at the Torkun''s back.


    *Spurt!" A huge fountain of blood gushed out as the Torkun was sent flying forward.


    "Are you okay?" Leo quickly asked the rising Rio.


    "No," he whimpered painfully.


    "This is our chance." Leo quickly helped stabilize Rio before he shouted at the approaching Dio:


    "We have to restrain him now!" As if they both understood his words, Dio and Rio''s faces immediately became serious.


    The three shouted simultaneously:


    "Stone hands."


    "Stone hands."


    "Stone hands."


    A pair of sandy hands rose up from the ground before they quickly encircled the still listless Torkun and caged it.


    "NOW!" Leo shouted.


    "Fuse!" the three shouted simultaneously again.


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    The three pairs of hands that held the Torkun suddenly melded before fusing together to form a barrier that covered the entirety of the Torkun''s body except for its head.


    *Roar!* The Torkun let out an angry roar as it tried to escape its constraints with no success.


    The other three didn''t have it easy either as many beads of sweat rolled down their faces before falling on the ground.


    Leo gritted his teeth fiercely.


    He was the only one who could still act as it took a huge amount of concentration to create the ''stone hold''; any mistake and the Torkun could escape.


    Focusing to his very best, he willed the remaining mana in his body and a huge stone spear started taking form above his head.


    After a few moments, he was just about to hurl the stone spear at the Torkun to kill it once and for all when...


    *Whoosh.*


    The four in battle saw something flash before them. They couldn''t see it.


    It wasn''t until what flashed stopped in front of the stone barrier restraining the Torkun that they could make out the figure.


    A golden-haired boy of about 8 years old appeared in their vision.


    ''What the h...'' before they could properly react, the boy threw two punches, and the stone barrier collapsed.


    Leo, Rio, and Dio''s eyes almost popped out of their socket.


    How is that possible? What a peak-beginner spiritual beast could not break, a human with no mana broke it easily.


    It was unfortunate that they were too weak to see what truly happened at that instant.


    Because if they did, they would know that what truly happened was nothing short of heaven-defying.


    It was something that was supposed to be impossible.


    All but one person though, as the artifact spirit saw what happened clearly.


    Even as the supreme treasure of the realm of the gods, the artifact spirit couldn''t stop itself from letting out the words:


    [What the f*ck?]


    .....


    A few moments earlier, Arlo closed his eyes as he recalled his last battle. He had always thought about what he could have done to win against Tina.


    After thinking about it for some time, something finally came to mind.


    It was something purely nonsensical.


    However, if he wanted to become stronger as an unawakened, he had to try it at the very least.


    Previously, in order to maximize his battle prowess, he would concentrate the surrounding Ki on certain parts of his body.


    However, the highest he had ever concentrated at a part was 25%.


    So what if he concentrated 100% of the Ki on only one part?


    How explosive would his battle prowess be?


    There was a shortcoming though.


    If he concentrates all his Ki on one part, the other parts of his body would be no different from a mortal''s.


    And that would be completely inefficient, as he couldn''t single-handedly use only one part of his body in a fight.


    This is where a crazy idea popped up in his head.


    Would it be possible to instantly move the concentrated Ki from one part to another?


    Though the word instant is used, the concentrated Ki will actually be moved in picoseconds rendering the time to displace it negligible.


    To actually move 100% concentrated Ki in mere picoseconds...


    Would it be possible?


    Arlo''s closed eyes snapped open.


    ''I won''t know until I try.''


    His body turned into a black hole sucking in the surrounding Ki.


    Once his body became saturated, he concentrated all the absorbed Ki into his right eye.


    His right eye suddenly erupted with a white light, before the light turned into a whitish smoke.


    His right vision became clearer than ever before as he could now see minute things that could never be picked with the naked eye.


    Focusing his right vision on the stone barrier, he could instantly see the concentration of mana in it.


    "Found it." It didn''t take him long to find out where mana was least concentrated.


    ''Let''s do it!''


    "Haa" He released a light breath.


    He lifted his right leg and stepped forward.


    In the process of his leg stepping down; in a frame where time is slowed by over a million times, the white smoke speedily streaked down his eye to the sore of his right foot, and...


    *Tap.* his right foot landed.


    The result?


    *Bang!* he launched forward like a missile, and with a single step his body covered a distance of twenty meters with dust in his wake.


    His left foot was just about to land on the ground when...


    *Whoosh.*


    Once more, the white smoke streaked through his body like lightning and instantly arrived at the sore of his left foot.


    *Tap.* His left foot landed and once more...


    *Bang!* His body covered another twenty meters.


    *Whoosh.*


    Arlo flashed past the three men and arrived at the restrained Torkun in a mere five breaths.


    When he arrived in front of the spell''s weak point, he simultaneously threw both of his fists in a punch, and in the process, the white smoke streaked from his leg to his right hand before it landed on that weak point.


    Before any sound was even released, the white smoke continuously streaked from his right fist to his left fist before it returned down the same path.


    The result?


    Two hundred punches were thrown out in a mere second.


    However, to the naked eye, only two punches were thrown.


    *Boom!*


    A huge shockwave was generated as the stone barrier instantly shattered into countless pieces like a shattered mirror.


    Watching this breathtaking scene that just played out, the artifact spirit involuntarily let out a...


    [What the fuck?]

 CHAPTER 31: A TOUGH BATTLE II

    The white smoke dissipated from his hand, and Arlo heavily panted for breath.


    His right eye, two feet, and both hands were all completely covered in blood. The others part of his body, though, not as heavily wounded as the others, were still not unscathed. After all, the concentrated Ki had to streak around his body, causing his muscles and blood vessels to split apart.


    The others were all stunned on the spot and even after a few breaths, no one moved.


    Several breaths passed.


    "NO!" Leo suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs as he quickly launched the raised stone spear at the now-freed Torkun.


    *Whoosh.*


    The Torkun slightly shifted its body causing the stone spear to pierce its right chest instead of its heart.


    *Roar!* It released a pained roar; a large-sized hole now present in its right chest.


    Tens of thick long branches erupted from the ground, lashing about within the range of their attack.


    *Bam!* Arlo, Dio, and Rio were sent flying.


    Leo charged at the Torkun, moving around the flying branches with a swift movement, and not before long he flashed in front of the Torkun, his mouth wide open as he pounced at its neck.


    The Torkun quickly raised its right arm to defend.


    *Spurt!* A fountain of blood gushed out.


    *Whoosh* The Torkun''s left fist flashed beside Leo''s beastly head.


    *Bam!*


    Leo''s eyes rolled back into his head for a few breaths, but he still refused to let go.


    "Rio, you help Leo. I will take care of this brat and be right back," Dio shouted at the top of his lungs.


    "Alright," Rio readily agreed as he made his way to support Leo in battle.


    *Whoosh.*


    Dio pounced on Arlo, however, Arlo quickly pulled back.


    "Boy, to think you would be this strong, yet I can''t feel any mana from you," Dio''s voice was filled with curiosity.


    However, he quickly shoved his curiosity to the back of his mind and willed the mana in his beastly body.


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    "Earth shards!"


    Countless particles of sand rose from the ground, joined, and solidified to form small projectiles.


    A determined glint flashed in Arlo''s eyes.


    "Once more!"


    *Whoosh.*


    The surrounding Ki surged wildly into his body and Arlo focused all the accumulated Ki on his heavily injured right foot.


    "GO!" Dio shouted. He sensed a foreboding feeling and immediately launched his spell at Arlo, as he didn''t dare to continue to dawdle. He followed suit to capture Arlo once he had been injured.


    However...


    *Whoosh.*


    Arlo suddenly disappeared from his sight.


    "What?" Dio''s heart skipped a beat.


    .....


    [Arlo''s POV]


    I gazed at the fast-approaching projectiles and the cat-like beast that followed right behind.


    I couldn''t stop a light breath from escaping my lips.


    *Haa.*


    I willed the surrounding Ki into my body and sent them all to my right foot.


    What followed?


    I flashed forward at such a speed that the previously fast-approaching attacks now seemed to move at a tortoise''s pace.


    *Swish!*


    I ignored all the attacking stone fragments, and I arrived right below the head of the sprinting Dio, who in my eyes seemed to be stopped in time.


    In this slowed-down time, I let out a light breath as I bent my knees in a ready-to-jump position.


    *Bang!* With the concentrated Ki on my right foot, I kicked off the ground.


    However...


    In a far slower frame of time, the concentrated Ki streaked through my body, instantly arriving on my left foot, and I kicked off with it as well.


    As a result, what actually echoed out was the sound:


    *Ba-Bang!*


    My body turned into a white blur as I streaked upward like a launched missile, my right knee slamming under Dio''s chin.


    *Craaaaaack!*


    Dio''s neck bent at an unnatural angle and the light of life slowly faded from his eyes.


    Still in mid-air, I back-flipped gracefully and landed back on the ground.


    *PAA!*


    I collapsed on my knees while Dio''s corpse fell to the ground.


    *Haa, haa.*


    My vision became blurry. The pain I felt in my feet was so excruciatingly painful that I almost fainted on the spot.


    A pool of blood was beginning to form below my legs.


    However, before I could recover, an anxious and angry voice resounded:


    "DIO!" Rio suddenly moved away from his battle and charged angrily at me.


    I knew I could not concentrate 100% Ki on one part anymore as my body had reached its limit.


    Therefore, gritting my teeth from the pain, I willed 50% Ki at both feet before I charged in the opposite direction of the approaching Rio.


    "You cannot escape, you little bastard."


    " I will catch you, eat your flesh, and drink your blood."


    ''I am tired.'' I could feel Rio quickly closing on me. As I ran, I left behind two lines of blood in my path.


    I could feel the strength draining from my body.


    A humongous tree appeared before me.


    Gritting my teeth, I ran straight at the tree, with Rio right behind me.


    *Whoosh.*


    I ran atop the tree trunk.


    I could feel Rio pouncing in my direction, so I kicked off the tree and back-flipped above Rio''s wide-opened mouth.


    Looking down from the side of my eyes, I could see Rio''s gaze on me, his mouth catching empty air.


    However, once I reached the back of Rio''s head. I grabbed the two long trails of flesh, drawing them along in my flight.


    When the two long lines of flesh were drawn to the limit, I willed the 50% concentrated Ki at both my feet to my hands, then...


    I yanked on the long lines of flesh, my body propelled forward from the recoil as I turned into a drill.


    *Vruuuuuuu!*


    I drilled into the back of Rio''s neck and out his body, my speed not reduced at all as I drilled into the tree trunk before I finally smashed into the thick soil.


    Rio''s body fell to the ground, his eyes filled with disbelief before every traces of life disappeared from his eyes.


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 CHAPTER 32: A TOUGH BATTLE III

    Arlo laid on the ground as he gazed at the crimson sky.


    A large pool of blood formed around him.


    *Haa, haa.*


    He panted heavily, his eyes a bit blurry.


    ...


    Leo could feel that the life force of his two brothers had completely vanished.


    He gritted his fangs in anger, as his two huge eyes turned blood red.


    A huge claw swiped at the Torkun''s chest sending it flying.


    Even though the Torkun was a peak-beginner mage, the stone spear had heavily injured the Torkun when it broke out of its restraint, so its movement had become sluggish from the blood loss.


    *Whoosh.*


    Instead of finishing off the injured Torkun, Leo dashed at the sprawled-down Arlo.


    ...


    [Arlo''s POV]


    ''I feel weak.''


    I was taken out of my reverie as all the hair on my body stood on end.


    I could feel a life-threatening danger quickly approaching me.


    *Swish!*


    A wide-opened maw flashed instantly above me, about to tear off my neck.


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    Reflexively, I raised my left arm to defend myself.


    *Chump!*


    Massive fangs tore deep into my arm as I felt a heart-tearing pain transmit from my left arm to my brain.


    "AAAAAAAH!" I screamed from the immense pain I felt.


    "Brat, my brothers died because they wanted to capture you alive. If not, would a weakling like you be able to kill them?"


    While he bit into my arm, Leo''s voice drifted into my ears.


    It seems he didn''t notice my battle with Rio and Dio, so he had no idea about my strength.


    "However, you can die now. Because of you, I lost my two brothers. Your death shall placate their souls."


    *Crunch!*


    I could feel my left arm about to be torn off from my body.


    A feeling of unwillingness welled up in me and a glint of madness flashed past my eyes.


    Gathering 50% Ki into my right hand, I sent it smashing to the side of his gigantic face.


    *Bang!*


    Leo''s head was knocked to the side, but he still refused to let go.


    Leo''s eyes were filled with astonishment.


    "This brat¡­"


    He couldn''t finish his words though as my right fist smashed into his face once more.


    *Bang!* His huge eyes rolled back into his head.


    *Bang!*


    *Bang!*


    *Bang!*


    In my fit of madness, Leo''s jaw refused to let go.


    Now realizing how strong I was, his own eyes flashed with madness too, as I could feel his resolve to kill me.


    "Die!" I sent out a fist once more.


    *Bang!* His jaw slackened, but he still refused to let go.


    *Roar!* The Torkun roared out and approached us.


    It gripped Leo''s huge tail and tried to yank him away.


    However...


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed out in utter pain as Leo pulled my left arm along with him. I could feel half my arm detached from my left shoulder.


    As if realizing its mistake, the Torkun stopped its pull, as it wobbled on its feet.


    I could tell it was almost out of gas as even now, the amount of blood it was losing was simply enormous.


    ''I must hurry.''


    Gritting my teeth, I willed 100% percent Ki into my right fist and smashed out for the last time.


    The muscles on my right arm totally split apart, and a rain of blood was released from my arm, pieces of flesh falling off, with hard bones exposed in the open.


    *Baaaaaang!* My right fist smashed into Leo''s left jaw.


    *Crack!* My right hand bent at an unnatural angle as his jaws finally loosened.


    However...


    Four of Leo''s fangs flew off, his eyes rolled back completely into his head. It was evident he fainted from the shock.


    *ROAR!*


    Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Torkun gave one last heroic roar as it grabbed Leo from the back and threw him backward, sending him in a suplex.


    *Bam!*


    Leo landed on his neck.


    *Crack!* His neck snapped at an unnatural angle as he died while he was completely defenseless.


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 CHAPTER 33: MY FIRST FRIEND I

    Three bodies lay on the ground near each other.


    Leo''s corpse was atop the Torkun''s, and there was no movement from the two.


    Arlo on the other hand gasped softly for breath.


    He was completely spent. His right hand was completely crippled while his left arm was riddled with holes. He could feel his life draining away from his body as he continued to gaze at the crimson sky.


    ''Father, mother¡­is this the end?'' Two lines of tears fell down his face.


    ¡­..


    [Joe''s POV]


    I moved far away from the battle. I was petrified on the spot with my mouth hung wide open as I gazed at the corpses that littered the ground.


    ''What the hell?''


    ''He is so young, yet so strong.''


    Seeing that the battle had ended, I wanted to make my way toward the young boy.


    However, I stopped several times. Even from here, I could tell he was fatally injured as the amount of blood that had pooled up under him was simply much.


    ''He will soon die,'' I quickly concluded.


    At this moment, I recalled something very important.


    In all my life, my father had only ever given me two gifts.


    The first gift was a bottle of pills.


    I could still remember what he said when he handed them to me.


    "Son, these pills can save your life even at the brink of death. They are called life pills and they are the only three on this continent. Use them wisely and don''t let anyone know of it, not even your siblings."


    Not hesitating, I fetched out a round silver pill from a small pouch hidden in my pants.


    The one I hung on my waist had already been taken, however, it was just a fake as the main one was kept in the safest place one could ever imagine.


    My pant.


    A rich medicinal fragrance filled the surroundings as I quickly ran towards him.


    Arriving at his location, I found his eyes closed with two lines of tears drying up on his face.


    "BROTHER!" I screamed in panic.


    I quickly took the pill, opened his mouth, and shoved it down his throat.


    Controlling my emotions, I knelt beside him and sent my mana into his body to help absorb the pill.


    After a few minutes.


    His closed eyes trembled slightly, and after some time, they slowly slid open.


    When I saw that the pill really worked, tears of joy streamed down my face as I choked out the words:


    "Brother, I thought I lost you. How could you do this to me?"


    Looking at the stunned expression on his face, I couldn''t help but chuckle inwardly.


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    ''Hehe.''


    ''That is right. You have no choice but to be my brother.''


    ''Hmph. You should be proud, we aren''t even on the same level.''


    ...


    Arlo put on a weird face.


    ''From savior to brother, to junior brother, and now to brother once more. This boy really is shameless.''


    However, he also felt gratitude.


    "Thank you." He could feel his body rapidly healing. His crippled hand and injured veins were being restored rapidly.


    "There is no need for such words between brothers."


    "When did I become your brother?"


    Joe thickened his skin and replied:


    "Immediately when I saw you, I felt some kind of bloodline connection between us. It was almost as if we were meant to¡­"


    *Spu...*


    Arlo shifted his head to the side and spat out.


    "Your shamelessness really has no bounds."


    Joe''s face turned a red shade. Even with his thick skin, he couldn''t help but feel a bit embarrassed.


    "You should leave." Arlo suddenly said.


    "Huh?" Joe was perplexed about why he would suddenly send him away.


    "Those three said there is a camp of theirs near here. The fight just now must have created a huge ruckus in this silent forest. So you should leave before they come here to investigate," said Arlo.


    "What about you?" Joe asked.


    "Though whatever you gave me healed my injury, I still feel exhausted and I can barely move my body."


    "Huh?" Joe looked at Arlo with a strange expression.


    "Why are you looking at me like that?" said Arlo, his voice cold.


    "Why didn''t you ask me to carry you along?"


    Without waiting for him to reply, Joe lifted Arlo and tried to carry him on his back.


    "Hey hey, why do you keep holding my butt?" asked Arlo his voice tinged with fear.


    "Hehe, don''t worry about it. I will be gentle."


    "You¡­"


    Two little boys less than ten years of age were entangled together in the silent forest, with corpses around them...


    ¡­..


    Two hours later.


    Joe carried Arlo on his back as they both moved in the direction from which Arlo entered the forest.


    Arlo had his eyes closed all this time, but suddenly his eyes flashed open.


    "I can sense a presence."


    Sure enough, before Joe could even reply...


    *Whoosh.* the wind whistled.


    An old man with a white beard and hunched back suddenly appeared in front of them.


    "Stop!" The old man said, his eyes flashing with killing intent.


    Joe had no choice but to stop.


    What was surprising was that the old man said nothing else and simply waited.


    Joe''s forehead soon became covered with sweat.


    After about five minutes.


    Joe turned his head back as he felt some movement behind them.


    A group of eight people appeared before them.


    A tall middle-aged man was leading the group while a huge man of about 2m was pulling a wooden cart behind the group.


    Focusing his gaze on what the man was drawing, Joe couldn''t help but gulp nervously.


    Atop the wooden cart were three bodies. Both Joe and Arlo recognized these bodies as they belonged to Leo, Dio, and Rio.


    "Sure enough. You both know what happened to them." The middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader of the group said as he stopped in front of Joe.


    "Speak."


    "Who killed my brothers?" asked the leader, his voice dripping with killing intent.


    Joe didn''t hesitate at all as he answered:


    "It was the Torkun."


    *PAA!* A resounding slap echoed out.


    Joe was sent flying, along with Arlo who was on his back.


    A scorching red handprint appeared on Joe''s face, and two of his teeth were knocked out as blood dripped down the corners of his mouth.


    Joe''s eyes involuntarily welled up with tears.


    This kind of pain was simply unbearable for him.


    "Don''t try my patience, brat." The leader asked again as he moved closer to the two.


    Arlo sighed.


    He was just about to open his mouth to confess he was the one who did it. But...


    "Little brother, be-believe in me." Joe suddenly said to him, as he flashed him a confident smile.


    However, the smile didn''t look so confident as two dams of tears had already broken down his face.


    "Oh!" The leader suddenly exclaimed. He didn''t even glance at Arlo from the beginning.


    Now that he did, he could sense that the aura around Arlo was strangely different. It didn''t take him long though, to realize why it was different and he suddenly exclaimed.


    "A HUMAN!" The leader''s eyes became filled with greed, the killing intent now seemed to have disappeared.


    "What?" The others were suddenly startled.


    The old man along with the others quickly fixed their eyes on Arlo.


    "He really is!" the old man exclaimed, his eyes also filled with greed. He didn''t bother to observe the duo at first as he found it beneath him.


    The leader coughed and collected himself as he returned his gaze to Joe. Now, Joe didn''t seem that important to him.


    "Max, come draw out the truth from this brat. If he doesn''t speak, you know what to do, right?" The leader suddenly said as he turned to the back of the group.


    The huge man pulling the cart suddenly let it down and cracked his hands while walking towards Joe.


    "Don''t worry, boss. I will handle it."


    Looking at the man with bulging muscles and scars across his face, Joe''s legs continuously wobbled on the ground.


    "Joe..." Arlo said.


    "Don''t wo-worry about me. I may be a we-weakling but I am still a royal." Joe smacked his chest confidently, his legs shaking intensely and tears streaming down his face.


    Suddenly...


    *ROAR!*


    *ROOAR!*


    *ROOOAR!*


    Angry roars shook the entire forest, the last especially sounding majestic.

 CHAPTER 34: GROUP CHASE

    Many roars echoed within the forest.


    "TORKUNS!" A woman in the group let out a shrill scream, her face covered in panic.


    "Humph. They are just apes." The leader scoffed as he released his aura.


    *Boom!* the ground beneath his feet cracked.


    Joe and Arlo''s pupils turned into thin slits as they both spoke out simultaneously:


    "A mid-stage advanced mage."


    That wasn''t all though, as the old man also walked beside the leader, his aura also exploding out.


    "An early-stage advanced mage." Joe fell on his rear in horror as he kept muttering:


    "We are finished¡­we are finished¡­we are finished..."


    Arlo on the other hand quickly regained his calm. However, a grave expression remained on his face.


    ''There is no way we can escape from this group.'' They both simultaneously came to this conclusion.


    *Whoosh.*


    *Whoosh.*


    The wind whistled loudly.


    The whole group simultaneously raised their heads to gaze at the top branches of the faraway trees.


    Tens of Torkuns were jumping toward them as they let out angry roars.


    "Humph." the leader still remained unfazed at this sight when suddenly...


    A Torkun roaring at the group suddenly had its head forced down by a huge hand from behind it.


    A huge monster about 5m high appeared behind the Torkun, the bone spikes on his back reaching up to his head to form some kind of bone crown.


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    It opened its huge mouth and let out a deep roar:


    *ROOOOOAR!*


    The leader''s expression finally changed as the aura around this monster didn''t pale in comparison to his at all.


    In response to this deep roar, three angry roars echoed out from three different directions of the marching Torkuns.


    *ROOOAR!*


    *ROOOAR!*


    *ROOOAR!*


    Three Torkuns of about 4m high appeared amongst the group.


    Finally, the leader''s face became completely pale, and he screamed at the top of his lungs:


    "RUN!"


    He didn''t wait for the others as he immediately turned around and grabbed both Joe and Arlo under both his armpits, and sped off into the distance.


    The others finally regained their bearing, and they immediately ran for dear life.


    What was surprising was that the wooden cart was left behind.


    Poor brothers...


    ¡­..


    The leader and the old man ran out of the forest.


    It wasn''t even up to five breaths later that four enormous Torkuns appeared at the edge of the forest and let out angry roars at the fleeing duo; if Joe and Arlo are not counted.


    Surprisingly, the Torkuns just continued to let out roars, but they didn''t leave the forest.


    After covering a distance of thousands of meters from the forest, the duo finally stopped.


    The leader''s face was pale, and his expression was unsightly.


    Every member of his group aside from him and the old man had perished in that forest.


    In his anger, he threw Arlo and Joe roughly on the ground.


    He was just about to let out a bit of his anger on these two little brats when the old man beside him suddenly said with a trembling voice.


    "Lea-leader, all our food rations and water were with Max."


    The leader stood stunned on the spot before he let out an angry roar at the crimson sky.


    "AAAAAH!"


    After a while, something suddenly flashed in the mind of the old man.


    "Leader, shouldn''t there be a small pond not far from the forest?"


    "Huh?" the leader was stunned once more for a while before he suddenly spoke in a hopeful voice:


    "Yes, yes. There should be one, and it shouldn''t be that far. At most, it would take an hour to walk there." He let out a breath of relief.


    Looking at the endless red plain before them that was devoid of any life, he didn''t dare imagine how they would survive with no food and water especially after they used up most of their energy to escape from the Torkuns.


    Turning his eyes to the little brats, he thought in his mind:


    ''We can''t eat these brats, they are our life fortune, especially the human.''


    They were at the edge of the central continent and it would take them three days to reach the northern continent ruled by the royal vampires.


    Thinking of the fortune he would soon receive, an expectant smile appeared on his face as he said:


    "Let us find that lake first before we go to the northern continent."


    Both Arlo and Joe''s bodies trembled heavily. Though it was for different reasons, their faces both became pale as they thought silently:


    ''Hope it is not that lake.''


    ''The nor-northern continent? We are doomed!''


    AN: Add the novel as a favorite and drop a review if possible. Thanks.

 CHAPTER 35: TO THE NORTHERN CONTINENT

    Four days later.


    A man walked on the red endless plains with two kids following behind him.


    This man was surprisingly the leader, and he looked quite different from how he did four days ago.


    His hair was messy, his lips cracked, his face pale and his eyes were blood red.


    Arlo and Joe weren''t faring better than him.


    Four days ago, they wandered in search of the pond, however, they couldn''t find it. In fact, there was no trace of such a pond in these red rocky plains.


    After searching for an entire day, they gave up on their search for the pond and continued their journey to the northern continent.


    However, two days ago, the old man could not bear the hunger anymore and he proposed to the leader:


    "We should eat these brats, if we don''t, we will die."


    "But we need to sell them."


    "What is the use of money if we are not alive to enjoy it?" the old man tried to persuade him, but in the end the leader refused.


    Later that evening, the old man couldn''t bear it any longer and abruptly attacked Joe, after all the leader wouldn''t really punish him after the deed was done. Instead, he would join in the meal.


    However, who would have thought that the leader already expected such a thing to happen? Before the old man could even reach Joe, a hand pierced his heart from behind instantly killing him.


    Now, after two days, the leader, Arlo, and Joe continued to walk toward the northern continent.


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    Arlo and Joe followed behind the leader obediently as any thought of escape was already thrown far behind them.


    The leader only gave them one threat, "Run and I will eat you.", his eyes crimson red from hunger.


    Both Arlo and Joe didn''t dare to test the waters, so they followed obediently.


    ¡­..


    Later that evening, the endless plains finally came to an end before them and what entered their vision was a dark veil that connected the earth and the sky.


    Looking both left and right, Arlo could see that the dark veil stretched endlessly into the distance as if it had no end.


    They could not see anything beyond the dark veil.


    "HAHAHAHA!"


    "Finally, the northern continent."


    The leader turned to both Arlo and Joe and pushed them to the front, his meaning very clear.


    Looking at Joe''s trembling figure, Arlo could not help but become confused.


    ''Is this veil really scary?''


    Raising his hand, he placed it on the veil and...


    His hand was sucked into the veil.


    "AAA.." Arlo screamed in panic but his scream was cut short as his entire body was sucked into the dark veil.


    ¡­..


    Immediately when Arlo was sucked into the veil.


    At the top of a tall dark mountain that pierced into the dark clouds deep within the northern continent...


    A tall figure sat in meditation with her legs crossed.


    Suddenly, her eyes flashed wide open, revealing an enchanting ruby iris containing a dark slit pupil.


    "This aura¡­" her body trembled greatly.


    Then, she vanished from the spot.


    ¡­..


    Arlo found himself in endless darkness.


    At first, he was scared shitless, but he soon collected himself after a short while.


    He concentrated Ki in his eyes, and his vision became a bit clearer.


    "THIS!" however what he saw left him speechless.


    He saw an endless expanse filled with grasses. However, there was no sun. In fact, there was no source of light in the sky.


    There was only darkness.


    Looking far into the distance, a small fort appeared in his vision. However, there was still no source of light.


    What flabbergasted him even more, was how there were plants in this kind of place.


    However, he soon noticed that the plants weren''t the normal green, but black.


    He didn''t know the principle behind all this.


    He suddenly felt movement behind him so he turned around.


    Sure enough, Joe and the leader appeared together.


    The instant Joe appeared, he miserably fell and shivered on the ground.


    "Please, don''t do this to me...please don''t do this to me," he kept muttering.


    Arlo was just about to go see what was wrong with him when...


    "THIS HUMBLE SERVANT REQUESTS YOUR PRESENCE!" the leader suddenly shouted.

 CHAPTER 36: MEETING SCARLETT

    Arlo was perplexed about why the leader would suddenly shout, after all, there was no one before them.


    It didn''t take him long to realize why.


    A cloud of darkness suddenly streaked from afar toward them. From the direction it came from, Arlo could tell it was coming from the faraway fort.


    In a mere instant, the cloud of darkness arrived before them.


    ''What?'' Arlo screamed in his mind.


    ''Fast!'' He looked intently at the cloud of darkness on the ground before them.


    *Whoosh.*


    The cloud of darkness roiled about for a moment before a figure swished out from within it.


    Arlo stumbled back a few steps from the sudden emergence of the man.


    The man before him was adorned in black armor, and he held a black spear in his right hand.


    Arlo''s eyes widened slightly.


    ''How handsome!'' Aside from his dad, this was the most handsome man he had ever seen.


    His hair was stunning black with a few streaks of white mixed within it. His iris was black, however, his pupil was a thin black slit. Most importantly, his skin was pale white, and he looked like a person who already had one foot in the grave.


    "Speak." The man said.


    "Yes." The leader affirmed respectfully, his waist bent forward in a bow.


    "I am here to sell a royal from the central continent," the leader continued as he pointed a finger at the trembling Joe who was still on the ground.


    "Oh!" A look of interest appeared on the man''s face.


    "Hehe, that is not all. I am also here to sell a human," said the leader, as he pointed his finger this time at the standing Arlo, his trembling finger betraying the excitement he was feeling.


    "WHAT?" sure enough, the man let out a small scream. He quickly focused his entire attention on Arlo.


    After three breaths.


    "A Human!" he said, as he felt his heart thumping faster. His black eyes suddenly turned scarlet red, and two long fangs protruded down from his mouth.


    Looking at the sudden transformation of the man, and his fiery gaze on him, Arlo''s scalp turned numb. His body turned cold, and he felt a primal fear well up within him.


    However...


    "Be still!" a feminine voice suddenly resounded.


    Hearing that voice, the black armored man suddenly fell with his head kissing the ground as he voiced out respectfully:


    "MY LIEGE!"


    Arlo looked above him and he saw a woman standing in the air.


    *Gasp* Arlo gasped softly as this was the first he saw someone flying.


    He focused his vision on her and was shocked once more.


    This woman was tall, too tall. Arlo could not tell her exact height but he could swear she was above 3m.


    What shocked him however wasn''t her height, it was her appearance.


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    This woman was simply beautiful. She fell just a little short of his mum.


    She had long snow-white hair that cascaded like a waterfall down her back. Her eyes were ruby red, and her pupils were red long slits. Her eyes were simply enchanting to look at.


    Moreover, just like the armored man, her skin was pale white, however, unlike the armored man, it didn''t make her look like she was sick but added to her natural beauty.


    "Huh?" Arlo was suddenly perplexed.


    He was shocked to see that the woman was looking at him with two contradicting emotions flashing in her eyes.


    He could recognize one emotion as his mother was the only one who looked at him like that. It was familial love!


    The second emotion however was hatred. She looked at him as if he had stolen the most important thing in her life.


    This continued for several breaths.


    ¡­..


    ''This aura.''


    ''He really is the one,'' Scarlett thought to herself.


    Her body trembled slightly from the myriad of emotions welling up within her.


    Joy.


    Anger.


    Pain.


    Grievance.


    After a while, she collected herself and said a single word.


    "Leave."


    "YES, MY LIEGE!" the armored man voiced out before he morphed back into a cloud of darkness and streaked into the distance.


    Only now did Arlo realize that at some point, both Joe and the leader had lost consciousness as they both lay on the ground.


    However, for some reason, he didn''t panic.


    He felt some form of cordiality with this grand woman in front of him.


    A few minutes passed, however, neither of them said a thing.


    Arlo waited for her to initiate a conversation while Scarlett just continued to gaze at Arlo, seemingly without any intention to talk.


    After a while, Scarlett closed her eyes.


    "Huh?" Arlo was a bit stumped on the spot but he still decided to hold his tongue.


    What he didn''t know was that Scarlett was actually communicating with her subjects.


    "My children!" Scarlett sent out telepathically.


    "OUR LIEGE!" Tens of thousands of vampires from across the northern and eastern continents responded respectfully.


    "NONE SHALL DRINK FROM THIS CHILD''S BLOOD!" continued Scarlett, with a warning tone in her voice.


    An image of Arlo was imprinted directly into the mind of every vampire in this world.


    "YES!" they all responded respectfully once more.


    Scarlett cut off her connection to all her subjects; all but one.


    "Grandma!" a cold voice echoed out in Scarlett''s mind.


    Focusing on her connection with the snow-white-haired girl of about ten years old with a cold temperament that didn''t match her age, Scarlett replied in a gentle voice:


    "Yes?"


    "You have been in seclusion for more than two years now, however, you suddenly appeared because of him. Who is he for you to act in such a way?" the little girl asked in confusion.


    Scarlett didn''t reply for about two minutes, however, the little girl didn''t pester her and simply waited for her reply.


    After a short while, Scarlett finally spoke:


    "Find out yourself." She didn''t wait for her granddaughter''s reply and immediately cut the connection between them.


    Scarlett opened her eyes, and she fixed her gaze on the still-waiting Arlo.


    "Count Vlad!" her voice echoed out.


    *Whoosh!*


    Unlike the armored man that appeared from a cloud of darkness from the ground, a dark smoke fell from the sky and a middle-aged man adorned in a black robe that covered all his features apart from his head kneeled beside Scarlett.


    "MY LIEGE!" he said respectfully.


    Arlo almost fell on his butt from the appearance of this man.


    Since only the head of this man was visible, Arlo inspected him in curiosity.


    Long silky black hair that fell down his back, with several streaks of white mixed within. Just like the armored man, his face was very pale, however, he was far more handsome than the former.


    "Take this boy with you. No need to give him any preferential treatment. Treat him as you would any human," said Scarlett.


    Count Vlad flashed in front of Arlo, his hand stretched out toward him.


    "WAIT!" Arlo shouted quickly as he took a few steps back.


    Count Vlad frowned, then snorted as his hand once more moved to grasp Arlo.


    However...


    "Wait!" Scarlett voiced out lightly.


    Count Vlad immediately came to a stop, and responded, "Yes my liege."


    Scarlett looked at Arlo, her intention very clear.


    "Thank you."


    "Please, can I bring him along with me?" Arlo pointed at the fainted Joe.


    Scarlett didn''t shift her gaze to the direction he was pointing at and simply spoke one word:


    "Why?"


    "He is the first friend I have ever made," Arlo implored her.


    Scarlett looked at him for a short while before she shifted her gaze to Count Vlad and nodded her head.


    "YES!" Vlad bowed respectfully.


    A thick cloud of darkness extended from him toward Arlo and Joe and then the three of them vanished from the spot.


    "Count Aizen!" Scarlett called out.


    *Whoosh.*


    A man appeared beside her and bowed respectfully.


    "Handle him." She waved her hand at the fainted leader, and she turned around, about to leave.


    "My liege, how much should I give him?" Aizen asked this question as the boy this man brought seemed to be important to his Liege, and he wasn''t sure how to reward him.


    Scarlett turned back, her face cold as she asked with an icy voice:


    "He laid his hand on my young master, and you wish to reward him?"


    Count Aizen upon seeing Scarlett''s glare immediately fell and prostrated with his face kissing the ground:


    "I don''t dare. I don''t dare." He repeated twice as his body trembled from fear.


    "Humph." Scarlett harrumphed in displeasure, and then she immediately disappeared.


    Only two words kept echoing in the mind of the still-prostrated Count.


    ''Young master?''


    AN: Thanks to all those following the novel.

 CHAPTER 37: RITAS FURY

    Meanwhile, back in Arlo''s home world.


    Immediately after Arlo disappeared.


    "Huh?" the fourth invader that stabbed Arthur was confused by the turn of events. At this point, they didn''t know what was going on anymore.


    They were the hegemony of this world. There had been rumors that there was a small village that was being occupied by several masters.


    To nip this problem in the bud, they ultimately decided to destroy the village. However, they didn''t dare to be complacent and sent their strongest masters including their king who was acclaimed to be unrivaled in the world.


    However, since they started this mission, they had always had this feeling that they were playing into someone else''s hands. As if they were pawns.


    "What the hell is going on?" the newly appeared fourth person asked the original three who were fighting against Arthur.


    "How the hell should I know?" a middle-aged man in golden armor voiced out grumpily. He was their king, the acclaimed strongest fighter of this world, yet he had to join with his two strongest commanders to face off against Arthur and they were still on the defensive.


    So right now, he was pissed off. He just didn''t have a place to vent his anger.


    The fourth man shut his lips and didn''t dare to talk anymore.


    *Crack!*


    The four of them simultaneously turned to where the sound came from.


    The stone statue of Arthur and Rita cracked and not before long...


    *Boom!*


    They exploded into pieces.


    Two figures appeared before them. Their eyes almost popped out of their sockets when they identified the two figures.


    Arthur smiled bitterly as he looked at the still Rita who had her eyes fixed on the bloodstain on Arthur''s shirt.


    "I can explain," Arthur whispered.


    "What the hell is going on?" The king of the invaders voiced out in confusion. He didn''t understand what was going on.


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    Arthur''s brow furrowed tightly.


    He waved his hand.


    "Huh?"


    That was the last thought that went through the king and all his people before they were forever expelled into the void.


    They would roam the endless void either until they died of old age or get killed by the vicious space turbulences.


    All by the mere wave of a hand.


    He didn''t even look in their direction.


    Martin and all the village masters quickly scurried away, as they were too scared to bear the brunt of Rita''s fury.


    Ari appeared beside the stunned Tina, grabbed her, and quickly made her way toward the village.


    "Rita, please let me explain," said Arthur as he raised his hand to soothe the listless Rita.


    "AH!" Rita suddenly jumped on Arthur with both her legs wrapped around his waist.


    She raised both her hands and smashed them continuously on Arthurs'' shoulder.


    Arthur didn''t resist at all and received all of her attacks.


    After a while, Rita changed her attack method and started pulling tightly on Arthur''s hair.


    "AAAH!" She screamed out in frustration.


    She could guess what had just happened. She knew this day was coming, however, she thought she would face it head-on.


    To think Arthur would implement the plan without her consent.


    She felt so angry!


    She raised her head and bit Arthur''s left shoulder.


    After a short while, Rita raised her head and whispered dejectedly:


    "You did it again!"


    Arthur''s body trembled greatly after hearing her words. He felt his heart tighten from pain and his calm expression crumpled into sadness.


    Realizing what she had just said, Rita broke down completely in tears.


    "I didn''t mean that. My mind was a bit clouded¡­I''m sorry¡­I really didn''t mean¡­"


    "I know. It''s okay," Arthur patted her on the back and whispered softly into her left ear.


    She released her legs from his waist and fell into his embrace as she cried her heart out.


    ¡­..


    After a while, Rita collected herself.


    However, she still remained in Arthur''s embrace and they both continued to stand on the spot.


    She suddenly thought of something, and a sly glint flashed past her eyes.


    "I forgive you. I understand why you acted in such a way," Rita suddenly said.


    Arthur tightened his arms on her delicate waist, as he said gratefully:


    "Thank you."


    "However, you have to show me that thing."


    Arthur''s expression suddenly stiffened, and his face turned black immediately after.


    After a short while, he released a dejected sigh and accepted his fate.


    He knew this would happen.


    However, he still hoped it wouldn''t.


    Alas!


    "Okay," he said with a hoarse voice.


    "Humph, you had better." Even though she said such words, her sumptuous lips still arched upward into a beautiful smile.


    ¡­..


    Rita sat on the bed,


    With an excited expression, she hurried Arthur to act.


    "Be fast!:


    "What are you waiting for?"


    "Where would you like to start?" Arthur asked with a wry smile on his face.


    Rita thought for a moment before she clapped both her hands together.


    "Why don''t we start from where you stopped telling little Arl."


    ''Fuck you, Karmic god! I will make you pay for this, goddammit!''


    With a defeated sigh, Arthur pressed the forefinger and middle finger of his right hand on his forehead.


    With a pull, a wave of spiritual energy was released from his head.


    After executing a special technique, his spiritual energy turned into a screen and a series of images started flashing on it.


    Rita''s eyes flashed with excitement as she waved her hand at Arthur, beckoning him to leave, her entire focus on the screen before her.


    Arthur on the other hand left the room with a dispirited heart.

 CHAPTER 38: Tibu

    A cloud of darkness descended from the sky.


    Vlad, Arlo, and Joe appeared in an estate.


    ''I can''t see anything.'' Arlo thought as he felt his heart clench.


    The darkness here was several times thicker than in the region close to the dark veil.


    Even after willing 25% ki in both eyes, Arlo could not see a thing.


    *Whoosh.*


    His eyes released a white glow. He had concentrated 50% Ki into his eyes.


    However, even though he could now see around him, he couldn''t see farther than two meters around him.


    Not only that, two lines of blood streamed down his face. Concentrating 50% Ki in both eyes was simply too much for him to handle. He couldn''t keep it up for long.


    The white glow released from his eyes suddenly died down.


    ''I can''t see anything.'' He raised his hand in front of him, and he couldn''t see it.


    All around him was pitch-black darkness.


    It was an eerie feeling.


    Arlo didn''t panic, though.


    From how Scarlett interacted with him, he could tell she had no bad intentions toward him. Moreover, she looked like a big shot among the vampires, so he should be safe for now.


    What Arlo didn''t know was that Scarlett wasn''t just a big shot among vampires, she was the progenitor of all vampires in existence.


    Vlad gazed at the little performance Arlo just displayed.


    A hint of surprise flashed briefly in his eyes.


    He could tell that Arlo wasn''t awakened, yet it seemed he could still use some form of energy.


    He recalled what his liege had previously warned him¡­


    ''Don''t interfere with him.''


    "Tibu," he called out.


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    A swarm of bats approached from the distance, and in just three breaths, they appeared before Vlad.


    The swarm of dark bats joined to form a short, dark-haired middle-aged man.


    The man immediately kneeled before Vlad.


    "My Lord," he said respectfully.


    "I will leave these two to you. Let them serve as your family''s slaves."


    "Yes, my lord." Tibu bowed respectfully.


    Vlad gazed once more at Arlo before he turned into a cloud of darkness and streaked across the sky.


    Arlo stood stunned on the spot.


    ''Slave?''


    He just thought that Scarlett wouldn''t treat him poorly.


    Yet, what is this?


    Slave?


    Tibu stood on his feet.


    He looked at the fainted Joe, before focusing his gaze on Arlo.


    ''So this is the brat my liege was talking about.''


    He felt so displeased with Arlo.


    He was almost eighty years old, yet he had never seen his liege before.


    However, a human brat that seemed to have just entered their territory attracted the interest of his liege.


    He felt like Arlo stole his spotlight and he already bore a deep hatred for Arlo in his heart.


    However, he soon calmed down.


    Even though he couldn''t feed on Arlo and probably couldn''t kill him, he could still make his life a living hell.


    Thinking of this, he flashed a wicked smile.


    "Kneel," he commanded with an authoritative voice.


    "Excuse me?" Arlo was taken aback. He turned right and left, trying to ascertain Tibu''s position.


    "I said kneel!" Tibu commanded once more with an icy voice.


    Arlo frowned, however, he didn''t respond, and neither did he heed Tibu''s command.


    *Boom!*


    A dark aura exploded from Tibu, the pressure boring down on Arlo.


    Arlo''s bones cracked from the pressure, and two lines of blood fell down the sides of his mouth, nose, and eyes.


    However, he gritted his teeth and refused to kneel.


    Seeing his resolve, Tibu harrumphed in displeasure and retracted his aura.


    "I will take my time to break you." His eerie words resounded in Arlo''s ears.


    *Swish!*


    Tibu''s body exploded into a swarm of bats. The bats numbered in the tens.


    They launched at the sprawled-down Joe and lifted him off the ground before they moved toward Arlo.


    "AH!" Arlo screamed in fear as he was lifted off the ground by the swarm of bats.


    When Vlad had brought them into the estate, all he felt was pitch darkness around him and nothing more.


    Now?


    He felt like he was rising from the ground and falling from the sky, these two contradicting feelings made him feel nauseous.


    The swarm of bats hovered a few meters from the ground and took Arlo and Joe into the distance toward the huge black castle located deep in the estate.


    After a while, Arlo and Joe were dropped in front of the castle.


    The swarm of bats once more congregated into Tibu.


    "Father!" the voice of a young boy and girl resounded.


    "Husband!" an enticing voice also echoed out.


    A dark-haired beautiful woman in revealing clothes, and two kids, a boy and a girl, quickly approached Tibu. Three other women dressed in servant''s clothes were present. However, they stood on the spot with a humble attitude.


    Tibu wrapped his hand around the woman''s enticing waist and voiced out happily:


    "I brought a few presents!"


    "OH!" the three exclaimed in joy as they fixed their eyes on the fainted Joe.


    A look of hunger flashed across their faces.


    "Find the human a room."


    "Yes, my lord!" the only elderly woman among the three servants approached Arlo, grabbed him by the scuff, and dragged him away.


    Even though Arlo couldn''t see a thing, he still heard all their exchange of words.


    However, he was feeling quite nauseous, so he could only lie on the ground as he tried his best not to vomit, allowing the elderly servant to drag him away like some kind of baggage.

 CHAPTER 39: IN THE DARK

    Arlo was thrown into a room.


    "Get some rest. After a few hours, I will come and fetch you to start your work."


    Without waiting for any reply, the old maid left.


    Arlo rolled into a ball on the floor as he continued to resist the nauseating feeling he was experiencing.


    After several minutes, the nauseousness he felt disappeared.


    He struggled to his feet and looked around the room. However, as there was no light, all he saw was pitch-black.


    He willed 50% Ki in each eye and he could finally see around him.


    He found himself in a large square room with a side of about thirteen meters


    He had to walk around the room as his sight was restricted to a few meters around him before he could make sense of the entire room.


    The floor and walls seemed to be made from some special material as they shone with a black color.


    Even though the room was very large, it only had a bed that could barely fit two grown adults, and a sitting table placed at a side of the room. The entire room looked quite empty.


    Arlo approached the bed and lay on it. The bed was soft and comfortable.


    He stopped willing Ki in his eyes, as they had already started to bleed.


    "Haa!" he let out a sigh.


    From the moment he entered this world, his life had been in constant danger.


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    From his encounter with Joe till when he met Scarlett, his senses had always been heightened to the limit.


    It wasn''t until he met Scarlett that he subconsciously relaxed as he felt a sense of security around her.


    Yet, here he was.


    A slave!


    "Haa!" he released another sigh albeit a tired one.


    His mind flashed to when he killed Dio and Rio, and his hands trembled.


    It took him a while to gain control of himself.


    This wasn''t the first time he killed someone. His dad had secretly taken him to kill a wicked lord who was terrorizing his village when he was five. This was a secret between the two and Rita had no idea about it. It was another reason why he subconsciously drifted away from his father, as a part of him hated Arthur for making him go through such a thing at a very young age.


    "I can''t fall asleep like this," Arlo muttered as he sat up on the bed.


    After thinking about it, he stood up and left the room.


    Since he could not see, he had no choice but to trace the wall of the corridor as he made his way forward.


    .....


    Arlo walked and walked yet he couldn''t find a soul.


    He had climbed up two sets of stairs, and now he was making his way across another corridor.


    "Huh?" Arlo was suddenly stunned on the spot.


    Ahead of him, he could see a door slightly open.


    Along his way, he had come across several doors, however, all of them were shut and he didn''t dare to open them carelessly.


    What stunned him however wasn''t the fact that the door was opened, but that the room was brightly lit up to the point that the entrance was brightened just from the slightly opened door.


    After thinking about it, he carefully made his way to the room.


    A few meters from the door, he called out lightly:


    "Hello?" Even though he spoke lightly, his voice sounded particularly loud in the eerie silence.


    "Oh-oh! A little cockroach is wandering around the house." A boy''s voice drifted into his ears.


    "Hello! I would like to speak with you," said Arlo, but even after a while, no one responded.


    Once more, he approached the room. When he reached the entrance, he knocked and called out again:


    "Hello?" Absolute silence was the only response he received.


    "I will come in now." Even though he said that he didn''t actually go in.


    He stretched his head forward to sneak a peak at the room.


    *Swoosh.*


    Two sharp fangs greeted him, and before he could even scream out from fear, a pale hand grabbed his neck, the fangs filling his entire vision before he blacked out.


    .

 CHAPTER 40: FURY

    In the pitch-black darkness of his consciousness, the only thing Arlo could do was hear the fast beating of his heart.


    Ba-Dum, Ba-Dum...


    His heartbeat became faster every second.


    Ba-Du-Dum, Ba-Du-Dum...


    The frequency got so fast that it was challenging to keep up with it.


    After a short while, it sped to the point that there was no space between each beat.


    Du-Du-Du-Du-Du-Du-Du-Du...


    *Gasp!* Arlo gasped awake as he panted heavily to catch his breath.


    Looking around, he found himself in a room filled with light.


    He almost thought everything that happened from his entry into this world was nothing but a dream when...


    *Gulp-gulp!* Gulping sounds pulled him out of his thoughts.


    He fixed his eyes on the extra large bed in front of him.


    Joe''s back was resting on the headboard while a dark-haired girl of about 13 years old had her head resting on his neck as she made gulping sounds.


    A similarly dark-haired boy of about ten years old had his head pressed on Joe''s left wrist and a crunching sound echoed with each slight movement of his head.


    Blood flowed like rivers down Joe''s neck and wrist, and Joe himself seemed to be unconscious.


    Arlo sat there stunned for a while as he continued to watch all this unfold before him.


    "What are you doing?" Arlo finally muttered.


    *Gulp!*


    *Crunch!*


    What answered him were sounds of gulping, crunching, and moaning.


    "What are you doing?" Arlo roared as he leaped up to his feet and launched at the bed.


    However...


    A figure flashed in front of him and sent out a slap.


    *PAAAAA!*


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    Arlo was sent flying like a ragdoll, his body breaking several obstacles before he smashed into the wall.


    Arlo''s body slid down the wall.


    A trickle of blood fell down the side of his forehead and a scorching red handprint appeared on his face.


    "A mere dog questioning his master." Arlo didn''t even hear the boy''s words and simply blanked out.


    When had he ever been treated like this?


    When had he ever been humiliated in such a manner?


    Looking at the young face in front of him, short curly dark hair, pale face, pitch-black eyes with an air of arrogance surrounding him, a feeling of intense rage welled up in him.


    He could immediately tell that the boy was Tibu''s son, as the two had some resemblance.


    He looked past the boy a few meters before him and saw that the girl was still feeding on Joe, and she didn''t even bother to divert her attention toward him.


    He pressed down the rage he was feeling and spoke in a hoarse voice:


    "Let him go!"


    A look of disdain appeared on the young boy''s face.


    "Heh! A mere dog dares to order me? Seems I need to tighten the leash around your neck. I can''t have you bark at your master now, can I?"


    The young boy approached Arlo, with a look of contempt on his face.


    Arlo lowered his head and his shoulder-length golden hair fell over his face, hiding it from view.


    "You won''t let him go?" he asked in a low voice.


    "Why would I?"


    The young boy arrived in front of Arlo and bent down to grab his neck.


    It was at this moment that...


    Arlo let go!


    His fury exploded like an erupting volcano!


    He didn''t have any good impression of this race. In fact, if not for Scarlett he would have already detested them.


    Vlad ignored his plea and didn''t put him in his eyes.


    In their first encounter, Tibu immediately tried to make him kneel.


    The old maid dragged him away like some trash.


    And now?


    He was slapped like a rag-doll and repeatedly called a dog.


    All the anger he had been bottling up...


    All the rage he had been pressing down...


    They were all let loose.


    *Swish.*


    Arlo instantly concentrated 80% Ki in his right leg, and like a deadly whip, he swept it out.


    "Humph!" The young boy snorted in disdain.


    Before the sweep could reach his left leg, he instantly blinked from his grabbing position to an upright one, before he jumped into the air, barely avoiding Arlo''s attack.


    A contemptuous smile was plastered on his face.


    However...


    While still in mid-air, he saw Arlo''s right foot come to a sudden stop and placed firmly on the ground before his body spun, his left leg shooting towards his head in a round kick.


    Even though he was surprised, he could still react and even counter.


    But.


    The left leg thrown in a round kick suddenly flashed beside his head almost as if it had teleported.


    His eyes were just about to pop out of their sockets when...


    *Bang!*


    A muffled sound echoed out.


    Instead of being sent flying, the young boy''s body spun half a circle in mid-air, with his legs facing up and his head down.


    ''What exquisite control!'' This thought appeared in his mind for a second before Arlo''s red eyes flashed within his vision.


    While his body was still in mid-air, he saw Arlo raise both of his hands with both palms stretched outward, his right hand pointing upward and his left downward. Both hands were covered in some whitish smoke and he pressed them on his body and turned them in opposite directions.


    His body, which was just spun half a circle continuously spun in the opposite direction like a turning wheel as he was sent flying.


    *Boom!*


    His body smashed into the wall on the other side of the room near the bed creating a human-shaped hole.


    *Swish.*


    The eyes that were closed all this while, with total disregard to her surroundings suddenly flashed open, with a menacing scarlet glow released from them.

 CHAPTER 41: ARIANNE

    A few hours back.


    A ten-year-old girl rode on a flying creature as they streaked across the sky toward Tibu''s castle. The young girl had snow-white hair tied in a bun with a few strands falling beside her face.


    Her skin was pale white yet it still glistened with a healthy glow. Her Iris were ruby red and her pupils, the tiniest slits.


    Her face was icy cold, and she gave off an infallible aura that wouldn''t allow anyone to come near her, yet they would still try to, as her beauty was nothing short but heaven toppling.


    The creature she rode resembled a massive bat with a wingspan of about ten meters, however, unlike a regular bat, it was beautiful. Its body was glittering black with various strands of white across its ears, the edges of its wings, and part of its fur.


    A vast castle appeared before the two, however, this was relative as to the eyes of this small girl, the castle was simply minuscule.


    In just a few breaths, they arrived above the castle. They continued to hover above the castle with no intention of getting down. She closed her eyes and released her divine sense, covering the entire castle below her.


    Tibu and his wife Nikki, who were having a hot session, with Nikki atop Tibu, and both of Tibu''s hands groping her curvaceous breast and butt, immediately jolted up when they felt the invading divine sense.


    Their bloodline reacted to this divine sense, and they could immediately tell how great this guest was. They were just about to go out and pay their respect when a soothing yet cold voice drifted into their ears.


    "Ignore me!"


    They immediately obeyed.


    This was a command that could not be disobeyed. A bloodline suppression that could never be broken.


    The small girl found what she came searching for and focused her entire attention on the sleeping Arlo.


    Looking at his shoulder-length golden hair, and his well-sculpted face, the girl''s heart couldn''t help but skip a beat.


    ''He is even more handsome in person.''


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    She waited for a few hours until Arlo woke up.


    She saw him walk around the castle until he stumbled upon an open room.


    When she saw Arlo slapped across the room, she couldn''t help but be a bit annoyed.


    When she saw Arlo fight back, she admired his courage.


    However, what took her breath was when Arlo sent the vampire boy flying.


    ''What great control!''


    All that was happening was not only witnessed by the girl but also by Tibu and Nikki.


    "This boy is strange!" Nikki exclaimed, however, her face flashed with rage though it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.


    "Humph, this happened all because he caught Bon by surprise, and with Judi there, he is in for a lot of pain."


    Tibu merely kept silent, however, if one looked deeply into his eyes, one would notice the vicious glint flickering deep within.


    Meanwhile, back in the room.


    Tibu''s daughter Judi merely sat on the bed as she continued to gaze at Arlo with seemingly no intention of attacking.


    Bon sauntered from the hole, with no visible injury on him.


    His eyes glowed scarlet red, two long fangs protruding out of his mouth, and a dark aura engulfed his entire body.


    His current appearance sent a chill down Arlo''s back.


    "I have always assumed that humans were weak creatures, and were mere food with the sole purpose of satiating our hunger," Bon spoke as he walked.


    "But you have colored me surprised. No wonder our liege treats you differently. I will now take you a bit more serio..."


    "There is no need for us to fight. Just let him go...please." Arlo cut his words short, as he implored him. As much as he wanted to offer himself to take Joe''s place, he just couldn''t bring himself to, as the light that glistened off Bon''s fangs made his skin crawl.


    Besides, he just entered the northern continent and even found a person he could rely on, so he didn''t want to stir up any trouble.


    Bon was stunned, and so was every other person who was witnessing this scene.


    ''Hello! You looked like you wanted to eat him alive.''


    ''How come you are now begging?''


    ''Where is your rage? Where is your anger? Where did they go?''


    How could they have known that Arlo just felt uncomfortable fighting him? This was the first time he saw such a transformation.


    The little bit of respect Bon just developed for Arlo vanished like a candle fire snuffed out by the wind.


    The vampires respected the strong. Aside from the royal vampires, the highest title a vampire could ever achieve was count.


    This meant that below the Royals, there was no second or third, which showed the massive gap that existed between Royals and noble vampires.


    Noble vampires were further divided into low-class, mid-class, and high-class. This grouping depended on nothing more than strength and bloodline. However, the higher the bloodline, the greater the wealth and heritage of the families.


    Vampires were apex predators, so they respected strength above any other thing.


    Tibu''s family was a new family that rose into the ranks a few years ago to become a low-class vampire family. This was all self-reliant on Tibu''s strength.


    However, in the grand scheme of things, their family was nothing as they were one of the countless low-class families that served just under Count Aaron, a friend of Count Vlad who served the Royals.


    Therefore, when Bon saw Arlo''s strength, he felt some awe for the other party.


    But now?


    "A dog will always be a dog." Bon''s voice was icy cold, and the look of contempt on his face increased.

 CHAPTER 42: HUMILIATED

    "Night walk."


    Bon turned into a swarm of bats, which flashed before Arlo nearly instantly.


    Arlo hurriedly threw a right punch in panic.


    Bon turned into a swarm of bats again, divided into two groups, and swooshed beside Arlo, before they joined again and formed Bon behind him.


    However, Arlo wasn''t one to lose easily.


    Concentrating 50% Ki each on a leg and left elbow, his body spun around, with his left elbow sent in a sweep.


    Bon ducked leisurely, evaded the attack, and sent an uppercut.


    Seeing that his attack failed, Arlo''s eyes flashed with madness and he quickly sent his right elbow down to attack Bon''s left shoulder.


    If Bon continued with his attack, he also wouldn''t come out unscathed.


    However, who was Bon?


    He was a vampire, an apex predator.


    This tactic of injury for injury may have worked on others, but against a vampire, it was useless.


    Sure enough, Bon''s uppercut was the first to reach, as it connected with Arlo''s lower jaw.


    Before Arlo was sent flying, his right elbow also landed, however, it merely passed through Bon''s shoulder which had turned into a swarm of small bats.


    *Baang!*


    Arlo was flung into the air, drawing a perfect arc.


    While in mid-air, Bon flashed atop him and prepared to attack.


    In his predicament, Arlo twisted his body to dodge.


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    However¡­


    *ROOAR!*


    Bon let out a deep feral roar, his face twisted into the most savage of expressions, and his long fangs flashing crimson red.


    A wave of spiritual energy was sent out with his roar.


    Arlo, who was in the process of twisting in mid-air, froze, and his eyes turned listless.


    Bon''s kick landed squarely on his chest, sending him hurtling down.


    *Boom!*


    Spider-web cracks spread on the floor.


    Bon landed on Arlo and sent out several punches.


    Arlo on the other hand didn''t block as his eyes remained listless without any focus.


    After several rounds of punches, Arlo''s golden hair was dyed in blood, his nose was broken and his face was all bloodied.


    It was a disconcerting sight, for a seven-year-old child to be handled in such a way.


    Simply put, it was inhuman!


    "Oh!" he exclaimed.


    ''This guy can also heal? Just who the hell are you?'' Bon thought to himself as he observed Arlo''s wounds that were slowly but surely closing up.


    Even though his speed of recovery couldn''t hold a candle to a vampire''s regeneration, it was still out of the league for an average human.


    The dark aura covering his body suddenly congregated on his right hand and materialized into a black dagger.


    *Spurt!*


    He plunged it into Arlo''s left shoulder and pulled down.


    ¡­..


    Arlo was just about to dodge in mid-air when he found himself thrown into a world of darkness.


    No matter how he tried, he couldn''t escape this place.


    *Whoosh.*


    A small light suddenly lit up in this world of darkness.


    He moved closer to this light but found to his dismay that he couldn''t close the distance between them.


    He didn''t know why he felt like if he didn''t get hold of this light, he would regret it. It was a feeling he couldn''t quite wrap his head around.


    He was reflecting deeply on what to do when¡­


    A wave of pain hit him so hard that he screamed out from his stupor.


    The pain was simply excruciating.


    Two cold eyes glowing red entered his vision.


    "GET OFF!" he roared out and sent out a full-powered right punch.


    *Swoosh!*


    Bon vanished, the attack hitting the air.


    "Ah!" Arlo groaned in pain and supported himself to his knees.


    Shifting his eyes to his left shoulder, he saw a dagger plunged into it, with a dark aura oozing out of it.


    He figured it was this aura that was responsible for the pain he was feeling.


    His body twitched continuously, and his painful groans filled the room.


    *Tap, tap, tap¡­*


    Sounds of footsteps approached him.


    "You can''t even bear this little pain?" a voice filled with disdain entered his ears.


    Two legs stopped in front of him.


    One of the legs landed on his head planting his head on the floor.


    "This should teach you to know your place. Next time, there won''t be a next time!" Bon threatened, his eyes flashing red.


    Arlo''s body trembled greatly.


    Bon thought this was a result of fear, however, he was soon proven wrong as¡­


    *PA!*


    Arlo''s wounded left hand gripped the leg that was planted on him so tightly that the sounds of bones breaking resounded in the room.

 CHAPTER 43: ONE VS TWO

    Arlo felt something snap within him.


    His entire bearing suddenly changed.


    A dignified aura surrounded him, one that belonged to a divine being who wouldn''t allow himself to be trampled by mere ants.


    Bon was stunned by this sudden change.


    *Crack!*


    Bon''s leg held by Arlo''s wounded arm was twisted at an unnatural angle.


    However, there was no change in expression on Bon''s face as if the pain he felt was negligible.


    *Snap!*


    In a mere second, the twisted bone snapped back in place.


    This was one of the vampire''s innate abilities.


    Instant regeneration!


    Nonetheless, Arlo achieved his aim.


    He was no longer trampled under Bon.


    *Whoosh!*


    Arlo moved with such a speed that his body seemed like a blur.


    His right hand formed into a claw, a whitish smoke covering it. The space around the claw twisted, and the power contained within this attack was simply unimaginable.


    Arlo''s hand plunged into Bon''s chest, bringing out with it on the other side, a beating heart.


    Bon''s eyes widened in surprise.


    He couldn''t even react to the attack.


    Hell! He didn''t even see it coming.


    For the first time, fear appeared on Bon''s face as his eyes shook.


    Even though this attack couldn''t kill him, he was now completely powerless and defenseless.


    Arlo''s cold eyes entered his vision.


    His shoulder-length golden hair billowed behind him, and his eyes were cold and unfeeling.


    The look in his eyes was one an ancient beast would show to a mere ant.


    *PA!* The still-beating heart fell to the ground.


    Arlo moved his now free right hand towards Bon''s head.


    Bon felt a chill running down his spine and his forehead was soon covered in sweat.


    If a vampire''s head was cut off or turned into meat paste, not even their regeneration could save them.


    ¡­..


    Nikki clenched her teeth in anger, and her hands were tightened into fists, her fingers drawing blood.


    "Calm down! Judi is still there."


    "I know. But to see my son treated in such a way, and not being able to act¡­" She couldn''t complete her sentence as her body trembled greatly. It looked like it was taking her all to restrain herself from interfering.


    Tibu didn''t reply, and merely looked upward, his senses passing through the roof and locking unto the snow-white-haired girl who had her entire attention fixed on the ongoing fight.


    If not for her presence, they would have acted long ago.


    ¡­..


    Arlo sent his fist hurtling towards Bon''s head.


    Sure enough, a girl''s voice echoed out.


    "World of darkness!"


    Arlo suddenly found himself in a world of darkness. Moreover, even when concentrating 100% ki in one eye, he couldn''t see a thing around him.


    He lost sight of Bon and could guess that the girl who didn''t act, at least until now had already saved him.


    However, he remained calm and shifted his entire ki into his ears.


    Unlike the previous situation he was in, where his consciousness was completely cut off from his body, he was still in the real world and could use his other senses to feel his surroundings.


    *Swish!*


    The wind beside him whistled.


    He immediately shifted his head to the side, and he felt a soft skin brush past him.


    His thoughts moved quickly in that instant.


    He could tell that the girl was the senior of the two siblings, which meant that she was far stronger than Bon.


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    That is, he had no chance of winning against her.


    Unless¡­


    He catches her by surprise.


    The attack sent toward him hadn''t been withdrawn yet when he threw out a punch.


    Even though he couldn''t see, he could guess the other''s location after she attacked.


    Judi was taken by surprise, and she quickly controlled her left chest to merge with the darkness, allowing the punch to pass through her.


    She couldn''t catch her breath though as Arlo''s punch was immediately shifted into a sweep.


    Gritting her teeth, she merged her entire chest into the darkness.


    However, Arlo was relentless and he continued to attack, without allowing the other party to catch a breath.


    Judi eyes erupted in flames, she was stronger than Arlo and could even defeat him with a mere slap.


    It was just that the other party caught her by surprise and now she was drawn into his tempo, with no chance to attack. The domineering aura around Arlo intimidated her.


    She may be stronger, however, Arlo''s fist that was causing the space around it to quake was also deadly to her, so she didn''t dare take it head-on and could only dodge.


    And this brought about a game of chase, as two figures flashed around in a huge sphere of darkness; one chasing, the other retreating.


    Arlo continued to hammer his fist out, his attacks merging with each other.


    Jab, sweep, uppercut, jab¡­


    Different attacks were continuously thrown out.


    Judi lungs were about to burst from anger, and her chest continuously heaved.


    "Enough!" She screamed out in anger but what greeted her was a punch to the face.


    She wasn''t afraid though, as her fangs grew out longer, and her fingers turned into claws. Her eyes turned blood red, releasing a savage and bloodthirsty glow.


    Arlo could tell something had changed, so he hurled his fist faster.


    However¡­


    *ROOAAAR!* a loud roar resounded in the world of darkness.


    Arlo''s mind turned blank, a ringing sound echoing in his head.


    He found himself in a dark world, however in here, he only had his consciousness.


    He was cut off from his body.


    This time though, he didn''t panic.


    For some reason, he knew what to do.


    Shifting his consciousness toward the only flickering light in this endless darkness, he called out in a deep and dignified voice.


    "Come!"


    The light trembled continuously for some time after the command before it shot into Arlo''s head.


    ¡­..


    Seeing the frozen figure before her, with his hand still thrown in a punch, Judi flashed a savage smile.


    If it was known how she was made to retreat continuously under the onslaught of this brat''s attack, her reputation would be tarnished and she would be treated as a joke. Therefore she had to teach the brat a lesson, if not her mind wouldn''t be at peace.


    She inched closer toward him, a black dagger materializing in her hand.


    "Let''s start by tearing this arm completely off," she said, the savage smile still plastered on her face, as she sent her dagger towards Arlo''s dangling left arm.


    However¡­


    *Boom!*


    A spiritual wave spread out from Arlo''s head as the center into the surrounding five meters.


    Judi was stunned at the spot, her eyes almost popping from their sockets.


    ''Isn''t this spiritual energy? How?''


    A vampire could use spiritual energy from birth, whereas a human could only use it when they become a red-core mage.


    This was another reason why vampires stood at the apex.


    Yet, what was this before her?


    She suddenly grew alarmed.


    This brat was toppling all her knowledge about the norm.


    He was simply terrifying.


    She ignored Arlo''s wounded arm and sent her dagger slashing toward his neck.


    Her heart was getting restless. She had a feeling that this brat would come back to bite them.


    Therefore, she had to kill him now and snuff out the danger while she still could.


    It was at this time that Arlo''s eyes flashed open.


    Unlike before when he could only guess Judi''s position, he could now see her clearly.


    It wasn''t with his eyes but with his sixth sense, his divine sense.


    Arlo shifted his body back, barely evading the dagger swept at his neck, and then¡­


    He attacked.


    Using his right hand, he threw out dozens of punches in a mere instant.


    Judi gritted her teeth as she dodged with all her mind.


    She had actually forgotten that she was the stronger of the two, as a seed of fear had been planted in her mind.


    *ROOAAAR!*


    She released a roar once more, however, Arlo merely covered his body with his spiritual energy and continued with his attacks.


    The two continuously flashed from one point to another within the sealed world of darkness, resuming their game of chase.


    After several breaths, Arlo could tell that this wouldn''t get him anywhere if he were to continue.


    ''Let''s try it!'' His eyes flashed with resolve.


    *Whoosh!*


    He released all his spiritual energy, forming a tight square barrier around him and Judi.


    A wave of fatigue suddenly hit him from overdrawing his spiritual energy, however, a feeling of contentment welled up within him.


    I did it!


    Seeing what Arlo just accomplished, Judi roared out in denial.


    "IMPOSSIBLE!"


    What made vampires rule over all other creatures wasn''t their superior strength, speed, or instant regeneration.


    Instead, it was their ability to use spiritual energy to attack.


    All other beings could only use their spiritual energy in the form of divine sense, or in the case of rare geniuses, as a defense to protect themselves from spiritual attacks.


    Using spiritual attacks was the unique ability of all vampires, making them among the few that stand at the apex of cultivation.


    Yet, what was happening here?


    Arlo didn''t care about her unstable emotions and sent out several punches in a mere instant.


    In this confined space, Judi''s movement was totally restrained.


    She could break out from this barrier, however, it would cost her her focus, and that was all Arlo needed to deal with her.


    She could only grit her teeth, stand her ground, and merge her attacked parts with the darkness to ignore Arlo''s punches.


    "AHH!"


    Arlo screamed as he willed more ki from the surroundings into his body.


    *Crack!*


    He could feel a chain break within his body.


    *Whoosh!*


    More ki flowed into Arlo''s body before they all congregated at his fist.


    This was 120% of Arlo''s body capacity.


    The white smoke surrounding his fist turned vibrant, and the space around it split into thin cracks.


    "AHHH!" His body and fist turned into a blur, and hundreds of punches were thrown in an instant.


    "AHHHH!" Judi also screamed, albeit from the pain she felt as her body was continuously riddled with holes.


    She couldn''t keep up with Arlo''s speed.


    Arlo suddenly stopped, and drew his right back behind him into a fist, as he gathered all his strength to launch his final attack.


    Judi''s body was completely riddled with holes, holes that were visibly closing up from her regenerative ability.


    *Boom!* Arlo sent his fist hurtling towards Judi''s head, the space crumbling around it with booming sounds echoing across the room.


    Judi''s pupil grew thinner, and a feeling of death welled up in her.


    If this attack landed on her, she would definitely die.


    *Crack!*


    The world of darkness suddenly collapsed bringing with it the angry cry of a woman.


    "DIE!"


    A dark shadow streaked past Arlo, bringing with it Arlo''s entire right arm.


    A sudden wave of pain hit Arlo, adding to the fatigue he felt from overdrawing his spiritual energy, he collapsed and directly fainted.


    However, before he lost all consciousness, he felt himself falling into a soft embrace, an enchanting smell drifting into his nose.


    Nikki appeared behind Arlo, an entire arm in her grasp.


    A new figure also appeared, with Arlo in her embrace.


    It was the snow-white-haired girl.


    However, unlike her previous cold attitude, her face was completely twisted in rage.


    AN: This super long chapter is to compensate for previously un-updated chapters.


    Drop a comment and let me know your thoughts about this chapter, I really put my all into it.

 CHAPTER 44: CUT OFF YOUR ARMS

    A golden-haired boy lay in the embrace of an enchanting snow-white-haired girl.


    Their embrace would have been a mesmerizing scene to any viewer and would make them hold their breath, if not for the young boy covered entirely in blood and with a missing arm, and the visage of the enchanting girl twisted into such a rage that would send chills down the back of the devil himself.


    Arianne''s snow-white hair bellowed without air, and her ruby eyes were releasing a crimson glow.


    "Why did you attack him?" she asked, her voice icy cold.


    Nikki who had acted out in fury suddenly came back to her senses. Her body trembled as she slowly turned around.


    She suddenly found herself in a difficult situation.


    She and her husband could already tell that this guest of theirs didn''t come for them.


    As for the reason for her visit?


    It was very clear that it was for Arlo. After all, even their great liege seemed to have developed some interest in him, not to say that she came after Arlo was delivered to them.


    "I, I¡­" Nikki was anxious, yes! But she was also equally furious.


    A boy who was meant to be their slave put her children in such a condition, yet she wasn''t allowed to intervene?


    She was just about to throw caution into the air and speak her mind when Tibu appeared in front of her and bowed deeply.


    "Please, forgive my wife for her actions. She lost control of herself for a moment and acted rashly."


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    Nikki clenched her teeth when she heard what her husband said.


    Arianne frowned as she wasn''t satisfied with his excuse.


    If not for Arlo who was still in her embrace, she would have already attacked by now.


    "She lost control? Both of your children attacked a human boy who doesn''t even seem to have started cultivating, yet they lost."


    "If you had intervened to save their lives that would be fine. But for you to attack the same boy who was severely wounded and spent, despite the huge gap in strength, where exactly did you put your pride as a vampire?"


    "When did we become cowards who bully the weak?"


    Tibu was at a loss. He didn''t know how to reply to the young girl in front of him.


    First of all, Arlo was their slave. They could treat him anyhow they wanted as it was within their rights.


    Moreover, even if they were at fault, he had already swallowed his pride and apologized. It''s not like she would punish them and take the side of a human, would she?


    Reality proved him wrong though, as seeing his lack of response, Arianne''s raged expression suddenly disappeared.


    However, her eyes were still chilly as she gazed at the two.


    After a few moments, she spat out four words that sent chills down the spine of Tibu and Nikki.


    "Cut off your arms!"


    Her words sounded like a decree, one that couldn''t be disobeyed.


    What sent Tibu and Nikki into more despair was that, their bloodline reacted to her command, and their bodies subconsciously started to move on their own.


    Nikki was in a panic, yet she couldn''t stop her actions.


    Tibu similarly wanted to protest and plead once more on their behalf, however, his mouth wouldn''t open.


    It was as if his body wasn''t his own and no matter what he did, he couldn''t gain any control.


    ''Who the hell is she?''


    That was the only thought in Tibu and Nikki''s heads.


    For a mere command to render them powerless, she must be a big figure at the very top. Not to say that their bloodline was also reacting to her.


    Both of their left arms clutched their right tightly, and were just about to rip them off when¡­


    *Sigh!*


    A light sigh drifted across the room.


    Yet...


    Tibu and Nikki suddenly found themselves free, and they regained control of their bodies.


    However, both of them were not happy at all with their newfound freedom.


    No!


    Their face twisted in horror.


    Someone appeared before them.


    Someone that they have also dreamed of meeting, but knew they could never approach.


    Someone that they looked up to and worshiped from their very core.


    Scarlett!

 CHAPTER 45: Reveal

    Tibu and Nikki immediately threw their bodies flat, with their heads kissing the floor, and spoke with a quivering voice¡­


    "My liege!"


    They didn''t dare to raise their heads and lay out flat on the ground.


    The person before them was legendary.


    Scarlett had her back turned to them, as she gazed at the snow-white-haired girl with a boy in her embrace.


    "Grandma!" Arianne called out sweetly.


    Scarlett however didn''t reply and instead took several minutes to look at her granddaughter and Arlo with a strange expression.


    Arianne''s face suddenly flushed red to the point that her neck and ears were also tinged in the same color.


    To be caught embracing a boy by her grandmother broke her always icy-cold expression.


    Seeing her granddaughter blushing for the first time, Scarlett''s strange expression grew further to the point that her face was distorted.


    While the two were frozen in a deadpan silence, the other two were similarly stunned on the spot.


    When they heard the small girl say ''grandmother'', it was as if a bomb exploded in their heads.


    ''The princess?''


    Their minds blanked out.


    "What are you doing?" Scarlett finally broke the silence.


    Arianne lowered her small head slightly as she avoided her grandma''s stare and whispered in a mosquito''s voice¡­


    "It is your fault."


    "It is my fault?"


    Scarlett was stunned once more as she thought ''I asked you what you are doing, and you tell me it''s my fault?''


    However, she still voiced her confusion, as she was curious about what her dear daughter meant by her previous statement.


    "How is it my fault?"


    "I asked you who the boy is, and you told me to figure it out myself. That is why I''m now in this situation." She spoke the first part of her words in grievance, but when she reached the end, her voice turned into low whispers.


    Scarlett approached the two and flicked Arianne''s head lightly.


    "Silly girl!"


    "Ouch." Arianne rubbed her forehead, and her eyes turned misty. She felt wronged.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Scarlett ignored her response as she continued, "That is not what I meant when I said you should figure it out yourself, I just wanted you to investigate his background using your servants." She was exasperated.


    Scarlett took a brief breath before she continued "I didn''t expect you to become a stalker."


    Arianne''s already red face turned into a tomato.


    ''Why the hell are you behaving like a maid that just fell in love?'' Scarlett grumbled inwardly while the words that came out of her words were "When do you plan on releasing him?"


    At first, Arianne was confused, but when realization dawned on her, out of instinct she threw the unconscious Arlo out of her embrace.


    Scarlett quickly caught hold of Arlo before he hit the floor.


    Her eyebrows twitched slightly at her granddaughter''s action.


    "I-I didn''t..." Stumped, Arianne turned into a swarm of bats, before she escaped through the window.


    The huge bat-like mount appeared below her, allowing her to land safely before they streaked across the sky.


    Sigh!


    Scarlett fixed her eyes on Arlo, ''I guess this is fate.''. With that thought, she turned her head to the still-prostrating couple and let out one command...


    "Leave!"


    All this time, Tibu and Nikki didn''t dare to let out a breath. Before the highest power of the vampire race, they were but mere farts.


    When they heard her command, they both gasped, releasing the breath they had held for so long, before they quickly vanished from the room.


    Scarlett carried Arlo in a princess carry.


    She gazed at his missing left arm, and at the stumped wound that had stopped bleeding.


    ''His healing speed is really praiseworthy.'' She turned her eyes back to Arlo''s pale face, which was now being clung to by several strands of his sweaty golden hair.


    Her heart became filled with love as old memories of a certain woman crossed her mind.


    "Hey old man, should I heal him?" Scarlett suddenly asked, seemingly to no one.


    What answered her was the silence that pervaded the room until the now two saber marks on Arlo''s right hand glowed before an elderly voice resounded:


    "Old witch! Are you stupid?"


    The side of Scarlett''s mouth twitched, and her eyebrows creased into a frown.


    She was just about to retort when the elderly voice echoed once more in her ears:


    "Have you forgotten his parent''s request?"


    Haa.


    After a brief recollection, she destroyed every intention of ever helping Arlo personally.


    "Alright." She assented before she continued with a confused face "Was that Ki he used in the previous fight?"


    "It felt like Ki, but that is not how Ki is supposed to be used." She paused before she continued once more "That is if I remember correctly."


    "Your perception is not wrong, the child is simply a monster."


    "Oh! What do you mean?" Scarlett asked in interest.


    Silence returned into the room for a short while before it was broken by the elderly voice:


    "The child has yet to break into the first stage."


    Scarlett was confused at first before her ruby eyes widened in disbelief.


    A preposterous idea popped up in her mind, however, she couldn''t bring herself to believe it.


    Alas, instead of cracking her head about it, she decided to ask the old man.


    "Yo-you don''t mean that he is using Ki without actually shedding his mortal body?"


    Alas!


    "He is." The elderly voice affirmed, dispatching Scarlett''s doubts.


    However, the elderly voice didn''t seem finished as he continued to drop one bomb after the other.


    "The astral chains restricting his body are simply too many."


    "Yet his body seems to be able to ignore part of their effects, and actually utilize Ki."


    "This is something unheard of, even in the realm of the gods."


    Sigh!


    Scarlett let out a wry smile " We thought the child''s talent was simply monstrous in mana cultivation, but who would have thought his control of Ki doesn''t lose at all to its counterpart."


    "This is simply unheard of. It makes me wonder how bright his future would be. However, it also makes me dread what he may become if the power he wields gets hold of him," said the elderly voice.


    "That is why the plan must be enforced, and you must not interfere in it," he threatened.


    Scarlett didn''t mind his threat as she simply replied, "I know." with a lost look.


    After a while, she got hold of herself.


    "He really is your grandson! How I wish you were here to witness him yourself," said Scarlett with a look of melancholy, a single tear sliding down her world-destroying face.

 CHAPTER 46: A BURNING RESOLVE

    "He really is your grandson! How I wish you were here to witness him yourself," said Scarlett with a look of melancholy as a single tear graced down her enchanting pale face.


    "Why are you still fixated on the past, especially after the tantrum you threw?" The elderly voice resounded once more only now it was full of mockery.


    "You bastard, can''t you let me reminisce in peace?"


    "Heh."


    "What is it?" Scarlett asked in annoyance.


    "Didn''t you say you and him cannot exist together?"


    Scarlett still didn''t get his point and was instead displeased at the elderly voice bringing back words she spoke out of anger.


    The elderly voice continued without a care for her displeasure, "Why does it look like your granddaughter has fallen for the boy you so wanted to kill? What a twist of fate, don''t you say?" He snickered at the end of his words.


    Meanwhile, Scarlett''s expression crumpled utterly, as her face turned hideous.


    She knew he wasn''t wrong as she could tell that her granddaughter was acting strange around Arlo.


    However, it''s one thing noticing it, and another confirming it.


    She really hoped she was just overthinking things, therefore she just let out a humph as she didn''t want to continue bickering with the old fool.


    ''Perverted bastard,'' She cursed in her mind.


    "Count."


    *Whoosh*


    A man appeared instantly before her and knelt.


    "My liege!"


    "Take him to his room and be sure to eliminate any sign of my presence." She handed the unconscious Arlo to him and disappeared from the room.


    "Yes! The man immediately sprang into action."


    .....


    Throughout all the turmoil in the room, one person was left unperturbed.


    Joe!


    He had lost consciousness when Arlo entered the room.


    However, three hours after the fight ended, his eyelids suddenly twitched, and his eyelashes quivered slightly; signs that he was about to wake up.


    With his face twisted in pain, his eyes snapped open.


    *Whoosh!*


    Alas, what greeted his eyes were a pair of sharp fangs, before his painful screams echoed in the room.


    "AAAAH!"


    .....


    Arlo lay unconscious on the floor of his room.


    He would have been mistaken as a corpse if it wasn''t for the occasional twitching of his body, and the painful groans that leaked out of his mouth.


    After several hours.


    Arlo''s eyes suddenly snapped open, before a heart-wrenching scream was released from his mouth.


    "AAAAH!"


    He subconsciously shifted his body to a kneeling position, as he used his left hand to clench the stump that was left of his right arm.


    The pain he was currently feeling was unbearable.


    Drip.


    Drip.


    Tears cascaded down his childish face.


    No matter how smart he was for his age, in the end, the fact remained that he was still a kid. For a kid, this kind of pain was simply unbearable.


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    In fact, if it were any other kid, their mental state would have already collapsed by now.


    ¡­..


    An hour later.


    Arlo sat in a lotus position, his teeth visibly clenched tightly and beads of sweat filling his forehead.


    He was currently trying not to scream, as he resisted the pain with all his will.


    This continued for a few more minutes before he unclenched his teeth and relaxed his body.


    The only sign he could not control was the occasional spasm of his body.


    Even with that, what Arlo just achieved was simply phenomenal.


    His eyes slowly opened revealing red scleras with the only colorful light being a silver-colored iris resting unblemished within them.


    Arlo finally opened his mouth and spoke the first sentence after the ordeal he just faced.


    "Elder, I want to be strong." His voice contained a mix of anger, grievance, and resolve.


    An unrelenting resolve!


    The now two saber marks on the back of his remaining hand suddenly glowed, before an elderly voice resounded in his head:


    << Why? >>


    A simple question.


    One word.


    But with countless answers.


    "I want to protect myself and my family."


    Hearing the resolve with which he spoke, the artifact spirit fell silent for a moment.


    << Remember this feeling. >>The artifact spirit continued, << Burn it in your heart. >>


    Arlo''s eyes flashed with resolve.


    He never wanted to feel this weak ever again.


    He never wanted his fate to be under someone else''s will.


    << I will be your master. >> The artifact spirit suddenly revealed.


    Arlo couldn''t help but smile even while he was in excruciating pain.


    However, the smile didn''t linger for long before it was squashed.


    << It will be a very long and painful road. Moreover, once we start you cannot quit. >>


    Arlo''s pupils turned into slits.


    For the artifact spirit to claim it would be painful simply meant the pain would be unbearable.


    However, he barely hesitated for a second before his resolve steeled than ever before.


    "I never quit."


    Little did he know that the number of times he would quit in the future could simply not be counted.


    .....


    Arlo sat near the window of his room as his hair danced slightly with the wind.


    His eyes were closed as he listened carefully to the voice of the artifact spirit that was resounding in his head.


    << We have to first work on your knowledge of cultivation, as it is very lacking. >>


    Arlo said nothing to this, as he knew his knowledge was not deep and all he knew was some information given by Ari.


    << Two major forms of energy constitute the very fabric of Reality in the universe. >>


    Arlo waited with bated breaths. He could tell a new world was about to be opened unto him.


    << Mana energy and ¡­ >> The artifact spirit paused before he continued solemnly.


    << Astral energy. >>


    "Astral energy?" Arlo asked in wonder as this was the first time he heard of such a thing.


    << Yes! Astral energy. >> The artifact spirit reaffirmed.


    After a moment of silence, he continued:


    << Astral energy unlike mana is very difficult to wield. >>


    << If 99% of the population awakens their mana core successfully, then only 3% could access the free but domineering astral energy in the world. >>


    Arlo drew in a long breath, and his eyes widened in surprise.


    Who could blame him?


    Even though the artifact spirit said 99% awakened their mana core, the other 1% was practically non-existent in this current era. At least Arlo had never heard of a person who could not awaken successfully.


    Yet, only three out of every hundred people could tap into astral energy.


    "Does that mean astral energy is more powerful than mana?" Arlo asked in bewilderment.


    << No! >>


    However, the reply he received left him in confusion.


    As if noticing his confusion, the artifact spirit spoke:


    << Let me explain. >>


    Arlo nodded and waited patiently for him to continue.


    << Imagine the universe as an egg. The yolk of the egg are the two foundational energies, which are mana, and astral energy. >>


    << The Albumen comprises billions if not trillions of laws. The laws are myriad and uncountable. >>


    << The shell that holds everything together and ensures its continued existence is the ''Essence of Reality''. >>


    ''Essence of reality?'' For some reason, Arlo''s breath quickened and his heartbeat increased in speed.


    << Easy there! >>


    << A mortal like you has nothing to do with such an essence. >>


    The artifact''s spirit words were like a bucket of water poured on his head.


    ''A mortal?'' Arlo frowned. For some reason, he didn''t like the tone with which he said it.


    The artifact spirit didn''t seem concerned with him as he continued his explanation.


    << Through any of these two fundamental energies, one can gain affinity to any of the myriad laws. >>


    << A person with two affinities is called a dual elemental mage or warrior, while one with three is called a tri-elemental mage or warrior. >>


    Arlo suddenly felt enlightened.


    However, he soon realized something very important.


    "Are you saying we control laws and not elements?"


    << Yes! >>


    A light of understanding appeared in Arlo''s eyes.


    << As I said before, there are myriads of laws. The more common ones are the laws of the five basic elements. >>


    << The rarer ones include the law of time, the law of space, ritual laws, the law of the beating heart, the law of massacre, and many more. >>


    Arlo took a little while to digest the information he just received.


    << Those that harness mana are called mages. They can project their mana out of their bodies and perform attacks of different magnitudes. >>


    << On the other hand, those who harness astral energy are called warriors. While they also have an affinity to laws, the scope of their usage is restricted to just their bodies. >>


    "I see."


    The artifact spirit was satisfied that Arlo could understand the core of the matter very easily unlike some people¡­


    << Warriors temper their bodies using astral energy. However astral energy is simply too overbearing. Therefore, at the start, the bodies of those who can harness it subconsciously take a diluted version of astral energy¡­>>


    "KI!" Arlo suddenly screamed, interrupting the artifact spirit. However, he didn''t seem to mind.


    << That is right. >> He affirmed.


    << KI. >>

 CHAPTER 47: WARRIORS

    << Since you are yet to awaken your mana core, I will focus on Astral energy. >>


    << The bodies of those who embark on the warrior''s path use the diluted energy Ki, to strengthen their bodies gradually from the one-star stage to the twelfth-star stage. >>


    << Each successive three stages corresponds to the mages beginner, advanced, master, and grandmaster stage.>>


    << Just as a mage awakens an innate talent, warriors summon an astral warrior to become their battle partner depending on the person''s talent and potential when they break into the one-star stage. >>


    "Astral warrior?" Arlo was flabbergasted. He already had an idea of what this is.


    << Yes! When a warrior dies, they can choose to return to nature and merge with the universe''s Astral energy.>>


    << They could one day return as astral warriors if a fated one with the required talent and affinity summoned them. >>


    "Doesn''t that mean that warriors are overpowered?"


    Arlo was speechless.


    Sure, mages had innate talents that would continue to improve as they advanced in their cultivation.


    However, compared to warriors, it was nothing. Imagine if you could summon a strong warrior to fight for you from the very start of your journey, you would breeze through all the opponents in your path effortlessly.


    << *Chuckles* >>


    Arlo was surprised. This was the first time the artifact spirit laughed. Even though it was just a chuckle, it was still impactful.


    << You have a wild imagination.>>


    Before Arlo could reply, the artifact spirit continued:


    << The powers of the astral warriors are sealed and would only be unlocked with the progress of their masters. >>


    "Too bad..."


    The artifact spirit continued with his explanation:


    << Warriors could summon one astral warrior while super-talented warriors could summon two. >>


    Arlo''s eyes lit up. He was suddenly filled with expectations.


    << That is it! >> The artifact spirit exaggeratedly let out a breath as if he had consumed all his energy.


    "That is all?" Arlo was surprised. Shouldn''t there be more? It couldn''t be that that was all the knowledge a cultivator should know¡­right?


    << For now!>> It replied as if guessing his thought.


    << Alright! >> Arlo relented. He might be a little kid, however, he still knew that sometimes ''knowledge is not truly power''.


    << Now! Your first lesson. I want you¡­>>


    "Excuse me?" Arlo quickly interrupted the artifact spirit.


    << What is it? >> The artifact spirit grumbled.


    He didn''t like getting interrupted.


    "What do I call you?"


    <<¡­.>> The artifact spirit was stunned.


    "It is a mouthful to keep calling you artifact spirit." There was another reason Arlo didn''t say.


    ''Isn''t the author benefitting by using artifact spirit to fill the word count?''


    However, he didn''t dare to say it as he might suddenly be abandoned as the MC.


    No, he didn''t dare!


    The artifact spirit reasoned for a moment and thought that the young boy had a point.


    After a few moments of silence, he suddenly thought of those milf ladies he missed so badly and laughed lewdly.


    << Huhehehehe! >>


    ''Huh? What is wrong with this old man?'' Arlo thought silently.


    << From now henceforth, call me¡­>> He paused for the climax.


    <<Old bra. >> The artifact spirit pictured Scarlett''s figure. He wondered how she would react if she heard Arlo call him Old Bra, something he used to tease her in the past.


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    "Old Bro!" Arlo was stunned at first before he exclaimed with an evil smile.


    ''Huh?''


    ''Old bro?''


    ''Was he kicked in the head by a donkey?''


    A series of thoughts flashed through the artifact spirit''s mind. Nonetheless, he was sure of one thing.


    He was royally fucked!


    No matter how he threatened Arlo, he continued to call him Old Bro with an innocent face.


    ¡­..


    Arlo could be found sitting at the center of the room in a lotus position.


    At this point, Arlo had already started to adapt to the absence of light, so he was barely affected.


    His eyes were tightly shut as he thought of what old bro told him.


    << The superhuman physical abilities of a warrior are off the charts. However, their strongest point is their regenerative ability. >>


    << From the ninth to twelfth star stage, warriors could regenerate from a single drop of blood. >>


    << Not to mention when they break past the twelfth star stage and become a first-stage astral warrior. At this point, they create an avatar in their bodies; their unique astral bodies which they can summon to cover themselves making them twice as hard to kill. >>


    << At this point, it''s not wrong to call them half-immortals. >>


    Arlo''s breathing suddenly became calm as he focused on the two tasks old bro gave him.


    << Keep absorbing the surrounding Ki, until the invisible chains locking your body are broken. For some reason, you require far more Ki than your body can hold to break through. >>


    << Secondly, each time you reach your limit, focus all the Ki on your right arm. Even though your right arm cells and tissues have started regenerating, at this rate it will take two months before it regrows. Depending on how much you concentrate and how long you hold it, the two months can even be shortened to a week. >>


    With that thought in mind, Arlo furrowed his brows as he willed the surrounding ki into his body.


    After a few minutes, he felt every fiber of his body become full of Ki, however, he still continued to absorb more Ki.


    A minute later, he finally felt like he had absorbed 20% more Ki than his body could hold, yet he gritted his teeth and tried to absorb more.


    However, no matter how much he tried, all the ki he tried to absorb escaped his body as there was no more space left for them to occupy.


    He tried compressing the Ki further, however, every time he tried, he failed and the only result it brought were painful groans that escaped from his lips.


    His skin started cracking in several areas, with blood leaking out of them.


    Knowing that he was at his absolute limit, he finally relented and focused his entire mind on concentrating all the absorbed Ki to his right arm.


    "AAAAAAAAH!"


    A heart-wrenching scream escaped Arlo''s mouth.


    A vibrant whitish smoke surrounded the stump of his right arm, and he could feel that the speed at which it was regenerating had at least quickened by five times.


    He didn''t get to experience the joy of regenerating at such a monstrous pace for long, as the pain he felt was simply too unbearable and he passed out.


    ¡­..


    About an hour later.


    *Knock Knock*


    A light knocking sound could be heard.


    Receiving no response, the door was gently opened.


    A disheveled Joe stumbled into the room, his face pale white and his lips purple.


    However, when he saw Arlo passed out on the floor, he didn''t know where the energy suddenly came from but his steps quickened as he made his way over to him.


    "Hey! Are you okay?"


    Just when he was about to lift him, he saw Arlo''s right arm and he became stunned on the spot, his hands still outstretched.


    ''What happened?''


    ''Why is his right arm missing?''


    Joe''s mind was thrown into chaos.


    Even though he was only ten years old, after the past few weeks, Joe''s mind wasn''t as simple as a child''s.


    He didn''t know why, but he felt the reason why Arlo was in such a state was related to him.


    A myriad of emotions flashed within his eyes.


    Pain, frustration, anger, and finally guilt.


    He bit his lower lip until it drew blood and all the emotions welling up within him disappeared as if they never existed.


    All that was left in his eyes was resolve.


    A burning resolve!


    ¡­..


    Arlo''s eyelashes quivered before they slowly opened.


    Looking at the pitch-black darkness around him, his eyes got misty.


    ''It wasn''t a dream.''


    He wished it was all a dream.


    He just wanted to go home.


    He longed to see his mum''s face and tell his dad he loved him. He always had.


    However, after a few seconds, he regained his calm.


    He closed his eyes and concentrated on that flickering light in his mind.


    An invisible spiritual wave surged out of his head, covering a five-meter radius with him at the center.


    He found his room till the same.


    Empty!


    Except he was on the bed, and not the floor.


    Wondering how he got into bed, a knocking sound came from the door before it was abruptly opened.


    Arlo quickly sat up and even though he felt a searing pain across his body, he gritted his teeth and endured it.


    He couldn''t tell who entered the room as his divine sense was too small to cover the entire room.


    He didn''t have to think for long though as a cold elderly woman''s voice resounded in the room:


    "Time for your chores."


    ''It is that old maid from before.'' Arlo relaxed his tense nerves.


    Honestly, he was a little afraid it was the previous kids that were here for revenge.


    The old maid didn''t seem to want to enter the room as she stood before the opened door and continued:


    "You have only two duties."


    "Clean the castle and feed the bloodhounds."


    "Once you are through, you must return to your room immediately and not loiter around."


    At the end of her speech, her words were laced with threats.


    She turned around to leave before she stopped once more.


    "Oh! You can wash in the room next door. There is already a change of clothes provided for you. As for what you will eat, I advise you to get them in the nearest city when you go to buy the hound''s food. Here! You will need this," said the old maid as she threw a token at Arlo.


    However since Arlo couldn''t see, he wasn''t able to react until the token entered the range of his divine sense.


    By then it was already too late, as the token smacked him on the head with a dull sound.


    A trickle of blood slid down Arlo''s face, however, he didn''t make any sound.


    The woman displeased, harrumphed before she closed the door.


    Before the door closed completely, her faint voice drifted into the room, "The bloodhounds are located in the basement."


    Arlo took a deep breath.


    It would be a lie to say he wasn''t angry, however, there was nothing he could do about it.


    He was in a foreign world.


    And he was too weak.


    Wiping the blood off his face, he looked at his right arm, and a small smile unconsciously lit his face.


    Even though there was no noticeable change, he could feel his right arm had regenerated by a lot.


    His eyes flashed with resolve, and a plan immediately began to form in his mind.


    ''I will clean the castle, feed the whatever hounds, and spend the rest of my time training.''


    ''I refuse to stay this way for long.''


    ''Just wait for me!''


    A fiery anger flashed past his eyes.


    *****


    Almost 2000 words.


    Thanks to all those who are following this novel.

 CHAPTER 48: FEEDING THE BLOODHOUNDS

    Arlo leaned on the wall of the corridor as he sat on the ground.


    *Whew!* He let out a light breath.


    He couldn''t tell the exact time, however, he was sure he spent an entire 6 hours cleaning the entire castle.


    If anything made him happy, it was that he didn''t encounter those siblings.


    In fact, he didn''t meet anybody. It was as if the entire castle was empty.


    Aside from the highest floor of the castle that was restricted to him, Arlo was sure there was no other person in the house, not even Joe.


    Though this left him perplexed and a bit concerned, he couldn''t really do anything about it.


    He had to focus on what he was about to do.


    Sending his divine sense to the right, a flight of stairs heading down entered his vision.


    Taking a deep breath, he stood up and made his way to the basement.


    ¡­..


    After walking down the slight of stairs, Arlo made his way across the empty basement.


    It wasn''t about two minutes later that a wooden sled about three meters long and a meter high packed with some unknown creatures entered his vision.


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    Sounds of trickling liquid falling echoed in the silent basement.


    Out of curiosity, Arlo moved closer to the sled.


    When his divine sense covered the entire carriage, Arlo''s face turned pale and his eyes became filled with fear.


    Several dead, huge bat-like creatures were packed on the sled.


    The creatures had the normal size of a bat, however, their protruding crimson fangs told otherwise. Their faces were nothing short of hideous and fierce, and seeing about ten of such creatures clustered together with their greenish blood trickling down the sled, Arlo''s heart couldn''t help but beat faster.


    Even with his mature state of mind, he couldn''t help but feel scared.


    His mind was screaming at him to run.


    His legs were quivering ever so slightly.


    However, he gritted his teeth and fought against the fear as he made his way past the sled, deeper into the basement.


    He had not even walked ten steps when Arlo felt several massive structures enter his range of divine sense.


    ''Huh?'' He was stunned on the spot as he realized that several protruding-like structures with murky liquids dripping down them surrounded his vision.


    Raising his head slightly, Arlo''s pupils turned into slits, and his face paled before a fearful scream escaped his mouth as he fell on his rear side.


    *Snarl! Snarl! Snarl!* Several snarling sounds echoed along with his scream, as the several opened jaws simultaneously snapped shut as they tried to bite his upper body off.


    Luckily, he fell on his rear side in time, saving him from a gruesome death.


    "AAAAH!"


    Arlo continued to scream as he retreated backward on all fours, well on all threes, making the dreadful fangs leave the range of his divine sense.


    However, he didn''t care at all, as he quickly got on his feet and ran with all his might out of the basement.


    Only the snarling sounds of the dreadful hounds echoed as a background song along with his retreating figure.


    He quickly made his way across the flight of stairs before he fell to his knees and panted for breath.


    His golden hair fell disheveled down his head, covering his pale and fearful face.


    His heart was beating to the point that he felt it might burst out of his chest.


    He had never been this close to death.

 CHAPTER 49:FEEDING THE BLOODHOUNDS II

    Arlo stood in front of the flight of stairs heading to the basement.


    His left hand was drawn into a fist, and his eyes flashed with determination.


    After some time, he had recollected himself.


    He had never been this scared before, however; he knew he had to complete this task unless he would face the repercussions.


    He was just about to actively start his training, and he didn''t want anything to interfere with it.


    Arlo closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose before they snapped open with resolve.


    He took a step forward.


    .....


    Arlo made his way through the basement, however, this time his steps were slow and cautious.


    The basement had now regained its calmness, however, Arlo wasn''t deceived by the silence.


    He knew that at the end of this basement were monsters that even though he hadn''t gotten a clear picture of, was sure that they were terrifying.


    After a short while, he arrived before the blood-soaked sled.


    The gruesome sight before him and the thought of what he was about to do almost made him puke, however, he gritted his teeth and forced himself not to.


    Using his remaining hand, Arlo unsteadily grabbed the dead bat-like creatures and threw them one at a time with all the force he could muster.


    With a few dull thuds, the sled became empty.


    However, Arlo wasn''t satisfied a bit.


    Silence still pervaded the basement.


    Arlo was starting to get pissed. However, he still moved forward in slow steps.


    His divine sense was released to the limit, and his forehead was starting to get matted in sweat.


    With a slow pace, Arlo moved forward carefully, and immediately when he felt something enter the range of his divine sense, Arlo jumped back with all his might, his legs already strengthened with Ki.


    *Snarl¡­.* Snarling sounds echoed in the basement for a while before munching sounds soon followed.


    "Humph," harrumphed Arlo with calm and steady eyes; however, his sweat-soaked back told otherwise.


    Arlo turned around and walked back with slightly unsteady steps.


    When he reached the sled once more, his stomach made growling sounds.


    It had been a while since he ate.


    With the fear and adrenaline gone, he finally felt the panging hunger.


    Looking at the sled, Arlo made a decision.


    .....


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    Arlo left the castle with the sled in tow.


    Even though he was barely eight years old, after strengthening his body continuously with Ki, his base physical strength was already comparable to an adult if not slightly above it.


    Dragging the sled behind him with only his left hand was nothing.


    Even as he left the castle, nobody came to stop him.


    However, he could feel the gaze of a person on him, even though he couldn''t tell the direction it was coming from.


    ''I was not alone in the castle after all.'' Arlo thought silently to himself.


    But since the other party didn''t stop him, he continued on his way.


    Arlo didn''t walk for long when he noticed someone sitting a few distance away from the east of the castle.


    "Joe¡­" he whispered slightly.


    He hurried over and asked in a slightly anxious voice:


    "Hey! Are you okay?"


    The indistinct purple aura that was enveloping Joe entered back into his body.


    Arlo didn''t notice it at all.


    Joe turned around and flashed a small smile.


    "I am okay!"


    Arlo was a bit taken aback.


    ''He seems more calm than usual.''


    He could tell that something about Joe had changed, however, he couldn''t tell why.


    "Huh?" He saw Joe gazing quietly at his missing arm.


    However, even after a while, he didn''t ask anything about it.


    Since he didn''t ask, he also didn''t see any need to explain what happened.


    He didn''t want him to feel guilty.


    The two quietly gazed at each other, their thoughts unknown.


    ''His lips look pale.'' He hadn''t noticed it before since he could only see his surroundings by using his divine sense.


    Even though it felt as if he was seeing with his eyes, it still took him a bit more time to notice changes around him.


    He clenched his left hand, as it didn''t take him a long time to deduce that the cause was blood loss.


    Even his face was slightly paler than usual.


    Gazing into his white-like reptilian eyes, Arlo felt a bit conflicted.


    Joe could be considered his first real friend, as he and Tina had distanced themselves as they grew.


    They didn''t have the best first encounter, yes!


    However, after Joe saved his life when he was at the gate of death, and even stood up for him before, the dark-haired boy that was a few inches taller than him started gaining a spot in his heart.


    Besides, they were alone in a dangerous territory where their life was continuously threatened.


    Joe was the only companion he had.


    After a while, Joe finally spoke, "Don''t look at me like that! I''m starting to have goosebumps."


    The corner of Arlo''s mouth twitched slightly, however, he decided not to comment on it.


    ''I guess he hasn''t changed after all.''


    "What are you doing outside the castle?" Joe suddenly asked.


    "Oh! So you can leave while I can''t?" Arlo threw back.


    Joe flashed a wry smile as he muttered, "It''s not as if I could escape in the first place."


    "What do you mean?" Arlo asked in confusion, however, Joe didn''t reply.


    Seeing that he didn''t want to continue with that conversation, Arlo tactfully decided to switch the topic, "I am going to the nearby city to get some food for myself¡­" Turning back he briefly gazed at the sled behind him before he continued, "...Among other things."


    "Oh! Let me follow you then."


    "You don''t have to." Arlo politely declined. He was smart enough to deduce from their brief conversation that Joe was somewhat restricted in his movement so he didn''t want to cause any problem for him.


    However, Joe waved his hand as he spoke, "Since I said I will follow you, then I will. Besides, it seems your vision in the dark is very limited. But I can see clearly in the dark like any other day." He patted his small chest in confidence.


    "You seem to have matured a bit," muttered Arlo with a smile on his face.


    However, who would have thought that would annoy Joe? He quickly drew close to Arlo and wrapped his right arm across his neck bringing it under his armpit.


    "I am obviously older than you, how dare you talk to me like that?"


    Since Arlo''s left arm was being restricted behind Joe, He couldn''t free himself from his hold.


    "Stop! Stop!" He choked out.


    "Hehe, call me big brother!" Joe commanded.


    "Never!"


    "AAAH!" Joe''s hold tightened further.


    *Smack!*


    *Smack!*


    Arlo started smacking Joe from behind as he struggled to break free.


    "Humph, that won''t do anything!" Joe suddenly said, however, his playful tone suddenly changed to that of panic, "What the hell are you holding? Release my butt this instant!"


    "You first!" Arlo refused to concede."


    "Aaaah! My butt is being ravaged!"


    "...!"


    "Okay! Okay! I will let you go."


    "...!"


    "Hey! I have already released you. Why won''t you let go of my butt?"


    "Stop groping me!"


    Joe''s voice resounded in the surroundings.


    However, even while he screamed in surrender, he never loosened his hold on Arlo''s neck.


    The only thought that passed through Arlo''s mind at that moment was, ''Bastard!''

 CHAPTER 50: GUIDE

    After a few hours of walking, Arlo and Joe finally entered the city.


    They were previously stopped at the entrance of the city, however, after flashing the token he was given, they were both allowed to enter.


    Since he could only see a radius of six meters around him, Arlo couldn''t appreciate the city in its fullness.


    They had already been walking for a while, however; they were yet to find what they were searching for.


    The streets looked quite empty, with a few shops lined across the sides.


    They would occasionally come across some people, however, Arlo could tell from their manner of dressing that the majority of them were maids and servants.


    One thing they all had in common, was how they looked at Joe with undisguised lust. However, after identifying Arlo beside him, they all looked away in fear.


    From the white color that streaked across their dark hair and their pale and beautiful appearances, Arlo could tell that they were all vampires.


    "Hello!" A cute angelic voice pulled Arlo out of his thoughts.


    Arlo and Joe both came to a sudden stop when the voice drifted into their ears.


    A small girl of about ten years appeared before the two.


    Dressed in a simple and plain light-red dress, the snow-white-haired girl smiled as she continued, "Hello! My name is Arianne. You guys seem to be lost. How about I be your guide?"


    Even after a while, she didn''t receive any response, as both boys seemed to be lost in her beauty.


    ''So beautiful¡­'' Arlo thought, however, he quickly collected himself.


    After spending the majority of his life with the most beautiful goddess he had ever seen-his mother, Arlo quickly regained his thoughts.


    The same however could not be said about the last person among the trio.


    Joe at some point had already turned into a statue.


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    Focusing his entire attention on that angelic yet devilish cute little face, Arlo could feel a tint of cold and indifference resting deep within her ruby eyes, even though she had a small smile adorning her face.


    This was the first person to approach them after entering the city. Yet even though she seemed like a harmless little girl, Arlo decided to tread cautiously.


    "Hi! The name is Arlo. We can take care of ourselves."


    A small trace of disappointment flashed ever so briefly past the girl''s face and as she was about to respond¡­


    "My goddess!" A light whisper drifted into her pale ears.


    From the beginning, she had her entire attention on Arlo, and it wasn''t until now that she shifted her gaze to Joe.


    When her eyes locked with that of Joe, he suddenly trembled and seemed to have been released from his frozen-like state.


    "You are real!" He affirmed to no one in particular.


    *Whoosh!*


    Joe suddenly appeared beside Arianne and grabbed onto her small thigh as he voiced out:


    "My goddess, please marry me. No, you must marry me!" His eyes flashed with resolve.


    Arianne''s body grew stiff as she felt Joe''s touch.


    When was the last time she was touched by a person outside her family?


    Not to say this person was a boy.


    Her body trembled slightly, as her face slowly looked down at the clutching Joe, only to find him looking back at her with undisguised love and affection.


    "It is love at first sight!" He whispered slightly as if trying to convince her.


    One of his hands sneakily moved up Arianne''s thigh, inching close to her small perky butt.


    A scarlet glow was lighting up from Arianne''s eyes as she was about to break her act and smack the head of the little boy who dared to defile her into pieces...


    It was at this moment that Arlo''s annoyed voice drifted into her ears, stopping her and Joe''s sneaking hand, "You idiot, she is a vampire!"


    Joe didn''t even take an instant to think as he immediately replied, "So what? My mum always told me to be direct and firm when I find the girl I love."


    "Huh? Didn''t you say your mother always told you women are the pitfall of men?" Arlo voiced out in confusion.


    For the first time since Arianne''s arrival, Joe turned to face Arlo as he screamed, "Don''t you dare lie against my mother. She would never say such a thing!"


    Arlo was stunned.


    However, he gritted his teeth in anger as he moved toward Joe, and yanked him away from Arianne.


    "You bastard you will get us killed¡­huh?" A familiar scent drifted into Arlo''s nose.


    ''This fragrance. It is similar to that time.'' Arlo raised his head and looked at Arianne in wonder.


    "Let me go now! Don''t you dare stand in the way of my love!"


    He was pulled out of his thoughts by Joe''s struggle.


    "How about I be your guide?" Arianne asked once again.


    She seemed to be asking Arlo however, her eyes were staring fixedly at Joe.


    Looking up, Joe felt his body stiffen, and a chill ran down his spine as he locked eyes with her once more.


    He felt deep fear to the point that he didn''t dare to move.


    As she gazed at Joe, a searing anger was hidden deep in her eyes as she already marked Joe to be dead in her mind.


    This time, Arlo didn''t answer immediately.


    He was somewhat curious why he found her to be familiar when this was their first time meeting.


    So after some deep thought, he finally answered, "Yes, please."


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all my readers. Please drop a review and add the novel as your favorite.

 CHAPTER 51: SHE IS A MONSTER

    Three little kids stood in front of a shop.


    Though the shop was only one floor, it was still quite big.


    In front of the stall was a signboard on which was written "Night Crawlers."


    "You can get what you are searching for here." The sweet voice of a little girl drifted into the ears of two young boys.


    As Arlo gazed at the shop, he couldn''t help but marvel at its appearance.


    The shop was glittering with black color, and he guessed it was the same material from which his room was built.


    Arianne as if noticing his fascination spoke at this moment, "It is called Darknite. It is a mineral that can only be found in the northern continent."


    Arlo was a bit surprised the girl could read his thoughts but he still spoke, "Thank you."


    During their brief walk to the shop, Arlo had asked her who she was.


    She simply replied, "My mother owns a small shop in this city." before she fell silent. No matter what he asked regarding her background, she gave no more answer.


    However, after telling her what they were searching for, she brought them to the shop in front of them.


    For that, Arlo was a bit grateful. Considering he and Joe were both from different races, he didn''t know how the people here would react if they asked for directions.


    Entering the shop, what entered Arlo''s divine sense was groups of bat-like creatures that he now knew were called Crawlers, hanging down the top of the shop.


    At the back of the shop, an old man was working on a crawler spread on the table.


    Even though Arlo felt he was old, the old man''s body was still filled with vigor. In addition, his pale face together with his black snow-white streaked hair gave him quite a handsome appearance for an old man.


    The old man shifted his attention to them after they entered the shop.


    His gaze rested longer on Joe than the others. After a bit while of observation he voiced out, "How may I help you?"


    "We want to get some night crawlers," said Arianne as she took the initiative to speak.


    "Oh! How many would you like?" asked the old man.


    Arianne did not respond this time, but instead turned her head slightly to Arlo as she looked at him with a questioning look.


    After considering the size of the sled he brought with him, Arlo spoke, "About ten would be enough."


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    "How do you plan to move them?" he asked once more.


    "There is a sled just outside the shop," said Arlo.


    "Okay!" the old man nodded and asked no more questions.


    "Marvin!" he called out.


    A door located at the back of the shop opened before a middle-aged man came out, "Yes master."


    "Bring down ten crawlers and place them on the sled outside.


    "Yes!" the middle-aged man responded politely.


    He immediately sprang into action and did as he was told.


    Arianne moved closer to Arlo and asked, "Do you have money to pay?"


    Arlo didn''t even have to think about it as he replied with a "No!"


    However he quickly clarified before the young girl could react, "But I have this!" said Arlo as he took out a token.


    When Arianne saw the token, she nodded her head, "That is enough!"


    When Arlo took out the token, the old man inadvertently saw it too and he voiced, "I see you were taken to that place."


    Arlo didn''t quite understand what he meant, but the old man didn''t bother clarifying.


    .....


    The trio walked together with Arlo and Arianne in front, and Joe further back.


    Arlo pulled the sled along with him using his left hand and he didn''t seem disturbed in the least.


    Joe on the other hand had been silent ever since that ''incident''.


    No matter what Arlo said to him, he didn''t reply.


    Arianne on the other hand didn''t even bother with him, treating him as if he didn''t exist in the first place.


    The trio walked in silence.


    Arlo was a bit surprised. He thought Arianne had approached them with an ulterior motive, however ever since they left the shop, she had not asked them anything. She simply escorted them back to the gate.


    Thinking about what happened in the shop, Arlo smiled bitterly.


    After getting all the crawlers, the old man didn''t bother asking them to pay.


    Before they left, Arianne decided to ask if the man had beast meat.


    And to their surprise, he did.


    He brought out several chucks of meat and handed them to him.


    He estimated it would be enough to feed him and Joe for a week or so.


    However, he didn''t dare to ask where the meat came from.


    Reaching the gate, Arianne suddenly stopped, "This is where we say goodbye."


    "Thanks for your help today. I will be sure to pay you back in the future." Arlo nodded his head at her.


    She just smiled and didn''t respond.


    Seeing this, Arlo continued toward the gate with Joe following behind him like a lifeless husk.


    It wasn''t until after they left the vicinity of the city that Joe suddenly collapsed on the ground as he gasped heavily for breath.


    Arlo was pulled out of his thoughts on their encounter with Arianne, as he let go of the sled and quickly approached Joe, "What is wrong with you?"


    Joe looked up as he gazed at Arlo, his eyes filled with terror, "Th-that girl is a monster."


    Arlo was dumbfounded.


    "Of course, she is a monster. She is a vampire after all," he said subconsciously.


    However, Joe suddenly grabbed his clothes and pulled fiercely as he mumbled, "No you have it all wrong. You can''t tell as you are just a human, but I felt it. She is not just a vampire. She is something else entirely, a monster!"


    Looking deep into the eyes of his newfound friend, Arlo didn''t know how to respond.


    So he just kept quiet and waited for him to recompose himself.


    ¡­..


    A week later.


    Arlo sat in a lotus position in his room.


    He had been in intensive training this past week and was quite satisfied with the results.


    His missing arm had regenerated up to his hand. He believed in just two days, his arm would have regenerated completely.


    That wasn''t the only thing he accomplished from his training.


    After adjusting to the darkness, for a bit more than a week, Arlo was surprised to find out he could now see a few meters around with his normal eyes.


    His divine sense range had also increased to a whooping ten meters.


    The artifact spirit had told him this was a result of constantly using his divine sense.


    The most important thing, however, was that Arlo could feel himself touching upon a barrier.


    After informing the artifact spirit about it, he learned that it was a sign he was about to break through and become a real warrior.


    Arlo was so excited to find out if he would be able to summon two astral warriors upon his breakthrough.

 CHAPTER 52: FINALLY

    Two days later.


    Inside Arlo''s room.


    Still in a lotus position, Arlo gazed wondrously at his right hand.


    Even though his body was soaked with sweat, and his face pale, the exhaustion couldn''t hide the excitement that was flashing deep in his eyes.


    At this point, his hand had regenerated up to his digits. Aside from his missing fingers, his arm looked perfectly normal. In fact, Arlo could somewhat tell that it was better than its previous one.


    ''Warriors are amazing.'' Arlo thought as he felt excited about the abilities of warriors that he would also soon wield fully.


    Thinking about all the effort, along with the commitment and dedication he put into his training this past two weeks, Arlo felt it was all worth it.


    During these two weeks, aside from cleaning the castle, feeding the bloodhounds, and getting some supplies in the city, Arlo spent his entire time training.


    Speaking about feeding the bloodhounds, Arlo had already overcome his fear of them, after all, all he had to do was throw the crawlers into their range. Therefore, he hadn''t seen what they looked like, not that he cared in the first place.


    Also, after every two days, he would have to return to the city to get more crawlers. The second time he went, Joe decided to tag along once more, however, they were both surprised to encounter the beautiful young vampire once again. She decided to also tag along, even though the duo didn''t need her guidance anymore.


    Since then, Joe hadn''t followed him to the city, as he seemed to have not overcome his fear of Arianne.


    During these past few weeks, Arlo and Arianne had become quite close. He wouldn''t call her a friend per se, but they were not far off.


    Arlo was also happy with his new acquaintance because aside from the occasional questions about his relationship with Scarlett, how he came to know her, and his family background, Arianne didn''t seem to harbor any other intentions.


    He could tell that she was simply filled with curiosity toward him. Moreover, he didn''t mind such questions, as it didn''t beat having a companion with him every time he entered the city full of only vampires. So, he had become quite close with her to the point that he always looked forward to returning to the city to get more supplies, and he could tell she felt the same way.


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    Their meeting had become quite a routine at this point.


    Removing all these distracting thoughts, Arlo wiped the sweat off his forehead with his left arm and focused on the task at hand.


    He closed his eyes and willed the surrounding Ki into his body.


    According to the artifact spirit, the body was like a container, and the Ki was water. Once the container becomes filled to the brim, it won''t be able to hold more water. However, for some reason, Arlo could do that, even though it placed a lot of burden on his body.


    After absorbing twenty percent more Ki than his body could hold, Arlo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


    He could feel the Ki that was evenly spread within his body.


    With a well-focused mind, he willed all the Ki to move toward his right hand.


    *Swoosh!* A vibrant whitish smoke surrounded his right hand, as Arlo grunted from pain.


    The skin on his right hand cracked open from the burden and blood seeped out as they dropped onto the floor. However, this effect couldn''t compare to his fingers which were slowly but surely regenerating at a visible pace.


    The artifact spirit had also told him that concentrating more Ki on one part of the body should be impossible, but for some reason, it wasn''t for him. And the only reason he could come up with was that Arlo possessed some sort of special physique, which would also explain why he could absorb more Ki than his body could normally hold.


    As to the veracity of such a thing, nobody knew. Nevertheless, with time, Arlo believed he would unravel all the mysteries surrounding himself.


    Arlo had to maintain this state until his fingers fully regenerated. He almost collapsed several times, however, he gritted his teeth and bore through the pain as he was fully determined to break through today.


    His mind was not at rest at all.


    The artifact spirit had told him not to attempt to break through until he regenerated his hand.


    However, that wasn''t what placed his mind in unrest.


    The second day after cleaning the castle and after not encountering anybody in his house one more, Arlo decided to approach Joe to dispel his doubts.


    Joe had said, "I saw them leaving the house in a hurry as they discussed going to the capital to enroll into the ''Darkblood Academy''."


    What threw his mind into disarray was that Joe said he heard the little boy Bon talking about bloodline awakening, and then teaching Arlo a lesson when he comes back.


    He didn''t know what this bloodline awakening was, but from the name, it was safe to assume that it was something very important to the vampires and would probably boost their powers.


    Since then, he felt this heavy pressure weighing on him, which was why he gave his all to training.


    Something that surprised him was that, Joe also seemed to be training, as he spent the majority of his time just outside the castle.


    After three hours of excruciating pain, Arlo couldn''t feel anything happening, so he opened his eyes to look at his hand.


    In his vision, Arlo could see his fully regenerated hand, however, his vision became blurry, and he finally succumbed to the pain as he collapsed onto the floor.


    *****


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 BONUS CHAPTER 53: BREAKTHROUGH

    After an unknown time, Arlo finally woke up.


    Once more, he found himself on his bed, but it didn''t take him an instant to realize who was responsible. ''Joe'' he thought with a weak smile on his face.


    << You finally did it, boy. You did well!>> Old bro''s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.


    ''Yes!'' he realized. ''I did it!'' He thought as he slowly sat up and looked at his hand.


    His entire right arm didn''t look as if it was cut off at one point.


    Flexing his fingers, Arlo found his movements to be a bit stiff, but Old bro''s voice quickly put his mind at rest, << It''s a newly regenerated arm, so it will take some time for you to get used to it. >>


    After testing his new arm for several minutes, Arlo finally grew bored of it. There was a very important matter at hand. One that was somewhat more important than regrowing his limb.


    Yes!


    It was time to break through!


    << Why don''t you take a break? >> Old bro suddenly suggested.


    "There is no need," said Arlo as he tried to suppress his excitement.


    He quickly got out of his bed and sat on the floor in a lotus position.


    Thinking about it, he was somewhat glad that the family had left the castle together with the maids because he didn''t want his breakthrough to attract their attention. He still didn''t know if his breakthrough would cause any ruckus.


    It wasn''t as if he and Joe were the only ones in the castle, as he could tell they were not from the state he always found Joe in.


    He could guess there was at least someone in the castle, probably a guard to watch over the castle or them.


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    Also, the old maid occasionally came back, but he didn''t care about her.


    Taking a deep breath, Arlo willed Ki into his body as he subconsciously closed his eyes.


    He already had an idea of how to break through.


    In his fight with Bon and his sister, he felt something shatter within him when he absorbed more Ki than his body could hold.


    Using the technique his father taught him, Arlo controlled his body to repeat the same thing.


    Except this time, he wouldn''t stop at 120% Ki.


    Arlo felt every fiber of his body become filled with Ki, however, he didn''t stop this time and continued to absorb it.


    Well, he tried to.


    No matter what he did, the surrounding Ki wouldn''t enter his body.


    It was as if there was no more space for them to occupy.


    With a sweat-matted forehead, Arlo gritted his teeth and tried to compress the Ki already in his body.


    After a long hour, Arlo felt he had somewhat succeeded.


    So he tried absorbing Ki once more.


    *Booom!* An explosion occurred in Arlo''s body, as he felt a ringing sensation in his ears and almost blacked out.


    Suddenly, all the Ki in his body started moving towards both his upper arms as they started forming some sort of tattoos.


    While all this was happening, Arlo''s mind was pulled into a strange space.


    It was all grey around him, and strangely a question appeared out of nowhere in his mind.


    ''What is your true self?''


    ''My true self?'' Arlo thought about the question for a long time but he couldn''t arrive at an answer.


    Back outside his body.


    Eight tattoos of various forms started appearing on his arms, with four on both sides.


    << Heavens! >> The voice of old bro echoed out, but nobody was there to listen.


    After a short while, the tattoos were completed, but instead of calling them tattoos, it was more apt to call them symbols with various outlines.


    Four symbols each were formed on the back of both of Arlo''s upper arms. However, the symbols were indistinct and only one was clear.


    It was the symbol of a slime.


    The artifact spirit''s thought process was frozen at this point.


    He couldn''t believe what was going on.


    Before he could regain his composure, something else happened.


    The remaining Ki in Arlo''s body suddenly surged toward the back of his neck.


    They were forming an indistinct symbol; however, this time there was a difference.


    This symbol was big, at least twice as large as any of the other symbols.


    After a while, all the Ki in Arlo''s body was used up.


    At the same time, in the strange space, Arlo''s eyes suddenly shone with clarity, as a gigantic image appeared before him.


    With a deep smile, he whispered, "This is my true self." His mind was immediately pulled out of that space and he opened his eyes just in time to hear the voice of the artifact spirit¡­


    << Nine summons! >>


    *****


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    Thank you.

 CHAPTER 54: ANITA

    ''Nine summons?'' Before Arlo could comprehend what he just heard, a feeling of weakness suddenly came over him.


    *Huff! Huff!* Arlo panted heavily, as he supported himself with both hands.


    "What is happening?" voiced out Arlo with a weak voice.


    << Now that you are a one¨Cstar warrior, if you use up all the Ki in your body, you will become temporarily weakened. >> Old bro''s words entered his mind.


    "I-I don''t understand?" Arlo said in confusion, as he felt his body slowly regaining its strength.


    << Oh! That fast! >> Old bro sounded genuinely surprised before he continued, << Before, your body could not store Ki, and could only temporarily hold it, that is why you kept absorbing Ki from your surroundings. Now that you are an official warrior, your body can now store Ki. Depleting all this Ki will leave you in a state of weakness, and replenishing them will be far slower than how it was previously, after all, your body is now immensely powerful. >>


    Arlo slowly sat back down on the dark floor. He understood what the artifact spirit said, as his body subconsciously absorbed Ki without actively willing it.


    It was just that it was too slow.


    Circulating the technique his father taught him, he tried absorbing Ki into his body, however, he found it far slower than he was used to.


    It would take him about an hour to replenish all the Ki in his body.


    What he didn''t know was that the artifact spirit was secretly surprised at the rate he was replenishing his Ki, as it would take an average new warrior at least six hours and a veteran warrior three hours to replenish his Ki.


    "Master!" A sweet little girl''s voice resounded directly in Arlo''s mind.


    ''Huh?'' Arlo was surprised, "Old man, what are you doing?"


    ''Idiot.'' Old bro thought, not bothering to even reply.


    "Master! Please permit me to appear before you." The voice resounded in his head once more, but this time Arlo''s eyes immediately shifted to his right arm.


    He could see four strange symbols at the back of his upper arm, with the one furthest down with the shape of a slime glowing deep blue.


    "What the hell?" Arlo blurted out in surprise.


    Curious, he looked at his other arm and found four new symbols now engraved on it.


    With his mature and smart mind, it didn''t take him long to connect the dots.


    "Don''t tell me I actually have eight summons?" Arlo suddenly threw out to no one in particular. ''Wait, I heard old bro say nine summons.''


    He started searching for any other symbol that may be on his body, but after a full minute, he found none.


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    Old bro knowing his thought decided to help him, << It is at the back of your neck, Idiot! >> For some reason he sounded proud and also displeased.


    He felt proud of Arlo and was genuinely happy to have such an owner.


    However, he also felt displeased as before he told Arlo that a supreme genius would have two summons, yet here he was having nine. Wouldn''t that make him look foolish and somewhat undependable?


    Arlo didn''t mind the insult. In fact, his brain didn''t register it as the confirmation of a ninth summon sent his body into a state of euphoria.


    He was genuinely happy and proud, yet deep down he was also a bit scared.


    Isn''t this too much?


    Arlo was a very smart kid, so he knew there must be a good reason why he could summon nine astral warriors.


    Moreover, even if it was his talent, his mature mind refused to believe that it was all natural.


    ''There must be a reason for all this.'' He reaffirmed in his mind.


    He couldn''t dwell too much on this however as the cute little voice echoed in his mind once more, "Master..."


    <<Just direct some Ki into the seal, and will for your summon to appear. >>


    ''So they are called seals.'' Arlo silently thought.


    Sending some of his now replenished Ki into the slime seal, Arlo willed for his summon to appear.


    The slime seal suddenly lit up, before releasing a stream of white energy that formed a blue little slime in front of Arlo.


    "This little one greets matter." The girl''s voice resounded in Arlo''s mind again, seemingly intending to sound composed and disciplined, but to Arlo, it sounded rather cute.


    In fact, the slime looked so cute that Arlo felt like caressing it.


    Wanting to make a good first impression, Arlo cleared his throat and spoke with a deep voice, "Hi! My name is Arlo. I am happy to have you as my summon."


    "The pleasure is all mine." The slime responded.


    "Great!" Arlo suddenly exclaimed and took the slime into his embrace, his hands feeling her up. ''She feels so slippery yet comforting to touch.'' Arlo closed his eyes as he thought silently.


    ''Huh?'' Realising he acted out of line due to his childish impulse, Arlo quickly opened his eyes only to find two slight blushes on the face of the slime, with her giggling "Hehe" in satisfaction.


    He secretly sighed in relief.


    ''She seems more like a child.'' Arlo thought.


    ''You are also a child.'' Old bro was amused.


    Pulling the slime gently into his embrace, Arlo asked, "What do I call you?"


    The slime shifted a bit as she tried to snuggle peacefully in his embrace, "Master can call me Anita."


    Appreciating the five-inch-sized blue slime in his embrace, Arlo asked in a hopeful tone, "Can I call you Nita?"


    The slime didn''t even take an instant to reply "Sure." as she continued to nest in his embrace.


    "Then you can also call me, Arlo."


    The slime suddenly shifted upward, and even though Arlo could not see her eyes, he could tell she was looking at him.


    "Are you sure?" She asked, a bit unsure.


    "Yes!" Arlo confirmed with a smile.


    ¡­..


    After playing and getting close to Nita, Arlo suddenly noticed that a small part of his Ki had been constantly entering Nita''s seal.


    ''It seems I need to keep filling the seal with Ki for Nita to be outside my body.''


    He didn''t know how the seals worked, but he decided to ask old bro later.


    He could already tell that the seal must contain some sort of separate space for Nita to stay in.


    Looking at the little slime that was bobbing up and down on his lap, Arlo decided to ask the question he had been suppressing all this while.


    "So Nita, what can you do?"


    The playing Anita suddenly calmed down upon hearing his question.


    She took a short while before she answered, "My innate power is called Universal devouring."


    "Universal devouring¡­" Arlo repeated as his eyes widened slightly in surprise.


    What a grand and domineering name.


    Nita waited calmly for Arlo to come out of his reverie.


    "What does it do?" Arlo asked once more this time with a bit more excitement.


    "I can devour any living organism in existence be it a human, beast, devil, or even god," said Anita, her voice filled with pride.


    Arlo was rendered speechless. Even though he felt her words were a bit unreal and exaggerated, for some reason he felt they weren''t too farfetched.


    However, Anita didn''t seem done as she continued, "And I can acquire all their powers, be it innate traits, control of laws, and techniques."


    Arlo''s mind was thrown into total chaos.

 CHAPTER 55: RULER’S AUTHORITY

    In Arlo''s room.


    The golden-haired boy of about eight years old could be seen dancing around, as he carried a deep blue slime above his head.


    Even though he appeared disheveled, the excitement on his face could not be concealed.


    ''What a powerful summon.'' Arlo thought in joy.


    ''Now, I don''t need to fear anyone. With Anita by my side, who can stand against me?'' The faces of a few persons flashed in his mind as he thought coldly, ''And I can finally take my revenge.''


    A brilliant plan started hatching in his mind, as the giggles of the little slime echoed within the room.


    However, before the plan could even reach halfway, << Calm your bubbles! Even though what the little slime said is theoretically possible, it would be quite difficult if not impossible for her to even devour an entry-level advanced mage. Don''t forget what I told you before. The majority of her powers are sealed. The same goes for all the memories of her past life. >>, the cold voice of the artifact spirit was like a bucket of water poured on his head.


    He was stunned on the spot as he stopped all movement.


    Anita was still enjoying the feeling of being showered with praise when she felt something wrong.


    She looked down only to see Arlo appearing like a lifeless zombie.


    She shivered as she asked with a quivering voice, "Ar-Arlo?"


    ¡­..


    Arlo sat cross-legged in his room, with the little slime resting in front of him.


    Anita was silent. She felt a bit sad.


    ''What do you mean by she can''t even devour an advanced mage?'' Arlo asked in his mind.


    <<For her to devour a powerful being, her power needs to be fueled by an enormous amount of energy; energy that neither she nor you have. >>


    Arlo pondered on old bro''s words as he listened silently.


    << Besides, for each higher level the enemy is at, she would need more energy and equally more time to complete the devouring process. >>


    After thinking about it for a while, Arlo asked, ''So the issue is the lack of energy?''


    << No! >>


    Arlo was confused, but before he could voice his annoyance, old bro''s voice continued in his mind, << That''s not the only issue. As she is right now, just a stray attack from an initial-level advanced mage is enough to obliterate her existence. >> Old bro ended his explanation.


    Arlo was suddenly enlightened.


    Before Anita could even make a move, her life would be ended instantly. Moreover, from what old bro told him before, it would take some time for her body to reconstruct back, not to say the amount of Ki required for it.


    As if trying to console him, old bro''s voice sounded in his mind once more, << She should be able to handle any beginner mage easily. >>


    Arlo released a sigh.


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    He felt so disappointed.


    He was on cloud nine only to¡­


    *Haa!* he let out a light breath.


    Opening his eyes, what entered his sight was a dejected and downcast Anita.


    All feelings of disappointment immediately vanished, as a feeling of guilt well up inside him.


    ''What am I doing? Is this how I treat my partner?''


    With a forced smile on his face, Arlo carried Anita into his embrace and apologized.


    The little slime was a bit aggrieved.


    She didn''t understand why Arlo''s countenance suddenly changed. Wasn''t he supposed to be happy that she was so powerful? Why was he disappointed instead?


    With a slightly quivering voice, she asked, "Wh-what happened?"


    Arlo smiled gently as he caressed the cute little slime, "Nothing."


    Anita felt something was wrong, however, she didn''t dwell on it as she enjoyed Arlo''s caresses.


    Clenching his right fist, Arlo felt the overwhelming strength that was waiting to be released from his body. He had no idea how high his strength had reached.


    ''I am already strong as I am.'' He thought.


    "Oh! Arlo," said Anita. Arlo looked down at her, as he wondered what she wanted.


    "I forgot to tell you that you can use two of my powers." Arlo felt she was smiling even though that was impossible. He didn''t think much about it though as he asked, "Really?"


    "Yes!" Anita affirmed before she continued, "For some reason I can''t use them myself, but I feel like you should be able to."


    Arlo tried to suppress the excitement in his heart; he tried as much as possible to lower his expectations so he wouldn''t be disappointed.


    "Tell me about it," he demanded in a calm voice.


    Anita however shook her body slightly. "It will be better to show you. Just send a large amount of your Ki into the seal and leave the rest to me."


    Arlo immediately did as he was told and sent about ten percent of the Ki he just recovered into the slime seal.


    Anita seemed to be concentrating and immediately after, the slime seal glowed brightly with a deep blue color before it started releasing all the absorbed Ki back into Arlo''s body.


    However, there was a difference.


    Arlo could see countless blue streaks leaving the seal and converging at his right hand.


    Thereafter¡­


    *Whoosh!*


    A colorless sphere of energy appeared on his outstretched palm. It was as big as his palm.


    He could see a much smaller sphere lying within it. What fascinated Arlo however was the speed at which the sphere was rotating.


    It was rotating so fast to the point that a zing sound resounded slightly in the room.


    "I control the Orb laws." Anita''s voice drifted into his ears.


    "Orb laws¡­" he whispered as he gazed intensely at the orb on his palm.


    "That is right!" Anita continued in a proud tone, "It is a compressed ball of Ki. My bloodline projects any form of energy that leaves my body into an orb. It is an innate and natural process, one I cannot overcome. You see that smaller orb lying in the center?"


    "Yes!" Arlo affirmed.


    "I don''t know why but I feel like it''s special." Anita''s voice sounded unsure. It was clear that she was confused.


    ''It must be her sealed memory.'' Arlo thought silently.


    After experimenting a bit with the orb, Arlo found out that he could control the orb telepathically and send it out. He could even move it around his body.


    He also found out that he could create orbs with his left hand too. However, it seemed that he could only create two orbs at a time, as no matter how much Ki he sent into the seal, he couldn''t form another one.


    After contemplating for a while, Arlo decided to subdue his curiosity and not launch the attack.


    He didn''t know how strong it was, but from the spinning force of the orb, he could tell that it would be devastating. He didn''t want to draw any attention towards himself.


    Therefore, he dispelled his attacks.


    All this time, Anita watched in happiness as Arlo played around excitingly with the two orbs like a kid that just found a new toy.


    She was very happy.


    Arlo suddenly looked at her and carried her once more into his embrace.


    "Anita is so awesome," he said truthfully, as he felt the excitement coursing through his veins.


    "Hehe, it''s good that you know." She giggled happily, as she snuggled closer to him.


    After a short while, Arlo asked, this time with more excitement, "So what is your other power that I can use?"


    Anita squeezed out of his embrace before she started jumping up and down excitedly on his legs.


    "You will be very happy with this power of mine."


    Seeing her sudden reaction, Arlo''s heart started pounding wildly from excitement, "Quickly tell me," he demanded with a shaky voice.


    "Hehe." Anita on the other hand didn''t seem to be in a hurry.


    Grabbing the jumping slime, Arlo asked once more, "Tell me now..."


    The artifact spirit was speechless. Arlo at this point had lost all semblance of his maturity. He seemed no different from a normal kid.


    Not wanting to keep him in further suspense, Anita finally spoke, "My other power you can use is called Ruler''s Authority."


    "Ruler''s authority¡­" whispered Arlo.


    *****


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 CHAPTER 56: TRAINING OUTSIDE

    ''I knew it.'' Old bro thought. ''She really is from that extinct race.''


    "What does it do?" Arlo at this point had already calmed down.


    A technique with such a domineering name must be nothing to scoff at.


    "It is a power that controls the overbearing astral energy to do your bidding in your immediate surroundings," Anita explained solemnly. "Honestly, I feel like Ruler''s authority doesn''t lose at all to my innate universal devouring ability."


    Arlo took a little while to digest what the slime just said before he asked, "How do I use it?"


    "Just send your Ki into the seal and leave the rest to me."


    Checking his body, Arlo realized that it was less than half of his total Ki.


    His continuous sustenance of Anita and his little experiment on the orb laws had drained over half of his Ki.


    Arlo started sending his Ki into the slime seal, however even after a short while, the seal continued to swallow his Ki like a bottomless well.


    It wasn''t until after only ten percent of his Ki remained that it stopped.


    At this point, Arlo''s forehead was already matted with sweat.


    Anita seemed to be concentrating and in just a few seconds, several blue streaks of energy left the seal and started congregating at his neck, specifically at his larynx.


    Feeling the enormous energy at his neck, Arlo looked around the empty room and wondered what to do.


    His eyes suddenly lit up as they fell on the token on his bed.


    Moving closer to the bed, Arlo stretched his hand toward the token and spoke with a dignified face¡­


    "Come!"


    *Whoosh!* The token immediately flew into his hand.


    Arlo was surprised and speechless as he marveled at the power of Ruler''s authority.


    He felt like the immediate fifty centimeters with him at the center, was under his control.


    Anything he commands must come to pass.


    Moving further back so as not to affect his bed, Arlo looked at the floor made of darknite and commanded¡­


    "Be crushed!"


    *Crack!* spider-web cracks spread across the floor fifty centimeters around him, however, Arlo wasn''t happy at the display of power as he felt the enormous energy at his neck drained completely before he was thrown into a coughing fit.


    He fell on his knees and clutched his throat tightly.


    "ARLO!" Anita''s concerned voice resounded in the room as she quickly moved towards him.


    ¡­..


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    After three hours of meditation, Arlo''s eyes snapped open.


    The little slime that had been silent all this while so as not to disturb him, jumped into his embrace.


    His sore and wounded throat was healed.


    Moreover, all his Ki was recovered.


    Although he continuously lost a small amount to sustain Anita, overall Arlo found it negligible compared to his massive pool.


    Besides, he didn''t want to send her back into the seal. He didn''t plan on summoning her only when he was in battle.


    After playing a bit with the little slime, Arlo finally made his decision.


    "I need to train."


    He needed to find out the limit of his newfound power.


    Looking at the tiny cracks on the floor, Arlo didn''t dare to continue his training in his room.


    Moreover, he was too excited to care about how to repair the floor, so he sent Anita back into the seal and quickly left the room.


    He didn''t want to expose her existence and bring unwanted attention to himself.


    Besides, she would be his hidden trump card.


    Outside the castle, he found Joe training at his usual spot.


    Unlike before, a thick purple mist surrounded him, and if not for his divine sense, he wouldn''t be able to see him.


    Deciding not to interrupt his training, he moved a considerable distance before stopping.


    "Let''s first test my physical strength."


    There was no tree or boulder he could practice on, so he decided to ask old bro for help.


    ''Can you help me gauge how strong I am?''


    << Alright! Leave it to me. >>


    ''Thanks.''


    Taking a deep breath, Arlo bent his knees and raised his fists as he assumed a fighting stance.


    A few years back, his father had trained him on how to fight, together with the technique to sense and absorb Ki.


    Without further suspense, his body moved as he threw out normal punches and kicks.


    He moved around constantly as he visualized fighting an opponent.


    The air made booming sounds with every punch of his fists, and with every sweep of his legs, the air seemed to split.


    After about twenty minutes of training, he finally stopped.


    Though his head was a bit matted with sweat, he didn''t feel tired at all.


    He could continue for another three hours with no problem.


    ''How did I do?'' he asked in his mind.


    << Overall, your battle power compares favorably to your previous self when concentrating one hundred percent Ki at one part. >>


    Arlo was stunned for a while before his body started trembling from excitement.


    ''How powerful!'' he thought as he gazed at his clenched fists.


    One must not forget that the previous him when concentrating all his Ki on one part could fight equally with a peak-level beginner mage.


    In other words, as a new first-star warrior, he had the battle power of a third-star warrior.


    And that only applied to when he used normal punches and kicks.


    What would happen if the current him concentrates all his Ki in one part?


    In his excitement, he decided to put his thoughts into practice.


    Taking a deep breath, he willed all the Ki in his body at his right hand.


    Clenching his fist, he punched out.


    *Boom!* the generated shock wave moved forward for about two meters before dissipating.


    His mouth hung open from surprise.


    With a shaky voice, he asked once more in his mind, ''How strong was that?''


    <<The power from that blow was as strong as a fourth-star warrior. >>


    A fourth star warrior has a battle power that lies in between an initial and mid-level advanced mage.


    ''With the orb laws, ruler''s authority, and Anita, together with my raw physical strength, I should be able to battle a mid-level advanced mage.''


    The artifact spirit didn''t comment on his thought.


    ''But why am I not bleeding like usual?'' Arlo asked in confusion as he looked at his clenched fist.


    Normally his skin would have cracked open, with some of the meridians destroyed. Yet such a thing didn''t happen this time around.


    << It is normal. Your compatibility with Ki increased once you broke through. Not to say that your physical body has been strengthened a lot. Though it is not as hard as steel, it is not that far from it. >> Old bro said before he continued, << Besides don''t forget that you have a special physique, which is why the quantity and quality of Ki in your body far outstretch your current level, allowing you to battle against those in higher levels. >>


    Arlo finally understood why he was so strong for his level.


    As for the name and nature of his special physique, Arlo didn''t dwell on it.


    With time, he would unravel all its mysteries.


    "Next," Arlo said as he stretched both of his palms out.


    Immediately, two orbs of Ki appeared on his palms.


    The ringing sound of the rotating orbs woke the faraway Joe, as his eyes snapped open in Arlo''s direction.


    ''What the hell?''


    *****


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 CHAPTER 57: SPAR

    Arlo sent both orbs out.


    *Baang!*


    *Baang!*


    Two massive holes a meter long and a few inches deep were formed on the ground.


    Arlo smiled in satisfaction when he saw the result.


    The orbs didn''t disappoint at all. They were enough to blast a huge boulder into pieces.


    After finding out the power of the orbs, Arlo decided to train how to use them in combat.


    He created two new orbs and allowed them to revolve around him.


    After practicing for a while, he felt at ease controlling them.


    He was just about to start fighting in tandem with the revolving orbs when an idea struck him.


    Arlo tried controlling the orbs with his divine sense and to his surprise, it worked.


    His control was much more fluid and fast compared to before. It was almost as if the orbs were an extension of him.


    Nodding in satisfaction, he assumed a fighting stance, before he started his main training.


    As he swept out his legs and punched with his fists, Arlo controlled the two orbs using his divine sense to cover his blind spots.


    The training continued for more than an hour, and what Arlo didn''t know was that Joe had been observing him for a while now.


    A conflicted glint flashed in his eyes, as he seemed undecided on what to do.


    .....


    [Joe''s POV]


    As I looked at the impact of the orbs summoned by Arlo on the ground, I couldn''t help but mutter:


    "So strong!"


    He is younger than me, yet he is so strong.


    I wish I was as strong as him.


    As memories of what happened to my family resurfaced in my mind, I suddenly had the urge to cry.


    If only I was as strong as him, I could have helped them.


    If only I was as strong as him, my big sister wouldn''t have left me.


    I am a coward.


    A weakling!


    I always assured myself that it was because I was still a young ten-year-old.


    Yet, what about him?


    Isn''t he younger?


    I must stop deceiving myself!


    I need to change!


    Summoning a bit of courage, I walked up to him and asked, "Can we spar together? I want to see how strong I have become from my training?".


    He stopped fighting as he looked at me with his silver eyes, "Sure."


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    Looking at his slightly fatigued eyes, I could tell that he was drained.


    After all, he has been fighting for almost two hours now.


    However, when I saw the two fist-sized orbs revolving around him like two little guardians, I wasn''t so sure whether to continue with this plan of mine.


    I have always been scared of fights.


    The boy in front of me might not seem much, but the pressure he was exerting felt like a mountain.


    With a slightly shaky voice, I raised my hand and subconsciously asked, "How about I make the first move?"


    I did it again.


    How can I tell my opponent to stay still while I attack first?


    It seems I am deemed to remain the same.


    I felt something within me cracking, however, before it could crack completely, a voice resounded in my ears:


    "Sure."


    Huh?


    Did he accept?


    I was pulled out of my thoughts, my face colored surprised.


    Is he that confident of himself or he doesn''t even deem me worthy?


    At the thought of that, I became slightly angry.


    I closed the distance between us, as I reminded him, "Don''t forget, I have to attack first."


    He nodded silently in response.


    This will hurt a lot, but I have to do it.


    No, I must do it.


    If not now, then never.


    With my eyes filled with resolve, I willed the beast core within me to awaken.


    My body suddenly grew bigger as I started transforming.


    "AAAAAAAH!" I screamed out in pain.


    My running feet stopped as my body continued its transformation.


    Ah!


    It hurts!


    I can''t take it anymore.


    It is too painful.


    Memories of my dying parents flashed before me, and the shaky shoulders of my elder sister, as she abandoned me, appeared in my vision.


    NO!


    I must not give up!


    Not this time!


    "AAAAH!" A scream of pain escaped from my mouth, however, this time it was filled with my resolve.


    My resolve to change!


    My body turned into a seven-meter-long snake with purple scales.


    *Huff! Huff!*


    As I panted heavily, my now massive eyes snapped open.


    I did it!


    I finally transformed!


    A stunned Arlo entered my vision.


    He was just a short distance from me, and I could tell that he was stupidly shocked as even the revolving orbs had now stopped by his side.


    Hehe!


    How great I must look before him.


    Wait.


    Isn''t this my chance?


    I need to attack.


    With that thought, I opened my mouth and quickly fired a pillar of poison mist, half a meter thick toward him.


    "AAAH!" He shouted in surprise as he jumped recklessly to his side, barely evading my attack.


    I didn''t give him a chance to breathe as I continued sending out pillars of poison mist.


    He could only dodge my barrage of attacks.


    Hehehehe! This isn''t so bad.


    As I basked in my awesomeness, my eyes caught sight of two flashes heading my way.


    Not even taking an instant to think, I hurled my body down, my massive head kissing the ground.


    *Whoosh!* Whoosh!*


    Two whooshing sounds flashed beside me before impacting the ground.


    *Baang! Baang!*


    "Hey! Hey! Are you trying to kill me?" I shouted in horror.


    What greeted my eyes was a small fist.


    A fist which when compared to my head, was like a fly launching towards a normal snake.


    However, the result was totally different.


    With a bang, my head was thrown to the side, and I saw stars.


    Within the flashing stars, a small fist appeared once more, hurling at me like a meteor.


    In horror, I wailed, "I quit! I quit! Please let me go!"


    If I wasn''t in my beast form, I''m sure my face would be filled with tears and snot by now.


    This guy is trying to kill me.


    He is a bully.


    Receiving no attacks, I opened my eyes once more.


    He pointed at me as he glared with slightly red eyes.


    He seemed to want to say something, but I beat him to it.


    "What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to kill me?" I bellowed as I lifted my body.


    "You you¡­" he said, his body trembling.


    After a while, he turned around wanting to leave.


    However, would I let him do that?


    With a slightly crazed face, I activated my innate talent and shouted¡­


    "Size manipulation x 2" My body instantly grew two times bigger, before I launched my entire body at him.


    As my body fell under my will and the influence of gravity, I screamed out in glee, "Crumble under the weight of this daddy! Hahahaha!"


    *Bang!* My body impacted the ground, and a cloud of dust rose around me.


    ''Oops! He didn''t die, did he?'' That thought didn''t last long.


    ''Huh, something is wrong.''


    I felt the midsection of my massive body slowly rise.


    Lowering my head to see under me, I saw Arlo raising my massive body ever so slightly with just his physical strength.


    There was that white smoke surrounding his hands again.


    Wait.


    His hands!


    How come he has both hands?


    In the process of voicing my confusion, I saw him support the entire weight of my body with just one hand as light groans escaped his mouth.


    With his right hand still raised upward, a light lit up on it before it expanded and turned into a colorless spinning orb.


    ''Huh?'' I blanked out, the question swallowed down my throat.


    Does he really want to kill me?


    Sure enough, he raised his head with a bit of difficulty to face mine and spoke with a craze-filled gaze...


    "Die!"


    Fuck.

 CHAPTER 58: BETRAYAL

    Outside Tibu''s castle.


    *Bam!*


    *Bam!*


    "I said I am sorry¡­"


    *Bam!*


    *Please forgive me¡­.wuuu¡­"


    *Bam!*


    Arlo sat on a miserable Joe as he hurled punches after punches on him.


    No matter what Joe said, he refused to stop. "If I don''t teach you a lesson today, then I am not your friend."


    "Who said you are my friend?" Joe suddenly grumbled in between his sobs.


    Arlo stopped his launching fists before he spoke with narrowed eyes, "If I am not your friend, then what am I to you?"


    Joe flashed him an innocent smile, "You are my big brother. Senior brother, this junior loves..." he didn''t get to finish his words before he received Arlo''s reply.


    *Bam! Bam!*


    *Bam!*


    The banging sounds increased in frequency.


    Arlo was just about to throw another fist when a feeling of danger enveloped him.


    *Booom!*


    Arlo and Joe''s bodies were thrown a few meters above the ground before they fell beside each other, their eyes facing the sky.


    "What the hell do you brats think you are doing?"


    A disgruntled old voice drifted into both their ears.


    Raising his head with a bit of difficulty, Arlo saw a man covered in a black cloak standing in their previous position.


    ''A peak-level advanced mage.''


    With his current strength, he could estimate the strength of those a few levels above him in strength.


    "Do not cause any more disturbance." After saying that, he vanished from the spot.


    ''He must be the vampire left to watch over the castle,'' thought Arlo as he turned his eyes to Joe, ''...and him.''


    Letting out a light breath, Arlo checked his body condition.


    Aside from his depleted Ki, a few of his bones got broken from the previous attack.


    However, to him, it was nothing.


    With his current body, it would heal in no time.


    The same went for Joe. As a magical beast, he had high regenerative ability.


    << Are you done? >>


    ''Huh?'' Arlo blanked out before he asked in his mind, ''What do you mean?''


    << Has the excitement finished coursing through your veins? >> Old bro asked again.


    Blushing from embarrassment, Arlo responded, ''Yes! Sorry about that.''


    << We have a problem. >> Old bro''s voice suddenly turned serious, << Are you not forgetting something very important? >>


    Arlo thought deeply, but even after a minute, nothing came to mind.


    So with a serious expression on his face, he asked, "What is it?"


    << I told you before that once a warrior breaks into the first-star stage, they gain an affinity to a law. Although their usage of such a law would be far restricted compared to a mage, they would still be able to use it directly on their body or at most their immediate environment. >> Old bro stopped before continuing, << So far, do you feel an affinity with any law? >>


    Arlo''s eyes widened from realization. He had been so excited about having nine summons, Anita, and his own raw power, that he completely forgot about this point.


    In his anxiousness, he voiced out his concern, "What is the problem? Why can''t I use a law?"


    Joe that was lying at his side looked at him in confusion, "Are you talking to me?"


    However, Arlo ignored him and continued to pester the artifact spirit in his mind for an answer.


    << Calm down! >> For the first time, Old Bro''s angry voice resounded in his mind.


    It served its purpose as Arlo felt clarity return to him.


    << Feel the surrounding Ki. If you are truly connected to a law, you will feel it. >>


    Arlo closed his eyes and did as instructed.


    He didn''t want the Ki to enter his body, instead, he observed them.


    Sure enough, after thirty minutes of trying, Arlo could barely make out countless invisible threads connected to him through Ki.


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    However, no matter how he tugged at them, what lay on the other end refused to come.


    After informing Old Bro about this discovery, the artifact spirit responded, << That is good. You definitely have a law. Be patient! Many laws require certain conditions to be fulfilled aside from great affinity to them before they can be accessed. >>


    Arlo''s anxious nerves finally relaxed.


    If he had a law, then there wasn''t a problem.


    Besides, he now had many abilities that he had yet to grow accustomed to.


    What Arlo didn''t know was that the artifact spirit had lied to him. There was no such thing as a condition to be fulfilled before one could use the power of a law.


    Lost in his thoughts, Old bro muttered, ''What the hell is this boy connected to?''


    Arlo decided to spend another thirty minutes recovering his entire Ki before heading back into the castle.


    Besides, Joe''s injuries were a bit serious, so he needed more time to heal fully.


    Not wanting to waste any time, he closed his eyes and felt the surrounding Ki.


    He decided to use this short time to connect with his innate law.


    ¡­..


    After twenty minutes.


    *Tap tap* *Tap tap*


    Arlo''s eyes snapped open from his meditation, as light footsteps drifted into his ears.


    Turning his head to the side, he saw an enchanting and beautiful Arianne walking towards them.


    He thought the guard vampire had returned, but once he saw it was Arianne, his tense nerves relaxed, and subconsciously a smile formed on his face.


    "Hey!"


    "What are you doing lying on the ground?" Arianne asked when she reached his side, her face filled with puzzlement.


    Chuckling, Arlo responded as he raised his hand, "Why don''t you help me up instead?"


    Arianne eyes flashed strangely when she saw Arlo''s healed arm, however, she didn''t hesitate to receive his hand, something she would never do to someone outside her family, and she pulled up.


    Dusting his clothes, Arlo spoke, "Things happened."


    Seeing that he didn''t want to expatiate his words, Arianne let the matter drop as she looked in front of her.


    This was the first time her gaze fell on Joe. if it was before she would have just ignored him. In fact, she would have killed him a long time ago after the stunt he pulled.


    However, this past week, Arlo had tried to bring these two friends of his together. He really wanted them to get along.


    He explained to her that Joe was a good boy at heart, and didn''t really have any evil thoughts toward her.


    Even though she didn''t believe his words, she still wanted to trust Arlo so after a moment of hesitation, she asked, "Hey! Are you okay?"


    Joe''s body shook. Arlo had tried convincing him several times to befriend Arianne. However, whenever he thought of her eyes that day, a primal fear would engulf him.


    Seeing that Joe didn''t respond, Arlo was inwardly disappointed.


    Arianne on the other didn''t seem to mind, as she looked at Arlo and asked, "I have been waiting for you for almost an hour."


    Arlo suddenly realized that he usually would have gone to the city a while ago, but out of excitement for his newfound powers, he momentarily forgot about it.


    "Sorry," he said in embarrassment.


    Arianne smiled lightly, "It is nothing. Do you still plan on going?"


    While they were discussing, Joe was having an inner struggle.


    ''I am no more ''me'' from over a week ago. I am no more a coward.''


    Steeling his nerves, he inched closer to Arianne, intending to ask her to also draw him up.


    However, what entered his eyes were pale white legs hiding underneath a red dress.


    Looking at the lower thigh that was barely visible, Joe subconsciously swallowed his saliva as he thought, ''Might as well see it through.''


    Arcing his head further back little by little, two enticing thighs were starting to be revealed in their full glory.


    However, he suddenly realized something was wrong.


    ''Why can''t I hear any voice?''


    Lowering his eyes to look away from those thighs, two pairs of eyes entered his vision.


    One was looking at him in horror and the other with immense anger.


    ''Shit.'' With that thought he wanted to explain himself, "I didn''t mean¡­"


    However with a loud¡­


    *Bam!*


    His words were cut short as half his skull caved in from the overbearing strength.


    Arianne raised her little leg once more, intending to finish the job, when Arlo finally collected himself.


    He quickly held onto Arianne from behind, as he spoke, "Wait, are you trying to kill him?"


    "Let me go!" She screamed in anger.


    If not that Arlo was also physically strong, he would have been thrown far away by her struggle.


    "Please don''t kill him!" he pleaded.


    While Arlo tried his best to restrain Arianne, Joe''s remaining eyes looked at the sky.


    Suddenly he felt like an old man on his deathbed.


    Did he regret it? He didn''t know.


    However, will he go like this?


    Certainly not.


    With one last struggle, he raised a finger and pointed at Joe, and with all the energy he could muster, he muttered, "Arlo told me to do it," before he fainted.


    Though what he muttered could barely be heard, to the two present it was like a clap of thunder echoing in their ears.


    The place suddenly turned quiet.


    ''Bastard.'' The corners of Arlo''s mouth twitched.


    Smoothly removing his hands from her waist, Arlo raised both hands in surrender as he looked at the turning Arianne, "I can explain."


    However, Arianne didn''t seem to want to hear him out as she pounced on him and held both his hands down.


    "Let me go! I can explain." Arlo urged as he tried to break free.


    << Hehe! Little boy, as small as you are, you already have a girl riding you. >> Old bro''s lewd laughter resounded in his head.


    Arlo''s face suddenly flushed red.


    He might be mature in mind, but he didn''t know how to handle girls.


    Looking at her face, he could tell that she wasn''t really angry at him. Instead, she seemed¡­conflicted.


    ''She isn''t contemplating beating me up, is she?''


    With that thought, the embarrassment he felt disappeared like smoke and he started sweating buckets.


    Suddenly his mind lit up with an idea, and not even hesitating for a second, he sent his Ki into the slime seal and summoned her.


    *Pop!*


    A blue slime suddenly seemed to pop out from nowhere on Arlo''s chest.


    "¡­!"


    "¡­!"


    "¡­!"


    Three figures stared silently at each other.


    Anita stared at Arlo, Arlo at Arianne, and Arianne at Anita.


    "Why did you summon me?" Anita voiced out in confusion.


    What happened to keeping a low profile?


    Arlo didn''t reply and instead looked at Arianne expectantly.


    "Kyaa!"


    Sure enough, after a few seconds, an excited cry left her mouth as she let go of Arlo, and with unmatched speed, held onto the slime.


    Anita was dumbfounded while Arlo let out a breath of relief.


    Caressing the little slime, Arianne felt her slippery texture and asked in excitement, "Who are you?"


    Anita had long left her stunned state and was now giggling happily under Arianne''s caresses.


    "I am Arianne."


    "What are you?"


    "I am little Arlo''s guardian." She said with a sweet voice.


    Hearing her reply, Arlo''s mouth twitched slightly.


    Getting tired of Old Bro''s continuous lewd taunts, Arlo finally voiced out, "Can you get off me?"


    "Huh?" Arianne was stunned. In her moment of anger, she didn''t know when she got on top of him.


    With her face flushed red, she was just about to get off Arlo when Anita jumped out of her embrace and onto her shoulder. She seemed to be whispering something.


    Arlo suddenly had a bad premonition.


    Sure enough, Arianne''s eyes twinkled like stars in the sky as she looked at Arlo.


    He was just about to throw her off with force when Anita jumped on his face, successfully distracting him for Arianne to tickle him at the sides.


    "Hahaha¡­.stop¡­.haha¡­please stop..." In between his pleading and laughter, Arianne and Anita''s giggles could be heard.


    Waking up from the noise, Joe with difficulty shifted his remaining eye towards the sound, only for it to pop out of its socket when he saw Arianne resting on top of Arlo.


    ''I have been betrayed.'' With that thought, he fainted once more.


    *****


    AN: Wow! That was a very long chapter.


    Some of you must be wondering why the book is called ''Family Above All''. It will start becoming clear in the next chapter.


    In addition, there won''t be much comedy from henceforth, at least for a while.


    Thanks to all those who are following the novel. Let''s keep it up. <3

 CHAPTER 59: UNDERCURRENTS

    "Anyway I look at it, he looks half-dead," said Arlo before he continued, "And I don''t have any healing medicine on me..."


    "Oh please!" A voice interjected. A snow-white-haired girl who would potentially grow to become a world-destroying beauty played happily with a little slime, as she jumped around like a little girl who just got her best toy. Along with her jumping movement, the cute giggles of a much younger girl echoed out.


    Arianne not bothered by the situation continued, "Give him three hours, and he should be back on both feet."


    "What?" Arlo exclaimed.


    He didn''t believe he could recover from such an injury despite how monstrously strong his current body was, not to talk of Joe.


    Arianne stopped her movement and inched closer toward Arlo.


    "Uhnn! Why did you stop?" Anita voiced out unhappily.


    "Hehe, I''m coming. We are going to play all day."


    "Hmm."


    As Arlo looked at the little exchange between Arianne and his summon, he couldn''t help but wear a strange expression on his face.


    Arianne at this point had lost all semblance of her cold and indifferent attitude. She seemed more like a cute little girl eager to play.


    << Didn''t you also behave like that when you first saw the slime? >> Old bro''s sneer resounded in his mind.


    Coughing to hide his embarrassment, Arlo decided to tactfully change the topic, "Can he heal from such a wound?"


    "He is not a normal beast. He is a beast with a royal bloodline." Arianne said when she reached his side. "His regeneration might not compare to us vampires, but it isn''t that far off."


    Arlo decided to trust her words, as he didn''t have any way to help Joe in the first place.


    "Let''s just leave him here and go to the city. He should be back up when we return."


    The corners of Arlo''s mouth twitched slightly.


    Taking a moment to think, since he didn''t know Joe''s room, he decided to take him to his.


    With that, he lifted Joe and carried him toward the castle.


    Well, he tried to, as immediately when he moved two meters from Arianne, the little slime disappeared from her embrace.


    Subconsciously, he could feel Anita''s presence return to the seal.


    "Oops! I forgot about that." To explain what just happened, Arlo turned around only to see Arianne glare at him like a little girl who just had her toy stolen.


    With her eyes glowing slightly, she pounced on him.


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    "Wait¡­" Arlo pleaded but failed.


    Joe in his unconscious state could feel his body being beaten like a rag doll.


    ''Am I in hell?''


    .....


    Outside the northern continent.


    In the endless red plains surrounding the dark veil that seemed to stretch to eternity.


    In an open space underground.


    A group of people knelt, while a man sat on a stone throne.


    Before the throne stood a man, not bothering to kneel like the others.


    "Today is the day that slut died," said the man on the throne before he continued, "That bitch Scarlett should be meeting up with her sister today. How are the preparations?"


    "I have already investigated the city. Aside from the city lord, there is an old man with a crawler shop that also seems to be in the master realm."


    "Oh!" The man on the throne narrowed his eyes.


    "Not to worry. The plan can still hold. I have already planted the devil seeds around the city. Once they activate, those two should be the only ones we need to take care of." The other man reasoned.


    "I will take care of the city lord. Do you think you can handle the old man?"


    He didn''t reply immediately this time and took some moments to think about it carefully.


    He didn''t dare to jeopardize this mission, as it had to do with their lord, Lord Evil.


    Looking back at the people kneeling, his eyes shined lightly before he spoke with confidence, "If I have the support of ten greater demons, I should be able to deal with him."


    "Hmm." The man on the throne thought about it. They numbered far more than this, it was just that they were scattered around the world.


    Some were in the central continent, some in the Southern continent.


    However, they all had the same purpose.


    To fulfill the will of their lord.


    And what was his will?


    The death of all beings.


    It was just that vampires and wolves, two apex predators, ruled this world. This made it difficult for them to serve their purpose.


    Not to mention that two monstrous existences that had even gone head to head with their lord several times were guarding this world.


    But now they had a great opportunity.


    Those two monstrous existence will be meeting up to mourn that slut, and according to the information they got, they seem to cut off their connection with the world.


    After thinking deeply about it, he finally decided, "You will be in charge of ten greater demons. Another ten will be responsible for destroying the teleportation formation in the city. While the rest will kill the guards guarding the city gate and deal with any unforeseen event that comes up. I will handle the city lord myself."


    "Yes!" All the kneeling figures responded at the same time.


    The other man nodded his head before his unclear features suddenly distorted. A handsome man with black hair filled with white streaks suddenly appeared.


    With a final nod of his head, he disappeared from the underground space.


    Several situations just like this were happening around the world.


    A storm was brewing.


    *****


    Deep within the northern continent.


    At the top of a mountain that seemed to touch the sky.


    "Mother, are you going?"


    "Hmm."


    Scarlett who was over three meters high affirmed as she walked away.


    An enchanting woman with snow-white hair filled with black streaks gazed at her back with conflicting eyes.


    "Can I follow you?" she said after some hesitation before she whispered, "She was like an aunt to me."


    Scarlett stopped her steps, and after taking a moment to think about it, she replied, "Next time."


    Even though she didn''t get the answer she wanted, a warm smile still lit up the face of the other woman as she watched Scarlett leave.


    Scarlett was just about to fly off when the woman stopped her, "Mother, do you know where Arianne is? I don''t know where she runs off to nowadays."


    Scarlett lips twitched slightly before her eyes glowed red.


    The image of a snow-white-haired girl embracing a slime, and a golden-haired boy walking toward a city entered her vision.


    Seeing the playful smile dancing on her granddaughter''s lips, a light smile lit her face.


    Taking off to the air she responded, "Don''t worry about her, she is having fun."


    *****


    In opened spaces found underground around the world, the eyes of several people snapped open, before they glowed with a menacing light.


    The two overbearing pressures that constantly towered over them had finally disappeared.


    "It is time!"


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. And to those that aren''t, please drop a review and add the novel as your favorite. It helps to boost my motivation to write, <3.

 CHAPTER 60: SURVIVE I

    Arlo pulled a sled, with Arianne and Anita following beside him.


    He had tried convincing Arianne to let him un-summon Anita, however, no matter what he said, she vehemently refused.


    The funny thing was that Anita also didn''t want to return to the seal.


    He could only swallow his grievance silently.


    ''There goes my secret weapon.''


    Looking at the silent Arianne at his side, Arlo couldn''t help but voice out, "What is it? Ever since we entered the city, you have been quiet."


    Arianne who was caressing the little slime in her embrace responded, "I don''t know. I feel uneasy all of a sudden."


    Before Arlo could reply, someone else beat him to it, " Don''t worry, As long as I am with you, you have nothing to fear."


    A warm smile lit up Arianne''s face and she rubbed Anita on her cheek, "That is true. With you, nothing can go wrong."


    "Hehe."


    Arlo''s eyebrows twitched slightly, ''Hello! Who are you supposed to be protecting?''


    Nearing the crawler shop, Arianne suddenly stopped.


    Her eyebrows creased into a frown as she looked at an alleyway, her gaze unsure.


    "What happened?" Arlo asked.


    She didn''t reply, and after thinking about it, she kissed the little slime before she voiced out gently, "Nita, stay with Arlo for a little while, there is something I need to check."


    "Hmm," Anita responded and with a graceful arc, she jumped on Arlo''s head.


    With that Arianne moved toward the alley.


    Arlo shrugged his shoulders before continuing towards the shop.


    "Since you have been seen by almost everybody, no need to enter the seal."


    "Yay!" Anita bobbed happily on his head.


    With a wry smile, Arlo opened the door to the shop and entered.


    A middle-aged man greeted him upon entering.


    "Hey Marvin!" he greeted back, "What about the old man?"


    "Master went to see the city lord."


    "Oh!" Arlo exclaimed in surprise.


    "The usual?" Marvin asked.


    "Yes please," Arlo responded with a smile.


    Meanwhile, entering the alley, Arianne saw several boxes packed in a corner.


    Moving closer to the boxes, Arianne could feel her heartbeat speed up.


    That feeling of unease was growing within her.


    Reaching the corner, her jade-white hands sifted through the boxes until she found what she was looking for.


    What appeared in her vision was some sort of peanut-sized seed.


    It was just that it looked eerie.


    There seemed to be veins coursing through it, however, what made it truly eerie was how the seed pulsed, almost like a beating heart.


    Arianne stretched her hand towards it as she voiced out with curiosity, "What the hell is this?"


    But her hand had not even touched it when her ruby-like pupils turned into slits, a feeling of danger overcoming her.


    The seed suddenly stopped beating before¡­.


    *Boom!*


    It exploded.


    It didn''t generate any shockwave but simply discharged a massive cloud of evil energy that covered the entire alleyway and even a few streets across from it.


    However, that wasn''t all.


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    Tens of booming sounds echoed around the city.


    ¡­..


    In the crawler shop.


    Arlo watched as the servant Marvin pulled down several crawlers hung above the shop.


    Suddenly¡­


    *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*


    Several booming sounds drifted into his ears.


    "What the h¡­" before he could complete his words, thick clouds of energy sifted through the windows into the shop.


    Arlo suddenly found himself surrounded by evil energy. He could feel it trying to corrupt his very essence.


    << What? >> Old bro screamed in horror. << Why is there evil energy? >>


    He quickly dispelled such thoughts as he noticed Arlo struggling against the evil energy.


    The two saber marks at the back of Arlo''s hands released a bright glow and suddenly Arlo found himself free from the pressure.


    Panting heavily on the ground, Arlo asked, "What is going on?"


    << Brat, you need to leave this city now¡­. No wait, you are not alone. The servant! >> Old bro screamed at the end of his statement.


    ''Marvin?''


    Arlo shifted his head in time to see a shadow pouncing at him.


    *Growl!*


    Arlo struggled against Marvin lying on top of him.


    He held both of his hands tightly as the other tried to struggle free and claw at him.


    Looking at his eyes, Arlo found no semblance of his former self.


    His entire eyes were red, and his hair was disheveled.


    And unlike the characteristic two protruding fangs of vampires, his teeth were jagged as saliva dripped out his mouth.


    The most noticeable change was the dark essence now surrounding his body.


    While it looked the same as when vampires used darkness laws, the eerie cries like the wails of ghosts that emanated from it spoke otherwise.


    *Growl!* The demonized Marvin tried to bite Arlo''s neck.


    Arlo quickly shifted his head to the side, evading the attack.


    << Brat, kill him! >>


    "What are you saying?" Arlo''s eyes widened in surprise.


    Marvin might not be his friend, but, they had still interacted with each other whenever he came to the shop.


    Aside from Scarlett and Arianne, Marvin and his master were the only vampires who treated him nicely.


    Now, he was to kill him?


    << Foolish brat. He is already dead. He is nothing more than a lesser demon. Can''t you see that he is trying to kill you? >>


    "But¡­"Arlo felt like there was something stuck in his throat.


    The entire situation left him in a state of confusion.


    ''A lesser demon?'' This was the first time he had heard of such a thing.


    However, while Arlo was conflicted about what to do, a shadow suddenly appeared above the now-demonized Marvin.


    The shadow seemed to stretch to accommodate Marvin''s size and with a *Whap!* Marvin disappeared.


    Arlo gazed stunned at Anita who fell on his stomach.


    Anita''s body shivered slightly as she seemed to be struggling against something.


    After a short while, an eerie evil energy seeped out of her.


    It wasn''t until then that she seemed comfortable.


    While she didn''t have eyes, she still looked at Arlo who was looking back at her.


    "He was trying to hurt you. Anita will kill anyone that tries to hurt you." It was a mystery whether she was trying to convince Arlo or herself, but her cute voice filled with resolve finally woke Arlo up from his stupor.


    Arlo closed his eyes, as he used one of his arms to cover his face.


    ''This is the fourth person that died by my hands.''


    When he was small, he killed a person. When he entered this world, he killed two of three brothers that kidnapped him, while he was involved in the death of the last.


    He couldn''t tell how he felt right now.


    << Arlo! >>


    It was very rare for the artifact spirit to call him by his name.


    << Don''t you want to save your parents? >>


    Arlo''s eyelashes trembled.


    << Then you must not die. And to do that, you will have to kill a lot of people today. It might be tens or even hundreds but just think about your goal. >>


    ''That is right!''


    ''Mother and father. I miss them so much.'' A day had never passed that he didn''t think of them.


    ''I need to save them, even if I need to kill thousands.'' His eyes snapped open, as the light of resolve shined within them.


    Looking down, he was about to thank Anita only for him to see something weird happen.


    Anita was glowing bright blue.


    "Arlo, the energy is a bit much for me to contain. I will share some with you."


    Several streaks of blue energy left the slime seal on Arlo''s upper arm and moved toward his hands and neck.


    ''What is happening?'' Arlo thought.


    << All the mana she absorbed from the servant is being converted by her bloodline into Ki that can be used by her. And she is sharing some of that Ki with you. >> Old bro spoke before he continued, << Do you remember I once told you that when you awaken, it might not even take you a year to reach the Red-core stage? >>


    "Yes."


    << Now, with this slime as your summon, it might not even take two months. >>


    "What?" Arlo exclaimed in surprise. "Is that even possible?"


    << It is. If it wasn''t that you are yet to awaken, the mana she absorbed would have been sent to you, helping you greatly in your cultivation. However, as the other is a mage and you are currently only a Ki user, she transformed the mana into Ki that can be used by you both. >>


    However, Arlo found a loophole in what Old bro said, so he decided to ask, "Why can''t I use the Ki to improve my Warrior''s cultivation?"


    << Foolish brat. That would only work if she devours a Ki user. What she did was transform Mana into Ki using her bloodline. This means the Ki is impure and cannot be absorbed by your body. It can only be used during battle. >>


    Arlo took a short moment to digest what Old Bro said.


    Even though he couldn''t absorb this Ki, he could still use it in battle.


    Doesn''t that mean he could theoretically fight forever as long as Anita devours bodies?


    Checking his body, he found that a small part of his Ki reserve was used when Anita devoured Marvin.


    Even though he didn''t know Marvin''s cultivation, Arlo was sure he was a late beginner mage at best.


    However, what he gained after killing him was by far greater than what he lost.


    "Are you alright?"


    Anita''s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.


    Arlo stood up before he carried Anita and with a smile, he said, "Thank you for saving me."


    "Hehe. It is what I am supposed to do."


    *Bang!*


    The door of the shop was suddenly flung open with force.


    A middle-aged man stood there with ten other people standing behind him.


    As both parties stared at each other, the shop was suddenly enveloped in an eerie silence.


    It was the calm before the storm!


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. Let''s work together to raise the rank of this novel. Rate the novel and add it as your favorite. If the novel enters the top 10k, I promise to release five bonus chapters, <3.

 CHAPTER 61: SURVIVE II

    The middle-aged man surveyed the shop.


    He was expecting to encounter an old man, who was the master of this shop.


    However, after observing the shop, talkless of finding the master, he couldn''t even find his servant who rarely leaves the shop.


    His eyebrows creasing into a frown, he asked in a cold voice, "Boy, where is the manager of this shop?"


    Arlo at this point was very tense.


    He could feel the dangerous aura surrounding these people and he could tell they didn''t have good intentions.


    Not receiving any reply, the middle-aged man walked further inside the shop and approached Arlo, "Didn''t you hear my question?"


    Anita that was resting in Arlo''s arms shivered ever so slightly.


    Feeling her slight tremble, Arlo woke up from his stupor and summoned the little courage he could, "I-I don''t know."


    The middle-aged man stopped.


    He observed Arlo''s facial features closely, and not gleaming any signs of lying, he fell into deep thoughts.


    He took out some type of stone and sent his mana into it.


    The stone lit up slightly, before he brought it to his mouth, "We have a problem¡­"


    "You fucking bastard! What the hell are you doing? The old man is here. Get your ass over¡­" An urgent and somewhat flustered voice resounded out from the stone.


    Not even taking a moment, the middle-aged man disappeared from the spot as he flashed out of the shop.


    The other ten men made way for him to pass before they turned around in unison, intending to follow him.


    However, after leaving the shop, the middle-aged man stopped once again.


    Turning around, his eyes met with Arlo''s, and after a deep thought, he told the weakest among those following him, "You take care of him."


    He wondered why Arlo wasn''t demonized even after being engulfed by evil energy. The little slime also drew his attention, and if not that he needed to urgently regroup with his leader, he would have taken care of Arlo himself.


    Leaving the weakest among them to handle him was his limit, as he couldn''t allow anything to disrupt their plans.


    However, it was enough as even the weakest was an early advanced mage, not to mention he was a greater demon. Leaving him behind was even overkill.


    With that, ten out of the initial eleven disappeared while the last returned to the shop.


    In Arlo''s mind, Old Bro''s voice resounded, "Boy, this will be your first true trial. All those previous battles of yours were merely child''s play. You only have one goal¡­>>


    Arlo drew in a deep breath.


    << Survive. >>


    ¡­..


    A lot of plans hatched simultaneously in Arlo''s head.


    Even though he didn''t know the exact picture, he knew the situation outside was dire.


    After taking barely ten seconds to organize his thoughts, while the other party walked towards him, Arlo finally made his choice.


    Putting on a terror-stricken expression, Arlo took light steps backward as the other party drew closer.


    The little bit of cautiousness lingering in the other party''s eyes slowly disappeared.


    Initially, he was a little cautious of Arlo, as no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn''t wrap his head around why a little kid and some slime could resist evil energy.


    In the end, he was only a kid.


    With that thought, he quickened his pace, and Arlo fell on his rear side from such a sudden change.


    Before Arlo could regain himself, a large hand suddenly clutched his throat pulling him up.


    Anita resting in his embrace fell to the ground.


    A pair of silver eyes met a pair of crimson eyes filled with a menacing glow.


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    Even though the man''s eyes were filled with a crazy light, he seemed to be able to restrain it.


    Arlo tried to struggle free, but it all ended in futile.


    With a thoughtful look, a wave of thick evil energy left the man''s hand, and into Arlo''s body.


    Even though Arlo struggled, he didn''t show any sign of demonization.


    What the man didn''t notice was the pair of glowing lights at the back of Arlo''s hands.


    "What are you?" He asked in a hoarse voice. His voice sounded like two metals scraping against each other. It was very disturbing to hear.


    However, to Arlo?


    Seeing the man''s entire attention on him, Arlo screamed out in his mind, ''Now!''


    A shadow instantly appeared on the left side of the man, and before he even noticed it, the shadow expanded in size as a sweet girl''s voice echoed out¡­


    "Universal devouring!"


    The man''s senses tingled dangerously as he lost all sensation in his left side.


    However, he was still a mage with years of experience.


    With the crazy light in his eyes finally released, a thick burst of evil energy exploded from his entire body as he screamed, "Scram!"


    Anita was flung away from the force.


    He turned to his side to ascertain the situation when a cracking sound rang out in the shop.


    With a burst of pain hitting him, his head snapped back to his front, only to see his right hand broken by Arlo''s left hand, his right fist already hurtling at his heart.


    His eyes widened from surprise, and before he could even react¡­


    *Bam!*


    He was sent flying through the shop, destroying several obstacles before finally impacting the wall beside the door.


    Arlo stood surprised on the spot.


    When he broke the other party''s hand, he expected a scream or at least a groan. Yet what he received was indifference.


    What surprised him the most was that after his fist connected with the other party''s chest, he was expecting his hand to blow through him with force, after all, he had concentrated all his Ki when he launched the attack.


    However, the result was far from it.


    ''But he should still be dead.''


    Arlo was confident in his strength. There was no way the other party could survive from that.


    Arlo quickly moved to his side, "Anita, are you okay?"


    The little slime seemed to tremble slightly on the ground, as several strands of evil energy were released from her body.


    As he inched closer to her, Old Bro''s angry voice resounded in his mind.


    << You foolish brat! How dare you distance yourself from a mage? >>


    Arlo blanked out, ''Isn''t he dead?''


    Sure enough, an angry voice drifted into Arlo''s ears:


    "Bastard! You deceived me." As the man stood from the ground, he spat out a mouthful of blood. How could he not tell that Arlo was a warrior, but actually acted like a weakling so that he could close the distance between them?


    Arlo''s pupil turned into slits when he saw a small screen of water lying in front of the man''s chest where his fist had impacted.


    "But you are still too inexperienced." He closed the door beside him and before Arlo could hurry to close the distance between them, he called out menacingly¡­


    "Water domain!"


    A burst of evil essence surrounded his body, as his mana spread across the entire shop.


    The ground of the shop was suddenly filled with water, and when Arlo looked down, he could see the water barely reaching his ankles.


    What gave Arlo a more dangerous feeling was the wave of evil energy being emitted from the water''s surface.


    "Kill him!" The man ordered.


    *Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*


    Several whooshing sounds echoed in the shop, as several shadows leapt out from the water on the ground.


    Life-like sea creatures made of water attacked Arlo in mass.


    There were huge fishes, crabs, prawns, and many more.


    The more than twenty creatures all hurled their massive bodies at Arlo.


    In response, Arlo retreated backward at his fastest speed.


    Well, he tried to.


    He found his speed greatly reduced, and it didn''t take him long to realize the cause.


    ''It must be the water.'' Out of instinct, he looked down to observe the water on the ground.


    However, this was a battle. How could he divert his attention to something else especially when facing several enemies?


    The sea creatures closed in on him from every direction as they snapped open their jaws to attack.


    Several sharp massive teeth surrounded Arlo''s vision, and even though they were made out of water, they seemed very life-like and real.


    Arlo didn''t dare to test the biting power of such teeth, and in his panic, he did what he deemed most suitable.


    Using the energy already congregated at his neck, he shouted out, "SCRAM!"


    As if there was an invisible wall lying in front of them, all the sea creatures stopped on their path momentarily before they were all sent flying backward.


    << Foolish boy! You could have used ruler''s authority to win this fight by taking him by surprise. >> Old bro angrily scolded in his mind.


    Sure enough, the demonized man''s eyes flashed with vigilance. He didn''t understand what just happened, but he knew he must not allow Arlo to come closer to him.


    He didn''t dare to pull his hands anymore and decided to use all his strength, treating Arlo as an enemy on his level.


    "Come out!" he commanded. A huge portion of his mana drained from him and before long, his forehead became matted with sweat.


    In response, a four-meter-tall octopus rose from the water behind him, reaching the ceiling of the shop. Its massive tens of tentacles swayed at its side before a majority of them moved to shield the man.


    Old bro could feel a headache coming on. He could already tell from the previous explosions that the situation outside was dire. And if he was to consider the worst-case scenario, it meant all the vampires in the city were already demonized. Therefore, to survive, Arlo would have to forge a path among hundreds if not thousands of demonized lesser demon vampires. Yet, here he was struggling in his first fight.


    He understood that Arlo was not really at fault, as this was his first time fighting a real human mage not to say the opponent was even a greater demon. With him by his side, he didn''t need to fear the evil energy, however, the other party was still far more experienced than him.


    << Brat. Unsummon Anita before summoning her again. Even though she cannot be demonized, she is still struggling with the evil energy, but with her by your side, the effect will be greatly reduced. >>


    Arlo immediately did as he was told. Anita appeared back on his head and she seemed to fare better than before.


    Looking at the water reaching his ankle, Arlo looked up at the approaching sea creatures that swarmed towards him before his eyes landed on the far-away shielded culprit.


    Clenching his fists, he realized for the first time that his situation wasn''t optimistic.


    .....


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. And to those that aren''t, please drop a review and add the novel as your favorite. It helps to boost my motivation to write, <3.

 CHAPTER 62: SURVIVE III

    A strange situation played out in the crawler shop.


    A bit over one-meter tall boy with a little slime resting on his head was surrounded by several sea monsters, while a man about one meter, eighty centimeters tall was cowering behind the tentacles of a gigantic octopus.


    The visual impact it brought would leave an outsider speechless.


    However, the greater demon wasn¡¯t to be blamed as it was general knowledge for a mage to fight from a distance when battling a warrior.


    And Arlo despite his age was a powerful warrior.


    The sea monsters attacked once more.


    The crab monsters attacked with their pincers, the shrimps with their deadly claws, and the fishes bit with their razor-sharp teeth.


    Arlo wove in between each of their attacks, while Anita¡¯s cute voice constantly echoed out.


    ¡°Dark spear.¡±


    ¡°Dark spear.¡±


    A spear made out of dark energy formed each time she spoke before they were hurled at the masters.


    Whenever they connected with their targets, they would blast huge holes in them, instantly taking them down.


    This was the only skill Anita devoured from Marvin, along with the ability to control darkness laws.


    Marvin was after all only a servant, not to mention he didn¡¯t even have a high cultivation in the first place, so that was all she could acquire.


    Whenever the sea monsters were taken down by Anita¡¯s attacks, more would retake their place.


    Even with Anita¡¯s support, Arlo started to struggle with all the attacks, so after thinking about it, he decided to use his only attack method aside from his physical body.


    ¡°Orbs.¡±


    A huge amount of bluish Ki left the slime seal, before congregating at his hands, and with several whooshing sounds, Orbs of Ki formed before him.


    Arlo was surprised to find out that he could now form four orbs. He quickly attributed it to Anita devouring Marvin, as he didn''t have enough time to think deeply about it.


    *Ziiiiiiiiinnnnng!* As the orbs spun at a high speed, Arlo controlled them with his divine sense.


    *Peng! Peng! Peng!* The sound generated when the orbs impacted the sea monster before blasting them into countless water droplets. On impact, they sounded like they were colliding with real bodies further enforcing Arlo¡¯s thought of not getting touched by the sea monsters.


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    With the help of the orbs and Anita¡¯s assistance, Arlo found the pressure significantly reduced on him.


    He stopped dodging attacks and started attacking as he simultaneously controlled the orbs.


    The rate at which he destroyed the sea monsters was now greater than the rate at which they respawn. They couldn¡¯t stop his step as he inched ever closer to the greater demon.


    With every punch, two to three monsters would be destroyed by the small air cannons generated by his fists.


    With every sweep of his leg, the air made slicing sounds, before booming sounds followed when they met their targets.


    While his speed was greatly reduced, Arlo fought patiently and with great focus, closing the distance between them to three meters.


    Behind the Octopus tentacles, the greater demon clenched his teeth in anger.


    It would normally take three mages or warriors to face a greater demon of the same level, as it was very difficult for them to resist the corrosion of evil energy. Yet he lost his greatest advantage while facing a little kid who doesn¡¯t seem to be even ten years old.


    He felt like he had put his lord to shame.


    In his anger, he lost control over his evil energy and allowed it to take over him.


    A burst of evil energy spread out a radius of ten meters with him at the center, even sifting out the shop, however, Arlo ignored it as he drew closer.


    Seeing this, he lost his final semblance of clarity, and the madness flashing within his eyes reached an unprecedented high.


    ¡°Kill him!¡± He bellowed out, with crimson veins bulging on his head.


    In response, the tentacles that have been protecting him all this while all rushed forward to attack Arlo.


    As they streaked towards him, they destroyed any sea monsters in their paths, not differentiating between friend from foe.


    In opposition to feeling fear at the approaching danger, Arlo¡¯s eyes glowed brightly.


    He had been having a headache on how to get to the greater demon cowering behind the tentacles, but who would have thought the other party would save him the stress of thinking away?


    Looking at the approaching tentacles, he didn¡¯t dare to take them head-on, so he willed half his entire Ki into both his feet.


    Taking a deep breath, he rushed out.


    The impact pushed the water a meter around him away before spider web cracks formed on the ground.


    His body turned into a blur as he rushed towards the approaching tentacles.


    Every time his feet were about to tread the floor, the water was pushed away by the approaching force, thereby not reducing his speed greatly.


    The orbs were glued onto him like small moons revolving around the sun.


    Arlo wove in between the tentacles, and whenever a tentacle was about to hit him from a blind spot, the little orbs would blast them into water droplets. Anita on the other hand focused on the other sea creatures that were not yet destroyed.


    The distance between them was bridged in just three steps.


    *Whoosh!* In less than five seconds, he arrived before the man and jumped into the air intending to land a superhuman punch.


    The greater demon grinned widely when their eyes met in Arlo¡¯s early jump.


    A huge shadow covered him, and Arlo couldn¡¯t help but look up only to see several tentacles coiled around each other into a massive drill.


    The greater demon brought down his raised hands, intending to finish Arlo.


    However, in his state of madness, he forgot something very important.


    He shouldn¡¯t have allowed Arlo to draw near him.


    Before he could complete his hand motion, and while Arlo was still in mid-jump, his eyes turned into slits when he saw Arlo open his mouth wide¡­


    ¡°FREEZE!¡± His body froze on the spot. In fact, everything around Arlo with the exception of the spinning orbs and Anita froze on the spot.


    Arlo¡¯s small fist surrounded by a milky light connected with the greater demon''s head, and with a bang, his skull caved inward as his body blasted through the door out of the crawler shop.


    All the sea monsters including the octopus and the water on the floor faded away after losing their supply of mana.


    The light of life was still fading away from the greater demon¡¯s eyes when a small shadow was cast over his face.


    ¡°Universal devouring!¡±


    <hr>

 CHAPTER 63: SURVIVE IV

    Arlo gasped for air. His throat felt a little sore, but compared to the previous time, it was bearable.


    Arlo assumed it was because he had sufficient energy to carry out his command; however, all the energy that Anita sent him was almost used up.


    His own Ki reserve was also half-drained.


    However, Arlo felt thankful that he didn¡¯t need to supply Anita with Ki to devour the greater demon, as it seemed the Ki she possessed was currently enough.


    That was understandable, as no matter how weak Marvin was, it was still the mana he had accumulated all his life. And he suspected she only shared a bit with him.


    Arlo sat on his rear as he took in a deep breath. The sounds of explosions coming from deep within the city entered his ears.


    The occasional growling sounds echoing around the city also didn¡¯t go unnoticed.


    However his attention was drawn toward Anita who engulfed the greater demon, and he couldn¡¯t help but marvel at how his body disintegrated in her, fueling her power.


    << Beside you! >> Arlo didn¡¯t even take an instant to think about it, and he immediately rolled to his side before he leaped to his feet.


    The wind seemed to be sliced apart at his previous location.


    Looking forward, Arlo''s eyes met a pair of bloodlust eyes lacking any form of clarity.


    *Growl!* The vampire before him was very different from usual. His eyes were bloodshot, and while he still had two fangs protruding out of his mouth, the liquid that leaked out the sides of his mouth gave him a maniacal look. His arms flailed by his sides, as his long sharp claws made slicing sounds.


    << It is a lesser demon. It has lost all semblance of its sanity. >> Old bro gave a very brief explanation. And before Arlo could digest his words, the lesser demon pounced on him.


    His body moved at a very fast speed before it clawed with its right hand. The air seemed to be sliced apart by his attack.


    Due to the height difference, Arlo only had to slant his body to the left side, narrowly dodging the attack, and with a clenched right fist, he punched fiercely.


    His fist connected with the lesser demon¡¯s abdomen, and even without concentrating his Ki, a fist-sized hole was formed upon impact, before the lesser demon was sent flying onto the wall of the shop.


    With a bang, tiny cracks spread out on the wall.


    Before Arlo could relax, the lesser demon¡¯s body slid to the ground and he tried to get back on his feet seemingly not feeling any pain. In addition, Arlo¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the hole formed by his previous attack instantly heal up.


    << He can¡¯t use any of his powers as he has lost all semblance of sanity. However because he was a vampire, his body still automatically regenerates on its own. >>


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    Listening to Old Bro¡¯s words, Arlo immediately sprang into action.


    He closed the distance between them as two spinning orbs materialized on his palms.


    Holding the orbs as weapons, Arlo smacked the one on his right hand onto the lesser demon''s left chest, instantly blasting a hole through it.


    Not to his surprise, the flesh at the sides of the opening twitched before they started regenerating.


    He didn¡¯t want to wait and see how a heart could be regenerated and smashed his left hand towards the lesser demon¡¯s head.


    The orb in his hand spun with a ¡®Zing¡¯ sound and Arlo didn¡¯t doubt that if his attack connected, the other party¡¯s head would be blasted apart.


    Alas, in the process of attacking, he felt a light movement behind him, and without thinking about it, Arlo swung the orb on his right hand in an upward arc behind him.


    *Bang!*


    The orb connected with the head of a pouncing lesser demon, before it exploded sending the now headless body flying.


    Before Arlo could react, his left arm was grabbed by sharp claws, before two fangs bit into him.


    ¡°AAAAAAH!¡± he screamed out in pain.


    The painful sensation made him fall on his rear, yet the lesser demon refused to let go and shifted his body along with him.


    Due to the pain, Arlo lost his calm and sent out punches after punches on the lesser demon¡¯s head.


    ¡°Let go of me!¡±


    *Bam!*


    ¡°I said let go.¡±


    *Bam! Bam!*


    ¡°AAAAAH!¡±


    The left side of the demon''s head exploded into pieces from Arlo¡¯s assault, its brain now visible. Yet he refused to let go as his mouth made gulping sounds, his bloodlust-shot eyes flashing with excitement.


    ¡°AAAAH!¡± Arlo was in the end a small kid. No matter how intelligent or mature he was for his age, he could not turn a dead eye toward pain even after all his painful experiences.


    His attack subsided as painful groans leaked from his mouth.


    Who would have thought that he who defeated a greater demon would actually succumb to a lesser demon that wasn¡¯t even in the advanced stage?


    As his eyes were slowly sliding into unconsciousness, he saw a shadow appear above the lesser demon¡¯s head.


    ¡°Universal devouring!¡± That was the last thing he heard.


    *****


    ¡°Arlo!¡±


    ¡°ARlO!¡± Anita¡¯s panicked voice echoed out.


    Normally a summon would disappear after losing their supply of Ki, however after absorbing the greater demon, she was forcefully resisting returning into the seal. She had the energy to sustain herself, but she still had to fight against the pressure that was trying to send her back into the seal.


    ¡°Arlo, please wake up.¡± She watched the bite mark hole on Arlo slowly heal up, and her heart relaxed slightly.


    ¡°Ar¡­¡± She suddenly realized something wrong.


    The entire place was filled with an eerie silence.


    The growling sounds echoing around the city seemed to quiet down, with only the sounds of explosions coming from deep within the city remaining.


    Like a burst of several fireworks, the growling sounds resumed only that they had increased in frequency and intensity.


    What threw Anita into panic was that all the growls seemed to be getting louder.


    She bobbed up and down on Arlo¡¯s face as she pleaded, ¡°Arlo, you need to wake. Please, you need to wake up.¡± She could guess that the sounds were moving towards them probably after getting attracted by the smell of Arlo¡¯s blood.


    After all, no matter if they were lesser demons, they were still vampires at their core. And the greatest allure to a vampire was human blood, not to say that Arlo wasn¡¯t a normal human.


    She was slowly crumbling under the pressure, as she didn¡¯t know what to do.


    As despair slowly bested up in her, an old voice suddenly resounded, << Hey little slime! Can you hold out for a minute? >>


    Anita was stunned on the spot, however, OldBroo didn¡¯t have time to waste due to the urgency of the situation.


    << Hey little slime, look at the back of Arlo¡¯s hands. >>


    Anita unconsciously did as she was told. Sure enough, she saw two saber marks glowing at the back of Arlo¡¯s hands.


    << I have been with little Arlo since he was a kid. Now while I try to wake him up, can I trust you to hold out for about a minute? >>


    Anita collected herself, and quickly answered, ¡°Yes!¡± her cute voice was full of determination.


    After that she quickly asked, ¡°But wha-who are you?¡±


    After a very brief silence, she received her reply, << I am his guardian. >>


    As the growling sounds drew ever closer, Anita jumped in front of Arlo and called out with a cute voice: ¡°Water domain!¡±


    ¡­..


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 CHAPTER 64: SURVIVE V

    When Anita devoured the greater demon, she acquired all the energy in his mana core including the core that dissolved into more energy, together with his law, innate talent, and techniques.


    At her behest, the ground below her was suddenly filled with water. The water encompassed ten meters, and as if being held in place by a barrier, they didn¡¯t flow out.


    Arlo and Anita were located at the back of the domain.


    Not before long, several whooshing sounds echoed out before several shadows pounced into the domain.


    The shadows didn¡¯t get to move for long though, as several monsters rose from the water on the ground.


    Immediately, a battle ensued.


    The sea monsters destroyed the lesser demons that dared to enter their domain, however even after being dealt several fatal attacks, the lesser demons didn¡¯t fall.


    At this point, the lesser demons struggling in the domain already numbered more than thirty, and with every second, it kept increasing.


    Anita started to panic after seeing the lesser demons draw closer to them.


    She jumped back on Arlo¡¯s head and whispered softly, ¡°You mustn¡¯t die.¡±


    She didn¡¯t treat Arlo as just a master, if Arlo wanted, he could make her do things against her will. Yet he never did such things, even going as far as to tell her to call him by name.


    Since that point, their relationship started changing subtly from master and summon, however, neither of them realized it.


    She jumped back to her previous position and after steeling her resolve, she commanded, ¡°Come out.¡±


    A massive octopus appeared behind her and after commanding it to protect Arlo, she joined the battle.


    The octopus did as instructed and surrounded Arlo with its massive tentacles.


    After summoning the octopus, Anita found out that all the energy she had obtained was now reduced to less than ten percent.


    She was now doubting if she could hold out for a minute.


    Joining the fray, Anita launched dark spear after spear as sea monsters fought the now over fifty lesser demons.


    The water on the ground was now dyed with blood, but contrary to what one would expect, only four corpses of lesser demons littered the ground.


    The lesser demons bled and bled but still regenerated.


    The sea monsters also didn¡¯t lose, as after they were destroyed, they also respawned from the water below.


    Anita was happy to find out that, after the domain was laid, she didn¡¯t need to supply it with energy.


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    The battle between both parties became one of attrition but it was clear that the sea monsters were on the losing side, as they kept losing ground as lesser demons leaped into the domain.


    The feeling of anxiousness within Anita reached an untold high, and she doubted if she could hold out for even thirty seconds more.


    From the time the battle began, it had only been twenty seconds.


    ¡­..


    Meanwhile, Old Bro for the first time since Arlo was born, neglected his surroundings and invaded Arlo¡¯s mind.


    In a seemingly empty space filled with darkness, a small light flickered silently.


    Besides this flickering light sat a small boy. He hugged his knees and buried his head within them.


    Suddenly¡­


    *Whoosh!*


    An old man materialized before the small boy.


    << Brat! What the hell are you doing? >>


    The small boy raised his buried head to see an old man with white hair falling behind him.


    The old man was standing two meters tall, and his face was filled with power and authority.


    What drew his attention most was the long white beards that flowed down his chest, and even with the absence of wind, they still waved.


    ¡®Old bro?¡¯


    The small boy asked, not certain.


    << I asked you what you are doing. >>


    His silence to the previous question was all the answer the small boy needed.


    Burying his head back into his knees, he whispered quietly, ¡®I am afraid.¡¯


    The angry frown on Old Bro¡¯s face slowly smoothed out before he let out a quiet sigh.


    Looking at the despondent Arlo, he started regretting his decision.


    What am I making a little Kid do?


    It was because of the agreement between him and Arthur that Arthur made such a foolish move of acting as if they were dead before sending their only child away.


    As the feeling of regret and guilt started growing, his memories with his only wielder flashed before him.


    No! I did the right thing.


    It is all for his own sake. He reaffirmed within himself.


    << Brat! Get up! You are inches away from death outside. >>


    However, Arlo didn¡¯t respond to him, nor did he make any movement.


    After a short while, he spoke once more, << What about your parents? >>


    Arlo¡¯s body trembled slightly. Raising his head, the light of intelligence flashed within his eyes before he spoke:


    ¡®I have thought about it several times. The situation surrounding my parent¡¯s half-death state seems¡­weird.¡¯


    He looked at Old Bro intensely before he continued, ¡®That day, while several fights were going on, I didn¡¯t see anybody die. Not to say, the way you indirectly praise my dad gives me the feeling that he should be far more powerful than he portrayed, which means he should be more than capable of handling the situation.¡¯


    Sigh!


    With a wry smile, Old bro spoke, << You are too smart for your own good. >>


    After making his decision, his eyes became firm.


    ¡­..


    Outside, the battle was already reaching an end.


    There were now over a hundred lesser demons in the domain and the number was still increasing.


    At this point, Anita was also hiding behind the Octopus with an unconscious Arlo.


    Tens of lesser demons were attacking the Octopus''s body, but it always regenerated before they could even launch an attack at the same spot.


    The sea monsters were still trying to fight, but against the other party that surpassed them with a ratio of five to one, their effect was negligible.


    Anita watched the lesser demons that surrounded her from all sides, and with a shaky voice, she pleaded, ¡°Ar-Arlo, you need to wake up. I can¡¯t hold out any longer.¡±


    It was now fifty seconds into the battle and Anita was already reaching her limit.


    ¡°Roar!¡±


    Sure enough, after another five seconds, and under the barrage of tens of lesser demons, the octopus released an unwilling roar before exploding into countless water droplets.


    As tens of lesser demons pounced toward them, Anita snuggled affectionately to the side of Arlo¡¯s face.


    With a flash of dark-red light, all the pouncing lesser demons were sent flying before a deep animalistic roar resounded.


    ¡°ROOOOOOOAAAAAR!¡±


    Looking at the tall monster standing in front of them, Anita whispered:


    ¡°Arianne?¡±


    *****


    AN: Support the novel by rating it and adding it as your favorite, <3.

 CHAPTER 65: SURVIVE VI

    Two years ago.


    A little girl of about eight years old sparred with an adult woman.


    Her body moved at a speed that didn¡¯t match her age.


    Every time she punched, kicked, or tried to head-butt, the tall snow-white-head woman would block her attack effortlessly.


    The girl stopped her attack as she shouted, ¡°It¡¯s not fair. This isn¡¯t even a spar. You are just bullying me.¡±


    Squatting on the ground, she started throwing a tantrum.


    The snow-white-haired woman smiled lightly before pacifying her granddaughter.


    After the little girl calmed down, she asked, ¡°Arianne, you have awakened, haven¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± The little girl started fidgeting as if caught in a wrong act.


    With a deep frown on her face, Scarlett asked, ¡°Why are you trying to hide it from me?¡±


    Seeing her grandmother get angry, the little girl burst into tears as she choked out, ¡°It is because I look ugly when I transform.¡±


    Scarlett was stunned for a little while before she burst out in laughter, ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!¡±


    Seeing her granddaughter cry more, she cleaned the tears that leaked at the sides of her eyes and tried to apologize, ¡°Sorry! I didn¡¯t mean to.¡± She hadn¡¯t laughed like this since that incident several years ago.


    After calming Arianne down, she patted her gently on the head before squatting her long legs to bring their eyes to the same level.


    With a gentle smile on her face, she spoke softly, ¡°You just haven¡¯t found a special person to transform for. To him, you would never be ugly.¡±


    Recalling her experience with the love of her life, her smile grew wider however, it equally looked sad.


    Arianne looked back at her innocently, not understanding anything she said.


    ¡­..


    Two years later, about an hour ago.


    After the devil''s seed exploded, Arianne fell flat on the ground as she suffered from a very thick cloud of evil energy trying to corrupt her very essence.


    Her body trembled as her rich primogenitor bloodline subconsciously fought against the evil energy corroding her body.


    Groans of pain leaked from her mouth, but after a while, it started subsiding.


    The pain became manageable, and it was clear that her bloodline was successful in purging the evil energy.


    As she waited for the process to complete, something suddenly hit her.


    ¡°Ar¡­lo.¡± She groaned out weakly.


    However, no matter how she tried to raise her body, it wouldn¡¯t budge. It seemed it was taking all her energy to fight against the evil energy.


    Settling for the next best thing, she released her divine sense and spread it out to the limit.


    Her divine sense covered a hundred meters with her at the center, however, because of her low cultivation level, it couldn¡¯t pass through walls so even after covering the crawler shop, she couldn¡¯t observe what was happening inside.


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    She became anxious, as she hoped he was safe.


    After these past two weeks, she now considered Arlo her friend, one that for some reason made her young heart clench tightly to the point that it felt suffocating.


    The wait lasted for almost an hour.


    At this point, she could feel some minor changes. It seemed the evil energy was almost completely purged.


    It was at this time that her divine sense picked a body flying out of the crawler shop before a small kid followed suit.


    ¡®Arlo! Thank goodness you are fine.¡¯ A light smile lit her tired face.


    Her eyes suddenly widened in surprise when she saw the cute little Anita devour the body sent flying out.


    However, before she could think too deeply about it, she saw a shadow speedily approach Arlo from behind, and he seemed ignorant about it.


    ¡°No! Turn back!¡± She tried to scream, but alas what escaped her mouth was a whisper. Her body felt so weak.


    Luckily, Arlo escaped the danger and even seemed to have the advantage when fighting the enemy. Her eyes lit up upon seeing this.


    He was only a small kid, even two years younger than her yet he was already so strong.


    She had never fought a real fight, and would only spar with her grandmother, and occasionally with her mother.


    Suddenly her eyes widened when she saw a shadow so fast for even her divine sense to pick up, attack Arlo from behind.


    Her face turned pale, as she didn¡¯t even have the energy to talk this time.


    What followed suit was like a scene played out before her.


    Arlo got injured, and through her divine sense, she could see countless shadows approaching him from all over the city.


    Thankfully, none of the shadows seemed to be passing in the alleyway she was in, if not she didn¡¯t know what would happen.


    She saw Arlo struggle against the enemy before he fell unconscious.


    She saw Anita struggle with all the enemies that tried to kill them both.


    Alas, two palms can¡¯t fight against ten fists, not to say she had none in the first place.


    Anita didn¡¯t have a choice but to retreat behind the octopus.


    Arianne gritted her teeth tightly to the point that she bled.


    ¡®I need to get up.¡¯


    ¡®Get up!¡¯


    When she saw the octopus turn into countless water droplets, and the tens of lesser demons lunge at the duo¡­


    When she saw Anita snuggle affectionately against the side of Arlo¡¯s face¡­


    When she saw Arlo¡¯s face¡­


    It was as if time had slowed down.


    His golden hair, his young but handsome face.


    Thinking back to these past two weeks, she couldn¡¯t count the number of times she had smiled around him. The number of times she genuinely laughed must have reached ten.


    As she looked at his face in this slowed world, only one sentence constantly reverberated in her mind, ¡®You just haven¡¯t found a special person to transform for¡¯.


    From deep within her body, the bloodline she had been suppressing for over two years, one completely different from her grandmother¡¯s, rushed forward like a tide.


    Every tiny fiber of her body became filled with energy, and the small amount of evil energy still struggling in her body disappeared like a candle fire extinguished by a fierce gust of wind.


    With a¡­


    *Whoosh!*


    Her body vanished on the spot.


    A new progenitor has awoken.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Arianne?¡± Anita¡¯s cute voice echoed out, her voice sounding unsure.


    *ROOAAAR!*


    Standing almost three meters tall, a huge monster with its pitch-black hair reaching down to its feet and like a dark cloak covering almost its entire body seemed to fly as its body remained a few inches from the ground.


    Only a small gap in the front seemed not to be covered by the dark long hair, if it can be even called one at this point.


    From within the gap, a pair of long sharp claws that seemed to glint even in the darkness flashed constantly.


    The monster had no eyes and no nose, and only a wide mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth and two-pointy fangs graced its face.


    Its hair made a fluttering sound, almost like the flapping of a million bats.


    Even after ten seconds, the roar continued.


    All the lunging shadows fell on the ground as they trembled in fear.


    In the dark sky of the northern continent, a huge crimson moon suddenly appeared.


    The whole city was lit up in a crimson light.


    Looking at the back of the monster, if not for the familiar aura, Anita would have fallen into despair in the face of a far greater enemy.


    After about thirty seconds, its roar stopped, and only its echoes still lingered across the city.


    The monster opened its mouth wide, and immediately all the lesser demons that had previously jumped to attack Arlo had their blood sucked out of their bodies.


    A marvelous sight played out.


    Anita observed the several streams of blood flowing around her congregate above the monster¡¯s opened mouth.


    In just ten seconds, tens of lesser demons turned into husk corpses, before crumbling into dust.


    The huge globe of blood above the monster¡¯s mouth released several waves of evil energy before surging into the monster¡¯s mouth.


    After devouring all the blood, the monster trembled as it felt all its mana consumed from that one area of attack.


    However, the boost it got in its physical strength was worth it.


    With a light roar, its body streaked across the battlefield with a fluttering sound, as it destroyed all the enemies in its path.


    What Arianne didn¡¯t know was that her awakening caused a huge commotion, which would also decrease the chances of not only her but also Arlo surviving.


    *****


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 CHAPTER 66: SURVIVAL VII

    There were several reactions to Arianne¡¯s awakening, but only three were impactful on the battle ongoing in the small city.


    In a pocket world.


    Two graceful figures sat side by side before a sea.


    The seawater would occasionally wash ashore to engulf their jade-like legs, and as if it was reluctant to part, it would stay for tens of seconds, before finally receding.


    The beautiful women gracefully drank wine as they watched the sky fill with an aurora of different colors.


    It was such a beautiful sight, however, both pairs of eyes didn¡¯t seem to appreciate its wonders and instead seemed to reminisce.


    Suddenly, the tall snow-white-haired woman¡¯s body trembled, as she felt her blood bubbling from excitement.


    With a deep frown on her face, she turned to her side and looked out into the distance.


    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± asked the other woman, her voice sounding like a soothing tone played from a magical flute.


    She appeared short and busty, as the two large mounds on her chest seemed to want to burst out from her dress.


    Her hair was purple, her eyes glittering like a black gem.


    After a few seconds of deep thought, Scarlett finally answered, ¡°Something is going on in the outside world.¡±


    After a second of silence, the purple-haired woman asked, ¡°Can it wait?¡±


    Scarlett didn¡¯t even take an instant to reply, ¡°It has to.¡±


    She didn¡¯t exactly know what was going on outside, but she could guess her bloodline was reacting to Arianne.


    However, no matter what, she would allow nothing to break the tradition she has been holding for years in memorial of her big sister.


    Besides, it would only take two hours more.


    Every other thing can wait until then.


    After thinking about it, the purple-haired woman nodded silently.


    What Scarlett didn¡¯t know was that her granddaughter was in a life-threatening danger.


    No one could blame her though, as the evil energy she has always been watching out for, and believed after many years was no more a threat, has reappeared once more in her territory.


    The same went for the purple-haired woman.


    ¡­..


    Deep within the city.


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    Outside the most luxurious building in the city, a great battle ensued.


    The building was now halfway destroyed.


    About eighteen corpses littered the ground.


    After a great battle, fifteen greater demons were killed.


    A woman and daughter pair with interlocking hands also lay dead on the ground. They were the wife and daughter of the city lord.


    The last body was that of the city lord himself. After a great battle, he single-handedly took down twelve greater demons before finally succumbing to death.


    At present, a solitary figure was battling against fifteen shadows.


    His body was covered in blood, and as he panted heavily, his legs trembled threatening to collapse at any second.


    The fifteen figures didn¡¯t seem to be in a rush as they mocked him, taking their time to suck him dry of every energy before finally disposing of him.


    These figures comprised the demons leader, the middle-aged demon that left the crawler shop an hour ago, along with four greater demons that followed him here.


    The other greater demons were those who had finished their tasks of killing the city guard and destroying the teleportation formation connecting the city to others.


    They regrouped with their leader after completing their work.


    Suddenly¡­


    ¡°ROOOAAAR!¡± a deep animalistic roar echoed out.


    All the present figures shifted their eyes in its direction when they saw a crimson moon lit up the sky.


    The solitary figure''s eyes widened in surprise.


    His shop was in the direction the roar was coming from. This man was exactly the old man of the crawler shop. At this point, his life was hanging on a thread.


    Another person had a massive reaction to roar.


    It was the middle-aged man from before. He narrowed his eyes in the direction of the roar with a thoughtful expression on his face. The image of Arlo appeared in his mind and it continued to linger.


    The leader frowned before voicing out, ¡°Do you know what is going on? That roar sounded almost like that bitch Scarlett, yet the pressure from it was far lower, in fact, it wasn¡¯t comparable.¡±


    After a while of thinking, ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± He replied sincerely.


    He could attribute it to Arlo, but he still wasn¡¯t sure. After all, no matter how one looks at it, Arlo was simply a tiny kid. What kind of threat could he pose?


    ¡°Take four greater demons and go check it out. I will finish this.¡±


    ¡°Alright!¡±


    With five whooshing sounds, five figures disappeared from the battle.


    ¡­..


    In Tibu¡¯s castle.


    An old man covered in black robes gazed at the city in the distance.


    As a vampire, his eyesight was sharp, as was his sense of hearing.


    This was the only city under Tibu¡¯s management. Since Tibu and his family went to the capital city for the awakening of their children¡¯s bloodline and to enroll them in the academy, he had to handle the city in their place.


    However, hearing the explosions, and growling sounds echoing from the distance, he felt uneasy.


    ¡°That is right! I still need to watch that brat, so he doesn¡¯t run off.¡± That was the only excuse he could come up with.


    Suddenly¡­


    ¡°ROOOOAAAR!¡± a deep animalistic roar drifted into his ears. His bloodline trembled in trepidation, as his legs grew weak. He almost fell to the ground.


    He saw the sky lit up with a crimson moon.


    ¡®What is going on over there?¡¯


    ¡®I can''t ignore this anymore, the consequences might be unbearable.¡¯


    While his mind told him that, his body refused to move.


    Suddenly his eyes lit up, ¡°I can take that with me. It should increase my chances of tackling any problem that may arise.¡±


    With that, he gained a bit of confidence.


    His body turned into a swarm of bats before moving down the castle.


    In Arlo¡¯s room, the old man appeared as he surveyed the unconscious Joe.


    Listening to the sound of his heartbeat, he confirmed he was sleeping before he vanished once more.


    Appearing in the basement, he looked at the terrifying monster that lay before him.


    ¡°Hehe!¡± along with the sound of his chuckle, snarling sounds echoed in the basement.


    The old man left the house riding on a terrifying beast.


    ¡®I should circle around the city before entering.¡¯ Even with his newfound confidence, he was still cautious.


    A man and a beast streaked across the ground.


    Their target?


    The city in the distance.


    What the old man didn¡¯t know is that immediately when he left the castle, Joe¡¯s eyes snapped open.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we keep it up <3.


    <hr>

 CHAPTER 67: SURVIVE VIII

    Anita was stunned on the spot as she watched the ongoing battle.


    With a deep fluttering sound, Arianne streaked through the place, her claws hacking any enemies in her path like a knife cutting through tofu.


    No lesser demon was able to last more than two strikes.


    .....


    With a high speed, five shadows ran toward the sounds of an explosion.


    They were still quite a distance away. With their strength they would have gotten there a while ago, however, after thinking about it, the middle-aged man decided for them to take a short break so as to restore their energy.


    He wanted them to be at maximum strength to counter whatever awaited them.


    Who would have thought that such a thing would work against them instead?


    As they ran along the ground, a huge shadow appeared at a far distance before them. Barely a second later, the shadow was only a few feet from them.


    Shocked at such an alarming speed, the five shadows came to a sharp stop.


    The middle-aged man watched the fire monster in front of them, and he couldn''t help but gulp nervously.


    "Wh-what is that?"


    *Roar!*


    Standing seven meters tall, a dark three-headed dog, with a streak of crimson hair running along its back appeared before them. At the end of its tail was a snake head.


    The aura exuded from the monster was overbearing.


    "You vile creatures are the ones causing mayhem in my city." Suddenly a voice sounded above the monster.


    Looking up they saw an old man covered in black robes sit atop the monster.


    "A vampire?" the middle-aged man frowned.


    Where did such a powerful vampire come from?


    They had accounted for everything.


    Tibu had already left with his family, making their only obstacle the city lord and the master of the crawler shop.


    What they didn''t account for is that Tibu would leave one of his guardians to look over Joe.


    He didn''t care about Arlo, with the command of their liege, the northern continent was simply the safest place Arlo could be.


    As he thought about how to tackle this problem, the old man didn''t wait for him and ordered angrily, "Kill!"


    *snarl* *snarl*


    The three-headed dog jumped into action.


    The old man was really pissed off. On his way here he had killed many lesser demons. It hurt him a lot to kill those that were once his people.


    In his anger, he didn''t bother to check the cultivation level of the other parties if not he might have avoided them considering he was very cautious at heart.


    With just one leap, the bloodhound arrived before a greater demon, before its middle head tore his upper body off.


    The other two heads fought to devour the remaining lower body.


    The middle-aged man was awoken from his thoughts.


    "Spread out and attack!"


    A great battle broke out.


    .....


    The whole city has been demonized at this point.


    In the city, three battles were currently ongoing.


    The master of the crawler shop was on his last leg, but he still held on.


    The old man and the bloodhound were terrorizing the group of four.


    And finally, a three-meter-tall monster kept bulldozing through a horde of hundreds of lesser demons.


    All the lesser demons in the city were still rushing here at an alarming speed.


    Arlo might have healed, but the allure of his human blood still remained.


    However, no matter how many lesser demons came, they couldn''t approach a radius of five meters around Arlo.


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    She bulldozed in a circle instantly killing all in her path. As the killing continued, the monster started cackling, seemingly deriving joy in this endless slaughter.


    However, Anita didn''t notice as she anxiously tried to wake Arlo.


    Forget a minute, almost an hour has passed since he fell unconscious.


    "Arlo, wake up"


    Her voice was trembling at this point.


    Suddenly, she saw two lines of tears fall down Arlo''s face.


    "Ar-Arlo?"


    .....


    Within Arlo''s consciousness.


    Old bro sat down beside Arlo.


    He had tried everything, yet none of them worked.


    He didn''t know Arlo''s will was already crumbling for a long time.


    Today''s incidents was just the straw that broke the camel''s back.


    After an hour of futile efforts, he finally got tired and used the most straightforward approach.


    "What is it?" he asked gently.


    He had followed Arlo since he was a baby.


    He knew that from a very young age, he already had the mind of an adult, so he started treating him as one from some point.


    Arlo buried his head once more in his legs.


    "Huh!?" Old bro couldn''t hear his words at first as they started as a whisper.


    "....I could already walk since I could remember. At the age of one, whenever I was in the midst of other babies, I would feel weird watching them cry. I always felt like they were foolish. What I didn''t know was that I had condemned myself to a life of loneliness."


    "As I grew up, I distanced myself from other kids. I chalked it up to myself being special."


    "However at the age of five, these kids that I had always deemed foolish awakened, while I the supposed special one became trash..." his words trailed off into a mutter.


    "My world came crumbling down."


    "However Father taught me a technique and I became able to utilize Ki. Getting drunk in the rush of power, I felt my life change."


    "That feeling of growing stronger, faster; it was simply intoxicating."


    "My intelligence didn''t fall behind my growth. In fact, it was excessively fast. At the age of seven, while I knew Father made those plays to liven me, I felt them childish. To be honest it made me feel nauseous."


    "I don''t know the truth behind what happened in the village, but ever since I came to this world, I have only had one feeling...."


    Old bro closed his eyes as he finally knew the reason for all this.


    "I feel...tired." Arlo''s words broke into a sob, as he tightened his arms around his knees.


    "How could they treat me...abandon me like this? I may be an adult at heart but I am still only a child¡­their child."


    Old bro raised his hand before placing it on Arlo''s back.


    With a gentle look, he rubbed Arlo''s back affectionately.


    After a while, he broke the silence.


    "Child, it isn''t your parent''s fault." Arlo didn''t react. He chalked it up to Old Bro trying to console him. However, Old Bro''s next words destroyed that thought.


    "It is mine."


    He raised his head abruptly before looking at Old Bro.


    Old bro sighed before he continued.


    ¡°I forced them to do it.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Arlo¡¯s voice sounded a bit hoarse.


    ¡°If you want to know, wake up and survive.¡±


    Arlo abruptly stood, ¡°What nonsense are you spouting?¡±


    Old bro didn¡¯t feel offended at all by Arlo¡¯s outburst.


    Instead, he faced Arlo, ¡°Your parents are really going to die.¡±


    Arlo felt his head cool down before he felt his heart clench to the point that his breathing became heavy sending Anita outside into a high-time anxious state.


    He could tell from the sincere and honest gaze of Old bro that this time he wasn¡¯t lying.


    ¡°They have been condemned to death a long time ago.¡±


    ¡­..


    Meanwhile, the battle ongoing not far from Arlo had already reached a climax.


    The old vampire lay on the ground as he felt his life quickly fading away.


    However, what he had on his face wasn¡¯t regret but a victorious smile.


    As he looked across the place, the corpses of three greater demons entered his eyes.


    Finally, his eyes shifted to the center of the battle, where the end was fast approaching.


    The bloodhound had the middle-aged man under it.


    Its two heads at the sides were viciously biting into the middle-aged man¡¯s arms.


    The middle head raised up slightly before it opened its mouth.


    A huge ball of darkness formed before it.


    With a maniacal grin plastered on his face, the old vampire watched his last enemy and muttered, ¡°Die!¡± before the light of life faded away completely from his eyes.


    The middle-aged man watched the huge ball of darkness gathering above him.


    His eyes were already resolved, and before the launched ball could reach him, his body exploded into a thick cloud of evil energy.


    The massive ball of dark energy impacted the ground, not even hitting its target.


    A huge crater several meters wide formed on the ground.


    The shockwave generated from it sent everything around it including the corpses flying into the distance.


    The bloodhound fell into the massive crater.


    However, a painful snarl escaped its three heads as it tried to resist the thick cloud of evil energy actively corroding its very core.


    Alas, this was the detonation of a peak advanced mage, and even this terrifying beast couldn¡¯t survive from it.


    With a light *bang*, its body fell to the ground.


    Slowly, its eyes became crimson red, a feeling of bloodlust emitting from its body.


    *Boom*


    The sounds of distant explosion entered its ears, and with a whoosh, it disappeared.


    *Snarl!*


    ¡­..


    About two minutes later, Arianne stood alone on the battlefield.


    The ground was a gruesome sight.


    Over a thousand corpses littered the ground.


    The blood on the ground had already turned into a sea, releasing the distinct metallic smell of Iron.


    While there were still lesser demons approaching, all the ones in sight had been massacred.


    She raised up her head and opened her terrifying mouth filled with blood.


    ¡°ROOOAAAAR!¡±


    Suddenly, Anita¡¯s happy voice entered the opening on the sides of her head obstructed by her hair.


    ¡°Arlo is waking up!¡±


    Arlo¡¯s eyes fluttered slightly.


    Arianne¡¯s roar was cut short. Her head snapped behind and seeing that Arlo was truly about to wake up, she quickly ran off.


    She moved toward the direction of the alley where she initially saw the devil''s seed.


    She barely entered the alleyway when something massive releasing a snarling sound hit her, sending her three meters body flying.


    Due to the massive force, her body blew all the corpses in her path before she impacted the ground and rolled a few times, coincidentally falling in front of Arlo.


    A thick cloud of blood covered the area.


    Arlo opened his eyes, and the first thing Arlo saw was a thick cloud of blood being pierced by the crimson light from the moon in the sky.


    ¡°Arlo!¡±


    Anita jumped into his embrace.


    Recalling his situation, Arlo quickly rose on his knee before looking in front of him.


    Once more, coincidentally a massive head rose up in his direction.


    Through the light piercing the cloud of blood, Arlo could see the outline of the figure in front of him.


    A burst of hot breath constantly blew at him, further increasing his visibility.


    Since there was light, he subconsciously used his eyes.


    While his left hand hugged Anita, his right hand rose up slowly until it touched the face of the monster before him.


    He couldn¡¯t help but mutter¡­


    ¡°How beautiful!¡±


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those following the novel. I hope we keep it up <3

 CHAPTER 68: SURVIVE IX

    Throughout the battle, Arianne wasn¡¯t herself.


    It felt like something else occupied her body.


    It wasn¡¯t until she heard Arlo was about to wake up that she regained control of herself.


    When she saw Arlo raise his hand to touch her, she wanted to shift away.


    However, when she heard Arlo say, ¡°How beautiful!¡±, her mind was blown away.


    A soft burst of air escaped her massive mouth, and she couldn¡¯t help but want time to stop at this moment.


    As a little girl, she didn¡¯t know why she felt this way, but she wanted it to last longer.


    *Whoosh*


    She was pulled out of her train of thought when she felt something approach quickly behind her.


    Not even thinking about it, she quickly hugged Arlo.


    *Boom*


    Her body was sent flying once more.


    As the wall of the shop quickly approached, she turned around to receive the impact.


    *Bang*


    The wall cracked, and it almost came crumbling down.


    Her arms opened slightly to reveal an unharmed Arlo.


    Arlo rose shakily on his feet.


    Looking up, he saw what had attacked them.


    Arianne felt displeasure welling up within her. She was enjoying the moment then it was ruined.


    With anger replacing the displeasure she felt, she raised her head toward the enemy and let out a terrifying¡­.


    ¡°ROOOOOOOOAR!¡±


    With a three-meter-tall monster roaring behind him, Arlo tightened his fists as he watched his new enemy coldly.


    A three-headed dog was before him, its body constantly releasing waves of evil energy.


    ¡®This aura, it seems familiar.¡¯


    He was pulled out of his thought when several tens of lesser demons appeared once again.


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    When the terrifying roar stopped, he spoke, ¡°Let¡¯s finish this once and for all!¡±


    The last thing Old Bro said flashed briefly within his head, ¡°Prove to me you deserve the truth.¡±


    ¡°Leave the lesser demons to me.¡± Anita said before she bobbed forward, her cute voice echoing once again, ¡°Water domain!¡±


    She had already devoured tens of lesser demons, so she had a lot of energy.


    She had even shared some with Arlo when he woke up.


    Water filled the ground ten meters around.


    Arlo didn¡¯t respond to her and instead turned around, ¡°Let us go!¡±


    What he received in reply was a burst of thick breath.


    Willing all his Ki into his legs, he vanished.


    His body turned into a blur as splashing sounds quickly echoed simultaneously.


    Almost at the same time he moved, Arianne also disappeared, with fluttering sounds echoing around with her every movement.


    Her feet didn¡¯t touch the water, as she floated at a speed even faster than Arlo.


    She approached directly from the front, while Arlo moved in an arc, approaching from the side.


    The now demonized three-headed bloodhound released crazy snarls.


    The lesser demons were all being destroyed by the sea monsters, and before they could regenerate, Anita¡¯s cute voice would have arrived.


    ¡°Universal devouring!¡±


    As Arlo wove around the slow-moving lesser demons because of his high speed, he couldn¡¯t help but let out a light breath as he felt the energy constantly being relayed to him by Anita.


    Arianne reached first.


    Jumping up, her two massive claws smashed the two heads at the sides, sending the bloodhound to the ground.


    *Bang* The water in the area was temporarily shifted aside from the impact.


    Painful snarls left the two heads'' mouths as they were held down.


    The middle head moved to attack but before it could, Arlo finally arrived.


    He moved around the duo, and with his fast movement, he grabbed the snake head of the waving tail of the bloodhound.


    Together with his high speed, he instantly moved the Ki from his legs to his hands before throwing with every power he could muster.


    The middle head bit air, as his massive body was pulled from behind before being sent flying.


    While still in mid-air, Arianne rushed toward it again, floating above Arlo on her path.


    The bloodhound flew for almost twenty meters before its body connected with a wall.


    Upon impact, A huge shadow was cast over it, before two fangs bit into the neck of the middle head.


    Its other two heads were held in place by two massive hands.


    A painful snarl escaped its middle head as it felt its blood quickly escaping its body.


    It raised its right front paw trying to claw at Arianne in order to break free.


    However, another shadow appeared at its side, one much smaller. With two orbs spinning in his hands, he smashed his right hand forward.


    *Bang*


    The bloodhound¡¯s front right paw was blasted into a bloody mist.


    *Snarl* Another wave of painful snarl leaked from its head.


    His left front paw instinctively smashed forward as it snarled in pain.


    Again, with a masterful shift of his Ki-concentrated legs, Arlo¡¯s body twirled around Arianne¡¯s tall figure, his left hand now smashing toward the incoming paw.


    With another *Bang*, the left paw also turned into a bloody mist.


    The synergy between the two was simply beautiful.


    Arlo could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins.


    The bloodhound¡¯s legs were on the ground, and because Arianne was hugging it tightly, it couldn¡¯t attack with them.


    So it went for its last resort.


    Its two-meter-long tail moved from behind it, before attacking Arianne from above.


    Arlo¡¯s pupils turned into slits.


    He couldn¡¯t react in time, and since Arianne was holding the monster in place, she couldn¡¯t too.


    If the tail connected with her head, it would definitely explode.


    As if she could feel the approaching death, Arianne shook her head and tried to rip the middle head off.


    Alas, it seemed she wouldn¡¯t make it.


    It was at this time that a new voice suddenly echoed.


    ¡°Size manipulation.¡±

 CHAPTER 69: IS THIS IT?

    It took Joe all his might to approach the city.


    However, Arlo¡¯s well-being gave him the courage to pull through.


    What made Joe sigh in relief is that after entering the city, he didn¡¯t face any hardship.


    Following the sound of an explosion, he approached the battlefield.


    When Joe got to the source of the explosion, he saw Arlo and a three-meter-tall monster overwhelm a three-headed beast.


    ¡®This aura¡­it¡¯s Arianne.¡¯


    ¡®I knew she was a monster all along.¡¯


    His body trembled in fear as he watched Arianne¡¯s terrifying appearance.


    Seeing how Arlo protected her whenever she faced danger, Joe¡¯s expression became complicated.


    ¡®He really cares about her¡­huh!¡¯


    Upon seeing Arianne suddenly face danger, his body subconsciously moved.


    He didn¡¯t want his only friend to feel sad.


    ¡°Size manipulation.¡±


    His body transformed into a massive serpent. He gritted his teeth in pain during the transformation.


    After transforming, he launched a meter-thick beam of poison toward the snake-like tail.


    The tail evaporated in the pillar of poison.


    The bloodhound let out a painful snarl that sounded more like a cry.


    Arlo turned back only to see several lesser demons turn to face Joe.


    The corner of his mouth twitched when he saw Joe turn around and scurry away in fear in his serpent form.


    However, he had done enough as no matter how the three-headed beast struggled, they already sealed its fate


    Arianne released gulping sounds, following which the hound''s struggle lessened until it eventually stopped.


    All its blood was sucked out of its body.


    After thirty seconds, the beast finally succumbed.


    Arianne raised her head as the hound¡¯s corpse fell and released a mighty¡­


    ¡°ROOOOAAAR!¡±


    Gasping for breath, Arlo used his arm to wipe off the sweat on his forehead.


    Suddenly, Arianne trembled heavily as her body reduced in size.


    She turned into a snow-white-haired little beauty that was over a meter tall, following which her body fell downward.


    ¡°Arianne!¡± Arlo quickly moved and caught her in his embrace.


    Arianne had now grown taller, and Arlo attributed it to her earlier transformation.


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    However, he couldn¡¯t dwell on this change, as when she fell into his embrace, she twisted in pain while painful groans leaked from her lips.


    ¡°Arianne¡­.¡± Arlo felt his heart clench. He didn¡¯t know what to do.


    Thankfully, Old bro voice came at this moment, << Her bloodline is fighting against the evil energy she just ingested. She will be fine. >>


    Sure enough, after a minute, strands of evil energy were released from her body.


    But Arlo noticed the process was slow, and the pain she felt when it started seemed to increase.


    ¡°Isn''t there any way I can help?¡±


    After ten minutes.


    The sound of battle had already died down.


    Anita could single-handedly kill almost three hundred lesser demons. She owes it to the power she just gained.


    With the water domain, as long as she had enough energy, she could continuously face hordes of enemies on her own. And universal devouring just fulfills that condition.


    With thousands of corpses in the battleground, she had an endless supply of energy.


    After killing all the enemies in sight, Anita didn¡¯t stop but even seemed more zeal as she bobbed around the battleground.


    ¡°Universal devouring¡­¡±


    ¡°Universal devouring¡­¡±


    While she couldn¡¯t grow stronger as she was being limited by Arlo, devouring the corpses still gave her several perks.


    Endless energy, new laws, and techniques. She could feel that the more she devoured, the more Arlo would benefit when using her powers.


    She suddenly notices Joe approaching the battlefield again.


    With a whoosh, she rushed at him.


    Joe was moving toward Arlo when he felt a shadow rush at him with a speed he couldn¡¯t follow.


    ¡°AAAH!¡± he subconsciously raised his hands to protect his face.


    But after feeling something soft snuggling against his chest, his hands quickly move to protect it from falling.


    Looking down, he saw a little slime rubbing on his chest affectionately.


    ¡°Thank you for protecting Arlo!¡±


    ¡®This is Arlo¡¯s pet?¡¯


    His mouth opened to say, ¡°I did little¡¯, but what came out was¡­


    ¡°It is what a big brother should do.¡±


    ¡°Hehe!¡±


    Anita sneered, but to Joe, it sounded like cute giggles.


    Rubbing her gently, he moved toward Arlo.


    ¡°Is she alright!¡± He looked at the unconscious Arianne.


    She seemed in pain, and her body kept trembling.


    Seeing the evil energy released in waves, Joe shifted backward.


    His bloodline trembled in fear whenever he came too close to this energy. So he didn¡¯t dare to come in contact with it.


    ¡°She should be fine.¡±


    Looking at Arlo, all the pride and content Joe felt disappeared like a wisp of smoke.


    Arlo was giving out a feeling.


    It was a feeling of tiredness. While he embraced Arianne, Joe could see his shoulders slumped as if he were carrying a mountain.


    ¡°Arlo, are you okay?¡±


    Arlo raised his head and looked at Joe.


    He smiled lightly, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Joe knew he was thanking him for earlier but he didn¡¯t respond.


    The trio simultaneously turned back as the sounds of footsteps drifted over.


    The demons'' leader together with two greater demons came from the alley the bloodhound had also come from.


    Looking at the ground, they were stunned.


    It was almost as if it was not a solid ground, but a sea of blood.


    What was a big surprise was that only a few corpses littered the ground.


    Looking at the trio, it surprised them to see that they weren¡¯t the least affected by the surrounding evil energy.


    One of the greater demons shouted before even the leader could talk, ¡°Little brats, what the hell happened here?¡±


    He wanted to ask if they saw the middle-aged man and the greater demons that had followed him but after seeing the massive hound corpse that was lying in front of the brats; he opted to ask what happened.


    Joe trembled in fear.


    The people in front of him were so strong that he found it difficult to breathe. He subconsciously tightened his grip on Anita, causing her to struggle away from his embrace.


    Sigh!


    He looked at his side only to see Arlo gently place Arianne on the ground.


    He stood up and walked towards the newcomers. Anita quickly followed behind him.


    Joe noticed his steps were unsteady and occasionally it would seem as if his body would fall.


    While Arlo had endless energy coming from Anita, his physical body as strong as it was, was wearing out.


    Not to say, he was more tired mentally.


    With more enemies appearing after subduing one, Arlo¡¯s will was starting to waver.


    ¡®Is this it?¡¯


    The greater demon who had asked the previous question frowned slightly. He had asked a question, but instead of answering, this little brat was approaching them and he seemed intent on fighting.


    He raised his hand about to teach this foolish brat a lesson when the voice of their leader entered his ears.


    ¡°Why bother? We are already dead.¡±


    He was confused at first but after following his leader''s line of sight, he also looked up.


    With a flash of crimson lightning, a three-meter-tall snow-white-haired woman appeared high above the cloud.


    *****


    AN: Rate the novel and add it as your favorite, <3.

 CHAPTER 70: WARM EMBRACE

    The trio didn¡¯t dare to move.


    They just looked up at the figure above, their eyes full of hatred and a trace of unwillingness.


    A greater demon would explode when facing an enemy he couldn¡¯t defeat.


    But in the face of absolute power, all struggles are meaningless.


    It didn¡¯t take Scarlett a second to investigate the entire city.


    There were still countless lesser demons running amok within the city.


    Feeling no other sign of life, she blinked beside the collapsed Arianne.


    Pressing a finger on her granddaughter¡¯s forehead, every trace of pain on Arianne¡¯s face vanished and her breathing became even.


    She redrew her finger, removing a thick strand of compressed evil energy with it.


    She opened her pink luscious lips and blew softly.


    The evil energy vanished without a trace.


    She carried Arianne on her left shoulder and approached Arlo.


    Looking down, she looked into Arlo¡¯s eyes, and her own eyes flashed with pain.


    ¡®Are we doing the right thing?¡¯


    Raising her right hand, she patted Arlo softly on the head.


    When Arlo saw that gentle gaze, when he felt the familial love, he felt something within him break.


    Two lines of tears fell down his face. His face still looked calm albeit a bit tired. Yet the lines of tears that continued to run down like water from a broken dam showed his inner emotions were in turmoil.


    She bent down and whispered into Arlo¡¯s ear.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t your father tell you that big men don¡¯t cry?¡±


    Arlo¡¯s eyes widened in surprise and before he could react, she lifted him off the ground.


    Using her free hand, Scarlett also carried him in her embrace.


    ¡°Wha-what are you doing? Put m¡­¡± he stammered but before he could continue he was stopped with a ¡°shh¡± sound.


    Turning her head toward Joe, she smiled slightly, ¡°You are coming with us.¡±


    Before Joe could react, he was lifted off the ground with spiritual energy.


    As Scarlett rose into the sky, Arlo commanded in his mind, ¡®Anita, come back!¡¯


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    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    As the trio streaked across the sky, Arlo couldn¡¯t help but turn back.


    He wondered what happened to those previous three.


    What he didn¡¯t know was that immediately when they looked up to face Scarlett, they had already died.


    From the beginning to the end, she didn¡¯t spare them a glance.


    When they were a kilometer away from the city, a thunderous explosion suddenly filled the sky.


    *Booooom*


    The entire city was eradicated from the world.


    Even though she had investigated the city, she didn¡¯t dare to take any chances.


    ¡°Hold on to me tightly.¡±


    A sweet and alluring voice drifted into Arlo¡¯s ears.


    His arms tightened around her neck, while his tears soaked her dress.


    With a crimson flash, they all disappeared from the sky.


    Arlo could feel himself moving at an extreme speed, and when he opened his eyes, all he saw was a blur.


    Before long, he felt stinging pains, so he quickly closed his eyes.


    Scarlett flashed above several cities that were attacked, and not even sparing a second, all the enemies were killed.


    In those cities where she didn¡¯t feel any life, they would erupt completely in flames after she left.


    In just barely three minutes, she felt Arlo¡¯s breathing become even.


    She could tell that he had fallen asleep.


    A gentle smile lit her face.


    *****


    High atop a tall mountain that seemed to pierce the sky.


    Within a massive cave.


    Arlo lay gently atop a big bed.


    He was deep asleep as he enjoyed the comfort of sleeping on a soft mattress.


    He didn¡¯t have such treatments at Tibu¡¯s place.


    While he was unconscious, he didn¡¯t know a deep argument was ongoing in the cave.


    << What the hell are you doing? >>


    Scarlett stood beside the bed as she looked at Arlo¡¯s face.


    << You old witch! Don¡¯t forget that we had an agreement! >>


    ¡°Is this truly necessary?¡±


    ¡°He is just a kid.¡±


    << He is no ordinary kid! >> Old bro argued.


    ¡°But a kid nonetheless.¡±


    ¡°I understand why you do all this but¡­¡±


    << You understand nothing! >> Old bro fumed.


    Scarlett kept silent.


    After a while, Old bro continued.


    << Since I got my consciousness, countless years have passed. Yet I have never been wielded by any being except¡­by one person.>>


    << You know what he turned into. I could only watch as trillions died by his hands. >>


    << Humans, monsters, beasts, gods, fiends, and many more. >>


    << When I finally escaped that fate, I made an oath not to allow any other person to wield me. >>


    << Yet a few years back I broke it. In return, you all agreed to leave his growth to me, don¡¯t break your promise. >>


    ¡°I am sorry.¡± Scarlett apologized before she continued, ¡°Can you at least let him spend a day or two with me? After that I will never get involved, you have my word.¡±


    No reply came even after a minute but she waited patiently.


    It wasn¡¯t until after thirty minutes that she received one.


    << Do as you wish! >>


    Scarlett smiled brightly.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    *****


    Leaving the cave, Scarlett gazed at the sky.


    The scarlet moon had now turned blood red. It was almost as if it was dripping blood.


    ¡°So this is her heavenly manifestation?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s leave it, after all, new changes are coming into this continent.¡± She looked back toward Arlo¡¯s cave.


    ¡®Mother, we request your presence!¡¯


    Her daughter¡¯s voice echoed in her mind.


    ¡°Humph,¡± she disappeared from the spot.


    Meanwhile, in Arlo¡¯s consciousness.


    << Boy, do you really want to know the truth? >>


    ¡°Yes!¡± A little child¡¯s voice affirmed.


    << Even though you survived that ordeal, you didn¡¯t impress me. If not for that girl, you would have died. >>


    ¡°Are you going to break your word?¡± an angry voice echoed out.


    << No but I won¡¯t show you all the truth. The others will be revealed to you in time. >>


    With a wave of his hand, a large screen appeared before Arlo.


    << It is better to show you. For you to truly understand what happened, we must continue from where your father stopped telling his story. >>


    ¡°Huh?¡± Arlo was speechless. What does a story have to do with all these?


    But Old bro didn¡¯t bother explaining. A series of images started flashing on the screen.

 CHAPTER 71: CITY IN RUINS

    [PAST]


    A city lay in ruins.


    Corpses littered the ground while the iron smell of blood permeated the whole city.


    The majority of the buildings were destroyed; a testament to the chaos that had taken place in the city.


    At the center of the city.


    Sitting atop a massive block from a destroyed building was Dean.


    His wavy black hair moved with the wind.


    His eyes were cold and indifferent while the atmosphere around was eerie.


    These qualities didn¡¯t match a twelve-year-old kid.


    It seemed as if he was gazing far into the distance however, his entire attention was on the blue panel in front of him.


    << You have three rewards. >>


    << You have two new rewards. >>


    He acquired the first set of rewards when the system awoke.


    The second he received after killing a great majority of the civilians of this city. Except for a few hundred thousand who escaped when the chaos ensued, all the others were killed, whether it was a child, an adult man and woman, or even the old.


    Hell! Even a few pregnant women didn¡¯t escape his grasp.


    Whenever he saw a living human, the system would slowly cloud his mind, causing him to kill without any thought or emotion.


    He focused on the message, << You have three rewards. >> for about five seconds before a new set of messages appeared in his sight.


    << Reward 1: You have acquired the unique ability ¡®Evil Energy Creation¡¯.


    Evil energy Creation (Passive): Automatically converts your mana into energy that corrodes the very core essence of your enemies. Core essence comprises the life essence and soul essence.


    Reward 2: You have unlocked ¡®Death space¡¯.


    Death space: A pocket space where you can keep your armies of death and your belongings.


    ¡­..


    Immediately after reading the second reward, Dean winced in pain as he felt a scorching pain in his right palm.


    Looking down he saw, he saw a small dark sphere forming at the center of his palm.


    After a minute, the pain disappeared. He focused his attention back on the panel.


    ¡­..


    << Reward 3: Your innate trait ¡®Summon Undead¡¯ has evolved to the unique trait ¡®Evil Summoning¡¯.


    Evil Summoning (Two skills attached): You are an embodiment of evil. Spread fear and death to all that stand on your path.


    Skill 1: Summon undead: Evil energy corrodes the life essence remaining in the corpses of your enemies turning them into undead that fight for you. All undead will have access to their previous skills, however, they have no mind and will of their own and must be actively controlled.


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    Numbers of undead that can be permanently kept: 30


    Skill 2: Summon Specters: Evil energy corrodes the souls that are yet to pass into the underworld, forcing them to do your bidding. Specters can only use soul attacks.


    Number of specters that can be permanently kept: 1 >>


    Shifting his gaze to the top right corner of the panel, he focused on a line of words¡­


    << See status page. >>


    TITLE: DARK LORD


    LEGACY: TRUE SUCCESSOR OF THE EVIL GOD


    BLOODLINE: NONE


    TRAITS: SUMMON UNDEAD (CANCELED)


    TREE OF YGDRASIL (SEALED)


    EVIL SUMMONING


    STATS:


    Strength: 32


    Agility: 32


    Stamina: 33


    Mana(Evil energy): 90


    CULTIVATION LEVEL: Middle-Level Advanced Mage. (Number of Core Essence required for next level: 900, 000)


    COMBAT PROWESS: Weak Peak-level Advanced Mage. To increase combat prowess, spend 100,000 CE to increase all physical stats by one.


    TALENT: SUPREME (Condition required for evolution: Unknown)


    ¡­..


    Dean was still contemplating his status page when he heard the sounds of heavy footsteps.


    Shifting his attention from the panel, he saw a march of about three hundred people approaching him.


    While the majority of them were walking, a few were riding on horses, while a man adorned in golden armor led the march.


    Dean squinted when he saw this armor. As a previous prince of a kingdom, he has seen his share of luxurious items among which were treasure weapons and armor.


    He could discern that this armor was a treasure.


    ¡°Heavens!¡± One of the soldiers riding on the horses exclaimed.


    Looking at the city in ruin, the corpses that littered the ground, and the blood that still continued to flow; the entire situation looked like a scene pulled out from an apocalypse.


    The man in golden armor gazed calmly at the scene before his eyes fell on the little boy sitting atop a massive block.


    ¡°Did you really cause all these?¡±


    According to the reports he received from the survivors who fled the city in time, a small boy killed the city guards stationed at the gate and on the wall, before commencing a massacre after entering the city.


    No matter how many came to resist him, they all fell.


    No matter the number of magical spells rained on him, he always survived.


    As a war general stationed in a neighboring city, even though he didn¡¯t believe the reports, he still decided to bring the full army under him to check the situation.


    After entering the city, he realized the reports weren¡¯t overestimated but rather understated, as the city was in a more wretched situation than reported.


    ¡°Are you deaf? Can¡¯t you hear General Rock talking to you?¡± Another person riding a horse stated, annoyed.


    General Rock frowned before looking at the person who just spoke, his gaze a bit rebuking.


    He knew that person was trying to curry favor with him, however, such persons were the first to fall in battle.


    The man lowered his head from embarrassment.


    Still not receiving a reply from Dean, General Rock made his decision.


    He won¡¯t take Dean lightly and crush him with his entire force. However, he himself won''t take any action.


    There was simply no need.


    ¡°Kill him!¡±


    His army was stunned.


    Even after seeing the entire city in ruin, the army of mages still felt it was overkill for all of them to gang up on one person, not to say that person was still a child.


    General Rock frowned slightly before ordering once more, but this time with a deep voice¡­


    ¡°Kill him!¡±


    The mages didn¡¯t dare tarry any longer and marched toward Dean.


    Dean didn¡¯t say a thing from the beginning and just watched them coldly.


    This will be his first real battle after merging with whatever was behind the wall of calamity.


    When they were less than ten meters from him, Dean opened his mouth and spoke his first word since he was teleported to this side of the universe.


    ¡°Come!¡±


    The approaching mages were perplexed when they heard the small boy they were about to kill fearlessly tell them to come when their eyes widened like saucers.


    A wave of evil energy burst out from Dean as the center before spreading far beyond their vision.


    The mana in their bodies started churning after coming in contact with the evil energy.


    They all simultaneously came to a stop when they saw the still corpses that had been lying on the ground rise up one by one.


    After rising, the flesh on the corpses peeled before falling, leaving behind skeletons that were covered in blood.


    There were small skeletons and large skeletons, obviously belonging to children and adults alike.


    Seeing such skeletons covered in blood and still wearing clothes sent a chill down the spines of the mages including General Rock.


    They were surrounded by all sides by countless unmoving skeletons.


    However, that wasn¡¯t the end.


    With a wailing sound, countless specters appeared above the city, blotting out the sky.


    The faces of the specters were distorted and their bodies were yellowish see-through.


    *Tap*


    It wasn¡¯t clear who took the first step backward, but like a chain reaction, all the mages started slowing moving backward, their faces pale.


    General Rock didn¡¯t seem to mind.


    Hell! He didn¡¯t even pay any attention to them.


    Looking at the surrounding skeletons, and the countless specters above their heads, only one sentence kept ringing in his mind.


    ¡®What the f*ck!¡¯


    *****


    AN: Language, please. Follow the novel and add it as your favorite. Happy Sunday to you all! <3.

 CHAPTER 72: LET THERE BE CARNAGE!

    The city was enveloped in an eerie silence.


    Several yellowish-see-through specters blotted out the crimson sky.


    ¡°Run!¡±


    It wasn¡¯t clear who said it but as if a spark had been ignited several mages turned around, before fleeing for their dear life.


    ¡°Fools!¡± General Rock bellowed.


    They were already far inside the city and were surrounded from all sides by hundreds of thousands if not millions of undead.


    Not to mention the countless specters that covered the sky.


    Where the hell were these fools running to?


    ¡°Kill the brat!¡±


    General Rock in the end was a general and one with several years of field experience.


    He already figured that if they could kill Dean, they wouldn¡¯t need to fear all these skeletons and specters.


    He didn¡¯t wait for his army and immediately sprang into action himself.


    ¡°Earthquake!¡±


    The earth around a hundred meters from him quaked before many wide fissures appeared on the ground.


    Hundreds of skeletons fell into these fissures.


    Surprisingly, the earth didn¡¯t split where his subordinates were.


    *Neigh!*


    His horse galloped masterfully around the fissures as they quickly closed the distance between them and Dean.


    Dean didn¡¯t know why the system wasn¡¯t controlling him.


    He also didn¡¯t receive any message to kill all his enemies in sight.


    He had been trying to control all the skeletons that had risen around the city but every time he tried, he failed, before a splitting headache kicked in.


    Before he knew it, General Rock reached a distance of two meters from him, before he drew the greatsword resting on his back and leaped from his horse.


    Dean stopped trying to control his undead and quickly focused his attention on one of the two rewards he received after decimating this city.


    << Death Scythe: Sacrifice core essences to create a scythe and claim the lives of your enemies. The more core essences sacrificed the stronger the death scythe. In the process of destruction, the scythe automatically restores itself by consuming available core essences. >>


    << Available CE: 3,185,200 >>


    AN: CE= Core Essence


    Dean quickly willed to sacrifice two hundred core essences and before long two hundred skeletons and two hundred specters disappeared.


    ¡°Death scythe!¡±


    He quickly jumped down from the massive block and looked up at the descending General Rock.


    A three-meter pitch-black scythe with several purple runes running down its snath appeared in Dean¡¯s hands.


    AN: Snath: The shaft of a scythe.


    Its long snath along with Dean¡¯s small body looked comical.


    However, Dean didn¡¯t care about such things, as he quickly raised the scythe just in time to block General Rock¡¯s greatsword.


    *Clang!*


    Dean was sent flying about fifteen meters before he came to a stop.


    He coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    While mages do not possess enhanced physical strength like warriors, the great majority of them still opt to fight with weapons.


    Thankfully, the greatsword in general Rock¡¯s hands seemed to be an average weapon as his scythe didn¡¯t split talk less of getting destroyed.


    ¡°Great earth shift!¡± The earth beneath General Rock''s feet seemed to move, his body moving at an extreme speed with his greatsword raised high up for another attack.


    Dean didn¡¯t dare to lax any longer.


    A light of seriousness flashed in his cold and indifferent eyes.


    He didn¡¯t bother trying to control the undead in the entire city and instead sent his will toward those around him.


    Even though the overall number was less, the undead skeleton around him still numbered a bit over a thousand.


    ¡°Kill!¡± he bellowed.


    Thousands of undead suddenly moved, before launching attacks at the other mages, keeping them occupied.


    At the same time, Dean activated the only fighting skill he had, which was the second reward he had yet to read its details clearly.


    ¡°Death dance!¡±


    He felt the evil energy within him move in a strange way.


    Memories of a skill flashed within his mind. It felt as if he had practiced the skill for countless years.


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    General Rock appeared before Dean before smashing his greatsword down.


    Dean¡¯s body swerved to the right.


    *Thud*


    The greatsword collided with the ground raising a cloud of dust.


    Before General Rock could react, the scythe swirled around Dean¡¯s hands four times before it drew a clod light and swept toward his neck.


    He felt goosebumps and quickly raised his hand to block the attack.


    *Clang!*


    The sound of metal hitting metal resounded as the blade of the scythe collided with the gauntlet on General Rock¡¯s hand.


    Dean frowned slightly when he felt the slow strength behind his attack.


    His feet moved in a strange way as he circled around General Rock while the scythe swirled in his hands, as he rained countless attacks on him.


    The movement of the scythe could barely be discerned and before long, Dean¡¯s scythe drew blood, as several cuts opened in the spaces in between General Rock¡¯s armor pieces.


    General Rock could only defend himself by raising his greatsword to block the opening in his helmet as he was placed in a passive position.


    What threw him in despair was the evil energy that was seeping out of his wounds. He could feel it trying to corrupt his very essence and he had to use a lot of his mana to resist and expel it out of his body.


    He knew he couldn¡¯t continue like this.


    While the mages panicked at first, they soon realized that with their rich battle experience, the undead posed no threat to them.


    It was understandable as even though the undead could still use their magic, they were still normal civilians when they were alive.


    The sky became covered in a variety of magical attacks.


    Not before long, about six hundred undead from the original thousand fell while the mages were yet to suffer a loss.


    During this time, Dean had been pressuring General Rock, however, he couldn¡¯t deal any significant damage.


    If not for the strange movement ability of the skill ¡®death dance¡¯ and the erratic and unpredictable speed of the scythe in his hands, Dean wouldn¡¯t have been able to last three exchanges with General Rock.


    It was clear that General Rock was bidding his time and waiting for him to reveal a gap in his attack.


    Dean was starting to feel pressured not to mention that with every collision with General Rock¡¯s treasure armor, his scythe would crack in several places before restoring itself after devouring some core essences.


    However, even under such pressure he still remained calm, and his gaze freezing cold.


    He didn¡¯t realize that the system and evil energy were starting to change him.


    While he was smart for his age before, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to remain calm in this kind of situation.


    He quickly checked his body and found that the evil energy remaining was less than half.


    He could feel that he could resurrect all the undead destroyed by the mages, but after some thought he decided against it.


    ¡®I need to grow stronger quickly.¡¯


    With that thought in mind, he quickly stopped his attacks, and with a masterful move of his legs, he appeared over ten meters away from General Rock.


    General Rock brought his greatsword down as he glared at Dean who had already assumed a fighting posture.


    His body was full of several minor cuts while blood seeped out of them. What drew General Rock''s attention was the evil energy seeping out of these wounds, as even after gathering his mana to expel them, it was proving to be a bit difficult and time-consuming.


    General Rock and Dean were locked in a staring contest.


    While General Rock was trying to use this brief time to quickly eliminate the evil energy running rampage in his body, what he didn¡¯t was that from the very start, while Dean seemed as if he staring at him, his entire attention had actually been on the invisible blue panel before him.


    ¡®Use two-thirds of the remaining core essence to increase my cultivation.¡¯


    Dean felt the evil energy surge wildly in his body. He saw also changes on his attribute panel.


    TITLE: DARK LORD


    LEGACY: TRUE SUCCESSOR OF THE EVIL GOD


    BLOODLINE: NONE


    TRAITS: SUMMON UNDEAD (CANCELED)


    TREE OF YGDRASIL (SEALED)


    EVIL SUMMONING


    STATS:


    Strength: 34


    Agility: 34


    Stamina: 35


    Mana(Evil energy): 174


    CULTIVATION LEVEL: Peak-Level Advanced Mage. (Number of Core Essence required for next level: 2,000,000)


    COMBAT PROWESS: Weak Mid-level Master Mage. To increase combat prowess, spend 100,000 CE to increase all physical stats by one.


    TALENT: SUPREME (Condition for evolution: unknown)


    It had taken him nine hundred thousand core essences to raise his cultivation to the late-level Advanced mage, and a further one million, two hundred thousand core essences to reach peak-level advanced mage.


    In return, his mana exceeded the 150 mark.


    General Rock¡¯s eyes widened when saw countless undead and specters suddenly disappear.


    He looked at Dean warily and quickly hastened his mana to purge the evil energy in his body.


    Dean looked at the core essences remaining.


    <<Core essences: 1,000,000>>


    He had used about two million, one hundred thousand to increase his cultivation, while the remaining ones were lost after summoning his death scythe and also destroyed by General Rock¡¯s earthquake ability.


    After thinking about it deeply, he made his decision.


    ¡®Use 900,000 core essences to raise my physical stats.


    More undead and specters disappeared from the city, causing the city to look more abandoned.


    Aside from the few hundred undead that were still fighting against the mages, only a hundred thousand still remained in the city.


    Dean let out a light breath when he felt the increase in his physical body.


    While mana could not compare to Ki in terms of body strengthening, it was still rumored that the physical bodies of the strongest mages were about ten times stronger and faster than an average human.


    If the average human had his physical body capped at 10, it means that the strongest mages would be capped at 100.


    Considering that Dean''s stats were at the 30 mark before, it showed he still had some distance to go before his limit.


    However, after forcibly strengthening his body through the system, Dean could feel his power had greatly increased.


    Sure enough, after looking at his combat prowess stats, Dean smiled lightly.


    << Combat prowess: Strongest mid-level master mages. >>


    While he still wasn¡¯t a match for General Rock, he wasn¡¯t far behind either.


    While all these processes sound long, they all happened in less than a minute.


    General Rock grunted as he finally eliminated the last bit of evil energy in his body.


    ¡®What is this energy?¡¯


    He had used more than thirty percent of his total mana to eliminate just this bit of energy that invaded his body.


    Realizing how dangerous this unknown energy was, his eyebrows creased into a frown before they firmed in resolve.


    ¡®This brat has to die!¡¯


    He was just about to attack Dean when he saw him take the initiative.


    His eyes widened when he saw the speed at which Dean moved.


    ¡®He is faster?¡¯


    While Dean ran toward General Rock, he saw that his thousand undead had almost been completely obliterated.


    Not to mention that some of the mages used the advantage that the other undead were not active to destroy several thousand.


    A few thousand undead also got destroyed by the shockwaves of the mage''s attacks.


    This group of undead were simply weak.


    Closing half the distance between him and General Rock in barely three seconds, Dean decided to ignore the undead and instead sent his will to the hundred thousand specters still hovering above the city.


    What surprised Dean was that only ten answered his call, and no matter how he tried the others didn¡¯t move at all.


    With wailing sounds, the ten specters entered into the bodies of ten mages.


    With ten painful shrieks, the ten mages died.


    The specters left their bodies before attacking another ten.


    The ten tried to defend, but no matter the attacks they threw hastily, the specters just phased through them before entering their bodies.


    With another ten painful shrieks, another ten bodies fell.


    The entire place became silent, while the mages felt a chill down their back.


    The specters however didn¡¯t care about the silence and immediately attacked another ten mages.


    Dean who had long stopped in his track and General Rock gazed at this scene, stupefied.


    Dean was woken up by the continuous painful shrieks of the falling mages.


    Turning his gaze back to General Rock who was just three meters away from him, he saw the look of fear in his eyes.


    For the first time since the greatest misfortune of his life, Dean¡¯s mouth widened into a grin.


    Albeit the grin looked quite evil.


    The cold voice of a kid about twelve years old echoed among the painful cries that reverberated into the distance.


    ¡°Let the carnage begin!¡±

 CHAPTER 73: MELODY OF DEATH

    In less than ten seconds, eighty mages fell.


    General Rock woke up from his stupor and screamed at the top of his lungs, his face twisted underneath the helmet¡­


    ¡°Kill him together!¡±


    Since there was no more undead to fight, the remaining mages rushed to kill Dean, before the specters reached them.


    Warriors and mages are quite similar in the sense that they have no soul energy, making both parties quite vulnerable to soul attacks.


    This is what made vampires one of the most feared apex races.


    However, a mage upon breaking into the Red core stage will awaken their soul energy thereby giving them some form of defense against soul attacks.


    In front of these deadly specters, even General Rock was vulnerable.


    ¡°Great earth shift!¡±


    General Rock didn¡¯t stay still and also joined his subordinates to attack Dean.


    Their only goal was to kill Dean as quickly as possible.


    ¡°Death dance!¡±


    General Rock almost coughed blood from frustration when he saw Dean ignore him and jump into the midst of his subordinates.


    A beautiful scene played out in front of him.


    Dean wove in between the mages, his scythe blade drawing lines of blood.


    When the afterimage of his body disappeared due to his fast and strange footwork, only the splashing sound of blood falling on the ground remained.


    With his unpredictable footwork and the quick but erratic movement of the scythe blade, the echoes of the mages'' blood simultaneously splashing on the ground seemed to create a symphony of sound.


    A message abruptly appeared in front of Dean, stopping his movement.


    << Your skill ¡®death dance¡¯ has evolved into the unique skill ¡®melody of death¡¯. >>


    Dean waved the message away when he felt heavy movement from behind.


    Without thinking, he slashed his scythe behind him.


    *Clang!*


    The sound of metal colliding echoed before General Rock was pushed back a few steps.


    A surprised glint flashed in his eyes briefly before being overtaken by anger due to the continuous death of his subordinates.


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    Dean¡¯s quick rampage together with the ten specters has already reduced the original three hundred mages to less than fifty.


    What made Dean a bit frustrated was that he felt he could use the mage''s corpses now available, but for some reason whenever he tried to, his control over the ten specters would lessen.


    Even the remaining specters above the city were starting to fade away.


    It seemed it took all his focus and will to barely control these specters.


    What Dean didn¡¯t know was that immediately when he commanded the ten specters, a new stat called ¡®mental energy¡¯ appeared among his attributes.


    ¡°AAAAAH!¡± Another round of painful shrieks echoed before they were cut abruptly; signifying the loss of another ten mages.


    A trace of fear appeared once again in General Rock¡¯s eyes, and no matter how he tried to suppress it, it wouldn¡¯t die off.


    Now only thirty mages were remaining in the short span of their brief exchange.


    ¡°Earthquake!¡± ¡°Great earth shift!¡±


    General Rock shouted before the ground around Dean slit apart.


    Dean quickly exerted strength into his legs before jumping to the side; barely falling into a deep fissure that appeared beneath him.


    Landing on a relatively safe ground, before he could stabilize himself, General Rock appeared beside him, before smashing his greatsword down with all the strength he could muster.


    Dean raised the scythe up hastily, resulting in him being knocked back a few steps.


    He was just about to fall into a fissure behind him when he quickly stabilized himself by smashing the tail of his scythe¡¯s snath into the ground with all his strength, drawing a deep straight line.


    General Rock appeared before him again, as he raised his greatsword high up.


    Dean¡¯s pupils thinned. Even if he blocked this attack, he would still end up falling into the fissure behind him. He didn¡¯t doubt his death if that happened.


    Not able to think up any solution, he gritted his teeth and activated his newly advanced skill.


    It must be known that Evil energy also had the word Unique attached to it. Nothing needs to be said about how op such an energy turned out to be.


    ¡°Melody of death!¡±


    A burst of dark energy spread out a radius of five meters with Dean at the center.


    This dark energy constantly released wailing and ghostly cries. And unlike before, it didn¡¯t recede or disappear.


    At the same time, on Dean¡¯s attributes panel, his combat power changed from mid-level master mage to peak-level master mage.


    General Rock frowned when he felt the evil energy surging into his body uncontrollably before actively corroding his essence.


    He used a great portion of his mana to resist the corrosion and smashed his weapon down as he bellowed¡­


    ¡°Die!¡±


    Dean couldn¡¯t help but release a breath, as he saw the greatsword rapidly approaching.


    This new skill didn¡¯t increase his strength, however, he felt his speed raised to untold height.


    He felt lighter, no!


    The right words are he felt free.


    His legs moved slightly, and the dark evil energy surrounding his legs churned before it carried him instantly behind General Rock.


    Yes!


    It was as if his body had combined with the evil energy.


    Facing General Rock¡¯s back, he slashed his scythe upward.


    The scythe blade seemed to draw evil energy from below as it turned into a thin line of dark energy before slicing into General Rock¡¯s back.


    ¡°AAAAH!¡± General Rock screamed in pain.


    While his treasure armor stopped the scythe from hacking him into two, it still couldn¡¯t stop it from cutting into him.


    Using his right hand, General Rock slashed his greatsword behind him in anger.


    With a fluid movement, Dean squatted down, submerging his entire body in the cloud of evil energy, as he leisurely dodged the greatsword.


    *Flash!*


    The sharp glint of a blade flashed briefly.


    ¡°AH!¡± General Rock felt the tendons at his Achilles heel split apart.


    His legs arched forward before he fell on both knees.


    The evil energy below Dean¡¯s feet churned once more before his body turned into a streak that revolved around General Rock, with the occasional glints of a blade flashing briefly.


    Blood splashed in the air.


    General Rock groaned in pain before the greatsword fell from his hand.


    With the scythe blade arched behind him, Dean looked down at General Rock, his eyes a pool of darkness.


    With the massive cloud of evil energy churning around them, it looked as if a mortal was paying respect to his god¡­a death god.


    Finally, the painful shrieks echoing around Dean also stopped.

 CHAPTER 74: GREATER DEMONS

    Dean didn¡¯t rush to kill General Rock.


    He waited patiently as he tested a theory of his.


    Sure enough, after a full minute, a message appeared before him.


    << Congratulation! >>


    << You have corrupted the core essence of mid-level master mage Rock, turning him into a greater demon. >>


    ¡®Greater demon?¡¯


    ¡®What is that?¡¯


    Dean frowned as he failed to understand the message before him.


    Even after a full minute, Dean couldn¡¯t make head over this new information.


    But something told him it was very important.


    ¡°My Lord!¡±


    He was pulled out of his thoughts as he looked down to see General Rock kneeling before him, with his head bowed respectfully.


    He didn¡¯t look like an enemy that fought to the death with him a few minutes ago and looked more like a loyal servant.


    It was at this time that a new message appeared before Dean.


    << Corrupt the core essence of your enemies without killing them, turning them into greater demons.


    Greater demons: A loyal follower whose entire existence is to fulfill the will of his Lord. They look no different from an average race of their kind and will go unnoticed unless they release their mana. >>


    << A greater demon can also use evil energy to corrode the core essence of their enemies, turning them into lesser demons.


    Lesser demons: A lower version of greater demons. They have no mind of their own and can only follow simple instructions. >>


    Dean took a full minute to digest all this new information. During this time, Rock remained silent as he maintained his respectful posture.


    Dean opened his eyes and looked at Rock. He could guess that his evil energy had been corrupting him since the start of their fight. However, after suffering several grievous wounds and using much of his mana and the invasion of energy when he used the ¡®melody of death¡¯, he finally succumbed to the evil energy¡¯s corruption.


    He canceled the ¡®melody of death¡¯, causing the massive cloud of evil energy to recede back into his body.


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    Looking at the hundreds of mages corpses around him, even though he felt mentally and physically tired, he decided to select the undead and specter he could permanently keep before the time limit passed.


    ¡°Bring me to your strongest subordinates!¡±


    ¡°Yes, my lord!¡± Rock didn¡¯t hesitate to act.


    All the specters above the city had disappeared together with the undead.


    Only the crimson sky remained as a witness to the horrifying battle that had taken place.


    As he followed behind Rock, a new set of messages abruptly flashed before him.


    << You have completed the hidden mission ¡®kill all enemies in sight¡¯. >>


    << You have received a reward. >>


    << You have completed the hidden mission ¡®Create a greater demon¡¯. >>


    << You have received a reward. >>


    ¡®No wonder!¡¯


    Dean thought to himself.


    He had been wondering why his mind was not clouded when Rock and his mages appeared before him.


    When he was teleported to this side of the universe, he was taken by a family of three.


    He didn¡¯t even realize when or why he killed them until after he did.


    The same happened when he saw this city.


    Not that he cared.


    Tens of millions of death was already on his head, including his own family.


    Dean focused on the first reward causing a new message to appear.


    << You can now create ¡®Devil seeds¡¯.


    Devil seeds: Concentrate and compress your evil energy into a pea-sized seed that can be detonated remotely. >>


    Dean didn¡¯t dwell too much on this message and quickly read the second reward.


    << Make a wish. If it is found appropriate, it will be fulfilled. >>


    Dean suddenly stopped, as his breathing quickened.


    ¡°My Lord?¡±


    Throughout their fight, Dean didn¡¯t show any visible change in his cold expression, yet he now appeared flustered causing Rock to be bewildered.


    Dean ignored Rock.


    The thought of bringing his dead mother back to life flashed through his mind momentarily.


    But after remembering the system said ''appropriate'', he discarded this thought.


    Forcefully calming his beating heart, Dean asked in his mind.


    ¡®Can you teleport me to someone?¡¯


    << ¡­. >>


    Rock didn¡¯t dare to disturb Dean and waited for him patiently.


    After a full minute, a message flashed before Dean.


    << Under one condition! >>


    Dean¡¯s gaze turned expectant.


    ¡®Tell me!¡¯


    << You must spread death and chaos when you are teleported to the other side. >>


    Dean flashed an evil smile, as his eyes shone with a bright light.


    ¡®Is that all?¡¯


    << ¡­ >>


    ¡®As long as you can bring me to him, forget spreading death and chaos, I can even destroy the whole universe for you.¡¯


    << ¡­ >>


    << Request accepted! >>


    << You have three days to prepare before you are teleported. >>


    Looking at the waiting Rock, Dean spoke with renewed fervor.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, we have a lot of work to do.¡±


    ¡­..


    Rock brought Dean around the couple hundred corpses on the ground, before presenting his former strongest subordinates to him.


    Dean thought deeply about it before raising twenty-eight undead and turning the soul of the strongest mage into a specter.


    Looking at the tens of skeletons before him and the hovering specter above them, Dean stretched out his hand.


    ¡°Receive!¡±


    A wave of evil energy burst from his palm, before surrounding the undead and specter.


    Together with the receding evil energy, the undead and specter also vanished.


    After absorbing all the core essences available, the corpses of all the dead mages turned into dust.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Having raised two skeleton horses, they both mounted them and rode off.


    He didn¡¯t dare to remain here, considering that news of what had befallen this city must have already spread far.


    As he left behind a ruined and empty city, the image of a silver-haired boy flashed in his mind.


    ¡®I am coming for you.¡¯

 CHAPTER 75: GOD-TIER WITCH I

    Dean looked around him, and not seeing anybody in the vicinity, he finally knocked on the door of the small house before him.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    The voice of an old man sounded from within.


    A few seconds later, the door was opened as a young boy of about twelve to thirteen years old and a middle-aged man covered in a black robe appeared before the old man.


    The old man flashed a gentle and harmless smile as he voiced out¡­


    ¡°How may I help you?¡±


    What he got in reply was Dean¡¯s small hand landing on his chest and before he could react, a cloud of evil energy engulfed him.


    In less than five seconds, the atmosphere around the old man changed, as he knelt down and spoke in veneration¡­


    ¡°My Lord!¡±


    Dean didn¡¯t reply and instead entered the house, with Rock following behind him.


    After entering the house, Rock closed the door before Dean''s voice resounded¡­


    ¡°I need refreshments.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    After leaving the city, Dean and Rock rode for four hours before encountering a small village.


    He sent the skeleton horses back into the death space, while Rock removed his treasure armor before they entered the village.


    He decided to make his preparations in this village.


    Three hours later.


    Dean sat in the room.


    He had already refreshed himself and was now dressed in a black robe.


    This robe was given to him by Rock, as he seemed to have some stock of clothes in his spatial ring.


    Looking at his hand, Dean¡¯s eyebrows creased into a frown.


    On his palm was a pea-sized pitch-black seed that seemed to pulse like a beating heart.


    It had taken a full hour to compress his evil energy into this seed.


    The entire process consumed about ten percent of his mana.


    After thinking about it, he realized that if he ditched his sleep, he could only create twenty devil seeds in a day.


    Like this, a day passed.


    In a tent within the village.


    *Cough* *cough*


    A middle-aged woman lay on a bed with a kingdom-toppling young girl by her side, holding her hand.


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    ¡°Mother¡­¡± the girl whispered.


    *Cough*


    After coughing for a while, the middle-aged woman flashed a weak smile.


    ¡°It''s okay, Dora.¡± She whispered weakly as she tried to comfort the little girl.


    It seemed just talking had used up her remaining energy, as she closed her eyes and drifted into a sleep.


    Looking at the pale face of her mother, Dora felt pained but mostly conflicted.


    In reality, this wasn¡¯t her biological mother.


    Four years ago, her mother and she were chased around.


    The people called them witches and claimed that they had to be killed as the heavens had no place for them.


    Unfortunately, even though they were able to survive for a little while, they were still caught.


    Her mother had forcibly blocked the ways of their attackers, as she made sure her daughter safely made it out.


    Dora didn¡¯t remember how long she ran, neither did she remember how far she ran.


    Eventually, she arrived at this village.


    While the villagers shunned the dirty and smelly her, one person did otherwise.


    She approached her, gave her food, and then took her to her house.


    After she was well cleaned, the woman asked her for her parents.


    When she informed her that she was an orphan, the woman had taken pity on her.


    Especially after seeing how beautiful she was when she freshened up, she knew that her life would be far too difficult if left alone and abandoned.


    So, she had taken her as her daughter since she didn¡¯t have one.


    Dora felt uncomfortable at first, but after living together for two years, she started opening up to her.


    Eventually, after four years, she started referring to her as ¡®mother¡¯, which made the woman greatly happy.


    Unfortunately, three months ago, the woman fell ill.


    And no matter the medicine she took, or the physician that came to heal her, her condition didn¡¯t improve.


    Instead, it seemed to deteriorate.


    Throughout these four years, Dora didn¡¯t dare to do anything that would tie her to being a witch.


    However, as he looked at this pale face of her new mother, her pained and childish heart overcame her reasoning.


    Running out of the tent, she quickly looked for any live animal she could find.


    She didn¡¯t need to search for too long as she saw a live chicken that seemed to be chasing after something.


    Not caring for what the chicken was looking for, she grabbed the chicken and ran back to her mother¡¯s tent.


    The villagers who saw her were perplexed about what she was doing with a chicken, but they were not bothered about it.


    After all, it was general knowledge that Dora was the most well-behaved and respectful girl in the village.


    This garnered the love of most of the villagers, especially the adults.


    Entering the tent, Dora found a small knife before she brought the chicken beside the bed where her mother was lying.


    She didn¡¯t hesitate to plunge the knife into the chicken, and with a masterful turn of her small hand, the chicken was instantly killed.


    She wasn¡¯t through though, as she gutted the chicken.


    The metallic smell of blood permeated the tent.


    As a pool of blood was gathering beside the bed, Dora removed the entrails of the chicken.


    Using its blood to draw a ritual circle, she placed the entrails on strategic points on the circle before she chanted thrice¡­


    ¡°With this live sacrifice, I call upon the witch doctor to grace her daughter.¡±


    ¡°With this live sacrifice, I call upon the witch doctor to grace her daughter.¡±


    ¡°With this live sacrifice, I call upon the witch doctor to grace her daughter.¡±


    The light in the tent dimmed greatly before the tall figure of a hunched-back old woman appeared behind Dora.


    Her flesh was sunken, and a strap of skulls was wrapped around her neck.


    Her fingers were long and curved.


    Dora quickly turned and bowed before her.


    ¡°Please, heal my mother!¡±


    The purple eyes of the witch doctor looked at her shortly, before she looked at the middle-aged woman that lay on the bed.


    Opening her mouth, she blew out a strange dark gas that immediately covered Dora¡¯s mother.


    The gas entered into her body, and almost instantly her pale face grew healthy as she even seemed to have grown younger.


    Her eyelashes trembled before her eyes opened slowly.


    ¡°Mother!¡± Dora called out happily as she quickly approached her.


    But¡­


    When her mother¡¯s eyes opened, her eyes immediately became fixed on the tall and lofty figure of the witch doctors.


    ¡°AH!¡± she screamed out in horror.


    Raising a trembling finger, she pointed at the witch doctor and started screaming at the top of her lungs.


    ¡°A-a witch!¡±


    ¡°Mother, please wait. Let me explain.¡±


    Dora tried to placate her but no matter how much she tried, it all ended up in vain.


    Flashing a pitiful glance at the pleading Dora, the body of the witch doctor faded away slowly until she disappeared completely.


    As if she had been granted an amnesty, the middle-aged woman stood up before running out of her tent as she screamed¡­


    ¡°Witch!¡±


    ¡°There is a witch in my tent!¡±

 CHAPTER 76: GOD-TIER WITCH II

    At the village square, a young girl of about fourteen years old was tied to a stick, with numerous straws placed below her.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe she is a witch.¡¯¡¯


    ¡°Me too. Despite her beautiful appearance, she was so respectful.¡±


    ¡°Sigh! What a pity. I wanted her to marry my son.¡±


    The voices of several villagers resounded in the background.


    Several hundred villagers surrounded Dora while the people at the forefront were holding torches.


    However, despite the words of pity or insults directed at her, Dora had her entire attention fixed on a woman at her side.


    ¡°I swear I had never known she was a witch.¡± Dora¡¯s mother pleaded.


    ¡°I had always told you all that this girl is strange, yet none of you listened.¡± An old man accused Dora¡¯s mother before he continued, ¡°How do we know she hasn¡¯t converted you?¡±


    ¡°I just found out today!¡± Dora¡¯s mother screamed before she burst into tears. She appeared quite pitiful.


    ¡°Can you prove it?¡± The old man snickered.


    Dora¡¯s mother was stumped, but with her life on the line, a glint of viciousness flashed within her eyes.


    Turning toward a man holding a torch, she grabbed it off his hand, and without any hesitation threw it at the straws strewn below Dora.


    *whoosh* A part of the straws were set aflame.


    ¡°Kill her!¡± She screamed, ¡°She is no daughter of mine.¡±


    ¡°If I had known she was a witch, I wouldn¡¯t have taken her in.


    ¡°No, I would have killed her instead.¡±


    With her eyes flashing with hatred, she looked into Dora¡¯s eyes.


    The little hope that all this was a dream finally broke, as a muffled cry escaped Dora¡¯s pink lips.


    With her vision clouded in tears, she looked at the disheveled figure of her supposed ¡®mother¡¯ before her.


    ¡°Mother? I am no mother of yours, you witch!¡± Turning toward the other villagers, she screamed at the top of her lungs, ¡°What are you waiting for? Kill her!¡±


    ¡°Kill her!¡± The other villagers followed.


    The villagers at the forefront holding torches finally threw them at the straws.


    The straws that were being set aflame by the previous spreading fire, were all now in flames.


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    As the straws caught on fire, the pitiful Dora burst into tears, her mind clouded in despair.


    The scene of her final moment with her biological mother¡¯ flashed before her.


    With a smile on her beautiful face, a young woman who appeared to be in her late twenties looked at a younger version of herself.


    With the sides of her eyes filled with tears, she choked unwillingly¡­.


    ¡°Live!¡±


    Pushing her daughter away, the painful cries of a young girl drifted into her ears.


    ¡°Mother!¡±


    ¡­..


    As this scene flashed before her, Dora¡¯s muffled cry finally turned into a loud and painful outburst.


    ¡°Mother! I am sorry!¡±


    ¡°Shut up! You witch!¡±


    ¡°Die!¡±


    ¡°Die!¡±


    ¡°Die!¡±


    The joined voices of the villagers sounded in unison.


    What they didn¡¯t know was that at the very back, a dark-haired boy with a cold and indifferent expression was gazing at this scene, his feelings unknown.


    He was pulled out of his training when he heard the ruckus at the village square.


    After discerning the entire situation from the words of the villagers, Dean was not interested in the least and was about to return to producing the devil seeds when a message flashed before him.


    << Congratulations! >>


    << You have come across a god-tier talented witch! >>


    ¡®God-tier?¡¯


    Dean was confused but still waited calmly for the system to continue.


    Unfortunately, the system didn¡¯t seem to want to explain as the messages continued.


    <<New mission: Convert her into a greater demon. >>


    << Reward: Unknown. >>


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    When he saw the new messages, even though he was somewhat displeased that the system didn¡¯t explain further, the new mission surprised him.


    Putting strength into his legs, Arlo wove in between the villagers, and not before long, he appeared before the burning straws.


    ¡°Huh? Who is that?¡±


    Some villagers caught sight of Dean and were taken aback.


    ¡°What is he doi¡­¡± Before the villager could complete his words, he saw Dean wave his hand lightly. The wind generated dispelled the fire that was already burning to a great degree.


    Dora looked down to see this small boy that seemed even younger than her.


    Dean felt something within him click when he saw Dora¡¯s eyes. He was very familiar with these eyes.


    It was one clouded in despair and with no light of hope.


    It was one filled with a broken will.


    As the duo gazed at each other, one with cold eyes, and the other with a broken will, the surrounding villagers finally erupted.


    ¡°Hey! What the hell are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Are you trying to save her?¡±


    Dora¡¯s mother looked at Dean in fear. This boy didn t seem to be ordinary. If he really saved Dora, would he get back at her?


    It must be known that while the villagers were also mages, they were pathetically weak, which was why they could only live in such a rural place.


    Mustering her courage, she shouted aloud¡­


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you are actually that witch¡¯s brother? You are here to save her, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Sure enough, most of the villager''s expressions changed upon hearing these words.


    Seeing that she had successfully riled them up, she quickly struck while it was still hot, ¡°My fellow villagers, let us kill them both. We can¡¯t leave a witch alive. She will come back to bite us.¡±


    Some of the villagers were just about to react but Dean beat them to it.


    Dora¡¯s mother thought Dean would come for her; unfortunately for her, Dean didn¡¯t give a damn about her existence.


    As if chasing away a fly, Dean waved his hand, before a cloud of evil energy burst out from within him. In about thirty seconds, the whole village was engulfed in a cloud of evil energy.


    How could these weak villagers resist evil energy corruption?


    In less than a minute, every villager at the village square knelt before Dean before they shouted in unison¡­


    ¡°My Lord!¡±


    Ignoring the kneeling villagers, Dean continued to look at Dora.


    He had made sure that his evil energy didn¡¯t touch Dora when he released it.


    Opening his mouth for the first time, Dean finally spoke¡­


    ¡°Follow me! I promise you wont have to worry about using your powers and with me by your side, no harm would come to you.¡±


    << ¡­ >>

 CHAPTER 77: CONSEQUENCES

    Gazing at the cold but honest look on Dean¡¯s face, Dora couldn¡¯t control her emotions.


    The tears streaming down her face seemed to increase in frequency.


    Even though she could see that Dean had done something to her mother, she didn¡¯t care.


    Since she had renounced her as her daughter, she didn¡¯t have any obligations to keep treating her as her mother.


    Not to say, she had already paid the debt she owed in full.


    Dean¡¯s words were by far the most heartwarming words she had heard in a while.


    Dean didn¡¯t wait for her, he quickly called out¡­


    ¡°Rock!¡±


    *Whoosh*


    ¡°Bring her down!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Looking at the kneeling villagers, Dean ordered them to behave as normal before he quickly headed back to the house where he was staying.


    For some reason, he felt uneasy.


    Sure enough, immediately when he entered the house, the system didn¡¯t even wait for him as a series of messages flashed before him.


    << You negated the system. >>


    << You shall be punished for the next four hours. >>


    Without even waiting for Dean to think too deeply about the new messages that flashed before him, the evil energy in his body attacked his internal organs.


    *Puff*


    Dean coughed a mouthful of blood before he collapsed on the ground.


    He kept coughing mouthfuls of blood as he tried to forcefully suppress his evil energy.


    That wasn¡¯t all though, as the evil energy churned greatly before moving toward his head.


    ¡°AAH!¡± A heart-wrenching scream escaped Dean¡¯s mouth as he felt his soul being attacked.


    It felt as if several million needles were continuously prickling into his soul.


    Not before long, following his painful cries, blood leaked out from his eyes, nose, and ears.


    As his painful shrieks continued to resound, he occasionally coughed blood due to the attacks on his internal organs.


    Dean was experiencing an agonizing torture.


    ¡­..


    Two days later.


    On the other side of the dark universe.


    ¡°Big sister!¡±


    ¡°Big sister, help me!¡±


    The playful scream of a little girl echoed in the house, followed by the threatening voice of a boy.


    ¡°Come here! If not I will eat you.¡±


    ¡°AH!¡± The girl shouted as she quickly entered the kitchen.


    An elderly woman and a girl whose face was covered by a golden veil entered her vision.


    Running toward the golden-haired girl, the little girl jumped into her embrace, before she pleaded¡­


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    ¡°Big sis, please save me!¡±


    Rita patted Mia on the head.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Big sis is¡­¡±


    ¡°Huhahaha! I am here for you.¡±


    Feeling the slight trembling of Mia in her embrace, the corner of Rita¡¯s mouth twitched a couple of times.


    ¡°Hey! It is one thing if you don¡¯t help cook, and it is another if you disturb us while cooking.¡±


    ¡°Hehe!¡± Arthur scratched the back of his head sheepishly.


    ¡°Haha, It¡¯s okay. It''s been a while since little Mia enjoyed herself like this.¡±


    ¡°Grandma!¡± Mia left Rita¡¯s embrace and jumped into her grandmother¡¯s.


    Patting her granddaughter on the head, she spoke guiltily¡­


    ¡°Mia doesn¡¯t have any friends to play with. It''s because I decided to live outside the city.¡±


    ¡°Mia only wants to be with grandma.¡±


    A warm smile lit Grandma¡¯s face before she heard Mia continue.


    ¡°Besides, I now have a beautiful big sis and the evil Arthur.¡±


    Mia flashed her tongue playfully at Arthur.


    ¡°You¡­¡± Arthur was stunned.


    ¡°Do you know how fortunate you are to have the great Arthur play with you?¡±


    Waving his hair to the side with class, Arthur continued, ¡°If we were outside, I wouldn¡¯t even pay any attention to you.¡±


    Rita rolled her eyes while Mia giggled at Arthur¡¯s antics.


    Grandma suddenly interjected, ¡°We will need some vegetables for the soup.¡±


    Rita¡¯s eyes flashed mischievously as she quickly grabbed Arthur and ran out of the kitchen.


    ¡°We will get it.¡± Her voice drifted into the kitchen.


    ¡°This child!¡± Grandma smiled wryly. How could she not figure out that Rita didn¡¯t want her to pay for the vegetables?


    During these past three days, Grandma kept rejecting Rita¡¯s attempts to help them financially.


    Every time they tried to, Grandma would always reply gently, ¡°There is no need, we have enough.¡±


    ¡°Ah! Wait for me, I want to follow you!¡±


    Not even waiting for her Grandma to react, Mia escaped her embrace before she scurried out of the room hurriedly.


    Instead of getting displeased, a warm smile graced Grandma¡¯s face as she was genuinely happy for her granddaughter.


    Mia hadn¡¯t been this happy since her parent¡¯s death.


    Thinking of her son and daughter-in-law, Grandma looked above her before she whispered¡­


    ¡°Once Mia grows old enough, I will join you. Wait for me¡­¡±


    ¡­..


    Arthur, Rita, and Mia arrived in the city a few kilometers away.


    The streets were lined with several shops and stalls.


    There were different merchandise put on display.


    As they walked around the city, Mia would pull the duo to any shop that caught her interest.


    Anything Mia wanted to have, Rita would buy without any hesitation. It almost seemed like a doting sister spoiling her junior.


    While Arthur also wanted to try some of the delicacies, his pride wouldn¡¯t allow him to ask Rita.


    However, Rita didn¡¯t care about such things, and whenever Mia wanted to taste a delicacy, she would get one for Arthur and her herself.


    Being a princess, gold was the last thing she lacked.


    As they continued along the streets, Mia held a candy stick in both hands while Rita only held one.


    While the city was bustling with people, the streets didn¡¯t feel cramped at all.


    Arthur on the other hand was left with carrying bags as he followed behind the cheerful girls.


    While he grumbled a bit inwardly, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to complain after being treated to several delicacies he hadn¡¯t even tasted before.


    The trio had already gotten the vegetables they needed and were just sightseeing the city at Mia¡¯s behest.


    She rarely comes to the city, and when she did, she wouldn¡¯t spend too long, so Rita and Arthur decided to indulge her this time.


    As Mia jumped cutely forward, looking for something to interest her, Arthur gazed at an alley at his right before his eyes brightened.


    ¡°Stop!¡±


    ¡°What is it, big brother? Are the bags too heavy?¡±


    ¡°Tch, you can¡¯t even carry these light loads?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that!¡± Arthur grumbled at Rita who was looking at him with contempt before looking down at Mia who had approached him with concern on her face.


    ¡°It is fine. This is nothing for Big Brother! Don¡¯t forget that Big Brother has a lot of energy from eating people, especially little girls like you.¡±


    ¡°Hehe!¡± Mia giggled playfully.


    ¡°Why did you tell us to stop then?¡± Rita asked confused.


    Looking across the alleyway, Arthur''s eyes shined with excitement, ¡°Follow me, I will show you how great I truly am.¡±


    After passing through the alley, the trio walked for a while before entering into a neighborhood.


    The streets were dirty and untidy, and there were occasionally people begging on the wayside.


    This part appeared to be the slum of the city.


    Arthur thought that the girls would feel uncomfortable passing through this side.


    However, Rita didn¡¯t hesitate to even dip her legs in the muddy ground, while her expression remained calm and uncaring.


    Mia looked around curiously, and her excitement would only dampen when she saw the people begging miserably at the sides.


    While she wanted to help them, she didn¡¯t have the means to. And she didn¡¯t want to burden Rita more than she had to.


    As for Rita, while she did feel some pity for them, she didn¡¯t make any attempt to help any of them.


    Helping one person would mean she had to help the others, and while she didn¡¯t lack the money, she couldn¡¯t squander it carelessly.


    After walking for ten minutes, Arthur finally stopped before a dilapidated warehouse.


    The girls looked curiously at the building.


    Why would Arthur bring them here?


    The thought of Arthur harming them didn¡¯t even cross Rita¡¯s mind, as after interacting with Arthur for the past three days, she knew he was someone who was innately prideful and arrogant.


    He would disdain to do something like that.


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 CHAPTER 78: THE LAW OF BEATING HEART

    Opening the door, Arthur entered to see a small crowd of children kneeling with their faces full of apprehension.


    In front of these kneeling kids, were four other kids who seemed to be in a stare-off while another kid lay on the ground beside them.


    Three of the kids had immense bodies for their ages, and their faces screamed of bullies.


    The last of the four was someone that was quite eye-catching.


    The boy was dark-skinned, and his long black hair was plait into dreads.


    Dressed in a blue robe, the boy was quite handsome. In addition, judging from his bearing, it was very clear that the boy was not from a humble background.


    ¡°Why did you hurt my servant?¡± He looked at the person lying on the ground beside them.


    One of the trio stepped forward as he tried as much as he could to look intimidating, ¡°We beat her up, so what will you do?¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± The boy didn¡¯t get upset and instead looked at them with a playful smile, ¡°Are you not afraid of me?¡±


    Before the previous boy could reply, another one stepped forward and beat him to it, ¡°And why should we be afraid of you?¡±


    While he said that, the expression on his face didn¡¯t look confident.


    Initially, they were happy to have made a big catch among the little kids they had bullied to follow them.


    However, after telling their big catch to cough out all she had, she tried to resist them, so they ended up beating her a bit.


    None of the other kids dared to save her, as the majority of them pissed their pants in fear.


    It was at this time that the dark-skinned boy before them entered.


    When he started questioning them, the trio had wanted to teach this foolish brat a lesson.


    However, after drawing close to him, the boys felt their hearts gripped with fear.


    Ever since then, they had just been posturing in an attempt to scare him off. But it was clear it wasn¡¯t effective.


    When Arthur saw the situation, he turned toward Rita and Mia who had entered her embrace at some point with a scared expression on her face.


    ¡°Can you hold these bags for a while?¡±


    Rita looked at Arthur closely and wondered what he was trying to do in bringing them there.


    After a moment of silence, Rita replied, ¡°Sure,¡± before she used her thumb to touch a ring on her forefinger.


    Immediately, all the bags in Arthur¡¯s hands disappeared.


    Arthur¡¯s eyes widened before he shouted, ¡°Fuck!¡±


    Looking at Rita¡¯s eyes that were flashing with a rare light of cunningness, how could Arthur not realize that he had been deceived and used as labor?


    ¡°Hehe!¡± Mia chuckled, while the expression of fear on her childish face lessened greatly.


    Arthur sucked in a breath of air deeply as he forcefully resisted the urge to spank this foolish girl.


    Ever since he saw Rita¡¯s face, Arthur couldn¡¯t deny that he was intoxicated with her beauty. Ever since then, he had been suppressing his weird antics and had been wanting to appear more pleasing to the eyes.


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    Besides, Arthur didn¡¯t doubt that Rita would grow to be an incredible woman with a busty chest. Her mother was all the assurance he needed.


    Grumbling to himself, Arthur turned around and walked toward the small crowd.


    The group had already been alerted to Arthur, Rita, and Mia¡¯s presence.


    Before Arthur reached them, the eyes of the three bullies lit up when they recognized him.


    Running to him, they all quickly bent down, before one of them said, ¡°Boss, you came at the right time.¡±


    Another continued, ¡°That is right. One of the brats is proving difficult to handle.¡±


    Rita¡¯s gaze turned strange upon seeing this.


    She thought Arthur wanted to play the hero, but who would have thought that he was the grand villain?


    Suddenly, Rita started feeling unsure.


    Is this the person she is going to marry in the future?


    She was mesmerized by Arthur¡¯s boldness, courage, and most importantly his immense strength but now she wasn¡¯t so sure.


    While Rita felt conflicted, Mia had her mouth wide open.


    ¡®Big bro-brother is truly evil?¡¯


    Arthur harrumphed loudly as he looked at the trio with a displeased expression.


    He had initially planned on staging a play with their help to look grand and imposing before the girls. But who would have thought that these guys would turn out useless?


    Walking past them, he stopped before the dark-skinned boy.


    Seeing the curious expression on his face as he closely examined him, Arthur questioned in anger:


    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡±


    Arthur hated this type of good-looking and prideful boy that have everything served on a silver platter.


    Why wasn¡¯t he the same?


    He didn¡¯t even know who his parents were.


    The heavens sure were unfair.


    The dark-skinned boy shook his head calmly before replying, ¡°You don¡¯t need to know who I am. What you need to know is that those guys behind you hurt my servant and they must answer for it.¡± As he said that, he pointed at the lying person beside them.


    Arthur¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°And what if I say no?¡±


    The dark-skinned boy laughed amusedly, drawing a glare from Arthur, ¡°What makes you think you can stop¡­¡± Before he could finish his sentence he saw Arthur disappear and reappear before him.


    Before he could react, Arthur sent a slap to his face.


    *Pow!*


    He was sent flying.


    He rolled several times before he came to a stop. The dark-skinned boy gazed at the roof of the warehouse dumbly as he couldn¡¯t believe that he was actually hit.


    He, a supreme genius from an ancient family was actually sent flying?


    Arthur¡¯s irritated voice drifted into his ears at this time, ¡°Who the hell is this fucker that is trying to pose before me? Does he have a death wish or something?¡±


    ¡°Haha. Sure enough, the boss is the strongest!¡±


    ¡°I never doubted him once.¡±


    ¡°Who can stand up to him?¡±


    The bullies didn¡¯t miss this chance to rain flatters on Arthur, but after being shot down by a glare, they quickly kept their mouths shut.


    Woken up by the praises, the dark-skinned boy came back to himself.


    ¡®Space laws?¡¯


    ¡®No wonder, if he has space powers, then he is really worthy to fight me.¡¯ The public might believe that space laws was useless, but the ancient families believed otherwise. It is not for nothing that space laws was considered one of the supreme laws.


    He stood up and patted the dust off himself before looking at Arthur seriously.


    Arthur was similarly surprised, as contrary to his expectations, the dark-skinned boy didn¡¯t become angry after being slapped flying.


    ¡°Brother, what is your name?¡±


    ¡°Humph!¡± Putting on an arrogant expression, Arthur replied, ¡°You are not worthy.¡±


    Shaking his head, the dark-skinned boy spoke with a sincere look, ¡°Brother, you might be a genius but you are too arrogant. If I don¡¯t bring you down a few notches today, then I would have sinned.¡±


    Arthur turned behind and looked at the three bullies before pointing at himself, ¡°Is that fucker calling me brother? Don¡¯t tell me I slapped him stupid?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha,¡± the trio burst into laughter.


    Not caring about Arthur¡¯s mockery, the dark-skinned boy walked towards him, ¡°My name is Wale. Remember my name when you wake up.¡±


    Arthur looked at him confused.


    The dark-skinned boy didn¡¯t bother to explain as he immediately shouted, ¡°Beating-heart domain.¡±


    The trio''s laughter was cut short before their faces flashed with horror.


    They felt their entire mana drained from their bodies.


    *Ba-dump* *Ba-dump* *Ba-dump*


    Arthur¡¯s eyes widened when he heard the sound of his heartbeat clearly almost as if it was beating beside his ears.


    Feeling a part of his mana disappear from his body, he became more fascinated.


    What he didn¡¯t know was that two people had a more severe reaction than him.


    The first was Rita as she looked at the dark-skinned boy with surprise coloring her face, ¡®An esoteric law? How is this possible?¡¯


    The second was the dark-skinned boy himself, as he felt the mana he received from Arthur was even greater than all the kids in this warehouse combined.


    What made him even more surprised was that Arthur¡¯s face didn¡¯t look pale which showed that he still had an ample amount of mana.


    Looking behind Arthur, his eyes met with Rita¡¯s as he thought, ¡®She must be a god-tier talent just like me. She might even be higher in level than me.¡¯


    Returning his gaze back to Arthur, ¡®He must be one of those legendary¡­¡¯


    Just thinking of it made him shudder.


    He couldn¡¯t believe he met someone that wasn¡¯t supposed to exist.

 CHAPTER 79: LAW OF BEATING HEART II

    Wale was a supreme genius of a well-renowned ancient family.


    Through the use of a special technique, their first ancestor, a god-tier talent, could pass down his talent through his bloodline to future generations.


    After several thousand years, another god-tier talent appeared in this ancient family, causing them to be filled with joy and great hope for their future.


    This new talent was exactly Wale.


    Unlike others in his family who can only debuff their enemies when they feel one emotion, Wale could debuff them when they feel all emotions.


    That was just how scary a god-tier talent was.


    That wasn¡¯t the only thing.


    Wale was blessed with a domain-type innate talent.


    It must be known that among innate talents, the domain type was revered among others.


    His innate talent ¡®beating-heart domain¡¯ caused those around him to hear their heartbeats echo around them.


    Such a thing would certainly affect the emotional state of those around him. As long as there was a change in their emotion, there would be a corresponding change in their heartbeat, no matter how slight it may be.


    It was just that Wale¡¯s debuff only worked one hundred percent on those who felt fear or anger, causing him to steal all their mana and one of their unique abilities.


    While his innate talent worked on other emotions too, he could only steal ten percent of their mana.


    Obviously, Rita and Arthur didn¡¯t feel fear or anger toward Wale.


    What surprised Wale was that while the ten percent mana he stole from Rita was monstrous to the point that it even exceeded his own ten percent, the one he obtained from Arthur was even larger than all the others combined including Rita¡¯s.


    That allowed him to draw some assumptions that made Wale¡¯s mind blank.


    He was already revered in his family as a god-tier talent.


    The greatest talent to have been seen since their ancestor was a twelfth-level supreme talent who was his father.


    Yet the person before him had potential that far exceeded that of his own and his family combined.


    Arthur didn¡¯t wait for Wale to come out of his reverie.


    Looking at his hand, Arthur could feel the mana in his body had decreased greatly.


    He knew it had to do with the sound of his heartbeat that was still resounding loudly in his ears.


    ¡°Fascinating!¡±


    With a wide grin on his face, Arthur looked at Wale, his eyes flashing with excitement.


    If there was one thing Arthur loved more than a woman¡¯s chest, then it would be fighting.


    He immediately teleported in front of Wale, sending a right fist at his gut.


    This time Wale dodged his punch easily.


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    Wale was fifteen years old and was at the peak of the advanced stage.


    As a god-tier talent, after activating his domain, he could combat favorably with a peak-level master mage.


    ¡°Brother, wait!¡±


    He tried to talk it out with Arthur. After knowing how monstrous Arthur¡¯s talent was, he didn¡¯t care about his servant and simply wanted to befriend Arthur.


    It was a pity Arthur didn¡¯t think the same.


    He hurled out punches after punches but Wale evaded them all.


    Seeing that his attacks were not connecting, Arthur unleashed one of his techniques.


    ¡°Mirror clones.¡±


    Wale¡¯s eyes widened when he saw two more Arthurs appear in front of him.


    Not daring to hold back any longer, Wale willed the mana in his body and used one of the magic spells he had just stolen.


    While Arthur and Rita didn¡¯t fear Wale, the same couldn¡¯t be said about the others.


    Hearing your own heartbeat resounding around you would send shivers down the spines of any normal person, not to mention the kids who were already terror-stricken.


    So right now, Wale had a lot of spells from different laws in his arsenal, of course, this was only until his domain was deactivated.


    Pointing the forefingers of both of his hands at the newly appeared Arthurs, Wale whispered:


    ¡°Arrows!¡±


    A rain of fire arrows materialized at his left before all launching at one of Arthur¡¯s clones, while a rain of arrows made of water materialized at his right before launching at the other clone.


    Unfortunately for him, the real Arthur at his front stretched both of his hands at the arrows before calling out grandly:


    ¡°Receive!¡±


    Spatial essence erupted from Arthur¡¯s body before the space in front of the rain of arrows rippled.


    Immediately after, all the arrows were sucked into it.


    ¡°What¡­¡± Wale¡¯s eyes widened like saucers, but before he could react, one of Arthur¡¯s clones teleported behind him before kneeing him in the back.


    ¡°Ah!¡± as he staggered forward in pain, his eyes caught sight of Arthur¡¯s second clone appearing before him, a fist hurtling at his face.


    With a thud, Wale was sent flying.


    When he opened his eyes, he saw the real Arthur grin before clenching both of his stretched palms.


    ¡°Appear!¡±


    Seeing all the arrows he had launched appear above him, Wale¡¯s face turned white as sheets.


    The truth was that while Arthur was strong, Wale was insanely strong too.


    He was caught off guard as he had never seen space laws used in such ways.


    Aside from teleportation, there were no other revered spatial techniques.


    So he didn¡¯t get to use all the abilities he had stolen before he was beaten, if not it wasn¡¯t clear who would win in the end as Arthur was only a newly advanced mage.


    Arthur¡¯s clones disappeared, and he was just about to rain the arrows down on Wale when a shriek echoed out:


    ¡°No!¡±


    Arthur stopped abruptly only to see the girl that had been lying all this while on the ground run past him, and hold Wale in her embrace.


    Arthur¡¯s eyes widened before he gulped loudly.


    With a trembling voice, he whispered:


    ¡°Is that C-cup?¡±


    ¡°Young master, are you okay?¡± As she sobbed, she checked Wale¡¯s body for any injury.


    Smiling wryly, Wale deactivated his domain, ¡°I am okay. It is just some bruises. It will¡­¡±


    Before he could finish his words, Arthur¡¯s voice cut in.


    ¡°Brother! Are you alright?¡±


    Wale was dumbfounded as he looked at Arthur who quickly approached him in concern.


    But after seeing that Arthur didn¡¯t actually approach him, but went behind his servant as he said, ¡°Let me help you lift him,¡± and hearing the moaning pleas of his servant that immediately drifted into his ears, ¡°No, please. Don¡¯t touch me there!¡± his face turned green.


    The expressions of the bullies turned strange at this sight, while the kneeling kids had their eyes wide open, especially the boys.


    ¡°What is big brother doing?¡± Mia asked Rita innocently, her eyes flashing with curiosity.


    ¡®This bastard!¡¯ Rita tried to stop her body from trembling but to no avail.


    Taking in several deep breaths, she turned back and took Mia by the hand, ¡°Don¡¯t mind that pervert, we are leaving.¡±


    Hearing the sound of the door opening, Arthur turned to see the girls leave his sight.


    He hesitantly stopped his hands that had been squeezing two soft melons and teleported before the door as he shouted:


    ¡°Hey wait! You have it all wrong! I was only lending a hand!¡±


    Wale took a deep breath before turning back.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± he was dumbfounded when he saw the red-flushed face of his servant as she clutched her chest tight.


    Meanwhile, outside the warehouse.


    ¡°Hey, I told you to wait!¡±


    ¡°Humph.¡±


    Arthur chased after Rita as he tried to explain himself.


    What he didn¡¯t know was that at an alley behind them, the usual cold and indifferent eyes of a certain boy were gazing at them with deep hatred.


    Arthur turned back to look at the alley but seeing no one there, he whispered:


    ¡°That is strange. I thought I felt a presence.¡±


    Looking back at Rita who had walked far ahead of him in this short while, he quickly chased after her again.


    In the alley, Dean looked at the sky as he tried to suppress the erupting anger within him.


    With his eyes flashing with hatred, he whispered:


    ¡°Soon, very soon.¡±

 CHAPTER 80: PREPARATION COMPLETE

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Dora asked as she stood a few meters away.


    Dean looked at her but he didn¡¯t respond right away.


    After taking in several deep breaths, he finally regained his composure.


    Looking at Dora coldly, he didn¡¯t respond to her previous question and instead ordered, ¡°Get prepared! We are going to cause some mayhem.¡±


    Surprisingly enough, after punishing Dean, the system didn¡¯t attempt to force him to convert Dora again.


    In fact, when Dean asked if she could be teleported with him, the system accepted without any hesitation.


    He could store his followers, whether undead, specters, or even greater demons in his death space. But he couldn¡¯t do the same to Dora for reasons that are obvious.


    Stretching his right hand out, Dean brought out the villagers he had corrupted in groups of ten.


    In total, the villagers he corrupted numbered about seven hundred.


    The death space was about a thousand cubic meters in size and was enough to contain them all. It even had enough space for several hundred. That was just how large it was.


    He handed every villager that knelt before him a devil seed.


    However, after handing it out to about fifty villagers, he exhausted all the devil seeds he had painstakingly created.


    However, Dean didn¡¯t fret as he had made a pleasant discovery.


    After teaching Rock the technique to create devil seeds, he was surprised to find out that it worked.


    Although, it took Rock an entire day to create one devil seed.


    While he continued to create more devil seeds due to the time constraint, Rock took it upon himself to teach the villagers.


    However, he discovered that while the villagers could also create the devil seed, the process was simply too slow.


    None of them were able to create one before the three days deadline but after estimating their speed, Rock found out that it would take on average one week for a villager to create devil seed.


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    He guessed it was due to their low cultivation level.


    However, that discovery was more than enough for Dean.


    In fact, upon hearing the news, a rare smile lit his face.


    This would make his mission far easier.


    Dean was about to release the last ten groups when Rock flashed beside him before kneeling.


    ¡°My Lord! I have completed the mission you gave me.¡±


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    Rock didn¡¯t dare to talk again. Throughout this time, Dora stood behind Dean as she watched him summon the villagers she had lived with in silence.


    She was curious about how his powers worked but she was similarly smart enough to realize that she couldn¡¯t just up and ask about his secrets.


    Dora watched Dean summon the last group and coincidentally her former mother was among them.


    As she saw her mother kneel respectfully before Dean, a complicated expression graced her face.


    No matter what, this woman had taken care of her for almost four years. But Dora didn¡¯t dare to ask Dean to release her.


    Even though she was also the quiet type, she had made several attempts to start a conversation with Dean whenever she had the chance, but Dean ignored her.


    She was pulled out of her thoughts when Dean¡¯s voice drifted into her ears.


    ¡°Move out of the city.¡±


    ¡°You must not move together. Slowly integrate with the people of this world, and demonize as much as you can. This mission must be carried out as stealthily as possible.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± They all responded before moving out in different directions.


    After sending out the last group, Dean finally shifted his gaze to the still-kneeling Rock.


    ¡°Go on!¡±


    ¡°My Lord, this city is a merchant city. It was created more for business purposes and doesn¡¯t hold any real power in the major kingdoms. The civilians are barely ten thousand. Also, the city lord is quite weak and is only in the early-level master realm.¡±


    ¡°Finally¡­¡±


    Dean clenched both of his hands, as he had finally finished all his preparations.


    It was finally time for his revenge.


    Looking at the still kneeling Rock, Dean spoke¡­


    ¡°Move out! Demonize anyone in sight!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Rock disappeared before him and soon after painful shrieks and scared cries echoed out.


    Dean looked at Dora before ordering in a deep voice, ¡°Follow behind me!¡±


    Dora nodded silently before the two finally left the alley. Dean saw Rock grab the neck of anybody around him be it a man, woman, or child before engulfing them in evil energy.


    No matter how they resisted, they all ended up in the same situation.


    After releasing them, the now demonized people would appear crazed before attacking anybody in sight.


    Of course, they didn¡¯t attack Rock or each other as they could sense the evil energy in their bodies.


    These were lesser demons.


    They had no will, and all they knew was to kill any living being that was yet to be corrupted.


    The entire place turned into pure chaos as the people who saw what was happening screamed before running away in fear.


    As Dean walked a bit behind Rock, he whispered...


    ¡°Too slow!¡±


    Suddenly, a cloud of evil energy burst out with Dean at the center. The evil energy avoided Dora before spreading out in all directions.


    Soon enough, they spread out far from Dean and Dora¡¯s sight.


    In Just a little while, it would cover the entire city


    All that was engulfed screamed before going still.


    ¡°Arthur! It is time to pay!¡±


    Looking in the direction Arthur, Mia, and Rita had left, Dean suddenly disappeared.

 CHAPTER 81: DIRE STRAITS

    ¡°You are such a scum!¡± Rita sounded exasperated, ¡°You are still a kid for goodness sake, how could you have grown so rotten?¡±


    Arthur suddenly became crestfallen, ¡°What can I do? Unlike you, I never had a parent to guide me.¡±


    The anger that had been boiling within Rita suddenly cooled down greatly upon seeing Arthur¡¯s sad face.


    ¡®Hehe! It seemed to work.¡¯ Arthur snickered inside but still kept his outside expression pitying.


    ¡°Big sister, don¡¯t fall for him. Big brother is so evil.¡± Mia suddenly interjected from the side.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Rita was stunned.


    Sure enough, to have his thoughts exposed by a little girl, Arthur couldn¡¯t stop his fa?ade from breaking for a moment, which didn¡¯t escape Rita¡¯s eyes.


    Rita¡¯s eyes turned scarlet, and she was just about to pounce on Arthur in her anger when¡­


    ¡°AH!¡±


    ¡°Run!¡±


    ¡°Monsters!¡±


    ¡°Mother! Save me!¡± the teary voice of a little girl resounded but was soon drowned in the chaos.


    Mia quickly held tightly onto Rita as she trembled, ¡°Big sis¡­¡±


    Arthur and the others in the vicinity looked at the chaos that was fast approaching.


    Looking at the people that ran past them in fear, Arthur couldn¡¯t help but frown.


    In fact, some people barged into them with no care, and if it wasn¡¯t for Arthur who shielded the girls, they may have been put in harm.


    Without any hesitation, he shoved all those who tried to pass through him to the side with force, causing many to stumble on the ground.


    Quickly catching hold of someone, Arthur tried to ask him a question only for the other to shout in fear, ¡°Fuck! Let me go! Are you trying to get me killed?¡±


    It was at this moment that a thick blast of evil energy spreading at great speed entered Arthur¡¯s vision.


    Arthur¡¯s pupils turned into slits, and without any hesitation, he turned back to touch Rita and Mia in order to teleport them.


    However¡­


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    Arthur underestimated the speed of the spreading evil energy.


    If he had immediately teleported upon seeing the cloud of evil energy, he might have escaped.


    But after hesitating, he had lost any chance of escaping.


    Before he knew it, as the silver essence of space energy burst out from him in preparation to teleport, the evil energy swallowed them before continuing on its path.


    ¡°AH!¡± Painful screams resounded around them as all that had been enveloped tried to resist the evil energy corruption but to no avail.


    Immediately when he was enveloped, Arthur felt the mana within him subconsciously surge, before expelling all the invading evil energy.


    No matter how they tried to further enter him, they were shut out by the silver essence surrounding him.


    While this sounds long, it all happened in an instant.


    ¡°Mia!¡± Rita¡¯s fear-filled scream pulled Arthur out of reverie.


    Mia¡¯s eyes were slowly being clouded by evil energy and it seemed it wouldn¡¯t take long for her to be fully corrupted.


    Without any hesitation, Arthur willed his silver essence that was already surrounding Rita and Mia when he wanted to teleport them into Mia¡¯s body.


    He noticed that the entirety of Mia¡¯s silver essence was just about to be corrupted.


    He quickly controlled his energy to clash against the evil energy.


    Fortunately, his energy seemed to work, as immediately after coming into contact with the evil energy, they seemed to banish them out of existence.


    While Arthur was happy his plan was working, he didn¡¯t dare to lax, and not before long, his forehead became matted in sweat.


    It must be known that Mia was too young, and her body couldn¡¯t withstand a huge amount of mana.


    Arthur suddenly felt uneasy. While he continued to expel the evil energy in Mia, Arthur opened his shut eyes and looked around him.


    He had wondered why he couldn¡¯t hear Rita¡¯s voice.


    Now he understood why!


    She was simply stunned on the spot, her face deficient in blood.


    Looking around, Arthur saw all the tens if not hundreds of people looking at them.


    While their eyes appeared normal, the evil energy that oozed out of their bodies said otherwise.


    In this silent stare-off, a command suddenly resounded in the heads of those who have succumbed to the evil energy¡¯s corruption.


    ¡®Kill them!¡¯


    The person that Arthur held before was the first to react.


    He had fallen on the ground when Arthur turned to grab the girls and was the closest to the trio.


    Still on the ground, he clutched onto Arthur¡¯s ankle, as the evil energy on his hand tried to break Arthur¡¯s defense.


    Seeing all the people move, about to attack them, Arthur took a deep breath.


    He could teleport them away, but that would interfere with Mia¡¯s recovery.


    Sending a kick to the person clutching onto his leg tightly, he sent him flying.


    Seeing the magical spells that were starting to materialize above the corrupted, he looked at Rita and pleaded¡­


    ¡°Can you hold out for one minute? That is all I need to expel the dark energy within Mia.¡±


    Rita¡¯s face grew pale as she whispered, ¡°You know I can¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡®How useless!¡¯ Arthur grumbled inwardly, but he didn¡¯t dare to let his thought known.


    Instead, he looked at her with a complicated look.


    How could he not tell that Rita was a monstrous genius in her own right?


    In fact, aside from her mother, the queen, Arthur could feel that Rita was the most talented person he had ever seen.


    Not even Wale could compare to her.


    He just didn¡¯t know why she feared using her powers.


    Gritting his teeth, Arthur prepared to bring out his full strength for the first time since he awakened.


    Suddenly, he couldn¡¯t help but chuckle even in front of the approaching rain of attacks, as the image of a boy flashed in his mind.


    ¡®That guy isn¡¯t so bad either.¡±


    It was the image of a dark-haired handsome prince with dual elements.


    AN: Sorry for the recent short chapters. I will make it up to you guys with a super-long chapter soon. Don''t forget to add the novel as your favorite, <3.

 CHAPTER 82: A STEP CLOSE TO DEATH

    ¡°Mirror clones!¡±


    Nine clones appeared around Arthur, Rita, and Mia.


    The clones held each other by the hand, enclosing the trio in a small circle.


    Rita¡¯s eyes widened at this display of power.


    ¡®How does he even have enough mana to summon all these clones?¡¯


    What Rita didn¡¯t know is that summoning these clones barely caused a difference in Arthur¡¯s massive mana pool.


    Individually, these clones only possessed about twenty percent of Arthur¡¯s strength; which is why they could only use teleportation.


    Not to say that their defense was practically nil.


    It was just that with their teleportation ability, they didn¡¯t need to tank any attack.


    As the rain of magical spells tinted with evil energy fell from every direction, the nine clones shouted simultaneously.


    ¡°Absolute defense!¡±


    The space in front of the clones rippled like the surface of a lake, before covering the clones, Arthur, Rita, and Mia in an invisible dome barrier.


    All the launched spells fell on the barrier, before disappearing like stones sinking into the bottom of the sea.


    ¡®Again!¡¯ The command resounded once more in the heads of the corrupted.


    They willed their mana once more before raining more attacks on the barrier. Dean only needed but a few moments to arrive, so all he wanted was for them to stall and prevent Arthur from teleporting.


    This time, they didn¡¯t bother to stop as the attacks continued with seemingly no end.


    There were spears made from various elements, arrows, huge boulders, and many more.


    The barrier couldn¡¯t hold up any longer and collapsed on itself. Immediately after, the clones disappeared among the countless barrage of attacks.


    However, they had already served their purpose as Arthur finally expelled the last bit of evil energy from Mia¡¯s body.


    ¡°Mia! Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Mia!¡±


    Rita and Arthur¡¯s worried voices resounded at the same time.


    Mia¡¯s face was pale and her lips purple. Her closed eyelashes trembled ever so slightly.


    ¡°Brother¡­¡± she groaned as she looked at Arthur.


    While the evil energy had been expelled, the pain she had been subjected to in the process of the corruption was too great for the little girl to bear.


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    Rita took her out of Arthur¡¯s embrace, as tears fell down her face.


    She gently sent her mana into Mia in an effort to ease her pain.


    Arthur lowered his head, his facial expression unknown.


    However, judging from his clenched fist, it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out he was angry.


    Very angry!


    Another rain of attacks fell by this time.


    Stretching his hands out in opposite directions, with his head still lowered, Arthur spoke in a calm but arrogant voice that disallows any opposition¡­


    ¡°Die!¡±


    The space around Arthur rippled greatly before countless magical spells rained out, destroying the incoming attacks and falling upon the corrupted civilians.


    While the attacks looked fatal, the truth was that none of the corrupted died, and were only incapacitated.


    In the end, he was still a kid no matter how strong he was, and couldn¡¯t bring himself to kill.


    As the metallic smell of blood soon permeated the surroundings, there was no shouts or groan of pain. There was only silence.


    What Arthur didn¡¯t know was that these people were already dead and as greater demons, they felt no pain.


    Taking a deep breath, Arthur touched Rita and Mia, ¡°We need to leave! Stop pouring your mana into her!¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Rita nodded before she stopped sending her mana.


    They didn¡¯t know what was going on, so it was best to get out of there while they could.


    Arthur was just about to teleport them away when Rita''s eyes widened in horror as she looked behind him¡­


    ¡°Look out!¡±


    Without bothering to think, Arthur pointed his palms behind him, as space essence erupted from them.


    The space behind him rippled in time to swallow a flying black scythe flying toward him.


    Turning back, Arthur¡¯s eyes widened when he saw a dark-haired young boy walking toward them slowly.


    ¡°You! What are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°No matter. Come quickly, we need to leave this place.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Still not receiving a response, Arthur¡¯s eyebrows slowly creased into a frown, ¡°You-don¡¯t tell me you were the one that sent that attack?¡±


    In response to his question, Dean flashed a cold smile before he finally spoke¡­


    ¡°You are going to die today!¡±


    Arthur¡¯s eyes widened once more albeit from a different emotion.


    ¡°HAHAHA¡­¡±


    While Arthur burst into laughter, Dean looked at him coldly, his thoughts unknown.


    After a short while, his laughter died down.


    ¡°With just you?¡± The simple question together with the mocking smile on Arthur¡¯s face didn¡¯t fail to conceal his disdain.


    Slowly, he walked toward Dean.


    A maniacal grin suddenly appeared on Dean¡¯s face, startling the approaching Arthur.


    He had been wondering how he could keep Arthur from teleporting.


    After all, if Arthur wanted to escape, Dean doubted anyone could stop him.


    However, it seemed all he had to do was say a few words to stroke his ego.


    As he watched Arthur walk closer, Dean also moved.


    He didn¡¯t wait for Arthur to come to him.


    What nonsense is that?


    He had been waiting for this opportunity and he had even wasted a wish to obtain it.


    As the distance closed between them, Dean spoke¡­


    ¡°That arrogant look of yours; that unruly side of yours that makes you act with no care for consequences¡­.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you still got them. It will make what I am about to do far easier.¡±


    As he ended his words, evil essence burst from him before ten scythes formed far above him.


    ¡°Go!¡± he commanded.


    The scythes drew closer to him as he walked, but Arthur didn¡¯t put them in his eyes.


    Raising his right hand to absorb them, Arthur¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the scythe¡¯s speed suddenly increase threefold.


    What surprised him most was that the scythes that were already far above him arched away from his direction before flashing in front of the stunned Rita and Mia.


    ¡°Bastard¡­¡± Arthur growled in anger and was about to teleport before the girls when Dean flashed before him too with a scythe in hand.


    The scythe blade drew a cold light in the air, but Arthur narrowly evaded it.


    However, he wasn¡¯t happy about dodging such a fatal strike and instead shouted¡­


    ¡°No!¡±


    Rita held Mia in her embrace and looked in horror as death flashed before her.


    At this moment, one of the talismans within her bosom lit up blindly.


    All the scythes stopped before her and no matter how they tried to draw closer, they couldn¡¯t budge.


    This was one of the protective talismans her mother had given her.


    This proved that she had been just a step away from death.

 CHAPTER 83: SECOND CLASH

    AN: The next chapter will be super long. Title: Showdown.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Arthur screamed in anger.


    He felt deep fear that Rita and Mia almost died and anger, that it had been on his watch.


    His pride also got hurt. When had he ever suffered a loss ever since that day he awakened in the alley a few years ago?


    Aside from Rita¡¯s mother, whom he felt to be equally if not more talented than he was, Arthur had not been put in a difficult position for a long time, especially not by his age mates.


    Space essence erupted from Arthur.


    He teleported behind Dean before punching him in the spine.


    Dean tried to react but was still a step slow. He stumbled forward and before he could even stabilize himself, Arthur flashed in front of him and sent out a right uppercut.


    Dean was sent flying, as blood sprayed from his mouth in mid-air.


    Immediately when he landed, Arthur flashed on top of him.


    ¡°How dare you stand against me?¡±


    *Bang*


    ¡°Who do you think you are?¡±


    *Bang*


    ¡°Where did you even get the courage from?¡±


    *Bang*


    ¡°It seems the lesson I taught you the last time wasn¡¯t enough!¡±


    *Bang*


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    With every sentence Arthur said, a muffled bang followed.


    After three minutes, Arthur panted as he tried to catch his breath.


    The face of Dean under him was already covered in blood.


    What made Arthur speechless was that throughout his beating, Dean didn¡¯t make any sound; not even a grunt escaped from his lips.


    He just glared at Arthur under the countless barrage of punches.


    When he saw Arthur stop, Dean strained himself to speak¡­


    ¡°You taught me a great lesson. One that changed my life completely¡­¡± As he said this, a tear slid uncontrollably down his face.


    Surprised, Arthur looked at him, feeling that something was wrong.


    However, he immediately discarded that thought before sneering, ¡°Heh! You are crying? You didn¡¯t even cry the last time. I hope you have now learned your lesson.¡±


    The tears welling up in Dean¡¯s eyes vanished without a trace. In place of it was a bone-chilling coldness.


    Coughing a mouthful of blood, he looked at Arthur who was sitting atop of him, ¡°You know, I admit in a one-on-one fight I don¡¯t stand a chance against you¡­¡± His words trailed as he looked at the prideful light that shone within Arthur¡¯s eyes, ¡°But¡­I am not alone!¡±


    ¡°Great earth shift!¡±


    Before Arthur could react, a greatsword smashed into him, sending him flying for a few meters.


    He coughed a mouthful of blood before looking in Dean¡¯s direction.


    ¡°Bastard! You¡­¡±


    His words were cut short when he saw the middle-aged man standing before Dean and looking at him coldly.


    Not only that, but a huge crowd of hundreds of people surrounded them.


    There were some on the ground and a few on the buildings lining the streets.


    They all had two things in common.


    A thick wave of evil energy surrounded them.


    And most importantly, they all glared at him with no exception.


    Spitting a mouthful of blood, Dean slowly stood up before dusting himself.


    ¡°How do you like my army?¡±


    ¡°I told you before, you are going to die today!¡±


    Looking at the people surrounding him, Arthur¡¯s eyes shone with a rare light of seriousness.


    There was no need for words.


    ¡°Mirror clones!¡±


    Nine clones flashed around him before disappearing into the crowd.


    However, before they could even act, a cold voice echoed out¡­


    ¡°Melody of death!¡±


    A massive cloud of evil energy engulfed a great deal of those present.


    Arthur quickly teleported beside the girls before sending his mana into Mia to resist the corruption.


    *Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*


    All Arthur heard was nine whooshing sounds, and immediately after all his clones exploded into silver essence before they could even attack.


    ¡°I might be weak against you, but against your clones¡­¡± Dean didn¡¯t finish his words and instead pointed his scythe at Arthur, his intentions clear.


    Rita grabbed Arthur¡¯s clothes as she looked at him imploringly. However, Arthur patted her head before removing her hand.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! All they have is numbers! They don¡¯t stand a chance against me.¡±


    What he didn¡¯t know is that the thought of teleporting them away at that point which didn¡¯t even cross his mind for a moment will be one of his greatest regrets in life.

 CHAPTER 84: SHOWDOWN

    AN: Sorry, I didn¡¯t post a chapter on Monday. I have been seriously ill since the last weekend. Anyway, I kept my word. This chapter is almost 2k long. Please support the novel by adding it as your favorite. Enjoy!


    ¡°Mirror clones!¡± Arthur summoned his clones once more, but this time he used them to surround Rita and Mia.


    ¡°Absolute defense!¡±


    Seeing that the girls were now temporarily safe, Arthur finally focused his entire attention on Dean.


    During this short while, Dean had also instructed the greater demons on what to do.


    ¡°Keep your distance from him and continue to barrage him with attacks.¡±


    ¡°However do not use your strongest attacks! Once I give a signal, focus your strongest attacks on those girls. Make sure you use all your mana!¡±


    ¡°Rock, you join me. We will both face him in close combat.¡±


    Dean was pulled out of his conversation with Rock.


    ¡°You are now many times stronger but you are still not my match!¡± After saying that, Arthur immediately teleported in front of Dean.


    ¡°Melody of death!¡±


    ¡°Great earth shift!¡±


    The ground shifted below Rock as he was pulled behind Arthur in an instant, his greatsword already smashing down with all his might.


    As for Dean, seeing the punch drawing closer to his face, he knew it was too late to dodge, instead, he slashed the inside of his death scythe blade down with both hands as if he were rotating it.


    If Arthur insisted on going through with this punch, while it would connect first, his hand would immediately be cut after.


    Feeling the attack coming from both his back and front, Arthur sneered.


    His body erupted with silver essence then his fist connected with Dean¡¯s face, knocking his head to the side.


    In the instant the blade of the death scythe touched his arm, as he simultaneously felt the pressure from the closing greatsword, Arthur disappeared.


    He instantly appeared beside Dean¡¯s knocked head, and threw a left punch.


    This time Dean stumbled backward a few feets.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Rock screamed in anger. But before he could continue, Arthur teleported in front of him. However, Rock wasn¡¯t one to be underestimated.


    He was a man with rich combat experience, so when he felt the fluctuations in space in front of him, he slashed his greatsword from the right to the left, as if he wanted to cut Arthur in half.


    Arthur eyes widened as he felt the crushing air from the sword draw closer and without thinking about it, he immediately fell back on his right hand, the greatsword almost touching his nose.


    In that same instant, the evil energy below Dean churned before Dean¡¯s body seemed to merge into it.


    Immediately after, Dean appeared above the still bent Arthur, his body gracefully dancing as the death scythe swirled around him.


    Arthur was just about to teleport behind Rock when he saw the point of the death scythe blade appear before his face.


    His pupils turned into slits, as he knew it was too late to teleport away.


    ¡®Switch!¡¯


    Arthur¡¯s head was cut vertically in half.


    As Dean felt his scythe blade cut into Arthur¡¯s flesh, a satisfied smile started forming on his usual cold face before it stiffened.


    Arthur¡¯s head that was split into two suddenly burst into silver essence, the rest of the body following right after.


    At the same time, the barrier surrounding Rita and Mia broke apart, when it lost one of its anchor.


    Arthur appeared in the position of one of his mirror clones, a thin line of blood falling down from his forehead.


    At that point where he thought he would die, Arthur felt his mind become clearer than ever before, as time seemed to stretch into eternity.


    He felt as if he could touch upon something, so he didn¡¯t hesitate to.


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    Intricately feeling the connection with one of his clones, he immediately wished to switch places.


    Even after having a deep brush with death, Arthur had an excited smile on his face.


    He could still feel that there was something else within his reach, it¡¯s just that no matter how he tried, he couldn¡¯t grasp it.


    On the other hand, Dean had an ugly look on his face.


    If Arthur could seamlessly switch positions with his clones, then the chances of killing him was practically nil.


    The teleportation ability, especially in Arthur¡¯s hands already made him a cockroach, but with this new ability, he just displayed he was no worse than a¡­


    What was worse than a cockroach?


    Dean didn¡¯t know, neither did he have the time to figure it out.


    While Arthur was trying to catch the fleeting feeling of enlightenment almost in his grasp, a rain of attack fell on him from all sides.


    The corrupted civilians finally had the chance to attack.


    Since Arthur was entangled with Dean, they couldn¡¯t attack him, but now?


    Looking at the numerous magical attacks of different kinds tinted with evil energy, Arthur snorted.


    Without even needing the help of his clones, Arthur clapped his hands together as silver essence burst from him.


    ¡°Absolute defense!¡±


    The space around him rippled before sucking all the attacks.


    Immediately after, he teleported causing Rita¡¯s anxious voice to fall on deaf ears.


    ¡°Arthur¡­¡±


    Flashing in front of Dean, Arthur stretched his left hand to Rock who reacted even before he appeared.


    Immediately after, from the space in front of his hand, countless attacks barraged out before enveloping Rock in tumultuous waves.


    Dean used this short moment to regain his bearing and slashed his scythe diagonally.


    Arthur bent downward, his back almost parallel to the ground.


    As he saw the scythe blade pass above him slowly, he glimpsed from the side of his eye, the greater demons around them preparing to attack Rita and Mia.


    In this crawl time, Arthur let out a light breath before a knowing light flashed within his eyes.


    ¡°Finally, I see it!¡±


    While these words served to showcase Arthur¡¯s success in his enlightenment, they hammered hard on Dean¡¯s head as his body continued to move to complete his previous swing.


    Arthur immediately straightened his body when the scythe blade passed over before sitting cross-legged on the ground.


    Immediately, he closed his eyes and clasped his hands together.


    ¡°Spatial lock!¡±


    Space essence erupted from his body and for the first time, Arthur felt almost half of his mana depleted.


    However, it was worth it.


    The result was nothing short of nonsensical.


    Everybody around Arthur, including Dean, the wounded and fallen Rock, the corrupted civilians, and even Rita and Mia became frozen in place, almost as if time was frozen.


    No!


    It was more rapt to say space was frozen.


    They all could think, however, no matter how they tried to move, it all ended futile.


    It was as if the space around them was exerting an overbearing force on them and if they tried to resist it, they would be crushed.


    Dean was also frozen in a posture that seemed like he was about to wing his scythe forward.


    A tired smile lit Arthur¡¯s face, however, the light of excitement in his eyes didn¡¯t diminish at all.


    He let out a light breath and was just about to stand up when something he didn¡¯t expect happened.


    The sound of breaking glass drifted into his ears, causing Arthur¡¯s face to pale like never before.


    ¡­..


    A few minutes ago, Dora sat at the top of a two-story building facing the battle ongoing a few distance away.


    Around her were the bodies of several humans. There were kids, women, and even the old, their entrails all sprawled on the ground.


    She was currently sitting atop a ritual circle, one with several organs at strategic points.


    There was a point littered with tongues of different sizes, some with eyeballs, and some with intestines.


    The entire scene was nothing short of gruesome.


    Clasping her hand, she started chanting.


    ¡°I call upon the arrow devil to grace me with his presence!¡±


    ¡°I call upon the arrow devil to grace me with his presence!¡±


    ¡°I call upon the arrow devil to grace me with his presence!¡±


    The light from the sun seemed to dim down, while the wind seemed to stop blowing.


    Immediately after, from behind Dora, a four-meter tall creature started materializing.


    It had bald head and red skin, while his eyes were crimson red.


    The most distinctive feature would be the two pairs of arms at it¡¯s sides.


    The creature looked down at the little girl for a moment before opening its mouth.


    ¡°Incredible! To think that there is still someone with enough talent in ritual laws to summon me to the mortal plane¡­¡±


    ¡°Little girl, what do you want?¡±


    Dora bowed slightly.


    Ignoring the devil¡¯s first sentence, she went straight to the point as she pointed in the direction of the battle.


    ¡°I need you to kill someone!¡±


    The devil flashed a wicked grin, ¡°Simple¡­¡±


    A massive bow materialized in one of his hand, before three arrows flashed into existence in the other hands each.


    ¡°Who?¡± he demanded as he locked the arrows into the bow.


    Dora was about to describe Arthur, when she suddenly changed her mind.


    She didn¡¯t know who Arthur was, but since he was someone Dean had to carefully plan before facing, then he must be quite strong.


    So after recalling the girls beside him when she saw them in the alley, she described Rita¡¯s appearance.


    As the arrow devil listened to Dora¡¯s description, his eyes seemed to glow before locking on the battle ongoing in the distance.


    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± Seeing all the people frozen in place, a surprised glint flashed in the eyes of the devil.


    However¡­


    ¡°No matter!¡± His eyes immediately became fixed on Rita¡¯s frozen figure before he released his arrows.


    The arrows didn¡¯t make any noise in the air, and instead seemed to vanish.


    A second later¡­.


    *Boooom!*


    *Boooom!*


    *Boooom!*


    A loud explosion rocked the building and if not for the devil that supported her in time, Dora would have fallen on the ground.


    ¡°Wh-what happened?¡± Dora whispered.


    The devil¡¯s voice drifted into her ears at this time¡­


    ¡°It¡¯s a result of the sound barrier breaking!¡±


    Meanwhile on the battle field¡­


    Simultaneously when the sound of breaking glass entered Arthur¡¯s ears, a great battle was  taking place in Dean¡¯s mind.


    ¡®Why?¡¯


    ¡®How can he be so strong?¡¯


    When Dean heard what Arthur said before, he figured that Arthur was improving even while in a battle.


    What kind of monstrous talent was required to accomplish such a thing?


    Dean didn¡¯t know.


    What he did know however is that this person was his life enemy.


    ¡®He must die!¡¯ A crazy light shone in his eyes.


    ¡®I need to kill him!¡¯ he couldn¡¯t allow Arthur to grow. He was starting to fear his talent.


    ¡®Move!¡¯ he bellowed in his mind.


    Immediately when Arthur turned to look in the direction of the sound of the breaking glass, the evil energy within Dean suddenly went still, causing a message to flash before his eyes.


    << You have forcefully unlocked one of the evil god¡¯s core skills! >>

 CHAPTER 85: SORROWFUL OUTCOME

    A crimson arrow with dark markings, a meter and a half long broke into the frozen space, causing the sound of shattering glass to resound.


    However, after reaching a clone''s side, it broke into tiny pieces.


    Even though it broke the frozen space, it had used up all its energy.


    But it did serve its purpose as just a second after, with two whooshing sounds, two similar arrows followed the path it had created, with one tailing the other.


    Arthur¡¯s remaining eight clones instantly flashed in front of the first arrow, however with no resistance whatsoever, it pierced all eight of them causing them to explode into space essence.


    Without delay, it appeared before the terror-stricken Rita, with Mia resting closed eyes in her embrace.


    As if sensing the impending danger, one of the remaining two talismans in Rita¡¯s bosom lit up.


    Immediately after, the first arrow was frozen in front of Rita.


    However, a second later, the second arrow arrived hitting the frozen arrow in the tail.


    While both arrows remained frozen, the last talisman had also been activated.


    Like that, the threat was stopped.


    Rita¡¯s face was pale, her hands sweaty, and her heart was beating so fast she felt it would burst out of her chest.


    This was her second encounter with death, and that too, a few minutes after the first.


    But thankfully, her mother¡¯s talisman had saved her.


    Wait!


    Her mother¡¯s talisman¡­


    Realizing that all the talismans were now used up, Rita¡¯s face turned paper white.


    Now that she didn¡¯t have any form of protection, she started despairing.


    Arthur wasn¡¯t able to save her, and if it wasn¡¯t for her mother, she would have already died twice, no¡­ thrice.


    ¡°Rita!¡± speak of the devil.


    Arthur teleported before her, his face covered in fear.


    Now, Arthur did not intend to remain any longer.


    He didn¡¯t dare to take any more risk, so he stretched out his hands to touch and teleport them away from this damn place.


    However¡­


    *Zing!*


    A loud ringing sound drifted into his ears. Shifting his head slightly, he saw from the side of his eye a pitch-black halo surrounding Dean.


    What caused the ringing sound was the great speed with which the halo was rotating around him.


    With a flash, the rotating halo expanded outward severing all in its path in two.


    Be it the frozen greater demons, or the buildings, all were cut in two horizontally.


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    As the metallic smell of blood started permeating the area, Arthur realized that the halo would reach them before they could teleport away.


    A light of anger shone in Arthur¡¯s eyes and without thinking about it, he turned around and roared at the top of his lung¡­


    ¡°Fuck off!¡±


    With now a little less than ten percent mana remaining in his body, the halo that had slashed the great majority of those present into half, including buildings was frozen in place.


    *Whoosh*


    Hearing that sound, Arthur¡¯s pupils turned into slits and without any hesitation, he stretched his right hand in front of Rita causing the space there to ripple in time to meet an arrow.


    However, something different happened.


    Instead of disappearing into the rippling space, a crimson aura burst out of the arrow, before clashing with the rippling space.


    But the rippling space just sucked the crimson aura. Like this, both attacks were in a standoff.


    Arthur¡¯s face grew pale, as he gritted his teeth.


    His mana was about to deplete completely, and he couldn¡¯t hold out any longer.


    Far on the building, the summoned arrow devil grinned, ¡°You are good, but this arrow is different from the others.¡±


    He snapped his fingers.


    Immediately after, the arrow in front of Rita exploded with great force, causing a massive shockwave to spread out.


    Arthur, Rita with Mia in her embrace were sent flying in different directions.


    The remaining halves of the building around them crumbled into pieces, while the blood that was already flowing on the ground was thrown into the air, causing a cloud of dust and mist of blood to entangle in the area.


    *Cough cough*


    Arthur coughed out mouthfuls of blood, with pieces of his internal organs mixed within.


    Looking at the cloud permeating the area and reducing visibility, Arthur whispered weakly¡­


    ¡°Ri-ta¡­Mia¡­¡±


    *whoosh*


    The cloud beside him parted way for a kick to land on his face.


    Arthur¡¯s body rolled on the ground for a few feet before stopping.


    His mouth was full of blood.


    ¡°Look what we have here.¡±


    Hearing Dean¡¯s voice, Arthur struggled to raise his head in his direction only for his eyes to widen.


    ¡°No! cough cough..¡± choking on his blood, Arthur¡¯s eyes refused to leave Dean¡¯s left hand.


    There, Mia was being held up by her hair; her baby face covered in blood.


    ¡°You seem to care a lot about this girl!¡± Dean said lightly as clutched Mia by the hair tighter.


    Mia¡¯s face scrunched in pain.


    ¡°No! I am the one you want¡­cough¡­leave her.¡±


    ¡°You have a point! Initially, I planned on killing you, but wouldn¡¯t that be making it easy on you?¡±


    ¡°For the grave sin you have committed, you need to be punished accordingly!¡±


    In Dean¡¯s right hand, a scythe materialized, before he brought the blade under Mia¡¯s head.


    Tears started falling down Arthur¡¯s face.


    He didn¡¯t understand what Dean was saying and would have long teleported to save Mia if it wasn¡¯t for his mana which was now depleted.


    ¡°Please¡­I beg you¡­¡±


    Looking at Dean, Arthur pleaded.


    Seeing this. Two lines of tears fell down Mia¡¯s bloodied face.


    From the beginning of Dean¡¯s attack, she had been subjected to so much pain, pain that she had never experienced a bit of in her entire life.


    She looked so pitying at this moment. Looking at Arthur, she said, pleadingly, ¡°Big brother¡­save me¡­¡±


    Seeing the muscle of Dean¡¯s right-hand flex, Arthur screamed in horror as he ran toward them¡­


    ¡°No!¡±


    Dean looked at the fast-approaching Arthur coldly, and without any hesitation he pulled his scythe up, causing a small thud to resound.


    Arthur fell to his knees, his vision entirely clouded in tears, as he looked at Mia¡¯s head which still had that pleading look on her face.


    ¡°Why? Why? Why?...¡±


    As if mad, Arthur crawled on his knees and grabbed Dean¡¯s clothes so tightly that his fingers bore into them drawing blood as they sank in Dean¡¯s flesh.


    However, Dean didn¡¯t hesitate to punch him in the face, causing him to land on his back.


    Sitting atop the crying Arthur, Dean threw punches.


    ¡°You dare to ask me why?¡±


    *Bang*


    ¡°Because of you, I lost my father¡­¡±


    *Bang*


    ¡°Because of you, I lost my family¡­¡±


    *Bang*


    ¡°Lost my kingdom¡­¡±


    *Bang*


    ¡°Mother!¡± Reaching this point, tears streamed down Dean¡¯s face as he glared at Arthur with utmost hatred.


    As the tears cascaded down his bloodied face, Arthur looked at Dean stunned, not knowing how to react.


    It was at this time that a boy¡¯s voice drifted into their ears.


    ¡°Beating heart domain.¡±


    Dean frowned as he heard the loud beating sound of his heart.


    Immediately after, he felt all his mana disappear.


    A sudden feeling of weakness suddenly overcame him, causing him to fall atop Arthur.


    Raising his head slightly, Dean noticed that the cloud blocking his vision had disappeared.


    But for some reason, instead of looking at the dark-skinned boy that caused his current state, his eyes instinctively became fixed on Rita who was standing a bit away from them, her eyes fixed on Mia¡¯s head.


    Looking at the two lines of blood falling slowly down Rita¡¯s eyes, Dean¡¯s heart suddenly became gripped.


    It wasn¡¯t from pity.


    Nor pain.


    It was from fear.


    For some reason, he felt uneasy.


    ¡­..


    Next chapter: Rampage; the dreadful Rita.

 CHAPTER 86: RAMPAGE: THE DREADFUL RITA I

    Ten years ago.


    In a room in the palace.


    The room was decorated with stuffy animals, and it was clear it belonged to a girl and a little girl at that.


    A little girl with golden hair lay on the bed.


    Her little face was adorable, and if it wasn''t for her puffed cheeks and the tear stains that marked her face, she would have looked like a little angel.


    sitting beside her was a woman with similarly golden hair.


    If one should pay attention, one would notice she is like an older and more mature version of the little girl that lay on the bed.


    Her beauty could not be put into words.


    What further accentuated her beauty was that air of confidence that surrounded her.


    Together with her symmetrical look, she looked like an immortal drawn out from a painting.


    Caressing the face of her daughter lovingly, the voice of a man drifted into her ears.


    "She finally slept?"


    Entering the room was a muscular man standing at almost two meters.


    While his body was a bit busted, the long golden hair tied into a bun gave him a manly yet jovial feel.


    Sylvia looked at her husband, and gently replied, "Yes! It took a while for her to fall asleep."


    Stopping for a while, she continued, "How was the rest of the ceremony? Was there any other early awakened?"


    "None noteworthy! Those that awakened were at least five years old."


    The king stood beside Sylvia as he gently caressed her hair.


    Sylvia smiled, as while she continued caressing her daughter''s face, she enjoyed the caresses of her lover.


    "Sylvia, what is going on with Rita?"


    This day was supposed to be one of celebration, as at the age of two, the princess was able to awaken her mana core, yet a heavy cloud of gloominess was over the face of those high up in power due to her awakening.


    Sylvia''s brows creased a bit, as she seemed to be thinking of how to put her thoughts into words, nevertheless the king continued by her side.


    "She has a peak God-tier talent, which is something never seen before. She is just a shy away from reaching your level, yet her powers are so weird..." His words trailed off at the end, and an expression of fear appeared on his face.


    Sylvia glared at him, before removing his hand from her head.


    Realizing his mistake, the King coughed to hide his embarrassment. ''How can you be afraid of your own daughter?'' he berated himself in his mind.


    "She is your daughter!" Sylvia chided.


    Hearing the tone of his wife he couldn''t help but grumble, "I know, but you know her powers are just weird."


    "Hmm..." Thinking deeply, Sylvia looked at her daughter, "I am not sure, but I am at least fifty percent certain that Rita''s laws have touched upon a concept."


    "WHAT!?" The king screamed in shock, "Isn''t that something that can only be used by the legendary gods?"


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    "Yes, it is. While her time laws have indeed touched upon a concept, the concept of life to be exact, it just barely did. But even with that, it made her powers quite..." She wanted to say weird like her husband, but later opted to say, "...mysterious."


    "When she wakes up, I will be taking her to the dungeon to test the limits of her powers."


    The king frowned and wanted to dissuade his wife, as the dungeon was the prison where the most notorious criminals of the kingdom were kept, but after thinking about it for a moment, he decided to trust her.


    However, he still couldn''t help but make clear, "You know she can''t use her powers outside, right?"


    "I know," Sylvia whispered a glint of sorrow flashing briefly in her eyes.


    .....


    Back to the present.


    A massive explosion occurred sending shockwaves into the distance.


    Rita was flung carelessly into the air, and before she knew it, Mia fell out of her embrace.


    However, she didn¡¯t have time to care, as she rolled a bit on the ground colliding with the wall of a crumbled building before stopping.


    *Cough*


    She coughed a mouthful of blood.


    Coughing a few more times, Rita held her head, as she tried to get out of her disoriented state.


    Almost a minute later, she regained her bearing.


    The first thing she noticed was that her veil was no longer on her face.


    Touching her face, she could tell from the blood on her hand that she was seriously injured.


    Wincing a bit, she looked around to see the mist clear off, but when she was Arthur crying and bleeding badly with Dean on top of him, she wanted to shout in horror only for her eyes to catch an object dripping with blood beside the duo, causing the words to die down in her throat.


    Her eyes widened, and she could hear her heart gradually beat slowly yet loudly beside her ears.


    ¡®Mia?¡¯


    The blood streaming down her forehead entered into her eyes and she did nothing to stop them, causing her vision to turn red before two lines of blood fell down her face.


    Dean watched in silence, and for some reason, he didn¡¯t dare to move, as that feeling of uneasiness grew stronger.


    Arthur looked from underneath Dean, and the tears streaming down his face seemed to increase¡­


    ¡®I am sorry!¡¯


    ¡®It¡¯s all my fault.¡¯


    Wale on the other hand was experiencing pain for the first time after using his powers.


    Two things were currently happening in his body.


    First, because Dean was in a state of anger, he could steal all the remaining mana in his body.


    The problem was Dean¡¯s mana wasn¡¯t ordinary.


    Immediately after absorbing Dean''s mana, Wale could feel the dark energy that had appeared in his body actively trying to corrupt him from inside.


    Secondly, for some reason this time, he suffered a backlash when his ability worked on Rita.


    Falling to his knees, Wale coughed a mouthful of blood.


    Rita seeing Mia''s decapitated head first experienced an intense shock before an intense pain hit her.


    It must be known that Rita was an only daughter.


    So while she had only met Mia, for a few days, the cute little girl had already occupied a special place in her heart.


    Tears slowly fell down her face, washing away the blood that had clouded her vision.


    Surprisingly enough, the choking pain she felt gripping her chest soon disappeared and what replaced was immense anger.


    ''How could a person dare to kill such a little girl?''


    ''And by decapitation no less...''


    Gently caressing the bracelet that was on her right wrist, Rita choked in between her sobs...


    "Pandora, stop sealing my power!''


    The bracelet that seemed to have been crafted out from multiple gems lit up slightly.


    Immediately after, Rita could see several threads connected between her and everything around her.


    While the threads connecting her to the inanimate objects appeared dulled, there were four threads shining in a pale golden light.


    "Come!" Tugging at the shining threads, Rita commanded.


    Golden energy flowed from the still-wounded Rock, Dean, Arthur, and finally Wale.


    All those present seemed none the wiser about what was happening.


    All but one person...


    << Warning: Your time is being stolen, causing your life force to be absorbed. Leave the area immediately. >>


    << Warning: Your time is being stolen, causing your life force to be absorbed. Leave the area immediately. >>


    Seeing the message that appeared before him, Dean was stunned.


    Even if he wanted to escape, he couldn''t even move his body after experiencing an abrupt mana deficiency.


    Rita felt the golden energy being absorbed into her mana core.


    This was her innate talent.


    it wasn''t one that increased her power.


    Neither was it one that increased her speed.


    It didn''t make her to be impervious to all attacks either.


    Instead, it allowed her to steal the time of those around her.


    After Sylvia tested her powers ten years ago, they found out that as long as she didn''t absorb too much time at once, no one would know when her power is ever activated.


    Yet their life force would be slowly chipped away until they drop dead.


    That is what made Rita so scary.


    Who would want to stay near a person who could slowly kill them without them ever knowing?


    However, that wasn''t all...


    Sylvia found out that Rita could use the absorbed life force to heal not only herself but any other person she wanted.


    And unlike mages with affinity with life laws that would be restricted due to their mana, Rita could take lives to save whoever she wants.


    In simpler words, she was the greatest healer of all time.

 Chapter 87: The dreadful Rita II

    After a full minute, Arthur, Dean, and Wale''s faces scrunched up in pain.


    A weird feeling enveloped them almost as if they had lost something very important.


    *whoosh*


    A crimson arrow with dark markings, a meter and a half long flashed before Rita ready to blast her into pieces, however, she was able to shift her body slightly causing the arrow to hit her right side instead of her heart.


    Still, her entire right arm, chest, and abdomen were blasted.


    "Rita!" Arthur shouted in horror. After seeing Rita''s internal organs exposed for all to see, Arthur ignored the weird sensation of having his life shortened before shoving Dean aside.


    He had already recovered a bit of his mana in this short time, so he teleported before Rita.


    However, his eyes grew into saucers when he appeared before her.


    Rita''s body had already healed, together with the previous wound on her forehead.


    As in the instant her right side exploded, the life energy that was resting still in her mana core without mixing with her mana automatically surged out, and not even a second later, she was all healed.


    Looking into her eyes, Arthur lowered his head.


    Rita''s eyes were flashing with anger as she gazed at him, and it was evident she didn''t want to have anything to do with him, at least for the moment.


    However, she took a deep breath and pressed down the raging anger welling in her.


    "We need to kill them!"


    Raising his head, Arthur saw Rita looking at Dean with hatred before she turned her head into the distance, "All of them!"


    Immediately after, the golden essence that was leaking from the thread connected to Arthur disappeared and in its place appeared a pale green essence that surged into his body from Rita.


    Arthur''s swollen face recovered while all the broken bones he had sustained were healed up.


    At the same time, on the building far in the distance, the arrow devil flashed a smile as he felt like Rita was looking at him right in the eyes.


    "Interesting!"


    Looking at the Ritual circle below him, he saw a great portion of the sacrificed body parts were already used up, while the rest were disappearing.


    ''At this rate, I only have two minutes more before I lose my anchor into this plane.''


    He wasn''t sure he could kill the girl before that time, as the regeneration she just displayed was one he himself didn''t have. Not to mention that Arthur was now beside her.


    Looking at Dora standing behind him, he spoke, "We have to join the battle.,"


    Before Dora could react, her body was lifted from the ground before becoming a blur.


    Back on the battlefield.


    Arthur was stunned.


    Hearing Rita tell him to kill them was something he never expected.


    He felt deep anger against Dean and while a part of him wanted nothing more than to kill him, the other part was telling him not to.


    However, Rita seemed clear on what she wanted.


    She really wanted all of them dead.


    "Young master!"


    Arthur was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the anxious voice of a girl.


    Turning his head, he saw the previously bullied busty girl approach the fallen Wale and gently rest him on her thighs.


    "Cough...Noa, run..." Wale whispered as he grunted in pain.


    He had yet to deactivate his domain even after suffering a backlash from it.


    His pride wouldn''t bring him to.


    It was at this moment that Arthur''s anxious cry drifted into the duo''s head.


    "Watch out!"


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    Wale''s eyes widened when he saw a tall creature flash behind Noa, a saber already raised high in his hand.


    "Let''s take care of the trash first, shall we?"


    The saber slashed across Noa''s neck, causing Wale to scream in horror, however, nothing happened.


    The creature frowned before shifting his gaze to Rita.


    "How dreadful..."


    A flash of fear appeared in his eyes.


    When his saber cut into her neck, Rita had already sent her life energy through the thread that had connected her with Noa when she appeared.


    When the saber cut through completely, the cut section had already healed.


    Therefore, there was no blood splatter instead only a trickle of blood fell down her pale neck.


    Still, Noa''s face turned pale, as she gasped for breath. She thought she had died.


    Falling on Wale, tears fell down her face.


    Wale quickly drew her into his embrace. Rita had already stopped using her powers on him, and when he saw Noa beheaded, he had subconsciously stopped his domain in his panic.


    He hated himself for being weak in such a situation.


    However, the truth is if he were to face Dean, he would definitely come on top, while with Arthur the outcome couldn''t be known.


    It was just that his powers were being suppressed in one way or another.


    While his domain worked on Dean, Dean''s evil energy isn''t one that could be wielded by just anyone, so he suffered from it.


    As for Rita, she was more talented than him, so his powers were suppressed against her.


    The last time he used his domain on her, it was because she didn''t resist it, that he didn''t suffer a backlash.


    Dora also appeared on the battlefield as she quickly made her way toward the sprawled Dean.


    "Are you okay?"


    Dean shoved her hands aside.


    Raising his body slowly, he could feel his mana returning to him, albeit slowly.


    The arrow devil raised his saber once more to finish the weakling below him, however feeling the space behind him fluctuate, he didn''t hesitate to slash his saber backward.


    Arthur bent his waist, narrowly dodging the saber.


    Since the arrow devil was far taller than him, his hand could only reach his chest.


    Still, without hesitation, he clenched his hand into a fist and threw a punch.


    However, the arrow devil didn''t budge and instead looked down at him with contempt.


    "Was that a punch?"


    Clenching one of his left hands, he threw a massive fist at Arthur, however his attack only hit the air.


    Arthur had already teleported behind him and hurled a palm at his back.


    But the arrow devil ignored it and leisurely swung his saber behind him once more.


    Before Arthur''s palm connected with the arrow devil, a silver essence appeared on it.


    Like a knife cutting through butter, his hand passed through the arrow devil'' back causing a palm-sized hole with green blood to leak from it.


    The arrow devil grunted in pain.


    If he had coated his body in mana, Arthur''s space laws wouldn''t have worked on him.


    His eyes flashed in anger, and he continued swinging his saber, but Arthur had already disappeared from sight once his body turned completely.


    Far on the building, the organs on the ritual circle finally disappeared completely.


    The arrow devil''s body started to phase out from existence.


    Gritting his teeth, he made his decision.


    He knew he would regret it as the little girl might not summon him again into the mortal plane, but he didn''t care at this point.


    ''I will be taking one of your kidneys." he said while looking at Dora who was trying to help Dean up his feet.


    Dora suddenly coughed a mouthful of blood, before falling on her side.


    Her body spasmed for a while before it started trembling slightly.


    However, no one cared about her including Dean.


    Looking at Arthur, he wanted to attack when a message appeared before him once more, albeit slightly different from the last.


    << Twenty years of your life span has been stolen. >>


    Looking at his side, he saw Rita glaring at him.


    "This bitch!"


    A death scythe appeared in his hand before he ran towards her.


    He swung his scythe down intending to decapitate her, however, Rita seemed unfazed as she continued to glare at him.


    Arthur suddenly flashed before her, coating his hand with silver essence before grabbing the blade.


    Dean''s eyes widened slightly when he saw Arthur make a dangerous move.


    However, his eyes flashed with understanding when he saw the blade almost severing his hand, yet stopped.


    Removing his hand, before a shower of blood could even splatter, his hand was all healed.


    Arthur threw a left punch, causing Dean to stumble but before he could follow up the arrow devil flashed before him.


    With four sabers now on each of his hands, he swung them at Arthur.


    Knowing that his replenished mana wasn''t enough for him to freeze space, Arthur gritted his teeth, before diving into the attack.


    Shifting his body, he kneed at the arrow''s devil crotch.


    He was able to evade two of the sabers, however, the other two, each on both sides were able to cut off his arms.


    At the same time, his knee connected.


    The arrow devil eyes bulged, as he stumbled backward.


    The sabers fell on the ground with clanging sounds, before he grabbed his crotch with all four hands.


    Looking forward, he was expecting to see a disabled Arthur, but all he saw was Arthur narrowly dodging Dean''s scythe, before throwing another punch.


    ''It''s that bitch. I will need to kill her first.'' he


    Dean wanted to dodge the punch when his face suddenly turned pale, and a feeling of weakness overwhelmed him.


    A message flashed before him, informing him of the reason.


    << Warning: 50 years of your life span have been stolen.>>


    The arrow devil was also experiencing the same feeling.


    Before Dean could even finish reading the message, Arthur''s fist connected with his face, causing him to stumble to the right.


    Before he could stabilize himself, a left punch landed on the other side of his face causing him to stumble to the left this time.


    The same thing repeated, as Arthur constantly teleported beside Dean before punching out with all his strength.


    He didn''t hold back at all as Mia''s face flashed in his mind.


    Dean''s body was being knocked around, and as the arrow devil was also yet to regain himself, there was no one to help him.


    He didn''t dare to hold back any longer and finally used his trump card.


    As Arthur''s right fist connected with his face once again, the black sphere on his right hand glowed before a specter streaked toward Arthur.


    Caught unaware, the specter entered Arthur''s body.


    When Dean landed on the ground, he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.


    However, Arthur didn''t have it easier either, and instead worse.


    Clutching his head tightly, he screamed out in pain before falling to his knees.


    Rita tried to use her powers on him but to no avail.


    It was at this time that a message flashed before Dean.


    <<A strong presence is approaching. You shall be forcefully teleported in five seconds. >>


    .....


    AN: Thanks to all those who are reading the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 88: ILL KILL THEM ALL

    Immediately when the talisman in Rita''s embrace flashed, Silvia was aware.


    She took off in a hurry, causing the King''s words to fall on deaf ears.


    "What''s wrong..."


    Without bothering to use any teleportation formation, Silvia relied on just her natural speed.


    Her innate trait had a passive side, and with it, her body turned into a golden streak that was far faster than when Arthur used teleportation.


    In less than 30 minutes, Silvia was able to cross a distance of tens of kilometers before a small-sized city appeared in her vision.


    Entering the city, all she saw was chaos.


    She saw people killing each other.


    Stopping for a moment to properly assess the situation, she noticed that those who were attacking had a strange energy about them.


    Not even bothering to think of a proper solution, after seeing the number of deaths increase at a rapid rate, Silvia immediately turned into a golden streak that zig-zagged through the city.


    One moment she was in an area, in another, she had already reached another side of the city.


    A few seconds after she disappeared from an area, heads would roll, before silence ensued.


    In just two minutes, Silvia had already killed all the corrupted people in the city before she made haste to where her daughter was.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    With a golden flash, her body crossed a kilometer in less than a second, and in just three more seconds, she reached the most chaotic area of the city in time to see a black-haired boy enter a dark whirlpool in an enormous dark gate, while he shouted some words.


    Ignoring him for a moment, her eyes locked on a strange creature with two pairs of hands.


    .....


    When the message flashed before Dean, an enormous gate suddenly appeared behind the fallen Dora.


    It was almost as if the system was urging him to take her along, as it would normally forcefully teleport him.


    Without any hesitation, he sprang toward Rock, before sucking him into his death space.


    He then ran toward Dora, and without any regard for her state, he lifted her carelessly before entering stepping into the dark whirlpool that had appeared in the gate.


    Before entering completely, Dean turned toward the screaming Arthur and left behind some words.


    ....


    Arthur clutched his head tightly, as he felt a searing pain.


    It was quite different from any pain he had ever felt till today, which was normal as the specter was a creature that only attacks the soul.


    One thing mages are vulnerable to is soul attacks.


    However, Rita ran towards him and placed her hand on his back.


    Immediately after Arthur felt the pain diminishing bit by bit.


    It was at this time that Dean''s shout drifted into his ears...


    "ARTHUR!!"


    Raising his head, Arthur''s eyes which were red from pain met with Dean''s eyes which were red from anger and hatred.


    "THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!"


    "MARK MY WORDS, I WILL COME AGAIN!"


    "SO LOVE, MAKE NEW FRIENDS, HAVE A FAMILY, AND WAIT."


    "I WILL KILL THEM, I WILL KILL THEM ALL!"


    AN: ^-^


    Looking at Rita that was glaring at him, he spoke his final words, "BITCH! YOU ARE NEXT!"


    A golden light suddenly flashed, before the arrow devil''s head flew into the air.


    In just an instant the golden light flashed before the enormous gate but it was too late as it was already phasing out.


    At the final moment, Dean''s red eyes locked with a pair of serene blue sky eyes on a face hidden by a golden veil.


    With a twin-sai in each hand, Silvia looked forward her thoughts unknown.


    AN: Twin-sai is the type of sword used by Elektra.


    .......


    AN: Sorry guys. I know these are just excuses, but work has been hectic these past few days. The next chapter will be over 2k long to make it up to you guys. And it will also be the last chapter until the story refocuses on Arlo.


    NEXT CHAPTER: Grandma''s tears.

 CHAPTER 89: GRANDMAS TEARS

    AN: This chapter is over 2.5K long. Be sure to add the novel as your favorite, <3.


    Silvia turned back in time to catch a little figure that had jumped toward her.


    "Mother..." Rita burst into tears, as she finally released all the emotions that had been choking her.


    The two twin sais in Silver''s hands disappeared before she gently hugged her daughter.


    Lightly running her hand down her back before repeating it, Silvia looked at Arthur who was still on his knees.


    Now that everything seemed to have settled, the feeling of loss suddenly hit the two little kids again.


    Hearing the murmur within her embrace, Silvia smoothly adjusted her body so she could hear her daughter''s words.


    "...I almost died. And it was three times."


    Hearing this, a glint of anger flashed within Silvia''s sky-blue eyes ever so briefly, but she still listened silently.


    "I-I..."


    "I...Mia..." Not able to form coherent words, Rita broke down completely in tears.


    Silvia looked at her daughter, then at Arthur before shifting her gaze to Wale and his servant who was still in his embrace.


    After that, she calmly evaluated the state of the battlefield.


    Most of the buildings were all crumbled, while those at the farther reach still had their top sliced off.


    Looking at the numerous corpses that littered the ground, and the dried blood that still leaked from them ever so slightly, she whispered, "You both did well by surviving!"


    .....


    After handing the matters to one of the Dukes and the royal army that had arrived some minutes after her, Silvia wanted to take Rita and Arthur back to the palace.


    All she wanted was for the two kids to rest, perhaps that would wipe off the gloomy air around them. However, Rita vehemently refused and demanded for them to make a final stop first.


    Silvia didn''t mind her request, as she planned on staying with her, however, her interest was piqued when she saw Arthur tremble before his face paled when Rita made the demand.


    After learning that Wale was from an ancient family, and a special one at that, Silvia offered for them to be treated at the palace, but Wale politely refused.


    After giving them some aid, Silvia sent them on their way with some escort to protect them until they reached home.


    Until now, she didn''t ask any questions about what happened, and while the duke and the general commander of the Royal army were trying to figure out what happened, Silvia told them off.


    She could see her daughter had taken a hit from the series of events that took place in her absence.


    Until she had regained her composure, at least to an acceptable limit, Silvia wouldn''t allow her to be subjected to anything that could rile her emotions up.


    .....


    Some distance from the city.


    Arthur and Rita stood before a small building.


    Silvia stood some distance behind them, as she watched the two kids continue to stand before the door for several minutes.


    After what looked like an eternity, Arthur slowly raised his hand, his body trembled slightly before he planted a knock on the door.


    The knock was barely audible, but even with that his body deflated as if it had taken all his energy.


    A few seconds later.


    "Yes!"


    A voice resounded from inside the house.


    If the two were in a normal state, they would have noticed the voice didn''t sound elderly at all.


    Instead hearing the voice caused their hearts to be gripped, while their bodies trembled.


    Two lines of tears slowly fell down Rita''s face as she bit down on her lips in order to stop herself from completely breaking down.


    A few moments later.


    The door opened as a middle-aged woman appeared before Rita, Arthur, and Silvia who was standing further away.


    Even with the sides of her eyes slightly wrinkled, the woman appeared to have quite the appearance.


    Together with the kind expression on her face, she seemed lovable and approachable by all.


    With a smile on her face, Dora''s former mum spoke:


    "How may I help you?"


    Looking at Rita''s face, she couldn''t help but feel surprised.


    She thought her previous daughter was the very definition of beautiful but the girl before her shattered those thoughts right away.


    The boy also appeared to be quite the good-looking type, and even though the face of the woman behind was covered by a veil, she could tell from her dressing and bearing that she was no ordinary person.


    So she didn''t dare to slip and instead put on her best approachable expression.


    Arthur looked at the woman before him before asking the first thing that came to his mind, "Where is grandma?"


    The expression on Dora''s former mother froze ever so briefly before she quickly collected herself.


    She had asked the old woman if she had any relatives, but she had said she only lived with her granddaughter.


    So seeing these people were kind of related to her caught her off guard.


    But luckily she was able to compose herself in time.


    While Arthur and Rita were oblivious to what happened, a light frown appeared on Silvia''s face hidden behind the veil.


    Stolen story; please report.


    "She is in the kitchen. Please come inside while I call her for you."


    Arthur and Rita entered the house, however, Silvia remained outside.


    Seeing that she didn''t seem to want to enter, Dora''s former mum closes the door.


    Silvia released her divine sense before covering the entire house with it.


    A human mage could never release their divine sense from their body but she was no ordinary human.


    Dora''s former mother had planned on settling the kids before quickly going to the old woman and giving a mouthful.


    But who would have thought that the kids would just waltz right into the kitchen?


    Arthur was the first to enter the kitchen, and even before entering, he could hear the smooth humming coming from the kitchen.


    Grandma turned back with a bowl in her hand only to see Arthur and Rita walk into the kitchen.


    Her body jolted a bit before she collected herself.


    Using her free hand to pat her chest, she chided:


    "You scared me there." Soon a smile appeared on her face, "You kids took longer than usual. let me guess Mia forced you to play in the city for some time?" She shook her head as she seemed sure of what she said rather than a question.


    Arthur walked with slow steps before he reached her front.


    With a putong he knelt on the ground, his head lowered.


    Without saying anything he remained in that position.


    Baffled, Grandma was just about to ask what was going on when Rita suddenly walked to Arthur''s side.


    While she didn''t go on her knees, her head was similarly lowered.


    "What is going on!?" now really surprised at the two''s behavior, Grandma couldn''t help but ask.


    Not receiving any reply, Grandma suddenly realized something very important.


    So with a quivering voice, she asked, "Where is my granddaughter?"


    To the question, Rita choked sobs resounded out.


    *Crash*


    The bowl fell from her hands causing some of the liquid to spill on the kneeling Arthur.


    Looking at the two kids in front, Grandma asked once again, this time her voice eerily calm yet lowered.


    "Where is Mia?"


    Rita broke completely into tears as she covered her face with her hands, causing the tears to leak from the gaps.


    Clenching his teeth, Arthur choked out with red eyes, "...dead."


    Hearing that response, Grandma was stunned on the spot.


    Her eyes grew dull, and something seemed to have cracked deep within her.


    A second later...


    Two lines of blood fell down her eyes, and looking at the little kids before her, she spoke words the little kids didn''t expect to hear:


    "Help me!"


    A trace of panic appeared on the face of Dora''s former mother.


    She didn''t understand how such a thing was possible but soon later her eyes flashed with resolve.


    Quickly running toward the side, she quickly grabbed a knife before pouncing at the still oblivious kids.


    The front door snapped open before a golden light flashed in the kitchen.


    Soon after, a head flew into the air, splashing blood in all directions.


    Perceiving the metallic smell of blood, both Arthur and Rita raised their heads to see wasps of evil energy being released from Grandma''s body.


    Her face was scrunched up in pain, and a second later, one of her eyeballs popped out.


    The evil energy in her body was wreaking havoc in her body.


    For forcefully revealing herself and going against her master''s will, she was being punished in the gravest way possible.


    She was already condemned to death.


    "Grandma!" Rita screamed in horror.


    She quickly tried to use her powers on her but for the first time ever, her power failed her.


    Coughing a mouthful of black blood, Grandma fell down on her back.


    Looking at the ceiling through her remaining eye, the image of her last relative flashed in her head and lingered.


    "...Mia..."


    All these years, she was already tired of living.


    Her love had left her a long time ago.


    Less than a decade ago, her only son also left her, together with his wife.


    She was tired but held strong for something...


    No, for someone...


    Mia.


    In the end, she also left her.


    Was she cursed?


    Feeling her head being lifted, Grandma was pulled out of her last thoughts.


    She could already feel the evil energy in her body attacking her remaining eye.


    As her vision clouded over, the last thing she saw was Arthur''s pale face, and the tears held forcefully within his eyes.


    "...Live..." She whispered as she lifted her hand to touch his face only for her remaining eyes to pop out, causing her face to scrunch in pain and a groan to escape her pale lips.


    *Crack!*


    A snapping sound echoed loudly in the kitchen, followed by Grandma''s trembling body going still.


    Setting her head straight, Arthur whispered...


    "I am sorry! It''s all my fault."


    A flash of pain flashed within Silvia''s eyes.


    She wanted to give the kids a few moments before sending the elderly woman away as less painfully as possible.


    Little did she expect Arthur to kill her himself.


    She regretted not acting soon enough.


    Arthur looked at his palms silently. This was the first time he took a life.


    Rita fell into Silvia''s embrace and cried her eyes out.


    A few moments later, the image of Dean flashed in her mind causing a thick aura of killing intent to surround her.


    Looking at her daughter, Silvia sighed.


    .....


    Two days later.


    At the Goldsborn palace.


    Silvia approached Arthur who was sitting, looking lost at the flowers that swayed in the wind.


    This was an open space where flowers of beautiful kinds were planted.


    Ever since she brought Arthur into the palace two days ago, he would always come here to spend his time


    Hearing the approaching footsteps, Arthur turned around to see Silvia wearing a red dress that accentuated her figure.


    She didn''t have a veil covering her face.


    Even though he had already seen her face the day before, his eyes still lingered on her visage as he took in the symmetrically crafted face.


    He didn''t know a woman could be so beautiful.


    ''So Rita will also grow to be like her or even more...''


    His heart sped up at the idea of a more stunning version of Silvia.


    "Ouch!" he was pulled out of his thoughts as he rubbed his flicked forehead.


    "What do you think you are looking at?" An amused smile graced Silvia''s face, causing Arthur to turn his head aside not to be mesmerized by her beauty.


    Seeing Arthur turn, a weird glint flashed in her eyes. While it seemed Arthur had reverted to his normal self, she knew that was far from the truth.


    "Have you spoken to Rita?" She asked as she sat beside him on the grassy ground.


    "No..."


    "And why is that?"


    "...she seems to be avoiding me."


    "And you think it''s because she is angry with you?"


    Arthur didn''t respond as that was exactly how he felt.


    "While that might be part of the reason, there is something more important."


    Arthur looked at her once again and couldn''t help but appreciate her beauty.


    Looking forward, Silvia whispered, "You must have seen her powers, right?"


    Not waiting for Arthur to reply, she asked another question, this time looking him right in the eyes, "And are you afraid of her?"


    Arthur seemed genuinely confused as he asked back, "And why would I be?"


    A rare gentle smile lit Silvia''s face.


    Ruffling Arthur''s head against his disgruntlement, she said:


    "I have decided. You are going to be my first and only student. Follow me."


    Looking at her back, a weird sensation filled Arthur''s heart, ''Is this how having a mother feels like?''


    .....


    Standing in front of a massive rack filled with various types of weapons, Arthur appeared to be lost as he listened carefully to Silvia who was standing behind him.


    "After hearing the full report of what happened, I can tell your weakness."


    "While I don''t know your talent level, there is a high chance it is equal to mine, which should be impossible."


    "But that would explain why you are able to use the weak-perceived space laws as a medium of attack and even defense."


    "However, what you greatly lack is a weapon."


    "While the other boy used a scythe, you used your bare hands which placed you at a disadvantage."


    "I want you to choose a weapon carefully because once you do, I will never allow you to change it."


    Arthur stood still for three minutes before he made up his mind.


    Stretching his hand out, he touched a golden spear.


    Silvia smiled, ''You have chosen the path of an emperor...huh?''


    "Swing the spear around and grow a feel for it. Training starts tomorrow."


    As much as she wanted to start the training today, she needed to look into the cases of evil energy appearing in different cities.


    It seemed the destruction Dean had caused was far greater than it looked from the outside.


    But for now, she didn''t want her daughter and Arthur to be involved.


    Seeing Arthur caress the spear, she chuckled before turning around to leave.


    "May I ask about the bracelet on your wrist? I saw Rita wear one too." suddenly Arthur''s voice drifted into her ears.


    Silvia stopped.


    Looking at the rainbow-colored bracelet on her wrist, Silvia smiled, "It is the same bracelet you saw. She returned it yesterday as she has no more need for it. Its name is Pandora and it''s the last gift given to me by my late father..."


    At the end of her words, she had resumed walking.


    What Arthur didn''t know was that the father she was talking about wasn''t her biological father, but a wandering man who had taken her in when she was but a small girl.


    He was the greatest blacksmith to ever live.


    The creator of the only disaster-class weapon...PANDORA.


    However, he died for her sake.


    But that is a story for another time.


    .....


    On the other side of the dark universe.


    Dean stood within the main hall of one of the branches of the adventurers guild.


    Looking at the only available A quest placed on the quest board, a weird glint flashed within his eyes.


    The quest said: Investigate the cause of the recently destroyed cities. A strange energy user who is rumored to be able to corrupt people is involved. Proceed with caution.


    Picking the quest Dean walked to a counter where Dora was already waiting for him.


    A glint of hatred flashed in his eyes.


    "This is only the beginning!"

 CHAPTER 90: ANGRY SCARLETT

    [PRESENT]


    Deep within the northern continent.


    Within a cave in a mountain that seemed to pierce the now crimson sky.


    The cave was dimly lit, but with his resplendent golden hair, Arlo lay comfortably on the comfy bed.


    Suddenly tears streamed down his face before his face scrunched up in pain.


    .....


    The massive mountain was surrounded by highrise buildings that looked like those from medieval times.


    At the very front of the mountain was a huge castle, that fell just short in its grandiose compared to the mountain.


    At the top of the castle, inside a room.


    A meeting was presently ongoing.


    There were eleven people present sitting around a long table.


    At one end of the table, was placed a single seat, while on the other end were placed two seats side by side.


    There were several seats positioned around the sides of the table, and there were currently nine people occupying the seats.


    The other two people were sitting on the two seats placed side by side at one end of the table.


    "My Queen!"


    "My King!"


    The nine stood before bowing their heads towards the two head seats.


    The queen was an older version of Arianne. With her snow-white hair and ruby-like eyes, she was the very representation of charming. She was quite petite in size but was still busty in proportion.


    The white dress that hugged her body was simply a feast for the eyes, yet none of the nine dared to have any thoughts toward her.


    In fact, they were too old for them to care about such things.


    The man on the other hand had cut curly snow-white hair with several black streaks, however, there was a long scar running down his face from just below his left eye, along his nose, and to his right chin.


    Far from making him ugly, the scar gave him some sort of manly charm, which when added to his tall frame made him nothing short of a die-hard for the ladies.


    "Please elders, you don''t have to do these."


    One of the still bowing elders, an old man spoke:


    "Custom and tradition must be kept and as the royal protectors, we must show due respect to our liege''s family."


    The Queen sighed when she saw her words fell on deaf ears.


    The King interjected at this moment, "Please sit down elders. The matter at hand is dire so we mustn''t tarry."


    The elders didn''t respond and simply sat.


    Their respect for the king was league away from that which they had for the queen.


    But that was to be expected, as the king was actually not of royal blood neither was he a noble.


    And if there was a bad side that vampires had, it was their discrimination against those who weren''t of noble blood.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    But they still displayed the respect they should give to a king, at least outwardly.


    Ariel, the queen spoke once again:


    "What is the status at this moment?"


    One of the only three women among the protectors spoke: "Majority of the attacks on the small-sized cities has been curbed."


    "Majority?" Ariel frowned.


    As if sensing her thoughts, the elderly woman continued, "My Liege handled the rest personally."


    A glint of surprise flashed in Ariel''s eyes.


    ''Isn''t Mother still supposed to be with Aunty? After all, it is this time of the year.''


    She was pulled out of all thoughts when a voice resounded from her side.


    "What about my son?" Nathan the king questioned.


    One of the elderly men, with a hunched back, spoke this time, "The prince was able to handle a city on his own, and the casualties on his side were minimal."


    A smile lit Ariel''s face, while a glint of pride flashed in Nathan''s eyes.


    "Of course, he had the support of his team." Another old man added.


    A trace of anger appeared briefly on Nathan''s face but he controlled himself when he felt Ariel''s hand on top of his own that was on the armrest.


    "Humph!"


    A snort resounded in the room.


    Everyone''s expression suddenly changed.


    All the elderly rose before falling to their knees while Nathan quickly stood up.


    Only Ariel remained seated.


    "If you have time to discriminate against my grandson, why didn''t you use it to protect my people?"


    Scarlett appeared in the room as she glared at the kneeling elders.


    "Let me remind you that while I do not interfere in vampire matters, what I will not allow is disunity among my people. Against a common enemy, we all must band together, be it a noble or a common vampire."


    The elders shivered before they voiced out, "Yes, my liege!"


    "Master!" Nathan bowed his head.


    Scarlett frowned before her eyes glowed slightly,


    "Nathan, where were you when your daughter, my granddaughter almost died?"


    Nathan trembled slightly, and he subconsciously lowered his head more. It has been a while since his master ever chastised him, and that too in front of others.


    "Mother..."


    "Silence!"


    Ariel wanted to defend her husband but Scarlett shut her down.


    She didn''t care about the reason, but when she thought about how Arianne would have died if she hadn''t arrived in time, she felt really angry.


    Looking at the kneeling elders, she felt like she was looking at fools.


    They were called her family''s protector yet they weren''t even aware of the dangerous situation her granddaughter was in.


    Even Nathan failed in his responsibilities as a father.


    Shifting her eyes on her daughter, she was just about to give her a mouthful when her expression changed.


    Her senses picked a cry, and she recognized that voice.


    In fact, all the people in the room were able to hear the cry even though it wasn''t that loud not to say it came from far.


    But with their high cultivations and abilities as vampires, they could hear the cry easily.


    "I will take care of it." Scarlett suddenly said before she disappeared.


    Everyone in the room let out deep breaths.


    In fact, the foreheads of the protector were already matted with sweat.


    ''So scary!'' They all thought in common.


    In truth, none of them was at fault.


    As a few days ago, Scarlett herself had told them not to worry about Arianne when she noticed she sneaked out a lot to meet Arlo.


    Besides she didn''t want these elders to be too close to Arlo.


    But they didn''t dare to refute her or defend themselves. After all, she was their primogenitor.


    A thought from her, and they would all be dead.


    As for Nathan, he subconsciously didn''t worry about Arianne as Ariel had told him a couple of hours back, that Scarlett said not to worry about her.


    Not to say that he had used a long-distance formation to teleport to the eastern continent, as they were also attacked. It hadn''t even been thirty minutes since he arrived before he called for the meeting.


    Ariel flashed an apologetic smile at Nathan, but he just grinned in return.


    Of course, he didn''t forget to wipe the sweat that had appeared on his face.


    .....


    Scarlett flashed within the cave she left Arlo in.


    Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Arlo kneeling on the bed and crying while he clutched his chest.


    Flashing beside him, she touched his back and asked in a gentle voice, "What is it!?" However, she didn''t expect Arlo''s reaction.


    Seeing that it was Scarlett, Arlo jumped into her embrace, "Aunty!"


    Scarlett was stunned as she felt the familiarity with which Arlo called her.


    "She...died...why?..."


    "Because of me..."


    Hearing Arlo''s choked sobs, a myriad of expressions flashed on Scarlett''s face.


    Then her face turned green before her eyes glowed deep red.


    Her body trembled from anger before a vast amount of spiritual energy exploded from her body, causing the cave to tremble, followed by the entire mountain, the surrounding buildings and castle, and then the entire city.


    In less than a minute, the whole northern continent quaked in her anger.


    Everyone on the continent was in a state of shock.


    They all looked in the direction of the massive mountain.


    "Our liege..."


    "Mother..."


    "Grandmother..."


    "Master...''


    Back in the cave, Scarlett screamed telepathically:


    ''Old bastard! What have you done?!''


    << ... >>

 Chapter 91: REUNION

    ''I had to.'' The artifact spirit suddenly said.


    ''Shut the fuck up!'' Scarlett cursed at the artifact spirit.


    She lost all semblance of her usual self, as she felt really angry.


    In fact, aside from when her lover died, and the event that happened a few years back, Scarlett had never felt so angry.


    Old bro also didn''t refute her as he would normally do.


    "Aunty...help! I can''t breathe."


    Her anger died down as fast as it came when she felt Arlo''s labored breathing. He was in so much anguish that he found it difficult to breathe. Scarlett could see that what he just learned hit him so hard. She sent her spiritual energy into Arlo''s mind and immediately after; he fell asleep.


    Arlo''s recently awakened divine sense didn''t even get the chance to defend against her invasion.


    And while old bro could have resisted her, he didn''t.


    Deep within Arlo''s consciousness sea...


    An image of Scarlett gradually formed.


    As the vampire primogenitor, if she said she was number two in the quality, quantity, and usage of spiritual energy, no one else would claim to be number one.


    Standing before her was an old man with a long white beard.


    The aura he gave felt divine but Scarlett didn''t care about that, and not even a second after she appeared, she threw out a question as she glared at him:


    "Why?"


    Old sighed.


    He smiled wryly as he looked at Scarlett, "You know I saw him grow from the very moment he came to this world. Do you think I wish to hurt someone I consider my own?"


    Scarlett''s brow furrowed but the anger within her eyes lessened.


    "You still haven''t answered my question."


    "I had to."


    Scarlett eyes glowed, and it seemed she would attack at any moment.


    "It is all that foolish brat''s fault!"


    With the frown on her face deepening, Scarlett questioned:


    "And who is that?"


    " I am talking about Arthur." Old bro sighed in exasperation.


    Gritting her teeth, Scarlett spoke:


    "What did that boy do this time?"


    Instead of answering, Old Bro asked his own question, "Do you remember the agreement I made with you guys a few years ago?"


    "Yes!" Scarlett grimaced as thinking about it brought unwanted memories, "What about it?"


    Old bro sighed once again, "It will be better to show you."


    Waving his hand, just like he did for Arlo, he summoned a screen before Scarlett but this time the screen displayed Arlo''s memories from a bit more than two weeks ago.


    Specifically, from the last night he had with his parents till when he arrived in this world.


    Seeing Arthur''s laid-out plan and his terrible acting skills, the corner of Scarlett''s mouth twitched, and soon after the corner of her eyes followed.


    ''What type of stupid plan was this? Even a fool could figure out that something was amiss.''


    Looking at Arthur and Rita''s current selves, a conflicted glint flashed in Scarlett''s eyes.


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    She regretted the decision she made that time in her anger.


    Old bro dismissed the screen with another wave of his hand.


    "I don''t need to tell you how special Arlo is. It didn''t take him long to figure out that what happened was a farce."


    The frown returned on Scarlett''s face, "So you decided to tell him what happened?"


    "Only a small portion."Old bro corrected before he continued, "Enough to motivate him."


    "What exactly did you show him?"


    "I showed him Arthur''s first clash with Dean and..."


    Stopping for a moment he continued, "A part of the outcome of the last great war."


    "But still, you shouldn''t have..."


    "He was a born a god. He is not like us Scarlett." Old bro''s expression became forceful.


    Taking a deep breath, Scarlett relented, "I understand."


    Sensing movement outside, Scarlett didn''t hesitate to leave Arlo''s consciousness, but not before leaving one sentence behind.


    "Don''t forget our agreement."


    Scarlett opened her eyes in time to see two kids run into the cave.


    "Grandma!"


    "Grandmother!"


    Arianne and a boy who appeared to be around fifteen appeared in Scarlett''s vision.


    A warm smile lit Scarlett''s angry face when she saw the kid''s anxious looks.


    "Grandma, are you alright?" Arianne''s face was pale as she drew closer to Scarlett.


    The young boy on the other hand visibly relaxed when he saw Scarlett was okay before his eyes shifted to Arlo in her embrace.


    A look of interest appeared on his face.


    This was the boy his Grandma used her authority to protect a few weeks back.


    "I''m fine, dear," Scarlett patted Arianne''s head, "I just lost myself there for a second."


    Arianne face visibly relaxed before her eyes shifted toward Arlo.


    Her face suddenly returned to the previous white shade before an anxious shriek escaped her lips:


    "Arlo!"


    Arianne held onto Arlo''s hand as she tried to shake him awake, but Scarlett soon stopped her.


    The boy''s eyes widened as he became dumbfounded.


    Was this still his usual cold and aloof sister?


    The one that doesn''t allow anyone but her family and her one only friend to touch her?


    "Don''t worry, he is fine." Scarlett tried to soothe her granddaughter with a complicated look on her face.


    "But why does he look in pain?"


    "This..." Scarlett didn''t know what to say.


    Looking at Arlo''s pale face, she sighed before looking at her granddaughter.


    "His entire world just collapsed. Arianne, you are the only one that can be there for him."


    A confused look appeared on Arianne''s face, as no matter how she tried to look mature since her encounter with Arlo, she was still a little girl at heart.


    Still, she got the crux of the matter.


    "Of course I will take care of him, he is my friend."


    "Oh! To think my cute little sister has fallen for someone at such a young age." The young boy suddenly interjected.


    Hearing her big brother''s words, Arianne''s face suddenly flushed red, "You-you stop speaking rubbish."


    The boy straightened his face before refuting, "But aren''t you holding hands?"


    Upon being called out, Arianne removed her hand from Arlo''s.


    Looking at the smug look on her brother, she pounced as she tried to bite him, "I hate you!"


    The boy dodged masterfully, causing Arianne to chase him around the cave.


    Looking at the little kid''s mischief, Scarlett shook her head.


    ''Arlo, you can pull through this!''


    .....


    Three hours later, Arlo woke up.


    Throughout this time, Scarlett had not left his side. The kids also kept her company.


    What surprised Scarlett was that after Arlo woke up, he didn''t react differently.


    He returned to his previous self.


    No, he appeared even more calm, while his gaze now seemed more calculating.


    Scarlett was worried but she couldn''t do anything about it. She just decided to watch things unfold, hoping that Arlo''s sudden change wouldn''t affect him.


    Arianne introduced Arlo to her big brother.


    His name was Stefan.


    Just like his father, he had short snow-white hair with several black streaks.


    This showed that his bloodline wasn''t as pure as his sister''s.


    Still, the relationship between the two siblings couldn''t be any closer.


    Arlo and Stefan hit it right off.


    Stefan was interested in Arlo, so he tried his very best to befriend him.


    And while Arlo''s reply always came short, after he found out he was Arianne''s big brother, he loosened up to him.


    Scarlett brought the three to the palace before leaving.


    She still had things to attend to and people to address so she made her way to the previous meeting room.


    Stefan decided to follow her to report the result of his team mission, which Scarlett accepted readily.


    That left Arlo and Arianne alone together.


    The little princess decided to bring Arlo around the castle but not before bringing him to meet someone.


    Entering the dining hall, Arlo saw a kid eating alone on a long dining table.


    Meat and other delicacies were presented before him, while a maid waited at his side.


    The vampire maid occasionally flashed him a look of contempt, as she watched him wolf the food down with no manners.


    Sensing movement, Joe raised his head and upon seeing Arlo and Arianne, he jumped down the chair and ran toward them.


    "Senior brother!" he screamed as tears filled his eyes.


    The corner of Arlo''s mouth twitched.


    ''What happened to me being your junior brother?''


    Joe reached him and gave him a bear hug.


    While Joe was indeed shameless, Arlo admitted he was happy to see him.


    Joe drew away from him before looking at Arianne.


    "Sister-in-law..."


    Arlo''s eyes widened, while Arianne''s face flushed red.


    She glared at Joe, "Didn''t you promise not to call me that again?"


    "Hehe. I forgot..." Joe rubbed the back of his head as he smiled sheepishly before he continued, "...sister-in-law."


    "Ah!" Arianne screamed from frustration before pouncing at him, but the latter had already used Arlo as his shield.


    "Aren''t you a man?"


    "Sister-in-law isn''t too sharp. I''m still ten."


    "Do you want to die?"


    "If you behave like that, my brother won''t accept you."


    Looking at the two, Arlo smiled.


    ''Seems they have become closer.''

 CHAPTER 92: SECOND AUNT: THE WEREWOLF QUEEN

    Arianne brought Arlo and Joe around the castle.


    It seemed Joe indirectly earned a spot in Arianne''s cold heart when he saved her.


    During their time together, Arlo didn''t know the number of times he genuinely laughed.


    Joe would shamelessly tease Arianne but didn''t dare take it too far as he still seemed wary of her.


    Arianne lost count of the number of times she had controlled herself from killing Joe.


    But after saving her life, even though she still considered him weak and cowardly, she couldn''t help but take a bit of liking toward him. Just a bit.


    But that was already enough, as just a few had that privilege.


    Another thing that consoled her was that Arlo seemed to be having fun, so she just gritted her teeth and bore through it.


    Night fell.


    The crimson sun slowly set from the sky. The three quietly watched this scene outside the castle.


    Arianne looked on with a complicated expression.


    This was her manifestation, and it wasn''t complete.


    After entering the Academy, a ritual would be performed for those of age. By then, her manifestation will be completed.


    As Arlo watched the crimson sun slowly disappear, giving way to the darkness once again, he thought of the last image the artifact spirit showed him.


    Clenching his hands into fists, a light of resolve flashed within his eyes.


    ''I will surely bring her back, and not even death can stop me.''


    This little reaction from him drew Arianne out of her thoughts.


    She gently held on to his clenched fist, causing Arlo to relax his hand.


    A gentle smile graced Arlo''s face as he looked at Arianne and whispered, "Thank you."


    Arianne''s cheek became tinged with red upon seeing his gentle smile, so she looked away.


    Feeling Arlo''s gaze still on her, she looked at him only to see that he appeared stunned.


    Her ears slowly became flushed. She appeared a bit flustered.


    Thankfully, Joe saved her at that moment.


    "What are you guys doing?"


    He had been feeling bored all this time.


    What were they doing gazing at the sun?


    Did they think they were old men?


    No! Arianne is a girl.


    He touched his chin before sneaking glances at them from the side of his eye.


    Suddenly he saw them looking at each other.


    ''I smell love in the air.''


    "What are you guys doing?"


    Arianne relaxed when she saw Arlo regain his bearing.


    But that didn''t last long.


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    "Just kiss her already," Joe said as he threw his arm around Arlo''s shoulder.


    Arianne quickly looked away, her heart beating wildly.


    Arlo furrowed his brows as he threw Joe''s arm away, "What nonsense are you spouting? We are kids."


    "So?"


    Looking at Joe''s genuinely confused face, Arlo smacked his lips.


    "Don''t tell me little Arlo down there doesn''t react yet." Joe''s expression turned weird as he looked at Arlo''s crotch.


    "$d#&@%." Arlo couldn''t help but curse. Even his face turned red from shame at being asked such a thing in front of a girl.


    Pouncing on Joe, he shouted, "I''ll kill you."


    But Joe quickly evaded before moving behind Arianne, "Didn''t you say we are still kids? Why are you feeling ashamed?"


    Arlo tried to move around Arianne but Joe quickly shifted her in his direction.


    But who would have thought that upon being touched, Arianne would react and subconsciously send a slap behind her?


    Pa!


    A young body drew an arc in the air before landing on the ground.


    It twitched for a while before going still.


    "I''m sorry...I didn''t mean to." A trace of guilt flashed on her face but quickly disappeared upon hearing Arlo''s voice.


    "Don''t worry, he has thick skin."


    "That''s true." She nodded, finally ignoring the person in question.


    "How about I take you around the capital city?" Arianne asked Arlo.


    Tears welled up in Joe''s eyes, ''Are you really my brother?''


    Before Arlo could reply, Scarlett suddenly appeared before them.


    "Arlo, let''s go greet your second aunt."


    An excited light flashed in Arlo''s eyes.


    "Grandma, can I also follow you? I have not seen Ella for a while."


    Scarlett patted her granddaughter on the head, "I am going to that place. Ella won''t be there."


    "Oh!" she finally relented.


    "Let''s go," Scarlett said, and before Arlo could react, she carried him.


    Joe who had been sneakily looking over even as he lay on the ground suddenly stood up before laughing boisterously.


    He held his stomach with one hand, and pointed at Arlo with the other, "Look at you..."


    Arlo''s face reddened from shame, so he quickly buried his head in Scarlett''s neck.


    Scarlett had an amused smile on her face, but she decided not to tease him too long, so with a flash she disappeared.


    Joe who was still laughing felt an intense gaze and suddenly went silent.


    Turning toward Arianne, he raised his hands before flashing her a helpless smile, "Wait, Arianne. I can explain."


    "Oh, so now you remember my name?"


    "Ah!" Jolted, he turned and bolted away.


    With a sly glint flashing in her eyes, Arianne gave chase.


    ''I can now act freely with him no more around.''


    What she didn''t know was that a distance away, her elder brother was looking at her shell-shocked.


    A few moments later, a warm smile lit his face.


    "Seems you have found good friends."


    .....


    Once again Arlo felt the world flashing by him.


    Less than five minutes later, Scarlett stopped.


    With only darkness appearing around him, Arlo released his divine sense.


    His eyes widened when he noticed they were above a sea.


    The water was still and calm, and with the limit of his divine sense coverage, he couldn''t see far.


    But he still noticed the portal hanging above the sea before them.


    The portal was a whirlpool of chaotic space.


    He tried sending his divine sense into it but failed to.


    Thankfully, he didn''t have to ponder on the issue for long as Scarlett stepped into it.


    He subconsciously closed his eyes, and he felt like he was floating in space.


    However, not even a second later, the feeling disappeared.


    Opening his eyes, Arlo found he was in an entirely new space.


    The sound of waves crashing on the shore drew his vision.


    The sea was milky white mirroring the light from the moon hanging in the sky.


    Raising his head, Arlo could see the sky filled with countless glittering stars.


    Occasionally shooting stars would flash across the sky.


    Looking into the distance, all he could see was chaotic space.


    Turning his head around, it didn''t take him long to realize the entire place was probably a few tens of kilometers in size due to the chaotic space surrounding it.


    "It''s a pocket world."


    Scarlett placed him on the sandy shore.


    A confused look appeared on Arlo''s face and as if knowing what he was thinking about, Arianne continued:


    "It is supposed to be carried around but was forcefully placed here."


    She didn''t clarify who placed it there and Arlo didn''t care.


    Everything in this place seemed unreal.


    "Hey, Little Arl."


    Standing in front of the sea was a petite middle-aged woman.


    Hugged by a purplish dress stressing her busty figure, and her light purple hair blowing from the sea breeze; with the seawater washing ashore and covering her feet, she was like a picture drawn by a divine artist.


    "Second Aunty!" Arlo ran over like a little child.


    At first, the woman had a warm smile on her face before it suddenly stiffened.


    ''Second?''


    A smug smile appeared on Scarlett''s face.


    This was something she told Arlo to say on their way there.


    Arlo jumped into the purple-haired woman''s embrace.


    This woman was a legendary figure.


    One that didn''t lose to Scarlett.


    She was the werewolf''s queen alpha.


    The werewolves were the only lifeforms that could compete with vampires in this world.


    With their two transformation abilities and their natural affinity to two laws, which are lightning laws, an elemental law, and moon laws, an abstruse law, they were a force to be reckoned with.


    .....


    Next chapter: Renewed resolve.

 CHAPTER 93: RENEWED RESOLVE

    Arlo spent almost an entire day with Scarlett and Rebecca, the werewolf''s queen.


    During this time, the two women asked about his life and how his parents fared these past years.


    Arlo similarly had questions to ask. Some were answered, while some were not.


    But he didn''t mind.


    He felt at peace after a long time.


    Ever since he came into this world, he had been encountering problem after problem and never had a moment to rest.


    But this past day relaxed his taut mind.


    The two women sat on the ground, as they watched Arlo stand in front of the sea.


    The seawater would occasionally wash ashore, submerging Arlo''s feet and enveloping him in a cold feeling.


    He enjoyed the feeling.


    Looking at the edge of the sea, Arlo marveled at the sight.


    ''A person strong enough to create such things should no more be in the realm of a mortal.'' A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.


    He watched the moon give way to the sun that slowly rose from the edge of the sea.


    The whole thing looked surreal.


    "Arlo!"


    Hearing Rebecca''s voice, Arlo turned and approached them.


    "Sit."


    Rebecca patted the space between her and Scarlett.


    Arlo sat in between them and enjoyed the natural fragrance from both women.


    Scarlett scent gave a charming feeling while Rebecca''s seemed to give a calming effect like from mother nature.


    "When will you turn eight?" Rebecca asked.


    The emotion on Arlo''s face was ambiguous as he replied, "In about a month."


    "I see..."


    A look of hesitation appeared on Rebecca''s face for she didn''t know whether it was right for her to ask such a question.


    But it seemed Scarlett knew her thoughts and she didn''t hesitate to ask for her.


    "Arlo," she said causing Arlo to look at her.


    "Do you know what will happen when you turn eight?"


    Arlo nodded slowly, "I know the general gist. It seems I will finally awaken my innate trait by then."


    The two women looked at each other briefly, ''Seems they didn''t inform him yet.'' The two silently agreed not to interfere.


    This slight reaction didn''t escape Arlo''s sharp eyes, causing him to go deep in thought for a moment.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t ponder on it too deeply as Scarlett asked him another question:


    "Seems you have broken the suppression on your physical body and can now use Ki?"


    "Yes, I am now a one-star warrior."


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Scarlett and Rebecca suddenly looked at him strangely.


    A bad feeling slowly crept into Arlo''s mind.


    Sure enough.


    "No, you are not. You are simply a Ki refiner and are yet to become a one-star warrior."


    Arlo''s face twisted, ''Did the artifact spirit lie to me?''


    "Let me explain to him." Rebecca suddenly said, to which Scarlett nodded.


    She knew more about warriors than her so she didn''t mind.


    "Do you know that the Ki cultivation is divided into the one-to-twelve star stage?" she started by asking a question.


    Arlo nodded.


    "This twelve stages involves tempering twelve bones."


    ''Huh?'' Arlo was confused but he didn''t interrupt.


    "Each stage involves tempering a bone and after tempering twelve bones in total, you become eligible to become a true astral warrior. Your body will have become strong enough to handle astral energy instead of the much weaker ''Ki''."


    She stopped for a moment to allow Arlo to digest the new information before she continued:


    "When a Ki refiner becomes an astral warrior, they awaken their true form causing them to develop a unique bloodline. This bloodline then slowly strengthens their entire body but because twelve parts had already undergone tempering, they will always be stronger than any other part."


    "So I am yet to become a one-star warrior as I am yet to temper a bone?"


    "Yes," Rebecca affirmed.


    "Then how do I go about it?"


    The air suddenly became tense, while a grave expression appeared on both of the women''s faces.


    Taking a deep breath, Rebecca answered with another question, "Do you know how rare warriors are?"


    Arlo silently nodded again.


    "Even in ancient times, warriors were rare. In a million mages, you might not even find a warrior."


    Arlo was not surprised as Old bro had already informed him of such things. Although he was a bit displeased about the latter withholding information from him.


    Rebecca didn''t know what was going on in Arlo''s head and continued, the grave expression on her face increasing:


    "To refine a bone, you need to break it continuously before healing it with Ki and some supplements. After a while a Ki rune in the form of a star will appear on that bone, showing it has been completely tempered."


    Arlo''s face turned pale.


    Keep destroying a bone until it becomes tempered.


    Can a person even bear that kind of pain?


    No wonder the Artifact spirit didn''t say a thing about the matter.


    Seeing Arlo''s pale face, Scarlett tried to console him, "Ki cultivation is incomparably difficult but the power they get in return is well worth it."


    "The strongest world in the current Dark galaxy is ruled by a group of warriors called Asuras. They were given that title due to their monstrous tenacity and inhumane strength..."


    Scarlett trailed off when she saw her words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Arlo was already in a world of his own.


    The two women didn''t know he had a special physique, but Arlo had an ominous premonition.


    ''It took me so long to become a ki refiner and it was far more painful than normal''


    ''There is a high chance tempering my bones will also be far more difficult than usual.''


    ''Besides, would tempering just twelve bones be truly enough for me to become an astral warrior.''


    A feeling of despair welled up within him.


    He could still remember the pain he felt when breaking through.


    He had barely managed to bear through the pain.


    What about now?


    Old bro''s voice suddenly resounded in his mind for the first time since he woke up.


    << Is this all your resolve amount to? Pathetic! >>


    ''That''s right.''


    He remembered the last thing old bro showed him.


    To think he almost broke down just because he had to bear some pain.


    Then how was he supposed to bring her back?


    He clenched his hands into fists.


    At the same time that his mind was in turmoil, a cold voice resounded in Scarlett and Rebecca''s mind directly:


    << That is enough! >>


    Rebecca harrumphed as a look of anger appeared on her face.


    Old bro ignored her and continued speaking with Scarlett.


    << He has already stayed two days with you per our agreement. >>


    Scarlett kept silent her thoughts unknown.


    Not receiving a response, Old bro was displeased but he still stopped sending his spiritual energy out.


    The two ladies'' attention was attracted, "Aunties, how can I start tempering my bones?"


    A look of guilt flashed in both women''s eyes.


    They were legendary figures, yet they couldn''t assist him in any way.


    Anything that has to do with the realm of the gods was far from their reach.


    They were yet to even reach the peak of mortal cultivation due to the declining mana in their universe.


    Arlo was all on his own.


    Rebecca hugged Arlo, while Scarlett''s words drifted into his ears.


    "I will be sending you to the Darkblood Academy a few hours from now."


    "After entering the Academy, I advise you to make heading into the library your priority. You will find whatever information you need there. You should also take that opportunity to learn more about the vampire society. It will make living here far easier."


    Arlo melted into Rebecca''s embrace, as he enjoyed the soft cushioning of her massive chest.


    He didn''t have any perverted thoughts. He simply felt safe.


    It seemed his journey ahead was full of difficult paths.


    But he would pull through it.


    His closed eyes opened before flashing with renewed resolve.


    *****


    AN: Expect another chapter later in the day. Don''t forget to rate the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 94: TO THE ACADEMY

    Scarlett and Arlo flashed before the castle at the center of the capital city, Nightingale.


    She put Arlo down before patting him on the head, "I will come back for you in a couple of hours. Quickly make your preparations."


    Arlo hesitated before asking, "Can I take Joe with me?"


    Even though he knew he would be at Scarlett''s resting abode, he still didn''t feel at rest leaving him with vampires.


    Scarlett gave him an amused smile, "Someone already asked before you."


    Arlo was dumbfounded before realization dawned on him.


    ''Arianne?''


    At this time, the front gate to the tall castle suddenly flung open before Joe ran out.


    "Arlo! Save me!"


    Arlo turned around and saw Joe run toward him.


    The corner of his mouth twitched when he saw Joe look like a pig.


    That is right.


    His head was swollen like a pig''s head.


    It must be known that Joe was a magical beast and not an ordinary one at that.


    So his physical body was strong.


    ''For him to be beaten to that point...'' Arlo shivered.


    Joe jumped into Arlo''s embrace, but because he was a head taller than the latter, he had to kneel.


    His snort drenched Arlo''s clothes.


    Arlo''s eyes twitched upon seeing how familiar this situation was.


    It was like when they first met.


    "You must avenge me!" Joe suddenly said.


    Arlo looked down to see his eyes that had swollen into small gaps.


    Rising to allow his mouth to reach Arlo''s ears, Joe whispered, his voice laced with fear:


    "She is a demon."


    *Tap.*


    *Tap.*


    The sound of footsteps resounded from behind him causing Joe''s body to stiffen.


    Turning his head slowly like a robot, Joe saw Arianne walk out of the castle with slow but graceful steps.


    "Did you just call me a demon?"


    Seeing the calm way Arianne asked such a question, Arlo couldn''t help but re-evaluate the little princess.


    ''So scary.''


    Turning around, he noticed Scarlett had already disappeared at some point.


    .....


    While the castle was huge, only a few lived in it.


    The King, Queen, Arianne, and her brother.


    Only when there was a meeting or an important occasion would visitors come.


    The three little kids had almost the entire castle to themselves.


    The maids and servants they encountered at all times treated them with respect.


    Arlo wasn''t sure whether it was because Scarlett ordered it or because Arianne was with them.


    What left him a bit disappointed was that he had yet to meet the king and Queen.


    After playing around for almost four hours, Arlo was beginning to wonder when Scarlett would come to take them.


    What surprised him was after a few minutes someone did come to take them, but it wasn''t Scarlett.


    It was Arianne''s elder brother.


    "Hello. I am Arianne''s elegant elder brother, Stefan. It is nice to meet you."


    While he had already met Arlo, the same couldn''t be said for Joe.


    Looking at his outstretched hand, Joe shook it after a moment of disbelief, "I can''t believe you are the demon''s brother. Truly, blood works in mysterious ways."


    Arianne''s elder brother strangely looked at him.


    To think he was still standing after making such a comment.


    Looking to the side from the corner of his eye, he could see Arianne glaring at him but she made no effort to reprimand him.


    Thankfully, Arlo tried to diffuse the situation,


    "When are we going?"


    "Right now."


    "I trust you are all prepared."


    "Yes." the trio exclaimed in unison.


    Well, Arlo and Joe didn''t really have anything to prepare. They were in a foreign land, and they had nothing to bring with them.


    "Let''s go then."


    A carriage left the castle.


    In the carriage sat Arlo, Joe, Arianne, and Stefan, Arianne''s brother.


    Arlo finally got to see the capital city of the vampires through the window.


    The streets were lined up with tall buildings.


    There were numerous shops and stalls and the streets were bustling.


    But the surprising thing was that the place was quiet.


    Eerily quiet in fact.


    Apart from the sounds of muffled footsteps and the moving carriages, no voices could be heard.


    Feeling the constant spiritual fluctuations in the air, Arlo figured out the vampires were communicating using their spiritual energy.


    The journey took hours.


    They had already left the capital city and were in an endless plain.


    Suddenly a massive portal appeared in the middle of the endless plain.


    The carriage stopped in front of it.


    Arlo and the rest came down from the carriage.


    Within the portal was nothing but chaotic space. Sitting in front of the portal was an old man.


    He had white hair and a beard. His beard was plaited and reached his upper chest.


    The old man seemed to be immersed in a book, and beside him was a table on which was a teapot and cup.


    "Greetings, Elder." Stefan approached the old man and bowed respectfully.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation."Young prince, I have told you there is no need for such pleasantries."


    Stefan remained bowing. This was one of the few elders who treated him with no contempt for his impure bloodline, so he respected him.


    "These are?" The elder looked behind Stefan.


    Stefan straightened his body, "They are here to enroll in the Academy."


    The Elder scrutinized Joe before his gaze fell on Arlo.


    A strange light flashed within his eyes briefly.


    Looking away, he nodded respectfully at Arianne, "Princess."


    "Greetings, Elder." Arianne also bowed upon seeing her brother''s respectful attitude.


    A smile of satisfaction flashed on the old man''s face.


    Waving his hand, some unknown stones fell into a square-shaped hole a few distance at his side.


    Immediately the ground around them lit up.


    Arlo marvelled at the strange runes that flashed brightly on the ground forming a massive rectangular formation with the portal at the center.


    Immediately after, the chaotic space within the portal suddenly twirled before forming a whirlpool.


    "You are in luck. The first year''s classes will be starting tomorrow." he waved them toward the portal.


    Stefan thanked the old man, before taking Arlo, Joe, and Arianne into the portal.


    Arlo felt the space around him distort for just a second before everything returned to normal.


    Opening his eyes, he found himself in a dark hall.


    "Oh! I am surprised you didn''t throw up." Stefan''s voice attracted him.


    Looking at Arianne and Joe, he noticed there was no change in their expression too.


    "Why would I?"


    Joe and Arianne looked at him strangely.


    Arianne was a princess so she was familiar with Teleportation formations.


    The same could be said for Joe. He was previously a royal beast, so he wasn''t ignorant of such things.


    But what about Arlo?


    "No matter." Stefan waved the matter away as the sounds of footsteps approached them.


    "Oh! If it isn''t Stefan?"


    "Argon!" Stefan said calmly.


    "Are they new freshmen?" he asked as he looked at Arlo and the others.


    "Yes!"


    "Okay, you can go. No need to go through the process."


    "Thank you," Stefan said gratefully. He didn''t want to waste his time on unnecessary checkups.


    But these were the rules of the academy.


    Thankfully, the student supervising the formation this time was an acquaintance.


    Arlo and the other followed behind Stefan and eventually, they walked out of the hall.


    Seeing the outside world, Arlo''s eyes widened like saucers as his mouth stretched open.


    Who could blame him?


    This world was completely different from the northern continent.


    There was a scorching sun up in the sky, while the sky was its usual blue.


    Looking around him, Arlo saw several huge buildings, especially one ten floors high some distance in front of him.


    Surrounding the building were other smaller buildings, but they were all big in their rights.


    "Welcome to the southern region of the Darkblood Academy," Stefan said.


    A look of appreciation also appeared on Arianne''s face.


    This wasn''t her first time here, but she still couldn''t help but marvel at how grand the academy was.


    Standing high some distance away behind them were high-rise walls that rose hundreds of meters into the air.


    The wall surrounded the whole academy which stretched for tens of miles into the distance.


    Even with the height of the walls, Arlo could see the massive trees that rose into the sky.


    The academy seemed to be surrounded by a forest and beyond the forest were high-rise mountains.


    *Roar!*


    *Roar!*


    The roars of beasts echoed from deep within the forest but Arlo noticed those around them walking with no care for them.


    It didn''t take him long to find out why.


    The whole academy seemed to be protected by a hemispherical barrier that covered the sky and stretched far into the distance.


    It would seem that there were two layers of defense.


    The barrier first and then the wall.


    Arlo finally regained his composure.


    "Awesome, right?" Stefan asked with a chuckle.


    "How are you able to walk under the sun? I thought you would be affected."


    "Haha. The sun doesn''t really affect us. It just makes us uncomfortable, like several ants crawling on our bodies. The older vampires have already learned to adapt to it but we young ones are yet too. So the academy programmed this minor world to follow the normal human world system so we can train and adapt."


    Arlo nodded in understanding.


    Seemed the northern continent was just dark for preference not because it was a need.


    Looking around him, Arlo''s eyes flashed with excitement.


    ''This is where I will be till I awaken.''


    "Time to introduce you guys to the Principal of the first year."


    .....


    AN: Sorry the chapter came later than expected. The rest of this volume will be centered on Arlo. I would love to know your honest opinions about the story so far. Thanks.

 CHAPTER 95: SETTLING IN

    AN: Sorry for the late update. Expect a new chapter in a couple of hours. Happy reading!


    The building was highly luxurious, with a high-class and sophisticated exterior that immediately conveyed a sense of extravagance. One glance was enough to tell it was an upscale place.


    Stefan took Arlo, Joe, and Arianne into the main academy building.


    He took them directly to an office located at the top of the building.


    Before he could knock on the door, a calm voice came from within, already expecting their arrival.


    "Come inside!"


    Stefan opened the door and entered before Arlo, and the rest followed.


    The office was quite grand.


    Behind a desk at the end of the room sat a middle-aged man with a piercing gaze.


    "Greetings, Principal." Stefan greeted.


    This man was the principal of the first year.


    A look of contempt flashed within the principal''s eyes before he ignored Stefan altogether.


    A trace of disgust soon appeared on his face when his eyes fell on Joe, and he didn''t bother to mask it.


    With a humph, he shifted his gaze to Arlo. A positive light finally flashed within his eyes.


    He looked at Arlo with interest.


    After a short while, he looked at the last person in the room, Arianne.


    Arianne was glaring at him with a fiery look on her face, but he didn''t seem to mind.


    Nodding respectfully, he greeted, "Princess."


    Arianne harrumphed before shifting her gaze away.


    Arlo chuckled inwardly at her childish antics, while Stefan smiled wryly before shaking his head ever so slightly.


    Before a feeling of anger could sprout within him, the principal suppressed it forcefully.


    Unlike Stefan, Arianne could suppress him with her bloodline, even with the vast difference in their cultivation.


    Of course, she wouldn''t dare to.


    No matter what, he was a person of high status, so she had to give him face.


    That, of course, was if he didn''t cross the line.


    He threw three keys in the air.


    Arlo, Joe, and Arianne each caught a key that flew at them.


    "Where you will be staying has been arranged. I advise you to settle in quickly, for I will call a short gathering this evening to introduce you to the other students."


    "The living quarter of the boys is a few distance southeast from here. As for Her Highness, I have already arranged for someone to lead you to your dorm."


    With that, he lowered his head and focused his attention on the documents on his table.


    Stefan took that as a queue to leave.


    Bowing slightly, he turned around and motioned for the others to follow.


    Immediately when they left the office, Arianne grumbled:


    "Why are you even being respectful toward him? You are higher in status."


    Stefan smiled lightly, "It is to train my mind."


    A perplexed look appeared on Arianne''s face causing Stefan to chuckle.


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    Arlo trembled slightly behind. His gaze toward Stefan became more respectful and his evaluation of him rose.


    ''He doesn''t depend on his status.''


    Leaving the main building, they saw a girl of about Arianne''s age waiting outside.


    "It must be the girl he spoke about." the quiet Joe spoke.


    "I guess this is it. We will meet again soon." Stefan smiled.


    "Thank you." Arlo and Joe thanked him. They felt grateful. As a prince, he went out of his way to guide them into the Academy. That was truly humble of him.


    Stefan waved them off before patting Arianne on the head, "Take care, little sis."


    "Hmm." Arianne nodded.


    With that, he left.


    "I will be heading off too," Arianne said before approaching the girl who had been waiting for her.


    Arlo and Joe saw the girl bowing to her, and after a few exchanges of words, they left.


    "Guess we are on our own," Joe said.


    Looking up at the sky, Arlo could tell it was late afternoon. It would soon be evening.


    "Let''s go!"


    .....


    It didn''t take Arlo and Joe long to find their dorm.


    The main academy building was surrounded by several smaller buildings.


    After walking southeast and asking for directions, they stopped in front of a building.


    The building was four stories high, and at its opposite ends were long winding stairs that led upstairs.


    The building was quite wide, with several doors lining the first floor.


    Looking above the first door, they both saw a massive 1A.


    A few meters away, was another door, with the writing 1B above it.


    Coincidentally, Arlo had the key 1A while Joe had the key 1M.


    Arlo guessed the rooms on the first floor should reach 1Z.


    This goes to show how wide each floor was, and how massive their dormitory is.


    He brought out his key, before opening the door.


    The room was brightly lit.


    There was a large comfy bed at one side, large enough for two.


    There was a door which led to a bathroom.


    "Whoa!" An exclamation resounded from the previous room.


    Returning back, Arlo saw Joe donning one of the uniforms that had been arranged on a rack in the room.


    He had seen those uniforms before and he could tell they were bigger than him.


    Now somehow it seemed to fit Joe perfectly, which shouldn''t have been possible considering Joe wasn''t much bigger than him in size.


    "I just decided to try them. Once I did, the uniform suddenly shrunk to accommodate my size. It was quite astonishing.


    Oh!" Arlo approached him to have a closer look.


    The uniform was a tight tight-fitting light-black shirt and a black trouser.


    There were streaks of snow-white vertical lines running down the shirt.


    Arlo honestly felt the uniform made Joe appear more good-looking.


    "It seems like I can send my mana into the uniform."


    "I see." Arlo nodded calmly. "It''s just as I thought. This is no ordinary uniform. It was made by a fashion designer." A look of admiration appeared on his face.


    While fashion designers are less popular than apothecaries, Blacksmiths, and formation masters, the former was still highly respected.


    They could create clothes of various qualities; ones with durability to increase defense, ones with resistance to a specific element among many others.


    The fat woman back in his home village was one such fashion designer.


    And she was a high-level one at that.


    Seeing the uniform glow with a black color, Arlo could tell its unique property.


    "Seems the uniform can be automatically washed by sending mana into it."


    "How ingenious." Joe praised.


    Soon after a look of hesitation appeared on his face.


    "You can stay with me." Arlo smiled.


    Joe was stunned upon having his thoughts exposed.


    "Thank you." His body visibly relaxed.


    The truth was, he was scared.


    This was an academy for vampires and if it wasn''t for wanting to be with Arlo, he wouldn''t have dared to come.


    But still, he was scared of being alone.


    Seeing that Arlo had his well-being in mind, a warm smile lit his face before he gave the latter a bear hug.


    Arlo didn''t reject him and was about to reciprocate when his expression suddenly changed.


    "F*ck!"


    Joe''s hands were grabbing his rear.


    .....


    Three hours soon passed.


    A crescent moon hung high in the sky illuminating the night with its beautiful light.


    A bell rang twice in the first year region.


    In the boy''s dormitory.


    The door of room A1 suddenly swung open before a young dark-haired boy suddenly walked out.


    With his unique whitish eyes, he was nothing short of a homme fatale for the young girls.


    Following behind him was another boy who seemed younger than the former.


    The boy had shoulder-length golden hair and silver eyes.


    While his looks certainly didn''t pale to the former, what drew people''s attention was the aura of confidence around him.


    Fitted in a black shirt and uniform, Arlo''s natural charm seemed to have been magnified.


    They had both gone to Joe''s room to take his own set of uniforms. While the uniform could be kept clean at all times with mana, it wouldn''t hurt to have more in hand.


    There were other boys leaving the dorm, and the majority of them couldn''t help but give the duo several glances.


    "Let''s go!"


    Arlo overtook Joe and led the way.


    While they didn''t know where the gathering would be held, it didn''t take a genius to understand that all they had to do was follow the crowd.


    Joe raised his head high and puffed out his nonexistent chest when he noticed the gazes on himself.


    Arlo on the other hand remained ever so calm.


    He didn''t seem to care about such things.


    What Arlo realized and Joe didn''t was that the attention they were garnering was mainly due to them not being vampires.


    The vampires had an extraordinarily sharp nose, so their scent stood out like an eyesore among the group of young vampires.


    Not to say that as vampires the other kids were naturally handsome.


    In fact, there were some that could evenly match them in looks, while a select few looked arguably better.


    Soon after, a dome-shaped building appeared before the duo.


    Entering the building were not only boys but also girls.


    Without hesitation, they stepped into the building.


    The duo seemed to have entered a massive hall.


    In the hall were several tens of students.


    They all couldn''t help but simultaneously look at the duo almost in planned unison.

 CHAPTER 96: THE NEW ORDER

    "Who are those two?" A student asked.


    "Rather than who they are, I think the more apt question is what are they?"


    Several discussions started among the students when Arlo and Joe entered the hall.


    While Joe became a bit flustered, Arlo remained calm before looking around the hall.


    He saw five students standing alone with no other student daring to approach them.


    Just from their auras, he could tell they were outstanding compared to others.


    But he didn''t care, his gaze merely lingering a while longer on them.


    After finding an unoccupied area, he walked there calmly, with Joe tagging behind him.


    Once he was there, he silently observed the students.


    He noticed that there was a slight difference between the other student''s uniforms and his and Joe''s own.


    The other students seem to have emblems attached to the chest area of their uniforms.


    But he soon noticed the emblems were of different designs.


    Thinking about it for a moment, he soon deduced it had something to do with factions or their family background.


    Of course, the girl''s uniforms were different from the boys.


    It was a dark dress with several complex designs.


    "Huh! Isn''t he that human!"


    A student suddenly exclaimed, drawing everyone''s attention.


    He grew scared for a moment before he seemed to gather enough courage:


    "Isn''t he the boy our liege warned us about a few weeks ago?"


    "Huh!"


    Sure enough, the students gasped upon recognizing Arlo.


    He was indeed the boy they were warned about.


    They didn''t recognize him immediately, as Arlo seemed to have changed.


    While there was no difference in his outside appearance, his entire bearing was unlike a few weeks ago.


    He exuded confidence and added to his calm appearance, it didn''t feel like they were looking at an eight-year-old.


    "And who is the boy behind him?"


    Joe shrunk his neck further, as he drew closer to Arlo.


    The discussion continued.


    While some conversed with their spiritual sense, some opted to converse verbally but Arlo didn''t care about them.


    Students were still walking into the hall so he studied them since he had nothing better to do.


    Soon after, an imperceptible glint flashed past his eyes.


    Entering the hall were five students among which were two he recognized.


    They were Bon and Judi, Tibu''s kids.


    Arlo deduced from the atmosphere around the group and the lack of attention they drew, that they didn''t seem to rank high among the students.


    And to think he had been placed in such a dangerous position by them just some days ago?


    How laughable.


    The group blended normally into the students before they discussed among themselves.


    A commotion suddenly rang out.


    "What is Ric doing?"


    One of the five students who had been standing arrogantly with an entire area to himself suddenly walked toward Arlo.


    He had short dark hair with white streaks.


    Standing at one and a half meters tall, he had the biggest build among all the students.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The uniform also did a splendid job of highlighting all of his muscles.


    Arlo looked at him calmly. He had noticed the boy among the students standing alone in the hall.


    "Who the hell are you?" Ric looked down at Arlo.


    Looking up, Arlo locked eyes with him but remained quiet.


    Upon receiving no reply, Ric''s brows furrowed, "Are you deaf?"


    He released his aura as he tried to intimidate Arlo but Arlo continued to look at him impassively.


    Joe behind him was having a hard time.


    His body trembled from the pressure released by Ric''s aura but he gritted his teeth and stopped himself from stepping back.


    ''I can''t fall behind him too much if not how can I remain as his friend?'' he thought as he looked at Arlo''s small yet firm back.


    A calm voice suddenly drifted into everyone''s ears.


    "What do you think you are doing?"


    Arianne questioned immediately when she entered the hall.


    There were two other girls following behind her.


    Nobody saw her enter as they had their entire attention on Arlo and Ric.


    Ric turned around in anger as he was about to roar in annoyance at the person who dared to interfere in his matter, but upon seeing Arianne approach, his anger disappeared as if it had never existed.


    "Your Highness!" he bowed his head.


    "Your Highness!" Every other student followed.


    Even the other four outstanding students who had remained quiet all this while were no exception.


    Placing her hands on her waist, Arianne looked at the tall Ric and reprimanded:


    "How dare you ask my friend who he is? And who the hell are you?"


    Ric''s face twitched but he didn''t dare to flare up.


    Arianne was about to continue when Arlo suddenly chuckled, "No need to bicker with kids."


    Arianne turned and looked speechless at him, ''Aren''t you a kid?''


    Ric narrowed his eyes at Arlo, an angry light flashing within. But the latter ignored him.


    He harrumphed before walking away.


    All those on his path made way when they saw the displeased look on his face.


    Arianne was about to continue talking when she saw Arlo look at the girls behind her, his intentions clear.


    Turning around, Arianne shooed them away, "You can leave now!"


    "But Your Highness, we..." One of them tried to voice out her dissent but upon seeing the annoyed look on Arianne''s face, she swallowed the rest of her words.


    "Let''s go," she said to the other.


    "Who does that boy think he is?" the other girl questioned in anger, not bothering to lower her voice as they walked away.


    Arianne was about to flare up when Arlo patted her on the shoulder, "It is nothing." He smiled calmly


    He didn''t put the girl''s words in his eyes.


    It must remembered that Arlo grew up with no friends.


    So just because he now had Arianne and Joe doesn''t mean he has changed.


    Joe finally relaxed when the others left.


    "Princess!" he nodded at Arianne.


    She rolled her eyes back at him when she saw his previous scared expression disappear, ''Scaredy cat!''


    It must be made known that Bon and Judi have been stealing glances at Arlo and Joe since the previous commotion.


    Five minutes later, no other student entered the hall.


    The students numbered less than 200 making Arlo confused.


    But before he could ask Arianne, some figures flashed into the hall.


    Standing on the podium in the hall were five figures; three men and two women.


    Standing at the forefront of the group was a middle-aged man.


    Arlo''s group recognized him as the principal.


    The hall suddenly fell silent.


    The principal looked around and nodded when he noticed he had the student''s attention:


    "We already had a gathering this morning but I decided to call another because of two reasons." he looked in Arlo''s direction.


    "Your Highness, can you please come forward?"


    Arianne walked out indifferently upon being called.


    Standing beside the principal, she looked at the other students.


    There were various emotions on their faces.


    Reverance


    Respect.


    Fear.


    Admiration.


    Disgruntlement.


    Annoyance.


    The last two emotions were shown by the two girls she had chased away and Ric respectively.


    She ignored the two girls, one of them was the girl the principal arranged to guide her while the other was her friend.


    So she didn''t care about them.


    As for Ric, she looked down on him. If he didn''t know his place, she didn''t mind teaching a lesson.


    "This is Omars Arianne, the princess. She will be joining you guys. Be sure to treat her with care." the principal introduced briefly.


    But the truth is there was no need to. Every noble vampire knew of her existence, only a few plebians had no idea who she was.


    Now that they do, their gazes turned respectful.


    "As for the other two..." the principal stopped for a moment as he looked at Arlo and Joe, "They are not important."


    "What the hell are you doing?" Arianne suddenly shouted from the side.


    She really felt the principal was hateful.


    Even Joe gritted his teeth in anger upon being dismissed like nothing.


    Only Arlo remained the same, unperturbed as he looked at the principal.


    A smile of derision appeared on Ric''s face as he looked at Arlo.


    ''Keep acting cool, idiot!''


    "I think it is time I announced the other matter." The principal suddenly smiled at Arianne.


    Arianne had a bad feeling but the principal continued without care:


    "By order of our liege, progenitor Scarlett, Princess Arianne shall be stripped of her status as royalty until she graduates from the academy. From now henceforth she is only a student of the Drakblood academy and should be treated as one."


    "Impossible!" Arianne roared.


    Even all the students had looks of disbelief on their faces, including Ric.


    "It is not impossible." the principal said calmly before taking out a blood-red seal.


    Seeing the seal, Arianne''s face paled.


    This seal represented her grandmother and it could never be used lightly.


    It is only used when Scarlett doesn''t wish to pass out an order in person.


    ''Grandma, why?'' Arianne''s emotions were in turmoil.


    A myriad of emotions flashed on the student''s faces.


    But there were a few who had gloating looks. Among them was the huge Ric.


    ''This is turning interesting.''


    The principal ignored the stunned Arianne and addressed the students.


    "I have already introduced your teachers to you this morning." he pointed at the five figures behind him.


    "As for those who aren''t familiar with them, they will introduce themselves again when lessons start tomorrow."


    "Don''t forget, every weekend, there will be a ranking war where the students are required to fight it out. The top ten will be given certain rewards and privileges, so try to do your best."


    "The awakening ceremony will be held in a week''s time, so get ready."


    "That is all, you are dismissed."


    Before the students could even react and leave as told, the principal and teachers disappeared, leaving the still-stunned Arianne alone on the podium.

 CHAPTER 97:AETHER

    The students left the hall after throwing glances at Arianne, Arlo, and Joe.


    Passing beside Arlo, Ric snickered:


    "What are you going to do now you have lost your protection?"


    Arlo ignored him, causing Ric to harrumph.


    ''Just you wait!''


    Arlo''s eyes which had been fixed on the stunned Arianne all this while suddenly narrowed before looking to his side.


    He locked eyes with Bon and Judi.


    Bon glared at him while Judi appeared bashful when they locked eyes causing him to frown.


    As the two left the hall, he could hear Bon''s rebuke, "Sis, he is supposed to be our enemy."


    "I-I know."


    Shaking his head, Arlo threw the matter to the back of his mind, before walking to Arianne.


    "Is she okay?" Joe asked from behind.


    "She will. She is just shocked, is all."


    .....


    After throwing a small ruckus, Arianne regained herself.


    She acted that way because she was free with Arlo and Joe if not she would have treated them coldly as she did others.


    In that regard, she and Arlo were similar.


    Later that night, Arianne took the group to the canteen.


    Her former guide had already told her where it was located, so the trio didn''t have a problem finding it.


    It must be noted that while vampires feed on blood, some still choose to enjoy human delicacies.


    Of course, what can truly nourish their bodies is blood.


    After eating their fill, the group retreated for the night.


    .....


    Early next morning, the bell rang as early as 6 a.m. causing all the first-year students to quickly head to the main building.


    Arlo, Arianne, and Joe met up before following the others into a huge class.


    The class was built like in universities with the seats arranged from low to high; step by step.


    Finding a relatively empty area, the trio sat.


    The other students were no longer respectful to Arianne.


    At least, not as they would before when they see her.


    But that didn''t mean that they would dare disrespect her.


    Order or no order, she was still their princess.


    After a few minutes, a middle-aged man with waist-length dark hair and broad shoulders entered the class.


    "My name is Julian." he introduced gathering the attention of the entire students.


    "You will have two classes every day. The teacher decides when the class ends. We will leave the remaining time for you to use as you fit."


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    "I will be the one to guide you on cultivation."


    "Without further ado, let''s start the class."


    "There are myriads of races in the universe. Each of these races practices a system of cultivation. We have mages, warriors, and soul cultivators."


    "Initially, I planned on only teaching you guys about mana and soul cultivation but because we now have someone practicing body cultivation among us, I will also speak about it in my later classes."


    The students wondered who the teacher was referring to, but he didn''t bother to clarify.


    Only Arlo''s group knew he was talking about Arlo, and Judi and Bon had an inkling of who he was referring to.


    "Let us start with mana cultivation. A large majority of all races cultivate mana, while a few minorities cultivate astral energy. Soul cultivation lies somewhat in between, while not as rare as warriors, they are also uncommon compared to mages."


    "In fact, most races that claim to practice soul cultivation like beasts and humans, only cultivate their divine sense."


    "They could spread their divine sense to observe their surroundings while a few geniuses among them could even use it to defend themselves from soul attacks. But that is their limit. There has never been an account of one such person being able to perform soul attacks."


    "And that is because their spiritual energy is weak and formless. To perform soul attacks, one must directly harness their soul energy which can be found in the consciousness sea."


    "And that makes us vampires unrivaled among most races. We are natural-born mages with an affinity to the rare darkness law, our bloodline strengthens our physical bodies granting us superhuman strength which while falls far short compared to warriors, and a bit behind werewolves, makes our bodies far stronger than average mages."


    "And most importantly we are the only known races able to fully harness spiritual energy making us apex predators when we came to existence less than a century ago."


    A look of pride flashed on the faces of all the vampires in the class, while Arlo was dumbfounded.


    ''The vampires have only existed for less than a century?''


    Now he knew why the first years numbered so little.


    Unfortunately, Julian didn''t wait for him to process all the information he just acquired.


    "Today, I will focus on what all three cultivation systems have in common. Who can tell me what that is?"


    Barely a second later, a young, beautiful girl raised her hand from the front of the class.


    Arlo recognized her as one of the outstanding four.


    She had big eyes and a baby face, while her eyes hidden behind her specs continually flashed with intelligence.


    "What all three cultivation systems have in common is their affinity with laws."


    Very good!" Julian praised causing the girl to smile proudly.


    "Laws!" Julian took a deep breath, a reverent look forming on his face:


    "The universe is made up of myriad laws. We can classify all these laws into four groups."


    "The first and most common are the elemental laws; they include the law of fire, water, wind, lightning, and earth."


    "The second group is known as the Rare laws. Compared to elemental laws, they are uncommon. They include the law of light, darkness, metal, wood, gravity, and many more."


    "Then we have the Abstruse laws. This is the most special of the four groups. The abstruse laws are what really make laws to be myriad and countless. They can be weaker than elemental laws or can be as strong as the supreme laws. They are quite unpredictable, and we know not much about them as rarely do you find two people with the same abstruse law unless they have an inheritance like ancient families."


    "Last but not the least are the supreme laws. They number only ten and are a notch above the other laws. While it is generally believed that there is no strong or weak law, the truth is that among cultivators of the same level, those with an affinity to supreme laws are unrivaled. They are the law of space, time, chaos, life, death, creation, and destruction."


    "Each supreme law has its specialty, making them reign in their respective field...."


    "Teacher, you only mentioned seven of the supreme laws." Ric suddenly interrupted Julian.


    Julian looked at him with a chilling gaze that caused the huge boy to shiver.


    "Do not interrupt me again!" he said, his eyes glowing red.


    "Me telling you only seven means you don''t need to know the others." He reprimanded coldly before his look of indifference returned.


    "Now, while I said in the beginning that there are four categories of laws, the truth is that there are two exceptions."


    All the students perked up. Most of them were already familiar with all Julian had said, but this was new to them.


    "Evil laws!" Teacher Julian said gravely.


    The faces of the outstanding five, Arlo, Arianne, Joe, and a few others changed.


    "The evil law is classified as a semi-unique law. A unique law is one that one existence in all the universe can only wield. Mind you, that is not restricted to mortals. Be it the legendary gods, devils, or even the abhorred fiend race, only one existence can wield it."


    "While the evil law is indeed wielded by one person, all his subjects would have access to it, which is why it is called a semi-unique law."


    Letting out a sigh, Julian spoke with a deep voice:


    "There is only one true unique law...."


    All the students held their breath.


    "...the law of Aether."


    "Legend has it that no mortal has ever wielded it and it has only been seen in the realm of the gods albeit rarely."


    Arlo''s heart suddenly pounded against his ribcage.


    << .... >>


    .....


    AN: Rate the novel and drop a comment. Let me know about your thoughts on the novel so far. Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 98: QUICK REFLEXES

    The class ended after three hours.


    None of the students found it boring and were even excited about Julian''s lessons.


    Arlo had to admit that Julian was a great teacher.


    He knew how to garner the attention of his students and how to spark their curiosity.


    He informed them at the end that they would be testing their talent in the next class. It was imperative to do that to judge the student''s potential.


    None of the students left the class as they were told not to.


    A few minutes later, another man entered the quiet class.


    One of the great things about being a vampire is the ability to communicate without verbal speech.


    "Hello everyone."


    In contrast to Julian, this man appeared to be more friendly.


    "My name is Moose and I will teach you how to use your vampire abilities. To do that we will need to use a more suitable place. So, follow me."


    With that, he walked out of the class.


    The students hurriedly followed after him.


    The procession of less than two hundred students left the main building before entering one of the smaller ones.''


    This building was the first-year training center.


    There were several seats around the hall and at the center of the building was a large open space.


    Moose stopped at the open space.


    The space was more than enough to accommodate all the students.


    "Space yourselves."


    The students heeded his instructions.


    They were all curious about what this new teacher of theirs had in mind.


    "Let us start with the basics."


    "Aside from the unique abilities of the nine clans, all vampires have access to the same set of abilities."


    "The first is enhanced speed."


    Just like that, he disappeared from his position without a trace and just like a ghost, causing all the students to gasp.


    A moment later, a calm voice resounded from the back of the group.


    "In regards to our speed, not even the werewolves can match us."


    The students quickly turned around to look at him.


    None of them saw how he moved, and that included Arlo''s group and the outstanding five.


    But Moose didn''t seem to care about their shock.


    "The second is our inhumane reflexes."


    With that, he disappeared again but this time painful grunts followed soon after.


    The students started falling one after the other.


    One by one, the rest started panicking.


    All they saw was a lingering afterimage before a student fell.


    In less than a minute, seventy students fell.


    The more fearful ones started retreating but a cold voice cut all their paths of escape.


    "Leave and you fail my class!"


    Some students prepared for their turn and this included Arlo and Arianne.


    They could all tell this was a form of test.


    Another thirty seconds later, another forty-five students fell.


    Suddenly there was a change.


    Moose flashed in front of a girl whose legs had already transformed at some point.


    The girl moved and retreated at a fast speed as Moose''s fist came launching at her guts.


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    She retreated safely but her face still went pale from the air blast that came from his punch.


    She almost coughed a mouthful of blood but forcefully suppressed it.


    Moose finally appeared clearly in front of the students.


    "Not bad!" he smiled at her.


    "Now, how about we continue?"


    He looked at the others still standing before he disappeared.


    Arlo wasn''t sure but he thought his gaze lingered on him.


    All the students tried to resist him but failed in the end.


    Only three of them managed to remain standing but they didn''t come out unscathed.


    Those three together with the former girl were among the outstanding five.


    Only Ric remained of the five.


    Seeing the students around him fall, Ric suddenly transformed his hands.


    He saw something flash before him and didn''t hesitate to throw his fist as he gave a strange battle cry, "Ooh!"


    "You fail to grasp the essence of what I am trying to teach you," said Moose as his fist connected with Ric''s abdomen.


    He had merely shifted his body to the side before throwing a punch.


    Ric stumbled backward before falling on his knee.


    Clutching his gut, he coughed a mouthful of blood.


    Moose appeared once more as he looked at the kneeling Ric.


    "Fool, I am testing your reflexes, not your strength. Did you think you were my match? How conceitous!"


    After saying his piece, he continued with his test.


    Now, only less than twenty students remained.


    Moose passed beside Joe before he appeared once more in front of the students.


    He stood stunned on the spot as he looked at the lying Joe.


    ''Have I hit him already?''


    Joe was feeling conflicted at this moment.


    Seeing all the students cough blood one after the other, he became scared.


    ''You are doing it again! How do you expect to remain beside him?'' Arlo''s image flashed in his mind.


    He sighed and was about to stand back up, so he opened his eyes.


    But upon seeing the stunned Moose, he suddenly forgoes his previous thoughts.


    ''I will change next time.'' with that he grabbed his stomach, ''Let''s appear more real.''


    "Ah! My tummy hurts!" he screamed in feigned pain.


    Moose couldn''t stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.


    ''Who would believe you?''


    Exasperated, he ignored Joe and continued.


    This time he flashed before Arianne and didn''t hesitate to throw out a punch.


    Arianne was already prepared.


    Since she couldn''t trace his movement, she released her divine sense to cover a few meters around her.


    Sensing movement, her legs shifted gracefully causing her body to move sideways.


    With that, she completely dodged the attack.


    "As expected of the princess."


    She was the first to dodge his punch.


    Moose continued and in less than ten breaths, only one student remained standing aside from Arianne and the outstanding five.


    Coincidentally that student was our hero, Arlo.


    ''I left you for last. Show me what is so special about you to receive my liege''s attention.''


    Since he couldn''t catch even a glimpse of Moose''s shadow, Arlo did like Arianne.


    He released his divine sense around him.


    But unlike Arianne, he didn''t wish to remain still.


    ''Who said I have to wait for him to attack?''


    Of course, he didn''t also dare to attack, he was simply not his match. In that regard, he was no different from Ric.


    So.


    He willed all his Ki into his feet causing them to be encased in a whitish glow.


    Once he felt something breaking into his divine sense, his legs kicked off the ground.


    His body turned into a blur as he moved in the opposite direction.


    ''Huh?'' Moose was first stunned before a grin appeared on his face.


    ''Interesting.''


    He gave chase.


    Two figures left after images in their wake.


    Moose had limited his speed to that of a mid-level advanced mage.


    He soon noticed he had no hope of catching up to Arlo.


    The now-healed students were stunned at the situation.


    Even the outstanding five doubted they could move at that speed.


    Arlo streaked around the students.


    He felt the world slow around him.


    No!


    It was more apt to say he was moving at such a high speed that made the world seem slow.


    Moose decided to increase his speed to peak advanced stage.


    Due to the sudden increase in strength, his feet kicked off the ground only once before his body flew toward Arlo like a cannonball.


    *Whoosh*


    Arlo felt a change behind him.


    His mind moved in overdrive and a moment later he executed split legs.


    Because he was moving at a high speed, his body slid forward even after performing the split.


    Not even a second later, he felt something whoosh above him, so he looked up in time to lock eyes with the latter.


    Moose passed above him before coming to a sudden halt.


    Since he wasn''t moving at his fastest, he didn''t find it difficult to break his speed.


    He turned around in time to see Arlo use his hands as support to roll up the ground.


    "Excellent reflexes!"


    Arlo smiled at his praise. He knew that was nowhere close to his max speed, so he didn''t let the praise get into his head.


    Suppressing the thought of finding out Arlo''s limit, Moose clapped his hands twice before ordering:


    "Gather around!"


    "As you can see, all of you have already healed from the minor wounds I inflicted. As vampires, we have insane regenerative abilities. But beware, it is not without limits. The more we heal up, and the more severe the wound, the faster we consume our stamina."


    "Moving on..." he raised his forefinger up. Suddenly his nail grew longer and ended at a sharp point resembling a claw.


    "We can turn our fingers into claws."


    "Try it out!"


    .....


    The lesson continued for several hours during which Moose showed them a lot of abilities vampires can use.


    Suddenly the door swung open and a woman hugged by a tight-fitting suit. walked into the building.


    "Moose, get out!"


    The corner of Moose''s eyes twitched as he looked at her speechless.


    What made Arlo surprised was the sudden excitement of the students upon seeing her.


    "She is the one."


    "The martial fighter, Lady Evangeline."


    "Rumour has it that she has mastered all forms of martial arts and can wield every weapon."


    "She is like a tumor to her enemies on the battlefield."


    "But doesn''t she only teach the fourth-year students?"


    "That is right, she didn''t appear at the gathering yesterday."


    Several discussions resounded. Perhaps it was because of their excitement, that the students didn''t bother using their spiritual energy to communicate.


    "Didn''t you hear me?" she asked as she glared at Moose.


    A glint of fear flashed briefly within Moose''s eyes but he steeled his heart soon after.


    He couldn''t allow himself to look bad in front of the students.


    "But I still have class..."Upon seeing her narrow her eyes at him, he swallowed the rest of his words.


    Thankfully, the other party seemed to be reasonable and gave him a way out:


    "You have had a class with them for almost five hours. It''s now my turn."


    "Yes, yes. You are right." Moose scurried out of the building.


    Arlo was speechless.


    His high opinion of Moose suddenly shattered like glass.


    "Now pair up. It''s time for a spar!"

 CHAPTER 99: LADY EVANGELINE AND DIRTY MARTIAL ART

    Arlo stood in front of Joe as they faced off.


    The entire opened space was enough to fit the 174 students allowing them to pair up with fair distances between them.


    Arianne wanted to pair up with Arlo but after being showered with pleading looks, she relented and allowed Joe to face Arlo.


    "This is just a simple spar. Is that clear?"


    "YES!"


    "Begin!"


    The students faced off against each other.


    Since it was a simple spar, they all fought at a leisurely pace.


    Evangeline had her divine sense covering the entire building so she was able to observe the 87 fights ongoing.


    And with her clan''s supernatural analytical ability, she didn''t find it a problem keeping up.


    She immediately started correcting the students on their postures and suggested suitable martial arts for each of them.


    The students got more excited upon being taught the proper way to fight.


    She reached Ric''s side and upon seeing the one-sided fight, gestured for them to stop.


    She looked in several directions and saw similar situations.


    Not wanting to interrupt the others, she used her divine sense to instruct them to stop.


    The other outstanding four stopped their matches.


    Arianne who was standing nonchalantly while a small wall of blood moved to block all her opponent''s attacks also stopped.


    Finally, Joe who gave a low war cry and charged at Arlo imposingly also stopped.


    Looking at Joe, the corner of Evangeline''s mouth twitched.


    She had been simultaneously observing all the fights, so she saw how Joe attacked grandly but Arlo dodged quietly by simply sidestepping.


    ''Are they sparring or acting out a play?'' she couldn''t help but question in her mind.


    Another pair of students also stopped.


    They were Bon and Judi, as siblings, the two didn''t fight with all their minds.


    While what Rosaline wanted was a spar, she still wanted them to take it seriously.


    Bon and Joe''s pairs obviously didn''t.


    As for the outstanding five and Arianne, they were overwhelmingly stronger than their opponents so the spar couldn''t even be counted as one from the beginning.


    She moved them to another area from the others.


    There were currently ten in front of Rosaline.


    They were the outstanding five, Bon, Judi, Arianne, Joe, and Arlo.


    She had already assigned their previous opponents among themselves.


    These were the only ones remaining.


    Evangeline''s black gem-like eyes looked at the students before her, specifically at the outstanding five and Judi and Bon.


    "I know you don''t want to reveal your cards for the ranking war tomorrow. But what we are doing now might be what will help you tomorrow. So, let me see your moves."


    "You and you, pair up."


    "You and her, together."


    After a short while, she paired the ten against themselves.


    Arianne was facing off against Judi.


    Bon with one of the outstanding five, a boy whose name was Sol.


    Joe against another outstanding five, a boy, James.


    The only two outstanding girls were facing off against each other.


    Arlo noticed it was the girl with specs and the first girl who had transformed her legs into a monster''s and barely dodged Moose''s attack.


    Looking at the opponent before him, Arlo sighed.


    Is this fate?


    "Brat! We meet so soon!" Ric flashed him an evil grin.


    "Start!" Evangeline ordered.


    Even though she said to start, none of the ten moved as if waiting for something.


    Rosaline didn''t mind this.


    Using that opportunity, she used her divine sense to guide the other students sparring against each other some distance away.


    "Right." A spar kicked off.


    It was the two outstanding girls.


    The girl with monster legs had transformed her legs once again. Her feet turned into a monster''s; she had four toes, while a bone protruded out the heels of her legs. Her toenails also resembled talons.


    With a fast speed, she kicked off and punched at her opponent, but the girl with specs seemed to have predicted her movements.


    "Left."


    "Up"


    Rosaline, the girl with specs studied her opponent''s every move.


    With her acute vision as a vampire, she was able to see how the muscles of her opponent''s limbs flexed and contracted. Coupled with her inhumane analytical ability, she didn''t find it difficult to dodge her opponent''s move even when she was faster.


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    ''Very good.'' Evangeline''s voice suddenly resounded in Rosaline''s head.


    ''You already know how to use your strong points in a fight. However, are you only going to defend forever?''


    Rosaline''s eyebrows furrowed.


    While she could dodge her opponent''s attack, she found it difficult to attack at the same time. After all, her opponent was truly faster than her.


    Evangeline voice suddenly resounded in her head:


    ''Don''t think too much. Attack once you dodge. Use that gap when your opponent tries to adjust her posture. Not all your enemies will be faster than you. Take advantage of this spar.''


    ''Yes!'' Evangeline answered in her mind, her eyes flashing with excitement.


    Simultaneously as Rosaline was guiding Evangeline, she was also guiding her opponent, Lysa.


    ''You are fast. But if your opponent can predict your movements, your speed advantage becomes useless. First, don''t let your opponent''s words distract you. Block out all sounds.''


    Lysa did as instructed. It wasn''t hard for her to block her sense of hearing.


    Truly enough, she saw a difference in the fight, but still, she couldn''t land a punch.


    ''Now, I am going to teach you how to use feints in your attacks!''


    Another fight started.


    Arianne flashed in front of Judi and sent a punch, but the latter raised both of her hands to block her face.


    Seeing that her attack was blocked, she sent another attack, but this time it was a kick.


    Judi blocked the attack successfully once again, but this time she was pushed backward.


    Evangeline''s eyes suddenly shone.


    She watched Arianne spar for a while longer before her voice resounded in both girls'' heads.


    ''Princess Arianne.''


    Arianne''s eyes widened slightly upon seeing a spiritual sense invade her mind, but she soon collected herself.


    ''Lady Evangeline, it''s my pleasure to meet you.''


    ''Likewise, Princess. Your brother only has praises for you. I can see they are well deserved!''


    Arianne felt genuinely happy upon being praised by one of the vampire''s supreme genius.


    ''Now...'' Evangeline''s voice suddenly turned serious, ''I have a task for you.''


    ''Yes?''


    ''I want you to only focus on your legs. Don''t use your hands to attack.''


    ''Ah?'' Arianne was stunned.


    At the same, Judi who was being overwhelmed by her was also being guided by Evangeline.


    This was the ability of the supreme genius, a woman whose forte was her enhanced analytical ability, yet her fighting prowess was way above her league.


    The other spars had also started.


    ''Little boy, you are from the Royal serpent family, right?''


    Evangeline''s voice suddenly resounded in Joe''s head.


    Only his spar didn''t look as one, as his opponent James sat on top of him while throwing punches.


    Screaming underneath his opponent, Joe lost count of the number of times he had already surrendered.


    Funny enough, their fight had not even lasted for a minute.


    Evangeline shook her head before communicating telepathically with him.


    ''Yes! But what does that have to do with this? I quit already. Help me!''


    ''Shut up!'' Evangeline shouted in his mind, causing Joe to fall silent.


    He could only groan under the punches launched by his opponent.


    ''Do you enjoy being so pathetic?''


    ''You want to remain weak?''


    For some reason, her words stung his mind.


    ''No...'' Joe whispered, ''I just can''t help it.''


    ''That is what a coward would say.'' Evangeline''s voice turned colder.


    ''Is there really nothing you can do?'' she asked once again.


    Joe fell into thought as he covered his face with his arms.


    His opponent was stronger than him.


    Faster than him.


    Better than him in every way possible.


    ''What is it that I have that he doesn''t?'' Joe thought deeply about it.


    Eventually, he found his answer.


    He stretched his hands beside him, causing James''s punch to finally fall on his face.


    Painful groans escaped from his lips, but they still couldn''t kill the determined light that shone within his eyes.


    Two poison bombs suddenly appeared above James, and before the other could react, they collided with his body.


    "AH!" A painful shriek echoed in the training center, causing most of the students to flinch.


    James felt his body corrode from the poison, and even his regenerative ability couldn''t heal him from it immediately.


    Using that opportunity, Joe pushed his opponent off himself and quickly stood up. He was just about to pay the latter back in full when Evangeline''s voice resounded in his head once more:


    ''You did well! Now keep your distance! Anyone that fears pain is not fit to be a close-range fighter.''


    Joe couldn''t agree more with the last part of her words so without any hesitation, he did as instructed causing Evangeline to be speechless.


    Using this small opening where his opponent was yet to regain himself, he formed several poison bombs around him.


    ''Good!'' Evangeline praised.


    At the same time, her voice resounded in James''s head as she guided him on how to expel the poison from his body.


    .....


    Arlo and Ric stood in a stare-off.


    They were the only pair yet to start their fight.


    "Hope you won''t fall quickly."Ric mocked.


    But as usual, Arlo gave him the same reply.


    Silence.


    Infuriated, Ric closed the distance between them and punched out.


    He might be fast to others, but in Arlo''s vision, he moved so slowly.


    In fact, Arlo could swear that Bon moved faster when they had fought back in Tibu''s castle.


    He ducked to the right and even before his opponent''s punch could reach him, he sent his own out.


    Both punches arrived at the same, confirming that he was truly faster than his opponent.


    Ric''s punch passed beside his body, while his punch landed.


    Arlo was not happy about it and instead frowned.


    He felt as if he was punching a metal.


    Ric flashed him a grin, "You can''t hurt me with those weak fists."


    Arlo didn''t get affected by the taunts and instead continued at the same pace.


    He dodged his opponent''s attack while launching his own.


    His fighting moves were quite eye-catching.


    But Ric also wasn''t one to be underestimated.


    He ignored all his opponent''s punches and didn''t bother trying to block or evade anyone of them.


    Seeing that his attacks didn''t work, Arlo was about to concentrate his ki on one part of his body but later decided against it.


    ''This is a spar. My goal should not be to win. I must use this opportunity to train myself. What would I do if I faced such an opponent in a life-and-death situation?''


    Various ideas flashed within his mind.


    Suddenly his eyes shone.


    Seeing that his attacks were not working, Ric wanted to try something different.


    He suddenly sent a round kick but Arlo ducked in time and successfully dodged it.


    Taking this chance when his opponent''s body was still completing a turn, Arlo straightened his body and closed the distance between them.


    He raised both of his palms and waited.


    Ric finally completed his turn but before he could react, Arlo smacked both of his palms against his ears causing his head to ring.


    Using this short time when his opponent was disoriented, Arlo hurled out tens of punches as he targeted his opponent''s joints.


    His shoulder joint.


    Elbow joint.


    Knee joint.


    Tens of punches were thrown out in barely five seconds as Arlo moved his body to his limits.


    Regaining himself, Ric wanted to attack when suddenly a wave of pain hit him.


    Immediately after, he collapsed on the ground like a dead dog.


    ''Beautiful!'' Arlo turned his head in Evangeline''s direction.


    Feeling her intense gaze on him, he couldn''t help but flinch.


    Evangeline didn''t care about what was going on in his head, as she was in a world of her own.


    In fact, she stopped instructing the kids at this moment.


    ''Great strength.''


    ''Great speed.''


    ''Fast reflexes.''


    ''Quick thinking.''


    This was all she observed from Arlo within this short time.


    Her heart beat sped faster, as she clenched her hands in excitement.


    ''Finally, I found someone I could teach this martial art.''


    She was a fourth-year teacher.


    She wasn''t supposed to be here, but after being persuaded repeatedly by her only student, Arianne''s brother, Stefan, she finally decided to come to see what was so special about these new first years.


    ''Don''t tell me it wasn''t Arianne he had in mind, but this boy?''


    ''Either way, that foolish brat deserves a gift.''


    She quickly sent her voice directly into Arlo''s head.


    ''Boy, I am going to teach you a unique martial art. Would you like to learn?''


    Arlo was stunned.


    Looking at Ric who constantly tried to get back on his feet without success, he was unsure of what to do.


    << Accept! She is one of the strongest vampires in existence. Not to say she is an unparalleled genius of her generation. Aside from Scarlett and Arianne, she is the only god-tier talent among the vampires. She is worthy to be your teacher. >>


    Arlo quickly accepted upon hearing Old Bro''s words.


    But he became speechless when he received her response.


    ''You must first prove you are worthy to be my student by earning first place in the ranking war tomorrow.''


    Looking at Evangeline''s smiling face, he became stunned again.


    ''I still need to prove myself?''


    As if reading his mind, Evangeline continued:


    ''Don''t worry, you will soon see it is well worth it.''


    Looking at Ric who finally stood back up, Arlo narrowed his eyes as he listened carefully to Evangeline''s next words.


    ''What I am about to teach you is called ''Dirty martial art!''


    *****


    AN: This is one of the longest chapters I have written to date. Appreciate me!

 CHAPTER 100: RANKING WARS: BATTLE ROYALE

    Dirty martial art?'' Arlo frowned and wasn''t so sure of learning such a martial art anymore.


    Evangeline''s expression became serious.


    ''Boy, what do you think is the strongest power?''


    Arlo was stumped and couldn''t answer even after several breaths.


    ''There is no strongest technique!'' Evangeline continued.


    ''What differs is your will; your will for survival .''


    Arlo thought deeply about the words Evangeline said but before he could even digest it, Evangeline threw him another question.


    ''Boy, what will you do when you go up against an enemy that is far within your abilities?''


    Arlo didn''t hesitate to answer:


    ''Of course, you run!''


    Evangeline''s hearty laughter resounded in his mind.


    Arlo didn''t mind though. To him running from a fight you can''t win doesn''t make you a coward. Instead fighting a losing battle just makes you a fool.


    But his entire view was soon about to crumple.


    ''Do you think you can run away from someone that truly outclasss you in every way possible?''Evangeline sneered.


    ''If you can, that simply means that person is not out of your league.''


    ''So I ask you again, what will you do if you face someone who is way out of your league?''


    ''I-I don''t know.'' Arlo whispered.


    There was a moment of silence.


    ''Fight dirty!'' Evangeline suddenly said.


    ''But...'' Arlo wanted to refute but Evangeline''s voice cut him off.


    ''Will you hope for some form of last-minute powerup? Or perhaps wait for when you lose someone close before you burst out with unimaginable power?''


    ''Wake up!''


    ''This is reality, not some fantasy novel.''


    ''When your opponent is far stronger you, throw away your pride and do whatever you can to ensure your survival.''


    ''Dirty martial arts will ensure you survive even against opponents that are many times above your cultivation level.''


    ''No matter how strong a person becomes from cultivating, a poke to the eye, a kick to the groin, a punch to the throat...''


    ''Will allow even the weakest to surmount the strongest. Of course, that is if you have sufficient skills to pull them off.''


    Arlo fell silent.


    << She has a point, brat. You never know, learning this martial art might save your life at one point. >>


    Even with Old Bro encouraging him, Arlo still hesitated.


    Such a classless and vulgar martial art went against his very core.


    Sensing his hesitation, Evangeline smiled:


    ''You need not worry. Dirty martial arts is just like any other martial arts. It contains moves you can use in any normal fight. And it is only when you have no other choice, do you need to use it to its full potential.''


    Upon hearing that, Arlo finally agreed.


    Ric stood silently a few meters in front of Arlo.


    Every trace of contempt on his face had already been wiped off.


    He could still feel the pain in his joints. And that was after considering the enormous durability of his body which was his to-be clan''s specific ability.


    Evangeline simultaneously spoke to both boys in their minds.


    "Speed is not your forte. Don''t try to compete with your opponent in that aspect."


    "You have a strong defense, use it wisely!"


    ''And how do I do that?'' Ric grumbled in his mind.


    Evangeline didn''t seem to mind his attitude and continued:


    ''I am going to teach you grappling techniques.''


    At the same time, she was guiding Arlo.


    ''Raise your arms and allow your elbows to reach your eye level.''


    Arlo did as instructed, as he adjusted his fighting posture.


    ''The beginner level of Dirty martial art involves using every part of your body as a weapon. For today, we are going to limit it to your elbows, knees, and head. You must not use any other part for the rest of today''s training.''


    Ric suddenly moved toward Arlo, but this time he wasn''t as fast as before.


    He threw a right fist.


    Arlo responded by calmly ducking to his right.


    But.


    Ric''s fist suddenly changed direction and grabbed Arlo''s raised left arm.


    "Caught you!" he grinned.


    Arlo didn''t panic and instead tried to elbow him in his left rib.


    But because he was accustomed to fighting with his elbows, his speed was slow and his movement was a bit clumsy, allowing Ric to clutch his right arm under his left armpit.


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    Caught off guard, Arlo tried to free himself.


    However, Ric made use of this chance to free Arlo''s right arm, and quickly grab his neck.


    Before Arlo could react, he was lifted into the air before he was slammed back into the ground as Ric executed a choke slam.


    ''There is an opening!'' Evangeline hurried Ric to act.


    As Arlo felt the air escape from his lungs, and as his body rocked back into the air from the rebound, Ric quickly grabbed his head, before locking it under his right armpit, successfully placing Arlo in a submission-style, neck choke.


    Arlo''s face quickly turned red from the lack of air.


    He didn''t even get a chance to catch his breath after slamming into the ground.


    He tried to escape from Ric''s choke to no avail.


    Ric used the full advantage of his bigger size and pressed Arlo beneath him.


    ''Alright, that is enough!''


    Hearing Evangeline''s words, Ric let him go.


    Arlo gasped heavily for air, as he laid on the ground.


    "How is that for a payback?" Ric snickered.


    He felt like he had redeemed himself.


    After a short while, Arlo stood back up.


    Raising both elbows to his head level, he narrowed his eyes on Ric.


    .....


    The class lasted for several hours.


    At the end of the lesson, Evangeline gave the elite ten students a task.


    A common task.


    They were all to only use martial arts tomorrow.


    A few of them reacted at first, but after contemplating it for a while, they relaxed.


    Even after limiting their abilities to martial arts, they were confident of standing above the other students.


    And since those of the same level were similarly affected, they had nothing to fear.


    Not to mention that they could still use their natural enhanced stats as vampires.


    Night had already fallen when the lesson ended and Evangeline left.


    Before leaving, she left one last message with Arlo.


    ''Get the first rank tomorrow and I will teach you the next part of Dirty martial art.''


    The students left the training center.


    But a select few remained.


    Ric looked at the other elites around him and snorted, before leaving the training center.


    The others upon seeing they were not the only ones with the same thought, also left leaving only three figures in the massive building.


    Arlo stared at Joe and Arianne before raising one of his eyebrows, "What are we still waiting for?"


    "I still want to train. Can you spar with me?" Arianne suddenly said.


    Arlo thought about it for a moment and nodded.


    He noticed that Evangeline was also training Arianne in some sort of unique martial art, so it was only natural that she still wasn''t accustomed to it.


    He was the same.


    And they both needed to get used to them, if not they wouldn''t be able to bring out their full power tomorrow.


    He looked at Joe calmly.


    "Don''t mind me. I also have some things I would like to try."


    Joe moved away, giving the two some space.


    Arlo focused on using his elbows and knees to fight, while Arianne only used her legs.


    Their training continued till late at night.


    .....


    Next morning.


    The first years gathered once again at the enormous training center.


    But this time there was a difference.


    A few students occupied the seats surrounding the huge open space.


    They were older than the first years and the aura around them was also far stronger than the first years.


    These were the second-year students of the Darkblood Academy.


    Some of them came to watch the first year''s first-ranking war.


    Of course, these were only the weaklings among the second years with some time to spare.


    But even if they were weaklings, they were still far stronger than the first years, as the weakest among them was in the late advanced realm.


    The principal and the teachers stood before the first years in the open space.


    The principal spoke:


    "This is going to be the first-ranking war. The first ten will be awarded appropriately while the first three will be given more special privileges!"


    While they still hadn''t had classes with all their teachers, the students still recognized them from their first gathering.


    The principal turned and nodded to the teachers.


    And by prior agreement, they all moved further away from the students.


    Now standing about ten meters from the students, the principal spoke calmly but his voice was still heard by the far-away students.


    " The ranking war will be divided into two parts."


    *Whoosh.*


    A massive formation suddenly lit up below the students.


    Before they could react, the high ceiling of the dome-like training center suddenly parted aside to reveal the clear blue sky.


    Immediately after, the ground below the students gradually rose into the air, drawing some reactions from the students.


    Some students visibly panicked causing the few second years to chuckle.


    After rising for more than 40m, the rising ground stopped.


    The principal''s voice resounded from beneath the now-raised dueling ring.


    "The first part of the ranking war is a battle royale!"


    "To eliminate the students, you need to incapacitate them or knock them off the dueling ring. Only when ten students remain will the battle royale end."


    The place was enveloped by an eerie silence.


    Those at the edges looked down before swallowing their saliva.


    Even as vampires, they didn''t doubt they would die after falling from such a height.


    Swallowed by their deep fear, none of the students heard when the principal shouted "Begin!"


    The silence continued for two minutes until someone suddenly moved.


    Ric grabbed a student beside him and before the other could react, he threw him into the air.


    "Ah!"


    The student screamed as he fell down the 40m high dueling ring but before he hit the ground, a gentle force stopped his descent.


    With a light thud, he fell to the ground, his face covered with sweat.


    With their fear now gone, the students visibly relaxed. And then, a great fight erupted on the tower.


    Different magical spells made from darkness flew abound.


    There were arrows, spears, swords, and even bats.


    Because the battle was large, and the students were not used to fighting in such large-scale battles, the majority of them suffered from stray attacks.


    One by one, students were knocked off the ring.


    Ric, Rosaline, Lysa, James, Bon, and the others were especially eye-catching as even without using their mana, they wove around the attacks and knocked the students out.


    The winners of this battle royale were already decided from the beginning.


    However, a change suddenly happened, making the heated battle come to a sudden stop.


    Arlo and Arianne stood at opposite ends, putting  Joe in between them.


    Joe unrestrainedly manifested poison bombs before launching them at the surrounding students.


    Painful shrieks echoed simultaneously as the students fell and writhed in pain, and intermingling with the screams was Joe''s unrestrained laughter.


    Guarded by Arlo and Arianne on both sides, none of the student''s last-ditch attacks could reach him.


    He could launch all his poison bombs without holding back.


    This was what he worked on when Arlo and Arianne sparred last night.


    With tens of poison bombs appearing around him one after the other, Joe suddenly had a thought:


    ''Vampires are not that scary!''


    But that thought had not even lasted for five breaths when his face went pale.


    The battle on the ring suddenly stopped before being enveloped by an uncomfortable silence that was occasionally broken by the painful grunts from the fallen students.


    All the students stared at the three.


    Even Arlo and Arianne gulped nervously at the unexpected development.


    Looking at the tens of bodies writhing around Arlo''s group and remembering Joe''s unrestrained laughter, the students felt a volcano erupting within them.


    Ric and the other elites exchanged glances before they nodded silently in agreement.


    The eerie atmosphere was suddenly broken.


    But not by the angry vampire students.


    But by Joe.


    "Well, I have done my part. I will leave the rest to you two!"


    Arlo''s lips twitched while Arianne turned and glared at him, causing him to flinch.


    "Get them!" Ric roared in anger.


    The now less than ninety students stormed Arlo''s group from all directions.


    It seemed as if Ric would be the first to arrive so Arlo prepared himself.


    But suddenly, Lysa flashed before him, her legs already transformed.


    Before Arlo could raise his hands to block, Arianne suddenly flashed in front of him and delivered a round kick at Lysa.


    Her feet connected with Lysa''s face and sent the latter flying.


    Coincidentally the latter flew in Ric''s direction, so he had to stop and attempt to catch her.


    Within this short time, the other students arrived before Arlo''s group.


    "Arlo!" Arianne shouted before jumping high up.


    Arlo understanding her thoughts caught her hands and roared at the top of his lungs.


    "Get down!"


    Joe who was behind the duo suddenly ducked down in time to evade Arianne who swung in a circle by Arlo, her feet connecting with several bodies.


    All the students who had encroached upon them were sent flying before colliding with those behind them.


    Arianne gently landed beside Arlo.


    ''That is right! I am not alone.'' Arlo thought as he looked at Arianne from the side of his eye.


    Looking at the rising students, Arlo took his fighting posture and spoke in a deep voice:


    "Come!"


    .....


    AN: Why is Joe even counted among the elite ten?


    FAA finally reached the hundredth chapter. It has not been easy to arrive at this point.


    I would like to thank all my avid readers, <3.

 Chapter 101: A Brutal Fight.

    The principal felt a headache coming on.


    This was supposed to be a free-for-all battle royale.


    How did it devolve into a three vs ninety battle?


    He was just about to stop this change from going on when a voice resounded from behind him.


    "We might as well see where this goes, don''t you think so, principal?"


    At some point, Evangeline had already appeared behind them and was already seated on one of the front seats.


    Donned in her characteristic black suit which highlighted all her assets, the principal couldn''t stop his eyes from roaming around her body.


    Evangeline flashed him a smile; a smile that sent chills down his spine and served to bring him back to his senses.


    ''What the hell did I just do?''


    A trickle of sweat slowly slid down his forehead.


    He of all people knew the woman before him wasn''t one to be trifled with.


    ''Principal, she is the bitch who knocked me out yesterday!''


    One of the female teachers sent him a spiritual message.


    The principal''s eyes widened upon hearing this devil incarnate being insulted. Not to say he was involved in it.


    Thinking about what happened yesterday, his eyebrows furrowed.


    Evangeline had appeared in his office and informed him that he would be handling the first year''s martial class.


    He couldn''t dare to say no, so he had offered to instruct the first-year martial arts teacher about the arrangement.


    But Evangeline had said she would handle it and disappeared thereafter.


    Now he could guess what had happened from the other''s reaction.


    Looking at the female teacher coldly, he sent her a telepathic message:


    ''I advise you to forget whatever happened yesterday. There are some people you just can''t mess with.''


    The female teacher became visibly angry.


    It was clear she wasn''t reconciled with what the principal said.


    She had thought the principal would take her side, but who would have thought he would chicken out?


    She knew the person in person had some status.


    But as a fellow teacher of the Darkblood academy, she didn''t believe she fell far short of her.


    The principal shook his head before ignoring her completely.


    He had already warned her, whether she listened or not had nothing to do with him.


    ''Sir, you can''t possibly be thinking of indulging her, do you?''


    He received another spiritual message, but this time from Moose.


    Looking at Moose who glared at Evangeline, the corner of his mouth couldn''t help but twitch.


    He knew these two had some history together.


    Evangeline returned Moose''s glare with an amused smile.


    "Would you like me to wipe that smile off your face?" threatened Moose out loud.


    "Heh!" Evangeline merely chuckled, causing Moose to almost flare up.


    She shifted her gaze back on the principal, as she flashed him a questioning look.


    ''Principal, just agree. The sooner we send her off, the better. There will be many more ranking wars this semester, so indulging her this once won''t cause much of a difference.'' Julian quickly spoke to the principal.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The principal couldn''t agree more with him, so after gathering his thoughts, he replied:


    "We will do as lady Evangeline said..." he paused for a moment before adding, "...but just this once!"


    Evangeline ignored the last part of his statement and shifted her gaze back to the raised dueling ring.


    While these series of exchanges seemed to have taken long, the truth is that it merely took about 30 breaths.


    The fight in the ring was just heating up.


    .....


    After knocking the students back, Arlo and Arianne stood against each other and took their fighting posture.


    None of the students attacked again.


    Out of their anger, they forgot one of the students they were facing off against was their princess, a supreme genius.


    The other elites were communicating with their spiritual sense.


    ''Let us wait for the other students to weaken them out. We won''t be able to fight with our full strength with them on the way.'' Rosaline proposed as she adjusted her spec with the side of her right thumb.


    The others agreed with her and moved backward.


    This slight change didn''t escape the sense of the other students and Arlo''s group.


    Seeing that the elite students were backing off, some of the other students started hesitating.


    "What the hell are you waiting for? Attack!" Ric suddenly roared.


    He felt stifled inside. He wanted nothing more than to go knock Arlo down himself, but he knew Rosaline had a point.


    Seeing that none of the students still attacked, he spoke once again, this time his voice colder:


    "Those that don''t attack will be offending the outstanding five!"


    All the other elites also glared at the hesitating students.


    That seemed to do the trick, as while they would face Arianne, they didn''t think she would lower herself by retaliating against them later.


    Not to say that Arlo''s group had truly ignited their collective anger.


    "Attack!'' It wasn''t clear who said that from the front, but this time none of the students hesitated.


    They all flooded Arlo''s group, but this time before they reached they were smart enough to launch their attacks beforehand.


    "I will take this side!" shouted Arianne as she stomped on the ground and launched off like a cannonball


    Arlo turned around briefly before addressing the still-ducking Joe.


    "Protect yourself!"


    Before Joe could react, Arlo gathered all his Ki into his feet and stomped the ground.


    Immediately after, his body turned into a blur.


    As he evaded the slowly approaching attacks, a trifling thought flashed within his mind:


    ''I am still slower than her!''


    He was moving at his max speed yet he was still slower than Arianne.


    Arlo knocked the students out one by one.


    All they saw was a flash before they fell unconscious.


    The majority of the students were mid-level beginner mages while a few had reached the late stage, so even with their innate vampiric abilities, they stood no chance against Arlo.


    Only the elite students were peak-level beginner mages.


    And as geniuses, they all could fight above their realm.


    In just a minute majority of the students fell by Arlo and Arianne''s hands.


    Since the dueling ring was large enough, Arlo and Arianne had enough room to dodge their attacks.


    Seeing that only three students were remaining on Arlo''s side, Ric cursed before storming off.


    The other elite students still decided to watch.


    Arianne still had about twenty more students holding her off, so she was still occupied.


    It wasn''t that she was any slower than Arlo, it was just that she had more students on her side.


    Arlo quickly dispatched the last three students on his side.


    But before he could even catch his breath, Ric rammed into him and grabbed his waist.


    Arlo was slowly lifted into the air as both their bodies moved forward due to Ric''s inertia.


    "Oh!"


    Arlo slammed his elbows down on Ric''s back but the latter ignored him as he gave a strange battle cry.


    A trace of anger flashed within Arlo''s eyes before he concentrated his Ki into his right elbow and smashed down once again.


    *Crack!*


    A sound of something cracking echoed out followed soon after by Ric''s cry.


    But this time his cry sounded pained.


    All this happened within a small time frame. Arlo''s feet finally touched the ground, while Ric''s hold around his waist weakened.


    Making full use of this opportunity, Arlo quickly grabbed Ric''s head while he was still bent and kneed him in the face.


    *Crack!*


    Ric''s nose broke but before Arlo could continue the other exerted force into his hands and pushed Arlo away.


    His broken spine had already readjusted itself thanks to his regenerative ability.


    Standing up, Ric grabbed his broken nose and fixed it back in place.


    He winced from the pain but after noticing his nose already healing up, he opened his eyes, his vision still a bit blurry from the pain.


    When he came to, his eyes widened as they registered the knee that flashed right before his face.


    Arlo jumped up before sending a knee right under Ric''s jaw.


    *Bang!*


    His head started snapping back simultaneously as his body was beginning to be sent flying but before he could even leave his position, Arlo who was still in the air, smashed his right elbow down on Ric''s head.


    "*Bang!*


    *Crack!* a bone-chilling crack echoed from Ric''s head.


    Ric eyeballs almost popped out of their socket, while his mouth which had opened for a moment when he was kneed was forcefully closed shut causing his flailing tongue to almost be bitten off.


    Ric''s body slammed into the ground.


    An intense pain washed over him and even as his body subconsciously regenerated, he felt like he might die just from the unbearable pain.


    All the other elite students flinched, while Arianne who had already ended the battle on her side also gasped in shock.


    As they all watched the fight and even subconsciously forgot that they were also involved in it, only one thought rang in their minds:


    ''So brutal!''


    Arlo walked toward the sprawled Ric with slow but graceful steps.


    He was no more the same as the same boy as last night.


    He was now accustomed to fighting with his elbows and knees and if Ric taught he could still pull one on him like he did the last time, then he was greatly mistaken.


    A few feet away from Ric, two figures suddenly flashed beside him.


    The elites were finally going to attack!

 CHAPTER 102: END OF RANKING WAR I

    The other elites could not wait any longer.


    After watching Arlo and Ric''s short but brutal fight, they finally admitted against their pride, that individually, they were no match against Arlo.


    Especially now that they could only use martial arts.


    They didn''t doubt for one second that it would be any different against Arianne so they finally acted.


    The other two boys among the outstanding five, Sol and James attacked Arlo from opposite sides, Sol from the left and James from the right.


    Arriving before Arlo, they prepared to launch their attacks when Arianne''s kick suddenly landed on James who was on Arlo''s right, and using him as a footing her body spun above Arlo several times before a left kick landed on Sol''s face.


    James''s body was sent flying before Sol followed a breath later.


    Arlo''s eyes glistened.


    Arianne''s moves looked more graceful and eye-catching than his own fighting style.


    The two boys landed on their feet after flying a short distance.


    This time none of them moved as they stared seriously at these two seemingly impregnable walls.


    Rosaline adjusted her golden specs and immediately after she sent a spiritual message to the others.


    ''I have a plan!''


    Using her high analytical and fast mind, Rosaline communicated with the other elites in just a few breaths.


    Arlo and Arianne sensed the spiritual fluctuations around them, and it didn''t take them long to realize that they were plotting something, so they moved to quickly interrupt them but it was already too late.


    Judi, Lysa, and Sol approached Arianne while Rosaline James, and Bon approached Arlo, before breaking the fight into two.


    This was per Rosaline''s plan after considering Arlo and Arianne''s previous flawless coordination.


    Still annoyed by what happened previously Sol was the first to attack Arianne but before his attack could even land, he saw Arianne raise her right foot.


    Then all he saw was a flash.


    Realising Arianne''s attack would land before his own, he forcefully redrew his thrown fist and raised his left arm to his face to block the attack, while his eyes subconsciously closed in preparation for the impact.


    But Arianne''s raised right foot which was about to slam into his raised arm suddenly halted before smashing at his rib instead.


    The transition was smooth like flowing water and a second later her foot planted itself on Sol''s left rib.


    Sol''s eyes snapped open from the unexpected assault and the resulting pain and his body was about to shift a few feet back from the force when Arianne''s right foot landed on his now unprotected left face.


    Due to the one-second interval between both attacks, what echoed out was a:


    *Ba-bang!*


    Ariane remained in the same posture, her foot still raised high in a kick.


    Her technique was fast but smooth.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Judi narrowed her eyes at her before she shouted:


    *Follow me! I am already familiar with her moves."


    Lysa transformed her legs and heeded her words.


    Two intense battles broke out.


    The fight continued for three minutes, but even with this short period, it was clear who had the advantage.


    Arlo moved around Bon, James, and Rosaline''s attacks. And while Rosaline successfully predicted his moves numerous times, he was still fast enough to escape in time.


    None of his opponents was faster than him, so he used this weakness to his advantage.


    Not to mention that while Arlo did not have a high thinking speed like Rosaline, he was far smarter than her so, some of Rosaline''s predictions backfired against her as Arlo knew she would be able to predict them.


    The only person who could probably match him in speed was Lysa, but she was facing off against Arianne who was even faster than him.


    Two minutes later, Arlo successfully knocked out Rosaline and James.


    Only Bon remained before him.


    Bon flashed before him and sent out a claw attack but Arlo merely shifted his head to the side and successfully evaded the punch.


    He sent his right elbow upward and elbowed Bon in the jaw but what he didn''t account for is that Bon had stealthily sent his other hand toward his stomach.


    It was a two-way attack!


    While he evaded the first, the second landed squarely as Bon''s now-clawed fingers dug into Arlo''s stomach.


    But he was not safe either, as Arlo''s elbow landed on his jaw with a bang before he was sent flying unconscious.


    Arlo dropped to one knee as he grabbed his bleeding side.


    Luckily, his body trained from the overbearing Ki didn''t take long to do its Job and his regeneration which didn''t fall too short of vampires his age showed its wonders.


    His bleeding stomach healed at a visible pace.


    *WHOOSH!*


    Arlo suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine.


    A massive shadow compared to his own loomed over him and before he could react, he was grabbed by the waist before he was lifted high into the air.


    It did not take Arlo even a second to realise from this fighting style and the previous shadow that it was Ric.


    So without hesitation, as his body was raised finally above Ric''s head, he concentrated his Ki into his elbow and smashed down with all his strength.


    *Crack!* a bone-chilling crack rang out once again, this time more intense than the former as blood bloomed like a flower from Ric''s head and splashed onto Arlo''s face.


    Ric''s eyes lost focus as he staggered backward, and Arlo wanted to use this opportunity to escape from on top of Ric shoulders when Ric''s eyes suddenly snapped wide open as he cried out, the muscles on his arms flexing to the limit.


    At the same time Arlo screamed ''Oh, no!'' in his mind, Ric gave his characteristic strange cry with his face covered in his blood completely:


    "Ohhhhhh!"


    *Boom*


    Arlo''s body smashed into the ground as Ric delivered a ba*ista bomb.


    As his body bounced off from the ground, a mouthful of blood escaped from his mouth.


    At the same time, Ric staggered backward as he was still disoriented from Arlo''s previous attack.


    He shook his head and wanted to take quick advantage of this opportunity to turn the fight around, but as his vision came to he noticed Arlo had already risen from the ground.


    Ric gritted his teeth in annoyance and quickly approached Arlo.


    Not having regained himself completely, Arlo clumsily threw a right punch but with masterful movement Ric grabbed his arm with his left hand.


    Arlo responded by throwing a left punch but the same thing happened as Ric finally had the chance to use the grappling techniques Evangeline taught him.


    "I caught you!" he grinned as he grabbed Arlo''s arms in an x shape.


    But before he could react, Arlo who just regained his bearing jumped slightly into the air, and without any hesitation, he smashed his forehead into Ric''s nose.


    *Crack!*


    "Ah!"


    Ric let go of Arlo''s arms and stumbled backward as he released a painful cry.


    Arlo didn''t come out unscathed from the previous attack, as his forehead bled.


    But using all his willpower, he gritted his teeth and stomped the ground will all his strength.


    His body soared into the air and positioning himself well, he landed on Ric''s shoulder in a sitting position.


    Ric staggered backward from the sudden action, but his mind didn''t even register what happened as he groaned from the pain he was feeling.


    Arlo concentrated half his ki on both of his elbows before he smashed them down consecutively at his fastest speed.


    Bang Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.


    With three more bangs, Ric''s body finally stiffened before he fell backward.


    He had lost consciousness.


    His head was covered in blood and it was a miracle his skull didn''t split from Arlo''s relentless attacks.


    As Arlo gasped for breath, he heard light footsteps approaching him.


    With weary and tired eyes, he raised his head to see Arianne stand before him.


    She seemed to have finished on her side, and compared to him, she appeared unscathed.


    In fact, if it wasn''t for her disheveled hair, and her slightly raising and falling chest, no one would believe she just fought an intense battle.


    With this Arlo concluded in his mind at the same Arianne''s worried voice reached his ears:


    "Are you okay?!"


    ''She is stronger than me!''


    .....


    AN: If the novel receives 10 favorites and 1 review = I will release I bonus chapter


    20 favorites and 2 reviews = 2 bonus chapters

 CHAPTER 103: END OF THE RANKING WAR II

    A dead silence enveloped the entire building.


    The second years were shocked speechlessly.


    What was supposed to be a battle royale was turned into two groups fight.


    And the more surprising thing was that the group with the lower members won.


    If it was any other time, such news wouldn''t have been so shocking.


    But this time?


    The group that won only consisted of three members while the other group numbered about seventy.


    Yet the three defied all logic and won the battle.


    No, upon realizing an important point, some of the second years couldn''t help but gasp.


    It was two vs seventy, not three.


    Joe was nowhere to be seen.


    Looking at Arianne who helped Arlo up, one of the second years couldn''t help but blurt out:


    "Is this even possible?"


    No one answered the students as they were unsure of what just happened.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that they saw it with both their eyes, they would never believe such a thing was possible.


    "Doesn''t this remind you of those two people?" asked another student.


    Some of them couldn''t help but nod their heads in agreement.


    Arlo and Arianne could indeed be compared to those legendary figures.


    "No!"


    A student sitting above the rest of the second-year students suddenly spoke.


    If it was an ordinary person who tried to contradict the group, they wouldn''t have hesitated to lash at him.


    But this person wasn''t ordinary as even though he was a nobody worth mentioning among the second years, he was still the strongest among those present.


    The boy who was in the beginner-level master realms crosses his arms together:


    "These two are even more talented than Stefan. What made Stefan remarkable wasn''t his talent nor his strength but his unyielding tenacity."


    Stefan was a legend among the students of this generation.


    From when he was a first year, he had always been targeted from behind by other students and even by those in authority; and this was all due to the purity of his bloodline.


    However, no matter the challenge they threw at him and the obstacles they placed before him, Stefan was able to pull through them all.


    Even though some of the students still abhorred him, the majority of the students grew to admire him, as he created one unbelievable feat after another.


    The boy looked to the side where the teachers and principal were occupying, and with a relevant look etched on his face, he spoke once more:


    "They are more comparable to the greatest genius to have appeared since the founding of this academy!"


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    The others followed his line of sight, their eyes falling on the grinning Evangeline.


    .....


    The principal and all the teachers furrowed their brows in confusion.


    Moose finally couldn''t take it anymore and asked what all of them were thinking about:


    "Why didn''t the elites use their mana?"


    No matter how they wrapped their heads around it, none of them could come up with an answer so after a while the principal spoke:


    "Let''s leave that till after the ranking. We will be able to ask them personally. The more pressing issue is..." he paused as he looked at Arlo who stood with Arianne''s help, "...how do we continue with the ranking war?"


    The other teachers were also stumped.


    Something like this had never happened before since the founding of the academy, so they were unsure of how to act.


    What they didn''t know was that the person responsible for all this mess; as not only did she allow the battle royale to progress as it happened, she was even the one responsible for the students not using their mana, was grinning right behind them.


    ''Seems my days will no longer be boring.''


    Looking at the fools before her who were still oblivious to what was truly happening, she retracted her grin and put on a thoughtful expression:


    "If I may..."


    All the teachers turned behind as they remembered they were not alone.


    Julian shuddered a little upon seeing Evangeline''s light smile.


    For some reason, that smile made his skin crawl. It was just like yesterday when Evangeline appeared in his class and told him to leave. He was intimidated to the point that he ignored the fact that she wasn''t even a first-year teacher and got caught up in her flow.


    The principal''s mouth twitched a couple of times before he flashed an ugly smile:


    "Please!"


    Evangeline nodded naturally and continued:


    "Since it has come to this, I suggest you grant the rewards of the top ten to these two. As for the first position, let the two fight it out to determine it."


    The principal and the other teachers went silent.


    But after thinking about it, they realized that was the only thing they could do.


    So even though they felt like they were playing into Evangeline''s palms, they had no choice but to.


    The principal coughed as he faced the raised dueling ring, and then he spoke:


    "Congratulations to the two of you. As you are the only ones still standing, the two of you are required to...."


    "Stop!"


    "Stop!"


    A muffled shout suddenly cut the principal off. But as those present were powerful vampires, they heard it clearly.


    As large as the dueling ring was, more than half of it was covered with the bodies of more than 150 students.


    Suddenly a hand shot out from below a pile of bodies and immediately after, bodies were shoved away from underneath, before a person appeared before Evangeline, the teachers and principal, the second years, and finally Arlo and Arianne.


    Joe slowly stood as he panted for breath.


    "Seriously, that was suffocating!" he grumbled as he kicked the bodies beside him away.


    One of the second-year students couldn''t help but blurt out:


    "Don''t tell me he has been hiding underneath the bodies all this while?"


    Even Evangeline couldn''t stop the corner of her eyes from twitching. The same went for the others.


    None of them knew when Joe hid, and that was something shocking as he was the main cause of why the battle royale turned out as it was.


    But Joe seemed to not care about what the others were thinking, as he raised his hand and spoke:


    "I am also standing!"


    Now, even Evangeline felt a headache coming on.


    Who was this boy?


    She couldn''t help but grumble in her mind.


    Again, the principal and teachers subconsciously turned to her to ask how to continue with the current situation.


    Evangeline seemed to grumble to herself and even with their super hearing, none of them could hear what she said.


    Standing up, she spoke:


    "Since they are three, just name them the winners and share the rewards among them! There will still be another ranking war next weekend, so it won''t affect the students that much."


    "This..."


    The principal wasn''t so sure so he asked, "What about the ticket?"


    "Just give one to the three of them since there is no first."


    After contemplating it for a while, the principal nodded.


    Evangeline sent her spiritual energy into Arlo and Arianne''s heads even from how far they were apart.


    After leaving her message, which was different for the two, she disappeared.


    She appeared quietly and disappeared the same.


    On the raised dueling ring, Joe approached Arlo and Arianne.


    "You guys are incredible. I didn''t doubt for one second you would win."


    "So why were you hiding?" Arlo couldn''t help but refute.


    Joe just smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.


    Suddenly a kick landed on his rear causing him to yelp


    "You coward..." Arianne gritted her teeth as she glared at him.


    Joe quickly hid behind Arlo, as Arianne tried to attack him.


    "Okay! It''s okay!" After a while, Arlo decided to diffuse the situation.


    How could he not notice the glint of happiness flashing within Arianne''s eyes?


    She just didn''t want to admit it, after all, Joe was part of their group.


    In other words, their group completely dominated the first-ranking war.


    ......


    AN: If the novel receives 10 favorites and 1 review = I will release I bonus chapter


    20 favorites and 2 reviews = 2 bonus chapters

 CHAPTER 104: GOLDEN TICKET

    The ranking war ended like that. At least for now.


    None of the wounded students were treated and that included Ric.


    Only those with critical injuries like Ric were given blood to help speed up their regeneration.


    Arlo and the others also retreated for the day.


    While they were not physically injured, the mental exhaustion was weighing down on them.


    After all, they faced an enemy group that was greater than them countless times.


    When the ranking war ended, some of the second years wanted to approach Arlo''s group, but before they could, the principal had already approached them, so they had no choice but to leave.


    The principal offered the trio various supplies of blood from various animals and even humans.


    Of course, only Arianne could choose to receive such a reward, as Arlo and Joe were not vampires.


    They were not meant to be in the academy in the first place.


    In the end, Arianne refused the offer. After all, as the princess of the royal family, she had her own supply of blood, one far better than the Academy could provide.


    The principal told them they would be receiving far more cultivation materials than the other students. But those would be given to them personally by Julian in their next class.


    The last reward was something the trio didn''t expect, but Arlo welcomed joyfully.


    They were each given a ticket to not only enter the first-year library but even access the second floor.


    Arlo showed a rare expression of happiness.


    He still remembered Scarlett''s advice to him. It was just that he hadn''t had the time and opportunity to even ask about the library.


    But now, he could. He mentally made a note to spend tomorrow in the library.


    However, what surprised not only Arlo but even Arianne and Joe was that even after granting them the supposed last reward, the principal didn''t dismiss them.


    Instead, he seemed to be hesitating about something.


    Arlo noticed that Arianne was starting to lose her patience, and could explode at any moment.


    She already hated the principal guts, and honestly, Arlo believed it was a miracle she was even willing to listen to the latter.


    So without any hesitation, he quickly hastened the principal:


    "Is there anything you need?"


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    A myriad of emotions flashed on the principal''s face, but after a moment he sighed and relented:


    "There is one more thing."


    He said before bringing out a golden ticket.


    "This is supposed to be only given to the first position. But..." he slowly handed it out, "...it will be given to you three this time."


    "What is so special about it for you to lose your composure?" sneered Arianne.


    The principal grumbled, "With this ticket, not only can the first position attend the second year''s ranking war, but he or she can even issue a challenge to any second year during the ranking war."


    After saying that the principal face''s steeled as he seemed to have made his decision.


    Never once has a golden ticket been granted to more than one student at a time.


    He tried to retract his hand, but it was too late.


    With a whoosh, Arianne snatched the ticket and ran away.


    "Haha! I can finally meet a challenge!" only her joyful voice lingered in the hall.


    The principal sighed as he slumped his shoulders.


    "Haha! We will take our leave then."


    Arlo said before similarly running off. Joe followed behind him like a shadow.


    In the massive training center, only the principal remained.


    He looked lonely.


    .....


    Next day.


    Arlo arrived at the Academy''s library.


    He was alone this time, as Arianne was more interested in how to use the golden tickets. Joe decided to follow her, as he would rather ask around for information on the golden ticket than sit in the library which is nicknamed the Ghost Hall.


    Any vampire that entered that building wasn''t even allowed to use their spiritual energy to communicate.


    So it was as silent as a graveyard.


    Immediately after entering the building, Arlo saw an old man sitting behind the counter.


    The old man raised his head up.


    He observed Arlo for a moment before stretching out his hand.


    "Ticket?"


    Arlo immediately handed the library ticket the principal had given him.


    What surprised Arlo was immediately after he handed the ticket over, the old man tore it into two.


    "You have the whole day to use the library. You can also access the second floor if you want."


    After saying that, the old man lowered his head and concentrated on the book he was reading.


    Arlo looked at the torn ticket on the counter, ''Seems it is only a one-time use.''


    He looked around the first floor and after a while, he nodded mentally.


    The vampires must be a race that appeared not too long ago.


    The first floor as huge as it was only had two massive shelves filled with books.


    The rest of the floor was occupied by chairs and tables where any visitor could read quietly.


    Arlo looked at the flight of stairs that headed upward.


    He decided to first check the second floor.


    Over one hour later.


    Arlo walked down the flight of stairs as he returned to the first floor.


    A look of disappointment was etched on his face.


    The second floor only had one shelf. And after using almost one hour of his time, he realized nothing he needed was on the second floor.


    The majority of the books were guides on how the vampires could cultivate. There were even personal notes from vampire experts.


    However, all of those were useless to him.


    The building had three floors, but he didn''t dare to head to the third floor, as while there was nobody on the second floor, for some reason, he felt like the old man at the counter could observe his movements.


    After coming back to the first floor, Arlo realized there was practically no other person in the building except for the old man and him.


    Of course that was without counting the last floor.


    He started going through the books on the first floor, and three hours later, Arlo smiled as he took three books and sat before one of the many free tables.


    While he didn''t find any book on how the vampires came into existence, he was satisfied with the books before him.


    One of the books was about the vampire''s abilities and their strong and weak points.


    Another was about the history of the Darkblood Academy.


    While the last was the most important one.


    Arlo decided to start with the last one as the book was very large and thick.


    He doubted if he could finish reading the book even after spending the entire day.


    Throwing the unnecessary thoughts to the back of his mind, Arlo read the title of the book which was written grandly in black ink on the front cover.


    "The Nine Great Vampire Clans!"

 CHAPTER 105: THE NINE GREAT VAMPIRE CLANS AND THE REASON BEHIND ANITAS DISAPPEARANCE

    Arlo left the building late evening.


    He couldn''t use his full allotted time because he still had to get some rest. Classes resume tomorrow after all.


    When Arlo entered his dorm room, he found Joe already fast asleep.


    Falling on the bed, Arlo gazed at the ceiling of his room and became lost in his thoughts.


    He thought about all the information he gained today.


    First of all, he confirmed that vampires were a race that appeared less than a century ago.


    What blew his mind was that vampires were originally human. While he did find out how they were turned, the books on the first and second floors didn''t detail how the events transpired.


    For some reason, Arlo felt such information would be on the third floor.


    Feeling the slight itching in his heart, Arlo focused on the information he gained to suppress his curiosity.


    He found out that vampires were generally divided into two major classes: Nobles and Plebians.


    Vampires, when classified in order of hierarchy are as follows:


    Scarlett who is the Vampire Progenitor.


    The Royals include Nathan the king, Ariel the queen, and their children, Stefan and Arianne.


    The Nine Great Clans were founded by the nine protectors.


    Because the protectors do not partake in mundane matters(at least by mouth) and their only goal is the protection of the royal family, each great clan has a head.


    The head of each clan is granted the title ''Count''.


    They were the strongest vampires aside from the protectors; that is if we don''t count Scarlett and certain anomalies like Evangeline.


    Each clan comprises nobles who are further divided into higher-class, middle-class, and lower-class nobles.


    The Plebians are the common vampires and they are discriminated against.


    Why?


    To create a Plebian, all a vampire needs to do is feed their blood to a human and kill the human within a time limit.


    Once the person dies with the blood still in their system, he or she becomes a vampire, a plebian vampire to be exact.


    For a noble to be created, a human must be fed the origin blood of a noble vampire.


    But this is the catch.


    The origin blood of nobles which contains a unique ability of Scarlett isn''t easy to recover and could take many years just to recover a small portion of it.


    Which is why vampires with pure dark hair are discriminated against.


    That is because when a human turns into a vampire, the hair takes a dark color.


    As for the reason why, nobody truly knows, although some theorized that it was because of the vampire''s natural affinity to darkness laws.


    Only those who possess origin blood, that is the nobles, have snow-white streaks among their hair.


    The higher the concentration of their origin blood, the more the white streaks.


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    The origin blood of every noble of a great clan contains a unique ability of Scarlett.


    It granted them the supernatural analytical ability, formidable defense, or the ability to transform their hands and legs to enhance hand strength and leg speed respectively.


    Arlo remembered the different emblems on the students'' uniforms.


    Sigh!


    Arlo sighed as he thought about what would happen on Thursday of this week.


    "The awakening ritual..." he whispered.


    Or awakening ceremony as the Principal had called it. It was a ritual where noble vampire children awaken the dormant origin blood that runs within their veins.


    Once they do that will they be able to use the full power of their bloodline.


    One of the prerequisites for the ritual is for the child not to exceed the beginner realm in cultivation.


    ''That explains why they are stuck at the peak-level beginner mage.''


    The same went for Arianne.


    When Arlo thought of her, a choking feeling engulfed his heart.


    Arianne was already stronger than him currently and if she were to awaken her origin blood, wouldn''t the gap between them become unbridgeable?


    While Arianne was his friend, for some reason Arlo felt competitive when it came to her.


    ''I must ask Moose about what I need to become a one-star warrior truly.'' Since he had yet to awaken his mana core, the only way Arlo could think of to increase his strength was by making a breakthrough in his Ki cultivation.


    As he continued to ponder on his next steps, Arlo slowly drifted asleep.


    Arlo thought Arianne would be undergoing a regular ritual like the others.


    What he didn''t know was that Arianne''s case was special, as she possessed a bloodline that was different from Scarlett''s. She was a variant never seen before.


    In other words, she was a potential Progenitor for a new race of vampires.


    .....


    Next morning.


    The class was already packed full of first-year students.


    But a strange situation played out in the class.


    All the students looked at a corner of the class as a myriad of emotions flashed on their faces.


    Respect.


    Admiration.


    Fear.


    Anger.


    And many more.


    Even the usual arrogant Ric sat quietly and glared at Arlo from a distance.


    But Arlo ignored him and listened carefully to the spiritual message Arianne was sending him.


    ''The second year''s ranking war is on Wednesdays and Sundays. The top ten second-years do not partake in the war on Sundays and only have to worry about defending their ranks on Wednesdays. Challenges could be issued to them from the top ten winners in Saturday''s ranking war.''


    Arlo suddenly noticed something and couldn''t help but ask:


    "So the top ten second years cannot change rank?" Of course, since he could not send a spiritual message, Arlo had no choice but to speak normally but he made sure to lower his voice.


    Arianne looked at him and seeing the sly look on her face, Arlo could not help but sigh:


    "I can''t summon her now. I already explained to you that I would like to keep her existence a secret."


    Arianne harrumphed in displeasure.


    Arlo slightly rubbed the side of his upper arm, ''I''m sorry, Anita.''


    Before entering the Academy, Old Bro had warned him to be careful when he summoned Anita because they couldn''t tell how the vampires would react to a creature that could devour and steal their abilities.


    Only Dean, Scarlett, and Arianne were aware of Anita''s existence.


    And those three were very close to him especially Scarlett, so while they were interested in what Anita was, they still respected his privacy.


    But the same couldn''t be said of other vampires.


    Especially if they find out that they could be devoured and have their entire existence stolen.


    In fact, the same could be said for any other race if they were to find out about Anita.


    Arlo didn''t know it but Old bro was fully aware that the universal devouring slime was supposed to be extinct, as they were even feared in the realm of the gods, not to mention the mortal realm.


    Arianne had pestered him many times to summon her when they were alone, but Arlo didn''t want to take the risk.


    Besides, since Anita couldn''t see what was happening outside unlike Old Bro, she had no choice but to sleep.


    So Arlo didn''t want to wake her only to have her sleep soon after.


    *Whoosh!*


    The class door suddenly opened before a man covered entirely in a black cloak with a hood entered the class.


    An hour later.


    The first years stood in front of the massive gate found on the south side of the Darkblood Academy.


    They still couldn''t help but marvel at the massive walls that stretched into the distance to protect the Academy.


    With a metallic sound, the massive gate opened.


    Grim, their hunting class teacher slowly walked out of the gate.


    The students soon followed.


    Standing on the clearing just outside the academy the students couldn''t help but gulp at the sight of the terrifying forest before them.


    The trees were massive and tall, standing at a height of tens of meters.


    Even the tree branches were about four times bigger than their normal sizes.


    What truly brought terror into the hearts of the students were the occasional roars of beasts that echoed from seemingly everywhere in the forest.


    Grim whose features could not be seen because of the black cloak covering him stood before the students and spoke in a hoarse voice:


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are reading the novel. Love you all. Don''t forget to add the novel as a favorite.

 CHAPTER 106: HUNTING

    AN: Bonus chapter. Don''t forget to add the novel as a favorite and if possible, rate it. Thanks and enjoy!


    The students had already seen Grim before in the gathering, and from his build, they could guess that he was a man.


    That guess was further confirmed as he spoke to them with his hoarse voice:


    "We vampires are natural predators. As creatures of the night, the best time for us to hunt is at night. But a good predator can kill both during the day and night."


    The students were starting to get lost in his words, and before they knew it the fear that was gripping their hearts slowly disappeared.


    Grim suddenly raised his right hand, causing his long sleeve to fall just enough to show his three raised fingers.


    "You guys humiliated yourselves because of three things." Shifting his head to the outstanding five one by one, he brought down one finger and continued, "For some reason, you didn''t use your mana."


    Of course, the teachers and Principal had already questioned the elites about the matter and later found out the truth.


    But they could do nothing about it and could only silently curse Evangeline in their hearts.


    Grim brought down another finger.


    "You guys have yet to adapt to staying under the sun!"


    The majority of the students were sweating bollocks and Arlo could still remember clearly that it was the same in the ranking war two days ago.


    After all, the ceiling of the training center had opened while their dueling platform was raised.


    It seemed there was another reason for that arrangement.


    Among the students, only Arlo, Joe, and Arianne were not reacting differently under the sun.


    While Rosaline, Ric, and the other elite''s reactions were not as pronounced as the students, Arlo could tell they were still affected by the sweat that matted their foreheads.


    "Because of that, you were not able to fight with your full strength in the ranking war yesterday!"


    Pausing momentarily, Grim brought down his last finger.


    "The last but most important reason is that you guys cannot bring out the full potential of your powers. While a great part of it is because you are yet to awaken your origin blood, another reason is your weakness. Your darkness laws are pathetically weak, and the majority of you can only create objects from it while only a select few can create actual living things!" At the end of Grim''s statement, a few of the students raised their heads in pride while the others lowered theirs in shame, but that didn''t last for long as Grim''s next words served to bring them back from the sky to the ground:


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Creating bats from your mana and darkness laws is nothing noteworthy. You guys have failed to grab the essence of darkness. Just as fire burns, and ice freezes, darkness has its unique essence, but of course that is not for me to teach you. I am sure Moose will start teaching you all that from his next class."


    "What I want to teach you is how to be a true vampire. And you can only learn that when you hunt and kill. The thrill we vampires feel when we kill and then feast on the blood of our victim is simply..."


    There was no change in Grim''s voice, but Arlo was still able to notice the slight trembling of his exposed fingers when he spoke his next word:


    "...amazing!"


    Seeing the students look stunned at him, Grim coughed twice to regain himself.


    "Majority of you drink the blood of beasts while only a select few drink the blood of humans. But I am sure that none of you have ever hunted for the blood yourselves."


    None of the students refuted him, so Grim nodded and continued:


    "Look at the bracelet and the bag given to you."


    The students did that even when they had already observed them many times.


    Arlo did the same as he looked at the silver pouch hanging beside his waist before he shifted his gaze to the black bracelet on his right wrist with green runes etched on it.


    Grim''s voice drifted into the ears of the students at this time:


    "That is a space pouch. You are to kill the beast on the outer part of the forest and collect their beast cores."


    "As for the bracelet, I believe you can all see the silver runes engraved on it."


    "Yes!"


    "The bracelet has been engraved with a formation that can teleport you back to the academy. All you need to do is send in a certain amount of mana for the formation to activate. Just make sure that no matter what happens you don''t lose the bracelets." Grim''s hoarse voice sounded grave at the end of his statement.


    Some students nodded and covered the bracelet with their other hand as if to defend it.


    Only a select few remained completely calm.


    ''Seems the bracelet is pretty useless to me since I don''t have mana.'' Arlo thought silently.


    Still continuing with a grave voice, Grim spoke:


    "Also, no matter what, do not leave the outer region of the forest. The outer region comprises mostly of beasts at the beginner stage!"


    One student couldn''t help but raise his hand, to which Grim nodded.


    "How do you know when we leave the outer region?"


    "You will know!" was all Grim said, but Arlo felt like he had grinned when he said that.


    Rosaline''s eyes flashed with a strange light before she also raised her hand.


    "Yes!" Grim said.


    "Teacher, you said previously that the outer region comprises mostly of beasts at the beginner stage, does that mean..." While she didn''t complete her words, even the students could tell what she was driving at.


    "Smart!" Grim praised sincerely.


    "There are a few beasts in the advanced realm but they won''t surpass the late stage."


    Rosaline released a light but imperceptible breath.


    "You are to move individually and not form teams." Joe flinched and his face paled from hearing such words, but Grim continued:


    "Finally, you are to gather back here when it is dawn tomorrow. If you teleport back before then, it means you failed today''s class."


    The students who started communicating using spiritual messages when Grim said there was no team suddenly went still and their eyes widened when they heard his final words.


    The students were clear about something. They could die in this forest. Some of them couldn''t help but want to back out but before they could even voice their thoughts, Grim''s hoarse voice resounded loudly in their ears:


    "Move out!"


    The outstanding five were the first to quickly disappear into the scary forest.


    Of course, they left in different directions.


    Soon after, the others followed. The students who wanted to back out could only swallow their words, and with trembling legs disappeared into the forest.


    Arlo, Arianne, and Joe were the last to leave Grim''s sight.


    Their entry points were not too far from each other. Arlo figured some students would still team up. After all the forest was just too huge as it covered over a hundred thousand kilometers. There was no way Grim could supervise them all.


    Arlo was right in his thinking but he still made a mistake.


    After making sure that all the students had disappeared into the forest, Grim turned back and walked into the Academy.


    He never had any thought of supervising them.

 CHAPTER 107: HUNTING II

    Two days ago, late at night.


    Very deep within the mountain forest outside the Darkblood Academy.


    *ROAR!*


    The angry roar of a beast echoed out.


    All the other beasts in the forest trembled in fear as they all lowered their bodies in submission.


    *ROOOAAAR!*


    The anger in the roar of the beast did not seem diminished at all and seemed to even intensify.


    *Boom!* *Boom!*


    The sound of trees falling accompanied the loud stomping of the beast.


    Suddenly a black shadow slithered out with great speed.


    It was a pitch-black snake about two meters long.


    The black scales of the snake seemed to be dyed in blood. And it was clear from the deep gashes along its body that the blood was its own.


    It slithered forward but suddenly it came to a stop as it collided with some sort of barrier.


    Looking forward, the black night eyes of the snake that seems to contain various stars noticed the space in front of it flicker with a red light.


    It suddenly opened its mouth wide, and a black light shone from within.


    Five breaths later, it closed its mouth and moved forward. This time its body moved unobstructed.


    This scene didn''t escape the eyes of three beasts in the vicinity, but hearing the booming sound that increased every second, they quickly lowered their heads in fear.


    Less than ten breaths later, a massive shadow collided with the barrier, causing a booming sound to resound within the forest.


    The barrier flickered with a red light but remained.


    *ROAR!*


    *Boom*


    Intermingling with the angry roars of the beast was the booming sound resulting from the collision between the beast''s body and the barrier.


    "My my!"


    Light footsteps resounded.


    On the other side of the barrier, from the shadow of the forest, an old man with a walking stick walked out.


    Sensing the presence of the old man, the angry beast suddenly went still.


    "What stirred you up to this extent?" The old man asked with a light smile.


    Silence.


    He didn''t seem to mind the silence and instead lightly squinted his eyes, with the same smile still plastered on his wrinkled face:


    "Scram!"


    The massive shadow which had been acting so domineering in its anger didn''t even take a moment as it turned around and scurried off in fear.


    Contrary to before, its steps were fast but light.


    Seeing the shadow disappear deeper into the forest, the old man looked with indifference at the other three beasts in the vicinity which were lying flat on the ground.


    He only spared them a glance before he shifted his attention to the barrier.


    After a short while, he confirmed there was nothing wrong with the barrier.


    Turning around, the old man whispered:


    "What had gotten the little guy so riled up? He is usually so quiet and obedient."


    Thinking of something, the old man released his divine sense.


    Surprisingly his divine sense easily covered the entire side of the mountain forest separated by the barrier, which spanned over a hundred thousand kilometers.


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    ......


    Deep within the forest, a pitch-black snake hung on top of a branch, with its eyes closed and its body covered in blood.


    Sensing something, the eyes of the snake snapped open at the same time it was covered in the spiritual sense of the old man.


    The spiritual wave stopped for a moment, but suddenly the eyes of the snake seemed to flicker with the light of a myriad of stars.


    A moment later, the spiritual wave continued, causing the snake to close its eyes once more.


    .....


    After taking two minutes to investigate the forest, the old man rubbed his black beard.


    "There doesn''t seem to be anything wrong!" he whispered.


    Looking at the faraway academy, he murmured under his breath:


    "I better check the new student that girl Evangeline has been disturbing me about."


    His body merged into the darkness of the forest and he disappeared soon after.


    .....


    Back to the present.


    All the students upon entering the forest encountered a common beast.


    It was a white rabbit. But it was bigger and looked more scary than normal.


    The rabbits turned and scurried away when they felt the aura of some of the formidable students like Arianne and the outstanding five.


    The case was different for Arlo however.


    The rabbit upon sensing his presence stopped to observe him for a moment.


    Feeling no presence of mana around Arlo, the rabbit suddenly growled before it jumped toward Arlo.


    Arlo looked at the lunging rabbit indifferently and merely raised his palm.


    *Zing!*


    A ball-sized orb suddenly appeared as it rotated at great speed.


    Before the rabbit could react, Arlo launched the orb forward, and in a second, it blasted the rabbit into meat paste.


    Arlo quickly backed away to avoid the blood from sprinkling on him.


    After all, unlike others, he couldn''t use mana so he couldn''t use the special function of their uniform.


    Closing his eyes, Arlo thought for a moment and made his decision.


    He still remembered the reward Evangeline had given him at the end of the ranking war.


    She had directly transferred the first part of Dirty martial arts into his mind.


    He had already gone through the art, and unlike before his interest was truly kindled.


    The first part of dirty martial arts involved using every part of the body as a weapon. But that wasn''t all. It also included attacking parts of the pressure points of a humanoid organism.


    That is right!


    Dirty martial arts was a fighting technique that targeted the pressure points of opponents.


    It was unique, and if it wasn''t for its name, Arlo would have believed it was truly the best martial art in existence.


    Not only did Arlo plan on practicing his martial arts, but he also planned on practicing with Anita''s powers.


    He hadn''t had any opportunity until now.


    .....


    In the evening.


    The sun was already setting, as it released its last fiery light to illuminate the world.


    Arlo crept slowly as he watched a massive Gorilla that was feasting on the entrails of an antelope-like beast.


    The Gorilla kind of reminded him of the Torkun beast he had encountered a short while after coming into this world.


    The only difference was that this beast was far bigger, standing at least 10m tall.


    Another difference was that its fur was black.


    Arlo contemplated for a while as he continued to observe the beast.


    Judging from the aura around the beast, it was comparable to a mid-level advanced mage. After finding out that he hadn''t truly broken into the one-star stage, Arlo wasn''t so sure if he could defeat such a beast.


    *Whoosh*


    Suddenly a shadow pounced at him from behind.


    Arlo caught a glimpse of the shadow and was surprised.


    The shadow was a rabbit, but Arlo hadn''t seen such a beast since he headed deeper into the forest.


    Sure enough, this rabbit was different from the previous ones.


    While its fur was still white, it was huge and had a height of at least 6m. Also, its eyes were Scarlett red.


    Arlo didn''t know whether it had targeted him because he had killed a lot of its kind, after all, there was a much scarier being a few distance from them, so it shouldn''t have acted so recklessly.


    Caught off-guard, all Arlo could do was raise his left arm to prevent the massive rabbit from biting his head off.


    *Crunch!*


    The rabbit''s fangs bit into Arlo''s arm while the sound of bone breaking resounded.


    Arlo''s face twisted from pain, as he gritted his teeth to the point they almost bled to prevent a painful cry from escaping.


    Before the rabbit could apply more force into its jaws, a ringing sound drifted into its ears and before it could react, a ball-size orb released from Arlo''s right hand blasted it away.


    Arlo quickly got back to his feet as he noticed he couldn''t hear the sound of eating from behind him anymore.


    ''Shit!*


    The rabbit got back to its feet and glared at Arlo.


    Seeing that his orb didn''t cause any substantial damage and just barely drew blood from the beast''s fur, Arlo''s face turned grave.


    *Whoosh*


    A massive shadow suddenly loomed over Arlo.


    Quickly raising his head, Arlo''s face turned pale and he couldn''t help but curse.


    ''Fuck!''


    The gorilla had jumped high into the air, and with its hands now clenched together, it was falling above him.


    Arlo wanted to move but before he could react, thick black roots suddenly rose from the ground around him and held his hands and legs in place.


    Seeing the looming shadow grow bigger below him, Arlo caught a glimpse of the previous rabbit retreating a safe distance, but it didn''t leave.


    Arlo racked his brain on how to survive this ordeal.


    But what he didn''t know was that there was a much scarier beast than even the Gorilla who was gazing at everything that was happening.


    Its eyes flashed with intelligence, and its size was about 30m.


    It was one of the three beasts that were lying down in fear due to the presence of the terrifying creature.


    After the old man left, and seeing that no one noticed the gap that was now present in the barrier, the three beasts hesitated for a great while before they finally fell to the temptation of evolving into a much greater beast.


    They had noticed the pitch-black snake was special and even if it was strong, it was gravely injured and looked to be on its last legs.


    Under the allure of consuming a much greater beast and evolving, the three beasts passed through the gap in the barrier and entered the outermost region of the mountain forest.


    *****


    AN: Don''t forget to rate the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 108: PRIMAL HUNTER

    A shadow streaked through the forest.


    Arianne hopped from one branch to another, as she enjoyed this feeling of freedom she was experiencing.


    She noticed something move a few distance from her right side, and quietly came to a stop.


    Perching on the branch on all four, she moved ever so slowly and quietly.


    She didn''t look different from any other animal.


    A few breaths later, she finally saw what had caught her attention.


    It was a massive Jaguar that had its body lowered as it stalked its prey.


    A few distance from the black Jaguar was a dear-like beast about 3m high. Arianne noticed from its aura that it was comparable to a peak-beginner mage.


    Shifting her attention back to the Jaguar, she couldn''t help but furrow her brows.


    Because the Jaguar had hidden its aura perfectly, Arianne couldn''t gauge the beast''s power.


    But that couldn''t stop the maniacal grin that was flashing on her face.


    Since morning she had killed at least 20 beasts. At some point, she got bored, as the beasts were simply not her match.


    But after remembering Grim''s words, she decided to put them into practice.


    Instead of outright killing her prey, she decided to stalk them before she would pounce on them in surprise; just like any other predator.


    After trying it out a few times, she discovered something.


    Something within her blood boiled every time she made a kill.


    She enjoyed that primal feeling, and before she knew it, that innate desire started clouding her mind, it started controlling her.


    The deer-like beast who was gazing quietly at its surroundings, as its instincts were screaming at it suddenly turned to its side when it noticed something brush past the grass.


    Its body visibly relaxed when it noticed it was just the rustling of the grass from the air.


    *Whoosh*


    Its relaxing body instantly went on overdrive as a massive shadow loomed over it, but before it could react, the dreadful fangs of the Jaguar pierced into its neck, causing it to release a painful cry.


    It wanted to struggle and was about to use its mana when suddenly a massive pressure caused it to go still.


    The black Jaguar released its repressed aura.


    It was a beast comparable to a peak-advanced mage.


    The overbearing pressure caused the deer-like beast to succumb to death quietly.


    Arianne noticed the aura around the Jagauar that was tearing into its prey but didn''t seem to care.


    Her eyes glowed red, and saliva drifted out from the side of her mouth.


    The emotions in her eyes were no different from a feral beast.


    It was a primal desire to kill.


    Her body moved slowly without her control, as she inched closer to the feasting Jaguar.


    There was no sound caused by her movement, her breathing was shallow to the point of being non-existent.


    The Jaguar which prided itself in its concealment didn''t know that a creature was stalking it at this very moment.


    The Jaguar moved to the head of the deer-like beast, but seeing the deadly antlers which the deer didn''t even have an opportunity to use obstruct it, it moved its claws and tried to break it when suddenly:


    *Whoosh*


    Seeing this opening, Arianne jumped high into the air on all four; her movement was all subconscious and without her control.


    The boiling blood within her seemed to have reached its limit. Suddenly her body which was high in the air in the direction of the Jaguar started changing.


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    Her hair became far longer and covered her entire back reaching down to her feet.


    Her facial features changed; her eyes disappeared, and the same went for her nose.


    And what remained on her face was a wide mouth through which several pointed teeth comparable to fangs were visible.


    She pounced on the back of the Jaguar before her teeth pierced into its neck, just like the beast had done for its prey.


    "ROAR!"


    The Jaguar roared in pain.


    Unlike what happened when it had attacked its prey, the fear the Jaguar felt immediately changed into anger, and without any hesitation it released its aura to the fullest as it gave another roar.


    *ROAR!*


    Arianne''s body was sent flying backward, and three breaths later, her body slammed into the trunk of a massive tree.


    *BAM!*


    The Jaguar opened its mouth in Arianne''s direction as it ignored the blood that was streaming down its neck.


    Its eyes flared in anger, and a massive black ball formed before its opened mouth.


    Unfortunately.


    Arianne who had slammed into the tree trunk and broken it into two, stood up as if she hadn''t felt any pain.


    She opened her mouth and released a primal roar, one much scarier than the one the Jaguar had released.


    A spiritual wave spread out from her with that roar, and in a mere instant, it slammed into the Jaguar which was about to launch the now-formed one-meter pitch-black ball before it.


    Its eyes went still and its movement halted completely.


    Arianne suddenly fell on all four, and her body rushed forward with a fluttering sound.


    A meters away from the Jaguar, she noticed it was about to recollect itself.


    Her body erupted with a blood-red essence, and suddenly the blood that was streaming out the neck of the now-awakened beast turned into a blood-red chain that tightened around its neck.


    The Jaguar whose consciousness blanked for a moment came to, only to feel choked as the blood-red chain tightened around its neck greatly.


    Arianne''s now almost three-meter body flashed before the Jaguar and slashed her right claw across its neck.


    Her claw glistened with a red light.


    *Spurt!*


    A fountain of blood spurted from the neck of the jaguar, as its head flew into the air.


    The black ball before it slowly disappeared while its body fell with a thud.


    Racing her head, Arianne released a horrifyingly loud and deep primal roar that resounded within the forest for several miles.


    *ROOOOAAAAR!*


    After almost a full minute of roaring to the sky, she lowered her head and fixed her gaze on her kill.


    Her body moved on its own, and she tore into the cut neck of the Jaguar and started sucking its blood, blood that had already formed a pool on the ground.


    Arianne couldn''t tell how long she feasted upon the beast.


    When she came to, she found herself in an entirely different area.


    It was still night, as the moonlight seeped past the huge branches and leaves of the massive trees and illuminated her surroundings.


    She looked at her hand and realized she was now back to her human form.


    Feeling her face, she became lost in her thoughts.


    ''Why did I transform without my control?''


    *KABOOOM!*


    She was pulled out of her thoughts when the sound of an explosion drifted into her ears from a far distance.


    *KABOOM!*


    *BOOM!*


    Even though the explosion was coming from afar, Arianne noticed something.


    The explosions were getting increasingly closer, which meant whatever was happening was drawing closer to her position.


    She threw the matter of her previous transformation to the back of her mind and decided to check what was happening.


    But suddenly, in her other direction, she heard an explosion, one far lower in intensity than the previous one.


    But her eyes widened when she noticed, this explosion was less than half a kilometer from her.


    From her position, she could see a fire lit that part of the forest, as smoke rose into the ground.


    *KABOOM!*


    She frowned and thought for a moment.


    Ignoring the more intense explosion that seemed to get louder and closer with every breath, she moved toward the fire that was starting to spread.


    In less than ten breaths, Arianne was just about 30m from the burning area.


    The temperature in this area had risen a lot, and the heat was a bit unbearable even for her.


    But thankfully, her uniform helped to reduce a lot of heat and made it just barely bearable for her.


    Arianne couldn''t help but stop, while a look of hesitation flashed on her young but pretty face.


    She didn''t stop because of the heat, but because she could tell from the fire that had stopped spreading that it wasn''t a normal one.


    The fire covered a region of about 20m and no matter what, it didn''t spread any further, as if it had an intelligence of its own.


    But Arianne refused to believe such a thing, so the greater possibility would be that the fire was being controlled.


    And since no vampire could control fire laws, that could only mean this was the work of a beast.


    However, the massive trees within the fire didn''t burn down quickly. Instead, it seemed as if they could still last a while longer.


    "...away, you beast!"


    Suddenly, a muffled scream drifted into Arianne''s ears.


    And while she didn''t hear the words spoken by the person, for some reason she found the voice awfully familiar.


    Every trace of hesitation disappeared from her face, and before she knew it, she fell on all four.


    Arianne crouched and approached the burning region as quietly as possible.


    She evaded the region with more flames and after finding the branch of a tree that was yet to catch aflame, she jumped onto it.


    With higher ground, she was able to see what was happening a few feet from her.


    But what she saw caused her mind to go blank for a second,


    There before her was a massive firebird, standing at about 15m high as it perched on a big branch of a tree.


    The firebird gazed at the two beings before it in disdain.


    It was a 2m long black snake that seemed to be wounded and seemed to be on its last leg.


    It was a miracle how it was still able to survive in front of such a terrifying beast.


    But that miracle didn''t come about naturally, instead, it was created by a dark-haired boy who stood in front of the beast and spread his hands out as if to block the terrifying beast from drawing closer.


    His white snake-like pupil flashed with a rare light of determination.


    Unfortunately, determination alone couldn''t win a battle.


    And that was proven by his current state, as he was drenched completely in blood and his skin covered with burn marks.


    Even the highly durable academy uniform had been burnt away


    Before Arianne knew it, her body flew into the air and started transforming for the second time on the same night, as an angry roar escaped her mouth.


    "DIE, YOU BEAST!*

 CHAPTER 109: MEETING A LEGENDARY BEAST

    Night fell.


    A group of five students walked through the scary forest, with the occasional roars of beasts as their background.


    "I still don''t see why he is in our group!" a student grumbled.


    "Quiet! It''s Rosaline''s decision."


    Upon being reminded it was Rosaline who allowed that coward to join, the boy could only grumble inwardly even if he was unwilling.


    Leading the group was a dark-haired with several white streaks young girl of about 12 years.


    Rosaline led the group of five, and while she could still hear their whispers, she decided to ignore them.


    *ROOOOAR!*


    A deep and terrifying animalistic roar suddenly echoed in the dark forest.


    The majority of the students in the group shivered in fear as the roar continued to resound for a while, only Rosaline''s face turned pale as she felt her bloodline tremble in the presence of the mere roar.


    In almost a minute, the roar faded slowly.


    Three of the students fell on their rear causing Rosaline to turn around and check the group.


    But upon noticing that the last student among their group not only did not fall down but even had an uncertain look on his face, Rosaline was briefly stunned.


    She had already judged this dark-haired boy with white snake-like pupils as a coward.


    Yet the coward didn''t seem to be afraid.


    This student was exactly Joe.


    He had stumbled upon Rosaline''s group. He thought the group would get back at him after what he did to them during the ranking war, so he had panicked and planned to run at the first sight of opportunity.


    But who would have thought that Rosaline would propose to him to join their group against the will of the three other students?


    Since Rosaline assured his safety, and he was also a bit scared to act alone, he decided to join the group.


    He didn''t care about failing the class.


    In fact, he had only been able to hunt three rabbits. As for the other beasts, he didn''t know why he didn''t encounter many, but the few he met, he made sure to move around them and slip away.


    What Joe didn''t know is that the majority of the beasts didn''t pay much attention to him as he also gave the aura of a beast.


    He was a magical beast after all.


    Rosaline collected herself upon noticing that she couldn''t hear the roars of other beasts after that particular roar that caused her bloodline to tremble.


    The forest was tranquil at this moment.


    Looking around, she adjusted her specs and sent her divine sense to cover a region of about 15m around them.


    She could extend her divine sense further but refrained against it so as not to alert any beast of their presence.


    After making sure they were safe for the moment, she spoke to the group.


    "Let''s rest for a short while before we continue!"


    "Thank goodness!" the other students were visibly happy upon hearing her words. They had been hunting for beasts since morning and hadn''t had any rest.


    The last beast they hunted before meeting Joe was comparable to a mid-level advanced mage, and if it wasn''t for Rosaline''s help, the trio would have teleported at the first sight of the beast. In fact, without Rosaline, they wouldn''t have dared venture this deep into the forest. The same went for the majority of the students and only those who were confident in their strength would dare.


    Now they could rest their strained nerve.


    Rosaline rested on the trunk of a tree and fixed her eyes on Joe.


    Joe who was still thinking about the last roar he heard noticed her gaze, and smiled gently at her, gaining Rosaline''s irritated glare.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Joe quickly shifted his eyes away so as not to provoke a hornet''s nest.


    The group rested for almost an hour, and when Rosaline was just about to inform them to continue, Joe suddenly sprang up and ran further into the forest.


    "What the hell is he doing?" one of the students asked in surprise.


    "He must be tired of living!" Another snickered.


    Rosaline hesitated for a moment, but soon later, she chased after Joe.


    The fact that Joe was a weakling and a coward was cemented in her bright mind, so for Joe to act so recklessly, something important must have happened.


    The other students hesitated upon seeing Rosaline chase after Joe.


    One of the students couldn''t help but voice out, "Why don''t we use the bracelet? I don''t think I can last any longer."


    The other two hesitated but soon after one of them gritted his teeth and spoke:


    "Let''s go!"


    He ran in Rosaline''s direction.


    The other two had no choice but to follow.


    .....


    Joe ran through the forest as he threw caution into the air.


    He didn''t know why, but his bloodline suddenly boiled as if reacting to something.


    It was almost as if something was tugging at him.


    He ran for almost three minutes before he finally stopped.


    His gaze became fixed on a pitch-black snake of about 2m long coiled around itself as it rested on the soil, with fallen leaves strewn about it.


    The snake was covered in blood while a pool had formed below it.


    He couldn''t feel any sign of life from the snake but for some reason, something within him told him otherwise.


    It was his bloodline.


    *Ba-Dum!* *Ba-Dum!*


    Joe could feel his heart beating faster.


    He suddenly walked toward the snake with slow and quiet steps.


    As if noticing something, the closed eyes of the snake slowly snapped open.


    Its eyes which seemed to flicker with the light of stars became fixed on Joe.


    Joe stopped for a moment upon making eye contact with the snake.


    Something within him seemed to be riled up, and before he knew it his body moved on its own, as his right hand stretched out toward the snake.


    The snake didn''t make any movement and simply looked at Joe''s outstretched palm that drew closer by the second with an impassive gaze.


    *Whoosh!*


    Suddenly a figure flashed behind Joe, a sweet voice resounding in the area:


    "What the hell are you doing?" Rosaline questioned.


    The snake was startled, and mustering whatever strength it could, it slowly raised its head and hissed toward Rosaline.


    "Don''t come closer!"


    Joe turned around and shouted at her.


    Rosaline frowned as a myriad of thoughts flashed within her mind for a second.


    After thinking about it, she remained in place and simply watched him.


    Seeing that Rosaline heeded his words, Joe sighed in relief and shifted his eyes back to the snake in front of him.


    The snake ignored him and glared at Rosaline.


    "It''s okay, she doesn''t mean any harm!" said Joe as his hand inched closer to the snake.


    A moment later, his hand touched the head of the snake causing the snake to finally shift its gaze away from Rosaline to him.


    Joe didn''t dare to move and could only lock eyes with the snake as he held his breath.


    "Rosaline, what is going on?"


    The sound of footsteps drew closer at the same time Rosaline caught a fiery light streak from afar in a fraction of a second.


    Her face paled, as she opened her mouth quickly to shout:


    "Run!"


    However, it was too late.


    A fireball over 2 meters in diameter suddenly flashed beside them in an instant, and without colliding with anything, it exploded.


    *BOOOOOOOOM!*


    A violent explosion rocked the surrounding, rooting the tall and massive trees from the ground and flinging them far into the distance.


    Following the explosion''s shockwave, a blazing flame spread out in a mere instant, engulfing everything within 20m around it.


    The three students didn''t even get a chance to react before their bodies exploded into blood and gore from the mere shockwave.


    Perching above one of the few standing trees within the vicinity was a massive firebird, that gazed at the three beings who were able to survive its previous surprise attack.


    Joe now transformed into an eight-meter snake coiled his body around the smaller snake to protect it from the attack.


    The majority of his scales had fallen, almost as if he had been skinned.


    Surprisingly enough, the uniform was able to accommodate his massive increase in size; the only problem was that several parts of it had been burnt away from the previous attack.


    Joe''s body released the smell of burned meat.


    Hissing in pain, Joe uncoiled his body a bit and confirmed the snake was unarmed from the previous attack.


    He transformed back into his human form.


    But that too couldn''t hide his injured state.


    Looking at the snake in his embrace, Joe spoke with a rare expression of resolve on his face:


    "I will protect you!"


    He could send his mana into the bracelet and quickly teleport from there, but the thought itself never crossed his mind as he would be leaving the snake beast behind.


    He didn''t know why he was behaving like this, but something within him wanted to protect the snake at all costs; even at the cost of his life.


    The pitch-black snake looked at him with its sparkling star eyes.


    "Uhnnn!"


    The sound of painful groans resounded in the vicinity followed by light footsteps.


    Rosaline walked back to Joe''s side.


    Thankfully her uniform was mostly unaffected by the flames as she was able to move away in time, and while she grunted in pain, Joe could see her wounds healing fast.


    The same could be said for him too but his rate of healing was far slower.


    Turning to her, Joe handed the snake to her as he spoke:


    "Can you carry it for a second!"


    But even before Rosaline could reply, the snake hissed towards her threateningly, and before Joe could react, it jumped out of his embrace. Landing on the ground, it rested on the floor almost as if it had used up all its energy.


    "That works too!" Smiling, Joe said towards it before he turned around.


    He failed to notice the strange mark that had appeared on his palm after touching the snake.


    Looking at the firebird that was gazing down at him disdainfully, he spread out his hands beside him and spoke with resolve:


    "I won''t allow you to pass!"


    The firebird was just about to give a disdainful cry in response when its expression changed.


    "DIE, YOU BEAST!"


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. Support the novel by adding it as a favorite and if possible, rating it.

 CHAPTER 110: CHASED BY TWO BEASTS

    Keep calm!''


    ''I need to keep calm!''


    Arlo tried to relax his tense nerves even as the shadow on the soil below him grew larger.


    He ignored the beast falling above him and fixed his eyes on the rabbit a hundred meters from him.


    He sent almost half his Ki into the slime seal.


    A fraction of a second later, bluish energy left the seal and moved at his right hand and his neck.


    *Ring!*


    *Ring!*


    *Ring!*


    With a loud ringing sound, six orbs appeared around Arlo.


    Without hesitation, Arlo sent four of the orbs above him and revolved the other two around him.


    The two rotating orbs destroyed all the roots that held him in place.


    Ignoring the *Bang!* sound that resounded above him, Arlo sent all his Ki into his legs and stomped on the ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise up at that position.


    But he was already long gone.


    He left after images in his wake and in just five breaths he appeared before the stunned rabbit.


    The rabbit quickly moved to attack but Arlo suddenly opened his mouth and shouted atop his lungs at the same time he moved all the ki on his legs to his right hand in just a nanosecond.


    "FREEZE!"


    The surrounding ki suddenly converged on the rabbit, as its overbearing pressure held it in place due to Arlo''s command using Ruler''s Authority.


    Arlo''s right fist which was surrounded by vibrant light collided with the head of the rabbit.


    *BAM!*


    The rabbit''s head exploded into blood and gore.


    Arlo ignored the dead corpse of the rabbit.


    The thought of even extracting its core didn''t cross his mind as a far deadlier enemy still remained behind him.


    Turning around, Arlo prepared himself for a great battle.


    Because it had only taken Arlo about ten breaths to kill the rabbit beast, Arlo was able to turn back in time to see the ape-like beast rise from the ground after colliding with his previous attack.


    But that was all.


    The ape-like beast wasn''t affected in any way.


    It rose onto its feet, standing at a height of 8m, as it glared at Arlo.


    Arlo racked his brain on a plan to defeat the beast before him but before the plan could even take form, Old bro''s grim voice resounded in his mind.


    << Boy, you need to run, now! You are being watched by a beast in the master realm! >>


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    Arlo''s face turned pale while his heartbeat sped faster.


    Ignoring the beast that was glaring at him, Arlo took advantage of the more than a hundred-meter distance between them and ran in the opposite direction.


    The Ki in his body right now was less than fifty percent.


    So he could only concentrate 20% of his remaining Ki on his legs so as to lessen its consumption.


    But even with that, he was fast enough to cover 4m every second.


    *ROAR!*


    An angry roar echoed from behind him before the sound of loud stomps followed.


    It didn''t take a genius to know that the beast was giving chase.


    Like this two hours passed.


    It was now nighttime.


    Arlo was drenched in sweat but he continued to run.


    The only reason he could last this long was because of Anita.


    He had had no choice but to wake her up when he depleted his Ki pool.


    Anita was the one that sent him part of her energy; energy she had acquired from devouring the corrupted vampires and three-headed hound.


    But even with this, the mental exhaustion was starting to draw him back.


    But he gritted his teeth and persevered.


    He had already thought about it countless times within this two-hour time frame.


    And he had always arrived at the fact that he could never defeat a spiritual beast comparable to a master realm mage.


    Even at this point, Arlo could not even glimpse a shadow of the terrifying beast tailing him.


    But Old Bro had already informed him it was a sort of spider-like beast.


    It was hanging far on top of the massive trees, which was another reason it was hard to detect.


    *Roar!*


    He ignored the angry roars of the ape-like beast also chasing him; as even while it was a terrifying opponent in its own right, it still couldn''t bring him to the point of despair.


    During the chase, he had met Bon and Judi. He wasn''t surprised the duo teamed up after they were siblings.


    Contrary to what the duo thought, Arlo didn''t involve them in his problem and simply ignored them.


    Like this, some time passed.


    Suddenly...


    *ROOOOOOOOAR!*


    A terrifying primal roar echoed within the dark forest, causing the roaring ape to shut up and Arlo to stop in his tracks.


    The roar resounded for almost a minute, and within this time, Arlo''s face changed expressions countless times.


    Immediately when the roar died down, Arlo gritted his teeth and made his decision.


    He changed direction and moved toward where the roar resounded.


    As he ran, he tried to keep a cool face.


    ''Keep calm! I need to be calm to think properly.''


    Taking slightly deep breaths even as he ran, Arlo thought:


    ''That was definitely Arianne. And for her to transform, something dangerous must have pushed her.''


    ''I have a mid-level advanced beast and a more terrifying master realm beast tailing me. But even with that, I need to make sure she is okay.''


    Like this two more hours passed.


    It was now approaching midnight, as the gentle and resplendent light of the moon cascaded down and illuminated the dark forest lightly.


    Arlo finally reached an approximate position of where the roar originated from.


    He noticed that some distance away, the forest seemed to be lit up by...flames?


    But the fire didn''t seem to be spreading.


    He ignored that phenomenon for now and focused on his immediate surroundings.


    But he couldn''t remain still for too long as the ape-like beast was drawing ever closer.


    It seems his previous attack on the beast had angered it and it was now determined to kill him, not knowing that a far more terrifying beast was stalking them.


    Arlo quickly sent out his divine sense, and soon he noticed the corpse of a jaguar-like beast a few distance away.


    He was just about to check it when from the direction of the burning forest, an angry roar resounded:


    "DIE, YOU BEAST!"


    *****


    Because the huge firebird was perching on a branch far above the ground, even after kicking off with great force and rising over 30m above the ground, Arianne in her transformed state was still some distance from the bird.


    But she didn''t seem to mind.


    She moved her long claws to her arms and drew blood.


    A spurt of blood was released from both her arms and before they could fall, Arianne''s mana covered them.


    Immediately after two long blood chains materialized beside her before she grabbed them and flung them far above her head.


    All this happened in barely a second while Arianne was still in the air.


    Before the firebird could react, the chains coiled around both its feet.


    Arianne''s body finally started falling due to her weight and the influence of gravity but she didn''t seem to mind, and instead clung tighter to the chains before she pulled down with all her force.


    *SCREEEE!*


    The massive firebird released a loud cry as its huge body was pulled off the big branch against its will.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. Please support the novel by adding it as a favorite, and if possible, rate it. Thanks, <3

 Chapter 111: CLASH BETWEEN MONSTERS

    "SCREEEE!*


    The massive firebird released a loud cry as it''s huge body was pulled off the big branch against it''s will.


    It flapped its wings furiously and tried to resist the massive force that was trying to pull it down to the ground.


    *Roar!*


    Arianne released another roar and increase the power with which she pulled the chains, causing thick veins to show across her monstrous arms.


    Seeing that its flapping struggle was proving futile, an angry light shone from the intelligent eyes of the beast.


    A ball-sized fireball formed before it''s mouth in a mere instant and shot at Arianne who didn''t even get a chance to react.


    A bright yellow light illuminated the dark forest, followed by a resounding:


    "KABOOM!"


    "Arianne!" screamed Joe with an anxious look on his face, but a second later he had no choice but to use his arms to block his face in order to protect himself from the shockwave caused by the intense explosion.


    While the explosion of this fireball was far smaller compared to the previous one that had burned the surrounding 20m of the forest, the speed at which it was formed and launched made up for it as it was almost instantaneous.


    *BAM!*


    A body impacted the soil, raising a massive cloud of dust.


    About five breaths later, the cloud of dust dispersed revealing the situation to Joe and Rosaline''s anxious eyes.


    Part of Arianne''s uniform which had adjusted itself to accommodate her size was burnt in several places.


    The smell of burnt flesh pervaded the area.


    But Joe and Rosaline far from showing worried looks instead relaxed upon seeing all the wounds on Arianne disappear as if they didn''t exist in the first place.


    This rate of regeneration was simply phenomenal.


    Arianne rose from the ground but stumbled a few times before she could balance herself.


    The previous explosion had disoriented her senses.


    The firebird upon seeing that the little vermin that had tried to draw it down was unharmed from its previous attack; it raised its head and released an angry cry.


    It felt humiliated.


    It was a spiritual beast comparable to an early master realm mage, so it had a degree of intelligence comparable to an infant human.


    So, seeing that the peak-level beginner mage Arianne was unscathed even after bearing the full brunt of it''s attack, a raging flame lit inside it, causing the intensity the burning flame around it''s body to rise several degrees.


    However, it''s loud cry suddenly stopped abruptly.


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    It looked deep into the forest before a startled look appeared on it''s face.


    A shadow seemed to move from deep within the forest but soon after that shadow left the dark embrace of the forest and appeared fully in it''s sight.


    It was a golden-haired boy with silver eyes.


    However, what startled the firebird wasn''t the little boy, not the ape-like beast that soon followed after him before coming to a stop upon noticing the firebird.


    The firebird looked far above the tree, and a look of hesitation flashed within it''s eyes.


    It looked down behind Joe, and it''s eyes fell on the 2m pitch-black snake that was being protected by Joe.


    Soon after, the hesitation changed to resolve. It raised its and released a loud cry toward the top of the massive trees.


    What greeted it was several strands of webs which shot out at an astonishing speed towards it.


    But the firebird was also one not to be trifled, as it quickly shot out a ball-sized fireball toward the incoming webs.


    *Boom!*


    The semi-dark forest was lit up once again.


    Arlo who had stopped in his tracks, Arianne, Joe, and Rosaline couldn''t help but turn their heads and look at the monstrous entity that was revealed by the light of the previous explosion.


    It was a black steel spider with a thick outer skin as hard as steel.


    It''s size measured about 20m and the terrifying eyes that lined the front of it''s face sent goosebumps around the body of all those who gazed at it.


    The black ape that chased after Arlo fell on the ground, as it''s body shivered in fear.


    In the presence of a stronger beast, it lost all sense of struggle, and could only wait for it''s....


    As the light from the explosion died down, the several limbs of the spider that were boring into the trunks of the surrounding trees flexed before it leaped with great speed at the firebird.


    A great battle erupted.


    Arlo quickly moved toward Arianne, "Are you okay?"


    Even though there was no visible wound on her body, Arlo couldn''t help but worry upon seeing the blood stains on her exposed skin.


    Arianne didn''t respond and instead shifted her head toward the clash that was ongoing far above the sky.


    Arlo furrowed his brows upon seeing Arianne''s reaction.


    Even though Arianne didn''t have any eyes at this moment, he could still tell she was gazing at the firebird.


    "We need to leave now!" Rosaline approached Arlo and voiced out anxiously.


    Arlo nodded and spoke once again to Arianne:


    "Arianne, let us go!"


    All he received as a response was a snort that escaped from Arianne''s now massive mouth.


    Arlo didn''t know what to do, but soon after, Joe''s voice drifted into his ears.


    "We can''t leave!"


    Arlo turned back to look at Joe who seemed to not leave his position.


    He looked behind him and saw a pitch-black snake but he didn''t pay it any attention and shifted his gaze back on Joe.


    What he didn''t know was that somebody else emotion was in turmoil upon noticing the black snake.


    It was Old bro!


    "What do you mean?" Arlo asked.


    "Those two beasts are here for the snake behind him. And I can''t let them have it, no! I won''t let them have it!"


    Arlo frowned upon seeing the determination in Joe''s eyes. This was the first time since he met Joe that he saw the latter this determined to fight for something, to the point of risking his life.


    Rosaline pitched in from the side:


    "How do you know that they are fighting for the snake? That snake looks like it will soon die and honestly, I don''t see anything really special about it."


    Joe thought about it deeply but in the end, he could only reply with:


    "I just know!"


    Arlo sighed upon seeing the resolve on Joe''s face.


    Turning back, he looked at Arianne who was still watching the intense battle in the sky.


    ''She is hell-bent on killing that bird, huh?''


    Left with no choice, Arlo steeled his heart.


    Since his only friends wished to fight, he would support them to the best of his abilities.


    "Anita! it''s time to come out!"


    ''Huh?'' Rosaline was confused. But suddenly her eyes widened when she saw Arlo''s right upper arm shine with a blue light before a slime appeared on his head.


    The 2m pitch black snake which had been lying on the ground behind Joe with it''s eyes closed, looking no different from a corpse suddenly snapped it''s eyes open.


    A different emotion from the light of indifference shone in its eyes for the first time.


    Looking at Anita, a look of surprise shone in it''s eyes before it was soon replaced by fear.


    Arlo didn''t notice any of these changes.


    In fact, none of the people present noticed it except from Old Bro.


    Looking at the sprawled-down ape-like beast, Arlo formed a plan.


    "Anita, it''s time to add more skills to your collection.!"


    Anita bobbed happily in reply.


    "Are these guys nuts?" Rosaline murmured under her breath when she saw the trio wanted to fight instead of escaping.

 CHAPTER 112: THE POWER OF TEAMWORK

    ''Yay! I can finally leave!'' Arianne communicated telepathically with Arlo.


    ''I am sorry!'' Arlo apologized, a guilty look flashing on his face.


    ''If you mean it, then don''t send me back into the seal.''


    Arlo gave a wry smile but he didn''t comment on it. After all, he also didn''t have a choice in this matter.


    He wasn''t strong to the point where he could resist the whole world if they came after it.


    Right now he wasn''t even the strongest among his peers.


    Clenching his hands, Arlo steeled his resolve once more; the last scene Old Bro showed him flashing in his mind.


    ''I don''t want to be so helpless again.''


    Remembering how his parents were attacked and he wasn''t able to do a thing about it, Arlo whispered:


    "Never again!"


    He fixed his gaze on the immobile ape-like beast and spoke:


    "Let''s go, Anita!"


    Anita who was bobbing happily on his head jumped off before a cloud of darkness surrounded her.


    She moved towards the dark places in the forest and quickly disappeared.


    Rosaline''s eyes widened in surprise.


    "Isn''t that darkness laws?"


    Looking at Arlo who kicked off the ground and moved toward the ape-like beast, she couldn''t help but question under her breath:


    "Who the hell are you?"


    Arlo approached the ape beast and only stopped when he captured its attention.


    The beast moved his head toward Arlo and looked at him cautiously.


    It might be rendered powerless by the aura of the two beasts fighting high in the sky, but he didn''t fear any other person present.


    While the beast gazed at Arlo threateningly, it didn''t notice the shadow behind it move a bit.


    The cute voice of a little girl echoed amidst the constant sound of explosions coming from the clash up in the sky.


    "Universal devouring!"


    Anita suddenly expanded in size, and in an instant covered the entirety of the upper portion of the ape''s body with only its head remaining.


    Within death''s grasp, the beast overcame the fear it felt from the two beasts in the sky and roared in anger.


    "Roooa...." unfortunately the roar was cut short as Arlo who was just a meter in front of it flashed before it instantly and sent an orb into its opened mouth.


    *Bang!*


    Before the ape beast could even grunt in pain, Anita covered it completely, before returning to her normal size.


    She remained still in her position as her body shone with a blue light.


    Arlo knew it would take a little while for her to digest the ape''s power.


    Turning back, he ignored Rosaline''s stunned expression and joined Arianne and Joe in watching the battle raging on in the sky.


    The firebird had risen high into the sky, far from the reach of the massive trees.


    But even with this unique advantage, it still couldn''t get one over the black steel spider.


    Using the utmost top of the massive trees as footholds, the massive spider covered the entire region of their battle in its web.


    Every time, the firebird launched a fireball, it would also release a net of webs to cover it and contain the explosion.


    Seeing the two formidable beasts battle it out, Arlo confirmed once more that there was no way they could defeat such a beast with their current powers.


    At least using normal methods.


    Evangeline''s words flashed within his mind:


    ''Dirty martial arts...''


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Arlo was woken up from his thoughts when he felt movement from behind.


    Without turning back, he asked in his mind:


    ''Done already?''


    With a puff of darkness, Anita appeared on his head.


    Instead of replying, Anita responded with her action.


    An enormous amount of energy was released from the blue slime on his arm, before feeling his entire body with strength Arlo had never felt before.


    Feeling his energy reserve that was almost depleted from running for several hours recovered, Arlo couldn''t help but voice out:


    "Nice!"


    With that he moved towards Joe and spoke in a loud voice:


    "I have a plan!"


    Successfully capturing Joe and Rosaline''s attention, Arlo looked at Arianne and shouted:


    "Arianne, if you want to kill that beast, come listen to my plan!"


    Arianne who had remained still without moving her gaze from the firebird finally moved.


    .....


    Five minutes later.


    Arlo was high up on the branch of a massive tree with Anita resting in his embrace.


    He kissed Anita''s slimy body and spoke:


    "I will leave it to you!"


    "Hmm." Anita gave a satisfied moan.


    Anita was the anchor of their plan.


    He placed her on the branch and jumped toward another''s branch as he made his way opposite where Arianne was staying.


    Rosaline rested on a tree in the opposite direction of Joe.


    Around Joe''s neck coiled the 2m pitch-black snake, its starry eyes gazing intelligently at the scene in front of it.


    While the others thought the snake was at death''s door, Joe could feel the vitality of the snake reviving, it was just that it was only to a small extent enough for it to barely escape the claws of death.


    The four of them were very high up the massive trees and close to the raging battle.


    They waited for the signal from Arlo.


    Arlo''s position wasn''t too far away from Anita: because she would be unsummoned if the distance between them was too much.


    ''It''s time!'' he sent telepathically to Anita.


    Suddenly the still Anita erupted with a green essence, and immediately after, an astonishing scene took place.


    Aside from the branches Arlo, Arianne, Joe, and Rosaline were standing on, all the branches of the massive trees in the surrounding ten meters lengthened and streaked toward the sky.


    The two formidable beasts who were in a heated battle were caught off guard; the strengthened branches tightening across their body.


    "SCREEEE!*


    *SHRIEK!*


    The two beasts released angry cries. They weren''t oblivious to the movement of the humans they deemed as rats below them, it was just that they thought their actions insignificant.


    Now caught within their grasp, they couldn''t help but feel humiliated.


    But before they could react, Rosaline quickly moved toward one of the huge legs of the massive black spider.


    "World of darkness!"


    Her beautiful voice resounded out.


    A massive burst of mana was released from her body and immediately after, a sphere of darkness enveloped her and the massive black steel spider.


    Rosaline proved to be a notch above Bon and Judi.


    Compared to when Judi used this skill against Arlo, Rosaline''s was stronger and far larger. Not only that, it didn''t interfere with the branches that were holding the spider in place, which showed her masterful control over the skill.


    Her task was to restrain the black steel spider for at most 30 seconds.


    At the same time, she enveloped the black steel spider in the world of darkness, Arlo, Arianne, and Joe ran atop the branches that were holding the firebird in place.


    The firebird naturally noticed them and released another cry, the intensity of the flames around it rising.


    *Whoosh!*


    *Whoosh!*


    *Whoosh!*


    Three poison bombs suddenly landed on the firebird.


    While the poison bombs barely had any effect as they were even almost burnt away by the high temperature of the flames around it before hitting its body; the firebird felt humiliated that such a weak human''s attack had even reached it.


    Seeing that he had successfully captured the attention of the firebird, Joe shouted at the top of his lungs:


    "NOW!"


    Arianne''s current over two-meter body which had been matching the pace at which Arlo and Joe ran suddenly turned into a blur, one that Arlo could barely catch with his eyes.


    A few meters from the back of the firebird, she jumped high into the air and released a roar, one filled with anger.


    "ROOOAR!"


    Using the blood from her previous injuries which were still covering her, she summoned two long chains and launched them at the neck of the firebird.


    The chains wrapped around the firebird''s neck, and a moment later, Arianne landed at its back, between its two wings.


    Ignoring the flames that were already burning her lower parts, she pulled at the chains.


    "SCREE!*


    A painful cry escaped the beak of the firebird.


    From the moment Anita released her branches to now, five breaths have barely passed.


    The firebird couldn''t even flap its wings properly due to the restraints on its body.


    The chains around the neck tightened more as Arianne pulled with all her force. Her body which was being burnt away by the scorching waves of flames regenerated almost simultaneously, allowing Arianne to remain on the firebird''s back.


    Seeing that it couldn''t depend on its natural flames, the firebird gathered its mana and prepared to launch a devastating attack at these weaklings that dared to fight it.


    At almost the tenth breath since Arlo''s group moved, a loud ringing sound drifted into the ears of the firebird, momentarily stopping it from making its attacks.


    The firebird''s pupils constricted as it saw the small figure in front of it, with two huge orbs spinning at his sides.


    Arlo locked eyes with the firebird and at that instant, time seemed to stop.


    Evangeline''s voice rang in his mind:


    ''Even the strongest has a weak point''


    After thinking about it, Arlo realized there was only one weakness he could utilize against this bird.


    It was its eyes.


    The two orbs twice the size of a basketball moved toward the firebird''s eyes with a loud ringing sound.


    *Pushi!*


    The eyeballs of the firebird were blasted into a mess of blood and gore.


    *SCREEE!*


    A painful cry, louder than the previous ones escaped the beak of the firebird.


    But that wasn''t all, Arlo who was still in the air rose a few meters higher until he reached a point above the firebird''s head.


    As his body fell from the influence of gravity, Arlo positioned his body in such a way that his knees were pointed downward, with his feet held by his hands from behind.


    He concentrated all his Ki on his knees as he gave a loud cry.


    At the same time, Arianne roared louder and pulled the chains with a strength that could snap even the trunk of the massive trees in two.


    *Crack!*


    A cracking sound resounded from the neck of the firebird at the same time that...


    *BAAAAAAAAM!*


    *CRACK!*


    Arlo landed on the head of the firebird


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. From next week, there will be a minimum of 5 chapters released. If you haven''t added the novel as your favorite, be sure to do so. Thank you.

 CHAPTER 113: THE BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY AETHER

    AN: Sorry for the late update.


    "Hey, are you seriously going to help him?"


    "Yes!"


    "Sigh..."


    Bon had a complicated look on his face as he gazed at the back of his determined sister.


    He didn''t know what happened for his sister to develop an interest in that golden-haired human.


    Honestly, he knew what he did on their first encounter was wrong and he was no different from a bully.


    It was just that a week before when Arlo was brought, their family had participated in a noble gathering.


    Because of their status as a lower-class noble, not only were he and his sister alienated, but even their parents were looked down upon.


    In fact, his father was originally a plebian, and it wasn''t until after he obtained the grace of one of the Counts that his status changed.


    The vampires were a race that emphasized the importance of status.


    So after receiving Joe, the duo didn''t hesitate to feast on them. It was also their first time feasting directly on a magical beast, not to mention one of royal bloodline.


    But someone interrupted their feast.


    It was the first human they had ever seen in their lives.


    The general knowledge vampires had about humans was that they were physically weak, but were able to make it up with their talents with diverse laws.


    The golden-haired boy had immediately ordered them to stop, sparking his fury.


    He decided to use the human as an outlet to release his anger, but surprisingly the human resisted.


    It was then his knowledge of humans was overturned. Not only did the human have high physical strength as opposed to their knowledge, but he didn''t even feel any mana from the human.


    In the end.


    He lost to a human.


    Not only did he lose, but he later found out that his sister lost.


    What is this?


    Were they not talented?


    He and his sister have always been showered with praise from their parents.


    Even the vampires of the higher class who looked down on them had no choice but to acknowledge their talent.


    It was mainly because he recognized their talents that one of the Counts shared his origin blood with their family two years ago.


    Yet they lost to a human?


    But Bon didn''t despair.


    He was yet to awaken the origin blood he received and was still limited by his original bloodline.


    He thought the human would be far beneath their feet when they awakened.


    But what was the truth?


    He met the human in the academy where he was supposed to be awakened at.


    And the human demonstrated immense potential, one that even he couldn''t help but admire.


    In the end, his hatred for the human started dying down and soon changed into competitiveness.


    His sister''s feelings toward him also seemed to have changed. However, he didn''t like the result one bit.


    Tonight they met the human again.


    The human was pursued by a terrifying beast. They had thought he would use that opportunity to get back at them, but surprisingly he moved in a different direction.


    It was almost as if he didn''t want to implicate them.


    It was then that Bon felt his lingering hatred disappear completely.


    After that, Judi was worried about him and decided to follow his trail.


    They have been doing that for a few hours now and have yet to find him.


    And while Bon kept grumbling about why they had to help him, he didn''t show any sign of stopping.


    It was then.


    *BOOOOM!*


    *KABOOOOOOM!*


    A series of explosions lit up the dark forest in the distance.


    Judi''s pace hastened, and he quickly chased after her.


    A few distance from the sound of the explosion, Bon''s face turned pale as he saw a flaming bird confronting a huge black steel spider high up above the tall trees.


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    "Judi, I don''t think it is wise to..."


    *Whoosh!*


    Judi turned into smoke and disappeared in the direction of the burning forest, causing Bon''s words to fall on empty ears.


    "Crazy..." Bon grumbled but eventually followed after her.


    About three minutes later, the duo arrived in time to see a two-meter monster standing atop the flaming bird, as it tightened two bloody chains around the bird''s neck.


    There was also a massive sphere of darkness hanging just a few inches from the flaming bird.


    The duo recognized the technique almost instantly.


    ''World of darkness!''


    However what truly stunned the duo was not the sphere of darkness, nor the several branches of the surrounding trees that rose high into the sky to bind the two beasts; it wasn''t even Anita, the slime resting on one of the few branches unaffected, as she released a fearsome amount of energy.


    No!


    What stunned them was the golden-haired boy who flew high into the sky with two big orbs revolving around him like planets around the sun.


    Judi''s face flushed red.


    The only person in her view right now was Arlo.


    The same could be said for Bon, albeit he was experiencing an entirely different feeling from his sister.


    The spinning orbs moved towards the firebird''s eyes and squashed them.


    Arlo''s body rose higher as the bird released a painful cry.


    A moment later, Arlo fell with his knees pointing downwards.


    *BAAAAM!*


    The branches holding the firebird snapped instantly as its body drew a flaming vertical line down the sky.


    *BOOOOM!*


    A massive shockwave shook the forest and a cloud of dust rose high into the sky.


    Coughing sounds could be heard from within the dust.


    Soon after the dust scattered revealing the situation within.


    However, Bon and Judi didn''t have the chance to confirm the situation, as the situation above suddenly changed.


    It was already about twenty seconds since Arlo''s plan took off.


    The sphere of darkness hanging high above the tree tops suddenly shattered before turning into dark smoke.


    A body flew out, blood filling the night sky.


    *SHRIIIIEK!*


    The black steel spider released an angry cry as it glared at the falling Rosaline.


    It noticed Rosaline who dared to cage it heal even as she fell and released several webs towards her.


    It didn''t doubt its webs would split her body into several pieces.


    Bon and Judi moved the second they saw Rosaline fall.


    "I will block the web, you help her!" Judi said before she turned into a dark smoke that streaked toward the sky.


    She passed by the falling Rosaline and formed her body back when she was close to the webs.


    She released her mana and a dark essence burst out from her body.


    "Dark hands!"


    Several hands formed from behind her before stopping the descent of the webs.


    The hands gripped the webs and tried to destroy them.


    But it was futile.


    These were the webs of a black steel spider. The webs were as strong as its defense.


    While Rosaline could not destroy them she was able to successfully stop their descent allowing Bon to save Rosaline.


    But Rosaline was only a peak beginner mage and could not fly in the sky.


    Fortunately, one of the free tree branches moved below her feet and acted like a foothold.


    Judi was not sure, but she felt like this was all due to the slime.


    But she didn''t dare to shift her gaze to confirm.


    The black steel spider became angrier when it saw another two weaklings appear and save the rat that dared to cage it.


    Its body moved to kill these little rats once and for all when suddenly its body stiffened in place.


    It looked down toward where the firebird was.


    .....


    Arlo coughed as the dust dispersed slowly.


    He struggled to his feet and checked his surroundings.


    The firebird was down on the ground, the flames now burning weakly around it as it showed no movement.


    Arlo didn''t dare to check its condition closely, and after Arianne struggled to her feet a short distance away, he looked up.


    ''We need to help Rosaline!''


    His fear came sooner than he expected as he saw Rosaline fall from the sky, and coughed blood.


    He tried to move but couldn''t.


    He was already at his limit.


    Fortunately, Bon and Judi suddenly appeared and handled the situation.


    Arlo sighed in relief.


    He didn''t know why Bon and Judi were here, but the displeasure he felt against them lessened greatly.


    ''I still need to help them. They can''t resist the black steel spider.''


    Arlo had only taken three steps when his body suddenly stiffened.


    The fear of death gripped his heart.


    *ROAR!*


    Arianne''s roar drifted into his ears, but unlike before when it demonstrated her dominance, all Arlo could feel from it was her anxiousness.


    As he felt the burning feeling from behind him, Arlo stiffly turned his head.


    There behind him, the firebird seemed to glare at him even with no eyes


    Its skull was cracked and its head was covered in its blood.


    It couldn''t live for long.


    But Arlo could feel its determination to take him, along with every other person in this place with it.


    A fist-sized fireball formed before the firebird''s beak.


    Contrary to the previous yellow flame, this fireball was deep blue.


    This was the firebird''s origin flame.


    A scorching air spread out into the surroundings.


    In the face of death, Arlo became surprisingly calm.


    Arianne''s angry roar slowly died down along with the angry cry of the firebird, and the burning sensation he felt disappeared.


    The only thing in his world was that fist-sized fireball.


    Such a beautiful attack would kill him?


    He felt something around him stir.


    In his vision filled with only the blue fireball, several multicolored lights suddenly lit up.


    The light resembled threads and what they all had in common was their connection with him.


    Arlo had never seen such a beautiful scene.


    Compared to the blue fist-sized fireball, the multiple colors that seemed to blend harmoniously into one seemed to be something out of fantasy.


    However, Arlo didn''t appreciate its beauty for long, as he soon felt an overbearing pressure from the light.


    When Arlo saw the fist-sized fireball, he didn''t doubt it would consume at least the surrounding thirty meters and burn it into nothingness.


    But as he looked at the countless multicolored threads that connected to him, Arlo felt a crushing power; a power that could destroy the world and anything on his path.


    And... he felt this power within his grasp.


    All he had to do was take it.


    He stretched out his hand towards one of the threads.


    .....


    While all this sounds long, it all happened in an instant.


    Feeling that Arlo would die from this attack, Old Bro was about to take action for the first time since Arlo was teleported into this world and fell into the lake filled with fish monsters.


    But he suddenly stopped.


    <<...>>


    He could feel the air around Arlo had changed.


    The surrounding Ki stirred as something seemed to resonate with him.


    Old bro realized something phenomenal was about to happen. This is why he agreed with the others not to interfere with Arlo''s destiny.


    Only by facing trials and obstacles; and only by facing death could Arlo truly grow.


    And it seemed he was about to take his first true step to the peak.


    Unfortunately, while Old Bro could detect Arlo''s strangeness in time, the same couldn''t be said for the others.


    Arianne was still roaring in anxiousness.


    The angry black steel spider had frozen in place as it looked at the blue fireball.


    The same was true for Judi, Bon, and Rosaline in his embrace.


    Joe cried in fear, "ARLO!"


    Only two people reacted differently.


    No.


    It is more apt to say only two monsters reacted differently.


    Anita stopped feeding her energy into the tree branches and turned into a blue streak.


    She moved at a great speed but she was still slow.


    However, something else was faster.


    The two-meter pitch-black snake coiled around Joe''s neck which had been quietly gazing at everything that was happening finally acted.


    Its body moved so fast that it seemed like it teleported.

 CHAPTER 114: GRIM APPEARS

    The two-meter pitch-black snake curled around Joe''s neck which had been quietly gazing at everything that was happening finally acted.


    Its body moved so fast that it seemed like it teleported.


    The black snake flashed before Arlo, its eyes glowing like stars.


    The occult sign which had appeared on Joe''s palm shone a black light, and before Joe could react, all his mana was sucked up, causing him to fall unconscious.


    A massive snake-like image formed around the pitch-black snake.


    Its body was long to the point that it easily covered tens of thousands of kilometers and spanned the entire outer region of the mountain forest before stopping a few hundred meters into the academy.


    There were two lines of protruding horns from its skull to the tail region.


    The two-meter pitch-black snake was resting within its head.


    The shadowy image opened its mouth wide revealing countless stars that shone with different lights.


    A suction force formed within the mouth and before anyone could react, the fireball which was starting to explode was sucked into it.


    Then the shadowy creature collapsed.


    It all happened in a mere instant.


    No one had the time to react.


    Arianne who was still roaring, the fire bird which was still facing Arlo and waiting for his death, the black steel spider, and the others.


    None of them understood what happened.


    The same was for Arlo as he immediately when the sense of death gripping his body disappeared, he was forcefully pulled out of his trance.


    "SCREEE!"


    The firebird released an angry cry.


    Its last-ditch effort to kill all its enemies was in vain.


    It wasn''t willing to die like that


    At least, it wanted to take the small boy before it to the grave.


    "Universal devouring!"


    A sweet voice echoed above it and before it could react, its body was almost enveloped; the dying flame around it was not able to put up any struggle.


    It released an anxious cry and tried to resist only for Arianne to appear before it.


    She grabbed the firebird''s head and roared at it.


    A spiritual wave spread out with her roar and stunned the firebird, causing it to go still.


    Not only that.


    The blood leaking from the firebird''s eye sockets seemed to boil as it resonated with Arianne''s anger.


    A second later, Anita enveloped the firebird completely.


    .....


    About five minutes earlier.


    Within a hall the academy.


    Grim sat on a seat in the silent hall.


    There was no light within the hall, and Grim who was covered in a dark cloak seemed to passively blend with it.


    The formation before him suddenly lit up.


    This wasn''t the first time the formation had shown a reaction.


    In fact, over half of the students had already returned by using the bracelet given to them.


    He couldn''t help but feel a bit disappointed.


    He lamented the current ability of the first years.


    As greenhorns with no real combat ability, how would they fare against the upcoming war?


    Suddenly his eyes furrowed.


    Sol, James, and Lysa appeared before him.


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    He never imagined they would also fail his mission.


    Grim suddenly sprang to his feet.


    The trio who had appeared before him fell to the ground as painful groans escaped from their lips.


    He quickly approached the fallen students and checked on their condition.


    Their wounds were healing thanks to their traits as vampires albeit it was slow.


    ''The mana of a master realm beast.''


    Grim''s face hidden underneath the dark hood hardened as he judged the situation.


    He sent his mana into the student''s bodies and expelled the foreign beast''s energy that was interfering with their healing.


    James gained consciousness when the excruciating pain he felt weakened.


    His vision was blurry but he could still barely make out Grim''s figure.


    "Ric...in danger...master realm beast...wind..." he murmured a few words with all his strength before fainting once again.


    Grim placed him down gently and merged with the darkness in the hall.


    Outside the Academy, before the mountain forest, Grim''s figure appeared slowly.


    Even from the far distance, he could still hear the sound of explosions coming from two directions.


    He could barely make out the yellow lights that lit the sky above the tall trees.


    The sound of explosions coming from there was very intense.


    He looked in another direction and noticed a storm raging high in the sky.


    The tall trees as massive and strong as they were, were pulled out from the ground.


    Not only that, the distance was significantly closer to the academy than the other one.


    He remembered James''s words.


    ''Wind.''


    Grim''s figure slowly faded away.


    While the distance from where the storm was raging was closer than the fiery light that lit the sky, the distance was only relative.


    Grim was able to cross tens of thousands of kilometers in less than three minutes.


    He silently appeared beside the raging storm and surveyed the area.


    The surroundings were a mess.


    The trees were uplifted and wood splinters filled everywhere.


    Facing a nine-meter tall bear with a fierce storm raging around it was Ric, who was half kneeling on the ground.


    His chest rose and fell heavily and his body was covered in blood.


    There were a few corpses of students littering the ground but Grim ignored them for now and focused on saving Ric.


    The black bear looked down at Ric in contempt.


    It was merely taking its time to enjoy its prey.


    What it didn''t notice was that a figure had appeared quietly behind it.


    Grim passed through the storm around the bear effortlessly, and without alarming the beast.


    In fact, Ric who was looking at the beast grimly didn''t notice his presence.


    He placed his hands on the back of the head of the beast, causing the bear to stiffen and widen its intelligent eyes in horror.


    Smoothly and effortlessly, Grim dislodged the master realm''s head which was as big as his waist off its neck.


    This was the true terror of Grim who used his natural affinity with darkness laws to become a fearsome assassin.


    Ric''s eyes widened from the unexpected development, but before he could even recover and as the blood of the bear spurted out like a fountain, a massive image suddenly formed above the forest.


    The image spanned the entire forest till the Academy, stunning even Grim.


    He turned his head in the direction of where the other explosions were coming from.


    He noticed the fiery light had disappeared and in its place was the head of the snake-like image.


    He had never seen such a domineering snake before.


    Even the strongest magical beast in the central continent, the royal Basilik couldn''t compare to it.


    Before Grim could react, the image disappeared.


    He was stunned once again.


    It appeared and disappeared instantly.


    It was to the point that he was unsure if it was even real.


    ''I need to investigate what is going on!''


    Grim looked at the corpses of a few students in the surroundings and sighed in pain.


    His cold heart couldn''t help but ache.


    ''What a mess!''


    "Use the bracelet immediately!" he said to Ric before disappearing once again.


    He had to check the other battlefield.


    He knew he was going to be punished for endangering the students, but he didn''t care and instead focused on resolving the mess.


    ''I have yet to see the princess, and a few other elites. Even that human boy and the Basilik beast.''


    He hastened his pace.


    .....


    Anita''s body shook slightly.


    Even for her, devouring a master-level beast that far surpassed her in level wasn''t an easy thing to do.


    It would take time and effort on her part.


    When the feeling of death escaped his senses, Arlo''s tired body slowly fell.


    Contrary to what he expected, Arlo felt a warm embrace, and judging from the long black hair falling on his face, he figured out the person.


    ''Arianne.''


    He looked at the pitch-black snake beside him and felt grateful.


    It had saved his life.


    Arlo didn''t know about the state he fell into in the face of death, but he wasn''t sure if he could have survived the firebird''s last attack.


    So he felt grateful.


    "SHRIEEEEK!"


    The black steel spider that had frozen in place because of the fire bird''s origin flame and then the appearance of the strange snake image finally escaped the grip of fear.


    It was sure that the pitch-black snake was unconscious.


    Under the allure of consuming the snake, and possibly evolving into a greater beast, the black steel spider overcame its fear.


    It shrieked and suddenly moved.


    Its massive figure climbed down the trees at such a speed that would allow it to reach Arlo''s side in five breaths.


    Two breaths away from Arlo, Anita who was quiet for awhile suddenly released a loud cry comparable to that of a Phoenix.


    A fiery essence erupted from her, and soon her body started changing into a bird.


    << Stop her!>> Old bro who had been silent in anger since the pitch black snake interfered to save Arlo suddenly screamed.


    Arlo''s consciousness was slowly fading away from the mental fatigue but when he heard Old bro''s anxious shout, he quickly reacted and stopped Anita''s transformation.


    Anita didn''t know why Arlo instructed her to stop but she trusted him. Besides she couldn''t refuse his command in the first place.


    Her changing body slowly reverted into a slime while the fiery essence around her retreated into her body.


    Arlo was just about to un-summon her when he heard old bro''s voice once more in his head.


    << It''s too late.>>


    The black steel spider which had stopped briefly upon noticing Anita''s sudden transformation exploded, causing a bloody shower to rain down.


    Arlo, Arianne, Rosaline, Judi, and Bon looked at the black steel spider''s previous position and slowly saw Grim appear.


    However, Grim didn''t look at anyone else and had his entire attention fixed on just one presence.


    It was Anita.


    "What are you?"


    A question resounded in the now silent forest.


    *****


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 CHAPTER 115: END OF THE FIRST HUNTING MISSION

    Grim moved at his fastest speed.


    He couldn''t bear to have any more deaths of his students.


    Because he was at his max speed, it only took him a few breaths to arrive.


    Before arriving, he had heard the shriek of a beast, then the cry of a bird.


    But when he arrived, all he saw was a black steel spider.


    Nevertheless, he took advantage of the speed at which he was moving and threw a normal punch at the black steel spider.


    The black steel spider of the master realm that boasted great defense exploded into pieces.


    Under the shower of the bloody rain, he spread out his divine sense and confirmed the situation.


    Thankfully, none of the students was killed.


    And all the remaining elites were also present.


    He observed the pitch-black snake for a brief moment, but upon feeling no vitality from it, he ignored it.


    ''What about the bird cry I heard?''


    He fixed his gaze on the only monster remaining.


    ''...A slime?''


    Why was a slime in the outer region of the mountain forest?


    No!


    There is something wrong with this slime.


    He couldn''t feel the presence of life from the slime.


    Confused, Grim opened his mouth and spoke his first words upon arriving.


    "You...what are you?"


    He didn''t know why, but he felt the atmosphere suddenly become tense.


    Arlo didn''t know what to do, while Arianne who was holding him slowly reverted to her normal form.


    The tight uniform hugged her small but developing body, while the burnt parts revealed her pale but healthy skin.


    Even for Arianne who possessed immense stamina, struggling to survive for the entire day exhausted her both physically and mentally.


    Seeing Arianne''s tired figure, Grim decided to wrap up the situation, but before he could act, Arlo unsummoned Anita causing Grim to frown underneath his hood.


    "...That slime is your summon?"


    Arlo thought for a moment and responded carefully.


    "Yes..."


    "You have an affinity to the abstruse summoning law?"


    Without even giving Arlo time to think, he refuted himself.


    "No! That is not possible. I can''t feel any mana from you. Just what is going on?"


    He was honestly confused about the current situation and momentarily forgot about his priority.


    Unlike Julian, he didn''t have much knowledge about Ki cultivators.


    It was at this moment that Bon spoke.


    "The slime is indeed the human''s...Arlo''s summon. Without it, we wouldn''t have survived."


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    He wanted to help Arlo but what he didn''t know was that he made matters even worse.


    Now, Grim''s curiosity was ignited.


    "Idiot!" Judi whispered causing Bon to blush in embarrassment.


    Grim approached Arlo and spoke:


    "Why don''t you summon that slime again?"


    Arlo didn''t know what to do.


    He was at a loss when a different voice echoed in the area.


    "What have you done?"


    The principal appeared above the sky and he appeared to be angry.


    "Grim, you were supposed to take care of the students. How did many of them die?"


    The principal shouted at the end of his words.


    Grim could only lower his head in shame.


    "My...my."


    An old man with a bent back, using a walking walked out from the shadows.


    Immediately, The principal and Grim fell to one knee like knights to their kings.


    "Lord protector!"


    This man was the strongest vampire after Scarlett.


    The head of the nine protectors and the founder of Clan Holden


    He also had another important title that did not fall short of the others.


    He was the headmaster of the Darkblood academy.


    Rosaline, Judi, and Bon quickly followed the principal and Grim in kneeling.


    They didn''t know who this mysterious figure was, but judging by how the principal and Grim were so respectful, he must be someone very high in status.


    Only Arianne and Arlo didn''t kneel before the white-haired old man.


    Of course, Joe also was among them since he was unconscious.


    The principal didn''t seem to mind this and instead surveyed the area.


    None of the students realized it, but the principal and Grim could feel the old man''s divine sense covering the entire outer region of the mountain forest.


    Gauging the number of students that died, the wizened old man couldn''t help but have a dark expression on his face.


    After a while, he sighed.


    He couldn''t blame everything on Grim, after all, there wasn''t supposed to be any master realm beast in the outer region of the forest.


    In fact, the number of peak advanced beasts didn''t exceed three.


    ''But I was sure I checked the barrier.''


    A confused expression soon replaced the dark look on his face.


    ''It can''t be helped!''


    "Stanley, take the kids away!"


    "Yes!"


    The principal quickly stood up.


    He masterfully used his mana to bring Rosaline, Bon, and Judi beside him.


    After that, he wrapped his mana around Joe and was about to move him.


    But suddenly he froze.


    The pitch black snake which he assumed dead suddenly flashed before Joe and hissed threatening at him.


    The old man and Grim were also shocked.


    Just like the principal, they thought the snake was dead since they didn''t feel any vitality from it.


    But what is this?


    At this time, Arlo''s voice drifted into everyone''s ears.


    "It''s okay. They mean no harm."


    Arlo spoke with a sincere look on his face.


    The snake looked at him for a moment before coiling itself around Joe''s neck.


    The principal didn''t hesitate any longer and moved Joe.


    He did the same for Arlo and Arianne before they all smoothly flew into the sky.


    Like this, the long night came to an end.


    It was well past midnight.


    Arlo sighed in relief after escaping from Grim''s interrogation.


    Like this, the group disappeared in the night sky towards the Academy.


    Back to Grim.


    Even he couldn''t help but feel anxious before the old man.


    What he didn''t know was that the old man wasn''t even thinking about him, and was instead contemplating the pitch-black snake.


    He felt like there was something weird about the snake, but he couldn''t wrap his head around it even after observing the snake many times with his divine sense.


    A minute later, he withdrew his thoughts.


    Shifting his gaze back on the kneeling Grim, he spoke:


    "Even though tonight''s matter wasn''t entirely your fault, the truth still stands that you made a mistake."


    "As a teacher, you single-handedly decided to send the students into the mountain forest to hunt. That in itself isn''t the issue, but the problem is that you didn''t actively supervise them. You didn''t consider the safety of your students. That is the greatest mistake a teacher should never make."


    Grim''s already bowed head lowered further in shame.


    "I shall not suspend you!"


    Grim inwardly sighed in relief but that didn''t last for long as he heard the old man''s next words.


    "But your salary for the entire semester shall be withheld!"


    "Heok!"


    Grim went into a coughing fit, but there was no one to care as the old man had already disappeared.


    It must be known that vampires were the rulers of this world.


    As the major academy of the entire vampire race, the teachers in the academy were paid a lot of money.


    Money that could be equated to tens of millions of gold.


    Yet Grim lost such a massive amount just because of one mistake.


    But after thinking about it, he collected himself.


    ''That is right! I cost the academy tens of new students. I deserve this punishment.''


    Like this, the first hunting mission of the first year which should have continued till morning prematurely came to an end.


    In the morning.


    The bell didn''t ring at its usual time and only rang at noon.


    The academy decided to give the students some time to rest.


    In the main building.


    The first year''s gathered in the class, but unlike before the atmosphere was gloomy.


    The number of students present was noticeably reduced.


    In this dark and gloomy situation, the door opened.


    All the students shifted their attention to the front of the class to see Teacher Julian.


    *****


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 CHAPTER 116: TRADE CLASS

    AN: Read three weeks ahead of Royal Road.


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    *****


    Julian looked at the dark looks on the faces of the students and opened his mouth:


    "It is unfortunate that a number of you died in your training. Out of 179 students, we confirmed 44 dead."


    A deep silence enveloped the whole class for a moment.


    "But nothing in this life is free from danger. The only way to ensure your survival is by having enough power to protect yourself. That is why you are here in this academy."


    Seeing that the situation remained the same, Julian decided to change tactics.


    Instead of encouraging them, he would shift their attention to something more important.


    "In two days, the awakening ritual will be held in the academy!"


    Sure enough, the students showed visible reactions to his words.


    "Take your mind off unnecessary things, and focus on the ritual. Do not forget that the ritual is the greatest opportunity of your lives."


    Done addressing the issue, Julian moved to more important matters.


    "Today you will be taking trade classes. Come in!"


    At his behest, the door opened and two students walked in.


    Aside from the insignia of their respective clan on their uniform, the two students had the numerals II drawn on their uniforms, showing that they were second-years.


    Julian continued:


    "There are many trade works such as Formation masters, Tailors, Blacksmiths, Alchemists, Potion masters, Talisman makers and Adventurers."


    AN: I will change fashion designers to tailors.


    "But because of the limitation of our race, we only have formation masters and fashion designers in our school."


    Before Julian could continue his speech, Rosaline interrupted him by raising her hand and asked:


    "What do you mean by the limitation of our race?"


    "Certain conditions need to be fulfilled for a person to practice each of these jobs. But because we are vampires, we can only practice two jobs which are formation mastery and fashion designing."


    Rosaline still seemed to be confused so Julian decided to give an example:


    "Take, for example, to become a Blacksmith or an Alchemist, one must have an affinity with fire laws. Most of the ores and materials needed have been strengthened by mana and can''t be handled by normal flames. But as vampires, our natural affinity is with darkness, so we can never become alchemists or blacksmiths."


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    Rosaline finally nodded in understanding.


    "Now you will follow each of the students to the central region of the academy, where you can learn either Tailoring or formations. But before then..." Julian paused before raising his right hand.


    A ring on his forefinger flashed, and then several pouches appeared on the table before him.


    "Even though your mission yesterday ended prematurely, after assessing your performance and the cores you brought back yesterday, the academy has decided to reward the top students."


    "First place is Ric with twelve beginner cores, three advanced cores, and one master beast core."


    The students gasped upon hearing that Ric acquired a master core.


    "How is that even possible?"


    "Don''t tell me he defeated a master realm beast?"


    Ric walked out proudly from among the students.


    Julian handed him a silver pouch after which he returned to his seat.


    What the students didn''t know is that Ric didn''t kill the beast himself, and only took advantage of when Grim left to dig out the bear beast''s core.


    But even knowing that the academy still decided to award him for bravely resisting the bear so that Sol, James, and Lysa could escape safely.


    "Second is Rosaline, with 15 beginner cores, and four advanced cores."


    After giving the top three positions their reward, Julian spoke:


    "Arlo, Arianne, and Joe come out!"


    Because the ape-like beast chased Arlo for a long time, he only harvested a few cores.


    The same was for Arianne as she only focused on killing the beasts to enjoy and train herself. She didn''t care about the rewards.


    As for Joe, nothing needed to be said. He wasn''t even able to collect five beginner cores.


    Julian studied the pitch-black snake coiled around Joe''s neck briefly, before focusing his attention back on the trio.


    To their perplexed expression, he answered:


    "It''s time to receive your reward as the top three in the ranking war."


    A look of understanding flashed on Arlo''s face.


    He handed a pouch to Joe and Arianne who received it impassively before shifting his attention back to Arlo.


    "I don''t have your gifts with me right now."


    Arlo didn''t seem to mind, but Julian''s next words threw his emotions into turmoil.


    "Since you are not a vampire and a beast, I can''t reward you with dark stones or beast cores. But the academy has decided to give you materials that can help you temper your body. But to do that you need to follow me to the only blacksmith in school."


    Arlo nodded his head willingly and clenched his fists.


    ''Finally, I will grow stronger.''


    He was too excited to notice the fact that a blacksmith being in the academy is weird in itself. Only a few of the students did.


    After that, Julian told the students to follow the second-years.


    Over a hundred of the students followed the female student, as they wished to study tailoring.


    The same went for Arianne.


    Only a few students followed the male second year as they wished to study formations. Joe followed this group.


    When all the students left, Julian finally took Arlo with him.


    Throughout their journey, Arlo didn''t appreciate the various luxurious buildings and structures in the central region of the academy.


    Instead, his mind was clouded with many thoughts.


    ''What do I do about Rosaline, Bon, and Judi?''


    He saw the way the trio threw glances at him, and didn''t know how to respond.


    He wasn''t sure they would keep his secret, but so far they were yet to make any move.


    ''But I don''t regret my decision.''


    If not for Anita, they all would have died last night.


    He was sure they also understood that, so he only hoped they would consider it.


    What Arlo didn''t know is that while Rosaline and Bon appeared to be calm on the surface, they were actually scared and not sure of what to do.


    They all saw how Anita could absorb monsters and use their powers for herself.


    The thought of if she could do the same for vampires had been disturbing them.


    Even Judi who seemed to have a crush on Arlo was now scared of him.


    Finally, they arrived before a smithy.


    Ttang! Ttang!


    Ttang! Ttang!


    The sound of metal colliding with metal drifted into his ears.


    Julian entered, and he followed after him.


    He saw a man working before a furnace.


    Arlo stopped in place and his eyes widened like saucers.


    Ever since he entered the northern continent, he became accustomed to seeing people with pale skin, black, or white hair, and most importantly attractive appearances.


    All the vampires he had met so far, whether old or young, male or female, were incomparably remarkable in appearance.


    But what is this?


    In front of the furnace stood a well-built man, with red flaming hair.


    His hair reminded him of his sister Anna who he missed so much.


    A human?


    *****

 CHAPTER 117: HUMANS VS VAMPIRES

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    *****


    While Arlo was stunned in his confusion, Julian spoke:


    "Hey, Khan! Look at who I brought with me."


    Julian''s usual indifferent look was now replaced with a playful smile.


    "Keep quiet, don''t you dare interrupt me!"


    The man Khan grumbled in annoyance without even looking at Julian.


    Since they entered the smithy, he had his entire attention fixed on his work.


    He hammered the two short daggers on the anvil before him.


    Julian didn''t seem to be affected by the heat from the furnace, but Arlo was beginning to sweat.


    Noticing Arlo''s confusion, Julian smiled:


    "You are surprised why a human is here, right?"


    "Yes."


    "What made you think we are enemies with humans in the first place?"


    "Excuse me?"


    Arlo was once again surprised by the ridiculous question.


    How could humans not be hostile towards vampires? Vampires were their natural predators.


    Julian spoke with a serious look:


    "Don''t you know we vampires were originally humans?"


    Arlo nodded, "I do."


    "While I can''t tell you how we came to existence, I can tell you that we were never hostile to humans. In fact, we could be considered allies. Humans occupied the northern territory with vampires, and while we needed their blood to grow, we were able to come to an equal agreement. The newly created vampires agreed to be the human''s shield and protectors while the humans would provide us with a steady supply of blood. Of course, it wasn''t easy to come to such an agreement, and there was initially discrimination and conflict between both races. But everything worked out when an unrivaled otherworlder visited our world. She was able to bring a conflict between two races to an end with just her power and charisma." Julian looked at Arlo with a strange expression.


    "But that peace also didn''t last for long..." Julian suddenly paused as he looked as if he was recollecting some memories, "...Less than a decade ago, something bad happened. The event threw our Liege into a state of turmoil and caused her to wreak havoc around the world. She killed countless humans in her anger, and we the vampires as her creations were naturally affected by her state of mind. The humans in this world were almost pushed to the point of annihilation. Thankfully, Lady Rebecca, Queen of the werewolves was able to put a stop to the situation. She brought our liege back to her state of mind and allowed the humans to survive extinction.


    Immediately after that, all the humans disappeared. Of course, there are still humans in this world, it''s just that no one knows where they are. No sighting of humans has been seen on any of the continents since that event. It was rumored this was the work of Lady Rebecca."


    Arlo finally understood.


    He understood why when he saw Joe for the first time, he and the slave traders were so surprised to find out he was human.


    There was such a history in this world?


    But Arlo suddenly thought of something.


    "Why is he here then?" he threw a question as he looked at Khan, who had his entire attention on hammering the daggers before him.


    "As I said, there are still humans in this world. But only our liege and a select few know where they are hiding."


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    He looked at Khan before he continued:


    "While the humans are still angry about the massacre of their race, they have no choice but to continue dealing with us. After all, we depend on them for artifact and pill making. Not to mention we still need their blood."


    "I see."


    Arlo turned toward Julian and bowed with a sincere look on his face.


    "Thank you for telling me all these."


    He had gone to the library but didn''t find any information on what Julian just told him.


    Perhaps he could find them on the final floor, but the fact that Julian told him filled his heart with gratitude.


    "It''s nothing!" Julian simply waved his hand.


    After that the duo watched Khan work in silence.


    Ttang! Ttang!


    Arlo admired Khan''s concentration.


    It was almost as if the only thing in his world were the two daggers.


    Like this, almost thirty minutes passed.


    Julian suddenly spoke:


    "I can''t wait any longer. I have matters to attend to. I have already informed him about you, so wait till he finishes."


    After saying that, he left.


    Arlo was alone with Khan in the smithy.


    But he wasn''t bored by the silence and instead studied Khan.


    After another hour.


    Khan finally stopped.


    He wiped the sweat off his face and frowned at his finished work.


    "Just a peak mortal grade? Trash!"


    He flung the two daggers to the side as if he had not been working on them for several hours.


    Arlo took the daggers and placed them before him.


    "Eh!?" Khan looked at him in surprise.


    "Who are you? Wait, a human?"


    He was so immersed in his work that he didn''t notice Arlo until now.


    "My name is Arlo. It''s nice to meet you." He bowed his head slightly.


    "Oh! You must be the boy Julian told me about."


    "But your hair, it''s golden. Are you from the Goldsborn family?"


    Arlo tilted his head in confusion.


    Seeing the confused look on Arlo''s face, Khan waved the matter away.


    He walked towards the back of the smithy and rummaged through some stuff as he spoke.


    "I heard you need some ingredients to temper your body. You must be a Ki cultivator. Aside from the Asuras, I have never seen any human cultivator."


    "The Asura?" This wasn''t the first time he had heard this name. Scarlett and Rebecca also mentioned them the last they met.


    "Yes! The Asuras are the strongest nation in this universe. They rule the dark universe."


    Arlo could hear the tone of admiration in Khan''s voice as he spoke about the Asuras.


    Khan took a space pouch and walked back to Arlo


    "Well, this is all you will need. At least for the initial part of the cultivation."


    He opened the pouch and brought out several materials.


    "This is the poison sac of a black steel spider."


    ''A black steel spider? Isn''t that the beast that almost killed us last night?''


    While Arlo was lost in thought, Khan continued:


    "A green herb, corpse mushroom, moldy bark of a Beda tree."


    "All you need to do is mix and boil these with the black steel poison."


    After explaining each ingredient, he put them back into the space pouch and handed them to Arlo.


    "The only thing you can find in the northern continent is the black steel spider poison sac. In fact, you can get that from the mountain forest outside the academy. As for the others, they don''t grow here. But if you need more just come and meet me."


    Khan smiled as he spoke.


    Arlo''s heart was warmed by Khan''s generosity. Even though he merited all the ingredients as a reward from the academy, Khan''s treatment still made him feel warm inside.


    After all, it had been a long he associated with a human.


    Arlo smiled sheepishly and spoke:


    "So what do I do after mixing them?"


    Khan''s smiling face stiffened and slowly turned into a frown.


    "You...what are you doing staying with vampires?"


    "This..." Arlo hesitated. He didn''t know what to tell him.


    Seeing Arlo''s hesitation, Khan sighed.


    "I don''t know what a child is during in this place. In fact, I am the only one willing to be an intermediary between the humans and vampires for seven years."


    Khan shook his head in lamentation.


    ''Even though the vampires have been at peace with us for years now, the humans still don''t trust them. In fact, our relationship now could be said to be purely based on benefit.''


    Khan looked at Arlo and spoke:


    "I don''t also know the specifics. As I said before, you are the first Ki cultivator I have met before. But I have heard that to temper your bones, all you have to do is dilute the mixtures in water and then place the part you want to temper in it. After that, you need to keep damaging that part until it is tempered...huh! What a torturous method!"


    Khan looked at Arlo and spoke in worry:


    "Are you sure you can handle this?"


    Arlo was still a child, one that looked younger than ten. Khan doubted if he could handle such pain.


    Arlo smiled with confidence, "I can!"


    "O-Okay."


    Arlo was excited after collecting all the materials he needed.


    It had been a long time since he cultivated.


    ''I can finally grow stronger!''


    In his excitement, he answered Khan''s next question impassively.


    "So what is your law affinity? Is it time?"


    Khan judged appropriately from seeing Arlo''s hair. But Arlo''s reply rendered him speechless.


    "I don''t know."


    "What do you mean you don''t know?" Khan asked with a raised voice pulling Arlo out of his excitement.


    "I really don''t know!"


    Looking at Arlo, he frowned and spoke carefully:


    "Don''t you know that when you temper your bones, you need to use not only Ki but the essence of your law?"


    Arlo widened his eyes in stupefaction.


    Something suddenly clicked within his head.


    He had been wondering why Old Bro never told him that he was yet to become a one-star warrior. If it wasn''t for Scarlett and Rebecca, he wouldn''t have known about bone tempering in the first place.


    But now he understood.


    Scarlett and Rebecca didn''t know he had yet to connect with his laws.


    Nobody except Old Bro knew.


    ''No, no, no, no!'' Arlo clenched his fists in anger.


    ''I still can''t cultivate?''

 CHAPTER 118: BIRTH OF THE GREATEST MASTER AND DISCIPLE

    Training building of the first years.


    Arlo stood before a pillar.


    Beside him was a small bucket filled with water, a bottle containing a foreign liquid, and two daggers.


    Khan had gifted the two daggers to him. It was a way to lift Arlo''s fallen mood after hearing about the requirements of laws when tempering bones.


    But Arlo didn''t care about the daggers.


    He picked the bottle up.


    The liquid in the bottle was the mixture of the poison of the black steel spider, and the other ingredients.


    Khan had helped him prepare it before leaving the smithy.


    Arlo felt great liking and gratitude towards Khan.


    He poured the mucky green liquid which stunk with a bad smell in the bucket.


    The color of the water slowly turned light green.


    After that, he hardened his resolve and placed his right hand inside the bucket.


    Before his right hand entered the liquid, he stopped after hearing Old Bro''s unexpected voice.


    << Why do you still do this when you know it wouldn''t work? >>


    Arlo ignored him.


    He was very angry with Old bro. He was supposed to be his teacher, but what had he ever done for him?


    Nothing!


    All he did was tell him how weak he was or how pathetic he was.


    He didn''t bother answering and instead steeled his heart.


    ''I don''t believe I can''t cultivate. I just need to work hard.''


    He couldn''t cultivate mana because he had not awakened his mana core.


    Now he couldn''t cultivate Ki because he couldn''t connect with his law?


    He refused to accept this.


    How was he supposed to grow stronger then?


    What happened to all the talk about him being so talented?


    Scarlett, Rebecca, Old bro, his father, and mother. Everybody had always told me he was so special.


    Yet why was he so useless?


    Yes! He didn''t forget he awakened nine summons after he started cultivating Ki. But what was the use?


    He could only awaken one of his summons, Anita, due to the lack of energy!


    In the end, he was useless.


    With these dark thoughts in mind, Arlo placed his hand in the liquid.


    What followed was:


    "AAAAAAAAH!"


    An excruciating pain hit Arlo''s nerves.


    His hand was poisoned and turned green while his blood vessels became clear and visible.


    But surprisingly, the poison didn''t spread from his hand.


    Even though the poison of the black steel spider wasn''t powerful, it was still harmful to the body.


    But after mixing it with green herbs, and corpse mushrooms and further diluting it in water, its toxicity was greatly lessened.


    Grunting in pain, Arlo shakingly removed his hand from the bucket.


    Then he clenched his hand and punched the pillar with all his strength.


    The poison served to limit the natural regeneration of his body after being strengthened by Ki.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Bam!"


    A muffled thud resounded within the building.


    He didn''t use Ki and only used his pure strength. Also, the pillar was made from an unknown material that was hard to damage.


    Because of that, Arlo''s fist busted upon connecting with the pillar.


    "Ah!" he grunted in pain.


    But he bore through it and punched again.


    "Bam!"


    "Bam!"


    "Bam!"


    In the silent building, only the sound of Arlo''s fist colliding with the pillar and his painful grunts echoed.


    His figure appeared lonely.


    Arlo fell to his knees.


    He didn''t know the number of times he punched already.


    His hand was now purely bones, with pieces of flesh mangling around it.


    It was a gory sight.


    A child wasn''t supposed to go through such pain, and the tears that stained his face proved that it was also difficult even for Arlo who had experienced much pain.


    Arlo looked at the fractures along the bone of his hand and gritted his teeth.


    It was the moment of truth.


    Using the technique his father taught him when he was a child, he absorbed the surrounding Ki and also concentrated the Ki in his body on his hand.


    "AAAAAH!"


    A whitish smoke covered his bony hand, and before he knew it, the fractures and splint across his bone started healing.


    But Arlo wasn''t satisfied with this development.


    Tears streaked down his face.


    "No! It''s not working!"


    He could feel it. His bones were healing but were not strengthened.


    "Why?"


    "Why me?" he roared out.


    <<...>>


    Amidst his outburst, a soft but strong hand fell on his shoulder.


    Arlo raised his head and looked up.


    In his blurry vision was an enchanting woman with a body that could charm even the same sex.


    "Teacher?"


    Hugged by her characteristic black suit, Evangeline looked at Arlo, a sad look flashing on her face.


    "Why are you torturing yourself?"


    Her fingers turned into short sharp claws and she tore part of the suit in her thigh area.


    Then she used the piece of cloth and wrapped it around Arlo''s bony hand which was still bleeding but quickly regenerating.


    She looked into Arlo''s tired eyes and spoke in a soothing voice:


    "There are other ways to become stronger."


    "But how?" Arlo refuted. "I don''t have a mana core so I can''t cultivate mana. Now I also can''t cultivate Ki. How am I supposed to grow stronger?"


    Unlike Scarlett and Rebecca, Evangeline didn''t know anything about Arlo''s background.


    This was the first time she had also encountered something like this.


    She had never seen nor heard of a person not awakening a mana core no matter how talentless they can be.


    Neither had she encountered anyone not able to use the law they have an affinity with.


    Arlo''s case was simply unique and special.


    "Hmm." she thought about it for a moment and asked, "Do you know what your law is?"


    Arlo shook his head.


    "But you must have felt a connection with it."


    Seeing the change in Arlo''s eyes, she spoke:


    "Tell me about it!".


    At the same, in Arlo''s mind, old bro spoke:


    << Don''t tell her! It''s too dangerous. >>


    Arlo ignored old bro. He was starting to feel a strong sense of dislike for the artifact spirit.


    "I don''t know what it is. The only I know is that there are threads of multicolored light connected to me. But no matter how I try to connect with them, it all ends in vain."


    Evangeline narrowed her eyes.


    "Multicolored?"


    Each law has an essence, an energy form that is colored.


    There are some laws of similar color, but in the end, they differ.


    An example is wind and life energy. They were both green in color but were two different law energies.


    But she had never heard of a law being multicolored.


    ''Hmm. I have to investigate it.''


    She looked at Arlo.


    She could tell he wasn''t ordinary.


    And even for someone like her, who ranked third in talent in an entire race, she couldn''t gauge Arlo''s potential.


    ''I will take him as my second disciple!''


    Evangeline was a member of Clan Madison who boasted higher intelligence and analytical ability than other vampires.


    Their thought process was at least 5 times faster than others.


    Because of this, their clan was usually in the research department.


    The majority of them later became formation masters and tailors and handled the business of the vampire continent.


    When she awakened her bloodline and was judged to have a god-tier talent, the majority of the vampires were rendered speechless.


    What is a God-tier talent?


    In general, only one god tier of talent could be found in the world. And the chances were also rare.


    A supreme talent was also called a continent talent, a one in several tens of millions if not billions talent.


    But a God-tier talent was also known as a world-level talent.


    That is among tens of billions of people, the chances of one being a god-talent were very low.


    Yet she was one.


    But her race wasn''t happy about it. Instead, they lamented her luck.


    Why was she a member of Clan Madison?


    So what if she was an unrivaled talent in intelligence?


    That was what the noble vampires said.


    But Evangeline overturned their world as she grew.


    So what if her major forte was intelligence?


    She invested all her time in learning different martial arts.


    She trained with various weapons.


    Using her speed of learning, Evangeline became a living embodiment of martial arts.


    There was no weapon she could not use.


    No martial arts she did not know.


    In the end, she became one of the five strongest vampires in existence, Scarlett added.


    Several years have passed.


    And she had only accepted one disciple.


    Stefan.


    He won her heart with his undying will and tenacity which reminded her of her younger days.


    But what was the truth?


    Stefan was undeniably strong but in the end, he was limited by his potential.


    As a supreme-level talent, he was well respected, but as a direct descendant of Progenitor Scarlett, his talent fell low.


    He could never succeed her legacy, the legacy of a god-tier talent.


    Evangeline looked at Arlo and made her choice.


    As the blood of Arlo trickled down through the wrapped clothes, Evangeline spoke words, words that marked the true start of Arlo''s rise to a sovereign.


    "Call me master!"


    Arlo looked at her, the tears long stopped.


    Evangeline rose to her feet, stretched her hand out to Arlo, and repeated her previous words.


    "There are many ways to become stronger!"


    Arlo wiped his tears and shook her hands.


    The greatest master and disciple was born today.


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 CHAPTER 119; SECOND YEAR RANKING WAR

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    *****


    Night.


    Joe opened the door to the room and entered.


    He ran quickly toward Arlo who was already in his bed.


    "Where have you been since morning?"


    Arlo turned to look at him.


    The snake coiled around Joe''s neck suddenly jumped onto Joe''s bed. It coiled around itself in a comfortable position and closed its eyes.


    Arlo didn''t answer Joe''s question.


    He had been training with Evangeline alone at the Training Center.


    And indeed he had become stronger than he was in the morning.


    His mood had greatly improved since then.


    He looked at Joe and asked his question:


    "How was class today?"


    Joe didn''t mind his attitude and instead took out a disc.


    Then he sent mana into it. The formation disc lit up and then several poison bombs appeared in the room.


    Arlo''s eyes widened in surprise.


    "Wow!"


    "Kukukut!" With this, I don''t need to fear anyone. I have become stronger.


    Arlo ignored Joe''s words and instead asked in astonishment as he looked at the formation disc.


    "How does it work?"


    "Here!" Joe stopped sending his mana into the disc, causing the poison bombs to disappear then he handed it to Arlo as he spoke, "You can inscribe a technique onto a disc by using your law essence. But the process isn''t easy as you need to have knowledge of runes...huh? What happened to your hand?"


    Joe stopped his explanation and asked in surprise when Arlo rook the disc with a bandaged hand.


    "It''s nothing."


    "What do you mean it''s nothing?"


    "Nothing means nothing!"


    "You need some love!" Joe jumped on Arlo, causing the latter to grumble in annoyance.


    "Get off me!"


    "$###@&...Where are you touching?"


    The playful cries of both boys resounded in the room.


    .....


    It was finally the day for the second-year student''s ranking war.


    The principal summoned Arlo, Arianne, and Joe before taking them to the northern region of the academy.


    The four of them entered an auditorium.


    It seemed the ranking war was just about to start.


    There was a ring at the center of the building, and at the opposite ends of the ring were two groups of ten students.


    Principal Stanley brought Arlo''s group to where the teachers were seated.


    He exchanged greetings with other teachers and the second-year principal, before finding a seat to sit on.


    Arlo''s group sat beside him.


    The second years watching the ranking war started murmuring as they identified Arlo''s group.


    "He is the one I told you about." the second-year students who visited the first year''s ranking war started praising Arlo and Arianne.


    "Oh!" The middle-aged woman who was the principal of the second-year students looked at Arlo with interest.


    However, she soon had to shift her attention back to the ring as it seemed they were about to start.


    The air around both groups of students was completely different.


    One group radiated confidence and the expression on their face was indifference. A boy among the ten was especially eye-catching as he had a dark wolf beside him.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    While the atmosphere around the other group was tense as the students showed anxious looks.


    A student entered the ring and spoke to the group with confident auras:


    "I challenge the fifth seat to a duel."


    Silence descended into the auditorium.


    The student who just issued the challenge was the strongest among the students who won the battle royale.


    Still, they couldn''t believe that he would jump straight to the fifth seat.


    It must be noted that the strength from the tenth seat upwards rises.


    A girl among the ten students who radiated confidence shook her head before walking forward.


    But before she could enter the ring, another student beat her to it, causing her to furrow her brows.


    A dark-haired boy with an arrogant expression on his face scoffed as he looked at the student who issued the challenge.


    "Aren''t you overestimating yourself? You can''t even beat me yet you dare to challenge those with upper ranks?"


    The student who issued the challenge gritted his teeth.


    Just like the first years, this was the first ranking war of the second-year students.


    The ten strongest students when they were still first years retained their positions.


    Jude, the student with the tenth position had never lost a fight before.


    He was like a mountain blocking the students from ever rising to the top ten.


    "Eh!" Jude snickered and taunted, "Don''t tell me you are scared?"


    Jude was an arrogant noble who loved to bully those below him.


    None of the students who had challenged him ended well.


    But the student who issued the challenge fell for his provocation.


    No, it was better to say he had no choice.


    No matter how scary Jude was, he was still the weakest among the top ten.


    The fingers of the challenger turned into claws then he used his clan''s ability.


    He turned into a dark smoke and appeared before Jude instantly.


    He slashed both of his claws at the same time, but Jude evaded them easily.


    The challenger was indeed strong as he fought a melee with Jude.


    However, no matter how he attacked, his attacks never landed.


    As they both moved around the ring, the second-year students started whispering:


    "He is still not a match for Jude."


    "That is right. They are both in the mid-level master realm but the difference between them is so great."


    Arlo watched the fight quietly.


    He could barely follow the movement of both students.


    Still, he noticed that the student Jude simply dodged and had yet to attack.


    "The gap between them is too great."


    The middle-aged woman who was the second-year student''s principal shook her head.


    The teachers silently agreed with her.


    Back in the ring.


    The challenger started incorporating mana into his attacks.


    He jumped back and made a distance between both of them.


    "Hands of darkness!"


    Several huge dark hands rose from the ground before heading toward Jude.


    But Jude shook his head from disappointment.


    "How boring!"


    He pointed a finger towards the approaching dark hands and attacked for the first time.


    A dark ray of light left his finger and moved at light speed, piercing the huge dark hands before him and finally passing through the challenger''s heart.


    The challenger coughed blood, and a small hole formed where his heart was supposed to be, as blood leaked from it.


    The huge dark hands disappeared then the challenger fell.


    Even for a vampire, having their hearts destroyed was a critical wound that caused great pain and would take time to heal.


    Not only that, there was dark smoke being released from the wound, interfering with his natural healing and also causing him great pain.


    ''Is that the essence of darkness?'' Arlo thought.


    Grim had told them that they were yet to understand the essence of darkness, and only when they did would they be able to display the power of the law.


    ''But Bon was able to use it.'' Arlo still remembered his fight with Bon when he was brought to Tibu''s house.


    Once again, he realized that Bon and Judi were geniuses.


    "Who else wants to challenge me?"


    Judi spoke with an arrogant expression as he looked towards the remaining nine challengers.


    They lowered their heads and didn''t dare to look him in the eye.


    "Losers!" Jude spat around before turning around.


    "Wait!"


    A sweet voice resounded in the silent auditorium.


    Jude stopped, turned around, and looked in Arlo''s direction.


    Arianne stood up, but before she could move, Arlo grasped her hand.


    Arlo wanted to persuade her but the principal beat her to it.


    "What are you doing?"


    Arianne didn''t have a good impression of the principal, so she replied succinctly.


    "I want to fight."


    Principal Stanley furrowed his brows in annoyance.


    "Didn''t you say that with the golden ticket, we can issue a challenge?"


    Before the principal could reply, she turned toward Arlo and ignored him, causing him to frown in displeasure.


    "Don''t worry. I don''t plan to win. I only want to test my abilities." Arianne patted Arlo''s hand which was holding hers and spoke in a gentle voice.


    It was a stark contrast to her treatment of the principal.


    After thinking about it for a moment, Arlo released his hand and said:


    "Be careful!"


    A warm smile lit Arianne''s face, but it didn''t last long as Joe''s voice entered her ears.


    "Go and show them how terrifying a devil can be."


    She glared at him before moving toward the ring.


    As she walked, she caught the murmurs of the second-year students with her excellent senses.


    "Even for her, isn''t this too much?"


    "That is right. Challenging a second-year student from the get-go is too much."


    "Does she think she can win?"


    "That is impossible!"


    "But didn''t Stefan and Lady Evangeline accomplish it?"


    "That was only at the end of their years. They had enough time to grow."


    "The highest position Stefan could obtain was the fifth seat, as for teacher Evangeline, she could always win the first rank at the end of each year."


    "Teacher Evangeline is so scary!"


    Arianne finally walked into the ring.


    She couldn''t help but frown in disgust as she felt Jude''s intense gaze on her.


    Jude didn''t mind her reaction and instead licked his lips in expectation.


    While their liege had ordered Arianne''s status to be relinquished, everyone knew it was a facade to prevent Arianne from receiving differential treatment and to keep her from abusing her status.


    No one dared to disrespect the princess no matter how high they were.


    The same was true for Jude.


    However, he planned on making a good first impression.


    If he, a noble blood could gain the princess''s hand, he would be able to obtain great power and bring glory to his clan.


    That is why the nobles detested King Nathan.


    A plebian like him was able to marry their first princess.


    They believed that was why Stefan was lacking in talent.


    Now that there was Arianne, whose talent wasn''t any bit inferior to even their liege''s, the nobles were secretly planning to wed her to their clans.


    It was a secret competition among the nine vampire clans.


    Lost in his thoughts, Jude''s eyes widened when Arianne appeared before him in an instant and threw a punch.


    However, he wasn''t flustered and instead of dodging like he did in the previous challenge, he caught her hand.


    Feeling the soft skin within his embrace, Jude marveled and spoke with a light smile:


    "Hehe, the princess''s hand is..." Unfortunately, he couldn''t finish his words, as Arianne''s left foot connected with his face.


    *Bam!*


    For the first time since the start of the competition, Jude received an attack.


    *****


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 Chapter 120: SECOND YEAR RANKING WAR II

    Arianne frowned when she saw the feverish look in Jude''s eyes.


    All of a sudden, she noticed Jude seemed lost, so she took advantage of that opening.


    She knew she wasn''t Jude''s match so she had to make use of every opportunity.


    She stomped on the ring and launched toward him at her fastest speed.


    Arriving before him, she threw a strong punch.


    But Jude could react to her speed even though she caught him off guard.


    He caught her hand in a grip, causing Arianne to tremble.


    It must be noted that aside from her family, Arianne didn''t allow any other person to touch her.


    The same was how she treated everybody around her. She treated them coldly except for her family.


    However, that changed after she met Arlo and Joe.


    But just because she treated Arlo and Joe differently does not mean she had changed.


    Jude marveled at Arianne''s soft skin but that didn''t last as a chill ran down his spine.


    The entire air around Arianne changed and her expression became icy-cold.


    Before Jude could react, Arianne''s left foot moved in a blur and connected with his face.


    Jude stumbled backward, and in the process, he released Arianne''s hand.


    He wiped the blood that trickled from the side of his mouth and gazed at his hand with a stunned look.


    That kick from Arianne was so strong that he felt his brain shook from the impact.


    Arianne didn''t press Jude and instead drew blood from her arms.


    The silent students and teachers who were stunned when Arianne was able to hit Jude, something even one of the strongest second years wasn''t able to do, marveled as they saw Arianne''s blood move toward her feet before coating her boots.


    Blood-red boots with intricate designs appeared before the eyes of the spectators.


    During this short time, Jude regained his bearing and looked at Arianne.


    He didn''t bother interrupting her and instead looked at her with a light smile on his face.


    "Jude isn''t angry?"


    The second-year students whispered among themselves.


    There was a reason Jude was called a mad dog. He was fast to erupt in anger and he always loved to beat his opponent to near death.


    Yet he didn''t seem to be angry with Arianne even after being humiliated.


    Yes!


    This was a humiliation.


    A peak beginner mage was able to wound a mid-level master mage.


    The gap between their cultivation was an entire two big realms.


    Only those nobles who knew that Jude was trying to get into Arianne''s good book weren''t surprised.


    Arianne took a fighting posture while Jude simply stood.


    She closed the distance between them and attacked with her legs.


    Round kick.


    High kick.


    She attacked several times at her fastest speed but none of her attacks reached Jude.


    He simply dodged her attacks skillfully and even praised her from time to time.


    While Jude appeared relaxed, the truth was that he was actually conscious of Arianne''s kicks.


    Her leg power was simply monstrous.


    And now that she was using her blood laws to enhance her strength, Jude didn''t dare to receive her attacks.


    The fight continued for several minutes however Jude was able to dodge all of Arianne''s attack.


    "She is no match for Jude."


    The second-year students asserted among themselves.


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    No matter how powerful Arianne was, it didn''t matter if she couldn''t land a hit on Jude.


    However, those who were truly strong could see that the fight wasn''t as one-sided as it looked.


    The teachers, the top nine students, and a few others could see that Arianne was pressuring Jude.


    Arlo was among these few.


    "She is improving!" The second-ranked second-year student which was a girl whispered, causing the white-haired boy with dark streaks to nod calmly.


    The aura around the wolf beside him fluctuated greatly as it looked at Arianne''s fight.


    "Easy!" he rubbed the wolf''s dark fur causing it to relax.


    He sent a telepathic message to his life beast, ''It''s not yet time.''


    An evil light flickered within the eyes of the boy, but nobody noticed it.


    The pitch-black snake coiled around Joe''s neck opened its eyes shortly and gazed at him, causing him to shiver in fear.


    He quickly looked around the room but didn''t see anyone''s gaze on him.


    ''Was that my imagination?''


    Back on the ring.


    Jude continued to dodge Arianne''s attack but the smile on his face was no more light.


    Instead, it looked ugly.


    "The princess is really a genius." He praised sincerely.


    However, Arianne''s cold look didn''t change.


    Even though she knew she wasn''t a match for him, she was still determined to teach this brat who dared to touch her a lesson.


    Arianne sent a round kick, but Jude bent backward to evade.


    However, the right foot which was above him suddenly stopped before smashing downward.


    Jude wanted to move away, but the blood around Arianne''s left boot suddenly turned into chains that held his legs in place.


    That wasn''t all.


    "Hand of darkness!"


    Several huge hands appeared around Jude and moved to constrain his movement.


    Everyone in the hall gasped in admiration.


    The same was true for the principal, teachers, and the other top nine ranked second-year students.


    Arlo whispered in admiration:


    "A three-way attack!"


    No matter how Jude moved, he wouldn''t be able to dodge these attacks.


    At least he would have to block them.


    While Arlo admired Arianne because of her combat prowess, the second-year teachers and the two principals were surprised at how Arianne was able to use the hand of darkness technique.


    This was a technique that was only taught to second-year students.


    Yet it seemed Arianne was able to learn it after seeing it once. That showed how talented and intelligent she was.


    Unlike each clan which acquired a unique ability of Scarlett, Arianne was able to gain all her abilities as her direct descendant.


    So she had a higher intelligence and accelerated thought process that even outclassed Rosaline.


    Seeing that he could not dodge Arianne''s attack, Jude became fed up and decided to attack finally.


    ''I need to show her I am superior.''


    His right hand transformed into a beast arm with three claws.


    He clenched his fist as his back was still bent, and in response to Arianne''s falling kick, he simply punched.


    *Booom!*


    The ring shook greatly.


    Even though his fist didn''t come in contact with Arianne''s leg, the shock wave generated from his punch broke the chains, destroyed the huge dark hands, and sent Arianne flying out of the ring, as she coughed blood.


    "Arianne!" Joe cried out.


    He saw something flash beside them, and then Arlo arrived behind Arianne and caught her in her embrace.


    "Are you okay?" He asked with a shaky voice.


    Arianne didn''t respond and instead glared at Jude.


    The fact that Jude touched her made her want to tear him into pieces.


    Arlo raised his head and looked at Jude, causing them to lock eyes.


    Jude glared at Arlo as he saw him embracing Arianne, who got angry just because he touched her.


    He felt as if his treasure was stolen from him.


    In contrast to Jude''s angry look, Arlo''s expression was calm.


    However, the angry light flashing within his eyes was scary to look at.


    "He is the one."


    "Yes! He is the human who dominated all the first years in their first ranking war."


    The whispers of the students drifted into Jude''s ears.


    He suppressed the anger raging within him and looked at Arlo:


    "Oh! So you are the human I have heard so much about. Why don''t you come and show me what is so special about you?"


    He thought Arlo would react to his taunts but surprisingly Arlo ignored him causing his expression to distort.


    Arlo gently helped Arianne to her feet.


    Arianne knew even if she transformed into her real form, she wouldn''t be able to defeat Jude.


    At most, she would be able to exchange a few blows, so she drew a deep breath and stopped glaring at him.


    However, Jude''s next words toward Arlo almost caused the anger she barely suppressed to erupt.


    "Tsk tsk. Don''t tell me you are scared of me. The princess must have poor eyes."


    Arlo pressed his hand on Arianne''s shoulder and finally spoke to Jude:


    "The next ranking war."


    "Huh!?"


    Jude and everybody within the auditorium didn''t understand Arlo.


    He opened his mouth and clarified his previous statement:


    "I will fight you in the next ranking war."


    Jude and everybody were at first stunned, but soon after Jude''s mocking laughter resounded in the silent auditorium.


    "Hahahahaha!"


    The others also shook their heads, while those second years who praised Arlo now looked at him in disappointment.


    Even Arianne''s expression changed, but feeling Arlo''s firm grip on her shoulder, she swallowed the words she wanted to say.


    "You think you can win against me in a week''s time?" Jude mocked Arlo openly. He didn''t bother to respect the fool who didn''t know his place.


    However, Arlo''s next words shut his mouth and sent a chill down the back of everyone''s back.


    With a slow but calm voice, Arlo spoke:


    "No. I will kill you in the next ranking war."


    The auditorium became silent, and even Arianne''s eyes widened.


    Nobody knew that Arlo swore he would never allow anyone close to him to be hurt again.


    After Old Bro revealed what happened in the past, Arlo''s mindset started to change.


    Even Old Bro who could sense the change in his character was scared of such a development.


    He started questioning if what he did was right, as he felt how Arlo''s mind was getting twisted.


    His desire for strength was so strong, which was what Old bro wanted in the first place. However, he didn''t expect that his passion for protecting those around him would even supersede his desire for power. His passion was almost to the point of obsession.


    Jude became angry when he realized he was daunted by Arlo''s declaration.


    He snorted to cover his shame and spoke:


    "You are a fool! Since you are so eager to die, I don''t mind lending a hand."


    Arlo ignored him and went back to his seat, with Arianne following behind him.


    While the others were scared by Arlo''s declaration and change, Arianne''s heartbeat sped up when she noticed Arlo''s protection of her.


    "So cute!" Joe whispered into her ear causing her flushing face to distort immediately.


    Joe flinched back.


    ''So scary!''


    None of the other challengers stepped forward to fight causing the second year''s first ranking war to come to an end.


    Rumors about how a freshman challenged one of the top ten second-year students spread around the academy.


    Some of the students didn''t believe it, while others dismissed it.


    AN: Support the novel by following it and adding it as a favorite. A big ''thank you'' to all those who have followed the novel so far.

 CHAPTEER 121: RECONCILING

    The principal led Arlo''s group back to the southern region of the Darkblood academy.


    "Why would you make such a declaration? No matter how I look at it, you are no match for a second-year student let alone one in the top ten." Joe asked in wonder.


    Arlo didn''t hesitate to reply, "He needs to pay for hurting Arianne."


    "But it was a duel. It is normal for her to get hurt." Joe countered.


    Not receiving a reply, Joe snorted and looked at the silent Arianne whose face was flushed red.


    ''It''s certainly because the other party had dirty thoughts toward her.''


    Joe remembered vividly how Arlo clenched his hands in anger when he saw Jude''s lecherous gaze on Arianne.


    It''s just that he didn''t want to point it out.


    The attention of the trio was soon drawn away from the matter, as they came across several vampire nobles on the way.


    Principal Stanley bowed and greeted a lot of unknown faces several times.


    "What is going on?" Joe voiced out in wonder.


    The same was true for Arlo. He kept observing the people they came across


    Some came alone, and some came in groups, while some moved in carriages.


    Principal Stanley stopped once again before a carriage.


    A middle-aged man and woman stepped down from the carriage, followed by a boy who seemed to be just past his teen.


    "Greetings!" Principal Martins bowed his head slightly in respect.


    "Haha!" The man laughed amicably and greeted him with a slight nod.


    Then he shifted his attention to Arlo''s group, specifically to Arianne.


    Arlo noticed the gaze of the boy who followed them had been on Arianne since he came down the carriage, causing a light frown to appear on his face.


    "Greetings princess!" The middle-aged man and woman bowed respectfully toward Arianne.


    Arianne ignored the two and met eyes with the boy who was older than her by at least eight years.


    "Son, won''t you greet Her Highness?" The middle-aged woman rebuked in a low voice.


    The boy quickly came to and bowed respectfully at Arianne.


    Even though she did not have any goodwill toward the other party, she still had to reciprocate the respect.


    Feeling Arianne''s cold attitude, the group was put in a difficult situation. They wanted to use this opportunity to associate with their princess, but it seemed they weren''t welcomed.


    Principal Stanley also didn''t know what to do. He didn''t dare to ignore the other party, as he was lower in status compared to them.


    An awkward silence ensued.


    The silence didn''t last long, as Joe looked at Arlo and sighed in defeat, before holding Arianne''s soft hand...


    "Why don''t we head back now?"


    Without waiting for her to reply, he pulled her along and walked away. Arlo quickly followed after the two, while Principal Stanley smiled awkwardly.


    In the end, he bowed once more and followed after them.


    When Arlo''s group left their sight, the middle-aged woman frowned and turned toward her son who was still glaring in Joe''s direction.


    "Do you know that boy?"


    The boy shook his head slightly and asked a question himself:


    "Since when did the academy accept beasts?"


    "That is not important." The middle-aged man turned toward his son and warned with a chilly voice, "Control yourself. No matter what, she is the princess!"


    Under his father''s piercing gaze, the boy trembled.


    "Yes!"


    .....


    Immediately when they left the family of three''s sight, Joe who was about to let go of Arianne''s hand was suddenly sent flying.


    Arianne''s body trembled slightly as she glared at Joe, "Who said you could touch me?"


    "Jeez, I just wanted to help you," said Joe as he dusted his clothes.


    Arianne asked doubtfully, "And why would I need your help?"


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    "You seem to have a lot of admirers. Wouldn''t you agree, Arlo?"


    "This bastard..." Arianne flashed before Joe and grabbed him.


    "Hey hey...There is no need for violence."


    *BAM!*


    "Hey Arlo, won''t you help me?"


    *BAM!*


    Those who wanted to approach Arianne quickly turned aside after seeing her attitude which was unbecoming of a princess.


    While Principal Stanley was grateful that he wouldn''t have to greet the nobles who turned away, he still couldn''t allow the situation to continue on the road.


    "Okay, stop!" he tried to separate the two but was soon stopped by Arianne''s glare whose eyes shone a red light.


    "Don''t touch me!"


    She freed Joe and turned to look at Arlo who watched the scene with an indifferent look.


    "It isn''t as you think..."


    "It doesn''t matter." Arlo cut her words short with a calm look. He really didn''t look affected in the least, which caused a stifling feeling to fill Arianne''s heart.


    ''Tsk." Joe looked at Arlo like he was gazing at a fool. There was even a look of contempt on his face.


    ''It is just as I thought.'' Principal Stanley looked between Arlo and Arianne with a conflicting expression. Then he opened his mouth:


    "Princess Arianne is a special existence. Just like our Liege, she is a progenitor for a new line of vampires. So a lot of the vampire nobles have their eyes on them. They don''t want a repeat of what happened the last time."


    "A repeat?" Joe asked.


    "That is right."


    "The nobles believe King Nathan marrying the queen is a mistake. And they use the prince to back their claim. So they won''t allow anyone without a noble bloodline to marry the princess, not to mention another race."


    While it seemed as if he was answering Joe, he was actually subtly warning Arianne and Arlo.


    After that, the group headed back to the southern region.


    The principal took his leave, as he had to prepare for the event tonight. Without another word, Arianne also left.


    "Why didn''t you say anything?" Joe asked as he looked at Arianne''s retreating figure.


    "I am heading to the training center."


    ''I honestly don''t know what is going on in that small head of his.'' left with no choice, Joe chased after him.


    .....


    Arlo and Joe spent the rest of their time training.


    Arlo practiced martial arts while Joe immersed himself in creating new formations.


    Both of them were oblivious to the tense atmosphere that permeated the entire academy.


    Late at night.


    The door suddenly swung open, causing Arlo who was shadow-fighting to stop.


    Rosaline, Bon, and Judi walked toward the two.


    A brief silence engulfed the center as both parties gazed at each other.


    Bon was the first to break the silence as he looked at Joe.


    "What is that snake?"


    "I don''t know."


    Bon frowned as he didn''t expect that answer. But seeing the sincere look on Joe''s face, he couldn''t help but ask:


    "Then why is it with you?"


    Even Arlo stared at Joe as he was also curious about the snake.


    Under the stare of his mates, Joe fidgeted a little before scratching the back of his head.


    "I really don''t know."


    Seeing that Bon and the others were displeased with his answer, Joe quickly added:


    "I don''t know anything about the snake. It''s just that I felt my bloodline react to it in the forest which was why I decided to save it. Since then I have tried communicating with it, but it was no success. All it does is sleep. It doesn''t even eat."


    Even at that moment, the snake had its eyes closed, which supported his claim.


    Arlo became lost in his thoughts.


    What Joe didn''t add is that no matter where he went, the snake always followed him without a fail even if it was sleeping.


    Also, Arlo noticed the snake study him from time to time and Joe wasn''t aware of it.


    Rosaline opened her mouth for the first time since entering the center, "Since it is coiled around your neck, it means it''s very close to you. Is it your life beast?"


    "Life beast?" Joe asked unsure. Even Arlo did not know of life beasts.


    Rosaline noticed the look on both their faces and explained, "There are techniques to make a spiritual beast submit to you. Some techniques are more oppressive than others while some enforce a mutual relationship between both parties. It is just that a person can only have a life beast in their entire life, as the technique is closely tied to the mana core."


    ''It must be like the second-year student ranked first with the dark wolf and also...'' Arlo thought silently as he recalled the bat-like creature Arianne hung around with before they entered the academy.


    "It is just that..." A sweet voice escaped Judi''s pink lips as she gazed at Joe with an uncertain look, "Shouldn''t a spiritual beast not be able to contract with another beast?"


    That was what Rosaline also didn''t understand.


    Only beast tamers should be able to contract with beast, but over the years the humans were able to develop a technique that allowed those who had no affinity with laws associated with beast taming to suppress a beast and make them their pets. It was just that the technique had a limit. Only one beast could be tamed, and trying to forcefully tame another would put one''s mana core in danger.


    "I don''t know..." Joe whispered. He was starting to get scared after learning about such information. Initially, he felt close to the snake because of some sort of connection between the two. But now he realized, the snake being with him was a strange thing.


    The same was true for the others. They didn''t dare to investigate the snake who seemed to be asleep. They could still remember the gigantic image it had summoned to devour the firebird''s last attack.


    Rosaline quickly changed the topic when she noticed they were heading nowhere. She was also afraid the snake was conscious of their presence.


    "What about the slime?" Bon and Judi also shifted their gaze toward Arlo.


    A deep look of fear covered their faces. Anita''s existence scared them more than the terrifying snake. Just the thought that they were near two terrifying monsters sent shivers around their bodies.


    Arlo gazed at the trio. He could see the fear on their faces, yet they mustered the courage to confront him about it and also didn''t spread the information. He decided to be honest with them.


    Well, half honest.


    After almost fifteen minutes of explanation, Rosaline, Judi, and Bon visibly relaxed.


    "So it...she is your summon, and she can only absorb beasts?"


    "Yes!" Arlo answered without any hesitation.


    Rosaline turned to study Joe, but seeing no change in his expression she decided to believe Arlo.


    "Can you please not speak about her to anyone?" Arlo asked with a pleading look.


    Not even a second later, Judi answered, "Yes!"


    Feeling the strange gazes on her, Judi blushed and hurriedly lowered her head.


    Bon sighed at his sister before turning back to Arlo, "No problem. I also wish you would forgive us for how we treated you before."


    Judi quickly raised her head to look at him.


    Arlo smiled before extending a handshake, "Done!"


    Bon shook it, while Judi had a wide smile on her face.


    "I will always watch you." the friendly mood was suddenly broken by Rosaline.


    She warned Arlo and then left the hall.


    Arlo took her reply as a silent agreement and finally relaxed his tense nerves.


    "Whew!" he had always been afraid of revealing Anita''s existence after receiving Old Bro''s warning.


    He didn''t dare to imagine what would happen if any information about her was leaked out, especially with only vampires surrounding him.


    "Would you like to accompany us to the awakening ritual?" Bon suddenly asked.


    Everything finally clicked in Arlo''s head. Now he knew why they had encountered several vampires during the day.


    ''Today is the first-year students awakening ritual.''


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 122: AWAKENING RITUAL I

    In the central region of the Darkblood Academy.


    Bon and Judi led Arlo and Joe to a massive castle.


    Even among the people entering the castle, Arlo''s group appeared conspicuous.


    The vampires threw him and Joe many glances, but Arlo ignored them.


    What surprised Arlo was that Joe also didn''t seem to be too affected by the attention he was receiving, which was a stark contrast to him of last week.


    "Let''s enter too..." Bon said as he took the lead. Arlo could hear the slight quiver in his voice, and from the nervous look on Judi''s face, he realized they were both tense about the ritual.


    The group entered the magnificent castle.


    The great hall was so large to the extent that Arlo couldn''t estimate the number of people it could accommodate. There were huge pillars several meters thick to support the ceiling which was tens of meters high.


    Arlo stopped admiring the hall and shifted his attention to the people in the hall.


    There were hundreds of vampires already present. Nobles and their families, and students of the academy who were still dressed in their uniform.


    From the I -IV symbols etched on the uniforms, Arlo guessed all the students of the academy were attending the ritual.


    ''This ritual must truly be important.''


    Some of the people in the hall turned their gazes toward their group, causing Bon and Judi to flinch.


    "Why don''t we move to that corner?" Arlo suggested to Bon and Judi who stopped and caused the group to block the doorway.


    After moving to a comfortable spot, Arlo took his time to study the people in the hall. He locked eyes with several people who were similarly studying him.


    Suddenly the voices of a group of people drifted into his ears, causing him to stop his observation.


    "Haha. Tibu, what the hell are you doing here?"


    "Since when are trashes permitted to attend the ritual?"


    Several vampires whom Arlo judged from their dress and air to be nobles crowded around a middle-aged man and woman.


    ''Tibu?'' Arlo and Joe''s eyes widened at the same time. The middle-aged man and woman were actually Bon and Judi''s parents.


    "It is the grace I received from the Count..."


    "Oh! You can now talk back to us?"


    "I don''t dare..." Tibu and his wife shivered from the crowd''s glare. Their backs were bent forward and they appeared servile.


    Arlo turned to Bon and Judi by his side. Judi lowered her head in shame, while Bon looked at his parents being trampled upon in public and could only clench his fist tightly.


    Arlo was just about to speak when his body stiffened on the spot.


    A shadow appeared behind Joe, and a long creepy tongue licked the side of his face.


    Joe stumbled forward when he felt the sensation before quickly turning back in time to see a white-haired boy looking at him with lust.


    "A royal beast..." the boy whispered as he licked his lips. His body trembled while a light of excitement shone in his eyes. He took a step toward Joe only to freeze in place the next second.


    A golden-haired boy so beautiful even by vampire''s standard blocked his path.


    "Oh!" The boy looked at Arlo with interest and momentarily forgot about Joe.


    "That is the human I told you about." A voice resounded from behind him as a dark-haired boy with several white streaks walked to his side.


    "Jude..." Arlo whispered in a voice only he could hear.


    "Oh! The one that said he would kill you?"


    "That is right!"


    The white-haired boy studied Arlo carefully, "I don''t feel the presence of mana from him..."


    "From what I have heard, he should be a rare Ki cultivator," said Jude with a thoughtful look.


    They both spoke and disparaged Arlo who was protecting Joe, as if he was nothing.


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    The white-haired boy looked at Jude with a blank look, "So, You can''t handle him?"


    Jude scratched his head as he felt embarrassed, "You know we can''t hurt him..."


    Jude didn''t finish his words, but the white-haired boy understood what he was trying to say. After all, he also received the telepathic message from their liege a few weeks ago.


    But he wasn''t like the others...


    Looking at Arlo who still retained his calmness, he grinned, "Do you think just because you are under our liege''s protection, no one can hurt you?" Immediately when he finished speaking, he released his aura toward Arlo.


    The aura of an orange-core mage washed over Arlo, and before he knew it, he fell to his knees as the pressure pressed on him and tried to force his head down.


    For the first time since entering the Academy, Arlo''s calm look distorted as he raised his head with all his effort to glare at the white-haired boy.


    "Hahaha!" Jude laughed in enjoyment. He looked at Arlo with a gaze full of mockery.


    Joe, who Arlo was protecting fell completely without any resistance.


    The same was for Judi and Bon who were by their side and were implicated.


    By now, what was happening had already drawn the attention of all those present in the hall.


    Tibu and Nikki saw their children being humiliated and could do nothing about it. Nikki looked like she was about to lose it, but Tibu held her. Her body trembled in anger but when she looked at her husband and saw the suppressed anger in his eyes, she controlled herself.


    "Are those not your children?" One of the vampires around them voiced out.


    "Haha. That is true. They really are their children."


    "Tsk tsk, a plebian can never lose their nature."


    "It is their fate to grovel at our feet."


    "Hahaha!"


    They mocked Tibu and Nikki and didn''t seem to care about how they felt. Seeing them tremble in anger added more to their enjoyment.


    At this time, all the first years were already present. Rosaline was with her parents. The same was true for Ric, Sol, and James, but none of them made an effort to help Arlo''s group. Even Moose, Grim, and the other first-year teachers aside from Julian were present, however, they all remained silent. The white-haired boy was one of their most talented fourth-year students and was equal in strength to them. And there was a more powerful force backing him. This was the power of classes in the vampire society.


    A part of Rosaline wished to help, but her mind warned her not to, as her family was lower in status compared to Jude, not to mention the white-haired boy.


    Arlo felt a volcano erupting within him, but no matter how he tried, he couldn''t resist the pressure. He knew there were a lot of people he knew present, and the fact that none of them tried to help him reminded him of the dark natures of vampires. An evil and prideful race that saw those beneath them as food. Even among themselves, there was discrimination.


    The white-haired boy walked closer to Arlo and grabbed his jaw, "It is remarkable that you are still holding on..." He didn''t release his full aura, as the full pressure of his cultivation would definitely kill Arlo which was something even he didn''t dare to do.


    "...But you know, I hate those eyes of yours." he brought his face closer to Arlo''s, his red thin pupils locking with Arlo''s raging yet determined silver eyes. Those eyes full of tenacity reminded him of someone he absolutely despised.


    "Why don''t I pull them out?" His other hand moved toward Arlo''s eyes, but Arlo didn''t flinch back and instead struggled against the pressure that was trying to crush him to the floor.


    Jude at the back started showing a look of anxiousness. Wouldn''t this make their liege angry? He wanted to tell him to stop but didn''t dare to. Honestly, even he who was called the mad dog was scared of the white-haired boy.


    The white-haired boy''s fingers were just about to dig into Arlo''s unrelenting eye when...


    The pitch-black snake which had its eyes shut even when Joe was forced to the floor suddenly opened its starry-like eyes.


    An ancient aura filled the hall, causing all present to stiffen in fear.


    "Heok!" the white-haired boy fell on his rear and quickly moved back upon locking eyes with the snake.


    A feeling of death washed over him and he didn''t doubt it for a second. Arlo and the others who felt the pressure on them disappear slowly rose to their feet. Arlo wiped the blood from the side of his mouth. He felt the change in the hall and looked back at the snake only to become stunned.


    ''The snake is not awake?'' The ancient aura that filled the hall disappeared like it was an illusion, and not even a second later, an old man walked into the hall.


    Headmaster Holden!


    Some of the nobles gasped for breath when the pressure on them disappeared causing the headmaster to frown.


    However, those who still retained their composure quickly greeted:


    "We greet the Lord!" The others quickly followed after them.


    Even the white-haired boy who was drenched in sweat quickly followed and fell to his knees.


    All those present in the hall knelt except for two. Arlo and Joe.


    A middle-aged man deep within the hall, who wasn''t affected by the ancient aura but was instead shocked roared in anger...


    "KNEEL!"


    Joe quickly fell to his knees in fear. The small courage which he had gathered recently had already disappeared a while ago, after being enveloped in a dreadful aura. However...


    Arlo didn''t kneel.


    A vein popped on the middle-aged man''s face and he wanted to shout once more only to stop when he saw Headmaster Holden raise his hand.


    "There is no need, Count Hayes. "


    Arlo looked at the middle-aged man in anger, "Why are you barking like a dog?"


    Everyone became stunned. The middle-aged man who spoke had a blank look on his face. If not for Headmaster Holden who just entered, he was formerly the one with the greatest status and strength in the hall. He was a Count.


    However, Arlo was undaunted and was angry, "Why didn''t you talk when I was being mistreated? Now you dare to open your mouth?"


    Headmaster Holden came out from his stunned state. He could feel the raging anger within Arlo and couldn''t help but ask, "Little boy, what happened?"


    Arlo suppressed the anger he felt. He would pay those who dared to humiliate here today back by himself.


    With a hoarse voice, he spoke:


    "Nothing."


    Holden shifted his gaze to the others and asked once again:


    "What happened?"


    None of the vampires spoke. They felt humiliated to say they were all pressured by a snake. They were perfect beings who were supposed to be at the peak of the mortal plane. Their pride wouldn''t allow it. As for Arlo''s mistreatment, none of them really cared.


    The white-haired boy, who was still kneeling gritted his teeth in anger. He felt embarrassed that he was scared of a first-year student''s pet.


    "My Lord..." he spoke.


    Holden shifted his gaze to him in the hope that he would explain what happened. But that wasn''t the case.


    "I would like to ask you to chase away the outsiders. Today''s ritual is an important event for all vampires, and it is not a place for a human and beast to attend."


    "And why can''t they attend?"


    The person he wished to persuade wasn''t the one who replied, instead, it was a peer of his who just entered the hall.


    The white-haired boy glared at the boy who interjected with anger and spoke his name with undisguised hatred...


    "Stefan..."

 CHAPTER 123: AWAKENING RITUAL II

    "Stefan..."


    Stefan ignored the white-haired boy who glared at him and approached Arlo with a light smile on his face.


    "Hey there." He ruffled Arlo''s golden hair.


    Headmaster Holden walked deeper into the hall and ignored what was going on.


    In the first place, he was a protector and wasn''t supposed to involve himself in vampire matters.


    "Stefan! Are you trying to disparage our ritual?"


    Stefan finally turned toward the white-haired boy:


    "Toon, have you forgotten the beating I gave you the last time?"


    "You..." the white-haired boy pointed at Stefan and trembled in anger.


    On the other hand, Arlo silently memorized his name, as he looked at him with an unreadable expression.


    No one knew the evil thoughts that were going through the head of the seven-year-old boy. If they did, they would have fallen on their knees right there and pleaded for mercy.


    "Stefan, I don''t think it is right to..."


    "That is Prince Stefan for you." the middle-aged man who shouted at Arlo before, Count Hayes, leader of the Hayes family wanted to speak, but Stefan interrupted him.


    Stefan didn''t miss the look of disdain that flashed on Count Hayes''s face for a moment but he didn''t care.


    "Prince Stefan..."


    Stefan nodded in satisfaction.


    "...A human shouldn''t be in this ritual."


    Even as they spoke, more people kept entering the hall. There were several Counts and their families among those who entered. In normal circumstances, they would be greeted and welcomed by the noble vampires, but the drama playing caught their attention. Even the Counts weren''t annoyed and instead found a place to watch what was going on.


    Slowly, the people in the hall formed nine groups. The vampire nobles moved toward the Counts who were the leaders of the nine vampire families.


    Only Headmaster Holden stood alone.


    Tibu and his wife moved toward Count Aaron.


    Beside their group was Count Vlad who had Long silky black hair that fell down his back, with several streaks of white mixed within. The vampires in his family surrounded him.


    While the other Counts looked between Stefan and Count Hayes, Count Vlad studied Arlo carefully. He was the one Scarlett entrusted Arlo to, and he was the one who gave Arlo to Tibu to use as a slave. Now that he saw Arlo in just a few weeks, he couldn''t help but be surprised. He still could not feel any trace of mana from Arlo, but he could tell Arlo was several times stronger than when they met.


    Stefan patted Arlo on the shoulder and smiled, "Arlo is not just any human, he is a friend of mine and he is also close to my grandmother."


    The words Count Hayes wanted to say died down his throat after hearing Arlo was close to Scarlett. He didn''t dare to disparage anyone close to their liege.


    However just because he wouldn''t dare doesn''t mean that others wouldn''t too.


    "Prince Stefan, I don''t think our liege would like for a human to participate in the ritual."


    Stefan, Arlo, and the people in the hall looked towards a particular group of people. At the center of the group was a person Arlo and Joe recognized. It was the middle-aged man they met earlier during the day. Beside him was his wife, and son who seemed to be glaring in their direction


    "Count Cromwell..." Stefan whispered in a grave voice.


    Count Cromwell smiled at Stefan Amicably, "Our Liege said not to harm the human, but from what I have heard, our Liege also told us to treat him like we would treat any human, isn''t that right, Count Vlad?"


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    Count Vlad frowned at Count Cromwell. He didn''t want to be involved in this matter, not to mention that he disliked the Cromwell family in the first place. But seeing that everybody''s attention was on him, he had no choice but to answer:


    "Yes..."


    A sly glint flashed past Count Cromwell''s eyes before he turned back to Stefan, "I don''t believe what my son said is wrong. A human shouldn''t be involved in our matters."


    "Hahaha! Father is right!" laughed Toon, but upon seeing Count Cromwell''s brief glare, he quickly shut up. Still, he looked at Stefan and flashed him a smug smile.


    Stefan clenched his hands in anger. His usual light smile had long disappeared from his face. He, a prince was being treated disrespectfully in Public, yet nobody helped him.


    When Arlo saw Stefan placed in a difficult spot because of him, he felt guilty and decided to leave.


    It was at this moment that several new figures entered the hall.


    Every vampire within the hall fell to their knees. No, four figures remained standing. It was Headmaster Holden, Stefan, Arlo and Joe.


    "We greet the Lords!"


    Eight figures donned in white robes entered the hall. What they all had in common was that they were old. However, none of the people in the hall dared to look down on them. Among the eight old figures were five men and three women. While they appeared old, the air of dignity around them added to their natural charm.


    They stood beside Headmaster Holden and nodded towards him in greeting.


    "You can rise!" One of the women among them spoke in a soothing voice.


    The vampires who were still kneeling like knights to their Lords finally rose to their feet.


    "Let us begin the ritual!" the same woman commanded in a light voice.


    Principal Stanley and Teacher Julian entered the hall. Principal Stanley was carrying an object covered with a black cloth, while Julian was holding a list. They greeted the nine Lords before moving to the center of the hall.


    The vampires around them moved back to give the two some space.


    Julian tapped several places on the ground and soon after a massive formation lit up. A square altar 10m in size rose from the floor. That wasn''t all, as from the center of the raised altar, rose a small pillar about 2m high. The pillar contained a reddish liquid.


    Immediately when the pillar appeared, the air within the hall changed. Arlo noticed the eyes of several vampires shine red, while some even grew fangs from their mouths.


    "Human blood..." Joe who was beside Arlo whispered.


    Arlo looked at Bon and Judi who were breathing heavily as they gazed at the pillar of blood.


    Teacher Julian raised the list in his hand and called out the first name


    "Ric Hayes!"


    Every vampire in a clan took the name of their respective lords as their last name.


    Ric walked toward the altar and took a deep breath with a tense look on his face. He controlled his fast-beating heart and finally climbed the altar before stopping before Principal Stanley.


    Principal Stanley nodded at him slightly and was about to remove the black cloth covering the object he was carrying when a voice stopped his action.


    "I plead Lord Cromwell to resolve a problem before we start the ritual!" Count Cromwell suddenly stepped forward and kneeled in the direction of one of the Nine Lords.


    The majority of the Lords furrowed their brows in displeasure while Headmaster Holden smiled lightly, and the old man whom Cromwell was kneeling to nodded amicably.


    Joe who had been looking forward to watching the ritual suddenly trembled while a look of anger flashed on Arlo''s face.


    Count Cromwell didn''t care about Arlo''s expression and pointed towards him, "The human and beast should be sent out of here. This is a very important event for we vampires, and it should not be witnessed by outsiders."


    The brows of the other lords which had furrowed in displeasure slowly eased up.


    Lord Cromwell, an old man with long white hair and a matching mustache looked at Arlo.


    The eight lords had noticed Arlo''s presence when they entered. It was just that they didn''t want to antagonize him since they noticed he was close to Scarlett. But now that one of their subjects had pointed him out, they had no choice but to address the matter.


    Lord Cromwell was just about to speak when Stefan''s voice resounded within the silent hall:


    "Arlo stays with me!" Stefan took a step forward and released his aura as he glared at Count Cromwell, "I am your prince, since when did my words lose weight?"


    Count Cromwell merely gazed at Stefan who released his aura towards him.


    "Humph!" Lord Cromwell snorted, and Stefan''s aura suddenly vanished. He looked at Stefan without bothering to mask the look of disdain on his face:


    "Prince Stefan, it is unbecoming of you to act in such a manner." He looked at Arlo with serene eyes and spoke with a cold voice:


    "Human, this is no place for you to be. Leave. Take the beast trash beside you and leave this place."


    The look of anger on Arlo''s face slowly disappeared upon hearing Joe be called trash. He looked at Lord Cromwell with lucid eyes before shifting his gaze toward Stefan who was gritting his teeth.


    With a warm smile on his face, Arlo spoke sincerely, "Thank you."


    Before Stefan could reply, Arlo spoke to Joe, before turning around.


    "Let''s leave this place. We are not welcome here."


    Teacher Julian hesitated to speak but a moment later he sighed and shook his head.


    Arlo had not even taken three steps when an enchanting yet cold voice drifted into the hall:


    "Who dares to chase my true disciple?"


    The indifferent look on Lord Cromwell''s face changed completely. The other Lords had similar expressions to him. Only Lord Holden had an amused smile on his face.


    Light footsteps drifted into the hall as all the vampires looked at the entrance with different expressions on their faces.


    Fear.


    Admiration.


    Annoyance.


    Under the stare of every vampire in the hall, a woman donned in her characteristic tight-fitting suit that hugged her seductive curves, slowly entered the hall.


    Her red luscious lips parted as an enchanting voice echoed within the silent hall:


    "I said, who dares to chase away my true disciple?"


    Evangeline!

 CHAPTER 124: AWAKENING RITUAL III

    Lord Cromwell''s expression crumpled completely.


    Under Evangeline''s cold stare, he didn''t dare to open his mouth.


    ''Since when did this little bitch accept another disciple? A true disciple no less!''


    Similar thoughts were passing through the heads of the other Lords.


    Several vampires gulped nervously when they saw the rotten look on Lord Cromwell''s face.


    There was a rumor that Evangeline was among the strongest ten vampires. And that was a great achievement considering the Lords were the first group of humans Scarlett turned. Every other vampire was sired by the nine lords bringing about the nine vampire families. For Evangeline who was in the same generation as Julian to be comparable to them was an unparalleled achievement that showed her monstrous talent.


    Only the nobles with great status knew that she was actually among the top 5, causing them to respect her even more. It was just that even the information they perceived was somewhat lacking.


    Aside from Scarlett and Headmaster Holden, Evangeline was the strongest vampire in history, together with King Nathan.


    It was just that the public didn''t know the true depth of her strength.


    Evangeline looked at Lord Cromwell with mocking eyes before she shifted her attention to Arlo.


    "Tell me, who dared to bully you? I will smash them before your face!"


    Count Cromwell and Hayes flinched. Beads of sweat soon appeared on their foreheads.


    Arlo looked at Evangeline with pure admiration.


    ''This is what power can achieve!'' His will was further firmed when he saw all those who dared to mistreat him shrink before Evangeline few words.


    Arlo took a breath after a brief moment and replied with a smile on his face, "I am fine."


    Evangeline looked at him for several breaths before she shrugged. She could guess what was going on in Arlo''s head, and she respected his decision.


    Lord Cromwell, Count Cronwell, and Count Hayes visibly relaxed upon hearing Arlo''s response.


    "Evangel, come here so we can start the ritual!" Count Ashley, a middle-aged woman with long white hair tied into a bun voiced out.


    Evangeline looked at the old beauty before relenting. Even though she was far stronger than Count Ashley, she still respected the leader of her family, who believed in her when she was at her weakest.


    She ruffled Arlo''s hard before moving towards her clan.


    Stefan approached Arlo and elbowed him by his side, "I admire you."


    Arlo arched his back from the blow before voicing out in confusion:


    "Why?"


    "You became her true disciple."


    "Aren''t you also her disciple?"


    "That is right. But I am only an ordinary disciple. You on the other hand is her true disciple who would succeed her inheritance and techniques."


    Arlo''s eyes widened upon realizing the weight behind his new status as Evangeline''s disciple.


    He looked at Evangeline with moist eyes, ''I won''t disappoint you.''


    Evangeline who was looking at the starting ritual with a bored look suddenly shifted her gaze towards him.


    Seeing Arlo''s expression, she flashed him a rare smile that mesmerized several male nobles in the hall.


    Throughout the events that happened, Headmaster Holden didn''t say a word and merely watched.


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    He didn''t bother to side with Arlo and Stefan as he knew that when Arlo''s new status as Evangeline''s true disciple became known, no one would dare to block his path.


    Now that the issue had been addressed, he ignored Lord Cromwell and the other Lord''s glare and spoke with a low yet resounding voice:


    "Let the awakening ritual begin!"


    Principal Stanley removed the cloth covering the object he was holding to reveal a small colorless orb.


    .....


    Vampires are creatures that have supernatural strength, speed, and regeneration. They have heightened senses that allow them to react fast to dangers. Not only that, they can use spiritual energy to perform soul attacks. Those with high proficiency with soul attacks could even compel humans and beasts to do their bidding.


    However, Noble vampires could do more than that. Each of the nine lords inherited a divine ability of Scarlett, and those who were sired by them or have their origin blood could receive these abilities.


    The moon hung high in the sky and illuminated the world in its divine light.


    In a great castle located in the central region of the Darkblood academy...


    The vampires gathered together to partake in a new awakening ritual. These rituals allowed young vampire nobles to awaken the origin blood they had inherited either from their parents or received from a source.


    Another aim of these rituals was to showcase the talents of each vampire clan, which was one of the reasons why some of the vampires didn''t interfere when Arlo and Dean were told to leave. No matter what, it wasn''t right to reveal the growing weapons of the vampire race.


    "Place your hand on the Orb!" Principal Stanley commanded.


    Ric did as instructed. He felt a warm energy enter his body from the colorless orb. The energy roamed around his body, entered his mana core, and finally moved into his bloodstream.


    A minute after placing his hand on the orb, the orb lit up with a violet color.


    "Ohh!" A commotion rang out in the hall.


    A smile lit Principal Stanley''s face as he announced:


    "A first-tier talent!"


    A look of happiness appeared on Ric''s face as he turned toward the direction of his clan group.


    He could see his parents holding hands and looking at him with pride. After a short moment, the commotion died down.


    Now it was time to see how his clan truly valued his talent. His parents were nobles with neither high nor low status. They were mid-class. So while his parent could share some of the origin blood they had with him, it was better to receive it from a person with higher status, as they would be able to share more.


    Not surprisingly, Count Hayes, the leader of their clan walked out and climbed the altar.


    "You are a rare talent of my clan!" he showered Ric with praise.


    Ric bowed his head in happiness. His heart was filled with pride.


    ''Now, I should be able to trample you.'' Arlo''s image flashed within his mind.


    ''Just you wait.''


    Count Hayes created a dark bowl using his mana and drew blood from the pillar, then he handed it to Ric, "Drink!"


    Ric took the bowl respectfully and gulped it down in one go.


    Soon after, the bowl fell from his hands before he fell to his knees. The bowl turns into wisps of darkness before touching the floor.


    The sclera of Ric''s eyes turned blood-red, dark veins appeared under his eyes as the blood pumped forcefully through them, and his canine teeth extended into razor-sharp fangs.


    Count Hayes''s finger extended into a claw before he drew blood from his palm.


    "Drink!" he commanded as he raised his hand above Ric''s head. Three drops of dark blood fell into his mouth.


    Immediately after entering his body, the flowed through his bloodstream and moved toward where his dormant origin blood lay.


    After mixing together, Ric''s dormant origin blood awakened, as they shone with a dark glow. The three drops of origin blood merged with them and became Ric''s own.


    "Roar!" Ric raised his head and released a roar. His body shone with a dark light and soon after his skin took a dark shade.


    Arlo looked at Ric''s transformation and couldn''t help but gulp. He wasn''t sure if Ric''s skin had turned into scales or not.


    << His clan ability is the ability to absorb shock further boosting his defense. Also, few objects would be able to penetrate the defense of his skin. >>


    Old Bro''s voice which Arlo had not heard for a long time suddenly resounded in his head, but Arlo welcomed it.


    He looked at Count Hayes whose face was a bit pale, and asked a question in his mind:


    ''Why was he called a first-tier talent?''


    Count Hayes took Ric back to their group after his transformation ended.


    Lysa was the second student to be called to the altar. Teacher Julian announced her talent with joy:


    "A second-tier talent!"


    Her talent was determined to be a second-tier talent, and she also received origin blood from her clan leader, Count Elsher who was a female.


    After receiving two drops of origin blood, Lysa''s Legs transformed into a monster''s. Unlike before, her transformation was more detailed and menacing. Sharp bones protruded out the back of her calves, and she had four toes instead of the previous three which extended into sharp talons.


    After Lysa, several students were called onto the stage. Arlo watched their transformation intently and clenched his hands together.


    ''They have become stronger.''


    After the transformation, Ric, Lysa, and the others experienced a breakthrough in their cultivation. In fact, Ric, Lysa, Sol, and James were able to jump a level to become mid-level advanced mages. Not only that, the awakening of their bloodline had strengthened their transformation and increased their strengths by many folds.


    ''I am no more their match!'' Arlo came to a painful truth. However, he wasn''t sad nor was he angry. He trusted in Evangeline and his talents and believed he would also get stronger.


    But for now, he knew he couldn''t defend his rank in the next ranking war. Arlo was pulled out of his thoughts when Principal Stanley called out a new name.


    "Rosaline Ashley!"


    Out from Evangeline''s clan group, Rosaline adjusted her glasses before she walked onto the altar.

 CHAPTER 125: AWAKENING RITUAL IV

    << Mana cultivation is divided into three stages. The Preliminary Stage, the Intermediate stage, and the true stage of cultivation. In the preliminary stages, we have the beginner realm, advanced realm, and master realm which involves expelling the impurities within the black mana core and turning it colorless. Each of these realms is divided into Early, mid, late, and peak levels. >> << Then we have the intermediate which consists of only one realm, the grandmaster realm. In the grandmaster realm, the mana core is divided into twelve parts. >>


    << The final stage is called the true stage because this is where cultivation truly begins. It is divided into eight realms, the Red-core realm, the Orange-core realm, the Yellow-core realm, the Green-core realm, the Blue-core realm, the Indigo-core realm, and the Violent-core realm. Each realm is divided into twelve levels. But...>> old bro paused for a moment before he continued:


    << In the current dark universe, Yellow-core real is the highest realm of cultivation. >>


    ''Why?'' Arlo asked in confusion.


    Old bro gave him a short answer, << You will know when you have enough strength. >>


    Arlo didn''t mind Old Bro''s attitude and instead organized all the information he just received as he fixed his eyes on Rosaline who placed her hands on the orb.


    ''So theoretically, someone like Ric has the talent to reach the violet-core realm, but he could only ever reach the peak of the yellow-core realm. Hmm. What happened for that to be?...'' Arlo''s quick thought suddenly stagnated as his eyes widened.


    The orb underneath Rosaline''s hands shone with a white light. Old bro never mentioned such a thing to him.


    Then Arlo realized he ignored something important, Old bro had told him that the true stage of cultivation had eight realms but he only mentioned seven; from the Red-core realm to the violet-core realm. As if reading his mind, old bro''s voice resounded in his mind as the people in the hall gazed at Rosaline in stunned silence:


    << That is right. There is one more realm of cultivation; the white-core realm. That is the peak cultivation a super-talented mortal could ever reach. Which is why they are said to have ''supreme talent''. >>


    The vampires in the hall gazed at Rosaline with complicated looks. If it was before, they would have mourned why such a genius had to be from the Ashley clan. But after Evangeline rose in strength, they didn''t dare to look down on the clan that boasted an accelerated thought process and superhuman intelligence. The members of the Ashley clan could divide a second into several units.


    Unlike before, it wasn''t Count Ashley who walked to the altar. Instead, it was Lord Ashley. The old yet beautiful woman looked at Rosaline with appreciative eyes before she gave her a bowl filled with human blood.


    Unlike previous times, Lord Ashley gave her six drops of her Origin blood, causing her face to grow pale. It would be very difficult for her to replenish her origin blood not to mention that it would consume a lot of time. Rosaline showed no transformation like previous students and instead closed her eyes for several minutes. If it would take a genius human two days to memorize the knowledge in a book, then it would take a vampire one day. However, now Rosaline could accomplish such a feat in three hours. She could also simultaneously think and reason about five subjects at the same time with no difficulties.


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    She went back to her clan group after a while as the ritual continued.


    Arlo and Dean were starting to get bored. Most of the vampires who were called showed transformation which couldn''t compare to geniuses like Ric, Lysa, and the others. In fact, after Rosaline, no Lord or Count rose to the altar to offer their origin blood. None of the students were worthy enough. Only some vampires with outstanding status decided to share some of their origin blood.


    Then, teacher Julian called out a new name:


    "Judi Aaron!" Judi who was standing beside Arlo and not in her clan group trembled slightly before she walked onto the altar.


    She placed her trembling hands on the orb, and soon after the colorless orb started to light up in a color that shocked all those in the hall.


    It was a white glow!


    Gasp!


    Several gasps resounded within the hall.


    In the Aaron family group, Tibu and Nikki started crying in happiness while those who looked down on them before were now showering them with envious looks.


    It was a ridiculous reveal.


    It must be known that Tibu and his wife were lower-class nobles, so they had always been looked down upon and bullied in noble gatherings. In fact, Tibu was only allowed to supervise one city because of his low status, and that city was even smaller in size. Yet, due to his lack of competence, the city was devastated by demons and later destroyed by Scarlett. Yes, he took his children to the capital city to enroll them into the Academy and wasn''t present at the time, but none of the nobles cared about the specifics and instead used the opportunity to further bully them.


    They questioned the judgment of Count Aaron who decided to share his origin blood with Tibu. But now they could see why.


    A supreme talent!


    A supreme talent is not one to be seen often. That is further proved by how Rosaline was the only one to have a supreme talent among the over one hundred vampire students. And vampires were said to be one of the most talented races in the universe.


    In fact, one supreme talent could be found in a continent. Which is why they were called continent-level geniuses.


    Yet today, two supreme talents appeared among the first-year students. And one of them was even born with a low status.


    The hall was engulfed in an eerie silence and even Teacher Julian and Principal Stanley had complicated looks on their faces as they gazed at Judi. The silence was soon broken by the footsteps of a person who walked to the altar.


    It was Lord Aaron. An old man who had yet to say a word since he entered the hall. From the cold look on his face, one could guess he treated his words like gold.


    Unlike Lord Ashley who shared six drops, Lord Aaron shared seven drops of his origin blood.


    After drinking the blood, Judi''s body exploded into a swarm of bats.


    Old bro''s voice resounded once more within Arlo''s mind:


    << Aaron''s clan ability is to transform into a swarm of bats. With this, not only would it be difficult to be attacked, but she could even use magic by controlling each of the bats. It''s just that each bat could only use a percentage of her attack power. But the further she trains and the more origin blood she accumulates, the more power each bat could exert. >>


    Arlo''s mouth hung open.


    ''Isn''t this power too fraudulent?''


    After a short while, Judi transformed back to her human body and returned to her clan''s group. From the beginning to the end, Lord Aaron didn''t speak a word. His expression didn''t even change even as he returned to his position.


    Judi went back to her group where she was welcomed by Count Aaron with a warm smile. She jumped into her parent''s embrace and shed tears with them. During this time, the vampires didn''t refrain from showering them with a lot of praise. Those who bullied them before took the lead as they tried to patch their relationships.


    The Tibu family''s lives will soon change.


    Teacher Julian''s voice drifted into the group''s ears as they were celebrating:


    "Bon Aaron!"


    Bon walked to the altar with slow and careful steps. He felt happy for his sister, but also felt a lot of pressure from the stares on him. Especially from his clan who were gazing at him with expectant eyes.

 CHAPTER 126: ARIANNES AWAKENING I

    "First-tier talent!" Principal Stanley announced in a happy tone.


    Bon relaxed his tense nerves. A part of him felt sad that his talent was below his sister''s, but when he heard his family''s happy cry and turned to see his sister''s joyful face, the seed of jealousy that was about to sprout in his heart disappeared instantly.


    A disbelieving look appeared on the faces of the majority of the nobles, especially from the Aaron clan.


    They couldn''t believe that a family with low status would be able to give birth to not only one genius but two geniuses. They threw envious looks at Tibu and his wife who were hugging their daughter in happiness. It hadn''t been long since they were granted a noble title, now it was certain their ranks would be greatly elevated from today''s result.


    Unlike Rosaline and Judi who received origin blood from the Lord of their family, Bon received his from the Count. However, the people were surprised when Count Aaron shared more than three drops of his Origin blood.


    It was a huge five!


    Ric''s face turned harshened. He had been happy about awakening as a first-tier talent, but now he felt overshadowed. Not only did Rosaline surpass him in talent and potential, but even two previous plebians had more talents than him.


    He felt humiliated! Even his clan wasn''t that proud of his talent anymore.


    After Bon, the few Plebian vampires among the first years were called to the stage, however, only one had a good talent, a third-tier talent, and was recruited into the Hayes family.


    Unlike the noble students who awakened their dormant bloodline by receiving Origin blood, the plebian girl had no origin blood and was able to receive a drop from a top noble vampire in the Hayes family. However, her fate was decided. In exchange for such a gift, she would have to serve the noble and his family, such were the lives of the plebians. But, she wasn''t sad and was instead happy. In fact, the other plebian students threw her envious looks. Her status could no more be compared to theirs from hence forth.


    After calling out all the names, Teacher Julian rolled the list in his hand but he didn''t leave the altar.


    The somewhat noisy hall also became silent.


    Several minutes passed yet no vampire moved, neither were there pressing looks on their faces.


    Light footsteps drifted into the hall.


    The nine lords who stood at the front of the hall suddenly fell on their knees as they spoke respectfully:


    "We greet our liege!"


    The other vampires followed after them, as they knelt and bowed their heads, "We greet our liege!"


    This would be the first time that the majority of them would see their progenitor, as only the lords were able to come in contact with her. Even the Counts, the leaders of the families could only see her on rare occasions.


    This time, only Stefan remained standing, as Arlo also joined Joe in kneeling.


    Donned in a white dress with complex and intricate designs, Scarlett entered the hall. Following right behind her was Arianne who wore a white suit with matching color as her grandmother''s. The suit covered with several black designs hugged her young and slim figure.


    Immediately when Scarlett entered the hall, she used her spiritual energy to raise Arlo from his kneeling position, before flashing him a wink. Arlo smiled in response before shifting his attention to Arianne. Arianne who had her snow-white hair tied into a pony tail looked especially attractive to Arlo at the moment. Her cold yet concentrated ruby eyes caused Arlo''s heartbeat to speed up. However while Arlo looked at Arianne attentively, Arianne didn''t look his way almost as if she didn''t notice him.


    Scarlett smiled wryly at Arlo who ignored her and continued forward only to stop. Arianne simultaneously came to a stop too.


    Scarlett''s eyes widened slightly as she stopped before Joe. Stefan who was beside Arlo greeted her but she only replied passively. Stefan wondered why she reacted in such a way but he soon shifted his attention to his little sister.


    "Relax, I believe you will do well!" He rubbed Arianne''s hair. As her brother, how could he not notice her cold look was to mask her nervousness?


    Arianne finally could not hold it any longer but she still didn''t want to reveal how she truly felt so she fell into her brother''s embrace. Feeling Stefan''s gentle rub on her back, her nervousness slowly lessened.


    Arlo at the side wanted to say something but in the end, he remained silent. He knew Arianne was angry because of what he said earlier during the day, and he wanted to apologize to her. However, now wasn''t the moment. He didn''t want to affect her mindset when she was about to undergo one of the most important events of her life.


    Scarlett who stopped before Joe gently raised him. Joe was surprised at Scarlett''s treatment. His eyes moistened when he thought that Scarlett considered him the same as Arlo.


    However, when he raised his head, he noticed she didn''t even look at him and instead had her entire attention fixed on the pitch-black snake coiled around his snake.


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    Scarlett stretched out her hand toward the snake causing Joe to flinch. He was just about to caution her when his eyes widened.


    The pitch-black snake which always had its eyes closed opened its starry eyes and rubbed its head against Scarlett''s palm.


    "I see..." Scarlett''s ruby eyes shone as she gazed into the eyes of the snake that seemed to contain countless stars, "...That place is about to open."


    Scarlett finally shifted her gaze to Joe, "You have met a great partner. Be sure to treasure her!"


    Joe''s eyes widened when he heard Scarlett''s words. It took him a while to process the meaning as he was mesmerized by Scarlett''s transcendental beauty when she smiled.


    Scarlett ignored Joe''s lost look and instead continued further into the hall, with Arianne following right behind her.


    Stefan who looked at his sister''s back with a worrying look that was not present before looked at Arlo from the side of his eye, "Are you both fighting?"


    Arlo didn''t reply and instead watched Arianne and Scarlett silently.


    Throughout the small exchange, none of the vampires, including the lords and Evangeline raised their heads for a moment and instead remained on their knees. This saved the majority of those whose faces turned ugly when Arlo and Joe were raised by their liege from being revealed. In particular, Jude, Toon, Count Hayes, Count Cromwell and Lord Cromwell had intense reactions. A calculating look briefly flashed before Count Cromwell''s face but he quickly withdrew his thoughts for the moment.


    Arriving before the altar, Scarlett''s voice drifted into the ears of all those in the hall:


    "Rise!"


    Principal Stanley and Julian quickly walked down from the altar before bowing respectfully.


    Scarlett climbed the altar and Arianne knelt before her.


    All the vampires in the hall looked at Scarlett and Arianne with respectful looks as they waited with bated breaths.


    "Hahaha!" Scarlett burst into laughter, fascinating not only the lords but even Arianne and Stefan. They knew Scarlett''s temperament very well and it was because they were familiar with her that they were surprised to see her laugh.


    "Did you think you could hide from me?" Scarlett suddenly stopped laughing and asked with a mocking tone.


    Question marks appeared on the heads of all those present in the hall.


    It was then...


    Two shadows quickly streaked toward the door, however before they could leave, Scarlett raised both her hands and both shadows appeared in her grip. She clutched tightly onto the neck of a dark wolf and a dark-haired boy.


    Applying a bit of strength to her left hand, she snapped the neck of the wolf before throwing it beside Arianne.


    The eyes of all those present in the hall widened at the unexpected development. The reaction of those from the Hayes clan was especially intense as the boy caught by Scarlett was from their clan.


    That is right! The boy caught by Scarlett was the first-ranked student among the second years. Arlo recognized him as the other left a deep impression on him during the day with just his presence.


    Scarlett threw a glance at the Hayes clan which was starting to make a fuss, causing them to go rigid. She silenced the hall with just a look before shifting her attention to the boy before her.


    "Who gave you the courage to appear before me?"


    Peg, the boy caught by Scarlett glared at her resentfully. He had successfully infiltrated the Academy for more than a year, without revealing himself. He was able to suppress a strong dark direwolf and turn it into his life beast. With just the wolf, he was able to suppress his mates so he had never had to fight directly. The others viewed him as a monstrously talented student who didn''t have to reveal his strength to dominate his class. He was viewed as a mountain that could never be challenged. Yet at this moment, all his effort went down the drain. How was he supposed to know Scarlett would attend a ritual she rarely appeared in?


    He glared at Scarlett and barely choked out some words, "...Evil Lord will kill you...hehe...all hail the evil lord..."


    He didn''t get to finish his words however as Scarlett crushed his skull with just her pure strength.


    His body was covered in darkness and soon after, his corpse disappeared without a trace.


    "Let us continue with a ritual!" Scarlett spoke to Arianne. To her, what just happened was insignificant.


    "Drink!"


    Instead of drawing blood from the pillar, Scarlett gestured to the wolf. Arianne nodded before she took a deep breath.


    She unconditionally trusted her grandmother. Her teeth turned into fangs before she tore into the wolf''s neck.


    *Gulp! Gulp!*


    Gulping sounds echoed within the silent hall and soon after...


    Arianne''s body started transforming. Her snow-white hair lengthened greatly until it reached her heels. Her eyes and nose slowly disappeared as her body slowly transformed into a fearsome monster. What remained on her face was a wide mouth filled with sharp teeth.


    Arianne who had been basking in the blood of the wolf suddenly raised her head and released a fierce...


    *ROAR!*


    The complexion of all the vampires in the hall greatly changed. All the first-year students collapsed on the ground as they coughed blood. Rosaline, Judi, Bon, and the others were included. Some of the second-year students also fell but a majority of them were able to hold on.


    All the vampires in the hall could feel their blood rampaging within their bodies. It was almost as if their blood wanted to leave their bodies and flow toward Arianne. In fact, the blood of the first-year students and the few second years rose into the air before congregating above Arianne''s head. It was a marvelous sight.


    Even Evangeline, one of the strongest in the hall had her head covered in sweat as she forcefully suppressed her boiling blood.


    Throughout Arianne''s transformation, Scarlett had a wide smile on her usual cold face as she gazed at her granddaughter in appreciation.


    The blood that had congregated above Arianne had formed a massive ball about two meters in diameter.


    The student''s painful groans drifted into Scarlett''s ears prompting her to stop her granddaughter''s rampage.


    Arianne''s now massive mouth which was still raised as she roared was suddenly covered with a hand.


    The berserked Arianne flinched and went still as even without eyes, she could see the massive presence before her.


    Arlo''s eyes widened to the limit while Joe fell to his knees as he trembled in fear. He couldn''t bear to continue kneeling before the presence that appeared within the hall. In fact, a few breaths later, he fell unconscious from the overbearing pressure. All the first-years and second-years also fainted and only a few third-year students and fourth-year students could barely hold on.


    The rest of the vampires who were finally able to control their blood fell to the ground in reverence.


    The globe of blood above Arianne had long poured down.


    Scarlett''s hand covered Arianne''s mouth as her body overlapped with the image of a gigantic monster that reached the ceiling of the great hall.


    ''It is the same as the image summoned by the pitch-black snake!'' Arlo thought as he remembered the night in the mountain forest when the pitch-black snake had summoned a creature to save them.


    ''No!'' As he looked at the overwhelming pressure that was radiated by the monstrous image that enveloped Scarlett, Arlo denied his previous thought.


    ''There is no comparison!''


    Nobody noticed the intelligent starry eyes of the pitch-black snake coiled around Joe''s neck looking at Scarlett in awe.

 CHAPTER 127: ARLOS POTENTIAL

    A monster several tens of meters high enveloped Scarlett. It had no eyes and no nose, with its black hair that glittered like the darknites unique to the northern continent falling to its heels. Its body was fully covered in light-dark armor that matched its hair, and only its claws that overlapped with Scarlett''s hands could be clearly seen.


    Arianne who had gone on a rampage became docile before the figure.


    Only Arlo and Stefan were able to appreciate this sight as the others had their heads bowed either in fear or respect.


    Scarlett drew blood from her hand before allowing it to drip into Arianne''s mouth. There was no need for Arianne to receive origin blood. She was the same as Scarlett and had the potential to create a new sireline of vampires. It was just that Scarlett used her blood as a medium to suppress Arianne''s. Right now she could not fully wield her bloodline and it would take some time before she could control it. But with Scarlett''s assistance, she would be able to control her bloodline better and also be able to transform freely without having to be stimulated.


    Arianne''s body started undergoing some changes. Her body size increased, while her claws grew a bit longer and more sharper. The blood she had previously tried to absorb but had fallen to her side suddenly rose and covered her.


    They covered the white suit that had accommodated her transformation and slowly turned into blood-red armor. The now-armored Arianne looked nobler and the aura around her body became more intense.


    She raised her head and released another roar, but this time Scarlett didn''t stop her, and instead the gigantic image that covered her body slowly disappeared.


    Scarlett looked at her granddaughter who was now standing at equal height with her in her transformed state with a warm smile on her face.


    After a while, Arianne slowly regressed to her human form. However, this time there were noticeable changes in her body. Firstly, she grew taller and was now almost 1.7 meters tall. No one would believe she was an eleven-year-old girl. Another noticeable change was her snow-white edges whose edges were now dyed in a blood-red colour. It was a beautiful merging of colors.


    Scarlett quickly pulled the unconscious Arianne into her embrace.


    She rubbed Arianne''s hair lovingly before raising her head to gaze at the vampires who still had their heads bowed.


    "Leave!"


    None of the vampires complained or showed irritated expressions. Instead, they all wished Scarlett respectfully before orderly leaving.


    Only those who were separately told to wait using a spiritual message remained behind. They included the Lords, Evangeline, and Principal Stanley.


    Arlo lifted Joe who had fallen unconscious after catching a glimpse of Scarlett''s true form. He followed those who were leaving the hall. However...


    ''Wait behind!'' Evangeline''s voice rang in his head. He was perplexed but in the end, he obeyed her instructions. Some of the vampires threw him questioning looks, but he ignored them all. Stefan who was beside him didn''t question his sudden behavior, and instead nodded in understanding before leaving.


    Before leaving some vampires threw him menacing looks but Arlo ignored them.


    "Goodbye, little one!" Count Cromwell greeted with a smile on his face. However, Arlo didn''t reply and instead gazed at him with a calm face.


    Count Cromwell''s smiling face slowly returned to normal as his eyes narrowed. He realized that he couldn''t read any emotion from Arlo''s eyes and that made him feel uneasy.


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    ''He is only a little boy...How can he be so calm?'' It was almost as if he wasn''t looking at a child. He soon noticed that he was among the few in the hall, and after seeing Arlo''s unmoving figure, he realized something was up so he reluctantly left.


    The Lords looked at Arlo before looking at Scarlett. Subtle emotions flashed within their eyes. Scarlett who was still carrying Arianne in her embrace looked at Arlo with a questioning look, but instead, another voice dispelled her confusion.


    "My liege! Please allow me to test my student''s talent!" Evangeline knelt before her.


    "Oh!" A look of interest flashed on Scarlett''s face. She was inwardly happy that Evangeline was caring for Arlo but she didn''t show it.


    However, she hesitated about checking Arlo''s talent. She knew the outcome wouldn''t be anything normal.


    Arlo who was feeling disappointed that he couldn''t check Arianne''s talent was suddenly surprised to hear Evangeline speak about testing his.


    Scarlett caught the stiff expression on Arlo''s face and soon decided.


    "Okay!"


    "Thank you!" Evangeline smiled in happiness. The lords were bewildered about her reaction. They didn''t think Arlo was special and even if he was very talented by human standards, they didn''t care. To them, humans were inferior versions of vampires. Only headmaster Holden who had watched Arlo for a while had a slightly expectant look on his face.


    "Come here!" Evangeline beckoned toward Arlo.


    Arlo gently placed Joe on the floor before walking toward the group.


    Principal Stanley had been carrying the orb since the beginning of the ritual. It was unbecoming of someone of his status, however he didn''t feel angry or grumpy. After all, he knew the importance of the Orb in his hand. It was one of the few replicas of the ancient orb that was created by the Divine Blacksmith who created the famous pandora. It was the only replica the vampires had, and while it could measure the talents of individuals, it couldn''t give an accurate result, unlike the real ancient orb. Still, the vampires treated the replica like a treasure and it was closely guarded.


    Arlo stood before Principal Stanley and took a deep breath.


    He didn''t know how the orb gauged a person''s talent, he just hoped it didn''t require mana. After all, he was yet to awaken. His eighth birthday was still in about two weeks.


    After placing his hands on the orb, Arlo felt a warm current enter his body. The energy first moved toward his abdomen as if looking for something, but after searching for a while, it entered inside his bones and then his flesh.


    The orb slowly lit up with a red light causing the eyes of everyone in the hall to widen, including Arlo.


    The red light represented the lowest tier of talent.


    A gloating look flashed on Lord Cromwell''s face but that didn''t last long as the orb suddenly changed to orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally stopped at violent.


    As if sensing something, the current passing through Arlo''s body quickly moved toward the seals on his upper arm.


    It first entered into his slime seal.


    It was then that Headmaster Holden had a disappointed look while an uncertain look appeared on Evangeline''s face.


    ''In the end, he is just a first-tier talent.'' The other lords shook their heads. However, Scarlett remained unperturbed and instead gazed intently at the shining orb.


    The warm current left the slime seal and was about to enter another seal when...


    The orb shining with a violet color suddenly turned into white and before the others could react, it changed into a deep silver color.


    The expression of all the lords and Principal Stanley suddenly changed while some of them even gasped


    ''A god-tier talent!'' It was a talent comparable to Scarlett and Arianne.


    A happy look appeared on Evangeline''s face. While she was also a god-tier talent, her level of talent was far lower than Scarlett and Arianne''s. As mentioned before, the replica could only measure the tier of one''s talent and could not accurately gauge the level.


    But she was sure from the deep color the orb shone with that Arlo wasn''t any less talented than Scarlett and Arianne. However, her thoughts soon froze.


    The warm current entered the next seal and soon after...


    The orb shining with a bright silver color suddenly started cracking and it shattered into pieces before anyone could react.


    "...!"


    "...!"


    "...!"


    Evangeline''s eyes widened. A thought sprouted within the heart of all those in the hall, however they refused to believe it as they gazed dumbly at Arlo. Arlo equally gazed dumbly at them.


    In the end, one of them couldn''t hold it anymore and had to confirm. It was Lord Cromwell who was feeling deep fear after learning about Arlo''s potential.


    "Unlimited talent...no...I thought only one can exist in the universe at a time?"


    No one answered for a while before Headmaster Holden spoke with an uncertain look:


    "Didn''t the Monarch of Time and Void Emperor exist in the same era?"


    A look of realization suddenly dawned on all those in the hall.


    "He really is one of them..." murmured Evangeline as she gazed at Arlo with glowing eyes, almost as if she were looking at a treasure.


    It was then Scarlett who wasn''t surprised at all by the outcome spoke with a quivering voice:


    "My orb..."


    That is right!


    The eyes of the lord, Evangeline, Principal Stanley, and Arlo widened in horror.

 CHAPTER 128; THE SECRET REALM

    Before dawn.


    In the training center.


    In the silent field.


    After testing his talent and potential, Evangeline had instructed him to wait for her here.


    After leaving the central region of the academy, Arlo took Joe back to their room before coming to the center.


    He stood still for several moments before sending his Ki into the slime seal on his arm, and immediately after, bluish energy flowed to his hands. Soon after 10 orbs revolved around him. This progress was thanks to Anita''s effort. The more Anita got stronger, the more of her power Arlo would be able to access. While Anita''s core strength was limited by Arlo''s cultivation, after devouring the firebird, she underwent a drastic transformation.


    Arlo had been so excited to test her new powers out, but he had been suppressing his excitement. He could not expose Anita''s existence to the academy. So far, he had been happy that Teacher Grim had not questioned him about her.


    *Zing!*


    The fist-size ten orbs slowly revolved around him with a loud ringing sound like planets around the sun creating a wonderful sight.


    Arlo tried to control the ten orbs simultaneously but found it very difficult to accomplish. Using his connection with Arianne, he could only perfectly simultaneously control four orbs.


    However, he didn''t fret, after all, he expected such a result. He already had the perfect solution to resolve this issue.


    He closed his eyes and shut his senses from his surroundings. The sound of the revolving orbs slowly disappeared around him. Deep within his mind, Arlo saw a small flame flickering silently within his dark consciousness. He tried to connect to the flame, and immediately after...


    The ten revolving orbs came to a sudden stop.


    Arlo''s divine sense spread out to cover an area of twenty meters with him as the center. This improvement was due to the constant usage of his divine sense when he was still in the northern continent.


    Only a very few in the academy knew that he had awakened his divine sense and could even utilize it like a vampire. So far so good, Arlo had not seen any vampire actively utilizing their divine sense in a fight, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized he had only seen a few fights among vampires since he entered the northern continent. Sure, he had seen Arianne and a few others use their spiritual energy to shut down the senses of their opponents but still, that wasn''t enough for him. He felt like there was far more potential in using spiritual energy.


    Using his spiritual energy, Arlo controlled the ten orbs to his will. The orbs which had been revolving in the same direction started moving along different paths. He took several minutes to adapt to controlling the orbs like an extension of himself.


    After he became satisfied with his progress, Arlo recalled his last training with Evangeline. Evangeline had taught him ''control'' the last time.


    According to her, Control is a passive technique a true warrior should possess. The ability to predict the opponent''s move and perfectly respond to it with a minimum but efficient movement could determine the outcome between two strong fighters.


    Arlo took a fighting posture and started practicing his martial arts.


    Dirty martial arts!


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    Contrary to its unattractive name, he had come to love the technique.


    He sent his right elbow out in a horizontal sweep, then he rotated his body and swept his left elbow in the opposite direction. At the same time, he controlled the ten orbs to cover his blind spots.


    Arlo continued to train for hours without stopping once. After the awakening ritual, he realized he had an amazing talent, but he knew he had to work hard to bring out his full potential.


    Besides, he had to prepare for the next ranking war which was in two days. He knew he was now relatively weak in his class, but he still wouldn''t give up and would try his best.


    Yes, he could not cultivate for now, but he could still get stronger. Evangeline had already proved that to him.


    After the awakening of their bloodline, the majority of his mates broke into the advanced realm, with Ric, and Bon jumping straight to the middle level. However, their result couldn''t compare to Rosaline and Judi who became late-level advanced mages, and Arianne who became peak-level advanced mage. He attributed their sudden rise in cultivation to their overwhelming talents.


    But what Arlo didn''t know is that the main reason why Rosaline and Judi had such an increase in their cultivation was due to the Origin blood they received. While others received origin blood from high nobles or Counts like Ric and Bon, Rosaline and Judi could receive theirs directly from the Lords. There was simply no comparison between the quality. Not to mention that the quantity they received was more.


    As for Arianne, her case was simply special.


    ''I am no more a match for her.'' Arianne''s image flashed within his mind. Arianne and Joe were his first friends, yet he didn''t know why he felt bad that Arianne was moving far ahead of him.


    Was it because of his pride?


    Arlo quickly shook off the miscellaneous thoughts.


    ''Let''s focus on Jude for now!'' He didn''t mind losing his rank in the next ranking war, however, he absolutely must kill Jude in their fight next week.


    Thinking about Jude and Toon''s attitude toward him at the awakening ritual, Arlo''s handsome face distorted completely as his eyes shone with killing intent. If someone looked at him at the moment, they would mistake him for a demon. That was how scary his current appearance was.


    He used his anger to fuel his resolve and soon after, Arlo became lost in his training.


    .....


    In the central region.


    Immediately after Arlo left the hall.


    A disturbing silence enveloped the great hall, and those present gazed at the shattered fragments of an orb with distorted faces.


    Evangeline released a deep breath.


    When she noticed the tense air, she quickly sent Arlo away. She didn''t dare to imagine how Scatlett and the lords would react.


    Surprisingly enough, not even a minute later, Scarlett spoke with an unreadable expression. However, her ruby eyes shone with an intense glow.


    "The secret realm is about to open!"


    There was a momentary silence before...


    "What!?"


    The Lords who had a menacing aura around them suddenly shouted in surprise.


    Headmaster Holden hesitated for a moment before he asked carefully, "My liege, the secret realm opens every decade, but there should still be four years before the next opening."


    Scarlett nodded, "That is right. However, for some reason, the secret realm will open soon..."


    Scarlett didn''t say more than that. While some of the lords wanted to ask why she said so, they hesitated before refraining from doing so.


    The secret realm was accessible to all the races in this world and while they all jointly monitored it, they only do so when it''s near the opening time. Allocating members to watch the gate every decade would be a waste of time and personnel.


    Yet now, their liege was telling them the gate was about to open, something that had never happened before. Frankly majority of them doubted her words but they didn''t dare to show it.


    While they didn''t show it, Scarlett could read their thoughts and she didn''t blame them for not believing her.


    The reason she didn''t tell them why she believed the gate would soon open was so that they wouldn''t go after the pitch-black snake after knowing its origin.


    ''Never before has a beast left that realm! It is rather intriguing.''


    She withdrew her thoughts and commanded, "Send words to the werewolves, magical beasts, and humans. Let them know the gate will soon open. Prepare our students and head out in a day. Oh..." She paused for a moment before she continued, "Take Arianne, Arlo, and the beast boy with you!"


    The expressions of the lords simultaneously changed, "My liege, we only have ten medallions! How can we give two to outsiders?"


    For the first time, the lords questioned her and tried to persuade her.


    Scarlett waved her hand dismissively, "Just do as I said."


    The Lords who wanted to talk back swallowed their words when they noticed her cold stare.


    Evangeline on the other hand was very pleased. She didn''t care about Joe, but the fact that Arlo received an opportunity to enter the secret realm brought her great joy.


    ''Hmm...thay boy is starting to rub off on me.''


    A sweet smile graced her stunning face. It was the joy of having a remarkable student.

 CHAPTER 129: ENHANCED ORBS

    In the southern region of the Darkblood Academy.


    At the training center.


    Arlo persistently attacked Evangeline. He used his full strength as he concentrated Ki on various parts of his body to momentarily boost his power, and also fought in tandem with ten orbs revolving around him.


    His body moved at great speed, and combined with the occasional use of Ruler''s authority, he almost touched Evangeline on several occasions.


    That is right...


    Almost!


    Evangeline simply evaded his attacks and would sometimes attack by flicking Arlo''s head when he showed an opening or made a mistake.


    But the smile on her face showed she enjoyed herself, and along with Arlo''s playful laugh, the duo looked more like siblings playing tag than a teacher and student.


    Arlo who had become somewhat cold after Old bro revealed some events that happened in the past was now opening up to Evangeline once again.


    In fact, his attitude was almost like when he played with his father, Arthur. The relationship between the two had become closer.


    After several minutes of fighting in his optimum state, even Arlo collapsed as his reserve of Ki couldn''t hold out.


    Aside from Anita, Arlo used all his power in this spar with Evangeline. It was on her behest so that she could help him as best as she could before Arlo went to the secret realm.


    Evangeline and Arlo sat on the floor, facing each other.


    "Your control has become better. Though it still has room for a lot of improvement!" Evangeline gazed at the panting Arlo and didn''t hesitate to praise him.


    A big smile was etched on her face. She had only explained the theory of Control to Arlo once and demonstrated it to him at the time, yet Arlo was able to instantly understand her teachings and practiced on his own. He made teaching him easy and fun, and she wondered about his limit if he even had one.


    "Can you release an orb?" Evangeline suddenly asked, the smile long wiped from her face.


    Arlo who had regained a bit of his strength nodded before he released an orb from his right hand.


    *Zing!*


    Evangeline gazed intently at the orb rotating at a speed that was difficult to follow with human eyes.


    After several breaths, she spoke:


    "It is just as I thought!"


    "There is a smaller orb lying within the colorless rotating sphere."


    Arlo nodded in agreement.


    "Do you know its function?" she asked.


    "No..." He could still remember the first time he summoned Anita after breaking through. She had also told him that she felt the smaller orb lying within the bigger one was special. It was just that with her memory missing, she couldn''t tell how exactly it was special.


    Evangeline stretched out her right hand with a concentrated look on her pale but beautiful face.


    The air around her seemed to be stirred and soon after pale blue energy slowly appeared around her before congregating to form a small orb on her palm.


    Arlo''s eyes sparkled as he gazed at her palm.


    "Mana!" Evangeline spoke with a light smile.


    "Huh!?"


    She gestured with her head toward her hand and spoke once again:


    "This is mana!"


    "When a mage in the grandmaster realm breakthrough into the red-core stage, they develop something called ''Will''.


    "Will..."


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    "That is right!"


    "It is the ability to somewhat control the mana in the surroundings. Of course, it pales far in comparison to your control of Ki." She referred to Arlo''s Ruler''s authority.


    A mage''s will couldn''t be compared to Ruler''s authority.


    Seeing Arlo in thought, Evangeline suddenly stretched out her free left hand to her side towards the chair at a distance.


    The mana was stirred before it moved forward and knocked the rows of chairs down. It seemed Will allowed the mages to use mana to exert physical influence on objects in their surroundings.


    Arlo was enlightened.


    Just like how the Ki in his body turned white when he concentrated it on one part, the atmospheric mana also turned pale blue when it was concentrated.


    "I want you to absorb Ki into that inner orb!" Evangeline pointed at the orb on Arlo''s hand pulling Arlo out of his thoughts as a blank look appeared on his face.


    "Huh!?"


    Evangelical shrugged, "I can''t help you as I am not familiar with your powers. But if you could accomplish it, your orbs will become five times...no at least ten times more powerful."


    Arlo became stunned.


    Seeing his stunned look, Evangeline became serious, "I don''t think I need to tell you how overwhelmingly powerful Ki is."


    ''That is right!'' Arlo thought.


    He knew how powerful Ki was. In fact, the others didn''t know that the powerful Ki was the diluted form of a more overbearing energy.


    Arlo looked at the spinning orb in his hand. If he could accomplish what Evangeline said, wouldn''t he be able to become as strong as the current Arianne?


    Of course, that was only when he used the upgraded orbs.


    With that thought in mind, he looked at the silent Evangeline and spoke with resolve:


    "I will do my best!"


    Evangeline smiled in satisfaction before she stood up and ruffled his hair.


    "Don''t practice for too long and make sure you get some rest. Classes will start a few hours from now."


    "Yes..."


    With that, she left the building with light but graceful steps.


    She once more reaffirmed in her mind that teaching a genius was the best.


    Now Arlo was left alone in the huge building. He closed his eyes and thought deeply about how to go about the task Evangeline gave him.


    Evangeline told him what to accomplish but she couldn''t teach him the method to accomplish it. He had to figure it out on his own.


    After a few minutes of thinking, Arlo suddenly had an idea.


    He concentrated all his Ki on his left hand, causing a white smoke to cover it.


    Then he tried to compress the concentrated ki into a ball like Evangeline did. Unlike her, he couldn''t accomplish the feat of directly concentrating the ki in the atmosphere.


    Arlo tried and tried but in the end, he failed. However, he wasn''t discouraged and instead continued with a steeled mind.


    After an hour.


    *Huff! Huff!*


    Arlo gasped for breath. He appeared tired and weakened, however the excited smile on his face proved that it was worthwhile.


    On his right hand was a spinning orb, and on his left was a small white ball of concentrated ki. He finally accomplished it.


    Now came the next part.


    He didn''t know what to next to do next, but he decided to experiment. From there, he would know how to proceed.


    *Zing!*


    He brought the spinning orb and the small white ball together.


    ''Can I push the ball into the orb?'' Arlo foolishly thought.


    Without hesitation, he brought the ball and orb in contact together and what followed was a...


    *Booom!*


    A mini explosion resounded within the quiet center. The strong floor made with the unique mineral Darknite exploded into pieces and a cloud of dust rose into the air. A shockwave sent all the chairs in the center flying into the air, and soon after, another body joined them in flying as Arlo was flung out of the range of the explosion into the air. He coughed up blood in mid-air before he landed on the ground and stumbled a few times. His figure appeared ragged and miserable.


    Arlo stood up and gazed at his surroundings with a dark look on his face.


    After a while...


    "Whew!* He released a light breath and wiped the blood off his mouth.


    An hour later.


    Arlo sat at the center of the disorganized center. He had replenished enough of his Ki and the injuries he sustained from the previous explosion were now healed.


    He gazed at the two orbs on his hands. One was a colorless spinning orb while the other was a small white orb resting peacefully unlike the other. But Arlo was no more deceived by its stillness. He knew the terrifying power that lay within.


    Arlo hesitated several times on combining both orbs. In the end, his fear won. He didn''t dare to experiment any further.


    ''What can I do?'' He was starting to feel discouraged. He thought he could catch up with the others, at least a little bit, but in the end, all his efforts ended in vain.


    ''Wait!''


    Arlo gazed intently at the small white orb in his left hand. To create the ball, he had to concentrate his Ki on his hand. But was it true he couldn''t do it the same way as Evangeline?


    Arlo''s eyes suddenly shone.


    Didn''t he have something far better than a mage''s will?


    ''Idiot!'' Arlo berated himself.


    He released the small white orb causing it to dissipate slowly into the atmosphere and instead sent his Ki into the slime seal. A bluish energy soon congregated at his throat, and then Arlo released his strongest technique.


    "Ruler''s authority!"


    He looked at the remaining Orb spinning at his right hand and commanded with a nervous voice:


    "Absorb!"


    Nothing happened for a moment causing Arlo to hold his breath in suspense.


    But soon after...


    *Whoosh!*


    The spinning orb started absorbing the energy in the surroundings. Ki started congregating at the inner orb lying within and soon after it became full.


    "Yes! Yes! I did it!" Arlo screamed in joy.


    Looking at the spinning colorless orb with a still smaller white orb lying within, Arlo couldn''t help but smile in relief.


    He sent the orb out toward his side in excitement causing Arlo''s eyes to widen in horror.


    As the spinning orb left the range of Ruler''s authority, the still white orb lying within started losing its form as it churned, and soon after from the inside, it collided with the spinning orb.


    *Booooooom!*


    An explosion greater than the previous one rocked the training center. The chairs that had fallen were pulverized and the shockwave from the explosion sent the chairs further away and Arlo flying.


    Arlo looked at the mess he created and gulped. Soon after, he ran out of the hall.


    He was never there!


    AN: Don''t forget to follow the novel.

 CHAPTER 130: TIR AND TALENTS

    The southern region of the Darkblood Academy.


    The principal''s office.


    Arlo, Arianne, and Joe were called by the principal while they were in class. Today, they had martial arts class, and the teacher training them wasn''t Evangeline. It was normal.


    Evangeline was a teacher of the fourth-year students and wasn''t supposed to have anything to do with the first years. At least directly. It was under Stefan''s behest that she approached them.


    Now that the rightful teacher was handling her class, the students found her teachings to be lackluster compared to Evangeline''s, putting her in a great deal of frustration.


    Immediately when Arlo''s group was called, they didn''t hesitate to leave the class in the next second.


    After entering the principal''s office, Stanley immediately threw a question at Arlo, as he looked at him with narrowed eyes:


    "Are you responsible for the state of the training center!"


    Arlo looked at him calmly without any change in his expression. On his way here, he ignored the fact that Dean had broken through into the advanced realm and also Arianne who he had intended to apologize to, all because he wanted to mentally prepare himself in case he was asked such a question.


    "What happened to the training center?" Arlo answered with his own question as he faked surprise.


    Evangeline had telepathically instructed him to wait for her at the training center, so he was confident no one knew he was there that morning. Of course, he didn''t believe for one second that someone would confront Evangeline and question her about the issue. He had already spent some time with his teacher so he understood her temperament. The vampires must also be familiar with her.


    Principal Stanley looked at Arlo for several breaths before he released a sigh.


    "Is he really not the one..." he murmured under his breath as he rubbed his temple to release his frustration.


    "That is not why I called you here..." He refused to answer Arlo and changed the topic.


    "The secret realm is about to open!"


    Arianne and Joe''s eyes widened in surprise. However, that wasn''t the end.


    "And the three of you have been given a spot to enter."


    The two of them simply became dumbfounded. Arlo didn''t understand the reason for their exaggerated reactions, however, he would soon do, as the principal started explaining in detail everything he knew about the secret realm.


    At the same time...


    In another region of the academy.


    In a hall, the third-years were being addressed by the authorities of the academy.


    The principal and all their teachers were assembled before them, but surprisingly the person who addressed them was headmaster Holden, who rarely involved himself in the academy''s affairs.


    Headmaster Holden cleared his throat, garnering the attention of the students who were whispering among themselves.


    Seeing that he had the full attention of the less than fifty students, Headmaster Holden opened his mouth, it was just that his words were like a bomb dropped on the students.


    "The TIR realm is about to open."


    There was a moment of silence before the students exploded:


    "What!?"


    "How is that possible?"


    "There is supposed to be some time before the realm opens."


    A commotion rang out among the students. The students present were between the ages of 14-16, yet they couldn''t control themselves in their flustered state.


    Headmaster Holden didn''t berate them, after all, he understood the students. In fact, he wouldn''t have believed it if it wasn''t for the person they sent to the desolate plains to confirm the appearance of the portal to the secret realm, and also the sudden reaction from the dragon medallions.


    "Please, quiet down so you can listen to my explanation."


    The voices of the students slowly died down. They once again realized the identity of the person before them and didn''t dare to misbehave any longer.


    If it wasn''t due to the impact of the announcement, they wouldn''t have acted in such a manner before a prestigious Lord.


    Headmaster Holden nodded calmly.


    "We all know that the most important location in our world is the secret realm. Every decade the secret realm opens and teleports anyone with a dragon medallion at that moment into it..." A ring worn on his hand flashed before ten medallions floated above his hand. The medallions were black, and the image of a western dragon was inscribed upon it.


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    Headmaster Holden gazed at the feverish looks on the students'' faces once the medallions appeared and continued:


    "It has been a bit over half a decade since the realm last opened, but for reason unknown, it is showing signs of opening at this moment. This is the first time such a thing had ever happened. I don''t think I need to explain to you how important the realm is..."


    The students'' faces hardened while some of them clenched their hands in exhilaration.


    The headmaster couldn''t hide his disappointment when he saw the student''s reaction and pointed out a problem:


    "The secret realm allows only those who haven''t embarked on true cultivation. Your seniors have already broken into the red-core stage and the majority of you are still in the master realm..." his words trailed off as he saw the enthused student''s faces becoming pale.


    That is right, the secret realm was only supposed to open in about 4 years, by then they would have already broken into the grandmaster realm and would have been fully prepared to explore the realm.


    But that wasn''t the case now.


    While a great deal of the students appeared dejected, a select few remained unfazed, as they looked at the medallions with greed.


    Headmaster Holden smiled when he saw this.


    "Normally, a competition would be held to select those who would go, but this time, I will make an exception. Only those who have broken into the grandmaster realm are eligible to go."


    A look of disappointment flashed on the students faces as they gazed at the students at the forefront of the class. They were the top ten students and were the only ones to have entered the intermediate stage of cultivation.


    While the students showed looks of disappointment, inwardly they were feeling relief. It was just that they didn''t want to reveal their cowardly nature. They knew how risky and difficult it was to explore the secret realm.


    The top ten students raised their chin high, as they felt pride. To be the top of an entire class, especially of a race that boasted capable geniuses, was indeed an achievement they could take pride in. At least until...


    "I''m not done!" Headmaster Holden raised his other hand before he took three medallions out of the original ten.


    "Only seven of you will be going to the secret realm!"


    There was a moment of surprise before the eighth-ranked student whose face had distorted shouted in a loud voice:


    "WHY?"


    The principal who had been standing respectfully behind headmaster Holden shouted berated in a cold voice:


    "How dare you shout at the headmaster?"


    Headmaster Holden raised his hand to stop him, and gazed at the eighth-ranked student whose face had turned pale yet whose eyes were fierce with a grin:


    "It is a surprise!"


    At principal Stanley''s office.


    "The secret realm is made up of Six concentric circles. Each zone is surrounded by a barrier and is covered by a mist that prevents preying eyes. Only after a period of time will the mist recede and the barrier disappear. The first three zones are mountain areas filled with monstrous beasts. At the first zone are beasts in the advanced realm, at the second zone are beasts in the master realm, and at the last, beasts in the Grandmaster realm. Furthermore, each zone is separated by a lake. The lakes can not be crossed by flying over it, or swimming through it. Instead, you have to walk over it."


    "What?" Arlo raised an eyebrow in surprise. It was now his turn to react. Arianne and Joe took the information easily as they were already familiar with the realm.


    "That is right!" Principal Stanley affirmed before he continued, "Don''t worry. Jade-like stairs appear under your foot when you walk on the water. It is just that the lake is a mental trial. Once you fail the trail, the jade steps will disappear and you have no choice but to fall into the lake. And if paraventure you do..." Principal Stanley gazed at Arlo with ominous eyes causing Arlo to flinch.


    "...you will be devoured by sea monsters! Trust me, it is a very painful way to die."


    Arlo swallowed nervously.


    "The fourth zone is a treasure area. Here you would find rare plants with different effects that can greatly aid in cultivation. But the greatest treasure in the fourth zone is the TIR."


    "TIR? What is that?" Arlo frowned.


    The look on Principal Stanley''s face became serious. Instead of answering Arlo''s question, he continued:


    "The secret realm is sought after by great powers across the universe."


    Arlo who had been frowning suddenly widened his eyes in surprise, however, Principal Stanley ignored him and continued:


    "History has it that the secret realm has existed for tens of thousands of years. According to history books, the first time it appeared, it scattered numerous medallions not only within our world but across the universe. Anyone who finds and fulfills the condition of entry will be automatically teleported at the time it opens. Tens of thousands of years have passed, and now the medallions are rare and far between. The majority of those present are held by major powers in the universe."


    Arlo could hear his heart beating faster. The reaction of Arianne and Joe who were already familiar with the secret realm was similar. The opening of the secret realm was after all a momentous event.


    Arlo voiced his doubts with a quivering voice, "Doesn''t that mean that there will be outsiders..." he paused before changing his words, "...those not of this world?"


    "That is right. This is a momentous event not only for our world but for countless worlds. Geniuses of great powers across the universe will gather to compete for the TIR."


    "Wh-what is the TIR?" Arlo couldn''t help but ask once again.


    The principal decided not to keep him in suspense and spoke with a grave voice:


    "The Tree of Infinite Resource!"


    "It is a magical tree that bores fruits that contain the purest mana. Mana that can be directly absorbed by any creature and each fruit can save years of ruthless cultivation."


    Principal Stanley was surprised. He didn''t receive the reaction he was expecting from Arlo.


    Arlo had regained his calm nature. He realized that the TIR was a magical treasure that would be coveted by any mage.


    What about the current him?


    To the current him, TIR was useless. After all, he had yet to awaken his innate trait and mana core.


    So he could keep his calm at the mention of such a miraculous treasure.


    The principal was somewhat disappointed but he still continued:


    "Aside from the werewolves, the group you should be most wary of are the Elves and..."


    "...!"


    "...!"


    *...!"


    Arlo, Arianne, and Joe waited with bated breaths as they gazed at the serious look on Principal Stanley''s face.


    "...the Asura race!"


    At the same time, in Arlo''s home world.


    "Always keep the medallion with you!" Sunlight bounced off the smooth head of Principal Martin as he warned the three children before him.


    One of the children was his own blood. But unlike him, the boy had cut wavy auburn hair, dark eyes, and smooth skin. His looks would make him stand out no matter the crowd he was placed in.


    "Steven, be sure to secure at least two fruits!"


    "Yes, father!"


    "As for you two, you must not go beyond the first zone!" Principal Martin warned as he looked at the two other kids who were younger than his son. The boy and girl who were both about twelve years old responded:


    "Yes sir!"


    "Yes sir!"


    Arlo would recognize one of them as a friend, no, a mate. Her name was Tina.


    As for the other boy, he was a newly awakened yet mischievous talent who was sent away for peace rather than for training. He had a history of asking his teacher an overwhelming number of questions in a row. His name was Miller.

 CHAPTER 131: TO THE SECRET REALM

    "You are to remain at the first zone, is that clear?"


    "Yes."


    "Yes."


    Arlo and Joe answered while Arianne harrumphed.


    Principal Stanley didn''t mind it and instead handed the three of them space pouches.


    "All you will need during the exploration, from food, clothing, and some basic medicines are present..."


    "...then, let''s leave!"


    "...!"


    "...!"


    "...!"


    Arlo and the others were dumbfounded. Joe couldn''t help but blurt out:


    "You mean now?"


    "That is right!"


    Arianne frowned, "Is there a need for us to go to the portal? Don''t we already have the medallions?"


    Principal Stanley had already handed each of them a medallion, and from his explanation, all they had to do was keep the medallions on themselves at all times. They would be naturally teleported into the secret realm once it was time.


    "It is an order from your grandmother. The opening this time around is unusual, so we don''t want to take chances. Besides..." he stared at the three intently.


    "...we don''t want you suddenly disappearing in class. You should know that a lot of people would not be happy about the three of you entering the secret realm."


    Arianne closed her mouth, while a serious look appeared on Arlo''s face.


    He understood that the secret realm was a stage mainly for grandmaster mages, yet they who were barely in the advanced realm were given a shot among the limited slots. It was certain that a lot of people would be displeased if they found out.


    Of course, there wouldn''t be any issue with Arianne going, but what about him and Joe?


    ''I still need to go...'' Arlo clenched his hands into fists. He wasn''t willing to let go of such a precious opportunity.


    This was an opportunity to improve his combat experience. As for the TIR fruits, he didn''t care about them. They couldn''t even enter the second zone, as according to Principal Stanley, the beasts in the secret realm are unusual, and are twice as strong as those in the outside world.


    That was to say, a beast comparable to an early-level advanced mage in the secret realm could actually fight favorably with a late-level advanced beast.


    He looked sideways at Joe and noticed the unusual look on his face. But before he could address it, Principal Stanley''s voice resounded in the room.


    "Let us go!"


    .....


    After using a teleportation formation, Arlo''s group appeared outside the minor world housing the Academy.


    They appeared on a familiar plain and found the same old man they met when they followed Stefan the first time.


    However, the old man wasn''t alone, as seven students and a middle-aged man were present with him.


    The eyes of the third-year students widened when they saw Arlo''s group.


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    It wasn''t until after a few breaths that someone voiced out:


    "D-don''t tell me they are the other three following us..."


    None of the students could answer, but slowly their expressions darkened as they looked at Arlo and Joe with hostility. They all tactfully ignored Arianne.


    "Teacher, can you explain to us what is going on?" Landon, the first ranked among the third years questioned the middle-aged man following them.


    "Th-this..." Their teacher couldn''t answer. They were also informed in the morning by the headmaster, and a lot of them were against Arlo and Joe going, but after hearing it was an order from their liege, they could only swallow their anger in frustration.


    A dark look appeared on Principal Stanley''s face when he saw the teacher who was supposed to explain the situation was quiet. How was he supposed to explain it to them? He might have the status of a principal, but he could only supervise the first years. It was inevitable that some of them would look down on him. The students before him were kids of grand nobles after all.


    He looked at the old man guarding the portal for help, but the latter ignored him.


    Not receiving any reply, some of the third-year students started emitting killing intent as they looked at Arlo and Joe. They knew they were not supposed to harm Arlo, but they couldn''t swallow their anger and displeasure.


    It was at this moment that the portal flashed before a new figure appeared.


    The tense atmosphere disappeared as if a lie, while the angry look on the third years changed into surprise before reverting to normal.


    "La-lady Evangeline?" Landon stammered in confusion.


    Evangeline smiled before standing before Arlo.


    "Can I be the one to take the students?" Evangeline ignored the third years and instead shifted her eyes between Principal Stanley and the third-year teacher.


    A look of relief appeared on Principal Stanley''s face as he nodded readily.


    "Of course."


    Evangeline shifted her gaze to the third-year teacher who flinched upon locking eyes with her. But a moment later, he seemed to gather his courage and spoke:


    "But my lady, I was instructed by the principal to follow them. Besides, is it okay for someone of your status to handle such a trivial matter?"


    Evangeline''s face turned icy cold, "Are you telling me what and what not to do?"


    "Heok!" The teacher stumbled and almost fell in fear. "I don''t dare, I don''t dare. You can go, I-I will explain to the principal."


    The cold look on Evangeline''s face suddenly turned into a light smile, "Thank you."


    She finally looked at the third-year students and gestured toward the aerial mounts prepared by the academy, "Why don''t we go?"


    Gulping sounds resounded in the area. They already knew that Arlo was Evangeline''s true disciple so they could only swallow their disgruntlement in defeat.


    Arlo''s heart warmed as he gazed at Evangeline''s back.


    ''She is just as dependable as father...'' While Evangeline''s shoulder wasn''t as broad as Arthur''s, her image overlapped with his father for a moment in his eyes.


    "Let us go!" Evangeline spoke to Arlo''s group as she jumped onto one of the three mounts. Soon after, the group took into the air.


    .....


    The desolate plains.


    This was the first place Arlo appeared after he was teleported into this world.


    As they passed through the dark veil acting as a barrier for the northern continent, a familiar sight entered Arlo''s vision.


    The bleak rocky ground that filled his vision was dyed crimson by the sky.


    Short memories of when he was captured and taken to the northern continent flashed within his mind briefly.


    ''It was during that time I made my first friend...'' Arlo thought as he looked at Joe with a smile only for it to stiffen.


    "Are you okay?" Arlo frowned as he looked at the trembling Joe but he didn''t receive any reply.


    He had to shake him before Joe came back to himself.


    "Ye-yes?"


    Arlo frowned at Joe''s unusual behavior.


    "What is wrong?"


    "No-nothing!"


    Arlo looked at the ugly smile on Joe''s face and didn''t know what to do. In the end, he decided to drop the issue and observe him closely.


    Arianne looked at Joe with an unreadable expression. She had an inkling of what might be disturbing Joe but didn''t want to pry into his personal matters.


    Evangeline stood at the forefront of the group as she seemed lost in her thoughts. What Arlo''s group didn''t realize was that she had been studying the pitch-black snake coiled around Joe''s neck closely with her divine sense. Even the now-powerful Arianne couldn''t notice her spiritual energy.


    She was really curious about the beast that piqued Scarlett''s interest but in the end, she couldn''t gleam anything special about the snake.


    The journey continued for several hours.


    Arlo had already noticed they were not flying in the direction of the crimson forest where he first met Joe and was attacked by slave traders and Torkuns.


    Suddenly Arlo saw a crack in space a distance away from them. As they approached closer he noticed the crack wasn''t wide, but he could still sense the chaotic space within it.


    Before the crack were three groups of people.


    Arlo''s group landed before the groups who were studying them when his eyes suddenly widened in surprise.


    He noticed that two of the groups had a different air around them. He could judge from the aura around them that they weren''t humans neither were they vampires. In fact, one of the groups had an aura similar to Joe''s.


    However, that wasn''t what surprised him.


    Arlo''s eyes were fixed on the last group comprised of nine people. He could tell from the air around them that they were just like him.


    That is right!


    They were humans...

 CHAPTER 132: ASSEMBLE

    "Rosy, you must remember that your well-being is the most important!" Theodore, a young human boy with a big build looked at the cute and chubby face of the little girl before him. He couldn''t help but adore her cute appearance; light golden hair whose tip was light green. Soft skin and small plumpy lips that urge him to pull at them. Not to mention the chubby cheeks. The girl was nothing short of adorable. But her most distinct feature would be her eyes. Her eyes were rings containing golden runes. The rings rotated slowly in a clockwise direction. It was an unusual sight, and all those who gazed at her couldn''t help but be drawn into them.


    The cute girl shoved away the large hand that was rubbing her silky hair, "Jeez, how many times will you make me repeat the same thing? I have told you I am strong and can take care of myself!" She clenched her hands and glared at him in anger.


    Theodore and the others chuckled as they found her actions cute, causing the girl to be displeased.


    Theodore suddenly looked at the other child who was too young to be there.


    "Kai, make sure you take care of the princess!" The spiky auburn-haired boy with a not-so-outstanding appearance merely nodded in reply as he tightened his grip on the katana in his hand.


    "Humph! You are telling someone weaker than me to protect me? You must be out of your goddam mind!"


    "Yes, yes, the princess is the strongest!" Theodore waved his hands in surrender but the playful smile on his face caused the girl to flare the more.


    "You are looking down on me? Do you dare to fight me?" She jumped around Theodore as she demanded a duel.


    "Hahaha!" The others laughed at her actions.


    Her playful nature helped to ease the minds of the human teens who arrived first before the rift in space.


    The playful laughs slowly died down as the shadows of flying birds appeared in the distance.


    "Magical beasts..." one of the humans whispered.


    The seven youths quickly moved to surround Rose and Kai. Theodore stood at the front of the group as he watched the new arrivals that landed near them.


    "Oh! These must be the rumored humans!"


    "Hahaha! I can''t believe they actually left their hole."


    "It isn''t unusual. They couldn''t resist the allure of the secret realm."


    The mocking conversations of the new arrivals with similar numbers as them drifted into their ears.


    The magical beasts were led by three youths, two boys and a girl of about 15 years old. The trio had black air, but the white reptilian eyes drew the attention of the humans.


    "Royals..." Theodore muttered. He wasn''t intimidated in the least as he gazed at the new groups. He was just about to speak when a sweet and cute voice beat him to it:


    "Look at these wild animals speak down on us. Do you want us to cook you this instant?" Rosy pointed at the magical beast group causing an awkward silence to ensue.


    "Gulp!" Gulping sounds echoed among the humans.


    Theodore rubbed his temple in frustration while the other humans smiled wryly. They had been so tense about entering the secret realm not because they were afraid of the other races but because they were scared of their princess''s mouth.


    She had the habit of immediately voicing her thoughts with no care for the world. The only good side was that she was too adorable so only a few would get angry at her.


    Sure enough!


    The faces of the magical beats who were stunned suddenly distorted completely.


    "You are courting death!"


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    "It seems you have forgotten you were almost wiped off the surface of this world recently. Where the hell did you get the guts?"


    "What nonsense are you dirty animals in human clothing spouting? You talk as if you had anything to do with our current state?" Rose refuted in anger. Her chubby cheeks puffed up and her face flushed red adding more to her cuteness.


    The magical beats ignored her unusual yet mesmerizing eyes and glared as if they would eat her flesh.


    Rose''s eyes widened when she read their emotions and was just about to voice the profanities that popped up in her head when Theodore''s exasperated voice was heard:


    "Will somebody please cover her mouth!"


    Kai who was behind Rose, quickly covered her mouth with his free hand causing Rose to swallow the abuses that almost emerged from her lips.


    *Hmm hmm...* Rose tried to break free from Kai''s grip as she kept trying to talk.


    With the primary problem resolved, Theodore and the other humans drew out their weapons as they watched the angry beasts.


    It was as if they were declaring to them to come.


    The air suddenly became tense.


    The three youths with reptilian eyes were about to command their group to attack when the ground beneath their feet shook lightly.


    Both groups simultaneously looked into the distance to see ten massive purple wolves approaching at breakneck speed. Their hoofs were covered in lightning as electricity coursed through their purple fur.


    In just less than ten breaths, the group of wolves who were initially at a distance of three kilometers appeared before them.


    A cloud of dust was raised around the magical beast and humans when the werewolves flashed before them.


    When the cloud settled, the magical beasts and human eyes widened when they saw ten youths with purple hair standing with noble air around them.


    The eyes of Rose who was struggling and the indifferent eyes of Kai who was keeping her in check widened slightly as they were fixed on a purple-haired girl of similar age to them.


    They were surprised to see someone as young as them dare to enter the secret realm. It must be known that even though they were young, both of them were the most talented humans among their people which was why they were allowed under the premise they mustn''t enter the second layer. Even with that, the two of them were given a lot of protective treasure to ensure they remained safe.


    While Rose and Kai were watching the beautiful purple-haired girl, Theodore, and the others bowed their heads at the werewolves respectfully. Even the magical beasts greeted them and didn''t dare to misbehave before them. They threw the matters with the humans behind for the moment and silently swore to pay them back when they entered the secret realm.


    The werewolves nodded in response to the two group''s greeting and simply waited in silence.


    The other groups didn''t have a choice but to reciprocate and Theodore communicated silently to Rose with his eyes.


    Reading the message from his pleading eyes, Rose harrumphed before crossing her arms. She didn''t bother with those present any longer and closed her eyes.


    Theodore silently sighed in relief. He was happy their naughty princess didn''t act out in front of the werewolves.


    Several minutes passed in silence.


    None of those present disliked the silence and instead used it to prepare their mental state. Entering the secret realm was a great opportunity and also a massive risk, so they had to be in their optimum states.


    Suddenly...


    The eyes of all those present suddenly turned in a direction. Three massive birds suddenly entered their visions.


    It didn''t take a genius to realize the identity of the new group. The humans and magical beasts suddenly became nervous. They were familiar with the hostility between the vampires and werewolves, and they knew they couldn''t stand each other.


    Just as they feared, the aura around the silent and dignified wolves slowly became dangerous. Electricity danced across the hair of the majority of them as they glared at the arriving vampires.


    Suddenly...


    The air of hostility around them instantly disappeared as their eyes widened at the person leading the vampires. Unlike the youths of the other races who came by themselves, the vampires were led by an adult. And this person was no ordinary figure.


    They all knew and secretly respected the young woman before them. Each race had one prominent figure that intimidated their enemies from acting. The werewolves had their Moon Queen, the humans had their Magic King, the magical beasts had their Monster Emperor and finally the vampires had their Progenitor, who was acclaimed to be the strongest of them all and could only be put in check by the Moon Queen. However, unlike other races, the vampires had another prominent figure that was feared and placed on almost the same pedestal as the Magic King and Monster Emperor.


    The werewolves, humans, and magical beasts bowed greatly as they greeted the new figure leading the vampires:


    "We greet Martial Master Evangeline!"


    Evangeline smiled lightly at their respectful behavior. The mature beauty exerted a charm that mesmerized the male youths present.


    "Be at ease..."


    She didn''t plan to remain long at this place that was filled with only kids, so she threw her arm around Arlo''s shoulder and turned to move to a more suitable place where she could discuss with him privately, when...


    " So it is true. You are the human traitor that has been living with these blood-sucking mosquitoes!"


    Silence enveloped the area.


    Arlo turned to see the young girl with chubby cheeks who had almost the same hair color as him, pointing in his direction with a trembling finger. His silver eyes involuntarily became pulled into her spinning golden eyes that contained runes.


    Theodore became pale when he saw the look of hostility the vampires were throwing at them. But still, without any hesitation, he moved to shield his princess behind him.


    AN: Be sure to follow the novel. Thanks.

 CHAPTER 133: ELLA

    The vampire''s faces flushed red as the words blood-sucking mosquitoes continuously rang in their heads. They were the strongest of the four dominant races in the world yet they were mocked by a small human.


    The humans quickly moved to shield Rose, while the quiet Kai quickly covered her mouth. The magical beasts had gloating looks on their faces as they waited to see how the situation would unfold.


    However, contrary to their expectations, a burst of charming laughter echoed and diffused the tense situation. They all turned to Evangeline who covered her mouth to suppress her laughter.


    The blood of the males dripped from their noses when they saw the way Evangeline''s bountiful chest moved with her laughs.


    Finally, Evangeline stopped laughing and looked at Rose whose mouth was being covered by Kai with appreciative eyes.


    "Indeed, the princess lives up to her reputation. No, your talents are even underestimated in the rumors..." She praised as she admired Rose''s slowly spinning golden eyes.


    ''Future eyes...'' Those presents were youths and couldn''t appreciate the talent of the human girl before her. But who was she?


    She was Evangeline! At her lowest, she read a lot of books and studied various martial arts. So she could boast to be quite knowledgable. That was the reason why she could tell the human girl before her was more talented than herself and was highly comparable to their princess.


    ''The future eyes allow the user to see a second into the future passively. And when used actively, the duration could be increased. She could have dodged that boy''s hands but must have allowed it.''


    ''Such potential...''


    Evangeline ignored the stunned looks of the other races and the irritated looks of the vampires and instead finished with a smile as she patted Arlo''s shoulder.


    "I hope you can take care of my beloved student."


    Rose''s spinning eyes widened slightly as she looked into the ruby eyes of the beautiful woman before her and she could tell she was speaking honestly.


    Kai wisely removed his hand from the stunned Rose''s mouth. Rose hesitated and looked at Evangeline''s side, allowing her to lock eyes with Arlo. Seeing the calm look on Arlo''s handsome face, her face became tinged with red before she quickly averted her eyes.


    "Eh, if you say so. I don''t mind lending a hand if I have the chance..."


    Evangeline looked at Arlo from the side of her eyes and smiled, ''That is my disciple''s charm for you!''


    Theodore and his group sighed exasperatedly, ''What happened to him being a traitor?'' She almost cost them their lives all because she couldn''t hold her mouth.


    Evangeline quickly took Arlo to a corner and started advising him. The humans relaxed when they saw the situation diffuse while Theodore started berating Rose, causing the cute girl to cry in annoyance.


    Throughout it all, no one noticed the cold light in Arianne''s eyes as she looked at Rose.


    At the same time, no one noticed Joe who had his head lowered since arriving. No, it was better to say nobody cared. The three youths leading the magical beasts looked at his trembling figure with scorn and contempt.


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    If it wasn''t for Evangeline''s presence, they would have long acted against him.


    The purple-haired girl among the werewolves suddenly moved toward the vampire''s group causing those present to gasp.


    The werewolves acted to stop her but they were too late as she merely took two steps before she arrived before the vampires.


    Landon and the other vampires looked at the young girl with hostility only for their eyes to widen when they saw a shadow move past them and hug the purple-haired girl.


    "Ella!" The always cold Arianne cried in Joy.


    Short purple hair, and drooping matching eyes; Ella smiled lightly within Arianne''s embrace. Even though they were around the same age, Arianne was far taller than her after undergoing her bloodline awakening, standing at almost 1.8m.


    "How have you been?" Ella asked in a quiet voice.


    *Sigh!* Arianne sighed as she looked at Ella''s sleepy eyes that were currently filled with a bit of vigor.


    "I am fine but..."


    "But?"


    " Haven''t I always told you to open your eyes wide?" Arianne tried to open her eyes widely.


    "Huh? Leave me, it''s too stressful to keep my eyes open!"


    "You are too lazy for your good, Ella!"


    "But I am still stronger than you."


    "Th-that was before. Humph, now that I have awakened my bloodline, you are no more my match!"


    "So, you think only you became stronger?"


    "Eh!?" As the two chatted, Arianne brought her to the vampire''s group and they both ignored the dumbfounded figures around them.


    "This is my friend. His name is Joe."


    Ella''s always sleepy eyes widened fully in surprise. She had known Arianne since they were younger and knew she was her only friend. Arianne was rather cold and disliked being in physical contact with others.


    So imagine her surprise when she saw Arianne introduce a friend to her and a beast no less.


    "Pa!"


    Joe who had his head lowered was slapped on the back by Arianne.


    "Ouch!"


    "What is wrong with you? Can''t you talk?"


    Joe almost forgot himself and was about to curse when he saw Ella and became stunned.


    Ella arched one of her brows upward as she looked at Joe''s dreamy look.


    ''Is this the first friend she made?''


    Arianne gritted her teeth in anger and spoke menacingly:


    "What do you think you are doing?"


    Joe collected himself and stretched out a hand, "Hi! The name is Joe."


    Ella hesitated as she didn''t want to shake the weirdo, in the end, she simply greeted in response.


    "My name is Ella! I am happy to meet Arianne''s first friend!"


    "Huh?" Arianne''s eyes widened slightly, "Who told you he is my first friend?"


    "Huh?" It was Ella''s turn to become stunned, "He isn''t?*


    "No!" Arianne pointed at the faraway Arlo who was discussing with Evangeline, "He is."


    Joe scratched the back of his head, "That is weird. I thought he was your boyfriend."


    "You..."Arianne face flushed red and even her ears became tinged. She glared at Joe causing him to flinch.


    "Hahaha!" Ella burst into laughter. This was the first time she saw Arianne in such a state and that made her truly happy.


    ''Seems she is opening up. That is good.'' She was a year older than Arianne and had always considered her a junior sister rather than a friend. It was just that Arianne was oblivious to it.


    The shrinking Joe suddenly collapsed as he trembled in fear.


    The laughing Ella and the blushing Arianne slowly returned to normal as they looked at the cause.


    Three youths with similar appearances to Joe approached, as the teen boy in the front spoke, "I greet both princesses. I saw you laughing with this...waste and was quite surprised. It seems you do not know his identity."


    Arianne''s ruby eyes glowed slightly but the three youths weren''t intimidated and instead continued. After all, they were of similar age to Landon and all outclassed Arianne in cultivation.


    At the same time...


    "I need to go! I followed to make sure you wouldn''t be put on the spot."


    "Thank you, master."


    "You don''t have to. It''s my responsibility to take care of you." Evangeline ruffled Arlo''s golden hair and enjoyed its silkiness.


    "Hope you have been briefed about the secret realm."


    "Yes..."


    "That is good. Your survival is what matters the most. Make sure you don''t lose the medallions. It is what would teleport you out of the realm..."


    "...Also, take this, it will protect you."


    Arlo took the three talismans Evangeline gave him and suppressed his urge to hug her. Instead, he bowed his head slightly.


    "Thank you..."


    Evangeline smiled lightly before jumping on one of the flying birds and then left. The two other mounts followed after her.


    Arlo turned back in time to see three youths asking Arianne and a purple-haired girl to hand over the trembling Joe to them.


    The surprising thing was Landon and the other vampires didn''t move to stop them. It was almost like a silent agreement to get rid of Joe, who was one of two eyesores along with Arlo within their group.

 CHAPTER 134: A SHOCKING DISCOVERY

    "This brat is a runaway of our family. We have been searching for him for a while now and we would appreciate it if you could hand him to us. We will also compensate you appropriately." The only girl among the three spoke to Arianne with a flattering smile.


    Arianne looked at the fallen Joe before shifting her eyes towards her seniors who had moved a bit away. She could read the meaning of their actions and that unnerved her a great deal.


    Ella remained silently at her side and decided to watch how the situation unfolded.


    Arianne shifted her eyes to the three teens before her who despite being over 5 years older than her, were at the same height as her and were looking at Joe with a smug smile.


    "Scram!"


    The smile on the faces of the youths were slowly wiped off, as they looked at Arianne with widened eyes. They all feared Arianne''s status but they never expected her to treat them in such a manner, especially for a waste like their cousin.


    The girl who spoke narrowed her eyes and was about to erupt in anger when her brother raised his hand to motion to her to stop.


    Her cousin, Rook who was acting as the leader of their group looked at the vampires who had distanced themselves and didn''t doubt for a second that if they dared to act against their princess or disrespect her in any manner, they would surely move against them. He didn''t know why they wished for them to take Joe away, but he didn''t have any intention of stirring a hornet''s nest.


    Rook thought deeply about it and finally opened his mouth to talk only for him to close it in the next instant.


    Arlo walked past them and held the trembling Joe to his feet. Under the attentive eyes of all those present, Arlo spoke words that left them confused.


    "It is time!"


    None of those present understood his words and it wasn''t until their eyes fell on the medallion in his hand that realization dawned on them.


    They quickly took out their medallions and saw them blinking constantly with a multicolored light.


    Suddenly, the crack above them widened as if it was pulled apart by two huge hands before a large gate slowly appeared. The gate seemed to be made of chaotic space, and if it weren''t for the symbol of the western dragon on it, they would have thought the crack simply widened.


    When they saw the dragon similar to those on the medallions flash in a multicolored light, the eyes of the great majority of them widened in horror.


    They all had the impression that they might wait for a long time for the secret realm to open but who would have thought that the secret realm would react just after a few minutes after the vampires arrived?


    The three youth beasts confronting Arlo''s group glared at Joe briefly before quickly returning to their group. They joined the others in locking hands before finally sighing in relief.


    The humans were already close to each other, so they were able to come in contact without any effort and time wasted.


    However, the vampires were different. Landon instructed the group to hold hands, and it wasn''t until after they did that he turned toward Arianne, "Quickly, princess. We need to hold hands!"


    All he received in response was a cold glare.


    At the same time, the werewolves who were shouting at Ella to return opened their eyes in horror, when their medallions suddenly released a burst of light that enveloped them before their group disappeared.


    The humans, werewolves, vampires, and magical beasts simultaneously disappeared from the desolate plains.


    A few breaths later, the last group consisting of Arlo, Arianne, Joe, and Ella was also teleported.


    .....


    A few minutes earlier.


    In Arlo''s home world.


    "Didn''t I tell you two to remain together?" Steven''s handsome face was twisted into a frown. Even at such a time when he felt frustrated, he didn''t forget to smooth his silky auburn hair.


    "I didn''t know when he left," Tina replied curtly as she felt displeased about being blamed for something she had no control over.


    Looking at the flashing medallion in his hand, Steven thought for a moment before he spoke:


    "Let''s separate and search for him. Remember not to leave the first zone if you don''t find him in time."


    Tina nodded before the duo separated.


    A few minutes passed in the search.


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    As Tina walked across the streets, she constantly looked at the medallion in her hand, and judging from the increased frequency at which the medallion shone, she could tell she didn''t have much time.


    "Hey, it is my turn to play."


    She came to a sudden stop as she heard a familiar voice. A second after her brain registered the voice, she gritted her teeth and entered the alley at her side only to see the boy she had been searching for jump in joy after winning against a group of little kids in a bead game.


    Tina didn''t hesitate to release her domain, and immediately later, she increased the gravity on Miller causing him to fall flat to the ground.


    She walked closer and grabbed him carelessly by the hair, as she released her anger on him.


    Well, she tried to.


    At that moment, the medallion in her hand and the one in Miller''s pocket released a bright light, before the duo disappeared.


    At the same time, several geniuses from great powers across the universe disappeared simultaneously.


    After sixteen good years, another momentous event that would rock the whole universe was about to occur in the secret realm.


    .....


    Every decade, the secret realm would open. At that time, those with a dragon medallion would be teleported randomly into the secret realm. However, they all would be teleported to the first zone. Those who wish to be together, need to be in direct contact with each other before they are teleported.


    At the first zone of the secret realm.


    Several figures appeared in different places. The human group fortunately appeared at the ridge of a mountain, so they were able to have a better view of the secret realm.


    "Whoa!" Rose''s mouth widened as she looked up in wonder. There was no sun, no moon, and no star. Instead, the entire sky was an aurora that lit the world in different colors. It was the first time she had seen such a beautiful sight.


    Even the cold and indifferent Kai beside her had a change in his expression while the older teens marveled at the mountain up in the sky.


    Soon after, Rose and Kai followed their line of sight and immediately became stunned.


    Very deep into the secret realm was a mountain floating high up in the sight. The surprising thing was that the mountain had the shape of an egg.


    "How is this possible?" Theodore couldn''t help but blurt out. The magical realm before them should be realistically impossible yet it was being captured by their eyes.


    ''I don''t know how deep that floating mountain is.'' Theodore thought after collecting himself, as he narrowed his eyes on the floating mountain.


    He wondered what zone the floating mountain was located in, but if he should take a guess, he thought it would be in the fourth zone, which was the treasure zone, or the last zone, which was an uncharted area since the secret realm appeared.


    Only necessary information was given to them, and as no one could fly above a certain height above the ground, no one had ever reached the mountain.


    Shaking his head, Theodore threw the miscellaneous thoughts away, before he looked around him.


    Looking far into the distance, he saw a huge lake, but beyond the lake was a region of mist.


    "That should be the second zone. It should open after a few days, so for now we have no choice but to remain in the first zone." Theodore spoke to the group as he continued, "Why don''t we help the princess and Kai hunt beasts?"


    The other teens nodded readily. Since they couldn''t enter the second zone yet, and as the beasts in the first zone were too weak for them, they didn''t mind assisting their juniors.


    "Humph, I don''t need your help." Rose directly refused.


    "Now, now..." Theodore tried to persuade her only for his eyes to widen. The mountain beneath them shook greatly and so was the entire first zone.


    Theodore''s group stumbled from the abrupt movement and only a few could remain on both feet.


    As the ground continued to shake, the mist covering the second zone started receding causing the eyes of not only Theodore''s group but all those currently present in the secret realm to widen.


    "What is going on?"


    "Why is the second zone already opening?"


    A commotion rang out among the humans. Immediately after entering the secret realm, the information they collected started failing them, sending some of them into a panic.


    "Humph, I didn''t know my seniors were cowards." Rose''s words diffused the commotion, as the faces of the human teens became red from embarrassment.


    Theodore didn''t seem to care, "There is a change of plans. The princess and Kai will remain in the first zone, and the others will move to the second zone as soon as possible. I don''t know what is going on, but this has become a race against time. I do not need to remind you that those who arrive first at the fourth zone will have a great advantage, do I?"


    The others nodded and didn''t hesitate to execute their plan.


    In another area.


    The vampires and werewolves who had been teleported near each other seized the fights that were ongoing among themselves.


    After entering the secret realm and being close to the vampires, the werewolves erupted in anger because their princess wasn''t with them and they blamed it all on Arianne who was a vampire. So they didn''t hesitate to attack the vampires, causing a great battle to erupt, and the surrounding beasts to run away in fear.


    But after the fight was momentarily stopped by the trembling ground, the leader of the werewolves hesitated.


    After a careful thought, he spoke: "The second zone has opened. We need to move fast."


    "But what about the princess?"


    "Don''t worry, the princess should be safe in the first realm."


    With that, all the werewolves transformed before they left in packs.


    "Are we just going to let them go after attacking us?"


    "Humph," Landon glared in the direction the werewolves left before he spoke, "We are in a race against time. Let us go!"


    Unlike the werewolves, the vampires weren''t that worried for Arianne. Of course, the main reason for this was because they believed nothing could hurt her in the first zone. After all, they all saw her transformation at the awakening ritual.


    Similar situations were occurring throughout the first zone as several presences rushed toward the lake separating the first and second zones.


    Unlike the others, Arlo''s group didn''t see a beautiful sky after being teleported into the secret realm. Instead, what appeared above them were minerals of different colors lighting up the cave they were in.


    At the same time, Arlo''s eyes widened as he heard the sweet voice of a woman:


    "Help me...please..."


    He looked at the others beside him and could tell from their reactions that they didn''t hear the voice. What surprised him further more was how the cave shook greatly scaring them for a moment. And this happened immediately after he heard that soft and beautiful voice. But soon after, his eyes fell on the saber marks on the back of his hands that were flickering with a golden light.


    ''Old bro?''


    Arlo could feel Old bro''s tumultuous emotions which was something he had never experienced before.


    What Arlo didn''t know was that as the greatest treasure of the realm of the gods, Old Bro was able to instantly figure out the intricacies of the secret realm.


    And it was this discovery that shocked him to the core.


    >> She is alive...<<


    >>...Since all these years. <<


    >> Now I see why Arlo couldn''t connect with his laws... <<

 CHAPTER 135: RED ANTS

    *Whoosh!*


    Two shadows suddenly pounced on the group, pulling Arlo out of his thoughts.


    Ella quickly spread her hands out causing a barrier of lightning to surround them.


    The two shadows shrieked in pain upon coming in contact with the barrier before they quickly retreated.


    Ella dispelled her spell causing the two beasts to appear clearly before the group.


    Two ants standing at three meters high appeared before their widened eyes. The thick exoskeleton of the ants forming a protective shell was deep red, and their legs had sharp thorns that made them look threatening and menacing.


    However, what surprised the group more was that the energy around them was unusual.


    "Ki!" Arlo shouted as he lost his cool. He couldn''t be blamed as these were the first Ki cultivators other than himself that he had met.


    While his father taught him his Ki cultivation technique, he didn''t know if he was also a Ki cultivator. After all, he had never seen his father in action before.


    One of the ants suddenly moved fast, kicking up a cloud of dust as it appeared before Arianne in nearly an instant.


    Arianne didn''t hesitate to draw her blood and form a boot at the leg before she swept it out to meet the ant''s leg.


    The ant''s leg seemed to glow with a red light, and before long both legs came in contact.


    There was a brief silence during which Arlo and Ella''s eyes widened in horror.


    Arianne''s leg was pulverized from the overbearing force before the resulting shockwave sent her flying a great distance.


    She stumbled several times before she came to a stop. The scent of burnt flesh permeated the area for only an instant before disappearing.


    In just a second, her leg had already regenerated. However, the pain still caused her to grimace, and that was shocking as vampires were a race with high pain tolerance.


    That was clearly portrayed the first time Arlo fought with Bon. And Arianne was in a far greater league than Bon which came to show how terrifyingly powerful the ants were.


    "Arianne!" Ella shouted as she tried to approach her. It was then the remaining ant that had been focusing on her moved.


    Its leg flashed before Ella in an instant as it glowed bright red just like its partner. Ella''s pupils shrank, and she didn''t hesitate to hold back her power. She circulated her bloodline to the fullest causing a purple lightning to dance around her small fist before she punched with all her might.


    "Bam!"


    Her Purple hair flickered with lightning and her eyes had long lost their droopiness. For a moment, both parties seemed to be at a stalemate. But a moment later, Ella was sent flying as she coughed blood.


    However, unlike Arianne, she didn''t lose her hand. That was normal, as werewolves boasted superior physical strength compared to vampires.


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    The ant merely retreated a few steps before it regained its balance.


    After dealing with Arianne and Ella, both ants shifted their heads to the next strongest person sensed by their antennas.


    Arlo who was communicating with Old Bro flinched back from both ants.


    ''Are you serious? You are telling both ants are merely comparable to fourth-star Warriors?''


    << That is right! >>


    Arlo''s emotions were thrown into chaos. Even though he had yet to break into the first-star stage properly, he had always thought his strength could be compared to a fourth-star stage after all he had a special physique that even Old bro couldn''t identify.


    Old bro knew what Arlo was thinking so he tried to calm him down, << Don''t fret. They are mighty because of their bloodline which allows them to increase their physical strength by at least five times.>>


    ''Five times?'' Contrary to Old Bro''s intentions, Arlo became more anxious. ''And it is even at least...''


    Before Old Bro could respond, the two ants had already appeared before Arlo and attacked together.


    Arlo''s eyes narrowed, as his anxiousness disappeared. It was in times like this that he showed the importance of his mental state.


    ''I can''t confront them directly.''


    As the two monstrous legs became bigger in his pupils, Arlo unleashed his greatest skill by using the energy he had already gathered at his throat.


    "Stop!"


    Both ants stopped for a moment, during which Arlo swallowed the blood he almost coughed from the recoil of Ruler''s authority and summoned an orb.


    *Zing!*


    The orb rotated with a piercing sound, as Arlo used Ruler''s authority to stop both ants once again. He gritted his teeth as blood leaked from the sides of his mouth and used Ruler''s authority once again.


    "Absorb!"


    The orb absorbed the surrounding Ki while Arlo stopped the ant''s movement for another breath. At that moment, his throat was partially destroyed.


    Since the ants were within the range of Ruler''s authority, Arlo could only command the orb to explode directly.


    While all this sounded long, it only happened within ten breaths during which Arianne and Ella just regained their bearings.


    *Boooooooom!*


    An explosion rocked the cave.


    However, unlike before, the ants were sent flying in the opposite direction as Arlo.


    "Arlo!"


    Arianne ignored Joe who was flung back for the third time from the shockwaves and moved to catch Arlo in her embrace.


    Arlo couldn''t suppress it any longer and coughed several mouthfuls of blood. He ignored his wounded state and Arianne''s cry and instead looked into the cloud of dust that was slowly dissipating.


    What he saw caused his eyes to widen in anger.


    The shells of the ants were broken in several places and blood leaked out from the cracks. But soon after, the shells healed and the leaking blood stopped. All these happened within five breaths. While it couldn''t compare to Arianne''s instant regeneration, it was still a fearsome rate of resuscitation.


    ''Now, I see why Ki cultivators are fearsome!'' Just encountering these two ants made Arlo fear the Asura race even more.


    Arlo''s eyes hardened, ''I can''t bear to hold back my powers.''


    He stood up with Arianne''s help and spoke to seemingly no one.


    "Come out, Anita!"


    One of the seals on his arm lit up with a blinding blue light before a blue slime appeared on his head.


    Arianne was already familiar with such a sight, but the same couldn''t be said about Ella.


    However, Ella couldn''t afford to be distracted for long, as the ants started walking towards them.


    Without any hesitation, she unleashed her full strength and began transforming.


    Her body grew and her bones lengthened as if they wanted to pierce her body. Her limbs started changing to an animal''s and before long a piercing howl resounded within the cave causing the ants to come to a stop.


    "Awoooooooo!" Lightning danced around the purple fur of the three-meter-tall wolf.


    Simultaneously, a deep animalistic roar sounded out causing the ants to flinch back this time.


    "ROOOOOOAR!" Arianne had also transformed into a three-meter-tall monster. The sharp teeth lining the wide mouth on her empty face created a far more threatening sight than the thorns on the ant''s legs.


    Standing between the two monstrous figures was a golden-haired boy with a deep blue slime resting on his head.


    ''It is time for round two.'' Arlo''s eyes narrowed as a dangerous light flashed within them.


    .....


    Just like Arlo''s group, another group had a similar experience, it was just that theirs were far more unfortunate.


    Like Arlo and the others, Tina and Miller did not see an aurora sky after entering the secret realm. Instead, what they saw were fist-sized emerald-colored stones that when joined together actually functioned as an illumination that lit up the countless ants around them.


    It was a colony of red ants!

 CHAPTER 136: VAMPIRE, HUMAN, AND WEREWOLF

    Tina fell on Miller when they were teleported into the secret realm.


    Every trace of anger disappeared from her face when she saw her surroundings. They were both in a huge opening with several winding tunnels connected to it.


    What shocked her for a moment wasn''t the unknown minerals she saw, nor the unfamiliar location that wasn''t listed in the information she received beforehand.


    She suddenly felt Miller who was below her tremble greatly. She looked down at him, and after confirming how he swallowed big gulps of saliva as he looked around, she was now sure she wasn''t dreaming or anything of such.


    She raised her head back up and looked around her to see the massive ants that were cutting into the flesh of several beasts without actually eating them. It was almost as if they were preparing them. The raised thorned limbs of the ants dripping in blood that froze for a moment upon their appearance suddenly descended before the ants all launched at them from all directions.


    It was a scary sight that caused Miller to wet his pants. Awoken from the unfamiliar yet familiar smell, Tina didn''t hesitate to burst out with her full mana as she stretched her hands at her sides and unleashed her domain.


    "Gravity domain..."


    With her at the center, the surrounding 30m had its gravity increased causing the launching ants to freeze for a moment. Alas, it was only for a moment, as the ants continued, the nearest being just about ten meters away from them. Judging from its speed, Tina realized it would reach them in at most two seconds. Her small mind went on overdrive and she didn''t hesitate to hold back any longer.


    "...x 5!"


    After breaking into the advanced realm, Tina was able to burst out with her full potential as a supreme talent.


    The gravity of thirty meters around her increased by five times, causing the ground to slightly cave in. Simultaneously all the launching ants fell to the ground as their protective shells made creaking sounds.


    No matter how they tried, they couldn''t move an inch after Tina''s domain was activated. However, that didn''t stop the far-away ants from throwing their bodies in Tina''s direction but upon stepping into her domain, they all experienced the same fate.


    This brought about an unusual sight. Tens of massive bodies were crushed a short distance around Tina and Miller and the bodies were still piling up as more ants barged into the domain.


    The ants could normally bear the immense weight of their thick exoskeleton due to their formidable strength. But under the influence of gravity increased by five times, they were crushed to the ground.


    However, that was all Tina could do. In fact, she could barely hold up any longer and the more ants barged into her domain, the more the sweat pooled on her forehead. But she gritted her teeth and forcefully held on. She didn''t bother thinking about how they could escape the situation as she knew that the moment she was distracted and her domain fell, they would both die instantly.


    A few sweat drops fell on Miller''s face, momentarily waking him up from his fear to see how Tina struggled to keep them alive. Her pale face seemed to be the strong push he needed to realize that they were in a difficult situation and could die at any moment. Suppressing his fear as much as possible, Miller reminded himself of the fact that he was a genius. A genius who even had the strongest Void Emperor as his teacher even if it was temporary. That seemed to do the job, as he was finally able to control his mana smoothly. Silver essence erupted from his body and making use of the safe region Tina was able to activate in her domain for his sake, he disappeared from below her and appeared beside her.


    He stretched out his hand in a pulling gesture and immediately after his hand disappeared into space before it reappeared soon after with a bow.


    He raised the bow and repeated his previous gesture, this time causing an arrow to appear in his hand. It seemed as if he had a pocket space where he could willingly take stored items.


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    Miller knocked an arrow before he pulled the string with all his strength and let go. A strange sight soon occurred.


    The arrow disappeared into space before appearing before a fallen ant in an instant.


    However...


    *Clang!*


    The sound made from the contact of the arrow with the ant''s shell was like that of a stone hitting steel.


    Miller tried and tried yet none of his arrows could penetrate the ant''s monstrous defenses. Unlike Tina who was a mid-level advanced mage, Miller was still at the peak of the beginner realm. But that in itself was an astonishing feat considering he had barely awoken for a year. The despairing Miller was pulled out of his thoughts when Tina''s voice drifted into his ears:


    "Run..."


    Miller looked at Tina and saw that she couldn''t hold out much longer. Unlike Tina, he could escape this situation by teleporting. It was just that he couldn''t yet bring a person with him during the process. The fact that he could only teleport less than 50m also didn''t help much.


    However, Miller refused to abandon Tina. He could still remember his master''s words:


    "A man that betrays his friend, especially one with a big chest, is no man at all!"


    "Idiot..." Tina barely choked out as she persevered. Slowly but surely, her mind became clouded in despair.


    "I can only hold out for two minutes more..."


    *****


    "Lightning rings!"


    A sweet and beautiful voice was released from the mouth of a purple wolf standing at 4m high and with purple arcs of electricity streaking through its fur.


    Four rings made of lightning suddenly appeared around the two massive ants a few feet from her.


    The wolf suddenly moved at breakneck speed for a moment before its body transmuted into lightning that was sucked into one of the rings above the wolves.


    Ella emerged from the ring and swiped her claw at one of the ants.


    The ant moved quickly and tried to throw a limb at her.


    That is right! It tried to. But its movement was cut short by Ella''s one word:


    "Judgement!"


    Thick arcs of lightning fell from the rings above her before dropping instantly on the ants, electrocuting them and freezing their movements.


    The smell of burnt flesh permeated the area.


    A second later, the limb of one of the frozen ants flew into the air. In front of the transformed Ella, the unbreakable shells of the ants became meaningless.


    In her current state, Ella could still not match the ants in pure physical strength but she could now cut them with her sharp claws that were reflecting colorful lights from the shining stones embedded deep within the cave walls.


    The limb of the ant regenerated a second later and if it weren''t for the cut part filled with thorns on the ground, no one would believe it had just suffered just a grave attack.


    The ant tried to attack Ella only for two of its limbs to fly up this time. Ella''s purple eyes shone with a fierce light as her claw drew toward the ant''s neck to end it.


    *Roar!*


    A spiritual wave spread out into the surroundings causing Ella to lose consciousness for a second.


    Unlike before when she floated a few inches from the ground as her hair made fluttering sounds like countless bats flapping their wings, Arianne directly transformed into tens of bats that arrived before the ants in a second. At the same time, the blood lost from the ant that lost its limb rose from the ground and turned into chains that tightened around the ant''s shells.


    Creaking sounds resounded for a moment before several cracks appeared around the ant''s shells. The ants were none the wiser to what was happening to them, as unlike Ella who regained her thoughts after a second due to the protection of the lightning barrier protecting her mind, they were still under the effect of Arianne''s spiritual attack. It was a general knowledge that Ki cultivators were most vulnerable to spiritual attacks. And this moment was proving those facts.


    The carapaces broke in several areas allowing the small dark balls, formed before the mouth of the swarm of bats to deal a fatal attack on the ants.


    Several black rays covered the area as they pierced into the ant''s bodies and instantly ended their lives.


    Ella who has had some point transformed back to her human form looked at the bats that were combining:


    "Guess I didn''t need to act at all!"


    "Hehe! I told you I am now stronger than you," said the reverted Arianne.


    Ella didn''t refute her and merely smiled.


    However, a sweet voice suddenly cut into their conversation.


    "Not fair! Not fair!"


    Ella looked at the slime that was bobbing up and down on Arlo''s head and her eyes involuntarily widened.


    On the other hand, Arianne hurled herself at Arlo.


    "Anita!"


    "Hehe..."


    Arlo ignored Arianne who took Anita away from his head and Ella who was looking stunned at them and instead looked at the corpses or what was left of the corpses of the ants.


    ''Guess I was overthinking things.''


    None of them noticed Joe who was standing far away from them,'' I couldn''t help in any way!'' His cousin''s words kept reverberating in his head.


    ''...That is right! I am just trash.'' the glow in his eyes died down.


    Joe didn''t notice the snake coiled around his neck studying him with its starry eyes.


    While Arlo and Joe were feeling down because of their inferiority toward Ella and Arianne, none of them were aware of the transformation they were soon about to undergo within the secret realm.


    They didn''t know that they, new but close friends, were soon going to be the center of attention not only for their world but for the whole universe

 CHAPTER 137: DIVING HEAD FIRST INTO DANGER

    "Anita, can you devour those?" Arlo pointed at what remained of the ant''s corpses with an unsure expression.


    "Yuck!" That was the only reply he received from his summon in Arianne''s embrace.


    ''Well, I doubt she could absorb anything from that...''


    Arlo looked to his side, "Are you okay, Joe?"


    "Y-yes..." Joe responded before he continued in a hushed voice, "Sorry I couldn''t help."


    Arlo could read Joe''s expression so he smacked him on the back, "I couldn''t do much either. Don''t beat yourself over it."


    "Ouch! That hurts you i*iot!"


    "Haha, that is more like it! You have been acting strange since we left the academy."


    "...sorry."


    "You know I am here for you, right?"


    "Even though I am useless?"


    "Who told you, you are useless?" Arlo looked at him with raised brows. Joe evaded his gaze, but Arlo could read from the emotions in his eyes, that that was how he truly felt.


    "Have you forgotten you were the one who saved me when I almost died in the crimson forest?"


    "Huh!?" Joe looked at him with a blank expression.


    "You gave me that miracle pill, so I am sure you are not useless."


    Joe quickly grabbed his groin as he looked at Arlo with a wary expression.


    Arlo''s expression crumbled under the stare of the two girls, "What the hell are you touching?"


    "...no-nothing!"


    None of them knew that Joe''s greatest safe was his underwear, and he planned to keep it that way.


    "So..." Arianne''s sweet voice brought the two friends out of their weird conversation.


    Joe couldn''t help but marvel at the three before him,'' They are all incredible!''


    In terms of looks, Arlo, Arianne, and Ella were the creams of the top he had seen, especially among their age mates. And nothing else needed to be said about their unrivaled talents. He couldn''t even tell who had more potential among the three but if he was to take a guess...


    His eyes shifted to Arlo, whose hair had grown longer after over a month of not cutting them.


    His instincts told him that he was a monster even compared to Arianne and Ella. He was simply unique.


    ''And he called me his friend!'' Joe squeezed his hands together, ''I must live up to his expectation!''


    Slowly but surely, Joe started changing.


    "..I have studied the area we are in with my divine sense."


    Arlo''s expression became serious, and even before Ella could voice her thoughts, his voice resounded:


    "And what did you find out?"


    Ella had already returned to her normal self as a few locks of her purple hair covered her droopy eyes that studied Arlo briefly.


    "There are two tunnels about fifty meters ahead of us!"


    Arlo didn''t doubt Arianne for a second. Unlike him who could barely cover a large distance with his divine sense, Arianne was in a whole different league even when compared to ordinary vampires far above her age.


    "The problem now is which tunnel to take?" Arlo voiced his thoughts.


    There was a brief silence as they thought about how to approach the situation when Joe broke the silence:


    "Arianne, do you know where the tunnels lead to?"


    Arianne shook her head, "They are too deep for even my divine sense to cover."


    "Since we don''t know where they lead, why don''t we just pick one?"


    A stunned look appeared on Arlo''s face, as he realized Joe''s reasoning was rather correct.


    Was there a need to overthink when they didn''t even know where they were?


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    "Of course, we should go together, and not break up!" Joe quickly added.


    *Smack!*


    "See, you are not that useless." Arlo smiled lightly.


    "Ouuuch! Can''t you just touch me like a normal person?"


    Arianne ignored their antics and looked at Joe, "Coward!"


    Arlo''s smile became strained while Joe scratched his head embarrassedly upon having his thoughts exposed.


    "Hehe!" On the other hand, Anita giggled at their exchanges.


    Looking at the three, Ella couldn''t help but smile, ''They are very comfortable around each other.''


    While she felt happy for Arianne, a part of her also envied her as it was something she lacked.


    Suddenly...


    *EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!* A loud shriek echoed around, shaking the eardrums of Arlo''s group. They couldn''t help but cover their ears, while Arianne quickly controlled her spiritual energy to block her ears, as Anita was lying in her arms.


    A few moments later, the strange cry slowly died down.


    However, none of Arlo''s group moved neither did any of them talk as they all felt the strange atmosphere that filled the air when the cry died down.


    Sure enough...


    Not even five breaths later, the ground underneath them shook greatly.


    "Wh-what is going on?" Joe became pale. Even the pitch-black snake had its eyes opened wide, but Joe and the others were too flustered to care.


    "Something is approaching!"


    Ella spoke as she looked behind them.


    "It''s not only from behind, it''s from all directions!" said Arianne, as she could sense more subtle changes with her divine sense.


    The intensity with which the ground shook increased while the sound of strong but hurried footsteps entered the ears of Arlo and others.


    Without a word, they quickly got into battle positions as they readied themselves.


    But a moment later, Arlo, Arianne, and Ella''s faces turned pale while Joe almost fainted from fear as he watched the colony of ants that marched toward them.


    ''We can''t win...'' Arlo arrived at this conclusion instantly after seeing the number of ants before them.


    But soon after, his expression hardened, ''But we will won''t die like that.''


    He was prepared to fight with all his cards and bring as many ants as he could take with him to the grave. Judging from Arianne and Ella''s expressions, it was clear they also had similar thoughts.


    Only Joe was different, as he had already burst into uncontrolled tears.


    Arlo stood at the forefront of the group and prepared to clash with the first ant when his expression changed. His movement came to a quick stop and soon after the waves of ants passed by him.


    Their steps were hurried as if they were rushing to get somewhere in time. In the process, they ignored Arlo''s group. In fact, they didn''t seem to care about the uncleared remains of their follow ants still on the ground.


    *Haa!* Ella was the first to break the silence as she released the breath she had been holding in.


    "Wh-what is going on?" For the first time, Arianne''s voice shook with uncontrollable fear.


    Arlo wiped the sweat that had unconsciously pooled at his forehead and looked in the direction the ants left with a serious expression, "...it must have something to do with that strange cry from before."


    "Either way, I don''t want to experience that again," said Ella, as she felt inwardly glad they survived such an ordeal.


    Arianne looked at Joe''s wet face and couldn''t help but shake her head but this time she didn''t jab at him.


    "What is wrong?"Ella suddenly said as she gazed at Arlo''s unsightly face.


    Arianne who was looking at Joe quickly shifted her eyes to him, "Arlo?"


    Arlo didn''t reply as he listened to Old Bro''s voice in his mind with an ugly expression.


    << You had better hurry after those ants. If not you will regret it. >>


    Arlo''s mind spun. He knew Old Bro wouldn''t speak nonsense when his life was involved, and he knew that, unlike Arianne, he would definitely have found out more about their current location if not the entire secret realm. After all, he was a supreme treasure and was one not even from the mortal plane.


    It was because of that, that his expression was ugly, as he knew he was wasting time and might lose whatever the ants were going for.


    Arlo took a deep breath and looked at his companions, " I have to chase after the ants."


    Arianne, Ella, and Joe had blank looks on their faces. But Arlo didn''t care as he had to hurry.


    "You guys should follow another path. We will meet up aga..." Before he could finish his sentence, he was cut by an angry cry.


    "What are you saying? We are a team and wherever you go, I go!" Unexpectedly the cry came from Joe. Unlike his earlier scared look, he had an angry expression on his face as he glared at Arlo.


    Arianne and Ella became stunned once again. But Arlo smiled instead, as he felt warm in his heart.


    ''That is right, he is still the same person.'' He could still remember how Joe refused to reveal his identity in the crimson forest the first time they met, and that was why he was the first friend he made in his life.


    Ella looked at Joe in a new light, while Arianne spoke as she smiled at Arlo, "You heard him. If the weakling can stay, then nothing much should be said about me, right?"


    Arlo smiled, "Right!"


    "Hey, must you call me that?" Joe shouted at Arianne, but upon receiving her glare, he reverted to his normal self and shrank back.


    Arlo ignored them and quickly looked at Ella, as he was pressed for time.


    "I will go anywhere Arianne goes!"


    Arlo nodded his head in understanding, "Then let us hurry."


    He quickly took the lead and ran at full speed as he followed the path the ants had left in.


    ''I hope I am not too late.''


    .....


    A mountain of red bodies packed around two small figures. The surprising thing was that the mountain of bodies shook occasionally, showing that they were still alive. But pressed under the crushing force of gravity multiplied by 5 times and the weight of their unusual exoskeleton, they couldn''t move an inch toward the two humans, bringing about an astonishing sight.


    Miller was on his knees as he panted for breath. With blurry eyes, he looked at Tina''s shaky figure as she stood with her hands stretched out at her sides.


    "Tina..."


    Tina''s suit was fully soaked with sweat, while short gasps left her small pink lips.


    But even in that condition, she fixed her eyes in one direction and ignored the mountain of red ants towering around her.


    Following her line of sight, Miller looked through the gap in the bodies to see a six meter tall ant surrounded by four red ants. Unlike the other ants, the four ants had patterns on their shells and from the way they were acting, it seemed they were guarding the six meter ant at their center.


    The light of hope in Miller''s eyes died down as he gazed at the unique ant standing on both legs like a bipedal creature. He could still remember the fierce shriek it had released and the ants that had stormed there soon after.


    ''Just what is that?''


    The two intelligent eyes of the queen ant was locked with Tina''s and from the light flickering deep within them, Miller could read the emotion of the bipedal beast.


    It was amusement!

 CHAPTER 138: ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE

    Arlo''s group moved with slow and careful steps.


    They had managed to silently kill stray ants they encountered on the way, and now, they finally reached their destination.


    Acting cautiously, Arianne took Arlo''s position as the lead and released her divine sense to investigate the open field their tunnel led to.


    Not even a moment later, her ruby red eyes widened, and her healthy pale face became sick-like, as her breathing stagnated.


    Ella''s face became worried while Arlo''s expression crumpled upon seeing Arianne''s intense reaction. It was the first time they had both seen her react in such a manner.


    Arlo didn''t risk whispering near as he knew that Ki cultivators had heightened senses to cover up for their lack of spiritual energy. So he sent his spiritual wave into Arianne''s mind, something he learned in passing from Evangeline.


    ''What is wrong? What do you see?''


    Arianne seemed to be pulled back from her trance by Arlo''s unexpected voice. With a shaky voice, she replied telepathically:


    ''A huge ant''s nest and ...ant beasts....several of them.''


    ''How many?''


    ''At least, a hundred....''


    Arlo''s eyes widened as his mind blanked out, however, Arianne didn''t seem to be done as she continued:


    ''They are surrounding two kids our age, but they can''t seem to reach near them. I could feel the gravity distorted around them....'' The anxious feeling in Arianne''s eyes disappeared for a moment to give way to surprise. Arlo could feel how struck she was.


    But for some unknown reason, Arlo found the situation strange. Especially when he heard that two kids around their age were able to survive the onslaught of at least a hundred ants, something even their current group could not accomplish.


    Slowly, his eyes widened, as a figure appeared within his mind.


    ''Gravity...it can''t be...'' He unconsciously released his divine sense to study the opened space, and the situation revealed to him caused his heart to beat faster and his blood to pump stronger.


    Arlo never considered Tina his friend, even though the other party chased after him when they grew up. However, he couldn''t deny the fact that they knew each other and that a part of him cared for her.


    If he didn''t care about her, he wouldn''t have been so devastated when he lost to her in their last fight. He wasn''t low enough to feel competitive with a person he didn''t care about.


    And ever since Old Bro showed the scene of certain past events, he had developed a mind of not wanting those close to him to be put in danger. It was a feeling that was almost bordering on the line of obsession, which caused concern from even Old Bro.


    Arianne''s pale face went up a few notches, "Ar-Arlo you..."


    Awoken from Arianne''s quivering voice, Arlo realized his grave mistake. Ever since they started following the ants, he and Ariane had agreed that she would be the one to investigate their surroundings as she had a better grasp on spiritual energy and could mask her presence to remain undetected. But in his carelessness, Arlo had just released his divine sense, albeit for a moment.


    The group held their breath as they realized the seriousness of the situation. A moment later, they realized it was already too late.


    They could no longer hear the booming sound of the ant''s legs impacting the ground as they swarmed into Tina''s domain.


    Joe retreated fearfully in the stifling silence but Arlo who realized that he had jeopardized the lives of his team no longer bothered to act cautious.


    Before Arianne who held her breath in fear, Joe who retreated with troubling steps, and Ella who glared at him for putting them in danger could react, Arlo ran to the mouth of the tunnel and jumped with all the strength he could muster.


    His body flew high into the air, as he took in the scene before him.


    His eyes locked momentarily with Tina''s tired eyes, but soon later he had to consciously shift them away due to the dreadful feeling that was welling up within him.


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    The playfulness in the bipedal queen ant''s eyes had long disappeared, and what now lay within them was cautiousness and anger as they studied the small human jumping high in the air.


    As Arlo reached the peak of his jump, he forcefully suppressed the fear he was feeling from the Queen''s stare and shouted with all his might:


    "ANITA!"


    As if feeling his emotions, the blue slime resting within Arianne''s embrace flew at him at breakneck speed before her body experienced an overwhelming change.


    Red essence burst out from her slimy body, and soon after a cry closest to that of a Phoenix resounded within the opened field.


    *SCREEEEEEEEEEE!*


    Anita in her bird form appeared below Arlo''s feet, with the flame surrounding her not affecting him in the slightest. A moment later, her body dived down toward Tina who had just released her gravity domain due to her fallen mana.


    The ants that were already freed from the crushing pressure could not act immediately due to the sudden appearance of Arlo and Anita, however the same could not be said about the queen ant.


    The bipedal creature had already released an order to one of the ants guarding her the instant she saw Anita diving toward Tina. One of the massive ants around her stomped the ground causing a crater of at least ten meters in radius to appear at its previous location. But the surprising thing was that none of the other ants and the queen stumbled or were affected in the aftermath of its lunge.


    The blue eyes of Anita who was about to grab Tina and Miller with her talons widened, and before she could react the thorned limb of the six-meter-high red ant smashed into her, turning her body into a red flash that crossed tens of meters in an instant before impacting the walls of the cave.


    However, the intelligent eyes of the guardian ant shook slightly as it registered the flaming bird sliding down the wall, with no sight of the human kid. Without any hesitation, it turned around and slashed one of its limbs down in Tina''s direction.


    Arlo who had used the cover of Anita''s burning flame to slip past the huge ant arrived beside Tina and Miller. It was just that he was too late, as even though he moved earlier than the ant, its leg had already arrived above the trio due to the speed difference between them.


    But what surprised the red ant was that while Tina and Miller closed their eyes in fear, Arlo gazed at it with no fear in his eyes.


    No, it could even read an expectant look on his face, as if waiting for something...or someone to act.


    Feeling anxious, the ant tried to smash its leg down even a tad bit faster, however, no matter how it tried, its leg wouldn''t bulge. A moment later, the glow in its eyes died down as it lost consciousness. At the same time, a pulsing spiritual wave covered the entire area as a domineering primal roar shook the cave and reverberated through the tunnels.


    *ROOOOOAR!*


    Arianne in her transformed state appeared in the opened field in all her glory. Arlo smiled at her emergence and quickly moved Tina and Miller from below the ant''s leg.


    While it had seemed like he jumped out of the tunnel in a hurry and carelessness, the truth was far from the matter. He had actually planned to shift the entire ant''s attention to him and give his mates a chance to plan.


    And surely, they didn''t fail him.


    It was a given that the worst enemies of Ki cultivators were the even more rarer Spiritual cultivators. And vampires, who were quasi-tri cultivators due to their natural talent in Mana and spiritual energy, and their powerful bloodline that boosted their strength to a degree far above normal standards, were a good nemesis.


    Even the Queen lost her consciousness from Arianne''s fierce spiritual attack and it would take her a few moments before she regained herself.


    This was Arlo''s only chance to act.


    "Anita!*


    Arlo shouted once more as he un-summoned her and summoned her once again beside him. He could feel her will to kill the Queen and devour her to become stronger, but Arlo''s anxious emotion transmitted through their connection was enough to soothe her.


    She transformed into a flaming bird once again, as Arlo kicked off the ground with the stunned Tina and Miller, before landing on her back. While Arlo could not be affected by her flames, the same could not be said about the others, so she had no choice but to dispel her flames, causing her red feathery figure to appear before all clearly.


    Immediately when Arianne''s roar shook the cave, Joe searched the tunnels with great speed and quickly moved into one after a few seconds. At the same time, Ella transformed into a four-meter purple wolf and summoned tens of lightning rings high above the opened field. The rings flashed intermittently with lightning, as they seemed to be gathering power.


    Tens seconds after Arianne''s roar resounded, the bipedal queen regained her consciousness and released a piercing cry.


    *SHRIIIIIIIEEEEEEK!*


    The cry seemed to have a great effect as it shook all the ants awake.


    However...


    Before the ants could even regain their bearings, a barrage of lightning stormed down from the high ceiling of the cave, covering the entire region in blinding purple.


    *CRACK!*


    *KABOOOOM!*


    The cave shook greatly and it was a wonder how it could still hold up. The ants that had just woken up were once again frozen from the countless barrage of purple lightning.


    Arlo who had received Arianne''s spiritual message, asked Anita to move into the tunnel Joe had entered. At the same time, Ella and Arianne who were still in their transformed state flashed around the pouring lightning at their fastest speed, with Ella taking the lead to create a path for them.


    Soon after, they arrived below the flying Anita and jumped with all their might.


    Their bodies reverted in mid-air, allowing them to land safely on Anita''s back.


    As the purple lightning died down around them, another angry cry drifted into their ears as they safely flew inside a big tunnel.


    Anita quickly caught hold of Joe who was helped by Arlo up to her back. Soon after, booming footsteps resounded from behind them, but the sound was soon covered by the explosion of poison from the formation traps planted beforehand by Joe.


    The painful shrieks of the ants rang out, but the group moved even faster as they made their way out of the cave.


    It was at this time that Tina who was surrounded by unfamiliar faces spoke with a surprised look on her face:


    "Arlo?"

 Chapter 139: SWORD DRAW

    In the heart of a gorge, Rose and Kai found themselves surrounded by towering mountain walls, each side adorned with ominous caves.


    Above, a celestial display unfolded as the sky transformed into a canvas of vibrant Aurora. Colors danced and intermingled casting an ethereal glow upon the barren gorge. The Aurora painted the world in hues of mesmerizing greens, purples, and blues, creating an otherworldly atmosphere.


    Unfortunately, this atmosphere was broken by the waves of monstrous beasts that resembled lizards leaving the caves.


    The terrifying roars that escaped their mouths sent chills down the spine of the two small figures, causing them to give no appreciation to the ominous yet beautiful landscape around them.


    The lizards lunged at them with no care for the world.


    "See, I told you we should take another route," Rose grumbled at Kai, however, Kai ignored her and instead brought his right hand to the handle of his sheathed katana as he watched the lunging lizards with an intense light in his eyes.


    It had already been five hours since their seniors left them in the first zone. During this time, Rose and Kai had already faced off against several beasts.


    As geniuses with immense talents and with cultivation in the advanced realm, Rose had thought that she would be able to match beasts in the master realm and even best them. She had confidence that she would be able to venture into the second zone and even take a peek into the third zone.


    However, her confidence was shattered a few hours after arriving in the secret realm.


    The beasts she encountered were simply terrifying and were nothing comparable to beasts on the outside.


    Ever since then, she started taking the secret realm seriously and has been more cautious. She had been informed about how the realm hosted immensely powerful beasts but seeing was believing. Now, she even doubted if she could even enter the second zone.


    Immediately when the lizards entered a range of five meters to Kai, his cold voice resounded:


    "Sword draw..."


    *Click!* The katana returned to the sheath.


    "Six consecutive slashes!" As he said the name of his technique, his sword had already been sheathed, and red lines appeared vertically across the bodies of the lunging lizard.


    A moment later, six lizards slowly came to a stop as their bodies split apart, causing a shower of blood to rain.


    Rose''s ethereal eyes slowly spun faster as they gazed admiringly at the back of the kid two years older than her.


    Even though she was the only God-tier talent currently present among the humans, she couldn''t help but feel deep admiration for Kai''s immense battle potential.


    Kai had an affinity to a rare weapon law, the sword laws, and his innate trait allowed him to send out invisible sword energies that could cut through almost anything. Combined with Kai''s intense passion for battle, this allowed Rose to believe that he was at the ultimate peak of all supreme-level talents.


    The approaching lizards quickly came to a stop as they gazed at Kai with wary eyes.


    The smile on Kai''s face deepened. His usual indifferent look was no longer, and the aura around him was completely different from usual.


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    "If you won''t come, I will!" As he finished his words, he lunged in the direction of three lizards with a battle-craze light flashing within his eyes.


    Rose was stunned by the development. The beasts she thought would be difficult to handle didn''t seem that menacing any longer. However, her eyes soon widened as a completely different scene than what was happening appeared in her spinning eyes.


    "Watch out..." Her cry slowly turned into a whisper as a new scene appeared before her.


    At the same time, in the present, the eyes of Kai who was lunging at the three beasts widened as he saw the beats open their mouth, and instead of releasing a breath-like attack or the usual ball-form attacks, a storm of sand rose before them before moving toward him. However, his legs didn''t stop as he closed the distance between them and got swallowed by the sandstorms.


    A second later, a voice rang out within the billowing sands with the clicking sound of a sword returning into the sheath following after.


    "Sword draw..."


    *Click!*


    "Nine consecutive slashes!"


    The three sandstorms were split into three, before slowly dissipating. Kai emerged unscathed before the widened eyes of the three lizards.


    "Sword draw..."


    *Click!*


    "Three consecutive slashes!"


    Before the lizards could even react, the light of life died within their yellow eyes.


    "Hahahahaha!" An excited laugh rang out within the gorge as Kai jumped into the waves of lizards and commenced a massacre.


    While it seemed that Kai was in a favorable position, the truth was far from it, as the number of lizards escaping the caves increased.


    In the end, Rose had no choice but to join the fray.


    Several branches rose from the ground before entangling with the lizards and binding them in place, allowing Kai to kill them easily.


    That wasn''t the end though, as Rose jumped into the wave of monsters and evaded their tail attacks almost as if she had predicted them. However, what was happening was even more disbelieving, as she could see their attacks even before they were launched.


    Her voice resounded among the droves of beasts as her chubby cheeks shook and her spinning eyes released a golden glow:


    "Rose shower!"


    Hundreds of red petals appeared around her before enveloping the entire waves of beasts. The petals acted like sharp barbed wires that cut into the lizard scales and drew countless cuts across their bodies. The momentum of the beasts came to a stop as the entire horde became incapacitated.


    Kai ran around the fallen beasts with a speed no different from a normal human, and with the sound of his clicking sword as a piece of background music.


    He seemed to do nothing aside from running, but the split bodies left in his wake spoke otherwise. His sword draw was too fast and fluid to be caught by the naked eye.


    About a moment later, Rose released a deep breath, "That went better than I thought!"


    Kai simply nodded as he had returned to his normal indifferent self. If it wasn''t for the blood that covered his body, no one would believe such a little boy had just finished a massacre.


    Receiving no response, Rose harrumphed in displeasure, "Hmph, with that attitude of yours, no girl would ever like you."


    Kai simply ignored her and started digging into the beast corpses to remove their beast''s cores.


    She equally ignored him and fell into deep thought. She might seem like a cute spoilt girl on the outside, but the truth was that she was quite intelligent and could reason calmly when the situation called for it. Her only bad side was that she spoke her thoughts without any care.


    ''Why would the lizards suddenly emerge like that? It is almost as if they were escaping from something.'' she wondered as studied the corpses around her.


    *Rumble!*


    She was suddenly pulled from her thoughts as an intense rumbling sound drew into her ears. What amazed her was that the ground beneath her was normal, instead, the sound seemed to be coming from a...


    Rose and Kai gazed into a dark cave as the rumbling sound grew louder.


    Suddenly the cave seemed to be lit up with a fiery light, and soon after the cry of a bird rang beside their ears.


    Kai''s eyes widened as he saw a magnificent bird with red feathers flying out of the cave. His eyes widened further when he saw the little figures on its back.


    But he failed to see the reaction of Rose beside him, who saw an entirely different scene than he did.


    Rose''s chubby face became pale and she shouted in fright:


    "Run!" she now realized that the opening in the mountain walls were not caves but tunnels...ant-tunnels.


    Kai didn''t understand why she seemed scared by the appearance of the bird. The bird was magnificent but judging from its aura, he didn''t think it was anything terrifying.


    However, he soon realized that the rumbling sound was not coming from the firebird, but the colony of ants that soon followed after them from the cave.


    With the same reaction as Rose, the battle-crazed Kai turned around and ran for dear life.

 CHAPTER 140: THE NEW KING OF THE RED ANTS

    "Watch out!"


    Ella shouted as the compressed air cannons lunged toward them.


    Luckily, Anita was able to swerve around the attacks and successfully escape the range of the explosions.


    The four flying ants shot after the group, as their limbs shook the air in preparation for another attack.


    ''Ar-Arlo, I am exhausted...'' Anita sent telepathically.


    Arlo turned to see the waves of ants chasing after them. All he could see was red, and the sight alone would render anyone else powerless. However, Arlo couldn''t die here.


    Not only was it because he had to meet his parents one day, but he also had the expectations of his only teacher who had cared for him as if he was her junior one.


    Not to mention...


    Arlo looked at those beside him, ''I am not alone.''


    Calming his anxious heart, Arlo tried to communicate as softly as he could as he patted Anita''s now-red head:


    ''Just hang on a little bit longer...''


    Feeling the emotions in Arlo''s words, and the care in his caresses, strength from an unknown source surged through Anita as she released an unrelenting cry...


    "SCREEEE!*


    The attacks of the flying guardian ants that were about to be released came to a stop as Anita flapped her wings fiercely and widened the distance between them, out of the range of their attacks.


    However, even after three hours of chasing, the ant''s anger didn''t seem to be diminished as they chased after Arlo''s group unyieldingly.


    "We are almost there..." Arianne spoke in joy as a look of relief flashed on her face.


    The others were about to ask what she meant when Anita crossed a hundred meters with a single flap of her wings, causing the massive mouth of the tunnel from which light was seeping through to appear.


    *Swoosh!*


    A look of exhaustion appeared on the faces of Arlo''s group as Anita flew out of the tunnel and out into the sky. During the chase, they had to launch several attacks to keep the ants at bay and also dodge the terrifying attacks of the flying guardian ants. If it wasn''t because the ants couldn''t compare to Anita''s speed in the air, there was no doubt that Arlo''s group would have left the world a few minutes after the chase began.


    The beautiful light of the colorful sky fell on their weary figure, as the eerie yet picturesque desolate gorge stood around them like a background.


    ''I can''t hold on any longer...''


    Arlo ignored Anita''s cry and quickly surveyed his surroundings. He ignored how magical the secret realm was as he was pressed for time due to the flying ants that were just a hair breath behind them.


    The corpses of the lizard-like beasts littered around entered his vision. A moment later, he caught sight of Kai and Rose''s figure.


    Without a second thought, he commanded Anita, ''Fly toward them! They should distract them even if it is for a moment.''


    Anita immediately followed his command without any hesitation.


    Kai scurried after Rose as the wave of ants lunged in their direction.


    Anita flew over Kai and Rose, as she ignored Rose''s angry cry:


    "B*STARDS!*


    Two seconds later, the four male ants flew above Rose and Kai as they ignored them and chased after Arlo.


    "Dammit..." Arlo grumbled upon seeing his plan fail.


    Barely three seconds after the male ants flew past, the red ants caught up with Rose and Kai.


    No matter how talented Kai and Rose were, they couldn''t compete with a ki cultivator in physical strength.


    Rose''s spinning eyes widened in horror only for her face to be colored surprise.


    Kai''s usual cold voice was visibly tinged with anger as it resounded:


    "Sword draw!*


    *Click!* The katana was sheathed after a fast but fluid horizontal swing.


    "Wide Slash!"


    *SHRIEK!*


    The painful cries of the ants echoed across the mountain walls as the waves of ants finally came to a stop.


    Around Kai were bodies of red ants cut and split into pieces, dying the ground in their blood and causing the smell of iron to permeate the area.


    The painful cries came from the ants almost out of the range of Kai''s attack. Yet, they still suffered varying wounds from the remnants of his invisible sword energy.


    Before Kai''s invisible sword energy, the ant''s impenetrable defenses were no different from tofu.


    The chasing guardian ants slowly came to a stop after hearing their fellow''s cries, allowing Arlo''s group to increase the distance between them to a safe degree.


    After studying what happened, the male ants flew at Kai, after deeming him dangerous.


    "Kai, squat down!" Rose shouted as her runic eyes spun fiercely.


    Without an ounce of hesitation, Kai did as she instructed, allowing the attacks of two of the ants to pass over him.


    A fearsome fight erupted.


    Kai and Rose were quickly thrown on the defensive but it still seemed they could hold out for a few more seconds. It was mainly due to Kai''s dangerous sword energy, constraining the movement of the ants, and partly due to Rose''s eyes that could even see the attacks before they were launched, allowing the both of them to escape death several times.


    Anita slowly flew out of the desolate gorge.


    Joe collapsed on Anita''s back, his clothes soaked in sweat, "Whew! finally, we escaped those scary ants.


    Anita and Ella nodded in agreement, with their faces pale from mana deficiency.


    "That was a close call," Ella muttered as she glared at Arlo who had placed them in such a life-threatening situation. However before she could berate him of his carelessness, her mind suddenly blanked out.


    Anita who had been flying slowly after leaving the desolate gorge to catch her breath, suddenly turned around and flew at breakneck speed toward their previous location.


    "Wh-what is going on?" Joe trembled as he looked at Arlo.


    "Ar-lo?" Arianne also looked at him with a questioning gaze.


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    Arlo''s eyes hardened as he looked at those who he just faced death with and was starting to feel closer to.


    "I want to kill the ant queen!"


    He had caught sight of the ant queen swaggering out of the tunnel when they were about to leave the gorge. It seemed it wasn''t that wary of Kai.


    Arianne and Joe shared similar reactions as their eyes widened however Ella''s reaction was far more intense.


    "Are you crazy?" Gone was her usual sleepy look, as her face distorted and her eyes shone with a fiery light as she gazed at Arlo.


    Seeing Arlo''s resolved eyes, she clenched her teeth in anger, "Not only did you place us in this situation by following after the ants, but you also put us in danger by carelessly jumping into the nest. Yet, without even apologizing for your mistakes, and without a thought for us to even rest, you are suggesting we return to that hellish place we barely escaped from?"


    Before Arlo could reply, Arianne beat him to it as she looked at him seriously and only spoke one word.


    "Why?"


    Ella''s eyes widened, "Arianne, y-you aren''t considering it, are you?"


    Arianne ignored her and only looked at Arlo without blinking her eyes. Due to the height difference, Arlo had to strain his neck a bit to keep looking into her ruby eyes.


    "I believe we can kill the Queen."


    Arianne''s eyebrows furrowed, and Arlo could tell what she was thinking so he continued:


    "That black-haired boy with the sword...if we can just get him close to the queen, I feel we could deal a deadly strike. Besides, I don''t want them to die because of us."


    Arianne kept gazing at him before shifting her eyes to Anita''s back. Two seconds later, she finally nodded, "I understand."


    Joe seemed to deflate upon hearing her answer but a moment later, he seemed to have resigned himself to his fate.


    After receiving Arianne''s response, Arlo looked at Ella with an indifferent gaze.


    "What are you looking at?" Ella bared her teeth at him, but a moment later, her eyes widened slightly as she watched Arlo bow his head.


    "I am sorry for endangering you and thank you for helping me. But if you are wondering why I didn''t apologize to the others, it is simply because I wouldn''t hesitate to do the same if they needed me." Raising his head, Arlo continued, "Now, should I drop you before going?"


    Ella regained herself after a short while before she harrumphed and crossed her arms. Slowly, her facial muscles reverted to normal, before her characteristic droopy eyes returned.


    A smile slowly lit Arlo''s face as he opened his mouth, "Now, this is the plan."


    *****


    During the time Arlo''s group had a brief discussion, Rose and Kai had already brushed with death a few times. Several wounds covered their bodies as they gasped for breath.


    The corpses of the almost thirty corpses spoke volumes of the short yet grave ordeal they had faced. Yet the number couldn''t hold a candle to the hundreds of ants and the four flying ants surrounding them. The ant queen resting at the back of the ant''s wave and looking at them with amused eyes added more to the despair welling within them.


    "I am sorry!" Kai cried, "This is all my fault."


    If he hadn''t forced them to pass through this gorge, they would have never found themselves in such a predicament.


    "What are you talking about? It is not over yet!" Kai''s teary eyes shook as he saw Rose''s golden-runic eyes spinning at a speed he could barely make out.


    "Those bastards will soon return..." Before Kai could understand what she meant, a fierce bird cry shook the entire desolate gorge.


    *SCREEEEEEEEEE!*


    The amused queen lost her composure as she gazed warily at the firebird high in the sky.


    "We only have one shot at this!" Arlo reminded. Only he had a bit more strength as Arianne, Ella, and Joe had almost consumed the entirety of their mana to launch long-scale attacks.


    Anita stopped above Kai and Rose, and before long, purple balls fell from the sky. The ants threw their limbs to destroy them, but before they could come in contact, the purple balls exploded into purple mist.


    Due to the wide range of dispersion, the poison lost its toxicity, but it still achieved its purpose as a screen.


    "Don''t resist..." Rose suddenly said to Kai beside her who had his vision obscured by the mist.


    At the same time, Arianne who had transformed into a swarm of bats swooped down and enveloped both Kai and Rose. The swarm flew back to the sky as the mist dissipated


    "Please, we require your help..."


    "You traitorous bastard. I knew you looked too good to be true."


    Arlo who was pressed to talk to Kai and Rose was cut off by Rose''s hateful cry.


    "You golden-haired chicken tried to leave us to die, didn''t you?"


    Anita flew away from the chase of the male ants. On her back, a strange silence ensued as Arlo didn''t know how to respond. But that didn''t mean the others couldn''t.


    Arianne who already disliked Rose since their first encounter erupted in anger, "Shut up! Can''t you see we are in a dangerous situation?"


    "Who the hell is this Iroko? What is an old lady like you doing with kids?"


    Arianne''s face turned purple before her face distorted completely.


    Pressed for time, Ella tried to soothe the situation. She could feel Kai''s glare on them and knew that even though he didn''t say a thing, he was also quite angry. And she couldn''t blame him for it. She quickly held Arianne back and spoke hurriedly:


    "Let''s try to kill the ants."


    Rose who had already forseen what Ella would say calmed down.


    "And how would you do that?"


    "By killing the queen..." Ella pointed at the Queen as Anita flew around the launched attacks before she continued, "But we need both of your help, especially him." She gestured at Kai.


    Even though Kai was the oldest in the group, he wasn''t the strongest. It was just that his sword energy was a counter against the ant''s formidable defenses. It was just a matter of compatibility.


    "Let''s hear it!" Kai was the one who responded, as his eyes shone with interest and a little bit of...excitement.


    Arlo took over and quickly explained his plan.


    Within this period, the ants were not idle either as the queen commanded them to gather around her.


    Except for the four male ants chasing after Anita in the sky, all the other ants surrounded the Queen ants to form a layer of bastion. It was such an incredible sight.


    Suddenly, a great change occurred in the sky.


    The sky rumbled as lightning flashed incessantly. Before the male ants could react, they were struck by bolts of lightning, stiffening them and causing their bodies to drop from the sky.


    That wasn''t the end as countless bolts of lightning fell from the sky towards the waves of ants surrounding the queen.


    Before the ants could even cry, their bodies were struck repeatedly, electrocuting them and freezing them.


    A firebird charged through the large-scale lightning attack.


    The ant queen anxiously released a command as she saw the red line streaking toward her at breakneck speed.


    The ants tried to break free from the stiffening effect of the lightning bolts falling on them. A few of them were able to accomplish it, as they moved without a care for their well-being. And that included the male ants.


    They all moved to block the lunging bird and were determined to bring it down once and for all. The ant queen was not only their mother but also the link keeping them together. Nothing could happen to her.


    As the two parties were about to collide, another change suddenly happened.


    The firebird disappeared all of a sudden, and what took its place was a large swarm of bats that enveloped the small figures within them.


    Due to being caught off guard and the maneuverability of the bats, they were able to break through the openings in the ant''s defense.


    Several ants tried to attack, but the swarm of ants seemed to know how they would move as they wove around them, even going as far as to break into two before merging back up again. It was clear how they were able to achieve such a feat as Rose''s voice kept ringing out within the swarm.


    "Move left..."


    "...right."


    "Right, left, and left."


    After dodging successive attacks, the swarm of bats quickly closed the distance to the ant queen.


    Vexed, the ant queen stopped relying on her offspring and raised her limb to launch an attack. Its forelimb shone a deep red before it swung it down. A fiery shockwave in the form of a pillar left her limb, incinerating everything on its path.


    In the face of such an attack, the swarm of bats continued unflinching. However, the voices sounding from within spoke otherwise.


    "Hey, hey, we will die from this." Joe''s trembling voice rang out.


    "Continue!" said Kai, his voice also shaky, albeit from excitement.


    "A-Are you sure?" Ella asked unsure.


    "Continue!" Kai repeated.


    "What do you see, Rose?" Arlo''s voice resounded.


    Two seconds before the wave of fire would arrive, Rose''s reply came, "Believe in him."


    The wave of fire almost comparable to a dragon''s breath swallowed the swarm of bats.


    Well, it tried to...


    "Sword Draw."


    The bats in front quickly parted aside to create an opening to the core.


    *Click!*


    The fire wave split into two before passing beside the swarm of bats. It was then that Kai''s voice echoed out:


    "Split!*


    The group arrived before the stunned queen. A fraction of a second later, she moved to attack once again even as the other ants rushed to help her. However, her movement came to a stop when she saw the swarm of bats suddenly merge to form a tall snow-white-haired young girl. At the same time, five other figures appeared before her.


    Even though she paused for only a moment, the Queen quickly came to and threw out her forelimbs in another attack.


    Rose petals rose around Arlo''s group to protect them from the male ants that attacked them from behind.


    It was then that Arlo''s voice rang out:


    "Freeze!" It was a declaration.


    No! It was more apt to call it a command.


    It was a command using Ruler''s Authority.


    The ant Queen, the male ants, Rose, Ella, Joe, Arianne, and every other figure within the range of Arlo''s authority came to a stop. The same went for the red petals around them.


    The only thing that moved was Rose''s spinning eyes and the golden-haired boy with a blue slime resting on his head.


    Arlo forced the blood he was about to cough down his throat and quickly shifted Kai who was holding the handle of his sword in the direction of the queen ant.


    A moment later, the effect of Ruler''s authority disappeared but before anyone could react, the sound of Kai sheathing his katana resounded before his voice soon followed:


    "Split!"


    The ant queen was split into two!


    At the same time, the attacks of the male ants landed on Arlo''s group, but the rose petals were able to absorb a considerable part of the damage.


    Still, a shockwave spread out from the joint attack of the four six-meter tall ants, sending all those present flying.


    However, Anita who was on Arlo''s head had already launched a branch at the queen''s split body. Immediately when the corpse flew off, she followed after it.


    Still in mid-air, her sweet voice drifted into the ears of the flying group, allowing them to know that their plan had succeeded.


    "Universal devouring!"

 CHAPTER 141: THE NEW KING OF RED ANTS II

    A strange silence enveloped the desolate gorge.


    Rose, Kai, and Ella sighed in relief when they saw the red ants not move to attack them, as they studied the blue slime releasing the aura of their queen.


    They all fell to the ground and gazed at the colorful sky as they panted for breath. Even Arlo was no exception. His last attack with Ruler''s authority had rendered him entirely spent.


    For almost five minutes, Anita''s body kept trembling as she released a terrifying yet Nobel aura.


    ''It''s done!'' Her voice resounded directly in Arlo''s head causing an excited smile to light his face.


    As if sensing his emotion, Anita''s body suddenly underwent a huge transformation.


    She turned into a bipedal no different from the appearance of the previous queen. Only her eyes that shone in a blue light were different.


    At the same time Arianne finished her transformation, all the red ants bowed toward her. The same went for the winged male ants.


    Arlo''s eyes trembled from excitement when he saw this sight, while the others including even Arianne and Joe had widened eyes.


    Arlo had assured them that he had a way to ensure that the red ants wouldn''t attack them after killing the queen, but they didn''t know it was this.


    Looking at Anita who moved and lowered her head to snuggle towards him, with the red ants bowing in the background, Arianne and the others couldn''t help but have the same thought.


    ''Isn''t he practically the king of the red ants?''


    Rose swallowed in fear. She could still remember how she cursed at him and could only hope he wouldn''t hold it against her.


    However, contrary to what she thought, Arlo bowed his body ninety degrees to the ground:


    "Thank you very much! I wouldn''t have been able to accomplish this without you."


    The others thought he was thanking them because of the red ants he now had under him, but only he knew that the red ants were just the tip of the iceberg of the rewards he obtained.


    Just the dramatic boost in Anita''s strength was enough to make him happy, not to mention the pure Ki that Anita had absorbed from the queen. Ki, that could be used to directly boost his cultivation. Of course, that was if he could connect with his body laws.


    "Anita, command the ants to move into the tunnels."


    Anita nodded her head and went silent for a moment.


    After a short while, the ants started moving orderly into the tunnels.


    "Haa, with that out of the way..." Arlo paused before looking at Rose and Kai, "I am Arlo. These are Arianne, Ella, and Joe." he pointed at them as he introduced them.


    "It''s nice to meet you." He stretched out his hand in a handshake.


    Kai looked at him for a moment, before shaking his hand.


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    "I am Kai." With that, he retracted his hand and went silent, his stoic look already back on his face.


    Arlo shook his head wondering how this was the same person that had a maniacal look on his face as he split the ant queen into two.


    He extended a handshake to Rose, however the latter harrumphed and shifted aside, "Who wants to know you? I don''t know why that third wheel, Iroko, and sleepy head are following you like a leader, but I don''t see anything special about you other than your pretty face."


    The side of Arlo''s lips twitched, while Joe questioned in his mind as he felt something jab into his heart, ''Me? The third wheel?''


    Arianne on the other hand seemed to have something to say, but Arlo quickly cut in before another argument began.


    "I want to head directly into the second zone, would you like to follow me?"


    He could still remember the voice that echoed directly in his mind immediately after entering the secret realm. Now that he left the ant tunnels, that feeling had increased more.


    Looking at the mountain floating deep within the realm and unobstructed by the smoking screen of the inner zones, Arlo felt his heart itch.


    Unexpectedly, the reply didn''t come from Rose and Kai to whom the question was asked, but instead from someone in Arlo''s group.


    "Are you crazy?" Ella raged. She looked at Arlo as if he was crazy. She couldn''t see him anymore as a boy with an otherwordly appearance but as a crazy little boy with suicidal tendencies.


    Instead of answering her, Arlo looked at Arianne and asked, "Arianne, will you follow me?"


    With barely any delay, Arianne responded, "Sure!"


    Arlo turned back to Ella with a smug smile.


    "You-you..." She pointed at him with a trembling finger, as she seemed stumped of what to say.


    Rose held the excited Kai back as she looked at Arlo with a piercing gaze. Even though she had said she didn''t understand why the others were following him, the truth was that she couldn''t measure Arlo''s depth. She could still remember how Arlo had not only frozen her but everybody around him. It was a divine ability almost comparable to her eyes.


    "We could barely hold out against the beasts of the first layer. How do you think we can handle the second zone?"


    Arlo nodded, and without even thinking about it for a moment, he spoke words that surprised not only Rose but even Ella who was against his idea.


    "We have the ants."


    Unlike them who were outsiders, the ants could pass through the lakes without undergoing any form of trial. Besides, the ants were monsters that couldn''t be compared to any other beasts in the first realm. They were simply terrifying and Arlo didn''t doubt they would be any less in the second realm.


    .....


    Only a few remained on the lake separating the first zone from the second. The majority of the others had already entered while the elite few had even ventured deep into the second zone.


    The werewolves moved in packs of five as they tore through every obstacle in their path.


    The vampires turned into fogs or bats as they knocked down every monster they encountered with only their spiritual energy.


    Two other groups stood out among the others.


    The first was a group of four with pointed ears. Their features were finely chiseled, creating an air of elegance and sophistication. Almond-shaped eyes, sparkling with otherworldly wisdom, gazed upon the world with serene and timeless grace.


    The elve''s complexion was fair, almost luminescent, and adorned with subtle, intricate patterns reminiscent of nature''s delicate designs. Silky, flowing hair cascaded down their shoulders, echoing the hues of the forest.


    Cloaked in attire that seamlessly blended with the enchanting surroundings, these elves embodied the timeless allure and ethereal charm that was characteristic of their mystical kind.


    Against any monster that dared to attack them, they simply summoned their elementals to take care of them. The elementals, which were nature''s spirit, wielded the atmospheric mana to conjure attacks of their respective attribute and wreak havoc on the daring beasts.


    The last group stood out even among the elites. The team was composed of merely two figures, a male and a female. And unlike the elves who had pointed ears, the two appeared more human. The only outlining features were their red skin which showed that they might not be uniquely human. The seals in the form of tattoos on the back of their hands showed that they were different from the other cultivators currently present within the secret realm.


    A raging bull seven meters high with the cultivation of peak-level master realm suddenly sprung up from within the shrubs around the trees and lunged at them.


    The girl merely raised her hand and punched out. But this simple action decimated the region tens of meters before her, while the lunging beast was eradicated by the sheer overwhelming force and its blood evaporated from the shockwave.

 CHAPTER 142: CRAZY ARLO I

    In the heart of the mist-covered lake, an ethereal veil shrouded the hidden depths, concealing the monstrous inhabitants beneath the tranquil surface. The mist, thick and elusive, added an air of mystery to the surroundings, leaving the water''s secrets veiled in an enigmatic dance of wisps.


    As one ventured onto the lake''s surface, jade-like steps materialized, a magical path emerging to defy the conventional boundaries of land and water. Each step, smooth and luminescent, hovered above the mist-kissed lake, creating an otherworldly walkway that beckons the adventurous.


    Yet, stepping onto the jade steps initiated more than a mere physical journey. A mind trial unfolded a surreal experience where the very fabric of one''s thoughts was tested. Whispers of memories and reflections manifested, drifting through the mist-like apparitions, challenging the traveler to navigate the labyrinth of their own consciousness.


    The mist, now a silent observer to the inner struggles, responds to the triumphs and tribulations of the mind trial. If one successfully traverses the jade steps with a clear mind, the lake unveils its secrets and the monstrous entities within remain at bay. However, should the mind falter, the mist becomes a tempest of illusions, casting shadows of doubt and fear upon the journey.


    In this mystical place, a few small figures surrounded by four monstrous winged red ants appeared before stepping on the lake.


    Jade-like steps appeared underneath the legs of Arlo''s group but before they could even appreciate the mystery of the situation, their minds were pulled by a strange force before they got sucked into different worlds...all but one person.


    "Huh? What is going on?"


    Joe had unconsciously prepared himself to face the lake''s trial. From the rumors he had heard in his kingdom while growing up, he already knew that the lake tested one''s inner demons or fears. Yet he didn''t hesitate to venture into the lake all in the hope of accompanying Arlo.


    Yet, what was this?


    Where is the trial?


    Joe looked around and noticed that he couldn''t see Arlo and the other''s figures. But he was sure from the mist surrounding him that he was still on the lake.


    It was then that he met eyes with another being that was unaffected by the lake.


    "Was it you?" He looked into the glowing starry eyes of the snake coiled around his neck. The snake seemed to sigh before it gestured with its head for him to head deeper into the lake.


    Joe hesitated before he took another step, but when he noticed that nothing happened, he quickened his steps and hurried to leave the mystifying lake which looked more like a damned place to him.


    The snake sighed at Joe''s unchanging cowardice before it gazed at the floating mountain high in the colorful sky.


    ''Soon...''


    *****


    Immediately after stepping onto the lake, Arlo was pulled into a strange world.


    He found himself in a small town. Within this town was a family of three, Arthur, Rita, and their only son, him.


    What was even more strange was that there was no cultivation in this world, and everybody was equal, as humans.


    Slowly but surely, Arlo integrated into this life after a few days. His yearning for his parents made him forget the strangeness of the situation.


    He had never been so happy before. Now that he knew the value of what he lost, he unconsciously treasured it more. His relationship with Arthur became closer, and unlike before, he confided more in him than his mother.


    It was a bright day.


    The town was bustling with people moving along with their daily lives.


    "You didn''t need to follow me." Rita''s smile seemed to light up the entire street. Occasionally, people would glance at her as they wondered how a human could be so unnaturally beautiful.


    Rita seemed to already be used to this situation, but Arlo wasn''t. Back in the village, no one looked at his mother in such a manner. In fact, her beautiful appearance didn''t raise any attention. Not to mention that there were several other beauties present that could hold a candle to her, Rita also didn''t leave the house without a veil covering her face. But that didn''t seem to be the case here. Arlo suppressed the raging emotions welling within him, and smiled as brilliantly as possible, "I want to be with you, mum."


    He was no different from any other 8-year-old boy at this moment.


    A clear look of joy appeared on Rita''s face as she heard her child wanted to spend more time with her.


    The two entered the market and got several provisions they needed. They arrived before a stall selling different varieties of fruits. Arlo accompanied his mum in choosing the fruits from the stands.


    "You have a good eye." The old man who owned the stall couldn''t help but praise Arlo as he saw him always choose the best fruits in the freshest condition.


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    Arlo smiled while Rita giggled happily. Soon they started discussing on the price of their purchase when a voice interrupted them:


    "It is good to see you again Rita."


    Rita shook visibly, her smile wiped off her face as she quickly hid Arlo behind her.


    "Zeke," she called out.


    The middle-aged man escorted by two guards looked at Rita''s figure with a look of appreciation, and not an ounce of obscene light in his eyes as he spoke:


    "Rita, I haven''t been with any woman even till now. Why don''t you come with me? You will live a comfortable life by my side and you could even bring your child. You know what, you can even bring that useless husband of yours..."


    "Zeke!" Rita cut his words off, her voice was stern and there was a touch of cold on her face.


    "I am a married woman. Please, leave me alone."


    Before Zeke could reply, one of the guards beside him shouted:


    "Insolence! How dare you talk to the son of the city lord in such a manner? You are just a bitch that refuses to whore herself. Don''t take yourself to be anything special."


    Zeke raised his hand, stopping the guard from continuing with his insult.


    "I apologize!" Zeke bowed his head with a sincere look on his face, causing the guards to flinch.


    "But, my lord, there is no reason for you to act like this?"


    "Enough!" he shouted, cutting them short once again. Seeing the angry look on Rita''s beautiful face, Zeke decided to redraw for the day.


    "I hope to see you again." He said, before walking away with his guards. The three of them didn''t notice the cold light flashing within the eyes of the eight-year-old golden-haired boy hidden behind Rita''s back.


    Immediately, when they crossed the street, one of the guards couldn''t hold it anymore and spoke out:


    "My lord, you have been chasing that bitch for nine years now. Yet, she married that useless carpenter, humiliating you and dragging the name of the city lord to the ground. If you want, you could have her by force."


    Rita''s enchanting figure hugged by the black dress flashed within Zeke''s eyes, and a feeling of lust couldn''t help but flash within his eyes. But he quickly suppressed it, and spoke with a wry smile:


    "Such a goddess should be won and not forced."


    The guards were unconvinced but seeing that their words fell on deaf ears, they decided to let the issue off, not knowing the true thoughts going through their lord''s mind.


    ''Such a woman should be pressed under me willingly. Only then can I enjoy her to the fullest.''


    That night, when Arthur returned, Arlo recounted the events in the market to him, causing Arthur to fuel up in anger and leave the house. He ignored Rita''s shout and plea for him to remain, and went deep into the city, to the city lord''s mansion.


    Three hours later, three guards approached the single-floor building in which Arlo''s family lived.


    Rita who had been outside the house anxiously awaiting her husband, burst into tears when she saw the state of Arthur.


    Arthur was covered in blood and his legs dragged on the ground as he was raised by the arms. It was clear that his legs were broken.


    "Ar-Arthur..." Rita cried as she ran toward him, only to be slapped flying by one of the guards.


    A trickle of blood fell down the side of her mouth, but Zeke''s low yet cold voice pulled her out of her reverie.


    "I chased after you for almost ten years. Ten good years!" his low voice became louder the more he spoke, "But you ignored me all this time and shamed not only me but my entire family. ''The son of the city lord was rejected for a mere carpenter'', the people gossiped about for years, yet I swallowed my pride and continued to run after you all in the hope that you would acknowledge my love one day."


    Zeke lowered his head, hiding his expression from everyone on the scene, including the neighbors that had heard the ruckus, and decided to check what was happening.


    The words spoken by his father, the city lord earlier during the night kept ringing in his head, "You are an embarrassment! A disgrace! You are almost 30 years old, yet you haven''t married. The rumor is that you have never even laid with a woman. Yet you keep chasing after a girl who has rejected you countless times and has moved on with her life. Now, even a carpenter has the guts to come shout at me in my own house? You have made me lose face within this city!"


    After a brief but seemingly long silence, Zeke spoke in a low voice that almost sounded like a whisper:


    "Why?"


    However, the response he received caused something to snap within his head.


    "My husband... please, release my husband."


    "I see..." Zeke spoke before he walked towards the fallen Rita and grabbed her roughly by the hair. The completely different eyes Rita saw caused a chill to run down her spine.


    "It is my fault for making you think you were so special. In this world, what matters is power and not beauty...* As he spoke, he removed his clothes and started pulling down his trousers, causing Rita to go pale.


    "Wh-what are you doing?"


    "Do you really think I love you?" Zeke snickered as he enjoyed Rita''s fear-filled face, "Since you wouldn''t allow me to enjoy you, I will do it in front of the public''s eye and make sure that you are nothing but a bitch. Besides, I can also tackle the rumor of me not having laid with a woman by showing off my skills. Isn''t that nice? Killing two birds with one stone?"


    Zeke appeared in his birthday suit. Realizing what he wanted to do, Rita cried out for help from the people who had come to watch what was going on. Among them was the old man who always sold her fruits.


    However, after seeing the guards that surrounded the scene with a menacing look on their faces, the townsmen who wanted to speak swallowed their words.


    What put Rita in even more despair was that she saw the look of expectation on some of the town men''s faces and the gloating look of the women who always gazed at her with envy.


    "Shaaaa!"


    The side of her dress was torn.


    "No!" Rita shouted in tears as she looked at Arthur for help. But Arthur was already unconscious after being subjected to brutal torture by the hand of the city lord himself.


    "Shaaaaa!" Another side of her dress was torn, revealing her pale yet mesmerizing skin for all to see.


    Rita closed her eyes and relented to her fate. She decided to commit suicide only for her body to flinch as she remembered somebody she shouldn''t have forgotten in this situation.


    She opened her eyes, ignored Zeke''s lustful eyes, and looked to the front of their house.


    "Arlo?" Her eyes widened as she saw Arlo look at the situation unfolding in front of him with no apparent emotion in his eyes. But Arlo''s next words sent her into a state of confusion, temporarily making her forget about the man who was about to defile her.


    "I almost forgot this world isn''t real. There is no way my dad and mom could be this weak. But still..." Arlo smiled at his tearful but currently stunned mother.


    "Sleep! This is all a dream."


    That was all she heard clearly as she slowly drifted into sleep. But she barely made out Arlo''s faraway figure that had instantly flashed before her, and the painful cry of Zeke that followed soon after before she lost consciousness.


    *****


    In the secret realm.


    "Is he alright?" Arianne spoke anxiously.


    It had already been more than half a day since they started the trial. The others had already appeared on the other side of the lake, yet Arlo didn''t seem to have even taken one step.


    Rose who was the only one who could see into the mist with her eyes and watch Arlo''s still figure spoke, "We can only wait."


    It was fortunate no one could witness the massacre that was currently unfolding in Arlo''s trial.

 CHAPTER 143: CRAZY ARLO II

    "Ah! No!."


    "Help me!"


    There was a commotion in the town as a golden-haired figure walked with slow and steady steps even as he dragged an unconscious Zeke, with three spinning orbs revolving around him.


    While he could not extend his attacks like a mage, the orbs were still able to blow every person in his immediate surroundings into smithereens.


    Blood dyed his surroundings but Arlo''s eyes didn''t flinch for an instant. His eyes remained indifferent to the cries and pleas of his victims as he made his way to the City Lord''s mansion leaving behind a trail of corpses and destruction.


    Less than thirty minutes later, Arlo arrived at the grandest mansion in the city. The guards who were already aware of the situation but had still remained back to guard the city lord probably from his orders, charged at him.


    Arlo felt a sudden reaction from the slime seal on his arm, and while he could block it, he still decided not to.


    Anita appeared with a burst of blue light.


    "You don''t have to do this." Arlo''s calm expression broke for the first time.


    "I will always follow you!" Anita''s cute voice contained the utmost resolve and Arlo could feel her determination from their connection together.


    The lunging guards suddenly came to a stop as branches sprouted from the ground and bound them in place. What followed was a stream of flame covering a wide range, and before long the painful cries of the guards echoed in the area.


    Arlo paused for a moment and took in the burning figures before him.


    He soon got tired of waiting and walked past them as he dragged Zeke who had surprisingly still not awoken from his unconscious state.


    It was apparent from his broken fingers and limbs that he had been subjected to brutal torture.


    Arlo entered the grand hall of the mansion.


    "Who-who are you?" stammered the white-haired old man who resembled the unconscious Zeke.


    Arlo ignored him and looked at the two guards protecting him behind them.


    As if hearing his thoughts, Anita who was resting on his head spoke:


    "Dark arrows!"


    Two arrows made of darkness materialized before Arlo and before the figures present in the room could even blink, they appeared before the two guards and burrowed through their helmets out of their brains.


    *Thud!* Two lifeless figures fell to the ground.


    "Ahh...ah...ahhhhhhh!" The old man fell on his rear as he shook from fear, "Please, don''t kill me! Anything! I will give you anything you want!"


    Arlo didn''t look like a child in the eyes of the current City Lord instead he appeared as the grim reaper himself present in the flesh.


    Arlo remained impassive to the continuous offer from the City lord and instead closed the distance between them as he dragged Zeke behind him. Only then did the city lord recognize his son.


    "...Zeke?"


    Seeing his Son''s abnormal state, the City Lord wet himself. He almost couldn''t recognize his own blood. That was how bad Zeke''s condition was.


    "Anything...money, I will give you all my money. I promise, no, I swear on my ancestors."


    A trace of disgust finally flashed on Arlo''s face, and before the City Lord could speak another word, he appeared before him with Zeke in tow.


    Grabbing the old man by the neck, Arlo lifted him from the ground, creating an unusual sight.


    However, the only ones present to witness it were the unconscious Zeke and the dead guards.


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    He placed the City lord''s hand on a table and commanded Anita, "Bind him!"


    Anita did as instructed, as thick vines appeared to bind the city lord in place.


    Seeing this, Arlo raised his leg above the elbow of the City Lord, whose face grew increasingly pale with each of his movements.


    "Please, I beg you..."


    Ignoring him, Arlo hurled his foot down, causing a spine-chilling crack to echo within the room.


    "AHHHHHHH!"


    The City lord released a heart-wrenching cry as his arm bent down at an unnatural angle. The fact that he couldn''t even move an inch added more to his inner turmoil.


    Uncaringly, Arlo took his arm aside and seized the other arm before placing it on the table. With a similar movement, he raised his leg causing the crying city lord to abruptly quiet down.


    He looked at little Arlo with pleading eyes, his appearance a far cry from the him of a few minutes ago.


    Arlo merely spared him a glance, before smashing his leg down once again.


    "AHHHH!"


    The City lord screamed with a hoarse voice before his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He couldn''t bear the pain anymore.


    "Just in time..." Arlo smiled as he shifted his eyes to the unconscious Zeke, whose still body flinched upon hearing his voice.


    It seemed he had been awoken from his father''s screams. And that was quite an admirable feat, as even the painful cries of the burning guards didn''t wake him.


    Arlo threw the fainted City lord to the side before walking to the unconscious Zeke.


    Seeing that he couldn''t act any longer, Zeke opened his eyes as he planned to beg for mercy once again, but every word about to leave his mouth was swallowed down his throat when he saw Arlo''s innocent smile.


    "Shall we continue?"


    "...!"


    .......


    After an hour, Arlo left the City Lord''s mansion with a clear face.


    "About time..." he whispered as the world faded around him.


    "I must have failed the test." He didn''t know the criteria for passing the mental trial but even a fool would realize that he had failed horribly.


    He couldn''t even figure out the aim of the test and merely spent the time he had missed with his parents.


    "But they were not real..." Arlo''s voice drifted across the disappearing world, and a moment later, a strong pull tugged at him.


    .....


    "How long are we going to keep waiting?" Ella grumbled as they stood at the shore of the lake.


    No one replied as they had already lost count of the number of times she had asked the same question.


    "You can go if you want. I will wait for him." Tina who finally regained a high portion of her strength finally spoke. She and Miller had been quiet as they felt uncomfortable in the group. After all, Arlo was the only connection tying them together. Not to mention that Arianne, Ella, and Joe were not humans. And since they were too spent, they couldn''t contribute much to killing the ant queen. But now, she believed she could help in any situation they faced from henceforth. After all, she was considerably strong.


    In fact, aside from Joe who wasn''t even tried in the first place, and Arianne who barely spent a minute in the trial due to her strong mental mind, Tina was the first to move across the lake to the second zone.


    Arianne smiled toward her, causing Ella to harrumph. A light of jealousy flickered within her slightly drooping eyes. Ever since finding out that Tina and Miller were from Arlo''s home world and even grew with him, Arianne and Joe had been trying to get close to them. But that didn''t work well as the duo kept keeping their distance. Even though they understood that Arianne and Joe saved their lives, they still found it hard to be around supernatural creatures like them. And they couldn''t be blamed as they grew up in a small village with no experience with the outside world.


    "He is here!" Rose who was gazing intently into the misty lake suddenly spoke.


    As if mirroring her words, a figure walked out of the misty lake with a dumbfounded expression on his face.


    Before Arianne, Joe, Tina, and Miller could greet him, Ella who was clearly disgruntled spoke in a questioning tone:


    "What took you so long? Don''t tell me you are weak in mind?"


    While she couldn''t feel an ounce of mana from him, Ella was clear on Arlo''s physical and battle prowess. But now that she could jab at him, she wouldn''t hesitate to. She herself wasn''t aware that Arlo was changing her. She usually found everything boring and was too lazy to care about things. But now, the sleepy look on her face was slowly fading away.


    Arlo who had been thinking deeply about why he had passed the trial came to, upon hearing her question. With a light smile on his face, he apologized:


    "Sorry. I must have kept you waiting for a while." As he said so, he finally walked out of the lake.


    *Rumble!*


    The second zone shook greatly. A few minutes passed during which the barrier preventing entry into the third zone disappeared. The mist receded and the major figures present at the outskirts could finally see the new zone in all its glory.


    Back to the shore of the lake separating the first and second zone.


    Arlo smiled wryly as the piercing gazes of his group tore into him. He could almost visualize the question marks on their heads. But what displeased him was he himself didn''t understand what was happening.


    First, it was the mind trial...


    Now, this was also happening.


    While the group was lost in each of their thoughts, a familiar voice suddenly resounded in Arlo''s mind.


    ''Help me...please..be faster...''


    The emotions within the sweet mesmerizing voice tugged at Arlo''s calm heart.


    Before Arlo could digest what happened, another change occurred.


    For the first time since entering the secret realm, the pitch-black snake uncoiled itself from around Joe''s neck before turning into a flash of light that flew into the sky.


    Before long, a snake-like image several thousand meters long suddenly enveloped it. The massive snake image roared at the sky, stunning Arlo and the others. Only Rose whose eyes were spinning had a different reaction, as her face grew pale.


    She wanted to shout, alas, she was a tad slower.


    The roaring snake suddenly plunged from the sky before swallowing Arlo''s group.

 CHAPTER 144: LAW OF MASSACRE

    After entering the third and final danger zone of the secret realm, the speed of many figures noticeably slowed. Unlike the previous zones, the third region was dominated by beasts in the grand master realm.


    And among these terrifying beasts, the Torkuns are considered the strongest.


    As the map shrunk further, many of the figures moving in groups started encountering each other.


    A few clash occurred here and there, but after the appearance of the horrifying beasts, they had to shift their focus to surviving their onslaught.


    It was in this zone that the death rate of the students skyrocketed.


    The number of figures who entered the secret realm barely reached three hundred. Yet less than five minutes after the third zone opened, a third of them perished. That was just how dangerous the zone was. The beasts weren''t the only dangers to watch out for. Even a few of the plants and trees had developed consciousness and were strong enough to take the lives of the younglings who were already prepared for them.


    Even in this perilous situation, a few among the invaders still shone brilliantly.


    A deep red aura wrapped around a boy as he swung his sword, and slaughtered the beasts around him. The boy''s shoulder-length Auburn hair waved from the shockwaves generated from each of his swings. This figure was Steven, Mr Martin''s son and the senior of Tina and Miller.


    Unlike the others who charged directly to the inner regions of the secret realm, Steven took his time to kill beasts that were far weaker than him in cultivation. He was one of the few who had an affinity for an abstruse law just like his father.


    And even among abstruse laws, his innate law, the law of massacre was special. This law granted the user the title of conditional strongest. And the reason for that was the special resource he could tap into because of his law. This resource was called Killing Intent.


    Steven meticulously killed advanced-level beasts in the first zone as he gathered a lot of killing intent, causing a deep red aura to surround his body. Unlike other mages who could cause a wide range of attacks, Steven was only able to use Killing intent to directly boost his physical stats to untold heights and to launch attacks similar to soul types. Even with the many outcomings, the law of massacre was an immensely powerful law almost equal to or even greater than supreme laws, as there was no limit to the amount of killing intent the user could accumulate.


    It wasn''t until after almost two days that Steven entered the third zone. Even then, he quickly closed the gap to the other formidable presences as his rate of killing was simply unrivaled.


    Beasts in the grandmaster realm launched at him from all directions, yet he remained unfazed in their encirclement.


    He gripped his sword tighter, and with narrowed eyes, released his killing intent. The lunging beasts came to a stop as their bodies uncontrollably froze while the few more formidable ones merely flinched for a moment.


    But that was enough!


    Steven''s hair flew as the pressure around him increased. His muscles tightened before he swung his sword in a circle around him.


    *Boooom!"


    The shockwave generated from his mere swing sent the beasts around him flying and outrooting the tall, strong trees before carrying them away.


    A clearing with a diameter of fifty meters appeared in the jungle.


    With a mere swing!


    This was a physical prowess way beyond any normal mage could display and was in the range of formidable warriors. This was why abstruse laws were special. They were simply incomprehensible and could even break the norm.


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    After removing the Beast''s cores from the corpses, Steven whose red aura had been amplified many times moved deeper into the third zone.


    *****


    After entering the third zone, Landon the leader of the vampire group found it harder to head deeper.


    Aside from him, only two other vampires had broken into the grandmaster realm. And while they were all geniuses who could jump multiple levels to fight, that system only applied to when they were outside.


    In here, the beasts were almost as twice as those of the same cultivation outside, so the vampires who were still in master realms could not directly face them. This caused their speed to visibly slow.


    "Bastards!" Landon cursed as he glared deep into the jungle. They had encountered the werewolves once again after entering the third zone but unlike them, the werewolves could form a pack of five which allowed them to share their strength. The Alphas who were the leaders of the packs could share their strengths with the Betas who were their followers. This allowed even the weak ones to overcome their shortcomings and display strength way above their normal cultivation. Of course, there were restrictions. A werewolf could only ever be in a pack in all his life, otherwise they would become outcasts. So before a werewolf forms or enter a pack, they had to be absolutely sure that it was the right choice.


    With their superior strength as a group, the werewolves barely slowed down when they entered the third zone. Soon they left the struggling vampires in the dust.


    "We can''t bear it any longer!" shouted a vampire, before the fist of a Torkun rammed him into the ground. He coughed a mouthful of blood before quickly turning into a swarm of bats to escape the Torkun''s onslaught.


    "Landon!" the second strongest third year who was a female called out to him in an anxious voice. She alone was singlehandedly facing three Torkuns of the same cultivation realm. Yet she could still barely hold up.


    Landon struggled to decide as he exchanged blows with eight Torkuns. His hands turned into a monster''s, and every time he crashed with the Torkuns, they were sent flying before standing up and lunging at him once again. He was a supreme-level genius and had believed he could bring even the weaker ones into the third zone. He couldn''t bear looking bad compared to the werewolves but now he couldn''t help but think it through once again.


    After a while, he made his decision.


    ''I will not smear the title of the vampires as the strongest!''


    "World of darkness!" A huge dark sphere suddenly appeared on the battlefield as Landon and the Torkuns he faced off with, along with five others were enveloped in thick darkness.


    The Torkuns swung their limbs around and attacked randomly as their senses were cut off.


    Landon''s eyes shone ruby red within the dark world, his fangs grew longer and dark veins appeared directly beneath his eyes.


    With a bang, his body kicked off from the ground before seeming to merge with the disturbing darkness.


    In a mere second, he appeared before a Torkun before ripping its heart out from its back. With a whoosh, he bit down on the still-beating heart as the Torkun slumped down.


    He could feel the energy he had consumed to release such a large-scale attack actively recover.


    His eyes glowed brighter as blood dripped from the sides of his mouth. His eyes which could even peer into the thick darkness studied his preys, and with a last bite, he finished the large heart.


    With his bloodied mouth flashing a satisfied grin, Landon released a roar causing a spiritual wave to spread around him. The Torkuns who were already rendered helpless went completely still as they lost their consciousness. With a whoosh, his body turned into a dark flash, marking the start of a slaughter.


    Outside the dark sphere, the vampires started overwhelming the Torkuns after much of the pressure had been reduced on them.


    Together with the two remaining grandmaster realm vampires, they were able to kill off seven Torkuns.


    As the last Torkun fell dead to the ground, the world of darkness fell apart, and a bloodied Landon biting into the neck of a Torkun was revealed to the outside.


    The other vampires quickly followed after him and bore into the still-warm corpses around them.


    Gulping sounds resounded constantly in the area. A minute later, Landon finally let go of the neck, causing the body to fall to the ground. Ignoring his mates who were still feeding, he looked at a branch a few meters away before opening his mouth:


    "How long will you continue to hide?"


    He only received silence as his response but he didn''t withdraw his gaze.


    Soon after, the light around the branch seemed to distort before a beautiful voice resounded.


    "Indeed, we can''t escape the divine sense of a vampire!"


    Four figures with otherworldly appearances appeared before Landon''s eyes. Their most distinct characteristic would be their pointed ears but Landon ignored them altogether and instead gazed at the ball of light floating beside the male elf who had spoken.


    Squinting his eyes, Landon realized that within the ball of light was a tiny figure who somewhat resembled the elves. It was almost comparable to a fairy but Landon knew it wasn''t. After all, he was familiar with what made the elves one of the most terrifying races along with the vampires.


    "Nature''s spirit...the elementals."

 Chapter 145: CLASH BETWEEN GENIUSES I

    Two groups from apex races faced off against each other.


    The members of both groups exuded otherworldly beauty however their charm was different.


    The vampires exuded a presence that drew one in with an almost magnetic allure while the Elves''s presence was suffused with an ethereal charm that captivated all who beheld them. Their features were finely sculpted, with delicate lines and flawless symmetry that seemed crafted by the hand of nature itself.


    While the elves wore a calm expression, they still released a confident aura about them. In contrast to them, the vampires appeared anxious.


    They had the numerical advantage, but the truth was far from how it appeared. First of all, the overall powerhouse of the vampires fell one short of the elves. While the vampires only had three grandmaster mages, all members of the elves had already broken through the realm. That was just how the current affairs of the world were. The vampires were relatively new compared to other races like werewolves, elves, and Asuras.


    Still, a short time after their emergence, they made their way all to the top. That showed the immense potential of the vampire race. Of course, the main reason was because of Scarlett''s existence.


    Secondly, while they had recovered a bit of their energy from feeding, they were still a far cry from their optimum state.


    "What do you want?" Landon questioned.


    "What do you think?" the same male Elf replied with a smile.


    Landon''s brows furrowed.


    He knew the elves were unreconciled because vampires were placed on the same pedestal as them, but he didn''t expect them to directly target them in the secret realm. The thought never crossed their minds as they never imagined the elves to be so petty.


    As if reading his thoughts, another of the elves spoke in a pleasant voice:


    "We just want to see what makes you so great. There is no meaning behind this. We mean no harm."


    Landon quickly shifted his eyes to the only girl among the group. He noticed the way the other elves subconsciously moved back when she came forward.


    "And you are?" Landon questioned.


    The elf girl flashed a beautiful smile that would have charmed any normal male.


    "I am the 52nd princess of the Elven Royal Family. You can call me Princess Eleanor."


    The eyes of Landon and the other vampires widened from surprise. They couldn''t believe they would meet a princess of the distinguished Elven royal family in the secret realm but after remembering Arianne was also in the secret realm, they came to accept the situation.


    Eleanor was visibly shocked when she saw the vampire''s expression return to normal in a heartbeat. The Elves behind her became disgruntled when the vampires didn''t show the appropriate respect one would display to the royal members of the elves.


    However, Eleanor soon smiled and didn''t seem disturbed by the vampire''s action.


    Landon thought deeply and soon a look of hesitation appeared on his face. However, the hesitation soon gave way to resolution.


    "I have a request." he squeezed out through greeted teeth.


    "Oh!" Eleanor raised a brow and showed a look of interest, "Go on!"


    "Allow my juniors to return to the second zone. We three will be enough to satisfy your curiosity."


    Both groups reacted intensely to Landon''s words.


    "Landon!"


    "No, we can still continue." The vampires tried to persuade Landon but they were soon cut off by the second strongest vampire.


    "Enough! Can''t you see that you are more of a burden than assistance?"


    The vampires quietened down, and upon seeing Landon''s slightly slouched back, reality finally hit them. Some of them bit their lips in frustration while others lowered their heads in shame.


    On the other hand, the Elves wore disdainful expressions. Their view of the vampires completely changed. They were young elves and had only heard rumors about the famous vampires, but now they realized that the rumors were exaggerated. They only amounted to nothing. However, they were soon pulled back by their princess''s next words.


    "I understand. And for the record, I admire your courage." A completely different smile appeared on Eleanor''s face. Landon could feel the trace of respect now in her eyes as she gazed at him.


    He scoffed to cover up the unknown emotions welling up within him and spoke to his group.


    "Go!"


    There was a brief moment of silence, and without any words, the remaining four vampires left.


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    ''They should be fine.'' Landon thought. As long as the vampires returned through the path they made, they shouldn''t encounter any dangerous beasts.


    "Now..." Landon came back to reality upon hearing Eleanor''s beautiful voice.


    "We won''t bully you. Since you are three, you will face off against my group and I won''t whatsoever intervene. The group that incapacitates the other group wins!"


    The Elves didn''t show any dissatisfaction with her words causing Landon to nod in agreement. He inwardly felt relieved as he didn''t want to go against a royal elf. He already knew how terrifying they were. In the universe, the Elves were one of the few races that could keep the Asura race in check.


    With that said, Eleanor leaped back to the branch they were occupying before, while both groups faced each other in the huge clearing created by the vampire''s earlier fight.


    "I alone am enough!" The male elf who had exchanged words with them came forward.


    Landon harrumphed in displeasure. He feared confronting Eleanor but he wasn''t afraid of the others in the least. However, a moment later, his expression changed greatly.


    Starting with a spark on the palm of the male elf, a blazing fire soon engulfed the area in a domain, taking the vampires by surprise. The trees outside the clearing were soon set aflame and it seemed that the fire would soon spread, but surprisingly it came to a stop as if blocked by an invisible force.


    The other three male elves who were prepared, protected themselves in their own ways, while Eleanor remained unscathed as a red barrier surrounded her. A new figure sat on her right shoulder as it crossed its legs in a dignified manner. It was clear that it was an elemental but it appeared quite different from the others. With her red-patterned wings folded elegantly behind her back, the elemental whispered in a voice that only Eleanor could hear:


    "Your mates are in for a treat." A glint flashed past Eleanor''s eyes as she gazed at the vampire''s location.


    Landon and the other two vampires remained unfazed in the blaming flame. Even their suits were unaffected by the scorching heat.


    The male elf glared at the vampires who were simultaneously regenerating at a speed faster than they were burnt. He felt a little embarrassed as he had spoken he could single-handedly handle them.


    "Eh? What a clown!" The only female among the vampires remarked when she saw the embarrassed look on the Elf''s face. The truth was that she was furious on the inside, but she just didn''t show it. After all, no one would enjoy being caught unaware.


    The male elf''s face turned ashen upon being called out.


    "Fire elemental!" he roared, losing all his semblance of grace and elegance.


    A palm-sized figure appeared beside him and immediately after, another wave of fire far hotter than the original spread around him into the distance before colliding with the invisible barrier that stopped the fire from spreading.


    Eleanor looked at her elemental and the latter nodded silently in understanding. She released her restraint on the surrounding fire causing it to spread out and cover a diameter of a hundred meters.


    Once it noticed the elemental of the male elf had reached its limit, it restrained the fire once again. A great fire burned in a section of the third zone, causing waves of smoke to rise high into the colorful sky. The cries of several beasts resounded in the area as they moved to evacuate the area.


    This was the ability of the elementals. Even as early grandmaster mages, the young elves were able to tap into the power of ''Will''. Once mages break into the red-core stage, they experience a qualitative change. Unlike before, they would be able to use their mana as a bridge to influence the surrounding mana. With this, their attacks would be able to cover a large area, causing an unimaginable degree of destruction.


    Unlike the red-core mages who could at least influence a region of one kilometer, the male elf could only affect the mana in the surrounding hundred meters. However, that itself was remarkable for a mage who had not entered the true stage of cultivation.


    Back at the clearing, Eleanor tried to peer into the blazing fire without avail. Stumped, she looked at the elemental on her shoulder for help. Before the elemental could reply, a spiritual wave spread out within the burning forest, before colliding with her barrier. With no resistance whatsoever, it passed through the barrier and impacted her. However, the earring on her right ear shone, as it negated the soul attack.


    At the same time, a mocking voice resounded in the fire domain.


    "Your resistance is futile. Kneel and beg for mercy, only then will I consider leaving you alive!"


    It was clear that the elves were also unaffected by the soul attack, as they were also in possession of soul artifacts. They knew the vampires were feared for their soul attacks, and came prepared before confronting them.


    However, three breaths had not passed after the elf''s declaration when a great change occurred.


    Starting like a spot of black ink on a red painting, darkness sprouted from the center of the clearing before devouring an area of 10m. The raging fire disappeared within this area, revealing the situation of the vampires.


    Three bloodied skeletons stood at the center of the clearing. New flesh formed around their bones as their eyes released a crimson glow. Even the suits covering the skeletons were burnt in many areas showing how terrifying the previous attack had been. It took their joint assistance before they could resolve the fire around them.


    Landon felt his pride hit, and decided not to hold back any longer. The two skeletons still regenerating behind him seemed to share the same thoughts.


    With the clacking of his still healing jaws, Landln spoke:


    "Go all out!"


    Spiritual waves spread out.


    The male elf was about to mock them for repeating the same useless attack when his words died down his throat and his face turned pale.


    From the spatial rings on the vampire''s hands, several lights flashed out.


    The female vampire released several dart-like weapons, totaling about a hundred.


    Landon unleashed many swords that numbered not less than three hundred.


    The last male vampire summoned about eighty arrows.


    The sky became covered with three types of weapons, with each weapon independently controlled by spiritual energy.


    That wasn''t all.


    The vampires who had now healed from their grievous state, released their bloodline and underwent their clan''s transformation.


    Landon''s arms didn''t appear human at all, as they bulged out with dark-like scales covering them. His fingers turned into razor-sharp claws that glistened with a sharp light.


    The other female vampire directly transformed into a swarm of bats. Each bat released a crimson glow from their eyes as they locked onto the male elf.


    The last vampire''s body seemed to be covered by a black sheen that boosted his defense to great heights.


    The male elf quickly summoned his other elementals, with a total of four appearing beside him. The other two watching Elves also intervened. They couldn''t remain idle any longer, as the waves of weapons blocking the light from the sky sent their minds into turmoil.


    However, they were a step late.


    With no signal, the hundreds of swords, darts, and arrows fell from the sky. Rather than moving autonomously and in a single direction, each weapon appeared to move in a different path, with their destination being the same.


    At the same time, Landon and the other male followed behind the weapons, while several dark beams of light released by the swarm of bats followed behind them.


    The three elves smelled the scent of death!


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 146: CLASH BETWEEN GENIUSES II

    Without any sign, the hundreds of swords, darts, and arrows fell from the sky. Rather than moving autonomously and in a single direction, each weapon appeared to move in a different path, with their destination being the same.


    At the same time, Landon and the other male followed behind the weapons, while several dark beams of light released by the swarm of bats followed behind them.


    The Elves quickly released their mana causing the essence of various colors to burst out from their bodies.


    The two elves who just joined released three different essences causing three barriers of different colors to surround them. There was a barrier made of water, fire, wind, and earth. The male elf who had been confronting Landon and his group, however, burst out with four different essences and in a split second, four barriers made from different elements surrounded him. However, that wasn''t all.


    The Elves summoned their elementals, who released more layers of defense even stronger than the ones they summoned to surround them. The male elf leading off had a total of eight barriers surrounding him while the other two, had six.


    All these things might have sounded long to explain but it all happened in less than two breaths.


    Finally, the waves of countless weapons collided with the Elves'' defenses.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Several sounds of collision echoed out simultaneously with no gap between them.


    Waves upon waves of shockwaves spread out into the surroundings.


    A huge cloud of dust rose, as it covered the area for several meters.


    Finally, after almost a minute, the sounds of the collision came to a stop and shocking silence ensued.


    However, the silence didn''t even last a minute before it was broken.


    "River of darkness!" Landon''s voice rang out as he forcefully dispelled the dust around him, causing him and his group to appear before the frightened eyes of the Elves who were bloodied and gasping for breaths. If it wasn''t for the layers of defense they quickly conjured, they would have long died after a few collisions.


    However, their current state wasn''t one to be proud of. Their dignified bearings were all lost and their beautiful faces were covered in blood.


    What made them panic was that without even a moment to catch their breaths, the vampires continued with their assaults.


    A pool of darkness rose beneath them. Several dark tendrils came out from the pool before binding them in place.


    Landon appeared before the male elf, his hand drawn back to release a punch.


    The dark beams released from the swarm of bats were also about to reach them.


    However, what truly made them fall into despair was that the countless weapons that were sprawled around the ground started vibrating as they showed signs of rising back up into the sky.


    Just when Landon''s monstrous hand was about to slam into the male elf''s head, a sigh drifted into the ears of both the colliding vampires and Elves.


    The space in front of Landon seemed to blur for a moment before a graceful figure appeared before him.


    With her hair billowing from the shock waves created by Landon''s hurling fist, Eleanor pointed her index finger and a frosty mist erupted from it.


    Landon''s hand quickly became covered in ice but the force generated from his thrown fist broke the ice into pieces. Still, the frosty mist kept colliding with his fist even as the ice broke, and not before long, Landon''s hand came to a stop as a layer of ice covered it. The ice started spreading quickly from his hand to his arm, causing Landon to quickly retreat to widen the distance between them.


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    His eyes widened in the process of retreating when he saw Eleanor raise the index finger of her other hand before a red lightning bolt appeared instantly before his head.


    With no time to react, Landon subconsciously closed his eyes as he hoped his regenerative ability would be able to save his life.


    However, even after a second, Landon didn''t feel any pain. He opened his eyes a split second later to see the other male vampire appear before him and block the attack in time, saving him from a probably deadly attack.


    Eleanor''s eyes widened when she saw the arm of the vampire she thought was nothing special heal after blocking her attack. Mind you, her lightning was nothing compared to the normal.


    She quickly shook her surprise off as the dark beams from the swarm of bats finally appeared before them.


    In response, she lightly raised her pale hand, causing an earth barrier to appear before her.


    The earth shield cracked in many places but it still held on and resisted the dark beams.


    With a wave of her hand, the stone shield collapsed before she tapped her foot lightly on the ground.


    An icy mist spread out causing the elves to shiver from the cold. At the same time, the pool of darkness and tendrils binding them completely froze before they were shattered into icy crystals by the wind blast generated by another wave of Eleanor''s hand.


    Seeing their all-out attack resolved as easily and efficiently as possible, the two vampires guiding Landon behind them gulped nervously.


    Landon''s expression turned grave, as he willed his mana causing a burst of darkness to explode from his arm, before devouring the layer of ice spreading across his body.


    He opened his mouth, allowing a small burst of frost energy to escape, as he questioned with a grave look on his face:


    "Didn''t you say you wouldn''t intervene?"


    Eleanor''s expression became conflicted from his words, as the emotions in her eyes showed she was feeling ashamed. It was the first time she went against her word, causing her pride to be greatly hit.


    Still, she couldn''t sit and watch as her companions died before her eyes.


    "Princess, you don''t need to intervene. It was all a mistake and they took us by surprise. If not..."


    "Shut up!"


    The male elf rose and tried to justify himself however, he was quickly cut short by Eleanor''s angry cry.


    "If you were not so arrogant and didn''t underestimate your opponents, you wouldn''t have been put in such a tragic state."


    The elves lowered their heads in shame from the angry rebuke of their princess.


    The vampires used this opportunity to converse with their spiritual energy.


    ''We are no match for her. We need to escape!'' Landon said.


    The only female among them refuted, ''But running with our tail behind our back...''


    Landon knew what she was trying to say, so he quickly cut her short as he was pressed for time, ''I will take responsibility. Everything that happened was all my fault. I shouldn''t have been so eye-blinded as to bring the others into the third zone.''


    ''Landon...'' The vampires felt their hearts clench as they felt the guilt in Landon''s words. However, before they could express their feelings, Eleanor''s words drifted into the group''s ears causing them to blank out.


    "We will take our leave now as per the agreement. This confrontation is our loss!"


    She waited for them to reply but even after several breaths, she received no response from the other party who looked at her with blank expressions.


    Just when she started questioning if there was something on her face, Landon finally opened his mouth:


    "...what do you mean..."


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*


    The rest of his words were swallowed up by the deafening explosion.


    A huge shockwave blasted out from deep within the third zone, and not before long, it arrived before the vampires and elves, causing them to raise their hands to block their faces.


    Their hair flapped within the violent wind and the fire that was still being restrained by the invisible force was quickly snuffed out.


    Only then did the shockwave slowly die down.


    The group raised their heads to see the destruction left around them when suddenly, their eyes widened.


    From deep within the forest, two large moons slowly rose into the sky. The resplendent moonlight released was gentle and soothing and soon after the piercing howl of several wolves drifted across the entire third zone.


    The group could feel the power residing within the howls and they couldn''t help but unconsciously question if they could contend against such figures.


    However, before their thoughts could even finish forming, another resounding boom, not weaker than the previous one, rang out within the third zone once again.


    But this time, there was a difference.


    Two blasts of wind in the form of a beam, generated from pure force rose high into the sky before swallowing the two moons.


    The piercing howls of the wolves stopped abruptly as another round of shockwaves spread out for several kilometers across the third zone.


    Eleanor''s expression along with the others changed greatly when they realized the cause of such brute destruction.


    "The Asuras!"


    .....


    At the same time that various geniuses clashed within the third zone, and several groups were being decimated by terrifying beasts, a great commotion rang out within the second zone.


    A huge serpentine image about fifty meters long streaked across the zone as it swallowed any beasts that dared to obstruct its path.


    If one gazes carefully at its body, one would notice the presence of small eight figures resting comfortably within it as they conversed peacefully almost as if they were oblivious to the amount of destruction occurring around them.


    *****


    AN: HAPPY VALENTINE TO YOU ALL! Thank you for following the novel so far. Love you guys and enjoy your day!

 CHAPTER 147: THE GREAT POWER OF THE ASURA RACE

    A few minutes before the vampires clashed with the elves.


    A group of ten werewolves ran across the jungle as they swerved around trees and other obstacles in their path.


    After a few minutes, they encountered several humans and beings from other races. What they all shared in common was the brutal state in which their corpses were present.


    "This was not done by a beast."


    One of the werewolves commented.


    "Hmmm...." the leading werewolf, Brandon, agreed silently. He was standing at 8m high and he was cloaked in a regal mantle of deep purple fur that commanded attention.


    He thought deeply momentarily as his purplish eyes studied the corpses around him.


    ''There is a high chance the culprit responsible is ahead.'' He had already lost count of the number of corpses they had seen so far.


    And from the wounds inflicted, he could somewhat guess the identity of the culprit.


    ''Let''s move around them.'' While the third zone was smaller than the previous ones, it still spanned a diameter of about one hundred thousand meters.


    While they were in a haste to arrive at the lake separating the third zone from the treasure as they had no idea when the barrier would be released, he didn''t want to put his team in a dangerous situation.


    After making up his mind, the leader was about to speak when the cry of a bird entered his ears.


    A silver eagle circled above them as it studied them with its eyes. After releasing a cry, it swooped down and flapped its wings causing several wind blades to fall from the sky.


    Harrumphing, the eye of Brandon flashed with a purple light before a bolt of lightning fell from the sky without any sign.


    The bright purple lightning as thick as a grown man''s thigh landed on the eagle in a flash causing its attack to be dispelled.


    The bird struggled in the air as blood covered its feathers and lightning crackled across its body.


    However, before it reached a thousand meters above the ground, it regained its flight.


    Another of the werewolves was about to move when an arrogant voice drifted into the group''s ears.


    "Since you dared to attack my summon, I must repay the favor in full."


    The voice had not even ended when a resounding boom rocked their ears and their massive bodies were sent flying in different directions.


    The surrounding hundred meters became cleared of any form of vegetation as the shockwaves continued to spread out for several more tens of meters.


    A red-skinned boy covered in only black pants redrew his outstretched fist. He stood bare-chested, his torso revealing a sculpted physique that speaks of countless hours spent honing his body. His chest was adorned with a network of sinewy muscles, each ripple and contour a testament to his physical prowess.


    Brandon shook his head to shake off his disoriented state, and when he came to, a feeling of anger welled up inside him.


    While none of his team members was killed in the surprise attack, the majority of the group was covered in varying wounds. Some were light while a few appeared grave.


    Brandon glared at the culprit and when he saw the dismissive and arrogant smile dancing on his lips, his eyes couldn''t help but become red. He was almost overcome by his anger. But in the end, he was a leader and was fully aware he couldn''t act impulsively.


    ''In the end, my suspicion came true."


    He shifted his eyes to the other girl with red skin covered in a scanty dress. The dress barely covered her most important regions and exposed the majority of her skin. Her body oozed a seductive charm that unfailingly captivated the eyes of those around her, however her flat chest dampened the feeling. As if making up for the lacking bust, her teenage buttocks were very perky and her waist curved at such a captivating angle that left one salivating.


    "The werewolves don''t seem to be anything special." the red-haired boy spoke deprecatingly as the eagle landed on his small but packed shoulders.


    Brandon was pulled out of his lustful thoughts and he couldn''t help but feel ashamed. But when his brain registered the Asura''s mocking words, his embarrassment disappeared faster than it appeared as his head spun.


    "We are ten while they are only two.''


    ''And judging from the way the girl appears, it seems she has no intention of intervening... at least for now.'' he looked at the girl standing at a distance, with her arms crossed together and an indifferent look on her face.


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    He knew the Asuras practiced matriarchal leadership and that their women were overbearingly arrogant. Though, they had the strength to back it up.


    The werewolves finally started rising to their feet around thirty breaths after the attack.


    "Oh!" the boy exclaimed as he caressed the head of the silver eagle, "You don''t seem half-bad!" he remarked sincerely as he saw the werewolves heal at a commendable speed. Still, it couldn''t compare with the regeneration of vampires or Ki cultivators.


    He saw the werewolves regroup but he didn''t take any action to stop them. Instead, he watched them with interest, as if saying they could come with all they have.


    With no hesitation, Brandon who was planning to invoke their pack''s power discarded that thought when he saw the Asura''s careless behavior. He didn''t want to miss this opportunity so he commanded his entire team to charge at him.


    ''No matter how powerful the Asura''s bloodline is, I refuse to believe he can singlehandedly hold off against us."


    Purple lightning danced around the wolves'' fur as their bodies turned into a purple flash that streaked on top of the ground.


    "HAHA!! The Asura boy laughed out boisterously as he appeared dauntless to the werewolves'' charge, "Do you think numbers matter against me?"


    As his words ended, he clenched his right hand into a fist and after mustering all his strength, he punched the ground.


    *Booooooooooooooom!*


    The ground fifty meters around him caved in, forming a deep crater about ten meters deep. A cloud of dust spread out blocking the visions of the charging werewolves who stumbled after momentarily losing their footholds.


    As they tried to regain their bearing, the arrogant laughter of the Asura boy rang in the cloud of dust. While the werewolves had their vision obstructed, the Asura boy invoked one of the two powers he inherited from his summon that had flown back into the sky.


    His eyes suddenly took the same shade as his summon, as he shared its vision. He opened his eyes once more and gazed back into the thick cloud of dust that didn''t seem would dissipate any time soon.


    He locked onto the flustered werewolves and felt a rush of excitement coursing through his veins. He enjoyed that feeling of hunting his prey.


    A wind current suddenly gathered around his right hand as he used the second ability from his silver eagle.


    Clenching his hand into a fist once again, he punched out in a direction.


    *Boooooooooom!*


    His immense physical force together with the wind current raging around his hand, formed a wind storm that acted like a dragon''s breath as it moved towards its target. The dust around the breath-like wind storm was pushed aside as a huge vortex-like opening was formed connecting him and one of the werewolves. Before the werewolf could react, the windstorm swallowed him as his painful cry resounded from within.


    In less than five breaths, his cry died down as his body was wiped off from existence.


    The storm continued for almost a kilometer, raving everything across its path without any exception.


    *Awooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!* Brandon who had been feeling anxious about his team mates released a heartbreaking howl as he felt his connection with one of the members of his pack cut off.


    "Form a pack link!" he roared out.


    The other eight werewolves who could feel the anguish within his voice, acted without any hesitation in the now-dissipating dust.


    Brandon and another werewolf started transforming as their limbs twisted and their muscles changed into a more humane form.


    Now standing on two feet with their arms extended into sharp claws, Brandon and the other Alpha raised their heads and released a piercing howl.


    *Awoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!*


    *Awoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!*


    Two moons rose from behind them into the sky as they illuminated the surroundings. The other werewolves felt a change within themselves. While they remained in their original transformation, they could feel the strength flowing through their connection with their Alphas coursing through their veins.


    Due to the connection, they also shared their Alpha''s emotions so they also raised their heads and released a howl to release the pain stabbing through their hearts.


    The wolves were still howling when two windstorms comparable to a dragon''s breaths raged across the sky before swallowing the two moons.


    The piercing howls were cut short as the werewolves vomited blood. Their transformation was forcefully undone and they fell weakly to the ground. At the same time, the cloud of dust dissipated completely, revealing their previous state and the now transformed Asura boy standing a short distance away from them.


    Unlike before, he now had a red gauntlet with intricate patterns on his hands. But his most noticeable change was the visible blood-red aura surrounding him, causing his matching hair to fly behind him.


    Raising his head stiffly, Brandon whispered as the grinning image of the Asura boy clouded his vision:


    "Frenzy!"


    Frenzy- the most powerful ability of the Asura race granted to them by their special bloodline along with an affinity to gravity laws. Unlike what could be deduced from the name, the Asura could still retain their mind in their frenzied state. But that wasn''t what made it the most fearsome ability in the whole universe.


    It was the fact that Frenzy granted the Asura an unlimited boost in strength and the only restriction was that the boost depended on how angry they become.


    That was why there was a generally agreed saying across several worlds.


    "Do not double cross an Asura. And if you, kill them as quickly as possible!"


    "Hahaha! How dare you think you could defeat me! The werewolves have started becoming too arrogant!" Even though he appeared to be laughing, he was actually raging on the inside. Just the fact that the werewolves were placed on the same pedestal as his race caused his anger to tick off and made his stomach churn.


    The Asura girl who was acting as a bystander at a far distance shook her head as she thought:


    ''It isn''t the vampire race that is on the same level as our race, it is Scarlett!''


    Her body shook as she remembered the record she had read from her family history books; records that the boy was oblivious to. After all, the Asura race granted special privileges to girls rather than boys.


    "Hmm!" the expression of the Asura girl who had always had an indifferent look suddenly changed.


    A huge crater had been created from the fight but she had been standing at the edge of the crater.


    She wasn''t oblivious to the prying eyes of some hidden presences, but as time passed and they witnessed the Asura''s boy''s terrifying strength, they scurried away.


    It was the same thing now!


    However, she couldn''t help but notice one of the figures that was sneakily running away.


    He had a deep crimson aura around him and while the Auburn-haired boy tried his utmost best to mask it, she could still feel the stinging pain from his overbearing killing intent due to her high physical senses as a Ki cultivator.


    ''And that is even when he is suppressing it!'' her interest was finally piqued. With a sway of her slender yet curvy waist, her body disappeared leaving a cloud of dust behind her.


    She quickly closed the distance.


    The Auburn-haired boy who happened to be Steven couldn''t help but curse:


    "Shit!"

 CHAPTER 148: TRON

    Tron!


    That was the name of the twelve-meter-high Torkun that had black stripes across its white fur. His appearance was highly distinguishable even if placed in a crowd of Torkuns.


    That was normal.


    After all, he was the King!


    Specifically, he was the king of the third zone. But since the third zone was considered the strongest and most dangerous region in the entire secret realm, it wasn''t wrong to call him the strongest in the entire realm.


    In appearance, Tron could be compared to a white-furred ape with black stripes and a crown made of tree branches lying on his head. While the branch was made of simple wood, its intricate design made it look special, adding more to the air of nobility around him.


    Looking at the tens of Torkuns kneeling before him, Tron couldn''t help but have a moment of satisfaction. Mixed among the group of Torkuns were beasts of other races. There were bull-like beasts, bear-like beasts, cat-like beasts, and many more.


    However, all the foreign beasts retracted their auras as they tried to make their presence as small as possible. As Tron was the king, his kind needed to be the most dominant race in the entire zone.


    A gap was made among the beasts as three Torkuns walked toward Tron who was in front. The three Torkuns each dragged an incapacitated human behind them.


    Arriving before Tron, they bowed down before making several sounds as they communicated with him.


    A look of disdain flashed in the eyes of Tron as he gazed at his kind that were unable to evolve and break through the limits of spiritual beasts. Only magical beasts could transform into humans and communicate effortlessly. Spiritual beasts on the other hand could only become more intelligent the more their cultivation increased.


    However, the disdain quickly disappeared as Tron moved his gaze to the three bodies that were thrown beside him by the beasts after they had finished explaining what happened on their end.


    Looking at the only conscious male among the three humans, Tron opened his mouth, causing the eyes of the former to widen like saucers.


    "So..."


    A look of disbelief was etched on the human''s face, but Tron simply ignored him and continued.


    "It is that time of the year, huh?" his voice sounded a bit hoarse yet deep, as one could feel the power underneath it.


    The male continued to look at him with a stunned look, making Tron raise his right leg and stomp down.


    *Squash!*


    Blood splattered on the face of the male, pulling him out of his surprise. A split second later he screamed in fear:


    "Ahhhhhh. Please, please I beg you." the male human totally ignored his helpless sister who was stomped to death right beside him, and begged for his own life.


    A trace of disgust appeared on Tron''s face.


    Bringing his head closer to the human male, he raised his forefinger which was as big as the latter''s head, and gestured for him to be quiet.


    The human male quickly shut his mouth as he nodded his head in agreement.


    "Hmm..." Tron scratched the white hair under his chin, his actions similar to how a man would scratch his beard. However, the scared human had no thoughts of appreciating such minor gestures.


    Tron closed his eyes for a moment. The image of a pitch-black snake flashed in his mind. He couldn''t help but remember his rival who was far weaker than him.


    Yet she had escaped countless death situations and even survived as a master-realm beast in the third zone full of grandmaster-realm monsters.


    He had wondered how she was able to pull it off but at that time he didn''t really put her in his eyes. All his thoughts then were to become the strongest, as he fought against his kind and beasts of other races for supremacy.


    It was then...


    Tron retracted his hand from his chin and to the back of his head. He raised his head and released a sigh.


    A bit over a month ago, The master of this realm reached out to him.


    He had thought he had proven himself and the master had found him worthy.


    "Hah!" he could still remember that cold yet beautiful voice, that could even tug at the heartstrings of the battle-stricken him of that time even without seeing her once.


    She had approached him to grant him a special mission and as a reward, she had awakened his bloodline. He could still recall the power he tasted when he felt the weak trace of the saint-beast bloodline within him awaken. The coursing strength through his veins had made him feel like nothing in the secret realm could contend against him. And the gratitude he felt made him indebted to this new master of his. Even before hearing his mission, he had already decided to risk his life to achieve it.


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    That was until he found out he wasn''t the only one the secret master had approached.


    And when he found out this possible rival of his was the pitch-black snake that had merely caught his interest for a moment...


    Tron felt ashamed.


    His pride in being chosen among several thousand beasts hit rock bottom.


    He ignored the mission of leaving the secret realm to find a person and bring them back into the secret realm.


    Instead, in his anger, he attacked the beast he had found far below him. The pitch black-snake had done what it was good at.


    Running.


    He had chased it to the ends of the third zone, and in the process revealed his newfound strength. The beast feared him and didn''t dare to cross his path and just when he had thought he could finally kill the snake that was surprisingly good at fleeing, something special happened.


    The pitch-black snake awakened its bloodline.


    A god-beast bloodline.


    As the name entailed, it was a beast with the prowess of a legendary god.


    He had smelled death at that moment. It was then he realized he didn''t wish to die. Now that he had found the strength he had always run after, he wanted to cling to life.


    As if feeling his emotions, the master of the secret realm directly saved him from the clutches of death and sent the pitch-black snake outside the secret realm.


    After that, no matter what he said, or what he did, the master didn''t contact him again.


    ''But now...'' After a full minute...


    *Troooooooom!* Tron opened his eyes, releasing an invisible wave of pressure that crushed the beasts and humans around him.


    ''She is back!''


    His eyes that were looking into the distance finally shifted back to the human, and the invisible pressure disappeared causing the human to gasp for air and the beasts to visibly relax.


    Flashing his mouth full of canine-like teeth, Tron asked again:


    "It is that time of the year, right?"


    Even though the human wasn''t sure what he was asking about, he quickly nodded his head but when he saw the slight change on Tron''s face, he rapidly shook it again.


    Seeing that the human had been scared senseless, Tron shook his head as he lost interest.


    He already knew the answer to his question. He knew it wasn''t time for the secret realm to open but since it opened arbitrarily, it meant an external factor must have caused the change.


    His eyes shone as he thought of the factor when abruptly his expression changed.


    A new gap was opened among the group of beasts, as a wounded Torkun leaped through toward Tron.


    A commotion rang out among the beasts.


    "Silence!" Tron spoke in a deep voice causing the surroundings to go still.


    A wounded Torkun standing at nine meters tall, fell to one of its knees before him.


    No matter how Tron tried to hide his surprise, he couldn''t completely mask it. He had sent out two groups of beasts to handle the intruders that had entered his territory, with his second-in-command leading one of them. One of the groups came back safely and accomplished their task. They were the ones that brought the three surviving humans among which he had already killed one.


    However, the Torkun in front of him was the only one remaining in the second group. And it was surprisingly the group led by his second in command. He knew his strength very well, as it wasn''t until he awakened his saint beast bloodline that he came to have the strength to overcome him. In fact, aside from the pitch-black snake, his second in command was the only one he respected.


    Tron squinted his large eyes as he questioned in a cold voice:


    "What happened?"


    The wounded Torkun shivered greatly in fear, and ignoring its injuries and the blood it was currently losing, it quickly narrated the events that happened.


    "Hoof!* *Hoof!* *Hoof!*


    It made several strange noises.


    "Hmm..." Tron rubbed the back of his neck, "So what you are saying is that the group encountered an Auburn-haired boy with a deep red aura around him who killed three members of the team, and yet successfully escaped from your assault. Then in your chase, you met two kids with red skin, among which the male singlehandedly decimated the rest of the entire team including my second in command. Is that the gist of it?"


    As if it could understand his words, the Torkun nodded.


    "I see..." Tron moved his eyes away from the wounded Torkun and to the male human who was still shivering a short distance away from him.


    ''So there are some strong figures among those invading...how interesting.''


    Tron who had been staring at the human who shivered the more under his stare, abruptly turned his head back to the Torkun, "So how did you survive?"


    The Torkun trembled in fear.


    Under Tron''s cold stare, it didn''t dare hesitate to speak the truth.


    *Hoff!* *Hoff!*


    After a moment of silence, Tron''s voice resounded in the silent forest, "So you ran away immediately when you felt your life was in danger." He stretched his hand towards the Torkun causing the latter to close its eyes in fear.


    But surprisingly, Tron''s hand merely landed on its wounded shoulder, as he patted it a few times, "You did well! What matters is to survive. Hope! Only then will you have the hope of trying again." immediately when he finished his words, he turned around and walked away.


    The wounded Torkun breathed heavily as it escaped the grasp of death. Its tightened muscles visibly relaxed, and its clenched hands opened.


    It was then that Tron who had only taken a step paused.


    "But you know..."


    The wounded Torkun quickly raised its lowered head in time to see Tron''s massive left hand which had been swung backward in a swing arrive beside its head.


    *Boooooooooooom!*


    The house-sized wounded Torkun had its head and its entire upper body blown away, leaving behind only a pair of hind limbs resting in a kneeling position.


    The shockwave generated from Tron''s first didn''t weaken at all, as it blasted the beasts on its path into pieces and formed a deep trench a meter deep and a kilometer long.


    Blood rained from the sky as its characteristic iron smell permeated the area.


    "...I hate cowards!"Tron completed his unfinished words. Alas, the wounded Torkun was no longer alive to receive them.


    None of the beasts still remaining dared to speak and instead lowered their heads as they held their breaths in fear.


    Seeing the destruction he caused, Tron shook the blood off his hand, before speaking:


    "Let us go and greet our guests!"


    He walked toward the foaming human who had passed out in fear and stomped on the last unconscious female human.


    "I still need you." he grabbed the fainted male human by the scuff before heading toward the largest tree in the area.


    There, a large axe as big as a human was embedded deep into the tree trunk. The handle seemed to be made from strewn branches.


    Grabbing the handle, Tron yanked it off the tree, causing splinters of wood to scatter into the air.


    He looked at the beasts around him and commanded, "Go and kill any outsider you come across!"


    As if granted amnesty, the tens of beasts remaining quickly disappeared into the distance.


    Left alone, Tron took a deep breath, causing two swirls of wind to form before his face.


    "Time to hunt!"


    With a mighty stomp, Tron who held a two-meter-long axe in one hand, and grabbed the scuff of the human male with the other, leaped tens of meters high into the sky, as he reduced his previous location into a two-hundred-wide crater.


    The strongest presence in the third zone with an awakened bloodline of a saintbeast which was comparable to a peak-level god-tier talent finally moved out.


    *****


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 Chapter 149: THE MIGHTY POWER OF A ROYAL ELF

    The male Asura''s expression changed greatly. He looked in the direction his partner had left in with a perplexed expression.


    ''What could have garnered her attention?'' he wondered if he should chase after her, after all, he was supposed to be her guardian.


    ''There is no need.'' he shook his head with a wry smile, ''she is far stronger than me.''


    ''Besides...'' Turning to the wounded werewolves sprawled on the ground around him, a maniacal grin lit his face, ''I still need to finish them off.''


    Looking at the wounded Brandon who was still trying to raise himself from the ground, the male Asura smiled, "I will leave you for the last. I want you to enjoy watching me killing your mates without being able to do a thing."


    While the Asuras were overbearing in their actions, they were not necessarily wicked. At least, not to the level of this particular Asura. It was just that among his people, his talent was sub-par and he was usually bullied. And since the Asura race didn''t have much interest in the secret realm, as the main attraction was the tree of infinite resources, TIR, which was useless to Ki cultivators, he had used that opportunity to volunteer to enter the secret realm. His request was accepted easily as he didn''t have any competition in the first place.


    But what surprised him was when someone of high status among his people also requested to follow him.


    Shaking his head, the male Asura decided to discard any thoughts about the female Asura as she was far above his level.


    Arriving before a fallen werewolf, he spoke with a devilish smile, "So this is how they feel when they bully me, huh?"


    "No!" Brandon groaned out weakly.


    Ignoring his shout, the male Asura raised his leg to finish the unconscious werewolf, as he remained oblivious to the small party around the outskirts of the hundred-meter crater they were in.


    "Let''s join hands to deal with the Asura race!"


    Eleanor suddenly proposed to Landon, who looked at her with widened eyes. Reading his thoughts, Eleanor continued, "The Asuras are just that terrifying."


    "But you should be able to handle him easily." Landon refuted.


    "I know," she nodded her head in agreement before she continued, "But I am not sure I can handle her."


    "What do you mean? Do you know her?"


    "I am not sure..." she whispered as she shifted her eyes from him to the direction the female Asura had left in, ''But if she is who I think she is, then we would all be in her mercy."


    Seeing the Solemn look on her fairy-like face, Landon''s expression changed several times as he became conflicted.


    "But why should I trust you? You know..."


    "Because we have no intention of harming you. At least, until we get to the TIR." Eleanor cut him off before he could finish.


    After pondering deeply for a moment, Landon nodded his head slowly.


    It was then that the male Asura raised his leg to finish the werewolf off, "Let''s save the werewolves. We might need their help to restrain the female Asura."


    Landon''s face turned grave as he agreed silently. He knew just how terrifying the Elves were among the myriad worlds, not to mention their members of royal blood. So, for such a person to plan so much before acting against just one person made him feel alarmed.


    "Also we need to kill him as smoothly and quickly as possible. I don''t need to remind you how terrifying an angry Asura could become."


    Without any hesitation, Landon steeled his heart before releasing a soul attack.


    His spiritual energy spread out from his body as an invisible wave diffused into his surroundings.


    The male Asura smashed his leg down as the air made slicing sounds.


    However, the leg that seemed to slice the air apart stopped abruptly a hair breath from the unconscious wolf''s head, and the most extraordinary thing was that all the force the leg carried disappeared without any sign.


    The male Asura''s eyes lost any sign of consciousness.


    *Shruuuuuuuu!*


    Brandon''s eyes widened when he saw a swarm of bats flutter at such a high speed and barely three seconds later, they arrived in front of the male Asura before enveloping the unconscious werewolf underneath his foot.


    It was then that the flying eagle noticed the situation and released an angry cry.


    With the help of the connection with his summon, the male Asura broke out of his listless state after five seconds.


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    A feeling of anger welled up within him, causing the blood-red aura dissipating around him to stabilize once more before taking a darker shade.


    "WHO DARES TO..." The male Asura erupted in anger only for him to shut his mouth abruptly.


    Five storms made from fire, water, wind, darkness, and sand drew towards him from every direction causing his expression to change. From a gap between the firestorm and windstorm, he could see a girl so perfect that her natural beauty even surpassed that of the female Asura. There was a little fairy raising her hand as it flew above her head.


    But while the Elvish princess was more beautiful, she couldn''t compare to the Asura in seductive charm.


    The storms flashed around him and were about to swallow him whole. The silver eagle released an anxious cry as it sensed death near its master. It dived down from the sky to help its master only for it to stop as hundreds of flying swords blocked its path.


    The male Asura gathered all his strength before sending five punches at each storm.


    *Boooom!*


    *Boooom!*


    *Boooom!*


    *Boooom!*


    *Booooom!*


    Surprisingly, the five entrenching storms made from different elements stopped for merely a moment before swallowing the shockwaves generated by his immense power.


    Soon later, they continued closing on him.


    The male Asura''s eyes widened in surprise. He finally understood that he had found his match.


    "Return!" he shouted hurriedly.


    The silver eagle that was dodging the barrage of countless swords suddenly disappeared before the bird seal on the back of the Asura''s hand lit up.


    "Secret technique: Man and summon!"


    The five storms finally swallowed him whole.


    The firestorms seemed to merge and balance under the control of Eleanor''s elemental and soon after, a storm made from five different elements rose high up into the sky.


    A strong pulling force covered the hundred-meter crater in which the storm was brewing before shifting out into the surroundings.


    The trees were uprooted and the vegetations were pulled into the storm.


    Eleanor''s clothes made a flapping sound from the fierce wind. A dark light flashed beside her before Landon appeared with a pale face.


    ''Thank goodness I didn''t face her!'' he was truly scared by Eleanor''s fierce display of force and knew that he wasn''t her match at all. He also knew that she was yet to display her full strength as he could see she wasn''t using her ice element.


    Landon moved his eyes to see the five-hundred-meter clearing that had been created from the fierce pull of the raging storm and was still increasing.


    He saw several beasts pulled into the air forcefully from the powerful suction force and couldn''t help but question why there were so many beasts close to them. But soon after, his thoughts shifted to a more pressing matter.


    ''Hopefully, they have moved far behind!''


    From their short and quick plan, he and Eleanor were to kill the Asura in the shortest time possible while the others were tasked to save the fallen werewolves and redraw to a safe distance. The werewolves were in no condition to be included in such a terrifying battle.


    Landon who had been pondering about his member''s well-being was pulled out of his thoughts by Eleanor''s words:


    "It seems I will have to get a little serious! The Asuras are truly worthy of the title of the strongest!"


    Landon didn''t understand her words until...


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*


    A huge explosion resounded from deep within the raging storm, and the multicolored storm standing mightily at almost two thousand meters high was ripped apart by the crushing force.


    A huge shockwave spread out into the surroundings.


    Even Landon who was able to resist the terrifying pull of the storm was knocked backward for several meters as his feet made two trenches on the ground.


    Landon removed the hands protecting his face from the fierce winds and what he saw made his eyes widen. He felt his mind greatly hit and affected by the virtual impact of what was happening.


    There, at the center of the previous storm was the red-skinned Asura gasping with a bloodied face. Two silver wings were sprouting out of his back, and the blood-red aura covering him had now increased by at least three times.


    However, that wasn''t what made Landon so shocked, as even the now free yet bloodied Asura''s eyes also appeared shaken.


    While Landon was pushed far back from the shockwave, Eleanor remained unaffected at her original position with a light blue barrier protecting her.


    The little elemental flying above her head had disappeared, and instead, the image of a female fairy 30m high with four flapping wings on her back appeared behind Eleanor.


    As her body was pulled from the ground to the head section of the massive body, Eleanor''s beautiful voice drifted into the ears of the shaken Landon and Asura:


    "Unseal: Elemental queen!"


    Arriving at the head region, Eleanor raised her fair left hand, causing the huge image to mirror her action.


    A white light exploded from the big hand of the Queen elemental as ice essence gathered to form a bow. Eleanor raised her second hand and took a shooting stance.


    Ice energy exploded from the second hand of the Queen elemental as an arrow made from pure ice with runic patterns lining its body appeared in it.


    Soon after, the arrow was knocked into the bow and a blinding red light exploded as unnatural lightning crackled across it.


    Only then did the Asura who had been shocked by what was happening react.


    He had combined with his summon and used up every bit of his energy to escape the fierce storms. But he never imagined he would still be soon placed in a more perilous situation.


    While the Asura bloodline''s unique ability ''Frenzy'' granted them unlimited power theoretically, the truth was that he still needed energy as a base to sustain it. Energy, that was subconsciously used up to regenerate his body that was almost shredded into pieces by the terrifying storms.


    He knew this attack that was coming was at least two times stronger than the previous storms.


    How could he survive such an attack, especially in his current condition?


    Without any hesitation, the Asura gathered all the strength he could muster and shouted for dear life.


    "ZARA!"


    A blinding light exploded as the released arrow streaked across the area with almost no sound before arriving before the flustered male Asura.


    Just when the Asura thought he would die...


    A massive axe fell from the sky before slicing the approaching arrow into two. The male Asura''s ears exploded as the split arrow passed beside him before flying into the distance.


    A brief moment later:


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*


    Blinding light exploded in the distance as red lightning raged into the sky. The entire third zone shook from the explosion and several bird-like beasts flew into the sky in horror.


    The male Asura who had a happy expression on his face from escaping death''s door suddenly paled when he found out that the person who rescued him wasn''t his partner. In fact, his hero wasn''t even human at all.


    *Bam!* "Bam!* *Bam!*


    The sound of footsteps that shook the ground for several meters resounded in the now quiet area.


    The male Asura, Eleanor, and Landon shifted their eyes to the new arrival.


    "My name is Tron!" A deep voice overflowing with power and authority drifted into their ears.


    "I hear you humans like to share names before killing. Magnanimously, I permit you to do so."

 CHAPTER 150: METEOR FALL

    Two shadows streaked across the Jungle.


    One figure had a deep red aura around him. His auburn hair flew wildly in the air, as the sound of cutting wind drifted into his ears.


    Suddenly, his expression changed before he gathered all his strength and slashed the sword in his right hand backward with all his might.


    His sword collided with the small fist of the female Asura, Zara.


    *Bam!*


    There was a brief pause before they both separated. Steven stumbled back three steps while Zara stumbled back five steps.


    The eyes of the girl widened in surprise. The Asuras were best known for their monstrous physical strength, yet the boy in front of her was able to best her in that exchange. Of course, she didn''t use her entire strength in the previous collision, but that didn''t diminish the great feat the boy just achieved.


    In a mere second, a few thoughts passed through her mind, causing her to guess the boy''s identity but still she couldn''t confirm it. Rather than she couldn''t confirm it, she refused to believe it.


    As she was about to voice her suspicions, her expression greatly changed.


    The deep red aura around him suddenly lost a bit of its color as Steven concentrated his killing intent on the girl in front of him.


    Zara quickly tried to bite her tongue but before she could complete her action, Steven''s attack hit her.


    Her mind blanked out as her eyes lost their light.


    Instead of making use of this opportunity to attack, Steven made haste and ran in the opposite direction. He quickly opened the distance between them.


    About ten breaths later, veins bulged on Zara''s neck and forehead as her bloodline was forcefully invoked.


    Her hair flew into the air and her eyes shone with a bright red light, allowing her to finish her action of biting into her tongue.


    Blood erupted from her mouth, but not even a second later, her tongue completely healed. Zara glared in the direction Steven left before she bent her knee and gathered her strength.


    An invisible pressure spread out, as countless particles of sand rose into the air around her. The ground shook slightly as a stifling air spread out. Zara''s scanty dress flapped in the crushing air, exposing her enticing belly button and enchanting thighs.


    Zara''s body vanished from the spot and it was only when she left that a resounding bloom echoed out.


    A thirty-meter crater had formed at her initial position as all the trees and vegetation were destroyed by the crushing force.


    In merely three breaths, she overtook Steven who had widened the distance between them by at least a kilometer.


    Steven came to a stop, as his expressions hardened. His grip around his sword tightened.


    The aura spreading out around Zara slowly disappeared and she slowly let out a sigh.


    "You are related to the ''one man Army'' and ''conditional strongest'', right?"


    Steven''s expression visibly changed, and that was all the affirmation Zara needed.


    When she saw Steven about to refute her claims, she quickly interjected:


    "There is no need to deny it. I have identified that aura around you as killing intent. And only one person can wield that resource in such a manner."


    Steven''s expression slowly went back to normal.


    "What do you want?"


    Zara''s face mirrored her inner bewilderment.


    "I can''t believe that legendary person''s son is before me."


    Steven merely glanced at her.


    After a short moment, Zara collected herself.


    "So?" Steven hurried her. His grip around his sword didn''t loosen in the slightest.


    "I want to propose a partnership."


    Now it was Steven''s turn to become stunned. He couldn''t believe his ears.


    Zara understood Steven''s reactions, so she couldn''t help but release a sigh.


    "I have no reason to be here." she started before continuing, "The TIR lacks value to any Ki cultivators talk less of we Asuras. Of course, there are many treasures in the fourth zone, some of which are beneficial to Ki cultivators. However, such treasures could be obtained on the outside, and compared to the allure of the tree of infinite resource, they are lackluster."


    "Then why are you here?" Steven asked in curiosity.


    The wind blew the grasses and leaves around them lightly, and the clothes covering Zara swayed slightly to reveal her soft and tender red skin.


    "I was told to enter the secret realm. To be more specific, I was advised to enter this dimension. And before you ask me who, just know that I can''t reveal the person''s identity as she is one of the cornerstones of the Asura race."


    Steven had a thoughtful look on his face. For a person to be described as a cornerstone of the major powerhouse of countless worlds, he knew the person''s identity would be very special and he didn''t want to touch upon such a sensitive topic.


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    "Why me?" Steven questioned after a moment of silence.


    "You know about Mama, don''t you?" Zara responded with her own question.


    "Who doesn''t know about her?" The corner of Steven''s lips twitched. Mama was what people called the Ancestor of the Asura race. Despite being several thousand years old, her cultivation at the very peak of Ki cultivators allowed her to appear as a lady in her early thirties. It was well known that she hated being reminded of her actual age, and she was also infamous for a huge harem comprising mainly of young boys.


    Steven couldn''t help but tremble when his thought arrived at this point, but fortunately for him, his focus was soon shifted elsewhere as Zara continued her speech.


    "Mama doesn''t involve herself in the race''s affairs. And as in many families, there is a clash of power among the royalties of our race."


    "Wait..." Steven''s eyes widened abruptly, "Are you telling me you are of royalty?"


    "Yes..." Zara confirmed causing Steven to gasp in surprise. It was very to meet a Ki cultivator and it was even rarer to meet someone from the Asura''s race. Yet, an Asura of royal blood was standing in his presence, so it was understandable why Steven was shocked senseless.


    Seeing Steven''s intense reaction to her identity, Zara couldn''t help but smile wryly:


    "But my family is declining!"


    Steven narrowed his eyes at her as he processed her words.


    After several thousand years, it was normal that the royal family would have expanded to an inestimable size, especially considering the Asura''s long life span and their insatiable lust for sexual interactions.


    In that respect, they were no different from beasts from the serpent lineage.


    "I was suddenly summoned in secret by this special figure I told you about. It took me by surprise, as only a few had met her in person among our entire race. She was the one who informed me that the person who would help me restore my family''s standing would be in the secret realm."


    Steven''s expression suddenly turned weird, "And you think that person is me?"


    Zara chuckled slightly, "Even if it isn''t you, I don''t believe that you are any ordinary either. It is not every day you meet someone related to the strongest being in the universe."


    If it was before, the ancestor of the Asura race would be the undisputed strongest among the myriad races. However, in recent years, many geniuses have popped up, among which one of them shone even brighter than the others. He was called by several names; The void emperor, The chaotic Annihilating dragon, The Sun god, and The peerless paragon among many others. However, some still believed that the Ancestor of the Asura race was the strongest even to date. And that was after seeing the Void emperor''s unparalleled talent and immense power. After all, Mama had lived for several thousand years old, while the void emperor using the current standards was still counted as young. No matter his level of power, he could never overcome Asura''s Ancestor experience.


    All in all, both figures were considered legendary figures.


    And among the few that were closely associated with the void emperor was the Conditional Strongest, Bald Martin.


    Zara looked at Steven''s curly Auburn hair and her expression couldn''t help but change. She had heard of the adverse effect of using Killing Intent like Martin did.


    Oblivious to her thoughts, Steven questioned:


    "And why should I partner with you?"


    Without even taking a moment to ponder, Zara responded, "Because I can help you seize the majority if not all the treasures in the fourth zone. And I am willing to hand them all to you as a show of favor."


    Steven''s brows slowly creased into a frown, "What makes you think I need your help? You should already have an inkling of what I can do by now."


    Zara was about to respond when a series of explosions drew their attention from the distance.


    Not before long, the sudden appearance of five storms made from different elements entered their visions.


    Soon after, the five storms merged to create a more terrifying storm than ever.


    Steven gulped silently as he watched the multicolored storm connecting the colorful sky to the earth. Even from a far distance, he could feel a terrifying pull tugging at him and trying to draw him toward the eye of the storm.


    Without any hesitation, he turned toward Zara, "I accept your offer."


    Zara ignored him and instead gazed intently at the highly spinning storm.


    ''That is where that idiot is.'' Even though she didn''t put the male Asura in her eyes, she couldn''t deny the fact that he was from her race and she couldn''t allow anything to tarnish their image. She could already tell that the person he was currently confronting was far above his league.


    ''There was no such presence before I left, which means the person just appeared. And from the energy I feel and the ability to control several elements at the same time, it must be an elf...and it isn''t an ordinary elf at that.'' When her thoughts reached this point, she had already kicked off from the ground.


    "Let''s go." only her sweet voice was left behind.


    Steven hesitated for a moment before he followed suit. He was really intrigued to see who could wield such great power comparable to a red-core mage when the secret realm didn''t allow such presence.


    Their two bodies turned into a blur as the sound of slicking air resounded due to their great speed.


    They had barely started running for ten breaths when a great change occurred in the distance.


    *Booooom!* a terrifying explosion erupted from inside the storm, dispersing it into the surroundings. However, Steven ignored the destroyed attack comparable to one from a red-core mage and instead gazed dumbly at the massive figure that had appeared on the battlefield in the distance.


    Zara who had been withholding her speed, so that Steven could keep up with her couldn''t do so any longer.


    Her body vanished from Steven''s vision and only a cloud of dust was left at her previous location.


    "ZARA!" the anxious cry of the male Asura drifted into the ears of Zara who was moving at sonic speed. Her eyes caught the terrifying arrow made from ice and covered in striking red lightning. She was just about to act when her expression greatly changed like never before.


    "TWOOOOOOOOM!"


    A huge axe cut through the sky before splitting the world annihilating-looking arrow into two.


    *****


    A massive axe fell from the sky before slicing the approaching arrow into two. The male Asura''s ears exploded as the split arrow passed beside him before flying into the distance.


    A brief moment later:


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*


    Blinding light exploded in the distance as red lightning raged into the sky. The entire third zone shook from the explosion and several bird-like beasts flew into the sky in horror.


    The male Asura who had a happy expression on his face from escaping death door suddenly paled when he found out that the person who rescued him wasn''t his partner. In fact, his savior wasn''t even human at all.


    *Bam!* "Bam!* *Bam!*


    The sound of footsteps that shook the ground for several meters resounded in the now quiet area.


    The male Asura, Eleanor, and Landon shifted their eyes to the new arrival.


    "My name is Tron!" A deep voice overflowing with power and authority drifted into their ears.


    "I hear you humans like to share names before killing. Magnanimously, I will permit you to do so."


    A few moments of silence passed without any response.


    Tron was perplexed about why Eleanor, Landon, and the male Asura were looking at him with stunned looks when he finally understood, "Haa! I see. It''s not every day you see a talking beast."


    After saying that he stretched his right hand to the center of the crater that had further deepened by at least three times from the terrifying force exploding outwards from the previous clashes. There, embedded deep within was his axe that had split Eleanor''s previous attack into two. The axe shook greatly before flying out towards Tron''s outstretched hand.


    "We seem to have new guests."


    Eleanor, Landon, and the male Asura shifted their head in the direction Tron was looking in, in time to see the arrival of Zara and Steven.


    "The more the merrier!" Tron flashed a wide grin as he raised his palm to the sky and unleashed his awakened bloodline ability, "Now...peacefully die!"


    A huge shadow covered the ground.


    Zara, Steven, Eleanor, Landon, and the male Asura raised their heads to the sky and without any exception, all their eyes widened into saucers.


    At the same time, Tron''s voice entered their ears:


    "Meteor fall!"

 CHAPTER 151: ENTERING THE THIRD ZONE

    "How is my mother?"


    "She is fine. But ever since you left, she rarely leaves the house."


    "I see..." the voice sounded almost as a whisper and a feeling of melancholy could be heard from it. After a few moments of silence, the voice resumed:


    "And my Dad?"


    "..."


    There was no reply for a moment, but soon after a sweet and soft voice resounded:


    "He is the same as your mum. I seldom see him...in fact, I think the only time I saw him since you left was when we gave a few pointers to Miller."


    "Miller?"


    "That is right!" Tina pointed at Miller who was by her side.


    Miller who had been gazing at Arlo with eyes full of interest stammered in excitement, "Hello! My name is Miller. I don''t know if you still remember me, but we have already met before."


    "...yeah, I remember you," Arlo replied after looking at him deeply. He had never seen Teacher Ari angry before, so how could he forget the person who made her furious to the point of going crazy? Miller left a deep impression on him after all.


    "Hahaha! I didn''t know you were master''s son at that time."


    "Master?" Arlo''s lips twitched.


    "Yes, since he taught me, he is my master."


    "...but didn''t he only teach you once."


    "Yes, so he is my master."


    Arlo shifted his eyes to Tina who didn''t seem to find anything wrong with what Miller said. He was reminded once again why he couldn''t have any friends before.


    He turned to look at those around him.


    Aside from Tina and Miller, there was Arianne, Joe, Ella, Rose, and Kai.


    ''No, I now have friends.'' A warm smile lit his face.


    ''Dad, Mum, don''t worry. I will get stronger to the point that I can protect you...'' Arlo''s eyes shone with resolve. He could still remember the scenes Old bro had shared with him. He wasn''t in any hurry to meet his parents anymore after knowing that they had a dangerous enemy who could point his sword at them at any moment.


    *Roar!*


    *Roar!*


    *Roar!*


    The roars of several beasts pulled him out of his thoughts.


    Nine beasts charged at the massive snake image slithering through the second zone.


    The snake opened its mouth revealing nothing but darkness. But if one gazed intently at the darkness, they would notice the flickering light of countless stars hidden within.


    The magical attacks of the nine beasts were swallowed before they soon followed after them.


    Silence returned to the second zone as the huge snake image continued on its path, destroying any tree or other form of obstacle with its massive body.


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    Arlo waved his hand around, ''I wonder what this is.''


    Immediately after stepping into the second zone, the entire area was shaken greatly. However, that wasn''t the only change. The pitch-black snake coiled around Joe''s snake summoned a massive snake image around itself before rising high into the sky. A few moments later, it fell back to the ground before swallowing them whole. But unexpectedly, instead of being consumed, they had merely moved directly to the mid-section of the snake image''s body.


    That was right.


    Arlo and his small group were currently in the snake. While the snake''s body appeared to be ethereal, it still seemed to have some substance as they were able to float within its body. Not only that, the massive snake was able to physically affect its surroundings just as it was destroying the area as it slithered at great speed. Unlike when they were in the academy, the massive snake had reduced its size to barely a hundred meters. Still, it was at least ten times bigger than the beasts in the second zone. The only downside was that the red ants were left behind.


    ''Well, the red ants can''t compare to this snake.''


    Arlo''s party separated into three groups within the snake''s body.


    Arlo, Tina, and Miller conversed to get up to date.


    While Arianne and Joe wanted to be with Arlo, they gave him the space he needed as they noticed Tina and Miller were still uncomfortable being around them. So both of them remained with Ella for the moment.


    Rose and Kai also stayed together however, Kai merely closed his eyes as he gripped his Katana tightly with his left hand, while Rose watched Arlo closely.


    Uncaring to the danger around them, Arlo and the others enjoyed their first moment of peace since entering the secret realm.


    They were now able to appreciate the magical view of the realm. Most of them couldn''t move their eyes away from the mountain floating deep with the realm.


    After almost two hours of journeying, the huge snake image finally arrived at the lake separating the second zone and the third zone


    None of the master realm beasts could pause its movement for even a second.


    Arriving before the lake, Arlo and the others prepared to continue the journey on their own when their expressions greatly changed.


    The massive snake image showed no sign of slowing down.


    Arlo and the others quickly moved their eyes to the head region of the huge snake image. There, the pitch-black snake was resting calmly.


    Rose''s eyes shone.


    Before Arlo could voice his thoughts, Rose beat him to it, "Hey you, tell your beast to stop now!"


    Arlo looked at Rose with slightly narrowed eyes, but the latter merely smiled cockily at him.


    After a short moment of trying, Joe replied with a pale face:


    "It''s isn''t responding to my words."


    Before the others could react to his response, the huge snake image dove into the misty lake.


    Arlo and the others subconsciously closed their eyes.


    But after a short moment of silence, nothing happened.


    "What is going on?" Miller voiced the question plaguing the others.


    They knew that to enter the next zone, they must undergo a mind trial. Only a beast in the secret realm could bypass this rule.


    Of course, that was until the fourth zone. No beasts could enter the treasure area.


    And even the other beasts didn''t dare to cross zones as they didn''t have sufficient cultivation. Doing so was the same as sentencing themselves to death.


    Also, a beast couldn''t help them cross a zone, and that wasn''t even possible in the first place except if they were able to tame it.


    They couldn''t figure out why the pitch-black snake was able to break this rule.


    The group passed through the lake in silence, as they stared with bated breaths at the terrifying fishes hidden beneath it.


    Their bodies couldn''t help but shiver at the thought of what would happen to them if they failed the mind trial.


    Finally, after almost three days of entering the secret realm, Arlo, Arianne, Joe, Ella, Rose, Kai, Tina, and Miller finally arrived at the third zone. The huge snake image came to a stop after entering the most dangerous zone in the entire realm. It seemed even it had to act prudently in this region.


    The same as before, immediately after Arlo entered the third zone, the entire ground shook greatly. At the other end of the zone, the barrier stopping one from accessing the lake slowly disappeared.


    However, Arlo and the others didn''t care about these changes.


    Instead, they all had widened eyes as they collectively stared into the distance.


    There, countless massive meteors were falling from the sky.


    It was a rain of meteors!


    "How...just how is this possible?" an unfamiliar voice pulled the group out of their reverie.


    Arlo and the others simultaneously shifted their eyes in the direction of the voice, and yet again, their expressions changed.


    Albeit this time, the emotions on their faces were entirely different.


    It was shock mixed with fear.


    The members of the beast race stood among several corpses. Except for Tina and Miller, the others could recognize the identities of the corpses.


    It was normal...after all, the corpses were the dead bodies of their seniors. And mixed among them were the bodies of three males with pointed ears.

 CHAPTER 152: TRON VS ZARA

    Before Arlo arrived in the third zone.


    "Magnificent, isn''t it?" A voice overflowing with power and seething with dignity rang out amidst the silent clearing broken only by the slicing sound of the air caused by the imminent object falling from the sky.


    "There have been countless kings among the Torkun race, but only one has ever yielded the Great King Title." For the first time, a different emotion could be felt in Tron''s voice as he continued with a look of respect, "He was a perfect being very close to a god."


    Tron could still vividly remember the scenes he saw when he awakened his bloodline.


    The sight of a planet size Torkun similar in appearance to an ape, plucking stars as he devoured them as food left a deep impression on him. With every wave of his hand, a strong pull would tug at a star millions of light years away and draw it towards him. If the Star wasn''t to his taste, he would send it flying with an overbearing repelling force generated from a simple swing of his hand.


    The simple actions of this almost godly being were able to put the stars at his will.


    Opening his eyes, Tron''s eyes shook with intensity as he once more affirmed his resolve to reach the same level as his ancestor.


    The massive shadow grew on the ground, and an overbearing pressure crushed the surroundings.


    The Male Asura, Eleanor, and Landon finally came out of their stupor of gazing at the three-hundred-meter-wide meteor.


    Even though the meteor was small in size, the act of conjuring such a large-scale attack from an unknown place, and the terrifying power waiting to be released from the meteor still shook the hearts of the viewers and sent them into a reverie.


    However, someone had an entirely different reaction.


    The surprise slowly disappeared from Zara''s eyes, as a look of excitement took its place.


    She didn''t know who this great person her Elder had told her she would meet, but she was now sure that she had made a good decision by entering the secret realm.


    Not only did she meet the child of a legendary person who had suddenly disappeared from public eyes some time ago, but now she even met a terrifying beast worthy enough to become her Life beast.


    That is right!


    The idea of taming Tron had sprouted within Zara''s mind. While it was generally known that only a human mage could force a beast into submission with a secret technique created a long time ago by talented mages with an affinity to laws relating to taming; the truth was that after leading the entire universe for thousands for years, the Asura race has also developed a similar technique that could be used by Ki cultivators. however, this information was privy to the Asuras alone. Of course, they still had the restriction of only being able to take a beast in their lifetime. The practice of dividing their life essence and forcibly mixing it with that of a beast is not something that could be as they will.


    Tron''s eyebrows slowly creased into a frown as he turned his eyes towards Zara.


    He narrowed his eyes at her when he noticed the way she gazed at him almost as if he was a priceless treasure.


    Zara''s bones shone with a deep red light and not before long, her red skin seemed to shine.


    She invoked one of the abilities she inherited from her rare and ancient summon as she shouted simultaneously:


    "All of you stand back. No one is allowed to interfere!"


    The onlookers shifted their eyes in time to see her feet burst out in flame, causing her to be sent upward in the direction of the meteor by the propelling force.


    Zara turned into a red streak that cut straight into the sky and not before long she collided with the falling meteor.


    Immediately when she came into contact with the meteor, she unleashed the unique ability of her race gotten from their affinity with the law of gravity.


    "Reverse gravity, ¡Á 50!"


    The Asuras could not control the gravity of their surroundings, but they were able to influence the gravity of any object they came into contact with.


    "Heok!" A groan escaped Zara''s lips as even after drastically decreasing the weight of the meteor, she still found it too heavy to stop.


    A grunt escaped her lips as her small body was pushed downwards at great speed, and as she felt herself coming closer to the ground, Zara realized that the situation was getting increasingly dangerous.


    At the same time, a feeling of anger was starting to well up in her after realizing that she had failed in her attempt to stop the meteor''s descent.


    Due to her rising emotion, a deep red aura started surrounding her, and as the aura grew larger and thicker, the speed at which the meteor fell slowly reduced.


    Zara''s smooth and tender skin bulged with veins as her muscles flexed and after the aura around her had grown to a size almost comparable to a small sun, the falling meteor eventually crawled to a stop.


    Now flying at a height of about a thousand meters from the ground, the eyes of Landon and the others bulged as they watched Zara give a loud battle cry, and as if resonating to her will, the previously falling meteor started ascending back into the sky.


    The small size of Zara shining brightly like a small red sun in contrast to the three-hundred-meter wide meteor brought about an astonishing sight that warranted the mouth of even geniuses on the level of Eleanor''s caliber to hang open.


    After pushing the meteor up for another thousand meters, the Ki flowing within Zara''s body surged wildly, before a burst of bright yellow flames erupted from her body.


    The fire started from a small size, and as it increased at a steady speed, it eventually swallowed the small meteor whole before shooting high into the colorful sky.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    *Booooooooooooooooom!*


    Rumble!


    The skies shook greatly as a shower of shattered burning rocks rained from the sky.


    "This is not something we can get involved in." Eleanor voiced out as she quickly retreated from the range of the falling rocks. Landon silently agreed with her by following after her.


    Steven and the Male Asura also seemed to make the same decision as they similarly retreated to a safe distance where they could watch the great fight about to begin without any harm.


    Only Tron remained at his initial position and was accompanied by a rain of flaming rocks as he raised his head to lock eyes with the flying Zara.


    He didn''t bother stopping Landon and the others as he initially planned to kill all of them. He could already tell that just handling Zara was going to be something too difficult for the current him.


    Even so, he didn''t allow his emotion to show on his face and instead spoke slowly with a calm but deep voice overflowing with a bit of arrogance:


    "I didn''t think there would be someone as strong as you among the invaders. Neither did I think that I would meet someone with powers related to mine."


    Seeing the look of confusion flashing on Zara''s face, Tron grinned, "Let me show you what I mean."


    He stretched his right palm which was large enough to cover a full-grown man''s head in Zara''s direction, causing the latter''s eyes to widen slowly.


    But before she could react, Tron commanded with a deep voice as he clenched his stretched palm:


    "Get over here!"


    Zara felt a terrifying force pulling at her and before she knew it her body streaked down the sky against her will at a speed comparable to a falling star.


    In less than three breaths, she arrived before Tron, and what greeted her was the sight of a two-meter axe slashing down threateningly toward her.


    However, contrary to what Tron expected, Zara had a calm look on her face as she swung her hands down, mirroring Tron''s actions.


    Tron''s eyes when he noticed that Zara had summoned a huge bronze hammer almost her height at some point in her forced descent.


    As their weapons were about to collide, only the sweet and pleasant voice of Zara rang out in the surroundings, heralding the arrival of a terrifying explosion.


    "Gravity manipulation ¡Á 50!"


    There was a brief silence during which Tron''s eyes bulged out.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*


    Tron''s body slammed hard into the ground, creating a 30 m wide crater before his body flew out like a ragdoll and rolled on the ground.


    The cloud of dust rising from the collision was instantly incinerated by the burst of hot flames propelling Zara from her feet and in a mere instant, she appeared above the still-rolling Tron.


    *SCRAM!* Tron roared out in anger.


    Before Zara''s hammer could hit him, he stretched his hand to his side and voiced out with a vicious glint flashing in his eyes:


    "Attraction point!" A colorless sphere appeared ten meters in the direction Tron was pointing his palm.


    With a terrifying tug, Zara''s body was pulled uncontrollably towards the colorless sphere, like an iron towards a magnet. Even though he didn''t inherit the repelling ability of his ancestor, Tron was able to come up with a way to mimic it using his law of attraction.


    Tron still couldn''t stop his body from rolling so he stretched out his other palm, and in a split second, his lost axe was sucked back into it.


    Impacting the ground once more, Tron swung his axe into the ground, forming a deep trench as his body retreated another three meters. Only then did he come to a stop.


    Raising his head, Tron''s deep blue eyes met the enchanting eyes of Zara who was just freed from the colorless sphere that had disappeared after serving its purpose.


    *Crack!* Forcefully suppressing the rage welling up within him, Tron cracked his neck at the same time as he flexed his muscles, "I admit that I underestimated you." Even though he tried to mask it, Zara and the other onlookers could feel the trace of anger hidden within his voice.


    He had never been humiliated in such a manner since awakening his bloodline. Even when he faced death from the pitch-black snake, he was rendered helpless but at least he wasn''t beaten and flung like a doll.


    "I will be a fool to back any longer..."


    At a distance far enough for their safety to be guaranteed, and short enough for them to see with clarity the terrifying battle going on, Landon couldn''t help but gulp nervously when he saw the two terrifying monsters totally out of his league stare at each other, causing a stiffening silence to ensue.


    "It would be best to avoid clashing with those two at all costs." Hearing Eleanor''s sweet voice, Landon couldn''t help but shift his head towards her, and what he saw made the respect he felt for the former increase by several notches.


    While he had an anxious and nervous look on his face, Eleanor merely gazed at the two clashing parties with narrowed eyes. Landon couldn''t feel a hint of fear from her and he knew she wasn''t acting. It was almost as if she said her previous words because it would be a hassle and not because she feared she would lose to them.


    Turning her eyes from Tron and Zara who were still competing in a nerve-wracking stare-off, Eleanor looked at the male Asura watching the battle from a safe distance in the direction opposite to her and she couldn''t help but murmur, "It''s just a pity I couldn''t finish off that other guy..."


    Landon sweated at his back when he heard her words. He didn''t want to have anything to do with the Asuras after witnessing their fabled prowess with his own eyes.


    Unknown to both of them, their teams whom they considered to be safe were experiencing a life-and-death situation.


    .....


    Near the lake separating the second and third zones, and in the outskirts of the latter zone, a group of seven was handling the corpses of vampires.


    These dead bodies belonged to Landon''s group; the third years who had yet to break into the grandmaster realm, and were forced to retreat after their group encountered the Elve''s group.


    "And this is the last one." One of the boys muttered as he willed the black blood he had extracted from the last vampire into an orb-like artifact.


    "Hehe! The Elders will be happy." A young girl''s voice resounded.


    "That is right! Who would have thought we would have the opportunity to extract the bloodline of several vampires." Another male voiced out.


    "Now, we only have to make sure we don''t get caught." After fully absorbing the last vampire''s bloodline, Rook took the orb-like artifact into his space ring, before speaking out. Rather than voicing his thoughts, his tone sounded more like a threat to remain cautious.


    His other team nodded their head with a grave look on their face. They knew Rook was right, and they had to make sure that the truth about how the vampires died wasn''t made known. If not, the vampires would run amok and hunt their members, just as they almost sent the humans in their world into extinction.


    They didn''t want another repeat of a mass slaughter.


    If it wasn''t for the allure of the secret technique one of their elders found recently and the potential it possessed to absorb bloodlines of special races, they wouldn''t have dared to cross the vampires.


    But after entering deep into the third zone, they encountered the Asura race. Thankfully, they were able to retreat safely before the latter could deal great damage to their team. Ever since then, they didn''t dare to venture into the third realm as they cowered under the great might of the male Asura.


    However, who would have thought that a few minutes later, their team would encounter the group of vampires, who seemed to be exhausted? Added to the vampire''s low cultivation, and their minds clouded from the rage and shame they felt from retreating from the Asuras, Rook, and his team hadn''t thought too deeply before killing the second years and using the technique on them.


    Of course, only Rook and his two other cousins who were part of the magical beast''s current royalty had access to the technique and the others had no idea of such inside information until the deed was done.


    Suddenly one of the two members sent to patrol the surroundings to prevent others from interfering appeared before them before speaking with an anxious expression:


    "A group comprised of vampires, werewolves, and elves are heading in this direction. They should arrive in a minute."


    The expressions of the magical beasts turned grave and a somber air filled the surroundings. They couldn''t believe that the three races were teaming up, especially the vampires and werewolves. But after thinking about it for a moment, they realized that the three races had a good reason for their decision. The Asuras.


    However, while the others were trembling in fear about what to do, Rook and his cousins had entirely different expressions as a cunning glint flashed within their eyes.


    Rook first confirmed the physical condition and cultivation of the approaching party. Only then did he look at his cousins with an evil smile on his face, "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"


    *****


    AN: New longest chapter, >2500 words. Enjoyed it? Then like and vote for the novel. Thank you.

 CHAPTER 153: UNTAMABLE

    Under the colorful light cascading down from the magical sky, a group of young teens ran across the jungle populated by several huge trees in silence.


    This group comprised the two third-year vampires who were able to accompany Landon due to their adequate cultivation and their prowess, and the three male elves who entered the secret realm with Eleanor. Brandon who was the only werewolf able to move by himself, and wasn''t carried by the vampires and elves like the others finally broke the silence:


    "Why!?" his face was colored with confusion. After several minutes of leaving the battlefield, his rage finally calmed down. His boiling anger cooled after the sight of the five terrifying storms made from five different elements merging, and the massive figure of an Elvish elemental that soon followed entered his vision. He soon realized that it wasn''t by carelessness that his team lost without any way of retaliating in the least. The figures clashing several kilometers away from them were far above their league. Then, another question hit him.


    ''Why did the Elves and vampires save us? Especially the vampires...'' After several seconds of wracking his brain, Brandon couldn''t help but voice his confusion.


    "There is no meaning behind it." one of the male elves suddenly spoke with a grave look on his face. He and the other elves thought that they would be able to dominate the secret realm, but after clashing with Landon and meeting the Asuras, they realized that their visions were short-sighted, and compared to the true geniuses across the universe, they were nothing noteworthy.


    "We just felt it would be better to have your help in facing the Asuras. Only then would we stand a chance," he added after a few moments of silence.


    Brandon looked towards the two vampires in their group and even after two minutes, he didn''t receive any words. Smiling wryly, the rising goodwill he started feeling after the vampires helped his team quickly came to a crawl. He was reminded that the vampires and the werewolves couldn''t share any form of relation aside from enmity. Their current status quo was simply temporary.


    "We will drop your team beside the lake. You should be safe there. We will return to support our princess, and you guys can join us when you have healed and regained sufficient strength." The same male elf voiced out again. It seemed that he was greater in status among the elves, Eleanor not considered.


    Three minutes later, the group finally reached the misty lake separating the second and third zones.


    Brandon and the elves were wondering why the vampires were acting suspiciously in the past minute. But it wasn''t until they neared the lake that they finally understood.


    Their expressions changed when they followed the direction the familiar metallic scent of blood drifting into the nose was coming from.


    *Whoosh!*


    *Whoosh!*


    Two shadows moved ahead of the group as they closed the distance to the corpses littering the ground.


    "NO!" The flying swarm of red-eyed bats joined together to form an enchanting dark-haired girl with white streaks, and if it wasn''t for the shrill scream that escaped her lips, anyone who gazed at her pale face would have been charmed.


    The wounded werewolves were dropped carelessly on the ground as the girl ran towards a corpse. The other male vampire also followed after her.


    Brandon whose senses had been tingling since they reached the lake felt something was wrong.


    He could feel several stares at him but even after looking around, he couldn''t find anything suspicious.


    By the time he put two and two together and realized that this might be a trap, he was already too late.


    "Wait!"


    The female Vampire turned the corpse before her around, and soon after her eyes widened, not from the pain and anger she felt a short second ago, but from surprise.


    A split second later and at the same time Brandon''s anxious cry drifted into her ears, that surprise changed into alarm.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    *Booooom!*


    The corpse she touched exploded into a cloud of green mist that swallowed her whole, and before Brandon and the others could react, the remaining corpses also exploded.


    However, the sounds of the explosion were soon swallowed by the booming sounds created by the clash between an Asura girl and a fierce monster deep within the third zone.


    *Swish!*


    *Swish!*


    *Swish,!*


    Several gusts of winds created by the male elves pushed the green mist away.


    The revealed group coughed in pain as their veins, now colored green protruded visibly out of their revealed skin.


    It was clear that they were poisoned, and the poison itself was too potent and nothing ordinary.


    The three males, the two vampires, and Brandon and his team tried to use their mana to force out the poison wreaking havoc within them.


    However, they subconsciously forgot something very important and failed to realize that the more pressing matter.


    At the same time the cloud of poison mist was cleared, several shadows jumped out from within the greenery around them before commencing a slaughter.


    No matter how Brandon and the others tried to resist, they soon fell to their demise from the onslaught of Rook''s party.


    From the moment they got poisoned, their fates had been sealed.


    .....


    At the same time Brandon''s party fell prey to Rook''s trap, the battle between Zara and Tron was reaching the climax.


    The surroundings five kilometers had been turned into a huge clearing.


    Craters of varying sizes littered the ground.


    Two bodies collided continuously with each other as several bubbles of air spread out into the surroundings together with the clanging sound generated from the collision between their axe and hammer.


    *Boom!* After a fierce collision, Tron and Zara finally separated.


    Tron fell back to the ground, while Zara flew in the air, with her hair swaying within the deep red aura surrounding her and making her look like a miniature sun.


    Zara narrowed her eyes at Tron below, and as she took in his bloodied arms and his trembling hand that was struggling to hold onto his axe, she thought to herself:


    ''For me to use the secret technique, I need to make him submit to me.'' Zara''s eyes narrowed further, as she grasped the rebellious and unrelenting look on Tron''s face, ''He is very prideful. The only way to make him submit is to show him that there is an unbridgeable gap in strength between us.''


    As her thoughts arrived at this point, Zara didn''t hesitate any longer and unleashed the main ability she received from her summon.


    "Mountain Lava domain!"


    Her sweet and pleasant voice rang out for several kilometers.


    And in response to her decree, and the massive burst of Ki that exploded from her, one of the very laws supporting the fabric of reality became forcefully bent to her will, and soon after the surroundings started changing.


    Even though Zara was in the air, the ground of the surrounding one kilometer started changing and what took its place was a scorching pool of lava.


    Once in a while, a bubble of lava would burst up from the pool.


    The eyes of Eleanor and the others who were watching this scene shone with marvel.


    They couldn''t help but feel like the miniature-sun-like figure of Zara resembled a god descended into the earth in the flesh.


    As the others marveled at Zara''s unmatched power, the person at the receiving end gazed at her with a calm look on his face.


    Standing on the only rock remaining within the pool of lava, Tron''s tensed nerves slowly relaxed.


    He could tell the only reason why he was able to stand on the floating piece of rock was because of Zara''s will as it wasn''t her intention to kill him. He could already grasp that from their previous clashes. As the aura around Zara grew, the more he became pushed back, yet Zara never landed a killing blow. He had a clue of what she was trying to achieve, especially after she unleashed her domain.


    Tron shut his eyes for a moment during which Zara merely flew and didn''t make any move to interrupt him.


    After making his decision, Tron sighed for a moment before his deep voice boomed across the area:


    "I know what you want. If you can defend against this move of mine, then I will willingly follow you."


    Eleanor and the other''s eyes widened when they heard Tron''s words, but Zara ignored their existence altogether, and with a happy expression she spoke hurriedly:


    "You can throw anything at me!"


    Tron moved his axe to his left hand, before raising his right hand to the sky.


    "I hope I don''t disappoint you."


    Before Zara could react to his words, Tron clenched his raised palm at the same time his voice echoed around the silent battlefield only broken by the bursting bubbles of lava:


    "Meteor shadow!"


    Seeing the tens of massive shadows covering the scorching pool of lava she unleashed, Zara raised her head stiffly to the sky and when she saw the rain of meteors that even covered the region outside the range of her domain, her heart beat fiercely against her rib cage.


    Immediately, a thought sprouted within her mind:


    ''I can''t tame him.'' she finally realized that a lion couldn''t tame another lion.


    At the same time...


    Rook and his party who just finished extracting the unique bloodline of their just fallen prey couldn''t help but raise their heads, as they gazed dumbly at the falling rain of meteors filling the entire sky some distance from them.


    The attention of one of Rook''s party members was soon stolen away by the churning mist of the lake behind them and when he turned back to see what was going on, he couldn''t stop his eyes from widening as he shouted in surprise:


    "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?"


    Rook and the others turned upon hearing their mate''s cry and when they finally realized the reason for his scream, they couldn''t help but question if their own eyes were seeing wrong.


    Rook was the first to break out of his stupor.


    With the rain of falling meteor behind him, Rook flashed an evil smile to his new guests comprising of little kids:


    "Well, well...what do we have here?"

 CHAPTER 154: ALL OR NOTHING!

    Eight little kids who had the potential to shine like a sun no matter the cluster of stars they were placed in, were all brought together directly or indirectly by one person.


    Arlo.


    Finally stepping into the third zone, Arlo and the others were greeted by a sight they didn''t expect.


    It was a sight of a shower of falling meteors covering the skies far in the distance.


    However, this sight wasn''t what brought the aghast look the eight of them shared.


    Arianne and Ella were the first to have a change in expression as a flame of anger burned visibly within their eyes, with the latter being more intense than the former.


    While, Arianne didn''t consider herself close to the third-year vampires, as members of the same race, especially one that was still relatively few, she considered the life of each and every member of her race very important.


    However, Arianne''s reaction couldn''t be compared at all to Ella''s.


    As the tears spilled uncontrollably down her usually droopy eyes that shone with sadness, Ella took in with a cloudy vision, the sight of her senior''s corpses. Unlike before, their dignified aura was long gone, as their bodies were covered in green veins, causing a sick air to surround them.


    The werewolves were one of the ancient races, unlike the vampires. After living for thousands of years, the number of their members could simply not be counted, as they could even be sighted in many outer worlds. However, one thing the wolves shared in common, even more than the newly appeared vampires, was a very close relationship. Their unique bloodline brought them closer together as they lived in packs, and their bonds could be said to be far tighter than any other race''s. Even though Brandon and the others were not among the most talented among their batches, as the more excellent ones had already broken past the grandmaster realm making them ineligible to enter the secret realm, they had still treated Ella not only as their princess but even as their little sister.


    The huge snake-like image showed signs of movement, however, it soon stopped after Rose''s cute voice resounded in the area.


    "Stop!"


    Rose wondered whether the huge snake image understood her, but after noticing the pitch-black snake nestling at its head region turn to her, she quickly shook her head as her spinning eyes locked with the starry eyes of the latter.


    The pitch-black snake watched her intently for a moment, before un-summoning the huge snake-like image.


    Rook''s eyes shone with surprise.


    While he appeared confident outwardly, the truth was that he had been alarmed after seeing the huge snake image, but when he noticed it wanted to move, he secretly sneered as he planned to detonate his poisonous mana that was still lingering inside the corpses around him. No matter how unusual the snake could be, once it was swallowed unprotected by the mist of poison, it would fall eventually just like the others. However, his plan failed before it could even start.


    Arlo and the others fell lightly on the ground after the huge snake-like image disappeared abruptly. The pitch-black snake turned into a black light that moved in Joe''s direction before coiling around his snake. However, before Arlo and Rook''s group could respond to this development, Ella''s low voice dripping with hatred and filled with anger drifted into all their ears.


    "Judgment!"


    *Rumble!*


    The skies shook and an instant later, a large black cloud gathered above Rook''s party head before a rain of purple lightning poured down on them.


    "Humph..." Rook harrumphed while his cousins had smiles of derision on their faces. Without even needing to act by themselves, the downpour of lightning wasn''t able to come close to them as the other seven members of their party defended against the attack effortlessly.


    Seeing that her attack had failed, Ella wanted to charge forward, but she was quickly held down by Arianne who drew her into her embrace.


    Even though Arianne felt pained to see her seniors die, she knew that what she was feeling couldn''t come close to how Ella felt. Besides, she didn''t see the corpses of all her seniors, but only two, so she still hoped that they were still alive somewhere within the third realm. However, all the members of the werewolf''s team were confirmed dead before their eyes, and even their tainted corpses appeared to have been desecrated after their deaths.


    "Ah!" Ella screamed in anger from within Arianne''s embrace. Because Arianne was far taller than her, and because she didn''t also use her full strength, she wasn''t able to break out easily from Arianne''s clutches.


    The air around Arlo noticeably changed, garnering the attention of Rook and his party who were watching Ella and Arianne like they were enjoying a show.


    Rook narrowed his eyes at Arlo and when he noticed the lack of mana from the golden-haired boy, he was about to speak when...


    *Booooom!*


    *Boooooom!*


    *Booooooom!*


    *Boooooooom!*


    From deep within the third zone, several massive hands made from red-scorching lava rose high into the sky before colliding with the falling meteors.


    The attention of Arlo, Rook, and their parties was once again stolen as they gazed in the direction of the lava hands that were struggling to stop the descent of the falling meteors.


    Even though the hands made from lava seemed to be the same size as the meteors, they were still pushed down ever so slightly by the latter.


    *Boooom!*


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    *Boooooom!*


    *Boooooooom!*


    Several more hands rose into the sky before pairing with the previous ones and successfully stopping the meteors in their path.


    As for the meteors outside the coverage of the hands, they descended unrestrained, and in a few moments would collide with the ground.


    Rook and the others didn''t dare to guess the level of destruction and mayhem that would result from such a collision.


    A pressing look appeared on Rook''s face. He had been thinking of enjoying his time with the little kids especially his little cousin, who with unknown methods was able to cross the second zone and arrive at the third. Of course, he could already guess that it must have had something to do with that unusual snake image.


    But now that the fourth zone seemed to be accessible and the third zone was about to be half destroyed, he wanted nothing but to leave this place.


    ''Besides, I must leave fast so that I don''t cross paths with those monsters.'' Rook was sure the Asuras had a hand in the fight that was raging on in the distance.


    He shifted his eyes toward Arlo''s group, and he couldn''t help but notice that they seemed to be communicating.


    However, he didn''t care about what plan they were devising, as he commanded in a light voice:


    "Kill them fast. As for the boy with the snake coiled around his snake, I will handle him myself."


    "Hehe!" Rook''s female cousin chuckled in understanding, "Can we also join in? It has been a while since I had time to spend with my cute little Joe after all."


    The last male among the trio seemed to share the same thought. Without any hesitation, Rook nodded readily to their request, "Sure."


    The other seven members of the magical beast''s team charged toward Arlo and his group, however, something they didn''t expect soon happened.


    .....


    Two minutes earlier.


    Seeing the pain flashing within Arianne''s eyes even as she tried to soothe the angry Ella, Arlo felt something snap within him.


    However, his mature and intelligent mind told him this wasn''t the time to act, as he could sense the cultivation of the people in front of him.


    His mind spun quickly as many plans hatched within it.


    In the end, he arrived at the same conclusion...


    ''We will all die.''


    He was able to formulate a plan on the spot and include the strength of people he barely associated with to deal with someone as powerful as the ant queen.


    But in the presence of overbearing power, all plans would be crushed.


    Rook''s party was completely comprised of grandmaster mages. Just two of them would be able to handle the ant queen, not to mention they numbered almost a dozen. Besides, Rook and two others seemed to be more dangerous than the others, and the resemblance they shared with Joe didn''t skip Arlo''s eyes.


    It was then that several huge hands rose into the sky, gathering the attention of all the figures present.


    However, Arlo was quickly pulled away from watching the display of might from the clash between some otherworldly beings, as Rose snuck beside him and tugged at his suit.


    Locking eyes with Rose''s quickly spinning eyes, Arlo''s eyes widened as something clicked within his mind.


    He gathered his spiritual energy to secretly send a message to her, but Rose beat him to it.


    "Yes." Her voice was drowned by the sounds of explosion coming from afar, but Arlo was still able to hear her clearly, causing his heart to beat faster as the snuffed hope started lighting up again.


    A plan quickly brewed up within Arlo''s mind, and when he tried to ask for confirmation, Rose''s voice interrupted him once again:


    "It will work."


    Arlo clenched his hands tightly.


    That was all the confirmation he needed.


    He couldn''t help but look at Rose in a new light, and subconsciously, he started developing a liking for this girl who insulted him in their first meeting.


    Quickly and while Rook''s Party was still distracted by the clash between the red hands and the falling meteors, Arlo gathered his spiritual energy and tried to do something he had never done before.


    Sending his spiritual energy into his party''s head, Arlo communicated differently with each of them. He had come up with this method at the spur of the moment and because he was pressed for time. Thankfully, he was able to succeed.


    What Arlo didn''t know was that what he just accomplished was something even the current Arianne was not able to do. Communicating simultaneously with many people was a feat not too hard for genius vampires, especially those from Evangeline and Rosaline''s clan, but to have different conversations simultaneously with several people was something very few among the vampires could accomplish, as it involved dividing their consciousness.


    However, Arlo was able to achieve it on his first try.


    The enraged Ella slowly calmed down as she listened to Arlo''s voice ringing within her mind.


    Arianne loosened her arms around Ella as Arlo shared his plan with her.


    Kai gripped his katana tightly as an intense thirst for battle shone within his usually indifferent eyes.


    Tina and Miller listened attentively to Arlo''s words, as they became aware of the dangerous situation they were in.


    Arlo''s brows furrowed greatly, and a displeased look soon covered his face, as he received a reaction he didn''t expect from one person. Rather than saying he didn''t expect it, it was more apt to say that he wasn''t in the mood to condone such behavior.


    Joe trembled greatly as he covered his wrapped his arms around his neck, not caring about how he made his life-beast uncomfortable.


    No matter how Arlo called out to him within his mind, he just kept shaking his neck as he muttered under his breath:


    "No, please don''t kill me..."


    "Please, don''t kill me..."


    Arlo who was pressed for time felt anger toward Joe after a long time since they became friends, and as he was about to shout at him telepathically, his expression suddenly changed greatly as he felt Rook shift his eyes away from the clashing meteor and lava hands, unto them.


    At the same time that Rook commanded his party members to attack, Arlo shouted hurriedly within the minds of Ella, Arianne, Rose, Kai, Tina, and Miller as he ignored the frightened Joe:


    "Now!"


    The delicious scent of fresh roses permeated the area as countless rose petals fluttered in the area, before forming a wall that obstructed the eyes of Rook and his members who were charging forward.


    At the same time, Ella''s enraged voice echoed from the other side of the walls of petals.


    "Lightning pack!"


    *Rumble!*


    The ground shook greatly, and as the Rose petals parted aside, the eyes of Rook and his members widened when they saw the four massive wolves made from pure lightning and standing grandly at the height of eight meters. At the center of these four wolves was the small body of the transformed Ella, her purple eyes glaring in their direction.


    However, that wasn''t really what shook Rook greatly. As he shifted his eyes around, he realized that the dark-haired kid who appeared to be the youngest in the group was now missing.


    The thought of what happened here spreading outside sent shivers down his spine, however before he could react, another change occurred.


    "Anita!" Arlo''s shout pulled his eyes like a magnet, and the subsequent firebird that appeared all of a sudden as it released a fierce cry, momentarily caused him to forget about the missing boy.


    As if that wasn''t enough, a sword cry drifted into his ears, as he saw countless silver energy surround the boy holding a katana, and as he held his blade in a pulling posture, Rook couldn''t help but feel a feeling of threat.


    Just when he was about to shout at his team not to underestimate these kids any longer, as he was starting to feel anxious for some reason, his body stumbled uncontrollably due to the gravity around him that had increased by at least three times. He saw from the corner of his eyes that his team was also experiencing the same fate, as even some of them fell completely to the ground.


    A feeling of anger welled up within him at being treated in such a manner by little kids not only younger than him but also with far weaker cultivation. Just when Rook was about to lose his mind, a deep animalistic roar drifted into their ears, causing his mind and that of his team to blank out and their eyes to appear listless.


    *ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!*


    With Arianne transformed into her true form, with the turned Ella before her and surrounded by four eight-meter lightning wolves, Arlo rode together with Rose atop the head of Anita in her bird''s form, while Kai and Tina stood at opposite ends of the group.


    "Charge!" Arlo commanded with a deep voice, with the fluttering sounds of the red rose petals as a background.


    It was all or nothing!


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 155: A DRAGON AMONG US

    Eyes filled with golden runes spun slowly as they watched the firm back of the golden-haired boy directing the charge below.


    ''He should be at least two years younger than me.'' Rose thought quietly to herself.


    For the past three days since entering the secret realm, she realized that she had been subtly changing. Especially since encountering the young boy, who despite being younger than her was taller. She controlled herself from voicing her thoughts upon forming and threw curse words around albeit silently in her heart.


    "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"


    The battle cry that sounded like it came from a legendary Phoenix announced the start of their fierce charge for survival.


    Rose quickly shifted her eyes from Arlo''s back to the ground. She watched with narrowed eyes as Arianne and the others made a move.


    Not even three seconds after losing his consciousness, Rook regained his bearing. However, he had also fallen to the ground just like the others within that short period.


    A burning flame of anger raged within his eyes, as he tried to pick himself up. However, the weight on his body which had increased by at least three times, made him struggle momentarily.


    Arianne didn''t miss this opening.


    The blood from the corpses on the ground moved as if they were controlled by an invisible hand, before wrapping around Rook and his team''s bodies.


    Five seconds after Rook regained his bearing, his two cousins also awoken from their listless state. However, when they woke up, they found themselves bound tightly by thick chains.


    The sound of Rook grunting followed by several cracking sounds drifted into their ears, causing them to turn their eyes to him.


    Not even a second since bound, the blood chains showed signs of breaking, even though they tried to repair themselves.


    A second later, Rook grunted again, intending to shatter the chains and teach the little kids who dared to humiliate him a thorough lesson.


    However, his movement soon seized as several huge shadows covered him and his surroundings.


    *Snarl!*


    *Snarl*


    The four eight-meter wolves appeared before them as two bared their fangs toward him, and the other two attacked his cousins each.


    Rook''s pupils contracted into needles, and instead of feeling the sensation of sharp teeth tearing into his flesh, all he felt was a deep searing pain transmitted to his brain.


    But that wasn''t all...


    *Booooom!*


    *Boooooom!*


    *Booooooom!*


    *Boooooooom!*


    The four wolves exploded into a domain of lightning that covered him and all his team members.


    Groaning slightly, Rook''s eyes reddened from shame and anger, as he took in the sight around him.


    The painful moans of his cousins entered his ears at the same time that he saw several snakes of deep purple lightning crackling around their bodies.


    His other team members who were yet to awaken from the previous soul attack spasm uncontrollably within the raging lightning field.


    But what Rook really focused on, was the sight of the firebird swooping down to carry the werewolf and vampire girls who had returned to their human forms, and his cousin Joe.


    ''No...''


    ''You can''t escape...''


    ''I won''t allow you to escape!'' he screamed inwardly in his mind.


    He could tell that he would need a few more seconds before he could break free from the lightning raging around his body. Time that he didn''t have the luxury of.


    He was already losing his mind about the missing kid and was forcibly pressing down his panic.


    How could he allow the other kids to escape from his eyes and cause more problems for him?


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    Left with no choice, Rook detonated his poisonous mana still lingering within the corpses around them.


    However, his eyes widened a split second later and he couldn''t help but have a foreboding feeling when he saw the young girl whose hair was a mix of gold and light green open her mouth.


    "Now!"


    It was then that his move was unleashed.


    *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*


    *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*


    The more than a dozen corpses around them exploded into a deep green poisonous mist that not only swallowed Rook and his team but also Arlo and his group.


    ''I can move in three seconds more...'' Rook thought from within the mist of poison. His mana was already fighting against the invading lightning and all he needed was three breaths to expel them all. The same situation was happening to his cousins, albeit they needed more time to break free.


    Just when Rook was starting to relax, a cold voice filled with battle intent drifted into his ears, causing the foreboding feeling to return.


    "There is nothing I cannot cut..."


    *Zing!* A sword cry rang across the area.


    "Tidal wave!"


    There was a brief silence before...


    *Fwoooooooooooooooooooosh!*


    Silver energy completely swallowed the green poison mist, and at the same, several light cuts appeared on the bodies of Rook and his team. It was at that time that his other team members started waking up, causing them to wince from the sharp energy that cut through their bodies.


    However, Rook''s eyes bulged and his veins popped out to the point that they looked like they would burst at any moment.


    A firebird flew unrestrained above them, as Rook watched stunned the little kids remained unaffected even though they were caught unaware by his move.


    Two groups made of teens around his age succumbed to this attack, yet little kids far younger and weaker than them remained unfazed.


    He couldn''t understand, and as the seconds slowly ticked by, no matter how he racked his brain, he couldn''t think up a reason for why he failed.


    How could he know that his attack had already been seen through by Rose and that Arlo had used his spiritual energy to telepathically inform his team beforehand?


    However, Rook snapped back to reality quickly as he forcefully discarded his hurt pride.


    "You can''t escape!"


    He roared as he forcefully withstood the weight on his shoulders and stood to his feet.


    His mana surged as light green essence giving out an unpleasant smell burst out wildly from his body.


    Several tens of green tridents materialized above him in a split second and just as he was about to wave his hand to launch them at the firebird that was within his range of attack, his expression suddenly changed.


    "MILLER, NOW!"


    Arlo who had moved to the back of his group to face Rook with a rebellious look, roared over his lungs from atop Anita.


    Rook flinched as the image of the boy who had disappeared in the beginning flashed within his mind. Even though he was unfamiliar with the shouted name, he still couldn''t help but quickly prepare himself for a surprise attack, as he didn''t dare to underestimate the kids flying above him any longer.


    He was fully aware that if it wasn''t for his and his team''s carelessness, this series of events wouldn''t have played out as it did.


    But even after three seconds, the attack never came.


    Five seconds later, a dark-haired boy suddenly appeared in mid-air close in front of the firebird. The firebird quickly dived down, allowing the boy to land on its back. At the same time, it escaped Rook''s range of attack.


    It took two seconds for Rook to understand what just happened.


    "AH!" He screamed maniacally.


    He had been deceived once again!


    His body shook before he transformed into a twenty-meter-long serpent, that soon gave chase.


    His cousins who had just retained full control of their bodies quickly followed after him.


    ''We can''t allow them to escape!''


    The same thought rang constantly within their minds.


    A chase soon began.


    Anita couldn''t fly high into the air due to the destruction of the realm. This allowed her to still be susceptible to attacks from below.


    Arlo tensed up as he saw Rook closing quickly on them. It seemed that it wouldn''t even take a minute for him to bridge the opened distance between them.


    Anita was currently carrying nine people including Arlo, so her speed was quite reduced.


    Shifting his eyes toward Rose, Arlo opened his mouth to voice his thoughts only to close them back when he saw the relaxed look on her chubby but cute face.


    "Don''t worry, we have done our part." he didn''t understand her but he could guess that she had seen something from her, considering that her eyes were spinning the fastest he had ever seen.


    Arlo closed his eyes as he thought back to the first set of words Rose said to him when she tugged at his clothes and when their attention was momentarily stolen by the clash between the lava hands and falling meteors.


    "Before the realm closes, you will become a dragon among us."


    She didn''t say, ''dragon among men'', but ''dragon among us''.


    What did this mean?


    This meant she wasn''t comparing him to other people but to their current group.


    Opening his eyes, Arlo looked at the people currently flying on top of his summon.


    ''These are the most talented people I have ever met. Could I become peerless even among them?''


    His eyes shifted from them, before falling subconsciously to the previous far-away floating mountain that now appeared close.


    ''Ba-dum!* *Ba-dum!* *Ba-dum!*


    For some reasons unknown, Arlo felt like he would find the answer there.


    Suddenly Arlo''s expression changed. He quickly turned back and looked down to see that at some point Rook had transformed back into his human form, and was now leaping from tree branches to another as he closed the distance to them.


    Suddenly, his body paused for a moment as he gathered his strength for his last jump.


    Rook''s body flew into the air like a launched arrow, and as his body drew a parabola, under Arlo''s continuously widening eyes, he started to transform in mid-air.


    A twenty-meter-long huge snake opened its jaw wide to reveal a set of fangs lining its mouth, as it tried to swallow the five-meter wide wingspan Anita.


    Time seemed to come to a crawl...


    "Troooooooooooooouuuuuuun!*


    Just when Arlo started doubting Rose, from the side of his eye, he captured a fast-approaching object, that in an instant appeared before him and slammed against the side of Rook''s opened mouth.


    In that brief moment of collision, Arlo captured the appearance of the foreign object.


    It was an axe, with a handle that was two meters long and appeared to have been formed by twisting several branches together.


    Blood erupted into the air, and a split second later, Rook''s massive body flew in the same direction as the flying axe. Arlo heard several explosions as at least two or three dozen trees were turned into a pile of wood fragments after being shattered by Rook''s massive body.

 CHAPTER 156 : THE LAST MIND TRIAL I; JOES PAST

    A scorched land covered the distance.


    Massive craters of varying sizes littered the ground.


    The once dangerous yet beautiful landscape had been turned into a region of destruction.


    A stifling air pervaded the area.


    However, the silence was soon broken by a soft voice brimming with power:


    "Why?"


    There was a short moment of silence before a different voice that didn''t fall short of the beautiful female voice resounded:


    "I had to."


    Zara gazed at the monstrous beast kneeling before her with a complicated expression.


    Not only had he stopped the meteors outside the range of her domain from colliding with the ground, but in their final clash, for some reason unknown, he had thrown his axe far into the distance, causing him to receive the full brunt of her attack without any measure of defense.


    Tron who had deep gashes in different parts of his body, dyeing his white fur red, couldn''t help but flash her a grin, "Even if I hadn''t retracted my attack, I would still have lost."


    Tron could still feel the terrifying power behind Zara''s attack, and he knew deep down, that he didn''t have anything within his arsenal to defend against it.


    It was just that even though he would have lost, he wouldn''t have been put in such a helpless situation.


    However, he didn''t regret his decision.


    After several weeks, he finally heard that otherworldly voice ring inside his head, asking him for help.


    Without any hesitation, he threw his axe powered with all his might in the direction the voice had requested.


    He was happy to be able to repay his debt, even though it wasn''t in full.


    The contented expression slowly disappeared from Tron''s face, and what took its place was an unyielding look as he continued in a deep voice:


    "But I am sorry. In the end, my pride wouldn''t allow me to serve you, especially when I know that my previous master hasn''t abandoned me."


    The complicated look on Zara''s face slowly disappeared to be replaced by her usual indifference.


    Raising her bronze hammer lightly, she looked at Tron with cold eyes, "It''s a shame. But I can''t allow you to live."


    Tron looked at her intently for a moment before finally lowering his head.


    Just when Zara was about to swing her hammer, a cold voice stopped her in place.


    "Wait..."


    Furrowing her eyebrows, Zara looked at the approaching Steven with a questioning look. She would have ignored him entirely even after knowing his status. It was just that the fact that he remained behind even after the ground shook and the fourth zone opened, earned her respect.


    Eleanor and Landon had left for a while after all, yet he remained with her, only because of their newly formed partnership.


    Arriving at her side, Steven raised his sword to block Zara''s hammer, causing the light crease on her face to slowly change into a displeased frown.


    However, Steven''s next words caused her frown to disappear and her eyes to widen.


    "Now, I understand why that person told you to come to the secret realm. The person you are searching for isn''t me, but I assure you that you won''t be disappointed."


    Steven smiled at her before he shifted his eyes to the kneeling Tron:


    "You might just want to release him."


    "Why?" the frown returned to Zara''s face. She repressed her curiosity of finding out about this person''s identity and voiced her opposition. She didn''t really want to let such a loose end live. After clashing with Tron, she was fully aware of his terrifying potential that he was yet to tap into.


    Steven didn''t seem to care about how she felt as he voiced out in a cold voice, "I don''t know why, but I am sure this beast is connected to this person you so want to meet."


    A few minutes earlier, his line of sight had followed the direction Tron had thrown his eyes. After enhancing his eyesight with not only his mana but also his killing intent, he was able to see what happened tens of kilometers away.


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    What he saw made him gasp and also made a seed of gratitude towards Tron sprout within him. After all, he had saved his Juniors, Tina and Miller.


    A feeling of anger soon welled up within him, but after seeing the golden-haired boy whom he was very familiar with, his mind went blank.


    He didn''t believe his eyes as he watched the firebird carry them further away into the third zone. But it was then that something clicked within his mind.


    He didn''t believe he was the person Zara was looking for, after all, even though he was 60% confident, he couldn''t guarantee his victory against her.


    But if It was Arlo?


    ''He is more than capable.''


    A myriad of emotions flashed on Zara''s face.


    In the end, she sighed, before lowering her hammer.


    At the same time.


    Arlo and the others arrived at the lake separating the third zone from the treasure zone. They could see several figures hidden within the magical mist covering the lake.


    And unlike before, they could see the opposite ends of the lake, as it was far smaller in size, barely covering three kilometers or so.


    Without any hesitation, the group entered the lake in silence.


    The feeling of brushing with death sent chills down the spine of even great geniuses like them, and even Arlo who was already secretly alerted beforehand by Rose wasn''t an exception. All of them ignored the trembling Joe who retreated to one side on Anita''s back with a look of shame and self-reproach on his face.


    Not to mention that they weren''t sure whether Rook was dead and even if he was, his team was still alive. So they were pressed for time and didn''t have the luxury of diverting their attention.


    Anita retreated into her seal, and like this Arlo and his group commenced their last but also life-changing mind trial in the secret realm.


    With Arlo''s group included, approximately sixty figures were currently on the lake, undergoing individual trials, which if they were to fail would spell their death.


    The majority of those present were humans, as most of them were led safely by Theodore and his group, who lowered their heads and avoided any form of trouble, as they prioritized arriving quickly at the treasure zone. The only obstacle they met on their paths were the fierce spiritual beasts that had been commanded by Tron to kill all outsiders they encountered. But in the face of Theodore''s strength and their group''s number, they all fell. In fact, Theodore and his group were the first to arrive at the lake and commence the trial, so they had a heart start compared to the others. Of course, whether they finish first or not fully depended on the difficulty of the test they would face, and their abilities.


    After a few more figures, Eleanor in the company of Landon also entered the lake, with the hope that their team would catch up to them.


    About fifteen minutes after Arlo and his group started their trials, the magical beast group led by a wounded Rook also appeared at the scene. A scary light shone within his eyes, and a dangerous aura surrounded him, causing even his team and his cousins to shiver in fear.


    With a hate-filled gaze directed at no specific direction in the lake, Rook took a deep breath before stepping forward.


    The usually noisy third zone populated by terrifying beasts was now enveloped in an eerie silence, a stark contrast to its previous state.


    ......


    Unlike before when the pitch black snake had used some unknown methods to make Joe bypass the mind trial, this time Joe found himself within a dark space.


    Soon after, the darkness started receding from around him, and what he saw made the emotions he had been bottling within himself these past three days burst out.


    "Father..." he barely choked out as his eyes erupted in tears.


    Against his will, Joe was forced to watch the scene that played before his eyes in a third-person view.


    .....


    The Lunar World.


    This world was very popular among the countless stars that filled the universe.


    The main reason is that it was ruled by one of the two strongest races in existence who followed a matriarchal system of succession the werewolves.


    However, things changed a few decades ago, when an unknown race, never seen or heard of before suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    With inhuman speed and strength, and terrifying reflexes, with many more supernatural abilities, this new race was able to climb the ranks quickly, before clashing head with head with the ruling werewolves.


    And caught in the cross of the clash were the unfortunate magical beasts.


    Unlike other spiritual beasts, they were able to take the form of a human and establish several civilizations.


    But these civilizations soon faced a threat when the war began between vampires and werewolves.


    Thankfully, within these perilous times, a prince among the Royal Basilisk family rose and grew in fame. He became renowned for his terrifying battle prowess that could compare favorably with the top masters of the vampires and werewolves and it was even said that he had been acknowledged by the great rulers of the two races. Under his leadership, the magical beasts were able to stand firmly and survive the great war.


    The Royal Baseliks were well known for their lecherous behaviors, as they even slept with magical beasts of other races without any care for the bastards they might sire. Their only preoccupation was to satisfy their innate lust.


    However, the hero was an exception.


    Among the princes of the royal family, he was known to never have had any intimate relationship with any female, and it was not until he was crowned a king that he had a wife.


    The queen loved him so much and took pleasure and pride in being the only woman in his eyes. She gave him three children, the first being a prince and the other two, princesses.


    One day, the young king heard the news of outsiders, people who didn''t belong to the Lunar world, appearing in one of the cities and causing the death of thousands of beasts. They decimated every warrior sent after them and caused fear to slowly spread among his people.


    Left with no choice, the young king embarked on his own and took matters into his own hands.


    It was then it happened.


    The young king encountered a young woman who seemed to be chased by the beings causing mayhem in his cities.


    The young king who had never been moved by beauty finally became enamored by a female.


    His heart finally skipped a beat after meeting the human girl, who had an appearance he had never seen before.


    She was a vision of ethereal beauty, with cascading long white hair that flowed like silk, framing her delicate features. Her eyes, a mesmerizing shade of matching white, held a depth and intensity that seemed to draw the king into another world.


    *Ba-dum!* *Ba-dum!* *Ba-dum!*


    Joe''s young heart beat fiercely against his rib cage when his eyes fell upon the unfamiliar woman, who for some strange reason felt familiar to him.

 CHAPTER 157: THE LAST MIND TRIAL II; FIONA DES LUMINOX

    When he saw the girl in danger, the young king swung in like a knight in shining armor and saved her from the grasp of the evil pursuers.


    However, the young king greatly underestimated these foreigners and almost succumbed to death at their hands. Left with no choice, he escaped with the young girl successfully and could only hope that these invaders were oblivious to his true identity, as he feared he might put his family and people in danger.


    Like this, he and the girl hid in a secret place known only to him.


    Time slowly passed.


    A man covered in a hooded cloak walked across the bustling city.


    Even though the people who moved around him looked like humans, the wild aura around them revealed their true identities.


    That is right!


    This was a city occupied by magical beasts.


    "It''s been over a year, yet we haven''t seen the king."


    "That is right! The Queen has been the one handling all matters."


    "Even when those invaders killed several of us, I can''t believe the king didn''t act personally."


    "Thank goodness those people crossed the werewolves, if not I can''t begin to imagine what might have happened to us."


    The voices of the bystanders entered the man''s ears as he walked to his destination.


    After some time, the black-hooded man left the city with some provisions in hand.


    After walking for some time, and making sure that nobody followed him, the man entered a secret cave.


    The giggling sounds of a baby slowly drifted into his ears the further he walked into the spacious cave.


    Suddenly, a beautiful voice pleasant to ear resounded from within, and if one paid careful attention, one would notice the caution hidden within it, "Joe, is that you?"


    Removing the hood from his head, a handsome dark-haired man with green reptilian eyes spoke with a small smile on his face, "It is me!"


    As if recognizing his voice, the giggling sound of the child increased in volume and frequency.


    A moment later, a beautiful white-haired woman with matching eyes appeared before Joe. Unlike the snow-white hair which was unique to the vampires, her hair seemed more like an embodiment of light. In her arms, was a small child barely three months old giggling with a happy smile as he gazed in his direction.


    "Hey, my little Joe!" putting the provisions in his hands down, King Joe took his little son, his fourth child from the woman''s hair before he lifted him into the air and spun around.


    "Ha..hehe..." young Joe giggled away. Not only did he inherit his father''s hair, he also acquired his charm, as his cute little face would tug at the heart of any living being.


    "Is everything alright?"


    King Joe brought his little kid back down, before nestling him comfortably in his arms, "What do you mean?"


    The white-haired woman gestured with her head at the provisions on the side "Why didn''t you put them in your spatial ring?"


    King Joe''s eyes suddenly widened in realization, and soon after a wry smile graced his face, "I don''t know why I forgot about something so basic?"


    The white-haired woman''s eyes shone with sadness but quickly hid them before her lover noticed.


    She knew he was worried about his family. Aside from a message he sent to them to appease their worries about his well-being over a year ago, he hadn''t contacted them again. He was worried after all, of the terrifying figures chasing after her.


    When her thoughts arrived at this point, her mind warmed up once again. She never thought she would fall in love one day.


    "Now I know why they haven''t been killing people and haven''t actively investigated my identity." King Joe''s words pulled her out of her thoughts.


    "What do you mean?" Her expression immediately became serious.


    "Apparently, they stumbled upon some Elders of the werewolves, and their entire team was almost decimated. Since then, they haven''t gone out of their way to kill recklessly again."


    A look of understanding lit her face, but King Joe''s next words caused her expression to change greatly the next second.


    "Do-do you think I-we can go back to my family? I can assemble an army, and now that they are weakened, I don''t think they could pose any threat."


    The white-haired woman''s eyes shook greatly. She knew how dangerous those men after her were, and she didn''t believe just any elder of the werewolves could kill them. Sure, their sidemen could be killed, but not the major spearheads of their team.


    Walking toward him, she caressed his cheek with a loving smile, and seeing him rub gently on her hand made her smile blossom the more.


    "You can go back to your family. If it were not for you, I would be dead by now. But you have done enough and your family needs you. I and our son will remain in hiding, as I can''t allow his existence to be revealed to them. That would just create a far greater mess for us."


    King Joe''s face became covered in shame when he heard her words. Thinking that she had hurt his heart, the woman quickly continued:


    "I don''t mean it like that. I genuinely feel gracious for this past year, and while I wish I could have you to myself, I also know that your family needs you..."


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    "You are my family!" The king cut her words in a deep voice. Carrying the now quiet Joe in one hand, he squeezed her hand which was still on his cheek gently.


    "Besides not only can I not abandon you, I also can''t abandon my son. He will experience tough times in his growth..."


    The woman''s expression became anxious upon hearing his words. She knew what her lover meant, as her son was the result of a union between a magical beast and a human. Since he inherited both of their genes, it meant that he was partly human, and partly a magical beast. This meant that, unlike others, he wouldn''t be able to transform freely, as every transformation would come with an unbearable pain, due to his impure bloodline.


    She was just about to voice her fear when her expression changed simultaneously with King Joe.


    "To think you would notice our presence even with this stealth formation."


    A foreign but familiar voice resounded in the now silent cave, and a second later, the space a few meters from King Joe distorted before four figures appeared.


    King Joe''s face became pale as the thought of leading his lover''s enemies straight toward her and their only child made his heart clench tightly.


    As if reading his thoughts, the white-haired woman smiled slightly as she tried to hide her panic, "They would have found us sooner than later. It isn''t your fault. Instead, I feel this is an opportunity."


    She shifted her eyes toward the four and King Joe mirrored her actions. He knew what she was trying to convey, as it was clear that the numbers of their pursuers had dwindled greatly. Over a year ago, they were up to thirty but now only the few before them remained.


    But the problem was that these four were the most terrifying among the whole group, which meant that their situation had barely changed.


    Steeling his heart, King Joe handed his son to her, "Go, I will meet up with you soon."


    "Joe..." the sides of her eyes became wet.


    Smiling lightly, King Joe assured her, "Don''t worry. Even if I can''t kill them, I am sure I can escape with my life. I have done it before."


    "Heh! Do you think we didn''t come prepared this time?" one of the four men snickered.


    Another one who had his brow tightened in a frown voiced out, "Thay child...don''t tell me he is yours?"


    The other three''s expressions changed greatly before being replaced by a fierce look. "To think the priestess of the Luminox Family is a slut!" spat one of them angrily.


    However, he barely finished his words when King Joe charged at him with fury burning within his eyes.


    In a second, he appeared before the man who had just spoken and hurled his fist at his face. Green scales covered his fist, and before the man could react, his fist slammed into him.


    "Bam!"


    However, the situation he expected never turned out. His punch that could explode a mountain several tens of meters high merely caused his enemy to take a step back.


    Though a bit surprised, King Joe didn''t fret as he still accomplished one of his aims. Taking the opening where the other three unconsciously gazed at King Joe who charged into their circle, a blinding light exploded from the white-haired woman''s body, and a fraction of a second later, her body turned into a white flash that arrived at the entrance of the cave.


    *Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!*


    Several booming sounds entered the ears of King Joe and the other four a moment later.


    "I told you, we came prepared this time. A locking formation has been placed at the cave''s entrance. Nobody is leaving here today!"


    *Booom-booom-boooom-booom-booom!*


    Hundreds of booming sounds continued to resound in the cave per second as a white flash collided with the barrier placed at the entrance.


    No matter how the white flash tried, it couldn''t escape.


    A light of madness shone in King Joe''s eyes, as he registered the dire situation they were placed in.


    *Poison domain!*


    The cave immediately became filled with a thick green mist that swallowed the four men in a mere instant.


    However, the four were already conscious of his domain and were prepared to react immediately.


    The green mist tried to invade their bodies and corrode their skin, but it couldn''t bypass the unique essence fueled by the mana that covered their bodies.


    Still, it made them actively divide their attention to prevent themselves from being poisoned.


    A great fight erupted within the cave.


    Even with four facing one, King Joe held on for a short moment, but soon after he was slowly pushed back by the four''s momentum.


    Thirty minutes passed like this, during which the intensity by which the booming sounds coming from the cave''s entrance didn''t reduce at all.


    "Ah!" King Joe released his anger with a battle cry, and the stifling emotions filling his heart reduced greatly. He had tried blowing up the cave and the mountain they were in, something he could have accomplished easily, but under the effect of the still running formation, now proved difficult.


    With his body covered in blood, and his enemies, in a far worse state than him, as one had lost an arm while another had a deep gash spanning his entire face, and the last two had their skin covered in green showing that they were poisoned, King Joe resolved his heart to die and take his enemies down with him.


    However, there was a reason why he had been running from these pursuers for a long time. If they were so easy to kill, he wouldn''t have stayed in hiding for an entire year.


    In that split moment when he shouted, the four charged at him at the same time with no opening in their movements and no time for him to react.


    With his immense battle prowess and experience, he was able to dodge three of the attacks, however he wasn''t able to dodge the last one.


    King Joe''s reptilian eyes further contracted into a needle as he felt the aura of death about to swallow him whole.


    However...


    Just when the dark sword came in contact with his body and was about to pierce through him, a white light flashed before him, before a warm liquid burst onto his face.


    With his eyes slowly widening in horror and his eyes pooling with tears, King Joe watched the face of his lover before him who flashed him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. However, rather than warming his heart, the smile made his heart twist and his lungs choke.


    "No!" the four men shouted in panic when they saw the person they had been trying to catch fatally wounded.


    Time seemed to come to a crawl...


    The four men were still shouting...


    King Joe''s tears were just about to fall...


    The white-haired woman knew she didn''t have much time as she could feel her life quickly sapping away from her body. But at the same time, she felt her bloodline churn like never before, causing a wry smile to hang on her lips.


    "To think I would only explode with my full potential at the point of death," her sweet voice filled with melancholy could only fall on deaf ears.


    Steeling her heart, she pulled her chest out from the blade that had punctured her heart, and as she felt her heartbeat slow down, she carried little Joe with one hand and held her lover''s hand with her other hand.


    The trio disappeared soon after in this stopped time.


    Now moving at the speed of light, the white-haired woman pierced effortlessly through the barrier she couldn''t escape through before, before crossing a distance of tens of kilometers.


    Arriving at the gate of the city, she left the man she fell in love with a little over a year ago, and placed her child in his arms.


    "I love you both!" she kissed her frozen lover on the cheek, before kissing little Joe.


    "Ee-ah..." A soft but short cry broke the stiffening silence.


    With widened eyes, the white-haired woman gazed at her child, and when she felt his gaze which seemed to have flickered on her for a moment, she couldn''t hold back the tears any longer.


    "My little pumpkin is a genius like his mother. No, you are even better than me."


    Kissing his forehead one more time, she wiped a single tear that had formed at the side of Joe''s eye away, "I want you to always remember the son of whom you are. The son of the sole priestess of the Luminox family, FIONA DES LUMINOX!"


    Feeling that she had a few milliseconds left, she turned reluctantly before disappearing in the direction she had come from.


    A second later, the King came to, and at the same time that his tears spilled uncontrollably down his face and little Joe''s cries drifted into his ears, a brilliant light exploded far in the distance and a moment later, a resounding boom followed.


    *Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!*


    "No!" King Joe''s shrill shriek filled with pain and unwillingness pierced the sky for a moment before being swallowed by the terrifying shockwaves that covered the entire continent.


    The explosion caused by detonating the mana core of a high-class mage was just that terrifying.

 CHAPTER 158: JOES TRANSFORMATION AND ARLOS TEARS

    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can all keep it up, <3.


    *****


    The turmoil caused by the sudden tremor of the entire central continent sent the people into panic.


    Thankfully, the royal family led by Her Majesty the Queen was able to put the situation in order in just a few hours.


    At the capital city of the magical beasts.


    Within a luxurious mansion, surrounded by several high-rise buildings, and located within an estate that spanned hundreds of kilometers, several prominent people gathered in the great hall.


    Reyes, a middle-aged-looking man stood amidst several figures as he watched the scene playing before him with a dark smile.


    He was the previous crown prince and was supposed to be the current King, however, one of his stepbrothers, specifically his hundred-and-twenty-third little brother, suddenly displayed an outlandish talent rarely seen before in the history of their royal family. Supported by his remarkable feats, he could only oblige to relinquish the King''s position to him.


    He bore through the shame that consequently followed and could only remain in his brother''s shadow.


    As he watched that great brother of his kneel with a crestfallen expression before his very eyes, the sides of his lips uncontrollably rose slightly, as he flashed his set of two canine teeth in a gloating smile.


    During the past year when he was absent, he couldn''t instigate the other Royals, as while it was true that King Joe had neglected his responsibilities for over a year, it was ultimately for their safety that he did it.


    What about now?


    King Joe knelt at the center of the hall as he hung his head in shame. His wife, the person currently holding the most authority sat on the throne, as she held her two daughters down forcefully beside her. Her only son, who was well past his adulthood stood behind her with an unreadable expression.


    "Eeah..eeah..." Little Joe let out from the embrace of the kneeling King.


    "I am sorry, Dian." the once noble voice of the mighty king was now filled with guilt and if one paid attention, one would be able to make out the sadness expertly hidden within it.


    The Royals whispered among themselves as they watched the scene play out. Some of them showed expressions of anger as they despised the King for kneeling before a woman, even if the latter was his wife. To them, such a love was pure stupidity. In fact, if it wasn''t because of King Joe''s generals who supported the Queen, her reign during the last year wouldn''t have gone so smoothly.


    After a minute of silence during which the King continued to lower his head in shame, the Queen finally spoke.


    "Who is that boy you are holding?"


    Even though the answer was clear for everyone to see, as not only did the little boy resemble the King greatly but also emitted the aura of the Royal Basilik bloodline, the Queen and the others still looked intently at the king, waiting for him to confirm it himself.


    "He is my Son." the King spoke without any hesitation.


    A ruckus exploded among the Royals.


    If it wasn''t for the proof before their eyes, they wouldn''t have believed King Joe who was always praised for his total devotion to his wife would return with an unknown child, especially when they thought he was in danger for their sake.


    "A-And who is the mother?" it was clear the queen mustered the courage to ask such a question.


    After a brief moment of silence, King Joe failed to hide the slight trembling in his voice as he choked out the word:


    "Dead."


    The whole place was instantly silenced.


    The slumped shoulders that had never shaken before, together with the aura of deep sorrow surrounding their King, caused a wave of different emotions to wash over the hall.


    However, while the others were shaken to their core, Reyes felt his heart filled with joy at his brother''s misfortune. Hoping to see the situation devolve the more, Reyes shifted his eyes toward the queen with expectation as he looked forward to her angry reaction, only for his eyes to widen and his eyeballs to almost bulge out of their sockets.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The Queen flew from her throne, leaving her three children behind only to appear before the kneeling Joe and embrace him.


    The sound of sobbing soon filled the hall.


    While the others were stunned at the unexpected development, the two princesses quickly chased after their mother, before embracing their father whom they had wholly missed for over a year.


    King Joe embraced by three warm hands couldn''t help but shed tears, without a care for his status. He was reminded that while he had lost somebody he held dear, he still had a family who loved and cherished him.


    "I missed you." his wife''s words entered his ears causing him to squeeze the hand supporting her waist further.


    His daughter''s arms wrapped around his neck, caused a warm smile to find its place on his face.


    Retreating from his embrace, the Queen stretched her hand towards little Joe who was silently watching them with twinkling eyes, to which the king didn''t stop her.


    "I will treat him as my own!" her solemn voice that sounded less than a proclamation and more like an oath resounded within the great hall.


    Reyes watched this heartwarming moment with clenched teeth and hatred flashing in his eyes.


    But suddenly his eyes shone as he shifted it back to the throne.


    There, the prince stood motionless, with no emotion on his face. While he tried to hide it, how could the wary light flashing within his eyes escape the sight of somebody like Reyes?


    A sly glint flashed within his eyes and the evil smile returned to his face, however, nobody had the time to notice it, causing it to go unnoticed.


    That is but one person!


    Joe watched the scene playing before him from a third-person perspective. No matter how he shouted and tried to intervene, nothing happened.


    However, unlike before, the current Joe looked totally different.


    The usual timidness on his face was no longer present, and his hardened face couldn''t hide the deep resolve resting deep within his white reptilian eyes.


    So many matters finally made sense to him.


    ''No wonder, I felt pain whenever I transformed.''


    ''No wonder I was able to bond with the pitch-black snake.'' it was a matter that had always plagued his mind. It was general knowledge that only humans could use secret techniques to tame the beasts and it was unheard of for another beast to take one of its kind. But now that he knew he was partly human, the situation didn''t seem that strange anymore.


    Shifting his eyes to one of the little girls hugging the king''s neck, Joe whispered, "No wonder you were able to leave me behind easily. Turned out we aren''t exactly pure siblings."


    Shaking his head, Joe discarded such a thought. His two sisters had always treated him with love, and never once did he feel like an outsider when he was with them.


    However...


    Joe''s eyes fell on the boy still standing beside the throne, "I will make you pay for what you did to our family!"


    He swore to himself.


    It was then that King Joe beckoned to his firstborn, "Child, don''t you miss me?"


    With light steps, the prince moved toward his family before joining them in their embrace. All the while, the evil smile remained on Reyes''s face.


    "I swear by my mother, FIONA DES LUMINOX, that you and the people who killed her will die by my hands!"


    Swore Joe as he knew just where to start.


    Rook''s image flashed within his mind, "I will start with your son."


    The scene around him slowly disappeared at the same time that a blinding light erupted from his body.


    The same thing was happening outside, within the misty lake. However no matter, how the light shone, they couldn''t affect the other figures near him as if they were blocked by an invisible barrier.


    .....


    Joe wasn''t the only person going through a trial, as a few others were also undergoing a great transformation no less than his.


    Kai found himself reliving his past. Under the night starry sky and with only silence as his companion, he repeatedly unsheathed his katana before swinging it at a fast speed and sheathing it a second later. His every movement was fluid and too quick to follow with the naked eye.


    He did this a hundred times!


    A thousand times!


    Ten thousand times!


    A hundred thousand times!


    A million times!


    He kept repeating the same action over and over again until he lost count. In this world of his own, he didn''t seem to get tired and could train to the best of his ability.


    Immediately when he surpassed a million times, a great change occurred.


    His katana started trembling and the moment he unleashed it again, it released a fierce cry before forcefully leaving his grip and flying to the sky. At the same time, countless silver energy in the form of thread surrounded Kai''s body before forming some sort of cocoon around me.


    "I am the sword!"


    His usually indifferent voice now dripping with power resounded from within the silver Cocoon.


    .....


    While the mind trial of the majority of Arlo''s group was going in a positive direction, the same couldn''t be said for one particular person.


    Ella''s usually tired eyes were red from crying. All around her was a world of red, and the corpses of her seniors were the only sight that greeted her.


    "Where were you when we needed you?"


    "I loved you like a little sister."


    "No, please, I don''t want to die. Save me..."


    Different voices echoed simultaneously around her, and under their constant barrage of words, Ella slowly weakened before finally falling to her knees.


    "I am sorry..." her weak voice was drowned by the corpse''s shouts.


    .....


    Theodore shook slightly as he passed his trial.


    He was able to get a head start and arrive at the lake at least twenty minutes before the next party.


    As he walked out of the misty lake, his eyes widened in plain admiration at the new biome before him, ''The treasure area didn''t fail to live up to its name!''


    However, his attention was soon attracted by something else, causing him to shift to his side.


    With his eyes slowly widening, Theodore watched the golden-haired boy who looked the same age as his little princess, walk out of the misty lake barely a second after him.


    What further drew his attention was the tears that streaked down his silver eyes like water from a broken dam.

 CHAPTER 159: Gods

    When Arlo stepped into the lake of trial, he found himself within a space devoid of light. All around him was pure darkness.


    Suddenly there was a small thin crack before him. In less than a split second, the crack widened to reveal an otherworldly place.


    The only thing Arlo could barely make out was an expanse of pristine white clouds billowing and rolling like waves upon an endless sea. Each cloud radiated with a resplendent, holy light, casting a luminous glow that bathed the landscape in an ethereal brilliance. But soon, an object flew out from within the crack, and in his direction.


    Arlo subconsciously raised his arms in a measure to raise a minimum of defense.


    However, his efforts were unwarranted as the wide object simply phased through him, before streaking across the dark void.


    Arlo turned back a moment later, ''An egg?''


    He wasn''t sure if the object was an egg as its shell was a mixture of vibrant colors, but due to its peculiar shape, Arlo could only attribute it to an egg.


    "My dear daughter..."


    Just when Arlo was lost in his thought, a voice that transcended the realms of mortal understanding- a voice that resonated with the power of the divine and stirred the deepest recesses of his soul rang beside his ears, causing his mind to shake and his body to quiver. Even though the voice was filled with sadness, the voice of ethereal beauty still captivated and enchanted him, as Arlo could feel the weight of infinite wisdom and boundless compassion hidden within. He had an almost instinctive feeling of bowing before the owner of such a divine voice.


    Gritting his teeth, Arlo resisted his urge to kneel, but he failed greatly. It seemed he would kneel any moment from now.


    Just when Arlo was about to succumb to the feeling, a malevolent dark ray charged out from the crack silently and without any warning. It was a wonder how such an evil attack could exist in such a holy place.


    However, Arlo didn''t care about that, as in less than half a split second, the dark ray appeared before him.


    Before such an attack, Arlo felt himself minuscule. He felt like an ant about to be smashed by a mountain.


    Simply put, he had no way of resisting.


    Thankfully, just like before, the dark ray phased through him, and with a speed countless times faster than the speed of light, it smashed into the multicolored egg flying a long distance away.


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The beautiful female voice from before shrieked in clear anguish.


    Soon after, a deep male voice that seemed to resonate with the power of creation itself reverberated around him like thunder, shaking the very foundations of reality, "God of weapons, that was not the agreement we had! If I do not kill you with my own hands today, then I do not deserve the title of the DRAGON GOD!"


    *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    As if backing the previous male voice, several roars which Arlo felt to be undeniably from Dragons shook the void.


    However, amidst this roar, Arlo could still barely make out the sobbing voice of the previous female even though it sounded more like a whisper:


    "My dear daughter...Seraphina..."


    *Zooooom!*


    The crack closed in an instant taking with it the ruckus coming from the other side.


    While it sounded long, the series of events that played out from the opening of the crack till its closing barely reached five seconds. Yet to Arlo, it felt like a hundred years and within this time, he found his life in danger two times.


    Arlo panted greatly, and even though he didn''t know why he couldn''t sweat, he didn''t doubt it would have formed a pool below him under normal circumstances.


    But once again, his attention was stolen by an unimaginably sweet voice of a little girl whom Arlo believed to be very young.


    "...Mother?"


    Turning to the direction where the voice came, Arlo squinted his eyes and caught sight of a colorful glint which he presumed to be from the previous egg.


    Still squinting his eyes, Arlo suddenly found himself before the flying egg. It was almost as if it zoomed before him.


    Pondering whether the voice truly came from the egg, Arlo''s expression slightly changed when he heard a familiar voice he hadn''t heard for a while and wasn''t expecting to hear in such a place.


    << What a pity! >>


    "You...how come I can hear you?"


    << Of course you can hear me. I am your soul artifact. >>


    Ignoring the unfamiliar term, Arlo voiced his main confusion:


    "Is this still the mind trial?"


    << Yes. >>


    "Then just what is going on?"


    <<... >>


    Old bro remained silent for almost a minute before he responded:


    << Keep watching. You will find all the answers plaguing your mind. >>


    Displeased from not receiving the answer he was expecting, Arlo decided to remain silent.


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    Like this, he followed the multicolored egg through the endless void.


    Now that he had more time to observe the egg more closely, Arlo realized that the shell of the egg which was a tapestry of iridescent hues, glimmering with an ethereal radiance that seemed to shift and change with each passing moment, was now marked with strange dark chain markings.


    Arlo didn''t know how long the egg had been moving silently through the void. But to him, it felt like a thousand years. Not able to bear it any longer, he grumbled outwardly, "When is this going to end?"


    Sigh!


    Arlo heard Old Bro''s sigh in his head.


    << It''s ten thousand years. >>


    "What?" questioned Arlo with furrowed brows, but as the gears within his head spun greatly, he quickly understood Old Bro''s words, causing him to gasp loudly.


    "You don''t mean..."


    << That is right. It is just as you think.>> Old bro cut him off.


    However, Arlo''s brows soon relaxed as he pointed out with a doubtful look, "But how do you know?"


    Even though he knew Old bro was a great treasure capable of things he couldn''t even imagine, he still felt it was far-fetched for him to guess the time the egg had been drifting accurately.


    Accurately, because, he had felt the confidence in his voice when he stated the duration.


    However, Old Bro''s next words soon sent his thoughts into chaos.


    << Because I was there. Right behind the crack. >>


    "Y-you...Just what are you saying?"


    Sighing one more time, Old Bro continued, "That place you saw before was within the Realm of the gods. And at that time I was still with an owner...the only one to have wielded me to date.>>


    Even though he had many thoughts floating within his mind, Arlo didn''t know why he subconsciously blurted this particular one:


    "Who?"


    Old bro seemed reluctant to answer but after a few moments of hesitation, he replied:


    <<...the Evil God. >>


    A look of shock became plastered on Arlo''s face. Even though he didn''t exactly know who the Evil God was, it didn''t take a genius to figure out his history from his title.


    Like this, the silence returned as Arlo in the company of Old Bro followed the egg. Arlo couldn''t feel the passage of time this time, as he had much food for thought.


    Suddenly, a new change occurred.


    The egg appeared within a cluster of large stars shining with different light.


    Arlo thought there would be a new change, but he was soon left stunned as the egg continued to drift past these stars.


    He saw some unknown creatures, some with grotesque appearance, big enough to span several tens of miles. Yet none of these creatures dared to approach the drifting egg. Once they sensed its aura, they all quivered in fear before taking off.


    Like this, time passed and nothing changed.


    After an unknown time, when Arlo was starting to feel pity for this egg which had remained alone for tens of thousands of years, something finally happened.


    The egg as if sensing something drifted past the hundreds of stars clustered together and instead lunged toward a star shining in a milk-like light reminiscent of the moon.


    It entered into the planet''s stratosphere before colliding with the Earth.


    *Booooooooom!*


    Arlo gasped when he saw the lush forest within which the egg had fallen begin to warp, and with the surroundings followed the animals inhabiting it.


    He saw several thousands of creatures forcefully pulled to a point before disappearing into a crack in space.


    What was left behind was the desolate red ground covered in cracks, emanating an aura of destruction.


    "The desolate plains..."Arlo muttered with pure shock on his face.


    Now he knew how the desolate plains were created and understood why the Torkuns never left the crimson Forest where he had met Joe.


    They must have been scared either by what happened or the aura of the egg that still lingered on the red plains.


    "Is that how the Secret realm was formed?"


    << Yes. She must have used the small bit of the essence of Reality, the power of gods she had, to forcefully bend the laws of this weak world and create a small dimension. And from what I gather, she must have also fused the realm with her mental world. >>


    "Mental world?"


    <<Hmm...for now, just imagine it as the highest form the sea of consciousness formed by spiritual energy can develop to. Of course, there is more to it. If you ever reach a point where you need to know more then I will tell you. As for now, knowing more can do more harm than good. >>


    Arlo didn''t argue with Old Bro''s decision and simply shrugged it off.


    But suddenly, his eyebrows creased into a frown, when he saw that before the crack closed, several hundreds of light streaked out, before scattering in different directions, some even leaving the world.


    "What''s she doing? " he questioned in bewilderment.


    He had long decided to call her a ''she'' after assuming her name was Seraphina.


    << She can''t break out of her egg...>>


    Arlo silently nodded his head. He could tell that she had been cursed by that dark ray. After all, even after so many years, she showed no signs of hatching. Not to mention those eerie chain markings were still etched on her beautiful shell.


    << She must have thought of a way to overcome her situation. >>


    "Oh...to think she would be capable of such a feat even before hatching."


    << Hmph. >> Old bro scoffed, << Unlike mortals, gods are born with a high degree of intellect from the very beginning. Over there, you would see a new child speaking and even able to walk. Do not attribute normal human standards to such godly beings. >>


    For some reason, Arlo felt offended by Old Bro''s words, but before he could voice his displeasure, Old Bro continued:


    << But...even by god''s standard, this girl is simply phenomenal. It''s one thing to have such a degree of sentience after birth, but to be this clever even before hatching is simply unheard of. However, if you consider her identity as the child of the Dragon God, one of the only ten supreme gods, then it isn''t that unusual. Not to mention she is one of the few beings to have an affinity to the unique Aether laws. >>


    "A supreme god?"


    << That is right. >>


    "Then what about this god of weapon?" Arlo could still remember the words of that deep male voice that had called himself the dragon god. For him to have no choice but to agree with this god of weapons, meant that the latter wasn''t any lower in status.


    <<...he is one of the only three sovereign gods. >>


    Arlo''s eyes slowly widened when he realized this god of weapons was even greater than he assumed.


    However before he could ask more questions, Old Bro cut him off with a cold voice:


    <<Focus on what is before you. Such matters are far away from your reach. Don''t forget that your parents have been marked for death by a great adversary. If you want to have enough strength to protect them, then you need to get your priority straight.>>


    Arlo swallowed the words he wanted to say. Hearing that his parents were in constant danger, a cold light flashed within his eyes. One that he barely suppressed.


    << You couldn''t even pinpoint the more important things in the information I just passed across. >> Old bro appeared disappointed and Arlo could feel the displeasure in his voice.


    "What?" Arlo was starting to feel annoyed by the artifact spirit''s constant devaluation of him.


    << I told you that she was one of the few beings with an affinity to Aether. What does that mean?>>


    Arlo''s mouth opened as realization hit him.


    Affirming his thoughts, Old bro continued:


    << You also have an affinity to Aether laws. But Aether is a unique law that can only be wielded by one being in the entire universe, dimensions included. As long as the egg remains, you will never be able to use your laws.>>


    "Doesn''t that mean I am in danger?"


    Even as they spoke, Arlo continued to watch the situation before him.


    He watched as after every decade, several geniuses would enter the secret realm to look for resources and develop their strength. And in each arrival, he could literally feel the disappointment emanating from the egg. It was almost as if she was searching for something...or someone.


    Before Old Bro could even address his worries, something clicked within his mind as he watched the multicolored egg expertly utilize the essence of those who died to sustain the secret realm.


    At the same time, she separated the beasts in order of cultivation to prevent any chances of a battle leading to the mass murder of the limited beasts, even though they continued to increase over the years.


    It was almost as if she was rearing animals, and then using them as an allure to lure in several customers, to find what she needed.


    After watching her for such a long time, Arlo noticed some subtle similarities between himself and the egg.


    Ever since he could remember, he had never behaved like any normal baby or child for that matter. He didn''t cry for stupid reasons, and while he couldn''t talk either when he was born, he could always remember himself to be smart enough to think before acting.


    Subconsciously, he blurted out his next words, stunning Old Bro who was about to answer his previous question for a long time.


    "By chance...Am I also a god?"


    After some time, Old Bro answered with his own question:


    << Why do you think I am sealed inside you? >>


    It was Arlo''s turn to get stunned.


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can all keep it up, <3.

 CHAPTER 160: FIRST METAMORPHOSIS I

    A complicated light flashed within Arlo''s eyes. He wasn''t particularly overwhelmed by all he just learned but for some reason, he felt like it was all too much to take in. Many of his doubts were now made clear.


    Arlo and Old Bro remained silent for a long time. Each to his own thought.


    Suddenly the scene before Arlo moved at a great speed almost as if it was fast-forward.


    Many sights flashed before him but Arlo wasn''t able to follow them. After some time, the flashing scenes came to a stop. What Arlo saw shook him to the core and made him momentarily forget about the current matters.


    "Is that father?" he whispered in disbelief.


    Before him was a silver-haired young boy with matching eyes in his mid-teens. The young boy singlehandedly dominated all his mates who entered the secret realm with him and was even able to enter and exit the secret realm after he entered once at his will.


    However, what truly shocked Arlo wasn''t his father''s terrifying talent nor his monstrous combat prowess, but the complete change in his character. There was a qualitative difference in the aura around him.


    Arlo could still remember the few scenes Old Bro had shown him before and how he was inwardly disappointed. Arlo could surmise his father in his childhood in one sentence, ''A childish and unruly boy who acted simply on impulse.''


    However, his longing for him didn''t make him dwell too much on it.


    Now, it seemed that after that incident, his father had changed completely.


    The air around him was now dignified and it was clear that he thought of his actions before carrying them out. Even though the gap in strength between him and the other contestants was insurmountable, he still dealt them a weak hand.


    A wave of emotion suddenly hit Arlo out of nowhere.


    The excitement rushing through his veins made him clutch his chest to calm his fast-beating heart. At the same time, a voice rang out around him, seemingly from every direction.


    "So, he is your father..."


    Arlo''s eyes widened, ''That voice...Seraphina?'' even though the voice didn''t seem to belong to a child, Arlo would never mistake it for someone else.


    "I was so happy to find such a talented person here." the sweet and otherworldly voice continued, "Unfortunately he wasn''t the one."


    Another wave of emotion hit Arlo and before he knew it, his eyes became wet.


    ''I am crying?'' Arlo touched his face. Seeing his hand get wet, he finally knew where all these emotions were coming from. He could feel the deep disappointment and the piercing sadness that soon followed. Most importantly, he could feel the loneliness weighing down on him.


    "Are these your emotions?" Arlo voiced out, as he continued to fix his eyes on his hand.


    "I am sorry..." the sweet voice sounded soft, and Arlo could feel her sincerity, "I just wanted to share my experience with you."


    "Why?" Arlo asked in confusion.


    As if replying to his question, Arlo saw the scene around him change once again.


    This time he saw two beasts streaking past big trees at great speed.


    "That snake..." Arlo identified that snake as the pitch-black snake currently resting around Joe''s neck.


    Shifting his eyes to the other beast that was chasing the snake, Arlo became surprised once again but he didn''t show any great change this time. He was starting to feel numb to the sudden surprises.


    The beast chasing the pitch-black snake swung his two-meter axe, which Arlo identified as what saved him and his team, around effortlessly as if it only weighed a branch. With every swing, tens of huge trees were uprooted before being sent flying. At the same time, several ditches hundreds of meters long appeared on the ground. The more surprising thing was that the huge trees moved at the beast''s behest as if they were controlled by invisible hands.


    The beautiful voice returned, "About two months ago, I suddenly felt my control of Aether shake for a moment. It was almost as if someone was trying to wring the reins out of my hands.


    << It must have been when you had broken through. >> Old bro sent directly to his mind.


    Arlo inwardly nodded his head. He could still remember when he had broken through and summoned Anita. Later that day, he had tried to connect with his law outside Tibu''s castle, and while he felt a connection for a moment, it soon disappeared thereafter. Afterward, no matter how he tried to connect to them, he failed woefully.


    As his thoughts arrived at this point, Arlo finally remembered one crucial fact.


    ''My birthday is in less than a week.'' His heart beat faster at the thought of his approaching birthday and the greatly announced transformation that he would experience on that day. Now that Arlo had experienced the outside world, or at least a part of it, he realized that the people who had forewarned him of his upcoming awakening were great people with unrivaled talents


    His father, Scarlett, the Werewolve''s Queen, Old Bro, and his mum. While Arlo didn''t know why his mother refused to use her powers and hadn''t seen her action, he didn''t believe for one second that his mother was any less special than his father.


    "Imagine my surprise when I felt the person I had been looking for appear in the world I was in. I had already used my remaining Essence of reality, with my mental world as the foundation, to create this small world. Left with no choice, I had to make a great sacrifice to awaken the bloodline of two beasts to send outside in search of you. I needed them to be strong and capable of overcoming any obstacle to complete the mission I would assign to them. However, my plan didn''t go as I thought."


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    Arlo was pulled out of his thoughts and as he looked at the fierce concentration between the house-sized Torkun and the insect-sized snake, his fast-beating heart slowly calmed down.


    The voice continued:


    "In the end, I had no choice but to send only the snake outside. Thankfully it didn''t disappoint me."


    Arlo nodded. He didn''t need to be filled on what happened thereafter. And while he wondered how the snake had infiltrated the small world the Darkblood Academy was located in, he didn''t give much thought to it.


    With a strange light flashing within the silver eyes he inherited from his father, Arlo spoke, "You still haven''t told me why you are showing me these things."


    There was a brief silence before the voice echoed from everywhere but this time, it sounded more like a whisper:


    "It is because I am afraid."


    "Afraid?" Arlo brow''s furrowed, his eyes flashing with confusion.


    There was another short pause. The scene around him had already disappeared so Arlo was back in the space devoid of light. But he wasn''t afraid.


    The voice finally returned, "Initially, I planned to forcefully wipe off your consciousness and wring control of your body."


    Arlo narrowed his eyes, as his face flashed with caution.


    "But I can''t anymore..." the voice trailed off.


    Swallowing his saliva, Arlo asked in a slightly shaky voice, "What changed?"


    "I can feel a presence in you...one that I felt the first time I awakened my consciousness."


    Arlo''s eyes widened, ''Is she referring to Old Bro?''


    Without waiting for Arlo to confirm her words, the female voice pleaded:


    "Please, help me. You are my only hope."


    While Arlo appreciated the fact that she had opened up to him in sincerity and revealed her plan, a part of him now felt wary of her existence.


    << Boy, you don''t have a choice. Don''t you wish to be able to use your laws? >>


    A look of hesitation appeared on Arlo''s face. Of course, he wished to connect to his laws, especially after finding out that it was unique among the myriad laws. Alas, his fear won over his desire.


    "But..."


    Before Arlo could complete his words and as if he read his thoughts, Old Bro interrupted him.


    << Don''t worry, I have a plan.>>


    .....


    After several hours, Arlo opened his eyes.


    Without wiping his wet face, he walked out of the misty lake.


    A brief look of shock flashed on his face when he stepped into the fourth and last accessible zone.


    A lush and vibrant biome, teeming with an array of magical plants that possessed the power to enhance the body in myriad ways. Tall, slender stalks swayed gently in the breeze, their leaves shimmering with hues of emerald and gold. Vines twisted and coiled around ancient trees, weaving intricate patterns that seemed to pulse with life. Each plant exuded an aura of enchantment, a promise of untapped potential and boundless possibilities.


    At the heart of this enchanted oasis stood a magnificent tree, its branches reaching toward the heavens with a sense of majestic grandeur. The tree was adorned with clusters of blue fruits, each one containing the purest essence of mana¡ªone of the two life forces that coursed through the universe. These fruits were coveted by all who sought to harness the power of magic, for they held the key to unlocking untold potential without any adverse effects on one''s cultivation.


    Untold potential, because not only do these fruits allow the user to advance far above their equals, but it also leaves more room for their talent to improve their cultivation. In order words, It was indirectly raising a person''s talent, something that was supposed to be naturally impossible. A person''s talent was already decided from their birth and their fates were further sealed after their awakening.


    "The Tree of Infinite Resources..." Arlo couldn''t help but marvel at the grand sight of the massive tree. Together with the colorful light cascading down from the sky, the entire sight seemed so unreal and felt more like a drawing pulled out from fantasy.


    "You..."


    Arlo''s expression changed. According to Seraphina, he should be the only one to have finished the trial. Yet what was this?


    Shifting his eyes, Arlo''s eyes met the eyes of the stout and burly Theodore.


    "It is you.'' he voiced out as he recognized Theodore. He was hard to forget, after all, he was the leader of the human team from their world and was also Rose''s senior.


    Not wanting to deal with any unnecessary trouble, Arlo willed all his Ki at his feet in nearly an instant causing them to be covered by a vibrant white light.


    Like a breeze, Arlo vanished from Theodore''s sight.


    However he still greatly underestimated the latter, as after barely crossing two hundred meters with a single step, Theodore flashed before him with his eyes filled with murderous intent.


    Arlo frowned and a look of displeasure crossed his face. Knowing why the other party was blocking his path, he voiced out in a slightly grumpy voice:


    "I have no interest in the TIR. I just want to enter that barrier at the back."


    A glint of surprise appeared in Theodore''s eyes as his murderous intent diminished greatly. Shifting his head to the side, he looked back from the side of his eye and saw the multicolored barrier resting at the opposite end of their current position. The multicolored barrier was circular and barely covered a diameter of two meters. Within the fourth zone which had a radius of over five hundred meters, it appeared small. However, this multicolored barrier still appeared conspicuous even with the presence of the magnificent Tree of Infinite Resources not far from it.


    The reason was simple. The barrier rose high into the sky as it connected directly to the bottom of the mountain floating high up and piercing through the aurora sky.


    "Are you crazy?" Theodore looked at Arlo like there was something wrong with his head.


    Every person who dared to enter this realm was already warned of the last and final zone.


    Unlike the previous zone,s, anyone who dared to touch the multicolored barrier was erased from existence in a split second. This was a widely known fact and there had never been any exception. All who dared to do so in the past either because of their confidence in their power and talent or because they were in the possession of a great treasure that could protect their lives, were wiped off before they could know after coming in contact with the barrier.


    A look of frustration appeared on Arlo''s face. Of course, he knew why Theodore had such a reaction, after all, he was also warned by Principal Stanley before leaving the Academy.


    However, he now knew the source of the barrier and that it couldn''t harm him. It was just that he couldn''t share it with Theodore. It wasn''t like he would believe him in the first place.


    Theodore''s expression changed once again, this time more intense than the last. He looked past Arlo, and into the misty lake. Under his disbelieving eyes, an impeccably looking girl with pointed ears who he believed to be an elf and one with high status at that, walked out of the lake with graceful steps.


    *Fwoosh!*


    Theodore felt a great burst of wind whooshing towards him.


    In a flash, Arlo appeared before him, and as his eyes slowly widened at the blue light shining from the neck of the boy who appeared younger than his little princess whom he cherished greatly, a childish yet deep voice rang in his ears.


    "Freeze!" Theodore felt an overbearing force locking him down and not permitting him to move.


    Subconsciously, he willed his mana and prepared to release his law essence to break out of his restraint, however, his action slowly came to a stop when he didn''t sense his life was in any form of danger. Sure enough, Arlo passed by him, and under his and Eleanor''s slowly widening eyes, he also ignored the tree of infinite resources and approached the multicolored barrier.


    Before his hand touched the barrier, his young voice filled with expectation drifted into the ears of the frozen duo.


    "It is time for my first metamorphosis!"


    Contrary to what they had learned and were expecting, the colorful light wove around Arlo''s body before engulfing his entire figure. A split second later, the infamous multicolored barrier rose into the sky and disappeared completely from their sight.


    With eyes almost bulging out of their sockets, the Elven princess who didn''t even flinch after seeing the terrifying power of Zara, an Asura, cursed with a stunned voice, and seemingly to no one:


    "What the F*ck just happened?"


    *****


    AN: Sorry if there were mistakes in this chapter. I have been so busy lately and couldn''t take my time to edit it. Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can all keep it up, <3.

 CHAPTER 161: THREE DIFFERENT TIRS.

    "What the hell just happened?" questioned Eleanor in disbelief.


    Theodore didn''t have the mind to answer her either, as he was similarly shaken to the core.


    He racked his brain for several minutes on why the situation with Arlo would differ from usual.


    But even after several thoughts, he wasn''t able to come up with a satisfactory reason.


    "Ah!" he groaned frustratingly as he ruffled his short dark hair.


    Realizing that he didn''t have the luxury of thinking about such a matter, Theodore shifted his eyes back to Eleanor who also seemed to be in deep thoughts.


    "We need to act quickly before the others come."


    A strange light flashed within Eleanor''s eyes when she heard Theodore''s words.


    The thought of killing him passed through her mind, but before she could ponder on it for a moment, Theodore''s words made her discard the idea.


    "I don''t know who you are but I can tell you are very strong. But don''t you dare think for a moment that you can take me down instantly? And you don''t want to destroy these treasured plants, do you?"


    Seeing that the Elven girl didn''t respond immediately, Theodore struck while the iron was still hot, "How about we each harvest what we want?"


    Eleanor looked at the tree of infinite resources, and with a single glance she could tell that there were about thirty fruits, "I want fifteen mana fruits."


    Theodore''s expression crumpled.


    With an ugly smile on his face, he spoke slowly, "Aren''t you going too far?"


    The air around Eleanor suddenly changed. At the same time, a small fairy appeared above her head.


    "Whether I can take you down or not instantly is something I won''t know until I try."


    Theodore narrowed his eyes. He could feel the mana in the area churning to the will of the Elven girl before him.


    While he was also confident in his strength, he didn''t want to fight it out now, not when he had yet to harvest any of the natural treasures before him. Doing so would only cause all the advantage he had built up to waste.


    In the end, he had no choice but to relent, at least for the moment. "Alright. I will also take ten fruits."


    Eleanor didn''t seem to care, and the duo immediately sprung into action.


    After almost ten minutes, they could pluck 25 mana fruits. They took so long because they had to be careful when plucking the fruits, not to mention that they had to preserve each of them in a special container.


    They both tactfully left five fruits, as it was common knowledge that once all the fruits on the tree of infinite resources were plucked, they would all be forcefully sent out of the fourth zone to the third zone. It didn''t take a genius to know what would happen then. The majority of those who entered the secret realm didn''t die by the spiritual beast''s hands but from themselves, something they both didn''t want as there were still several plants and fruits around them that would be treated as divine treasures even on the outside world.


    Some plants had fruits hanging from them, and from the archaic-looking patterns etched on them, it was obvious such fruits could directly enhance a person''s comprehension of a particular law once consumed. And there were fruits of different colors filling almost one kilometer of the fourth zone. This place was simply a treasure area for mages.


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    Silently and with tacit agreement, Theodore and Eleanor moved toward the fruits bearing the law patterns of the laws they required and started harvesting them.


    Their movements were slow and careful as they plucked and stored them, yet their faces shone with pressure as they didn''t know when another person would arrive. The fewer the people, the more advantageous it would be for them after all. Which was why Theodore had left five fruits. In that way, even if one or two new persons appear, while they might be disgruntled, they could still endure and pluck four fruits out of the remaining five, buying him some more time.


    Of course, there were more treasures that didn''t pale in comparison to the law fruits waiting to be harvested.


    Time slowly passed.


    .....


    Immediately when Arlo touched the multi-colored barrier, he felt as if he had connected with something his very soul had been craving for, for a long time.


    However, before he could revel in that feeling, Arlo found himself in a different place as he felt his surroundings to have changed.


    All around him was an Aurora of colorful lights, and beneath his feet was rocky ground covered in greenery. It didn''t take Arlo a few seconds to realize that his preconception of being on a mountain was wrong, and after a few more seconds of studying his surroundings, he realized he was on the mountain floating deep within the secret realm.


    No, He wasn''t just on an ordinary mountain.


    It was an egg!


    While others didn''t know, after the last mind trial, Arlo already knew that the floating mountain was actually a dragon egg, that Seraphina expertly made to look like a mountain.


    Together with the law she had enforced at the creation of the small world, that no being could fly above a certain height from the ground, which was two thousand meters, Seraphina could ensure that the secret of her true identity would never be revealed. It was also one of the major reasons why she didn''t directly communicate with any figure who entered her little world, opting to remain alone for thousands of years.


    Barely ten seconds after he arrived on the floating egg, something else quickly captured Arlo''s attention. The top of the mountain spanned an area of almost three hundred meters. A few meters from him, he saw three grand trees resting a short distance from each other.


    It didn''t take Arlo a moment to identify one of the trees.


    "TIR?" He gasped in shock.


    Even though the tree before him was far smaller than the one below, the number of fruits currently hanging from its branches simply could not be compared to the other. Arlo estimated the blue fruits to be over a hundred.


    Shifting his attention to the other two trees, Arlo''s heart pounded faster against his rib cage, loudly to the point that an outsider could hear. One of the trees bore white fruits while the last bore light-yellowish fruits.


    Arlo recognized the energy resting within these fruits.


    "Ki...and spiritual energy?"


    That was right.


    Even though the two kinds of fruits before him barely numbered ten each, Arlo realized that their importance was far greater than the TIR.


    After all, the number of Ki and soul cultivators were few and far between.


    "Before I lost all my cultivation, I used some of my essence of reality to preserve them in these forms. I thought I would need them one day if my plans were to ever come to fruition. Alas..." Seraphina''s soft and beautiful voice sounded within his mind, as her words trailed off at the end.


    "I will use them for use. Your efforts are not fruitless." Arlo spoke with a serious expression on his face, however, Seraphina didn''t respond to his words, especially after knowing what awaited her.


    << Are you ready? >> Old bro drew Arlo''s attention.


    Arlo sat with his legs crossed before taking several deep breaths. Only then did he respond in a serious voice, "I am."


    << Let''s get started. >>


    Since Arlo couldn''t offer his body to Seraphina to take, and since he couldn''t kill her either, Old Bro proposed a method that was only possible because of its presence and godly powers.


    Arlo was going to fuse with the unborn dragon!


    Old Bro was going to tweak the technique of contracting with spiritual beasts to turn them into life beasts and use this newly formed but divine method to merge Arlo and Seraphina''s existence into one. Both of them would be independent of the other. Of course, it was needless to say that Arlo would be the dominant one in this relationship.


    It had taken Seraphina almost an hour before deciding after Arlo proposed the method to her when Old Old Bro informed him.


    With a wry smile on his face, Arlo couldn''t help but remember the words of the golden-emerald-haired girl with runic eyes.


    "I didn''t know she literally meant I would become a dragon among them."


    Shaking his head to throw off the useless thoughts, Arlo received Old Bro''s first instruction:


    << Summon the little slime. >>


    It was finally time for Arlo to undergo his first world-shaking awakening!


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can all keep it up, <3.


    Next Chapter: Becoming a New Species and Two Summons I

 CHAPTER 162: BECOMING A NEW SPECIES AND TWO NEW SUMMONS I

    Even though Anita was a summon, she had always had a childish and playful attitude since meeting Arlo. However, ever since Arlo entered the secret realm, she reined in her playful behavior and took everything with seriousness. After all, she was the only summon Arlo had and she had promised she would always be by his side when he needed her. She proved this in Arlo''s first mind trial and she was determined to keep proving it. But now she wasn''t so sure.


    She knew if Arlo was to accomplish what he was about to do, which was in a sense impossible, it was a matter of fact that he would break through in his Ki cultivation. There was even a high chance that he would have consecutive breakthroughs, after all, even though Seraphina had lost her status as a god, she was still no ordinary being.


    What did this mean?


    It meant Arlo would soon be having one if not two summons at the least.


    Shaking her imaginary head, Anita threw all the unnecessary thoughts aside and rested a short distance from Arlo. Because of what he was about to do, she couldn''t come into contact with him.


    *Fvoooooooooooooom!*


    The air whooshed for a moment before everything went still. However, Anita could feel the strange energy that left Arlo''s body before covering the whole mountain they were floating on. It didn''t take her long to know the cause.


    Looking at the two saber marks on the back of Arlo''s hands shining with a bright golden light, Anita couldn''t help but remember the elderly voice she had heard when Arlo was besieged from all directions by corrupted vampires now turned lesser demons.


    .....


    At the same time that Arlo gazed at the shining saber marks on the back of his head, he felt a strange aura surround him.


    Even after many seconds, Arlo didn''t feel anything strange.


    << Great courage, young one! >>


    Arlo was startled. Unlike before, Old Bro didn''t speak directly in his mind. And from Anita''s brief trembling and through their connection together, he could tell she had also heard his voice.


    "What is going on?" Arlo asked in confusion.


    << You cannot feel it but the process has already begun. >>


    "Huh?!"


    << Seraphina is currently going through pain impossible for a mortal to bear. I am manipulating her life and soul essence. In essence, I am manipulating her core essence to fuse with you. >>


    Arlo couldn''t understand what Old Bro was saying, but he could tell that it wasn''t as simple as it sounded. However, Arlo unconsciously started feeling admiration for the little dragon, as even while she was going through immense and agonizing pain, she hadn''t made any sound.


    Several minutes passed during which Arlo didn''t feel a thing. While he was maintaining his top concentration because Old Bro told him to do so, a flash of light burst out a few meters from him.


    Arlo opened his eyes to look at the little girl with matching yet slightly different hair color from his, and when he saw her slowly spinning eyes, a sincere smile graced his face.


    "You were among the two I thought would finish the last trial first, Arianne included."


    An excited smile graced Rose''s chubby yet cute face, stunning Arlo for a few seconds.


    "Hehe...seems I came right on time."


    Arlo''s briefly mesmerized look gave way to confusion, but before he could voice his thoughts, he uncontrollably opened his mouth and coughed a long jet of blood.


    He soon collapsed to the floor under Rose''s spinning eyes and Anita''s anxious cries. Arlo''s body trembled almost as if he was having a seizure, and the gurgling sounds emitted from his mouth as he choked on his blood made the situation appear even worse.


    Deep inside Arlo''s body, a great change was happening.


    A steady surge of multicolored essence, brimming with life and strong will left the floating mountain before congregating at his right chest directly opposite to his heart.


    The multicolored energy slowly assumed the form of a small dragon, before it coiled in such a way that its mouth entered its mouth. Settling in this form, the energy changed into a real organ as it assumed the shape of a beating heart.


    A dragon heart!


    *Du-dum!*


    Arlo''s body jolted.


    A new heartbeat echoed in his ears, powerful and steady, as the newfound energy coursed through his veins.


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    With a newfound strength, he felt his physical limits expand beyond comprehension. His muscles bulged with newfound power, and his senses sharpened to an unprecedented degree. But beneath the surface, he could sense the latent fury of the dragon''s bloodline, a power that could not be contained.


    Though the new heart was beating docilely within him, Arlo knew that the terrifying power it harbored could not be underestimated. With this fusion, he had become something more than human, a force to be reckoned with in the battles that lay ahead.


    Immediately when the fusion was completed, a massive dragon head imprint appeared on Arlo''s back. The dragon had its eyes closed and even though the existence of dragons had never been confirmed, anyone who gazed at the dragon image would undoubtedly share the same thought.


    Beautiful.


    Spitting the blood in his mouth, Arlo gasped loudly, "Is it over?"


    Old Bro''s chuckle rang within Arlo''s mind, however, he didn''t have the luxury to be surprised by the artifact spirit''s unbecoming attitude, << For Seraphina, yes. But for you, it is just starting. >>


    "Huh?!" Arlo who had regained a bit of his clarity stared into open space blankly for a second, before a heart-rending pain soon forced a shout that sounded more like a roar from his mouth.


    "AAAAAAAAAAH!"


    A highly destructive energy coursed through Arlo''s body. Even though he had never actively wielded this energy before, Arlo for some reason could still identify it.


    ''Aether?''


    The. essence of the unique law he hadn''t been able to connect to and had been hindering his Ki cultivation finally surged through Arlo''s body.


    However, Arlo wasn''t happy. Instead, his eyes widened in horror, and a look of fear flashed within his eyes, even as he screamed in pain.


    In barely a second when Arlo connected with his law, his flesh began to ripple and distort, unable to contain the overwhelming power surging within him. With a sickening sound, his skin tore apart, flesh exploding outward in a violent eruption of energy.


    All that remained was Arlo''s skeleton, gleaming white against the backdrop of strewn flesh, blood, and destruction. His bones stood amidst the wreckage, a haunting reminder of the ferocity of the Aether energy that had consumed him.


    Arlo immediately fainted from the unbearable pain. His glistening golden hair was soaked in his blood, and his face at this point was paler than even a vampire''s, appearing very sickly and deathly. Still, only his head region didn''t share the same state as the rest of his body, and this was only because of Old Bro''s efforts.


    Old Bro sighed, << This brat is truly lucky. If he had connected with his law from the beginning, he would have died without a corpse. At least, now, he has a chance.>>


    As if proving his words, Arlo''s left heartbeat slowed down every second that passed, however, his dragon heart started beating even fiercer than before.


    *Du-dum!* *Du-dum!* *Du-dum!*


    Under the power of his new heart, Arlo''s flesh started reforming, only to soon be destroyed by the Aether energy. However, slowly but surely, the rate of destruction couldn''t keep up with the rate of regeneration, and as the heart beat faster and stronger by the second, new and undestroyed flesh started appearing on Arlo''s white skeleton.


    << Little slime, it''s time for our part. >>


    Old Bro silently communicated with Anita without the knowledge of the watching Rose. Even though Anita was panicking because of what was happening to her master, she still suppressed her fears and did as she had been instructed before.


    Through the slime seal imprinted on Arlo''s body, pure unchanged Ki gushed out before filling Arlo''s almost completely restored body. This was the Ki she had devoured from the Ant''s Queen.


    Old Bro also didn''t remain idle, as he began to multitask. He tried waking Arlo up at the same time that six of the white fruits hanging down from one of the three trees a few meters in front, suddenly flew into the air before approaching the unconscious Arlo.


    Rose took in all this sight with sparkling eyes.


    Under Old Bro''s efforts, Arlo slowly woke up. But immediately when he came to, he winced in pain as he felt his body being attacked inside by the overbearingly destructive Aether energy. However, Arlo belatedly noticed that his new heart was helping him cope with the situation, albeit barely.


    What Arlo didn''t know was that while the dragon heart indeed contributed to the reason why he was still alive, the main reason he was still breathing was that Old Bro was silently and expertly exercising his godly powers to prevent him from completely perishing, something even the supreme artifact of the Realm of the gods was finding difficult to do. In fact, if it wasn''t for the Aether laws acting meekly and docilely towards Arlo, nothing of him would have remained at this point.


    Yes, docile!


    It wasn''t for no reason that Aether laws was even ranked higher than the seemingly overpowered evil laws.


    << Steel your heart boy. You can''t remain long like this, if not your new body will be destroyed, and not even your new heart will be able to save you. I will send you the rest of the cultivation techniques your father taught you. Use it to control the Aether essence within your body to temper your bones. >>


    An influx of information entered Arlo''s mind. Gritting his teeth, Arlo''s silver eyes shone with resolve, as he quickly skimmed through the technique.


    Less than ten breaths later, Arlo displayed his unparalleled talent by perfectly executing the new technique. The Aether energy raging within his body was actively controlled and moved towards the bones of his right hand, where they started wreaking havoc.


    Arlo''s bones cracked like a fragile vase, but a split second later, it started regenerating. Barely three seconds later, it cracked to the point of appearing to shatter completely, only for it to be mended by the healing factor of the fiercely beating dragon heart.


    "AHHHHHHHH!"


    The process kept repeating again and again, causing Arlo to subconsciously rise to his knees and clutch his right hand tightly, as his body trembled greatly.


    This continued for five minutes during which new figures appeared with a confused look on the floating mountain. But after seeing Arlo''s state, they all shared an aghast look. However, Anita''s constant reminder not to interfere and Rose''s assurance that all was well, made them retreat a distance from him without giving a helping hand.


    Suddenly, the bones of Arlo''s right hand shone with a multicolored luster, and soon after the mark of a small star slowly appeared on it.


    *Whoosh!* the Ki controlling the remaining Aether essence within Arlo''s body was forcefully sucked into the small star.


    << Finally, you are a one-star warrior.>> Old Bro said to the panting Arlo who was drenched in sweat, still clutching his right hand. If it wasn''t for Old Bro''s continued support, Arlo would have fainted several times during the process.


    << However, we still have a long way...>>


    Before the now uncontrolled Aether essence could start raging in his body, Old Bro caused the Ki fruits floating a few meters above Arlo to explode, before pulling the huge stream of energy into his body.


    << Quickly, temper your left hand this time! >>


    Arlo''s chest rose and fell heavily, and his eyes shone with tiredness.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can all keep it up, <3.

 CHAPTER 163: BECOMING A NEW SPECIES AND TWO NEW SUMMONS II

    AN: Expect a bonus chapter this week.


    *****


    Warriors.


    Unlike mages who absorbed the atmospheric mana, warriors practiced the Ki cultivation system by using a special technique to dilute the overbearing Astral energy into a milder form; Ki, to temper the body.


    A Ki practitioner who has tempered one part of the body is referred to as a One-Star Warrior. This meant that as there were only twelve stages in the Ki cultivation system, one would only be able to temper twelve body parts at most before one''s physical body would be eligible to handle the tyrannical Astral energy.


    *Haa!* *Haa!* *Haa!*


    Arlo panted heavily as he lay with his back on the ground.


    The pool of blood around him was already congealing, showing that he had been enduring this torturous process for a long time, two hours to be specific.


    During this time, practically all his team members had already appeared on the floating mountain, something Seraphina had programmed under Arlo''s request before they underwent the fusion. Except for Dean, Arianne, and Ella, the remaining three members of Arlo''s group stood a short distance beside Rose as they watched the inexplicable situation. The group had never come across any warrior, so to them what was currently happening to Arlo was mind-boggling.


    However, they soon had to divert their attention to something else.


    "Master said you should take as many mana fruits as you want and cultivate quickly. After all, we still need to take revenge for what happened to us in the third zone."


    Even though they were currently safe high in the sky, they were still being chased by the team of magical beasts, not to mention that the last zone was a place they weren''t supposed to be in, considering their low strength. Even if they should have seniors there to depend on, they would just end up becoming a burden to them.


    After a brief hesitation, Tina, Miller, and Kai took two fruits each before they consumed them. Feeling the pure mana coursing through their veins, the trio quickly sat down crossed legs, and focused on digesting the mana to improve their cultivation. They expertly controlled the pure mana to expel the impurities from their mana core, slowly turning the dark core into a colorless one.


    Rose refused to divert her attention from Arlo, as she continued to watch him intently, something Anita couldn''t do anything about. Besides she didn''t have the time and mind to be distracted, as she anxiously kept encouraging Arlo through their connection.


    After two hours which felt like an eternity, Arlo successfully tempered four parts of his body. Even through his newly formed pale skin that was as soft as a newborn human baby, yet as durable as steel armor, the bones of his hands and feet shone with a multicolored luster.


    A four-star warrior.


    Arlo who had yet to truly embark on the warrior''s path consecutively underwent four breakthroughs in a little more than two hours.


    Yet, it seemed to be far from the end.


    Even though, with the tempering of a bone, and the imprint of a star on it, Arlo''s body underwent a complete tempering raising his bodily strength to a degree incomparable to its former self, the Aether essence still running wild within his body still made Arlo feel agonizing pain. His internal organs were actively been destroyed by the multicolored essence only to be regenerated by his newly acquired dragon heart. The only silver lining was that the multicolored essence didn''t affect his hand and feet regions, probably because they had already been tempered with them, instead, they flowed naturally through the bones, like electricity flowing through a conductor.


    Old Bro could feel Arlo''s weariness and was about to encourage him for the umpteenth time when an unfamiliar voice beat him to it.


    "Master, be strong!" a gentle girl''s voice drifted within Arlo''s mind, and because Old Bro and Anita were connected to him, they could also hear it. Unlike Anita''s cute yet playful voice, this voice sounded more tender and pleasing to the ear.


    Just like he felt with Anita, Arlo could feel another connection established within his body. His dim eyes suddenly shone with a bright silver light, and a look of expectation appeared on his face.


    Look at Anita beside him. Just how terrifying and heaven-defying were her powers?


    The thought of having connected with a new powerful ally made a feeling of Joy well up within Arlo''s body and further reminded him that he was getting closer to his goal.


    To become the most powerful existence!


    One, who will never be threatened by anyone or anything!


    One who would be able to protect those he holds dear!


    At the thought of his parents and their impending doom, Arlo''s face turned pale. But soon after, he gritted his teeth and renewed his resolve.


    Controlling the Aether energy rampaging within his body, Arlo tried to move them to his head region to temper his skull, but Old Bro quickly shot down this thought.


    << Are you crazy? >>


    << The skull is the most dangerous place to temper, not to mention that your laws are simply too destructive. A small mistake and your brain would be instantly pulverized. Would you like to find out if your new heart could regenerate your brain?>>


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Arlo felt a chill down his spine. Taking a deep breath, he winced from the pain that had yet to diminish and questioned within his mind, ''So I can''t temper my skull?''


    As a practitioner of the Dirty martial arts, Arlo was able to fully utilize any part of his body like a deadly weapon. And the skull was one of the strongest weapons the body could offer.


    After some thought, Old Bro replied, << Only attempt it after you have become an eleven-star warrior. By then, your body would have become so strong to the point that no metal could penetrate it, and you would even be able to regenerate instantly from fatal attacks without your new heart. >>


    Nodding inwardly, Arlo controlled the multicolored essence to attack his right humerus.


    "Ah!"


    A heart-rending shriek escaped his trembling lips, as he felt his bone being pulverized and reformed back at a speed that couldn''t be followed with the naked eye.


    After becoming a four-star warrior, the speed at which the Aether essence destroyed his bones couldn''t keep up with the normal restorative powers of his now strengthened body and his dragon heart. In conjunction with the Aether laws acting docile, even though it appeared to want to destroy his body, the process went smoothly.


    An hour later, Arlo completely tempered his right humerus and the bones of his right lower arm; the ulna and radius.


    Only then was the Aether essence within his body used up. Arlo''s entire right arm shone like a multicolored jade. It looked beautiful and mesmerizing, but the domineering power lying within would send chills down the spine of anyone who dared to contend against it.


    Immediately when Arlo felt the process finish, and the pain diminish, the Adrenaline coursing through his veins slowly wore off, and soon after he lost consciousness.


    At the same time, another of the seal resting on Arlo''s right upper arm became clearer. There were now three seals with a clear outline.


    There was a slime seal!


    A nine-tailed fox seal!


    And the seal of a monkey wearing a hat similar to that of a magician!


    .....


    In the almost three hours under which Arlo underwent a drastic change, the situation within the fourth and treasure zone changed completely.


    An hour after entering the fourth zone, Theodore and Eleanor were able to harvest a lot of divine plants and fruits. But soon after, more figures started appearing. At first, even though the situation appeared like it would escalate, things later calmed down as the new figures peacefully agreed to share four of the five remaining mana fruits.


    However, everything changed when a new presence appeared.


    The male Asura, who had left his companion, Zara, when he felt the earth shake and the fourth Zone open, finally appeared after passing through his mind trial.


    As expected of a Ki cultivator. All his wounds had already healed up, and if it weren''t for the weary look on his face, showing that his trial in the lake hadn''t been easy to overcome, nobody would believe he was a person who had been at death''s door a few hours ago.


    Immediately when he appeared, the male Asura glared at Eleanor and Landon who had appeared before him and already teamed up with the Elven princess. But he still endured for the moment, as Eleanor''s terrifying battle prowess was deeply imprinted in his mind.


    But seeing the remaining fruit hanging down the grand and magnificent Tree of Infinite Resource was the final nail in the coffin.


    With red eyes and an enraged face, the Male Asura punched the ground fiercely, causing a crater about three hundred meters in size to form, destroying the ground and several plants.


    However, that wasn''t the end.


    The shockwave from his punch traveled out in all directions, knocking several figures and plants down, before destroying the last remaining blue fruit yet to be plucked from the TIR.


    Before the others could erupt in anger, they were all teleported out against their will, and barely a second later, they all appeared at the third zone. Those still undergoing a trial within the lake were also pulled out, before they were sent back to the zone they came from.


    And as fate would have it, all of them were teleported to the same area.


    Zara, Steven, and Tron who had decided to follow Zara during the remaining duration she would be in the secret realm to repay her for not killing him; Eleanor and Landon who after not seeing the remaining members of their group realized that something must have gone wrong; Theodore and his team; the still enraged Rook and his members who looked around nervously in search of a group of little kids after appearing; many other figures numbering over a fifty in total, and finally the culprit of this situation, the Male Asura.


    As if in sync, many heads glared in the male Asura''s direction, and soon after the other figures oblivious to what happened mimicked their movements.


    The atmosphere suddenly became tense, as the air felt stiffening.


    .....


    Arianne, Ella, and Dean had already been teleported to the floating mountain before the situation derailed completely in the fourth zone.


    The appearance of the trio sent Rose and the others into a great state of shock.


    Unlike before, Arianne was now standing at two meters in height, and her long hair cascading down her back like a waterfall was a beautiful mix of snow-white and blood-red color. Her ruby eyes shone with a more intense light, and her skin glistened with a pale yet rosy color. With her height, Arianne looked more like a girl in her late teens, and no one would believe she was barely eleven. Her protruding chest and very perky rear also helped to accentuate this conjecture.


    While Ella''s transformation wasn''t as pronounced as Arianne''s, the always droopy eyes of the young girl that shone with tiredness were now wide open, and hidden within it was a volcano of rage waiting to explode. Her purple hair crackled constantly in electricity, as the purplish arcs danced within them.


    However, what truly made Rose, Miller, Kai, and Tina blank out wasn''t Arianne and Ella''s transformation nor their cultivation that had risen to the peak of the master realm even without absorbing any mana fruits.


    Instead, it was Joe.


    Even though Rose and the others were very familiar with the young magical beast, their little time together made them aware that the dark-haired boy with whitish eyes was a coward through and through.


    When they were in danger against the red ants, Joe remained on Anita''s back and merely threw poison bombs from safety.


    What truly cemented this thought was that when they were in the third zone, Joe was the only one who had not made any effort and contributed to their escape. Instead, he was merely a burden, one that no one pointed out, as they could sense his close relationship with Arlo.


    But what about now?


    Now standing at approximately 1.4 meters, Joe''s figure radiated confidence. While there were no great changes to his physical appearance, Joe''s entire bearing was simply incomparable to before. Not to mention that the sound of the air around him vibrating made a look of confusion appear on the faces of the others, as they couldn''t understand what was causing such a phenomenon.


    "What happened to you?" A charming voice that would make the legs of any ordinary man turn to jelly escaped Arianne''s red lips.


    Joe smiled at their reaction but before he could answer, a painful grunt drifted into the group''s ears.


    The group simultaneously shifted their heads in Arlo''s direction.


    A look of pain flashed on Arlo''s face at the same time that his eyelashes trembled slightly. A second later, his eyelids drew apart to reveal dim-sky-blue reptilian pupils resting within his silver eyes, and when he finally came to, the first thing Arlo saw was the blue slime resting on his chest.


    ''My partner...'' Arlo smiled warmly as he whispered:


    "Anita..."


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can all keep it up, <3.


    NEXT CHAPTER: REJECTED BY THE HEAVENS; DESCENT OF THE TRIBULATION LIGHTNING!

 CHAPTER 164: REJECTED BY THE HEAVENS; DESCENT OF THE TRIBULATION LIGHTNING!

    AN: This is the bonus chapter as promised. As an appreciation, I would like to know your thoughts on this chapter.


    *****


    Hugging the blue slime to his body, Arlo slowly rose to his feet. Long glistening golden hair even longer than Arianne''s beautiful blend of white and red hair, fell down his back.


    Arlo was completely naked at this point, but thankfully Anita had expertly controlled some branches around the mountain to cover his nether region, something she constantly had to maintain due to the destructive power of the Aether energy.


    There was pin-drop silence as the eyes of Arianne, Ella and the others slowly widened, however, Arlo ignored their reactions and instead studied the changes in his body.


    The most noticeable change would be his eyes. Even though he could not see how his eyes had visibly changed, Arlo was sure it had as his vision was completely different.


    Not only did he now have a 360¡ã vision, but he could also zoom into things with a thought. He could see the slightest difference between every greenery around him. The amount of information constantly pouring into his head would cause the brain of an ordinary person to explode. However, Arlo could handle this change before his breakthrough not to mention now that his spiritual energy had been strengthened by at least a hundred times after merging with Seraphina.


    Shifting his eyes to his team who were still gazing at him dumbly, Arlo noticed the bluish energy passively being absorbed by a small ball at their lower abdomens, before a small amount is circulated through their bodies.


    His eyes lit up as he had an idea of what was going on, but he still had to confirm it.


    Sure enough, when Arlo looked at himself, he saw pure white energy coursing through his veins in contrast to the others.


    ''Is this mana and Ki?''


    Arlo concentrated his eyes on his surroundings, but no matter how he tried, he couldn''t visibly see any energy flowing in the atmosphere.


    ''Seems I can only see the energy coursing through a body, or rather a living thing!''


    After some thought, Arlo decided to name his new eyes.


    ''I will call them Dragon eyes!''


    Old Bro was left speechless by Arlo''s naming sense. But what he didn''t know was that Arlo wasn''t particularly excited about his new eyes, as he now had many power-ups that his new eyes simply couldn''t compare to.


    Of course, he still appreciated them and wasn''t looking down at them in the least.


    ''But what is this?''


    Arlo''s attention soon moved to a more pressing matter. He could feel that he had acquired a new sense, a sixth sense. And whenever he looked at his team members, he could feel this new sense tingling, although the intensity differed every time he focused on a different person.


    ''Is this like a danger sense?''


    Arlo was surprised to see his new sense warning him that three among the few people before him posed a great threat to him. After all, to him what he just experienced wasn''t a cultivation session but a complete transformation, a metamorphosis to say. He felt so strong to the point that he thought he could destroy the world if he ever wished to. In fact, he was one hundred percent certain that he was unrivaled in the preliminary stages of cultivation. This wasn''t arrogance but simply confidence. As for whether he could contend against a red-core mage, he wasn''t so sure as he was yet to truly see the power of one.


    Yet, now that he was stronger than ever, three of his team were still able to keep up with him. Rather than feeling displeased or angry, what Arlo felt was happiness and genuine pride in his newfound friends.


    Yes, he who had never had a real friend two months ago now had seven standing before him.


    Two of the people who could threaten his life were Arianne and Ella. And after noticing that their cultivation had reached the peak of the master realm, and the great enhancement to their bloodline that now affected their appearance, he understood why his new senses were warning him about them. After all, they were an entire great realm higher than him in cultivation, not to mention that they were god-tier talents who could jump a great realm to fight.


    However, the last person was what truly surprised Arlo.


    ''Joe?'' Arlo almost couldn''t identify his best friend.


    Ever since entering this world, except for Old Bro, the first real companion Arlo had wasn''t Arianne nor his first summon Anita, instead it was the dark-haired young boy before him.


    To him, whether Joe was a coward or a burden, he would forever remain his best friend. Besides, Arlo could tell from their very first encounter that Joe was special, almost as special as the little princess of the werewolves'' race. Now that he saw that his friend seemed to have broken out of his previous shell, and had transformed from a caterpillar into a butterfly, Arlo felt so happy to the point of wanting to throw a party.


    But that would have to wait.


    Something was coming for him. Something that his new sense told him didn''t pose a great danger like Arianne, Ella, and Joe did, but a fatal danger to his life.


    Arlo silently noticed Joe''s cultivation that had risen to the same level as Arianne''s, and he could tell that he was the one with the greatest gains in the last mind trial among their team.


    Arlo focused his attention on one more person, and as he felt his senses warn him of a mid-level threat, a strange light flashed within his eyes.


    Kai''s eyes which seemed to be studying him even as he held his katana tightly with his left hand made Arlo feel strange. It was almost as if an invisible energy was cutting at his eyes, forcing him to look away.


    ''So he is currently the one with the highest cultivation among the team.''


    After consuming two fruits, the battle-crazed sword maniac was now an early-level grandmaster mage.


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    << That boy truly is something. It is a shame that he is only a supreme-level genius, if not he wouldn''t fall short of the werewolves and vampire princesses. >>


    Arlo shook his head and ignored Old Bro''s rambling. He had more important things to do, as he felt that fatal danger quickly closing in on him.


    While all these events from the moment Arlo woke up seemed to have taken a long time, the truth was that barely thirty breaths had passed.


    It just seemed so long because of Arlo''s fast thinking, which was now further strengthened by his enormous pool of spiritual energy.


    ''First of all, I need to name this new sixth sense of mine.''


    After a split second of thinking, Arlo settled on a name.


    ''Let''s call it dragon sense.''


    << This...I am glad to see that you have the same terrible naming sense as your father. >>


    Arlo wisely ignored the artifact spirit words. To him, the name of a technique wasn''t what was important, but the power it held.


    Seeing that even after a full minute, his team was still looking at him with stunned looks, Arlo chuckled inwardly.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t understand them as his outward appearance had simply experienced great changes.


    His hair was now longer than Arianne who had the longest one in the group, he was now taller than even Joe who grew in height after his bloodline awakening as he was standing at 1.7m tall, just a few shy of the tallest, Arianne. Not to mention the two small bumps on his forehead.


    Caressing the right horn on his head, Arlo couldn''t help but think, ''Am I still a human?''


    But a brief moment later, he threw such thoughts to the back of his mind. He would welcome any changes that would make him stronger and able to protect his loved ones at any time.


    ''These dragon horns seem to improve my affinity with mana and Ki.''


    But since he had yet to awaken his mana core, only his sensitivity to Ki was strengthened.


    Deciding to try it out, Arlo willed out a small part of the Ki in his body, and after a mere thought, it formed a white hair band on his outstretched palm.


    "Great!" he couldn''t help but shout out in excitement, but his eyes soon widened in surprise as he felt the small bumps on his head instantly absorb the Ki in his surroundings and before he knew it, the little Ki he lost was replenished.


    ''What!?''


    ''Seems like there is more to these dragon horns.''


    After a few moments of playing around with his new ability to shape Ki to his will, Arlo made another hair band and tied his long hair into a bun, only allowing a few strands to fall down the sides of his face.


    "When do you plan on covering yourself? Or are you planning to corrupt these little girls?" Joe was the first to break the silence.


    Arlo rolled his eyes, but when he saw the slight blush on not only Arianne''s face but even Tina''s, Rose''s, and Ella''s, he quickly made a new robe from his Ki.


    The robe covering him was pure white and had several designs of Western dragon patterns lining it.


    "Cool..." Rose praised sincerely, causing a warm smile to lit Arlo''s face. Rose was the only one among their team to not have changed, after all, she had insisted on watching Arlo till the end.


    But the duo didn''t notice the cold glint that flashed within Arianne''s eyes as she watched their exchange.


    ''Huh-oh! I smell some jealousy.'' Joe inwardly remarked.


    Just as the team wanted to share their experiences, the secret realm shook greatly. The sky rumbled and the earth quaked.


    Every living being within the secret realm looked up with terror-stricken expressions. All but one!


    ''It is finally here!'' Arlo thought as he felt the danger his dragon sense had been warning him about finally appeared.


    His new dragon eyes zoomed in on the blue lightning that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and covered the entire colorful sky.


    The realm rumbled as the blue arcs covering the whole sky coiled around themselves like live snakes.


    Closing his eyes, Arlo received several pieces of information from his two new summons who had yet to appear, because of his will. A moment later, he looked down at the unconscious Anita who was still resting in his embrace. After undergoing such a great transformation, it was only normal that his summons would also experience a great power-up, but Anita had suppressed the process just to watch over him. And even now that she was undergoing her changes, she still refused to leave his side and return to the seal.


    Respecting her decision, Arlo raised her before gently placing her on his head.


    Looking up, the sides of his mouth rose slightly to form a smile as an excited light flashed within his eyes.


    His new summons didn''t disappoint him in the least. Their powers were so heaven-defying that he had trouble figuring out just who was the greatest among the two and Anita.


    ''No, Anita is my partner!'' Arlo berated himself inwardly.


    As if feeling his thoughts, the unconscious blue slime atop his head trembled slightly before going still.


    ''I don''t plan on revealing my summons powers yet!'' Arlo thought as he looked at the blue lightning congregating above his head, causing the faces of his team to go pale.


    It wasn''t that he was being arrogant, he was just that strong now. Besides, his dragon senses were warning him of some figures below him that could pose a fatal threat to him, so he didn''t plan on showing all his cards, at least not yet.


    But even without using his three summons powers, Arlo currently had a lot of moves in his arsenal.


    His currently strengthened body was comparable to an eight-star warrior, not to mention his unknown physique that could raise his bodily strength by another level!


    His dragon bloodline resting docilely within his body, waiting to be awakened to reveal its terrifying power to the world!


    And most importantly, his laws, Aether!


    Arlo truly understood why the universe couldn''t tolerate his presence as he himself was feeling scared about his powers. Ever since he partially broke through at Tibu''s castle, he had been having this strange feeling that what was happening to him wasn''t normal. For freak''s sake, while an average warrior had one summon, he had nine. Nine!


    However, just like before, Arlo couldn''t dwell on that thought for long as it seemed the heavens couldn''t wait to erase his existence.


    The blue lightning that covered the entire sky above the four zones of the secret realm and was congregating above his head suddenly fell in a torrent of lightning covering at least a kilometer wide.


    *Rumble!*


    The whole world was lit up in a blue light, revealing the horrified faces of all those occupying it.


    Suddenly, a small figure rose into the sky to meet the pillar of lightning head-on.


    Before Arianne and the others could react, Arlo stomped on the floating mountain lightly, causing him to lunge upward at a difficult-to-follow speed.


    *Ah!* Releasing a battle cry, Arlo gathered all the Ki in his body to his right hand, causing it to be covered in a vibrant white light, before throwing a punch at the torrent of lightning without holding back any of his strength.


    However, his eyes suddenly lit up, as an idea popped up in his head. Without any hesitation, Arlo released massive waves of spiritual energy, and before the power from his punch could be released, he controlled his spiritual energy to limit the range of the shockwaves that would be generated by his fist.


    The sight of a kilometer-wide torrent of blue lightning colliding with a small figure a thousand times smaller than it sent massive waves of shock through the minds of all those in the secret realm.


    There was a brief moment of silence when Arlo''s fist came into contact with the pillar of lightning but soon after, from their point of contact, a beam of compressed air suddenly spread out, pulverizing all the lightning in its path.


    "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"


    A huge sound of explosion caused the ears of all those watching the scene to ring loudly, but no one seemed to care as their eyes widened in horror at the sight of the beam of compressed air comparable to a Dragon''s breath destroying the torrent of lightning before blasting a wide hole several hundreds of meters wide in the sky previously covered in blue arcs.


    Arlo''s body slowly fell in response to gravity but with a single word powered by the bluish energy congregating at his neck, his body came to a stop.


    "Float!" Arlo used Ruler''s Authority on himself and immediately after, the Ki in the atmosphere surrounded him, breaking the hold of gravity on him completely.


    Arlo''s white robe covered in dragon patterns flapped wildly as he floated in the sky.


    Looking at that small figure who dared to face heavenly punishment without fear, and was even able to destroy the lightning tribulation with a single fist, all those present in the realm, be it a human, elf, Asura, magical beast, or spiritual beast couldn''t help but share the same thought.


    ''How magnificent!''


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can keep it up, <3.

 CHAPTER 165: CLASH OF DRAGONS!

    The Lunar World.


    As one of the higher worlds in the universe, the Lunar world was capable of housing mages of the highest cultivation currently possible.


    A yellow-core mage!


    It was the main world of the vampires and werewolves, two apex races with several smaller worlds within their control.


    Almost five days after the secret realm opened, something never seen or experienced before suddenly occurred within this great world.


    Be it the normal sky of the central, Southern, and Western continents, or the always dark sky of the northern and eastern continents, blue lightning suddenly covered the entire world without exception.


    The unseen events caused several people to panic, but after seeing the most powerful members of their races move out in the direction the blue snakes covering the sky were heading, the people''s hearts settled down. Their firm faith in these figures made them believe that all would be well. That was just how powerful these figures were.


    .....


    At the desolate plains.


    The blue lightning coiled like snakes above these desolate grounds before entering a wide crack in space, filled with nothing but chaotic darkness.


    A few moments after this phenomenon started, a few figures appeared before the crack, high in the sky.


    The first to appear was an over three-meter-tall snow-white-haired charming beauty with brightly glowing ruby eyes. Soon after, two figures appeared beside her.


    One was an elderly man holding a cane even though he was floating high in the sky, while the other was a dark-haired with several white streaks beauty who was hugged by a black-fitting suit that accentuated her busty figure and pronounced her charming curves.


    These two were specifically Headmaster Holden and Evangeline!


    However, before the duo had appeared, and a split second after Scarlett showed up, the Lunar queen, Rebecca was the second to flash below the crimson sky.


    A few seconds after the four appeared, two more presences showed up. One was a human, while the other was a magical beast.


    If Arlo was here, he would notice that the human shared a striking resemblance with Rose while the magical beast looked a lot like Joe.


    "What is going on?" Queen Rebecca was the first to break the silence, as she looked at Scarlett with a questioning look.


    The other leaders of the two races also mirrored her actions.


    Scarlett didn''t reply for several minutes and instead had a thoughtful look on her face. As the bearer of the Lunar World''s will, she was able to communicate directly with its consciousness.


    This was the reason why the sky above the northern continent was always dark. Scarlett was able to utilize her free control over all the laws within this world to affect the environment. In the Lunar world, it wasn''t wrong to call her a god.


    This was one of the reasons why mages were thought to be even more terrifying than the rarely seen Ki and soul cultivators, as only a mage who had awakened a ''will'' could bear the will of a world.


    After a full minute, Scarlett opened her red luscious lips to reply, "It seems someone is facing a heavenly punishment within the secret realm."


    "Oh!" The faces of these great figures shone with surprise. In several tens of thousands of years, there had only been records of three figures facing heavenly punishment.


    Among these two were people with unlimited potential, one being the current holder of the strongest title, the void emperor. The last person made legend, as she was only a peak-level god-tier talent, yet was able to show battle prowess that was unmatched in the whole universe. This person was the ancestor of the Asura race, Mama.


    Yet, one such figure seemed to have appeared, and it was even in the secret realm.


    "Just who is this person?" Queen Rebecca feigned ignorance as she asked Scarlett. They already had an inkling of who the person was, after all, Scarlett had already informed her long ago that Arlo would enter the secret realm. It was the reason why she had also sent her daughter along, in the hopes that they would form a bond.


    Scarlett shook her head before replying, "I don''t know."


    These two were the only ones who talked, as the human king and the beast emperor didn''t dare to voice their thoughts. After all, while the world placed them in the same league as these two figures, they were aware that they simply couldn''t compare and it was because it was their will that their races could even share the Lunar world with them.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    While the others were in deep thought, Evangeline had a worried look on her face, ''Please, remain safe.'' The thought of Arlo being the cause of this phenomenon never crossed her mind, and all she cared about was the safety of her only direct disciple.


    Suddenly, the blue arcs of lightning entering the wide crack that opened like the maw of an ancient beast stopped moving.


    *Rumble!*


    The world shook and the sky rumbled. Soon after a change happened to the blue snakes in the sky. New lightning appeared in the sky, but this time they weren''t blue, but stark white. They coiled around the blue ones and soon after a pressure descended upon the world.


    *RUUUUMBLE!*


    Many figures around the Lunar world fainted from the pressure, but thankfully, the new fusion lightning disappeared quickly into the crack under Scarlett''s will, restoring peace and order back in the world.


    "Just what is going on?"


    The human King, Rose''s father whispered in a barely audible voice. Even Scarlett and Rebecca now had deep frowns on their faces.


    .....


    Back in the secret realm.


    Arlo floated in the sky, appearing like a magnificent being coming from the heavens and gracing the world.


    However, while he looked great and majestic, Arlo didn''t dare to relax and instead prepared himself for the next wave, as his dragon sense tingled so much and warned him that the threat on the way was more than two times more dangerous than the previous one.


    *RUUUUMBLE!*


    An overbearing pressure descended upon the secret realm.


    Several figures fell to the ground from the crushing force, and if it wasn''t for Arianne, even someone as talented as Rose would have shared the same fate.


    A surprised look appeared on Rose''s face, even though she had seen what would happen beforehand.


    "Thank you..." she whispered dumbly.


    "Humph!" Arianne harrumphed in response.


    The geniuses below who had fallen to the ground from the crushing force raised their head stiffly to look at the sky, only for their faces to go pale and their eyes to widen in terror.


    There, above the floating Arlo, was a river of blue and white lightning covering the whole sky and coiling around each other.


    However, unlike before, this new lightning that seemed to be three times as powerful as the previous one didn''t flow to one point but instead coiled together to form a huge figure.


    *ROAAAAAAAR!*


    A twenty-kilometer-long eastern dragon made purely from blue and white lightning coiled around itself before gazing down at the small Arlo, with a look of disdain flashing within its intelligent eyes.


    Arlo couldn''t help but put on a serious expression but that expression was soon broken by a light smile on his face.


    He couldn''t help but remember his father''s words to him the night he had lost to Tina.


    "I was so great to the point that even the heavens tried to strike me down several times when I was still in my budding stages." he had thought his father was just being narcissistic. But now, Arlo was realizing how great his father was and how mighty the person who was threatening his life might be.


    Seeing the lightning dragon still looking at him disdainfully, Arlo chuckled, "Heh!"


    Without any hesitation, Arlo awakened his dragon bloodline. His dragon heart pounded faster and fiercer against his rib cage, and Arlo felt a terrifying strength surge within him, threatening to explode his body.


    His body became covered in multicolored scales, as the two small bumps covered by the few strands of his golden hair grew longer, finally looking more like dragon horns.


    However, that wasn''t the end. Arlo winced briefly in pain as he felt something bulge out from his rear, and before he knew it a two-meter-long tail ending at a sharp point and covered in an aurora of colors whipped around behind him.


    The air made slicing sounds from each swing of the dragon''s tail, only to be swallowed by several sounds of explosions followed by massive air cannons. Arlo forcefully suppressed the shock he felt. He could feel the terrifying power his dragon tail wielded and he didn''t doubt that it was at least five times more powerful than even his tempered parts.


    Unable to suppress his excitement any longer, Arlo raised his head and released a deafening roar, one that seemed to even outmatch that of the lightning dragon above him.


    "ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!"


    The lightning dragon shrank back briefly at the same time that almost all the figures on the ground bent their knees unconsciously even though the roar wasn''t directed at them.


    That was just how great and noble the aura around Arlo currently was.


    The intelligent eyes of the lightning dragon flashed with shame and soon after it lunged down in anger to destroy the little rat that dared to oppose it.


    Arlo didn''t remain idle either.


    Now that he had unleashed his dragon bloodline, Arlo felt so much strength coursing through his body that he felt if he didn''t release it, he might run mad drunk in power.


    Clenching his now scaly right fist, Arlo gathered all his strength and Ki, causing the space around his fist to quake from the tyrannical pressure. Before sending out a fist to meet the falling dragon, Arlo used the super sensitivity his dragon horn gave him to control the ki in his body. Soon after, as his white robes flapped wildly within the crushing air raging around him, Arlo''s body became slowly enveloped in the outline of a white dragon head that had its mouth wide open and his fist just happened to be at the center of the outstretched mouth.


    The lightning dragon seemed to sense something so it didn''t wait to reach Arlo any longer and instead opened its mouth to release a lightning breath.


    *BZZZZZZZZZT!*


    The world brightened up in blue and white as the lightning breath streaked down towards Arlo.


    Arlo''s eyes were fixed on the approaching breath, and without any hesitation, he released his spiritual energy at the same time that he threw a punch with all the power currently being contained within his body.


    "Dragon Roar!" Arlo''s calm voice shook the world. A split second later, the dragon outline around him seemed to come to life as its blurry eyes quickly became fixed on the approaching attack, before releasing a roar.


    *ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*


    Together with the roar of the white dragon outline, rose a pillar of compressed air no different from a breath attack.


    In a split second, the lightning breath, and Arlo''s breath collided.


    The secret realm seemed to be enveloped in silence.


    However, not even a second later, and under the horror-filled eyes of all the geniuses in the secret realm, all hell broke loose!


    AN: Sigh! That nobody comments discourages me, a lot. But I still offer my thanks for following the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 166: THE FINAL BATTLE I

    A magnificent scene played out within the secret realm.


    All the young geniuses who had gathered from various worlds across the universe watched with mixed emotions, as the eastern dragon made from the interweaving of blue and white lightning and was a manifestation of heavenly tribulation collided with a figure who could almost be described as microscopic before its immense size. Yet the brilliance and grandiosity of this ant-like figure didn''t seem to pale in comparison in any way, as his body covered in glittering scales brightened the world in an aurora of beautiful lights.


    Rook watched with widened eyes as the lightning dragon released a lightning-breath attack that fell from the sky like a pillar trying to connect it with the earth. However, rather than focusing on this heaven-destroying attack, his eyes were fixed on the small figure that was suddenly surrounded by the image of a white dragon head, which seemed to resonate with his current appearance.


    The white dragon opened its mouth at the same time that the little figure punched out.


    In response, another breath-like attack appeared within his vision and seemingly wanting to defy the falling lightning breath, it rose into the sky as if to connect the earth with the sky.


    In a split second, both breaths collided together.


    Rook felt as if the world went still, but as his eyes filled with horror, he realized it was a misconception on his part


    *Boooooooooooom!*


    A loud explosion seemed to shake the whole realm, as the sky rumbled and the ground shook as if experiencing a severe earthquake.


    A massive shockwave spread out in all directions, destroying all in its path.


    Having no choice, Rook raised his hands in a cross to protect himself from the shockwave and gritted his teeth as he braced himself for the impact.


    All the others were experiencing the same thing as him. Many were forcefully thrown off their feet while only a handful were able to remain standing as the air raged around them.


    Removing his arms from his face, Rook ignored the crumbling pieces and huge boulders from the previously floating mountain, and the few small figures that fell with them.


    Instead, his eyes were automatically glued on that small figure that floated high in the sky, with no sign of heavenly tribulation remaining.


    ''He did it.''


    ''He survived the heavenly tribulation...no!''


    ''It is more apt to say he destroyed the heavenly tribulation and with one punch at that.''


    The heavens were not unreasonable. It would always leave a leeway for a person it had condemned to survive.


    Taking a deep breath, Rook quickly took notice of the few figures that flashed a distance away from him.


    At this moment, Arianne, Ella, Joe, and the others were very conspicuous as they were forcefully teleported from the fourth zone even before they could touch the ground. Now that they appeared within the group of geniuses who had only a handful still standing from the previous shockwave, they couldn''t help but stand out.


    ''That is it.''


    Rook took a deep breath as his eyes became fixed on Arianne and the others. A part of him now feared Arlo after seeing what the current him could do, but still, he couldn''t allow him and his team to live. Not after they found out they were responsible for the werewolves and vampires'' deaths. He didn''t even want to imagine the repercussions of that information leaving the secret realm.


    ''I need to kill them quickly before he arrives and take one hostage to threaten him.''


    With that thought in mind, Rook immediately sprung into action.


    His body lunged forward as he closed the short distance to Arianne and the others, however before he could arrive before them, his expression changed, as a charming voice that could be mistaken for a Succubus'' because of the charm it contained, drifted into his ears.


    "Burst!"


    This voice didn''t only reach Rook''s ears but rang beside the ears of every person currently within the area.


    A bloody essence burst out from Arianne''s two-meter-tall body, and immediately after, all the people around her except Ella, Joe, and her allies, felt their blood heat up.


    Barely three breaths later, several bodies started swelling up, their faces aghast.


    *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!**Bang!**Bang!**Bang!* *Bang!*


    The almost fifty figures now crowded together were reduced by almost half.


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    Two of these people were from Rook''s party. With an ugly expression, Rook forcefully suppressed his churning blood and gazed at the figure responsible for the sudden massacre.


    Arianne''s ruby eyes glittered strangely as she chuckled in embarrassment from the several looks directed at her, "Hehe!"


    After passing through the last mind trial and fully accepting her original form, not only were her bloodline and abilities fully awakened, but even her personality seemed to have taken a strange turn.


    "Die!" An angry voice dripping with murderous intent rang out pulling Rook''s attention, and without any hesitation, he shielded his face at the same time that a greenish essence burst out of his body.


    *BAM!*


    Rook''s body flew back like a ragdoll. He rolled on the ground miserably before coming to a stop. At the same time, the smell of burnt flesh permeated the area, as scorched marks appeared on his body, the greenish essence he had surrounded his body with seemingly not offering any form of defense.


    His two cousins and his remaining five members quickly shielded him from the short purple-haired girl who was now standing at his previous location with purple lightning crackling around her.


    "TBZZZZT!"


    Raising his head, Rook uncontrollably coughed a mouthful of blood before looking at Ella with a shocked expression.


    ''What is going on? How are they all suddenly strong?'' Not only was Arlo now a monster, but even Arianne and Ella seemed to have become immeasurably strong.


    Stealing glances at Kai, Joe, and the others who were further back, he noticed the aura around them were entirely different. Of course, Rose didn''t seem to have changed, but that didn''t make any difference to him.


    ''This is getting out of hand.''


    The average member of his team had a mid-level grandmaster realm cultivation, while he and his cousins were at the late level. And as supreme-level geniuses, he and his two cousins could jump two levels to fight, while the others could barely jump one.


    However, even with all their top-notch strength among the geniuses in the secret realm, Rook doubted they could kill the current Ella, Arianne, and the others. At least, before that monster in the sky arrived.


    He didn''t know why Arlo was still wasting time in the sky, but what he did know was that he was almost out of time, considering that he had to kill them fast before they revealed any information and the situation escalated.


    ''Wait, that seductive bitch had killed many people, what if I use them...'' Before that thought could fully form, Rook''s expression turned ugly when he suddenly heard a painful scream.


    Shifting his eyes to his side, he saw the male Asura explode the head of a human who was still alive. After obtaining information on who had the mana fruits, he tacitly ignored Eleanor and instead lunged at Theodore.


    While the male Asura was shocked by Arlo''s presence, he couldn''t divert his attention as he had more pressing matters at hand. Unlike Eleanor, he volunteered to enter the secret realm to make a name for himself and also make some contributions.


    Even though the Asuras didn''t have any use for the mana fruits, he could still offer them up to the higher-ups.


    Theodore who was shocked by Kai and Rose''s presence had no choice but to defend against the Asura''s attack. His team quickly helped him to fend against the male Asura, but they soon found themselves on the losing side.


    The Male Asura could not be underestimated!


    Taking advantage of the distraction, Ella attacked Rook and his team, and Arianne, Joe, Tina, and Miller quickly moved to support her. Kai stood behind to protect Rose.


    Even with eight against five, Rook found himself and his team retreating.


    With that, two battles erupted within the area.


    Theodore and his team quickly asked for support from the few remaining humans they had joined with to cross the third zone, but unexpectedly they were deserted. After learning that Theodore was the one with the mana fruits, they decided to watch the fight and look for any opening to acquire the fruits themselves.


    Theodore gritted his teeth from the unexpected betrayal. He didn''t dare to use all his strength against the male Asura as he had to guide against the others. The greedy eyes of the humans watching him were proof. To do that, he had to remain at full strength. However, he couldn''t allow the situation to continue any longer as the male Asura had already incapacitated six members of his team within this short period. Just when Theodore was contemplating what to do, several silvery lights with the shape of a crescent moon crisscrossing together to form a net appeared beside the male Asura.


    Trying to defend against the surprise attack, the Male Asura punched out to his side quickly, causing a resounding boom to shake the area.


    However, the silvery light seemed to cut through the air cannons generated by the male Asura''s fist, before falling on his body.


    Blood spurted out from the male Asura''s body as several cuts that seemed to be made by countless sword slashes appeared on his body.


    Turning to the direction the attack came from, Theodore''s eyes widened, "Kai?"


    .....


    Arlo remained high in the sky as he waited for his summon to return.


    That is right!


    Just when his attack collided with the breath of the lightning dragon, he had sent his new summon out to quickly gather the remaining fruits on the floating mountains. Those fruits were treasures billions would kill for in the outside world and he would be stupid to lose them like that.


    Thankfully, no one saw the black light that streaked out of his body due to the explosion and the terrifying shockwaves that soon followed.


    Well, all but one person!


    Looking down, Arlo ignored the two battles currently raging below him and instead focused his attention in a particular direction.


    It didn''t take long for his blue reptilian pupils resting within his silver eyes to lock with that of the red-skinned girl who was covered in scanty clothes.


    Arlo could feel his heart beating wildly, but after a while, he quickly redrew his gaze.


    Without a doubt, that was the presence his dragon sense had been warning him about. The one with the most fatal threat, one that couldn''t be compared in the least to the heavenly tribulation he just overcame.


    At this time, a black light streaked through the sky before returning to Arlo.


    ''Interesting. Not only is he a Ki cultivator but he even has two summons just like Mama!'' Zara''s eyes flashed with excitement as she gazed intently at Arlo like a thief would, to a treasure.


    Steven who had remained at her side and had been looking at Tina and Miller who were clashing against Rook''s party with surprised eyes finally spoke, pulling her from her thoughts and causing a light frown to appear on her face.


    "Don''t forget our agreement. You have to help me retrieve the fruits from that elf and vampire duo."


    The frown didn''t leave Zara''s face, as a glint of displeasure flashed within her eyes. Now that she found what she was looking for, she didn''t care about anything else. But it wasn''t like she could go back on her word either. After some thought, she replied:


    "You can take the beast with you. He should be more than enough to secure the fruits."


    Steven glanced at Tron from the side of his eyes and after a brief moment, he nodded his head before lunging in Eleanor''s direction, not before leaving his final words.


    "If you kill him, not even your ancestor would be able to save you."

 CHAPTER 167: THE MIGHTY TAIL OF A SUPREME DRAGON

    After receiving his summon, Arlo looked back down, at Zara. It was just in time to see Steven and the ape-like beast leave her side. His eyes lingered a while longer on the beast, specifically on the axe in his hand.


    ''That axe...''


    "So will you come down here, or would you like me to come up there?"


    A soft yet powerful voice made Arlo shift his eyes from Tron. Looking at the red-skinned Zara, Arlo didn''t reply for a moment as his mind quickly spun.


    ''They should be fine, as long as they don''t clash with those two.'' Seeing Ella decimate the entire magical beast group on her own made Arlo deeply satisfied. He would have loved to also go down there, and give Rook and his team a piece of his mind, but he obviously couldn''t do that as the strongest person present seemed to be interested in him.


    Arlo recognized one of the other two people who could pose a fatal threat to him as Principal Martin''s son, Steven. He wasn''t particularly surprised by his appearance, after all, Tina and Miller had already informed him beforehand.


    What made Arlo relieved was that Steven was about to clash with the only other presence who he felt might be difficult to handle for his team.


    With no other great danger to his friend''s life, Arlo gestured with his head towards Zara as he finally replied after almost thirty breaths.


    "Oh! You want us to move away from here?" Zara questioned. She could tell what the little boy covered in glistening scales was worried about, and she didn''t mind indulging him if it would allow him to fight at ease.


    "Alright."


    Receiving a reply, Arlo flew through the sky, distancing himself from the current battlefield. Zara stomped the ground lightly with her right foot raising a cloud of dust, but she had already disappeared from her position as she chased after Arlo.


    It wasn''t until after three minutes that Arlo came to a stop. After pondering about it, he fell back to the ground. He knew he would have to use his full strength in this fight, so it would be better for him to use the ground that was more favorable to his new summons abilities to his advantage.


    Just as Arlo''s feet tapped the ground, Zara flashed before him, a trail of dust left behind her, and her scanty dress flapping in the wind, revealing her full arms and her hot thighs.


    Despite having a flat chest, her rear perked out noticeably even from a distance, which would send a man drooling from lust. However. Arlo didn''t care about such things, as he questioned in a cold tone.


    "Who are you?" Even though he couldn''t feel any murderous intent from the other party, Arlo could still sense her thirst for battle.


    Zara flashed a beautiful smile at the young boy who despite being younger than her was a head taller, "I will tell you that after our fight." Of course, it wasn''t that Zara had forgotten her purpose, it was just that Arlo''s entire existence was filled with mystery. She had suspected the slime still resting above his head to be one of his summons, yet she had seen the black streak that had left his body before. Even though she couldn''t make out its figure, she could tell from the aura around it that it was also a summon. This meant that Arlo had two summons, something only her ancestor had. Not to mention Arlo''s current reptilian appearance also piqued her interest. Was that an ability of the slime or that black streak? Or was it from another...


    ''No, no.'' Zara shook her head at the somewhat impossible thought and chuckled lightly.


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    What Zara didn''t know was that even without including Arlo, her ancestor wasn''t the only one with more than one summon.


    Seeing that Zara was lost in her thoughts, Arlo decided to make the first move. He didn''t care about fighting with dignity, not to mention that the other party was far above him in cultivation, so he would do anything to win.


    Using the unique ability of his physique, Arlo punched out with all his might, his spiritual energy merging with the attack.


    *Boooom!*


    A pillar of compressed air flew at Zara at great speed, prompting her to shift her head to her right subconsciously.


    The beam of air scraped past her face, before destroying all the trees and thickets in its path.


    A clearing hundreds of meters long was formed behind her, as all the trees were pulverized into pieces from the crushing force, not even leaving any wood splinter behind.


    "That is just what I like." Zara grinned at Arlo, as her body released a red aura.


    Arlo''s eyes widened as he felt the pressure released by Zara to have at least doubled but before he could even ponder about the red aura, his dragon sense tingled greatly, and without any hesitation, Arlo took a step back, allowing him to narrowly dodge the right fist swing of Zara who instantly appeared before him.


    *Boooom!*


    Even though Arlo dodged the punch, he wasn''t yet out of danger as a huge shockwave spread out before slamming into him.


    However, Zara''s eyes widened when she saw Arlo remain unscathed and not even pushed a foot behind. It didn''t take her long to realize the reason.


    Arlo also seemed to be shocked as he gazed dumbly at his brightly glowing scales. It seemed that not only did his scales offer a layer of defense, but they could also absorb shock.


    Furrowing her brows, the red aura around Zara increased once again, as she threw several punches. This time Arlo was prepared so he was able to react to her attacks.


    *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!*


    A red light and a colorful light streaked across the area, as they collided against each other.


    The trees around them were already obliterated into tiny dust, as a clearing of three kilometers had already formed around them. The earth shook greatly every time the two lights clashed, and the shockwaves unendingly spread out greatly with no obstacles on their paths.


    After a while, the two lights separated.


    A look of excitement shone in Zara''s eyes even though her body was covered with several bloody marks, marks that disappeared barely two seconds later.


    Arlo on the other hand was unscathed as not only did his Dragon armor protect him from any injury, but he was also unaffected by the shock from their clashes, a point proven by the blue slime still resting peacefully above his head. But his chest that rose and fell greatly showed that he also didn''t have it easy in their previous exchange.


    "Hahahahaha!" Zara suddenly burst into laughter as the red aura surrounding her spiked up before billowing around her. Her hair flew wildly behind her at the same time that her dress flapped loudly revealing her red but attractive skin.


    If someone looked at her from a distance, they would think a miniature sun had risen from the earth.


    "I won''t take it easy on you any longer."


    With a mighty stomp, she flashed before Arlo who was already prepared for her move.


    However, a look of confusion shone within Arlo''s eyes when he saw Zara raise both her hands up in a swinging motion. But that look of confusion didn''t last long as, under Arlo''s slowly widening eyes, the ring on Zara''s right finger flashed before a bronze hammer appeared in her hands. As Arlo''s reptilian pupils contracted further, Zara''s authoritative voice drifted into his ears.


    "Gravity manipulation ¡Á 50!''


    Arlo could do nothing but watch as his body moved too slowly to react to the hammer that broke the sound barrier and appeared before his head.


    ''Won''t I die from this?'' that was the only thought that passed through Arlo''s mind. He couldn''t help but question if Zara deceived him and was actually trying to secretly kill him.


    However, while Arlo couldn''t react to Zara''s cunny and sudden surge in power, a part of his body could.


    The two-meter-long tail behind Arlo which had been quiet since the battle began suddenly turned into a blur before smashing into the bronze hammer, which was a split second from blasting Arlo''s head into a bursted melon.


    There was no sound, and no shockwave as the scales around the tail shone with a multicolored glow.


    Under this stiffening silence and before Arlo''s contracted pupil and Zara''s excited eyes, the female Asura flew backward like a missile, and with no obstacle on her path, her body soon turned into a small dot in the distance as she disappeared from Arlo''s view.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 168: EMPRESS SOMBRA DE LA NONA

    In the secret realm.


    The small world still basked under the beautiful light of the colorful sky. However, one would notice how the ground constantly shook ever so slightly if one should pay attention. The reason for that was the intense battles currently raging within the third and most dangerous zone. It was just an irony that this zone which was known to be terrifying because of the dangerous beasts it harbored, was now being decimated by humans, and little ones at that.


    .....


    Surrounded by a barren land of about three kilometers, a lonely figure stood with a speechless look on his face.


    Arlo dumbfoundedly watched the two-meter tail protruding from his back flail about before rubbing his chin affectionately. It was almost like a child waiting to be praised for doing a good job.


    Releasing a breath, Arlo finally relented as he broke the silence, "Alright, alright, jeez. I admit that without you I might be a goner by now. Thank you."


    As if it could understand him, the tail stopped moving and instead rubbed against his face silently. Speechless again, Arlo could only shake his head at the almost humane behavior of his new tail. It was almost as if the tail had a consciousness of its own, and he was sure that it wasn''t Seraphina, as she was currently residing within him.


    Arlo touched the tail''s pointy edge and realized it didn''t hurt him in the least. Rubbing it, the tail snuggled closer into his palm.


    It was only then that Arlo realized something.


    ''Is my body still my own?''


    Old Bro, Anita, his two new summons, and seven other unawakened ones. There was now Seraphina and this mysterious tail.


    Arlo couldn''t help but feel his body wasn''t his any longer, and he could only kiss his dream of a private life goodbye.


    Just as he was lost in his thoughts, the sounds of sonic booms exploded from the distance. Raising his head, Arlo noticed the almost conical waves raging from the distance and closing towards him every split second. Three breaths later, he noticed the small figure at the front of the waves and just when his brain registered the person''s identity, Zara appeared a short distance before him.


    The red aura that had congregated around her had disappeared and the zeal to battle was no longer on her face. What remained was a serious look as she gazed at the now flailing tail behind him with a grave look.


    Arlo was also shocked as he watched new flesh regenerate rapidly around Zara''s deep brown bones. He didn''t know what laws she used to temper her hands, but what truly shocked Arlo was that just a swing from his tail was able to blast the hands of someone as strong as the girl before him into oblivion.


    He had no choice but to revise his understanding of his new tail, as he took a mental note to study its abilities carefully when he had some time. After all, such a powerful weapon may become a double-edged sword if not wielded properly.


    "I have underestimated you. Would you believe that I was planning to deviate my weapon''s path at the last second, but who would have thought that I was the one in danger instead." Zara broke the silence with a wry smile on her face. However, seeing the cold look on Arlo''s scaly face, she realized that he didn''t believe her.


    She smiled wryly as she realized she might have gone a bit too far in her excitement. ''But now that it has reached this point, I might as well just measure his full capabilities.''


    Arlo didn''t dare to relax his guard in the least, even though he now knew how strong his tail was. Not to mention that his dragon sense was still warning him of the presence before him even with his tail in consideration, and he also couldn''t even consciously control it. So he couldn''t rely on it, and could only hope it would cover him.


    "Mountain lava domain." A huge amount of ki burst out from Zara as she used the power she inherited from her summon.


    Slowly, the surroundings were transformed as the barren lands gave way to a fiery domain. The temperature rose greatly, causing Arlo''s newly made robe to scatter in heat.


    As the last portions of his robe remained, Arlo''s full body covered in beautiful scales was revealed in their full splendor. However, Arlo fully noticed a problem. Tracing Zara''s eyes filled with curiosity, Arlo saw the last piece of his dragon-patterned robes barely covering his crotch. And even that last piece was slowly incinerating.


    With a blushing face, Arlo quickly covered his crotch as he glared at Zara, "Pervert!"


    Zara giggled mischievously, as she enjoyed his reaction. Even though she couldn''t see his blushing face due to being covered by scales, she could still tell he was feeling shy.


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    Arlo quickly used his Ki to create another robe around his body. Left with no choice he had to constantly reform the robes as they were burnt off, causing him to divert his attention. However, to Arlo, that was an easy task, and wouldn''t affect his battle prowess in the least.


    As the sound of bubbling lava reverberated, Zara''s slightly serious voice rang in the area.


    "Bring out your summon."


    "You are looking at it." Arlo pointed at Anita who was at his head.


    Furrowing her brows, Zara pointed out, "Your other summon."


    Even though she didn''t know why, she could tell the slime atop his head was out of commission. And she was also curious to see Arlo''s second summon which was able to transform his appearance completely and boost his powers to such a terrifying degree. She didn''t show it, but the fact that Arlo who was a six-star warrior could contend on equal ground with her, who had the prowess of a twelve-star warrior, sent her into great shock. But at the same time, it made her excited as she firmly believed he was the one she was looking for. If he wasn''t the one, then who else could it be?


    "There is no need," Arlo replied casually, causing a deep frown to form on Zara''s beautiful face.


    She herself hadn''t brought out her summon when she faced Tron, as she believed she didn''t need to. But what she didn''t expect was for another person to treat her the same way soon after.


    "Is that so?" the red aura returned, this time, five times stronger.


    Arlo felt the small rock below him, the only last piece remaining in the surrounding thousand meters, slowly disappearing from the intense heat. He could only use Ruler''s Authority on himself to fly into the air.


    "I guess I just have to make you..." Zara whispered as she raised her hand. In response, several lava hands thousands of meters high rise from around her before attacking Arlo.


    Arlo had no choice but to send out several punches, as the beams of compressed air, destroyed the lava hands before they could approach him.


    However, Zara''s eyes remained placid, as twice the previous number of hands rose into the air, causing Arlo to give his all to destroy them.


    *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!**Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!* *Boooom!*


    Several sounds of explosions resounded in the area, as a small scaly figure streaked across the sky, with mountain-sized hands on his tail. Knowing that he couldn''t continue like this, Arlo fell into deep thoughts, while not stopping to fire several breath-like attacks.


    ''I can''t bring out of any of my new summons.''


    It wasn''t that he was being arrogant, but he simply couldn''t reveal his two new summons. If he did, he wouldn''t be able to explain the reason for his current appearance, since they would look like nothing like the current him. Old Bro had also warned him to not reveal more than two summons, something Arlo greatly agreed with. In fact, just exposing Anita''s identity had taken a great deal of thought and contemplation from him, as he knew just how heaven-defying her existence was. And now that he had two new summons that didn''t fall short of her in any way, he knew he had to tread carefully.


    ''The best thing is not to expose them.'' Arlo arrived at this conclusion. Of course, that didn''t mean that he couldn''t use their abilities. Even if the public became confused because of his many abilities, they would never attribute it to the existence of more summons. To them, such a thing was simply impossible.


    After making his decision, Arlo didn''t hesitate any longer. He stopped using Ruler''s Authority on himself, causing his body to fall uncontrollably. As the lava hands quickly closed in on him, Arlo gathered all his strength into his hands only for his action to stall, as his dragon tail beat him to it.


    With a wide swing, the air made slicing sounds, as if space was split apart, however, that sound was soon swallowed by sounds of explosion, as all the encroaching massive hands were blasted away.


    Under Zara''s questioning eyes, Arlo''s body drew a colorful vertical streak as he fell to the earth.


    ''Is he crazy?'' Zara didn''t understand why Arlo was trying to get himself killed by jumping into her lava domain. Even if his scales could offer a frightening degree of protection, he would still end up cooked from the inside.


    What Zara didn''t know was that Arlo didn''t have a choice. He had already been taught in the academy that to overcome a domain, one would need to overlay a far stronger domain to destroy it.


    Arlo didn''t have a domain-like ability in his arsenal. He wasn''t exactly sure how to classify Ruler''s Authority, but he was sure it wasn''t a domain. If it was before, he would be hard-pressed on how to overcome this situation, but not anymore, not after awakening his new summons.


    As his feet dipped into the scorching lava, Arlo realized he couldn''t feel any pain, but he didn''t dare to wait to find out how long his dragon armor could protect him. Without any hesitation, he used one of the abilities he just received from his new summons.


    Just like with Anita, Arlo received two abilities from each of his two summons. And it just happened that each of them granted him a domain ability.


    However, for the domain he planned on using, he had to be in contact with the earth. Only then could he release it.


    This domain was from one of his new summons, a nine-tailed shadow fox.


    And just like Anita who had the identity of the Universal Devourung Slime, his second summon had one too.


    EMPRESS SOMBRA DE LA NONA!


    Arlo was excited as he had already learned from Old Bro, just how terrifying his new summon was in the Realm of the Gods. According to him, she was among the absolute strongest among the godbeasts, and truly the two new abilities he inherited didn''t disappoint him.


    Barely a second after falling into Zara''s lava domain, Arlo whispered in a light voice:


    "Shadow Territory!"


    At the same time that he felt almost all his Ki used up and a feeling of weakness wash over him, a circle of darkness suddenly appeared below Arlo''s feet, but in just a breath, it spread out before covering the surrounding thousand meters. The heat in the area disappeared as if a lie and the colorful light cascading from the sky vanished without a trace as they were sucked into the horrifying darkness covering the earth.


    With trembling eyes, Zara watched as her domain was forcefully dispelled, only for her to be surrounded by pure thick darkness.


    AN: Sorry for the slow pacing, but don''t worry, I plan on releasing more chapters this week, as I plan to join the Writathon contest with this novel. I know the last few chaps have been nothing but pure action, and it would stay that way until the end of the Secret Realm arc, which would be soon. I just hope you enjoyed reading the chapters, just like I enjoy writing them. Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we keep it up.

 CHAPTER 169: SWORD DRAW: TIDAL WAVE

    The Male Asura''s eyes shone with an angry light. He had entered the secret realm with the primary aim of dominating all in his age range. Only then could he gain some attention from the higher-ups of his family. However, not only had he miserably lost to an elf who seemed even younger than him, he had also been almost killed. The fact that the partner whom he came with ignored him and was now associating with a human further displeased him. But he could do nothing about it and could only swallow his grievance.


    After learning that the fruits he was planning to pick had all been taken, he felt as if a volcano was about to erupt in his chest. He knew he couldn''t return like this, if not he would only become an object of mockery in his family.


    Left with no choice, he had to do all he had to obtain the fruits. Since it would be a fool''s errand to challenge the elven girl who had defeated him, he could only divert his entire attention to the other party who had stolen his treasures. Yes, to the Asura, the mana fruits were already his. That was just how he was brought up in his race. Only the strong could decide the fate of others.


    The group of ten humans was nothing in his eyes so without any hesitation, he charged towards them. Releasing his summon, the silver eagle, the male Asura gathered his strength and punched out.


    Sure enough, he was able to singlehandedly dominate the humans. With his summon in the air releasing waves of wind blades like a torrent from the sky, the humans could do nothing but defend themselves. Making use of this opportunity, the male Asura charged into their group fearlessly, and not before long, six of the ten humans fell.


    ''It is good that the other humans are just watching from the sidelines.'' The humans currently numbered the most in the area yet it seemed they weren''t united. The male Asura decided to make full use of this opportunity before they changed their minds. As for the thoughts of them getting the fruits from him after he reclaimed them, he could only scoff at their ignorance. As a ten-star warrior, he had already tempered ten parts of his body. Not only were these parts stronger than the rest of his body, but a space had been created in them where a reserve of Ki had been stored. Unlike Mages whose mana was stored in their mana cores, the warriors could only store Ki in their bodies. But it didn''t take a genius to know that the body would only be able to hold a limited amount of Ki. Too much, and it would explode. Luckily, thanks to the cultivation method created by Mama, they were able to form spaces within parts that had been tempered and store as much Ki as they wanted. These spaces were the stars that marked their bones after tempering.


    In other words, warriors had a lot of stamina compared to mages. So he could fight without rest for nearly half a day before he exhausted himself.


    Just when the male Asura was about to attack the human who was at the back and being protected by his other three members, his summon suddenly released an anxious cry in his head, and without any hesitation, he directed his fist to his side.


    *Boooom!*


    The Male Asura''s eyes widened when he saw the air cannons generated by his fist split apart, and he could only watch as a net of silver energy fell on him.


    *AH!* He screamed in pain as blood spurted from different parts of his body. If it wasn''t for his strong body which had been tempered by Ki, the Male Asura didn''t doubt that he would have split into his pieces. At the same time that his flesh healed at inhumane speed, the male Asura heard the angry cry of his summon from above his head.


    Raising his head, he saw a boy who seemed even younger than the Elven girl who had defeated him, swerve around the blades of wind that rained from the sky as he closed in on him.


    As if sensing the great threat approaching, the silver eagle turned into a light that flew into his body in an instant. Without hesitation, the male Asura used his secret technique and fused with it.


    However, his eyes widened when he saw the small human boy quickly close the distance to him now that he was unobstructed. He quickly raised his arms in a cross to defend himself, at the same time, a ring on his finger flashed before two red gauntlets appeared on his hands.


    ''Once I block this attack, I should be done with the fusion. Then I will kill this arrogant human.'' His widened eyes flared up, as the thought of being challenged by a boy who was several years younger than him made him almost mad.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ''How dare him...'' the thought had not fully formed within his mind when he felt something was wrong.


    The boy had appeared before him a second ago, yet he didn''t make any move. Instead, he bent forward and gripped his katana in a pulling posture, with his eyes closed.


    ''Something is wrong.'' Just as this thought passed through his mind, a sword cry shook the area before piercing the sky.


    *Zinnnnnnnng!*


    "Sword Draw..." a cold voice was submerged within the still ringing sword cry.


    "Tidal wave!"


    "Click!" The Male Asura simply heard the sound made from a sword returning into its sheath.


    ''Wh-What happened?'' That was the last thought that flashed within his mind, as several red lines appeared all over his body. A moment later, his body split into countless cleanly cut pieces.


    With a thud, a massive pool of blood formed on the ground, and its metallic smell permeated the area.


    Not even an Asura could regenerate from that. Like this, one of the strongest teens within the secret realm died, and he died at the hands of a boy almost five years younger than him.


    "Kai?"


    Theodore watched with shocked eyes as the young spiky-auburn-haired boy straightened his body.


    .....


    Two figures, one covered in a red aura similar to an Asura''s frenzy, and the other shrouded in the image of a huge female elemental separated after colliding. Both figures came to a stop as if in agreement. A look of shock visibly appeared on Steven''s face as he gazed at the spiky-haired boy who had the same hair color.


    ''Is that a true sword cultivator?'' Looking at the sword in his hand, a look of contemplation appeared on his face.


    Eleanor on the other quickly shifted her eyes from the remains of the male Asura and instead looked at the fight still ongoing tens of meters away from her.


    A strange glint flashed in her eyes when she saw Tron manhandle Landon, as a child would a toy. The clash between the two couldn''t even be called a fight, as every time Landon tried to widen the distance to Tron, the latter would simply raise his hand before pulling him toward his outstretched palm. And with a slap, Landon would be sent flying, before the same process is repeated.


    Shifting her eyes back to her opponent who tightened his grip on his sword, Eleanor hesitated before finally sighing. Gritting her teeth, she spoke, "Wait. I will share the fruits with you. There is no need for us to fight." It took all her will to squeeze out those words. She didn''t mind ignoring her pride when her mates were at stake, but that didn''t change the fact that she was a very prideful person. However, after seeing the way Tron was toying with Landon, she realized that she wouldn''t be able to handle Steven if Tron decided to join him. After all, Steven alone was proving difficult to defeat.


    Steven didn''t respond for almost a full minute, "Okay. But we must share them equally."


    A crease appeared on Eleanor''s face, but they returned to normal a moment later. The massive image around her slowly disappeared, as her feet touched the ground. With a flash of light, eight boxes floated before her. Steven didn''t hesitate to collect the boxes in his own spatial ring. He didn''t need to check them, he could tell that the girl before him wouldn''t lie. You could call it his gut instinct.


    "Who are you?" Eleanor couldn''t help but question. She had thought she would only have to be wary of Zara and didn''t expect to find someone as strong as her.


    Steve brushed his beautiful hair to the side before flashing a charming smile, "Just a hero in passing."


    Eleanor rolled her eyes at him, "Can you tell that beast to stop?"


    "Sure."


    After a short while, Tron returned to Steven''s side while a panting Landon stood beside Eleanor. If it wasn''t for his race as a vampire, his body would have been covered in wounds of varying degrees.


    ''Just where are those two?'' Eleanor thought to herself. Now that she was free, she could divert her mind to other pressing matters. For some reason, she couldn''t help but turn in the direction, where a young purple-haired girl was singlehandedly decimating a group of magical beasts.


    ''For little kids to be able to appear within the fourth zone, yet they didn''t, it could only mean...'' She didn''t dare to finish her thoughts.


    "Ha...ha...why haven''t the werewolves and our team appeared?" The panting Landon suddenly asked. It seemed he was also worried about the same thing.


    Just when Eleanor was thinking of what to say, a massive structure appeared in the sky far in the distance.


    "What is that?" Eleanor exclaimed, dumbfounded.


    Landon, Steven, Tron, and even the others who were still fighting came to a stop before looking into the distance without exception.


    A huge pillar that looked more like a staff appeared several kilometers away. But even from such a distance, it appeared just too big.


    Just when they were thinking of what the object was and why it appeared, more pillars identical to the first one appeared. It increased to four, before reaching ten. With a few breaths, they could count almost fifty of these massive staff. The sight of massive pillars at least half a kilometer wide and more than a kilometer long blotting the sky, even from a distance, stunned all these geniuses into silence.


    "What the hell are those?" It wasn''t known who blurted the question they all had in mind.


    Only the eyes of a small figure shone. Her half golden-half emerald hair fluttered in the wind, as her golden runic eyes spun clockwise.


    ''It is him.'' A beautiful smile lit her face, which even though was chubby was very cute. It was certain that she would grow up to be a world-toppling beauty.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 170: KONGS STAFF

    Kai was an orphan and was raised by the King of the human race in the Lunar World, who was also Rose''s father. After learning that his parents were victims of the great war almost a decade ago, he had determined to walk the path of revenge.


    With his sword in hand, he would cut all his enemies down. However, even though Kai had great potential as a supreme talent, there was little to nothing he could do in the grand scheme of things. But that didn''t stop him from practicing his sword. As a mage with an affinity to an abstruse weapon law, the sword laws, Kai had an advantage even against those with equal talents. From a little more than five, he had practiced unsheathing and sheathing his sword, causing several scars to line his left hand. A thousand times! Ten thousand times! A hundred thousand times! He lost count of the total number of times he had swung his sword.


    However, after entering the last mind trial, Kai received an opportunity, just like Joe, Ella, and Arianne. With his stamina unaffected and without any interruption, Kai was able to practice his sword to his heart''s content.


    After repeating the process of unsheathing, swinging, and sheathing his sword hundreds of thousands of times, he finally had an epiphany.


    ''The sword is meant to kill.'' The sword should not be used to fight, spar, or save. The sword should be used with an intent of cutting all in its path, an intent to kill.


    With this epiphany, he transformed. Not only was he now able to use his body as a sword, but his innate talent was also strengthened manifold.


    With his body, he could release sword energy, but his innate talent allowed him to unleash invisible sword energy.


    Now, Kai understood the path he walked, ''When I draw my sword, I will only use my ultimate attack.''


    ''Tidal Wave.'' This was the technique Kai comprehended at the end of the mind trial. From its name, the sword would release an invisible wave of sword energy filled with countless silver threads. All within its path would have no choice but to be cut.


    Like this, Kai''s battle prowess increased by several notches. Even though he could still only jump two levels to fight as a supreme-level genius, now that his first attack was intended to kill, it didn''t matter what level of cultivation his enemy was at. As long as they were taken by surprise and were unprepared, they had no choice but to succumb to his sword.


    Just like the mighty Male Asura did.


    But even Kai who always had a stoic look on his face, couldn''t help but marvel at the sight before him.


    The sky several kilometers in the distance was covered by massive staffs, resembling pillars connecting the sky to the earth.


    .....


    EMPRESS SOMBRA DE LA NONA.


    Arlo''s new summon, a nine-tailed shadow fox, had a great identity in the realm of the gods, one that Arlo underestimated even after Old Bro revealed some information to him.


    With the lava domain now gone, and a shadow Territory now established, darkness seemed to descend upon the world.


    Without any hesitation, Arlo turned into a blur as he closed the distance to his opponent.


    Even though Zara was taken by surprise, she was still prepared for any move Arlo might make.


    Her bronze hammer appeared in her hands, and she tightened her grip on its handle.


    Arlo''s face shone with excitement, as he used the second ability he inherited from his yet-to-name fox. Even though he had yet to see her appearance, as he hadn''t had the time, Arlo knew that his new summon currently didn''t have nine tails like the seal on his right upper arm portrayed. Instead, she had two, but Arlo knew she had room for improvement, and the stronger they became, the more tails would appear.


    The first ability he inherited was shadow Territory which was a domain-like ability. As for the second...


    "Shadow clones!" Arlo whispered as he appeared before Zara who was shorter than him despite their age difference.


    Two clones who shared his body frame but were entirely made of pure darkness appeared by his side, taking Zara by surprise. One shot towards Zara''s right, the other towards her left while he attacked from the front.


    ''Now I can use Dirty martial arts to its full potential.'' Arlo thought as he took an Orthodox fighting stance and threw a left jab, his two shadows mirroring his actions.


    Zara hesitated on whose attack she should block, and Arlo didn''t miss this opportunity. His left fist landed on her nose, causing her head to jerk backward. And as if it was timed, the fist of the left shadow landed on the side of her face, pushing her head to the other side. Without any time interval, the fist of the right shadow landed on Zara''s other chin, forcing her head back to the left shadow.


    Zara''s head buzzed, as she felt as if stars surrounded her.


    Not even giving her a moment to rest, the foot of the left shadow who had already turned in a round kick before the right shadow''s fist had connected, landed unrestrainedly on the back of her head, sending her flying forward, back to Arlo. Arlo was already prepared for this, as he sent a right swing with all his might.


    Three teeth flew into the air, as Zara''s body joined them in flying backward, but yet again, a leg sent her back to Arlo''s front. Arlo swept his previously swung arm in the opposite direction, causing his right elbow to connect with Zara''s chin, and as a new set of teeth were about to fly out, his left fist which had moved together with his swung elbow, connected with the same left chin not even a split second later.


    *Ba-Bam!*


    Two muffled sounds resounded in the area, as four new teeth drew a bloody arc in the air.


    Zara who was sent flying from this brutal attack, was stopped by the shadows behind her. Sandwiched between three opponents, Zara''s body flew around as she was beaten into a ragdoll.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Ah!" she released a small breath, as her eyes gazed at the blurry sky. She could tell her rate of regeneration wasn''t able to keep up with the beating, and it was only a matter of time before she collapsed.


    ''What a monster...'' Even though she felt a bit of fear at the somewhat inexplicable battle prowess of the little kid before her, she couldn''t help but flash a bloody smile, ''Now I am sure. He is the one that can help me.''


    Not only did she appreciate Arlo''s fighting prowess, but she also appreciated his brutalness even against an opposite sex like her. Only then would he be able to help her, after all the Asuras were a matriarchal race.


    *BAM!*


    Zara was sent flying once again but this time, she turned in mid-air and swung the hammer which had been hanging limply by her side in a wide arc.


    However, she was surprised to see the two shadows melt into the darkness below them. Now that there was nobody to receive the brunt of her attack, her body fell awkwardly before rolling several times.


    But at least she was able to break free from the onslaught. Zara quickly rose on her feet a little clumsily as she coughed several mouthfuls of blood. Wiping the blood, she gazed at the trio before her, with heavy breaths.


    ''So he can summon two shadows. Not to mention the shadows even surpass him in cultivation.'' She could judge from the aura around the two clones that they were nine-star warriors, but Arlo himself was only a six-star warrior. From that, she could infer that the shadows could surpass their master by a huge great realm in cultivation. However, to her, Arlo remained the greatest threat as even though he was only a six-star warrior, he could be a great threat to her, unlike the two shadows who only had average strengths in their level of cultivation.


    ''Also, it seems they can melt into the shadow below us and change position instantly. It is almost like teleportation.'' She deduced as she looked at the domain around her. She couldn''t help but marvel at the outstanding abilities in Arlo''s arsenal. Just one of these abilities would make an average warrior a notch above his equals, yet all these abilities were wielded by one person.


    After a full minute of catching her breath, which Arlo allowed her to, Zara''s body had almost recovered from all the injuries.


    Gripping her hammer, she spoke, "This will be the last clash between us."


    She had never gone all out from the start, but now she had no choice but to. Not doing so would only be foolishness on her side.


    ''I have no choice but to summon my astral body.'' As a genius, Zara was just a step behind completing her astral body, which was one of the major prerequisites to break into the Astral warrior stage.


    Zara''s hands suddenly underwent a huge transformation. Her arms soon became covered in yellowish fur, and so were her exposed legs. Her hands and foot turned into claws, and even though her body didn''t undergo a full transformation, Arlo couldn''t help but compare her to a common wild beast.


    "A cheetah? Is that your true form?" Arlo knew that each warrior had their true forms, just like him too, though he was still far away from fully forming it. Every time warriors experienced a breakthrough, their true form which rested at their lower abdomen, just a little above where a mana core would usually be, would be further completed. And it seemed that Zara was close to forming hers.


    Zara merely smiled, causing four sharp fangs to protrude out of her mouth. It seemed she had no intention of replying. Honestly, with her current transformation, she was simply too enchanting. It was just that Arlo was too young to care, and he wasn''t lecherous like Joe.


    Zara who was smiling suddenly shot a cold glare at Arlo. At the same time, the anger she had been repressing with all might fully burst out.


    A red wind kicked up around her, sweeping her hair behind her. With an aura now covering almost two hundred meters radius around her, Zara truly looked like a frenzied beast.


    She stomped on the ground, intending to use her laws, but nothing happened. The fire laws she used before were ones she received from her connection with her summon. And just like Arlo who had the unique Aether laws, she also had hers. However, it seemed as long as she was in Arlo''s shadow territory, she wouldn''t be able to manipulate the earth below her.


    Left with no choice, Zara controlled the ground outside the domain, causing several pillars of earth to rise from all directions. And as if they were rubbery, these pillars curved before lunging in their direction.


    Arlo inadvertently looked at the earth pillars moving towards him, and at that moment, Zara flashed before him. Now that she was partially in her true form, her speed was strengthened by at least ten times. Her speed was no different from a mage or warrior with an affinity to light laws.


    Caught off guard, Arlo couldn''t raise any form of defense, but it seemed he didn''t have to, as the two shadows swooped in to protect him.


    Seeing this, Zara changed her target and swung her hammer in a wide arc.


    *BANG!* *BANG!*


    Both shadows were blasted into dark lights, but Arlo didn''t care and instead took advantage of the opportunity to retreat a few meters.


    Coming to a stop, the two shadows reappeared beside him.


    A frustrated glint flashed within Zara''s eyes when she saw the shadows reappear without any change. It was at this time that the flexible earth pillars arrived. She launched forward to join their onslaught against the trio.


    Arlo watched this scene calmly, ''It seems I have no choice but to use my third summon''s abilities.''


    His lips curved upward as he watched the approaching Zara, causing the latter to feel that something was wrong.


    "Illusion domain!" Arlo whispered, and an instant later, an invisible ripple spread out from him, before encompassing the whole shadow territory.


    Under Zara''s astonished eyes, tens of figures appeared before increasing to hundreds. Some were humans resembling Arlo and the others resembled the two shadows. As the darkness below Arlo and the two summons at his side churned, the trio disappeared from Zara''s view before silently mixing with the illusions around her.


    The lunging earth pillars came to a stop as they mirrored the confusion of their master.


    Under Zara''s shocked eyes, a horde of Arlo and shadows lunged at her from all directions. It seemed that any moment from now, she would be submerged in their onslaught.


    Arlo was similarly running towards her and couldn''t help but smile as he watched his opponent anxiously looking around her, unsure of what to do.


    ''This is the best ability.'' Arlo loved the powers he inherited from his last summon, even more than Anita''s own. He wasn''t being biased or anything, it was just that this unique ability opened a lot of doors to him. A lot of ideas sprung up within his mind, and he couldn''t wait to try them out.


    "Heh!" He couldn''t help but snicker, ''How about I try out the second ability? It is not every day I would encounter such a worthy opponent.''


    With that thought in mind, Arlo raised his hands to the sky, the illusions around him mirroring his movements.


    "KONG''S STAFF..." Arlo''s voice rang out from all directions, causing Zara to spin around. However she soon had no choice but to shift her head to the sky directly above her, and what she saw dumbfounded her.


    A huge staff five hundred meters wide and over a thousand meters long appeared above her, its shadow swallowed by the darkness below her. She could see the intricate patterns lining the sides of the staff, and she could feel the ancient aura it was releasing. She didn''t doubt her death if such a staff was to fall.


    ''I need to stop it.'' She ignored the hundreds of approaching figures around her and instead controlled her pillars to move upward. At the same time, flames burst from her feet as she joined her pillars to fly into the sky, her body enveloped by a red sun.


    Arlo who watched his opponent fly out from his and his illusions onslaught, suddenly had an idea.


    ''What if I use the Illusion domain in tandem with KONG''S staff?'' With that idea already rooted in his mind, Arlo didn''t hesitate to try it out. With a look of excitement, Arlo voiced out:


    "KONG''S STAFF X 50!"


    Zara who had turned into a red streak that flew into the sky, came to a sudden stop, with her eyes bulging to the point of almost popping out of their sockets.


    Fifty identical staff suddenly appeared above her, before the first one disappeared into their midst.


    A region of almost thirty kilometers was overshadowed by the ancient staffs blotting the sky.


    ''What is this? Just what is going on?'' She remained rooted in the sky as she watched with quivering lips, the sight above her.


    Shifting her eyes down, the sight of hundreds of shadows and Arlo entered her vision.


    Shaking her head and with a wry smile on her face, Zara''s voice drifted into the ears of the real Arlo who was mixed within his illusion.


    "I give up."


    *****


    AN: Longest chapter ever. I hope you enjoyed it.

 CHAPTER 171: THE SECRET REALM CLOSES I

    "I give up."


    Zara had never thought a day would arrive when she would say the same words most of her opponents were forced to. She had even summoned her true form, even though it was partial, yet she wasn''t even able to touch a hair on the little kid before her. She was totally and completely dominated.


    Seeing the massive shadow on the ground that resembled an abyss within the outstretched maw of an ancient beast, and the illusions below and above her slowly disappear, Zara couldn''t help but look at the only kid remaining with a complicated expression on her face.


    His long glistening golden hair was tied into a bun, and his long blue-slit pupils seemed to pierce into her to peek into her deepest secrets.


    Slowly, the red aura around her slowly disappeared, and the pillars of the earth fell back to the ground. As her enchanting body fell back to the ground, Zara slowly reverted to her human form, and her transformation was undone.


    "I must say, you would be a top genius even among my race. To think you were able to dominate a ten-star warrior such as I am simply..." Shaking her head, Zara didn''t complete her sentence but Arlo understood what she meant.


    "Are you not a twelve-star warrior?" Arlo questioned as he moved closer to her, his dragon armor slowly retreating into his body. The two horns on his head slowly returned into small bumps, that could be barely noticed, especially when covered by his hair.


    Zara watched with a wry smile when she saw that the dragon''s tail was still swinging behind Arlo as she believed Arlo was being cautious around her. But what she didn''t know was that Arlo had already tried to un-summon the tail, yet it refused, giving him a headache. The dragon''s tail rubbed his face gently as if begging him not to send it away. Left with no choice, he could only relent for the moment, allowing the tail to swing around him playfully.


    "I am a ten-star warrior."


    "But..."


    "Duh, do you think you are the only genius? I am a god-tier talent, and I could already defeat an average twelve-star warrior when I was but a nine-star." Zara rolled her eyes at him.


    Arlo became a bit embarrassed. He didn''t underestimate Zara, as she was the most powerful teen he had ever encountered. That was further shown by how he revealed his new summons powers, something he didn''t initially plan to do. But without going all out, he would have been the one on the losing side. Since the amount of Ki and pressure he felt from her was simply enormous, he had assumed she was at the last point before the Astral warrior stage.


    "Since you are now a ten-star warrior, does that mean you can now face an Astral warrior?" he quickly changed the topic to hide his embarrassment. Besides, he wanted to know how far his current strength could take him. But what he didn''t expect was for Zara''s expression to suddenly turn solemn.


    "The gap between a nine-star warrior and an Astral warrior is too wide to be bridged by talent alone. The same goes for a grandmaster mage and a red-core mage. I can already predict that I could only stand a chance to an Astral warrior when I become a twelve-star warrior, and that is considering the Astral warrior must be among the weakest."


    "The gap is that much?" Arlo''s eyes widened in surprise.


    Zara nodded her head with a serious expression, "I hope you won''t compare yourself to them as you are now, if not you won''t know how you died."


    Arlo fell into deep thoughts, ''It seems as I am now, I can safely say I am unrivaled in the preliminary stages of cultivation, just as I have deduced. The only people I would need to fear would be people with the same talent as Zara and Arianne who have reached the peak of the preliminary stages.''


    Now that he had a good grasp of his current strength, Arlo could relax. Entering the secret realm was a life-changing experience for him.


    "Thank you."


    "No need. I almost killed you after all."


    "You..."


    "Haha, I am just kidding."


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    "Who are you?"


    Before Zara could reply, the ground suddenly shook greatly. It took them a moment to realize, it was not just the ground beneath them but the entire realm that was shaking.


    ''Shit, it''s been already two hours?'' Arlo''s expression changed greatly. Principal Stanley had already informed him that once the last mana fruits were plucked, the students would all be forcefully teleported to the third zone, where they could compete to regain the fruits in two hours. After that, the dragon medallions with them would forcefully teleport them back to their worlds.


    Seeing the pressing look on Arlo''s face, Zara quickly sifted through the spatial ring on her hand.


    "You can call me Zara. Here take this!" An object flew at Arlo.


    Arlo swallowed his question about how she was able to use a spatial ring and instead looked at the object in his hand. It was a palm-sized transparent stone filled with countless intricate formations. Arlo noticed there were formations with two distinct colors. One was silver while the other was light orange.


    "That is a communication stone, and I have its pair. If you ever need my help, do not hesitate to contact me." While she needed Arlo''s help, she wasn''t in a hurry. She planned on getting closer to him and showing some goodwill before she revealed her goal.


    Pressed for time, and worried about how his team was faring, Arlo nodded his head before placing the stone in his space pouch. Then he ran with all his might in the direction he had previously left from.


    .....


    The battlefield could be separated into three main areas before Arlo and Zara left.


    The Male Asura clashed against Theodore and his group, with the humans of other worlds watching the fight in the hope of an opportunity.


    Steven and Tron fought against Eleanor and Landon, with no other figure daring to interfere in their fight. It was clear to all, that they were simply out of their leagues, especially Eleanor and Steven, not to mention that just the aura around Tron scared many of them away.


    And lastly, a group of little kids collided with Rook and his party.


    Initially, Arianne had caused several people to swell and burst, and while many were angry, they didn''t tangle with her, as acquiring the mana fruits took priority. But now that they saw the group of little kids decimating Rook''s party which could be counted among the strongest of those present, many of them threw away any thoughts of revenge.


    Arianne had killed three out of Rook''s ten-man party with her sudden first attack, leaving only seven behind.


    Now only three remained, and they were the Royal beasts, Rook and his two cousins. The worst was that they were all killed by just one person.


    Ella.


    Arianne, Joe, Tina, and Miller watched from the sidelines how Ella singlehandedly dominated Rook.


    Several lightning rings filled the sky above Rook and his cousin''s head. Surrounding them were ten huge lightning wolves about eight meters high, who lunged at them at terrifying speed, before tearing chunks of their flesh with their sharp fangs made of pure lightning, electrocuting them on contact and causing the smell of burnt flesh to permeate the area.


    This was Ella''s unique talent, Lightning pack.


    However, what truly terrified Rook and the other two, was the streak of lightning that flew at them with a bright purple flash from the lightning rings high in the sky, before retreating before they could do a thing. This streak of lightning was exactly Ella. She had transmuted into lightning that could instantly teleport around them with the aid of the lightning rings. In tandem with her transformed claws, she tore into their flesh and drew a fountain of blood every time a purple light flashed past them.


    An angry light shone within Rook''s eyes. While he was happy the little kids were yet to spill the beans, the thought of killing them had long been crossed in his mind. Just escaping alone was proving too difficult for them, and what further shamed them was that their opponent was just a little kid about twelve years old.


    The massive poison tridents revolving around Rook couldn''t do a thing as they couldn''t even touch their targets, and even when they were used against the lightning wolves, they were simply blasted into purple mist immediately after coming in contact with them.


    ''How did she become so strong?'' Rook was frustrated, ''We never should have attacked them even if they saw what we did. That was a big mistake.'' They knew the identity of Ella and Arianne and knew that attempting to kill them was a sin that their deaths could not redeem. It was in the spur of the moment that they had attempted to kill them, and they hadn''t properly reflected on the repercussions of their actions. After all, they had slew almost the entire vampire team, then the werewolf team, and even two elves. Their consecutive victory blinded them and in their excitement, they had attacked.


    Suddenly, tens of massive pillars appeared in the distance attracting their attention and stopping the onslaught of Ella and the lightning wolves. Rook and his cousins used this moment to catch their breaths. Even though they were also stunned by the sudden appearance of the massive staff, they were able to quickly come to their senses.


    ''We need to escape.'' They shared the same thought. Their only hope now was surviving till the two-hour limit was up. As for what would happen when they were teleported back to the Lunar World, they could only leave it to fate.


    Just when the trio was about to move, Landon''s voice drifted into their ears, causing their expressions to greatly change.


    "Your Highness, what are you doing in the third zone?" Landon quickly approached with a pale face after escaping from Tron''s hands, before he knelt before Arianne.


    Arianne shifted her gaze from the huge pillars to the kneeling figure beside her. With ruby eyes shining with an intense glow, she spoke with her voice laced with anger:


    "How are you still alive when our entire members are dead?"


    "What!?"


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 172: ALWAYS AND FOREVER!

    "RUN!" Rook roared atop his lungs.


    Without hesitation, he and his other two cousins turned into humongous snakes tens of meters long and a few meters high. With their greenish scales reflecting the resplendent light from the colorful sky, the trio turned in the direction of the huge pillars connecting the sky to earth and slithered away. With every breath, their massive bodies crossed tens of meters. In just a few breaths the others were taken by surprise, they had widened the distance to over a hundred meters.


    Just when Ella, Arianne, Tina, and Miller were about to act, the ground beneath them suddenly shook greatly, causing their expressions to change.


    "We have hope," Rook spoke, not knowing whether he was trying to encourage himself or his cousins.


    With her purple eyes blazing in fury, Ella turned into a purple flash, as crackling lightning sounded in the area.


    *BZZZT!*


    Miller was the second to react. Even though his cultivation was the lowest among the group, together with Rose, as someone who had an affinity to the supreme laws, the space laws, he stood a great chance in catching up to Rook compared to the others.


    A mesmerizing voice suddenly stopped Arianne who was also about to give chase.


    "Did you encounter two Elves?"


    Arianne took a few seconds to appreciate the great beauty in front of her before responding, "Yes."


    "Where are they?"


    "Dead."


    "And their corpses?" Eleanor had somewhat expected it after hearing what Arianne had said to Landon, after all, her team had joined hands with Landon''s group, so her voice didn''t shake when she asked such a question.


    "Gone!"


    Finally, there was a change in Eleanor''s expression, as her face distorted completely in anger, "What do you mean?"


    Feeling a chill down her spine, Arianne had no choice but to recount what they experienced immediately after entering the third zone.


    What the others, including Arianne and Eleanor, failed to take note of was another figure who had silently disappeared among them. Rather than saying silently, it was more apt to say that the other party moved so fast that they couldn''t even pick up any trace of his movement. All but one.


    "Whoaa!" As usual, Rose''s runic eyes spun greatly, as her mouth widened in surprise.


    "What is it?" Kai who was beside her asked with a cold voice and a stoic look on his face. Even till now, he hadn''t loosened his grip on his Katana in the slightest.


    Shaking her head, Rose replied, "You wouldn''t believe me!"


    As they spoke, their dragon medallions flew out without their consent from their spatial rings, space pouch, or pockets before floating above them. A multicolored light fell upon them, as their bodies started disappearing.


    .....


    Before Ella and the others could react, Rook and his cousins had increased the distance between them to half a kilometer, especially Rook who was even further ahead than his two cousins. With their lives on the line, the trio burst out with all their strength, determined to escape from death''s grasp.


    Suddenly the sound of crackling lightning drifted into their ears, causing a look of fear to appear on their faces. They didn''t need to look back to know the person who was gaining in on them.


    Luckily, their medallions flew out at that moment before floating above their slithering figures.


    "Yes!" A look of happiness appeared on their faces as they saw this. They just had to hold on for a few breaths for the medallions to teleport them out of the secret realm.


    "I will kill you and all your families?" Ella''s angry voice exploded from behind them.


    Reminded of their fates even after leaving the realm, the trio''s face turned pale. Still, they were determined to not die at the hands of the little devil who chasing after them.


    Seeing the medallion that was releasing a multicolored light above her, Ella suddenly grew anxious. She wanted to kill these three people with her own hands. She could see Miller''s figure a few tens of meters behind her. Even with him being able to teleport almost two hundred meters around him, Miller still found it a bit difficult to close in on Rook and his party. It was rather commendable that he was even able to keep up with Ella, who was incredibly fast because of her laws and was even higher than him with a great realm in cultivation.


    With the way things were going, Ella knew she would need at least ten breaths to catch up to Rook''s cousins and about twenty breaths to close the distance to Rook himself. Just when Ella thought she had lost all chances of killing Rook, a white light flashed beside her.


    Looking ahead, Ella saw Joe who was surrounded by a bright white light, appearing like a deity exuding pure and genuine holiness, flash in front of Rook.


    "Size manipulation x 10!"


    At the same time his cold voice rang out in the area, Joe''s body suddenly underwent a divine transformation.


    His body grew in size, and as the approaching Rook was about to slam into him, a massive hand suddenly grabbed him by the head, causing his almost thirty-meter-long body to come to a sudden stop.


    Rook watched with widened eyes as Joe completed his transformation. Now standing at the same height as Rook, Joe''s right knee smashed into his jaw, causing the former to cry out in pain.


    Quickly clutching onto his outstretched mouth, Rook''s painful cry slowly died down when he saw Joe''s massive head transform into a reptile.


    A green light shone within Joe''s mouth, and it didn''t take Rook a second to realize what was coming.


    His body slammed into Joe several times, but his grip on his jaws didn''t loosen in the slightest.


    Left with no choice, Rook''s almost thirty-meter-long body coiled around the now ten-meter-high Joe as he tried to strangle him to death.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Let me go!" Rook screamed in anger and fear. He couldn''t believe that his cousin who he had always looked down on, was the huge figure who was now trying to send him to the netherworld.


    The sound of crackling bones rang out in the area, but Joe''s determined voice soon overshadowed them.


    "Remember, I am the only child of Fiona Des Luminox!"


    Rook''s reptilian pupils contracted further as he saw the green light gathering within Joe''s mouth turn into a poison beam that flew unrestrainedly into his mouth. His insides were soon corroded from the deadly poison that was spreading, but it seemed that that wasn''t even needed, as the mere power at which the poison pillar exploded within him caused his body to burst into pieces.


    "You..." This was the last word that the highly talented Rook, a genius of the magical beasts and a Royal at that, ever said.


    Coincidentally, the light falling from the medallion increased in intensity as it swallowed what remained of Rook''s corpses, teleporting it away.


    From the moment Joe appeared before Rook, to the latter''s death, less than ten seconds had passed.


    Quickly looking up, Joe saw Ella who had transformed into her werewolf form flash past Rook''s two cousins, with her body crackling with purple lightning.


    As she came to a stop before him, her two long sharp claws were completely covered in blood.


    Rook''s cousins were split in half only to be swallowed by the light from the medallions. Soon after, the duo disappeared from before them.


    Joe and Ella slowly reverted to their original forms.


    Seeing the blood dripping from Ella''s hands, Joe couldn''t help but comment in a sincere voice:


    "Big sister, you look dangerously enchanting at the moment."


    Ella rolled her eyes at him. Now that she had her revenge, her eyes returned to their usual droopy state, and a look of weariness appeared on her face.


    Even though she felt disgusted by the cheeky smile on Joe''a''s face, she still couldn''t help but feel grateful.


    "Thank you." she knew that without Joe, she wouldn''t have been able to kill Rook in the secret realm. Sure, she could still have her revenge when they went outside, but she wanted to do it with her own hands.


    "Then, why don''t you give me a chance." Joe flashed a charming smile, as he moved closer to her, but when Ella shot him a death glare, he quickly came to a stop before coughing awkwardly.


    "Why are we still here?" Ella suddenly spoke as she looked at the dragon medallion floating above her without releasing any light. After some thought, she looked at Joe, "Let''s go and check on the others."


    "Sure."


    Miller who appeared at that moment had no choice but to return with them. Seeing the disappointed expression on his face, Ella could tell what he was feeling.


    "Thank you." a beautiful smile appeared on her face, one that she didn''t show Joe.


    "Huh!? But I didn''t do anything."


    "At least, you made an effort." Miller''s eyes widened slightly, and seeing the genuine smile on Ella''s beautiful face, he felt a bit better.


    Together, the trio sped back to where they came from.


    .....


    Looking back, Arlo noticed that Zara wasn''t following him. With no other figure present, Arlo clutched his right heart and spoke with a begging tone;


    "Hey Seraphina, I know you need to hibernate for some time, but can you help me delay the teleportation of me and my friends?"


    There was no response for several breaths during which Arlo continued moving forward, his body covering hundreds of meters with but a single step.


    After a while, the eyes of the dragon image imprinted on Arlo''s back suddenly snapped open. At the same time, Arlo heard that soft and beautiful voice he had unconsciously been longing for.


    "Okay. You only have five minutes."


    "Thank you. That is more than enough!" With a grateful smile on his face, Arlo sped off into the distance.


    .....


    Joe, Ella, and Miller had returned to the battlefield. However, they only found four figures remaining.


    "Did you kill them?" Arianne asked with her eyes shining with a bright ruby glow.


    "Yes!" Ella replied.


    Hearing that, the dangerous glint flashing within Arianne''s eyes disappeared, and instead, an enchanting smile took its place, "I didn''t doubt you."


    "It was all because of Joe that we were able to kill them."


    "Oh!" Surprised, Arianne shifted her ruby eyes to Joe, "It seems I would need to spoil you later." she flashed a seductive smile.


    Joe shivered. While Arianne looked like a little enchanting succubus to the others, only he knew that she was actually a terrifying monster that would send chills down the devil''s spine.


    "What is going on?" Tina asked from the side. Now that they had shared a life-and-death experience, she wasn''t afraid of them anymore but instead felt a sense of friendship.


    As if by prior agreement, they all shifted their eyes to Rose. Even though she was currently the weakest among them, no one dared to underestimate her, as they knew fully well what her eyes were capable of.


    Flashing a smile, Rose replied, "Don''t worry, the answer will soon appear."


    "What do you mean..." Before Tina could finish her words, Arlo flashed before them, raising a cloud of dust.


    Knowing that he had less than three minutes remaining, Arlo spoke hurriedly:


    "I am the reason why we are still in the secret realm."


    Suddenly, the shadow below him widened, before he dipped his hands inside it. Expertly using his control over Ki, several fruits floated before him.


    "Here!"


    Ten blue fruits flew towards each of the eight figures present. Together, Arlo handed out eighty among the less than hundred fruits with him, without any hesitation.


    "These..." Instead, it was his teammates who hesitated. They knew how important these fruits were, and Arlo handing these many to them left them stunned.


    Smiling brightly, Arlo spoke:


    "You are all my friends, and I hope you will all accept this little gesture of mine." Arianne, Tina, and the others could feel the sincerity with which Arlo spoke.


    They didn''t know that Arlo had been feeling guilty since they entered the second zone. After all, he was the one who had suggested doing such a dangerous thing. Yet they all followed him without any hesitation even though he only just met some of them. This was just a little way of showing his appreciation. Now that he considered them his friends, he wouldn''t mind giving up his life for them. In fact, if it wasn''t because he was the only Ki cultivator, and the only one with spiritual energy except Arianne, he would have shared the other two fruits with them too.


    Arianne, Tina, Ella, Joe, Miller, Rose, and Kai finally took the fruits. No one said thank you, but the smile on their faces said enough of how they felt. Even the usual indifferent Kai had a light smile on his face.


    Nodding his head, Arlo looked at the medallion floating above him, "It should be soon."


    Suddenly Ella spoke with a serious expression on her face.


    "Everyone..."


    They all looked as she pierced two fingers into her heart, before removing it. Eight drops of purplish blood floated above her palms.


    With a trickle of blood falling down the side of her mouth, Ella continued with a small smile, "I would like to make you all part of my pack."


    The surroundings suddenly became silent.


    "Ella!" Arianne was the first to break the silence, but she was stopped by Ella who raised her hand towards her.


    "I know what I am doing. Unlike other wolves, not only can I have a pack of up to ten, but my pack members do not need to be humans."


    "We survived in our encounter against the red ants, successfully passed through many mind trials, and even overcame death when we met the magical beasts. In the end, we grew stronger and took revenge with our own hands. If I don''t share my fate with you, then I don''t know who else would be qualified."


    Finishing her words, the eight drops of purplish blood flew toward Arlo and the others. At the same time, the medallions above each of them started glowing brightly.


    "Will you join my pack?" Ella stretched out her hands towards them.


    Without any hesitation and without any knowledge of what would happen, Arlo suddenly swallowed the drop of blood before him.


    Seeing this, the others soon followed after him. Arianne who had a complicated expression on her face as she alone knew what this truly meant to Ella, was the last to swallow the blood before her.


    Suddenly, they all felt some sort of connection established among themselves.


    "No matter the distance between us, we would always feel our presence, and be able to tell when any one of us is in danger," Ella revealed one of the implications of being in her pack, without any intention of exposing the others.


    Seeing that they were about to be teleported, Arlo quickly stretched his fist forward.


    "Always and forever!"


    Slowly, eight fists surrounded his one, as they knocked onto one another.


    "ALWAYS AND FOREVER!" the loud voice of nine kids shook the area before silence returned to the secret realm.


    With the disappearance of all the humans, only two presences remained on the battlefield.


    Tron stood with his axe in his hand as he looked at the presence below it.


    It was a pitch-black snake.


    *****


    AN: End of the secret realm arc! Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 IMPORTANT NOTICE

    AN: This notice is to inform you all that I will be taking a short week''s break. During this period, I plan to edit the novel and flesh out the story.


    I can boldly say that I have never missed any schedule throughout the almost nine months of publishing FAMILY ABOVE ALL. And I enjoyed every moment of it. I hope you all did too.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Thanks to all those who have been following the novel so far. A new arc begins next week, signaling the end of the first volume: Awakening. Look forward to it.

 CHAPTER 173: THE SECRET REALM DISAPPEARS

    AN: Last arc of the first volume: Awakening. A bonus chapter will be published tomorrow. I know I have said this countless times already, but thanks to all those who are following the novel.


    Five figures with dignified bearings stood in the desolate plains before the spatial crack. Each of these figures had a grand status, not to mention that they were the strongest existences in the whole Lunar World.


    Standing over three meters, with snow-white hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, was a woman who despite being hugged by a loose robe exuded a charm that would enchant even the righteous man. Her ruby eyes seemed to pierce through space itself, and her pink lips drew the gaze of countless eyes. This woman was Scarlett, the vampire progenitor.


    Directly opposite her was a short but busty woman with light purple hair but deep matching eyes that radiated confidence. The purple dress hugging her seemed like it would be torn at any moment by the two huge mash mellows that seemed to want to burst out and pierce into the sky. What further made her charming was her small tender waist that was hugged tightly by the purple dress, giving way to a perky rear that angled in such an imaginable way. This woman whose aura didn''t lose out in the slightest to Scarlett''s was the werewolf Queen and Ella''s mother, Rebecca.


    A dark-haired man with white reptilian pupils stood a short distance from these two popular women, his expression one of respect. However, his respectful look couldn''t mask the royal bearing around him. This man was the current Beast Emperor and one of the youngest in history aside from King Joe. As fate would have it, he was the first and only legitimate son of King Joe, Emperor Razor.


    The other man present was a man with emerald hair and an unshaven beard. With his hands behind his back, he radiated the aura of a commander who had sheltered through numerous battles. He was the current king of the few remaining humans still within the Lunar World, King Jake.


    The last female among the five was a woman of average height who looked to be in her early twenties. Hugged by her characteristic black suit, this woman boasted proportion of the same magnitude as the werewolf queen, which when added to the charm that didn''t pale much from Scarlett''s, was able to draw the hot gazes of Emperor Razor and King Jake. Despite not having the same status as the other four present, Evangeline was still able to stand toe to toe with a few of them in terms of individual strength.


    As they waited in silence before the spatial crack, three figures suddenly flashed before them, causing their expressions to change.


    Rook''s deformed corpse and his two cousin''s split corpses appeared in front of them. Soon after, Theodore and his team were also teleported before them.


    Not seeing his daughter, King''s Jake expression turned grave, and as he momentarily forgot himself in his anxiousness, he stepped forward, his voice filled with worry:


    "Wh-where is my daughter?"


    "She is fine." While Theodore was confused about why Rose and Kai had yet to appear, he was sure they were safe, after all, he just disappeared from right beside them.


    King Jake visibly relaxed when he heard Theodore''s reply. However, his expression soon experienced a great change once again when he heard Theodore''s next words.


    "Greetings Your Highnesses!"


    "Greetings Your Highnesses!" His team shouted in unison as they all bowed.


    Realizing that he had stepped out of line, King Jake quickly bowed in Scarlett and Rebecca''s direction, but before he could voice his apology, Rebecca waved him away.


    "Dispense with the formalities! What about the rest?"


    "Answering your Highness, they should still be within the secret realm. I don''t why they are yet to appear, but they should arrive any moment from now," said Theodore, his head still lowered.


    "Hmm..." Rebecca locked eyes with Scarlett and she could see the surprise in the latter''s eyes. Shifting her gaze back on the still-bowing Theodore, she slowly nodded, "We shall wait then."


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    In other words, none of them were allowed to leave. King Jake quickly took Theodore and his team to one corner before he started bombarding them with questions, of course, in hushed voices.


    It was quite funny how all of them ignored the Beast Emperor who looked at Rook and his cousin''s corpses with narrowed eyes. In fact, Scarlett and Rebecca merely threw one glance at them before losing interest. As long as it wasn''t one of their own, they didn''t give a damn.


    ''Don''t tell me...'' Emperor Razor suddenly had a foreboding feeling, but he didn''t allow it to show on his face. A part of him wanted to quickly seize the corpses, but in the end, he decided otherwise.


    Like this, about five minutes passed before a few figures appeared before them, seemingly from thin air.


    Arlo, Arianne, Joe, Ella, Rose and Kai.


    The arrival of these little kids drew a sigh of relief from Scarlett, Rebecca, Evangeline, and Jake, people with such high status, despite them not realizing it.


    Scarlett who opened her mouth to speak for the first time had no choice but to swallow her words when she saw a lithe figure charge past her.


    "Are you alright?" Evangeline pulled Arlo into her embrace.


    The smell of Jasmine drifted into Arlo''s nose, and he couldn''t help but take several deep breaths as he became enamored by the pleasing scent. A sense of security washed over his body, and his senses which had always been released to the utmost limit throughout his stay in the secret realm finally relaxed. For some reason, he felt like he was back in his mother''s embrace.


    "Yes..." he whispered after some time.


    Evangeline didn''t know what to say even after several breaths passed. She had been far too worried about his well-being during the past few days. Their relationship had started as a teacher and student, but Arlo had just rubbed off too much on her. It started with her curiosity, before slowly turning into genuine liking. Only a few were close to her, and she treasured every one of them very dearly. She was so immersed in the joy of having him back, that she didn''t realize that little figure who she could previously pull into her bosom was now at head''s height.


    "Haha...mhmm. What are you doing?" Evangeline hurriedly pulled Arlo out of her embrace, with her face flushed red. She had felt something rub against her neck, the sensation sending a jolt across her body.


    Her eyes turned a bit misty, as her blurry vision fell on Arlo. Slowly, she noticed the wry smile and the embarrassed look on his face, but she quickly shifted her attention to the flailing tail behind him.


    Luckily, her back was turned against the others, so she couldn''t see their exaggerated expressions at her unbecoming behavior.


    "What the hell is that thing behind..."


    *Rumble!*


    The sudden shaking of the earth soon swallowed her words. Never before had the Lunar World experienced an earthquake of such a magnitude.


    The spatial crack before them widened to reveal a massive gate, on which several dragon patterns were etched.


    Scarlett, Rebecca, and the others quickly took to the sky to avoid the disturbance. Expertly using their mana, they carried the kids with them, with Evangeline pulling Arlo with her.


    Rebecca took Ella, her eyes lingering on the new mark in the form of a moon now engraved in between her eyebrows. Her expression changed slightly, as she knew what that entailed, but she swallowed her questions as it was obviously not the time to enquire about her experience in the secret realm.


    In fact, none of them had even asked about the fruits from the Tree of Infinite Resources, as they would normally do. And that was because the situation this time was simply irregular.


    Scarlett took Arianne and Joe with her, as she studied the changes happening before and below her with furrowed brows.


    While they were wondering about what was going on, none of them was the wiser about the great change that was happening within the secret realm.


    Several chunks of land disintegrated as the secret realm gradually reduced in size, now spanning barely five thousand kilometers. It resembled a massive island suspending silently within the empty void, and surrounded by a foggy space.


    All the spiritual beasts in the first and second zones had all been brought into the third zone, and that included the red ants. Before the situation could devolve into chaos, a crushing aura washed over all the beasts, causing them to go still. They all turned in the same direction, towards a tall-looking white ape grasping an axe whose handle seemed to be made from several interlocked vines.


    At the same time, outside the secret realm, the shrunk gate suddenly turned into a multicolored light, and before Evangeline and the others could react, it shot towards Arlo before disappearing into his body. Simultaneously, all the dragon medallions within the Lunar World and the ones spread across countless worlds suddenly crumbled into fine pieces.


    The shaking of the earth slowly subsided before it eventually stabilized.


    Amidst the stunned silence, everyone turned to Arlo and ignored the now healing space before them.


    At the same time, Seraphina''s soft and beautiful voice rang within Arlo''s mind:


    ''We are now one, so my mental world must return. I hope to see the world with you, and maybe, just maybe journey with you to the abode of the gods...''


    This was the first time Arlo felt a tremor within Seraphina''s voice, despite it being slight and barely noticeable. Her voice was usually monotone despite sounding soft and alluring, and he sympathized with her after knowing her past. However, her voice soon resounded within his mind once again, this time booming like a clapping thunder, with no trace of emotion within it.


    ''From today, there shall no more be a secret realm!''

 CHAPTER 174: ARLOS NEW GIRL

    AN: This is the bonus chapter as promised.


    "What is going on?"


    "I-I don''t know."


    "Hmm..." Scarlett looked at Arlo with narrowed eyes. Even Evangeline who was directly beside him gazed at him in bewilderment. What just occurred was simply inconceivable even for existences such as them. The Secret realm had been existing for several Millennia but now it was gone. If such news should spread, it would not only shock the Lunar World but also cause a commotion in the entire dark galaxy.


    But who thought that after a few minutes of pondering, Scarlett would merely nod, "Okay!"


    "What!?" King Jake exclaimed. Even Emperor Razor looked at her in surprise.


    "You are going to let the matter go just like that? It is the secret realm we are dealing with, for goodness''s sake!"


    "You do not need to worry. I will look into it." Scarlett replied curtly. She looked like she didn''t want to continue on the matter but King Jake didn''t seem to pick the hints.


    "But even if the boy is special to you, you shouldn''t..."


    "Foolish Daddy!" Rose suddenly pulled a few of his unshaven beards, causing him to jolt from the sudden pain. His eyes couldn''t help but widen when he saw the unexpectedly serious look on his daughter''s face. Rose had always been one who spoke her mind unreservedly, without care of how the person on the receiving end would feel. Even he, her father had been mocked several times. Not to mention, this behavior of hers had raised several problems for him giving him a great deal of headaches.


    In the end, he could only endure her antics, after all, she was the only and most important person to him, especially since her mother died on her birth bed. But never once had he seen her look so serious, in fact, he could detect how her face was slowly becoming pale. And it wasn''t until he noticed her greatly spinning mysterious eyes that he understood why.


    As the air around him cooled by several degrees, he raised his head in time to see Scarlett''s eyes glowering at him. There was no outburst of aura, no application of pressure, neither was there a change in her expression, but the intensity with which her glowing ruby eyes pierced into him made him realize that he had outstepped his bounds.


    "I am sorry. I was simply anxious about what would become of us now that the secret realm is no more." Despite bowing in apology, any sensible person could hear the truth in his words. While the Lunar World was a higher world, what mainly drew the attention of outsiders was the allure of the Secret realm.


    A stiffening silence ensued as Scarlett kept looking at the still-bowing Jake for a full minute during which no one dared to breathe loudly. Slowly, Scarlett''s glowing eyes returned to normal but she didn''t redraw her gaze, causing the King not to dare raise his head. In fact, he was thankful he was lowering his head, that way his forehead which was already matted with swear wouldn''t be shown openly.


    "Aunty is too strict! Hmph, I don''t like such persons." Rose''s voice broke the silence, her mouth turning into a pout at the end of her words. With her chubby face, her pout looked extremely cute, however, nobody gave a f*ck about that, and instead looked at her with bulging eyes filled with horror, her father included.


    "What!? I am now Arlo''s girl!" she added after seeing their expressions.


    Finally, Rose''s words caused Scarlett''s expression to change slightly.


    "Oh!" Raising a brow, she looked at Arlo and saw his stunned figure. But before the person in question could even justify himself, another person beat him to it.


    "Stop spouting nonsense!" Arianne growled menacingly.


    "Hehe!" chuckled Rose as she hid behind her still-bowing father.


    A glint of surprise flashed within Scarlett''s eyes when she saw this little exchange. While Arianne seemed angry, Scarlett could still pick up the sense of familiarity with which she had responded. That in itself was very surprising, as she thought the addition of Arlo and Joe as her granddaughter''s friends was already the limit.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Nobody noticed how Rose had diffused the tense atmosphere, thereby saving her father from his difficult position.


    "I and Scarlett will carefully look into the issue of the secret realm later." Rebecca suddenly spoke, before looking at Arlo, Arianne, Arlo, Theodore, and the others one by one. "Now, can somebody explain to me what happened within the secret realm?"


    She could see that aside from her daughter, no other werewolf was present within the groups who returned.


    Ella suddenly lowered her head. Since she appeared, she had yet to say a word, and while there didn''t seem to be any difference in her appearance, Rebecca could notice the look of sadness hidden within her drooping purple eyes.


    As if in planned unison, Arlo, Arianne, and the others looked at Emperor Razor. They could judge from his aura that he was a magical beast, and since he was able to stand among Scarlett, Rebecca, and Jake, it didn''t take a genius to figure out his identity.


    Emperor Razor who had yet to speak a word, due to his shock at the sudden appearance of Joe, couldn''t help but furrow his brow. He suddenly had a bad feeling, and sure enough, his worst fear came true.


    "The magical beast team killed all the werewolves and vampire seniors. A few elves were also killed by them." Arlo''s cold voice rang out, causing King Jake, Theodore, and the others who were still oblivious to what took place within the secret realm, to draw a sharp breath.


    ''Those idiots!'' Emperor Razor cursed in his mind.


    The air which had returned to its normal temperature for barely a few minutes, suddenly chilled once again, this time several degrees lower.


    "What.do.you.mean.by.that?" Rebecca pronounced her words one by one, with electricity sparking within her slowly fluttering hair.


    Arlo gave a brief recount of what happened within the secret realm. Of course, he omitted a few details such as the existence of Seraphina and his lightning tribulation. Even now, none was the wiser that the floating mountain in the secret realm was actually an egg, a dragon egg!


    Before anybody could react, a lightning bolt as thick as a human''s thigh fell from the clear crimson sky, and smashed into Emperor Razor, knocking him down from the sky.


    *BANG!*


    A crater about 50m in diameter formed on the ground. As the dust cleared, Emperor Razor looked at the figures in the sky, his eyes locking onto Rebecca, whose fluttering purple hair was now enveloped in crackling lightning, her expression one of fury. Despite her short frame, she looked like a lightning goddess.


    Emperor Razor''s body trembled constantly from the lightning still electrocuting him. With a small groan, he rose to his feet before wiping the blood that trickled from the sides of his mouth.


    "Explain yourself, if not do not blame me for being harsh!"


    Emperor Razor looked at Rebecca with narrowed eyes, the gears in his head spinning furiously.


    ''Those idiots must have killed the vampires and werewolves to extract their bloodlines, something I warned them not to do unless they were hundred percent sure of success. But it seems even though those brats were caught, they didn''t reveal anything about the bloodline extraction technique.''


    ''Still, the blood pearl must be with one of them. I must get my hand on it first, if not everything I have planned for almost a decade would be ruined.''


    As his mind arrived at this point, he lowered his head and spoke with a clear voice:


    "Your Highness, I am just as shocked as you all!"


    "Oh! So you mean to say you are oblivious to your subordinate''s actions?"


    "Yes!"


    "Hehe...hahahaha!"


    Starting with a light chuckle, Rebecca suddenly burst into laughter. Emperor Razor quickly added when he saw her reaction.


    "Something we don''t know must have happened. Maybe something or someone tempered with their minds, if not I don''t believe they would dare to act against the vampires or werewolves. Even me their leader don''t have the audacity, not mention them."


    Queen Rebecca''s laughter slowly died down when she heard his words, her expression returning to that of indifference. It was hard to tell how she was feeling from her expression.


    King Jake slowly and quietly moved away from the area, bringing Rose, Theodore, and the others with him. Of course, he didn''t dare to leave the area but the aura emanating from Rebecca despite her indifferent look made him feel uncomfortable. Not to mention, the still silent Scarlett!


    "While I didn''t see what happened, I could tell the magical beast''s action was planned." Arlo''s voice resounded in the now tense surroundings.


    Emperor Razor couldn''t help but gaze at him, and even though he tried his best to repress it, the angry light that flickered within his mind for barely a second was still picked up by Scarlett.


    "Oh!" Scarlett flashed a wide smile, revealing two long fangs surrounded by a clear white and pristine set of teeth. Her smile was simply captivating, but none dared to look at her at this moment.


    *Pit pat!* *Pit pat!* *Pit pat!* *Pit pat!*


    The sound of liquid trickling onto the ground suddenly echoed loudly, and when those present gazed at the source, they were shocked to see a stream of blood leaking from Emperor Razor''s eyes, nose, ears and mouth.


    Unlike Rebecca, nobody knew when or how she had acted, causing the dread they felt for both her and Rebecca to spike past the possible maximum.

 CHAPTER 175: A SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS

    Emperor Razor bore through the pain he felt. No matter how great or powerful Scarlett and Rebecca were, he didn''t believe they would kill him on the spot just like that.


    At the very least, they would need a sound reason and concrete evidence to back up their claim. Truth be told, he was the weakest among the five present, Evangeline included. After all, he was still relatively young compared to the others, with Evangeline only able to compare. But that didn''t change the fact that he was the leader of an entire race.


    Sure enough, after a short while, Scarlett stayed her hand, "How are you going to compensate for this?"


    Emperor Razor heard a loud ringing, and his head buzzed incessantly. Still, he bore through the pain, and spoke through gritted teeth, "...a thousand liters of royal beast blood, and a hundred thousand liters of normal beast blood. I will also offer two thousand magical beasts as slaves to the werewolves and five hundred spiritual beasts as mounts to both races."


    A look of surprise flashed within Scarlett''s eyes and even the angry look on Rebecca''s face gave way to shock. The sound of gasps resounded within the area. They couldn''t believe Emperor Razor would be so generous to offer up so many members of his race.


    Now, even Scarlett and Rebecca couldn''t chew him over the issue any longer, since he claimed he wasn''t aware of Rook and his team''s actions, and they had no evidence to prove otherwise, so they could only relent on the matter.


    The compensation was also more than enough. In fact, it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that it was overboard, after all, their race who lost their lives within the secret realm had no important status.


    Emperor Razor sighed in relief when he felt the situation diffused. He didn''t care about the magical beasts and only hoped his secret identity would not be revealed. To do that, he had to claim Rook and his cousin''s corpses and not allow the existence of the blood pearl to be exposed.


    With that thought in mind, he struggled to his feet, and quickly took Rook and the other two bodies into his spatial ring. Since they were already dead, he had no problem collecting their corpses. Only then did his taut nerves relax.


    Scarlett and the others merely watched his actions coldly, their thoughts unknown.


    With his greatest problem now resolved, Emperor Razor circulated the mana within his body to speed up the natural regeneration of his body.


    However, who would have known that something unexpected would happen because of this little action of his, to which he hadn''t put much thought?


    Arlo gasped loudly, his expression distorted in horror.


    Looking at Arlo''s glowing reptilian-like blue eyes, Emperor Razor suddenly had a bad feeling.


    "What is it, Arlo?" Scarlett questioned with furrowed brows.


    Even Evangeline looked at him with questioning eyes. They knew how rare it was for him to lose his cool like that, which deeply surprised them.


    Arlo didn''t respond, and instead looked intently at Emperor Razor''s body, causing the latter to feel as if his secrets were laid bare.


    While what he felt was far from the truth, it was indeed true that something about him had been unknowingly revealed to Arlo.


    And what was revealed was just too shocking!


    Ever since gaining his dragon eyes, Arlo had been able to see the flow of mana and Ki when actively circulated within a body, despite not being able to see their raw form in the atmosphere.


    That was the main reason why he was able to overcome the lightning tribulation. He could see the flow of mana within its attack and thereby target its weak point, successfully nullifying it.


    That was exactly the same thing happening before his eyes. However, there was a slight difference.


    Unlike the greenish essence a royal Basilik should possess, Arlo could see a dark force roaming around Emperor Razor''s body. But that wouldn''t have been a cause for alarm under normal circumstances, as several laws had a dark essence. The law of darkness and shadow laws were just a few of this list.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    But Arlo could feel the evil aura hidden within this dark Force. It made him feel sick, and his skin crawled. He was sure he had seen this essence before and he wouldn''t mistake it for something else, after all, he had first-hand experience of just how horrifying it was.


    Emperor Razor clenched his fist tightly when he saw Arlo raise a trembling finger and point at him, "He is a demon!"


    The entire place suddenly became pin-drop silent. Only Arlo''s words kept reverberating within their minds.


    It took a few seconds before everybody reacted. The kid''s expression changed greatly while the adults had serious looks on their faces.


    King Jake stared at Arlo with a deep frown, and even though he knew he was close to Scarlett and Rebecca for reasons unknown, he couldn''t stop himself from speaking in a deep voice:


    "Boy, do you know the implications of what you just said?"


    Arlo didn''t reply and instead looked at Scarlett, however, the latter ignored him, her eyes narrowed on Emperor Razor.


    Despite trusting in Arlo, Scarlett found it hard to believe his words, but she didn''t wave it off either. The few weeks she had come to know Arlo made her fully aware of how calm and responsible he was despite his age.


    Seeing Emperor Razor not deny the accusations laid at him, Scarlett started growing suspicious.


    "Emperor Razor, why haven''t you said a word?"


    Despite the calm look on his face, Emperor Razor''s back was already soaked in secret. He was shell-shocked at how Arlo was able to find out the secret he had successfully hidden from even great figures such as Scarlett and Rebecca, with but a mere glance, but he was able to not make it show on his face. He knew Scarlett was studying his heartbeat, and once she noticed any fluctuation, she might kill him there and then.


    Inwardly taking a deep breath, Emperor Razor steadied his heart and chuckled lightly, "Who is this little kid that is spouting rubbish? Surely, you all don''t believe him, do you?"


    He just finished his words when Arlo spoke up once again, this time his voice sounding more confident:


    "You are a demon!"


    Emperor Razor''s heart skipped a beat, ''Don''t tell me he has a way to prove it?''


    He couldn''t dwell on that thought for long, as his expression changed greatly when he realized he had made a mistake.


    A palm abruptly fell from the sky, carrying with it a crushing pressure. Emperor Razor had no choice but to raise his arms to defend himself.


    *Bang!*


    Even though he blocked the attack, the crushing force still forced him to his knee, the ground below him already crushed into fine particles.


    Darkness erupted from the pale hand as it tried to encroach his body. Left with no choice, Emperor Razor released his law, and a greenish essence erupted from his body, barely stopping the invading darkness.


    Scarlett''s brows furrowed tightly when she saw this. King Jake shook his head, a look of disapproval on his face. Even though he wasn''t on the receiving end, he still felt displeased that a random kid could accuse someone of their status and even get attacked because of it.


    Scarlett turned to Arlo, and even without speaking, her intention was passed across.


    What is going on!?


    A serious look appeared on Arlo''s face. ''Did I make a mistake?''


    Just when Arlo''s thoughts started getting chaotic...


    A soft yet firm hand suddenly fell on his shoulder. Looking to his side, he saw Evangeline flash him a comforting smile, "I believe in you."


    Arlo''s slowly tensing nerves finally relaxed.


    ''That is right.'' He shifted his gaze back on the still kneeling Emperor, ''My eyes wouldn''t deceive me!''


    Squinting, Arlo could see the dark but evil energy flowing within Emperor Razor''s body, yet when they left his body, they immediately turned green.


    Suddenly, he had an idea.


    ''He may be able to mask his law energy with some unknown technique, but can he hide its essence?''


    Looking at Scarlett, Arlo spoke, "I don''t know how he is doing it, but I don''t believe he can completely hide his law essence. All you need to do is allow it to invade your body. Then I am sure the truth would come to light!"


    Another round of gasps resounded within the area. Asking Scarlett to willingly allow the greenish essence to invade her body was the same as asking her to get poisoned.


    Yet again, who would have thought that Scarlett would flash Arlo a bewitching smile at that moment, "There is no need. I got all the confirmation I need." She could clearly hear the erratic beating of Emperor Razor''s heart.


    Now that he was put in a difficult position, the always-calm emperor didn''t know what to do. All that he planned and worked for was ruined in but a single moment. He felt so stifled that he couldn''t control his emotions. Of course, he also knew he didn''t have time as Scarlett may act any moment.


    "I will kill you!" Emperor Razor suddenly roared, startling the others who were still looking at the scene with wide eyes. He glared at Arlo with a glint of vicious insidiousness flashing within his eyes. Before Scarlett could react, the green essence around him gave way to a burst of thick and potent evil energy that covered the entire area, enveloping all the figures present within.


    A formation disc appeared in Emperor Razor''s hand which he quickly activated. However, a pale hand streaked through the cloud of evil energy, as it tried to rip his heart out from its resting place. Emperor Razor instinctively shifted at that moment, successfully evading the fatal attack. But still, with a light tug, his entire left arm from his shoulder down was pulled off, causing a fountain of blood to spurt uncontrollably in all directions.


    "AH!" Emperor Razor''s painful cry pierced through the cloud of evil energy before spreading far and across, but soon after, it was cut abruptly, as the formation disc released a silver light that enveloped him and teleported him away.

 CHAPTER 176: PRELUDE OF A DISASTER

    Within a cloud of thick darkness covering an area of a hundred meters and from which the cries of ghosts and the wails of specters could be heard, Arlo felt the evil energy actively trying to corrupt his very essence.


    Suddenly, the two saber marks on the back of his hands glowed brightly and before he knew it, the invading evil energy was forcefully expelled, a sort of barrier now surrounding him and stopping the evil energy from drawing near.


    However, it seemed Old Bro''s action was unnecessary as barely a second after it acted, an explosion of purple snakes burst out from within the cloud of darkness before incinerating all the evil energy. Those within were not hurt in the slightest while the suffocating darkness was completely eradicated.


    Rebecca quickly closed the distance to the unmoving- Scarlett who had a torn arm in her hand.


    "Scarlett, don''t tell me..."


    "Yes, he escaped!" Scarlett had a grave look on her face.


    "But how? How is it possible for someone so high up the ladder to be corrupted? And that so without our knowledge? I fear the majority if not all the magical beasts are already..." Her words trailed off, afraid her greatest fear might turn true. These were billions of lives at risk. Unlike the small attack from before where a few relatively small cities, such as Tibu''s, were targeted, the scale this time was simply on a whole new level.


    Scarlett didn''t reply and instead closed her eyes, as she tried to use her advantage as a Will Bearer to locate Emperor Razor. As the Worlds will bearer she was no different from a god here and accomplishing a task as simple as finding someone could be done in a few breaths for her. However, even after a full minute, Scarlett didn''t open her eyes and Rebecca could notice how her face was becoming increasingly pale, despite her very fair skin.


    "Scarlett?!"


    Releasing a deep breath, Scarlett opened her eyes, two red beams shooting out into the distance. "I can''t find him!"


    "What?!" Rebecca exclaimed in surprise, her shock slowly turning into horror.


    "He must have teleported out of this world or must be in some form of high-level formation that could even mask his presence from the world. Either way, we need to go sister. This is getting out of hand!"


    Rebecca nodded seriously. She knew how grave the situation was. Turning back, Scarlett spoke with a deep voice, her eyes landing on King Jake last, "You must absolutely not speak of what just happened to anybody! At least for the moment. The last thing I want on my plate right now is a widespread panic."


    Nodding his head with a serious expression on his face, King Jake replied, "I understand!"


    "Good! Evangeline, take Arlo, Arianne, and Ella with you." continued Scarlett before she grabbed Rebecca on her shoulder, "Let''s go!"


    Using space laws, they both disappeared from the spot. This was the major advantage mages had over warriors.


    Will!


    Once a mage breaks into the Red-core stage, they develop an arcane power called ''Will'' which could be cultivated and grown the further they advance in their level. As could be inferred from the name, Mages were able to influence their immediate surroundings to their will. Together with their innate talent that could similarly grow with them, they become a force to be reckoned with.


    This was one of the reasons why despite warriors being far and few between, the mages didn''t count themselves to be inferior in the slightest. In this worldview, mages were simply stronger.


    Of course, the Asura race broke this view, as they were the absolute strongest in the whole galaxy. But still, the fact remained that they were the only Ki cultivators who were able to make it to the top. Every other top race was a mage.


    For example, if a mage''s innate talent was the ability to summon fireball with the number increasing the more he grew, once said person reaches the Red-core stage, such a limitation wouldn''t count any longer. Using their will, they could influence their respective laws in a kilometer radius around them, which is the bare minimum, and cover this field of theirs with as much fireball as they could conjure. No matter how powerful the summon a warrior has, or the true form they develop making them twice as hard to kill, or their out-of-the-world regeneration, as long as they couldn''t bridge the distance of one kilometer to their opponent, then there was no reason to fear them.


    Stolen story; please report.


    It wasn''t for no reason that Zara had told Arlo that it was hard for even a top-tier genius still in the preliminary stages of cultivation to jump level and defeat a red-core mage. Furthermore, Mages had the opportunity to become a world-will''s bearer. In other words, they could become the guardians of the world. As a will bearer, they have free access to all the laws of that world, becoming no different from an actual god.


    .....


    "Let''s go!" Evangeline used her mana to bring Arlo, Arianne, Joe, and Ella beside her.


    "Arlo, I want to go to the central continent." The quiet Joe suddenly said from the side.


    "Why?"


    "My sister is in danger!"


    Arlo looked at Joe intently. The resemblance between him and Emperor Razor was clear to see.


    Seeing the anxious look on his face as he clenched his fists, Arlo made his decision.


    "Okay, but..."


    "Let''s return first. Then I will send someone to escort you to your people." Evangeline cut in as she looked at Joe coldly. She just reunited with Arlo yet Joe was trying to separate them. Not to mention that among the trio, Joe was the least she favored.


    She didn''t wait for his reply and was about to bring them away when a commotion broke out from beside them.


    "Rose!" King Jake shrieked in horror.


    Turning around, Arlo saw Rose looking at him fixedly. However, he soon noticed her unusual state.


    Her body shook uncontrollably as blood leaked down the sides of her eyes. Most importantly, her eyes were spinning so fast that seemed to have become two golden whirlpools.


    "Arlo..." Rose choked out, blood streaming down her mouth, "You....die... be careful..." She fainted before she could finish her words, but Arlo saw the urgency and anxiousness within her eyes before she collapsed.


    "Rose!" Arlo moved forward but was soon stopped by King Jake''s shout.


    "Enough!" he glared at Arlo, his eyes bloodshot. Now the impression he had of Arlo couldn''t fall any lower. Not only did he have something to do with the secret realm''s disappearance, but he had now placed his daughter in a life-and-death situation.


    How could he not know what happened to his daughter? Once, Rose had had a vision of one of his general''s future, saving him from certain death. But in the end, she had to pay the price of influencing the world''s natural order. She had lost her eyesight for a full month, becoming no different from a blind girl. Such were the mysteries of the future eyes. However, her condition this time seemed far more grave as she couldn''t even say what she saw before she collapsed. No matter how they tried to pry her eyes open, they refused to budge in the slightest. Yet King Jake became more anxious as he saw the blood leaking out of her eyes not reducing at all. Turning back, he glared at Arlo and felt the volcano raging within him about to erupt. But, the anger threatening to burst out suddenly calmed a bit when he saw the increasingly deepening look of displeasure on Evangeline''s face. This reminded him once again that no matter how beautiful and kind a vampire was, they only cared about themselves. He took a deep breath and gave his unconscious daughter to Kai, who for the first time let go of his katana and placed it in his space pouch. His usual stoic look was long gone, the worry on his face almost palpable as he carried Rose in a princess carry. Raised by King Jake, Kai had always considered Rose his half-sister, and even took the role of staying by her side at all, acting no different from a guardian. Rose''s loose mouth was just that troublesome.


    Using his mana, King Jake brought Kai, Theodore, the unconscious Rose, and the others away, the aura around them gloomy. He didn''t even bother greeting Evangeline before taking his leave, something he wouldn''t do but now didn''t care about. Not only was a storm brewing within the Lunar World, but even their princess was now in a half-death state, as her body slowly lost its warmth. They quickly hurried back home to find a solution to her condition.


    "My little girl....why?" King Jake whispered, his eyes turning bloodshot. He had lost his wife, and now only had his daughter. He didn''t know why she suddenly had a vision about the golden-haired brat, and most importantly was confused about what she saw that left her in such a bad state.


    .....


    Arlo lowered his raised hand as he gazed at the now-disappearing human group.


    ''Rose...'' He felt so anxious and stifled to the point that it was starting to get difficult to breathe.


    Luckily, Evangeline patted him at that moment as she whispered in the gentlest voice she could muster, "I am sure she will be okay. But for now, we need to return."


    Taking a deep breath, Arlo nodded his head and allowed himself to be controlled by Evangeline''s mana. Slowly, the group of five sped across the sky.


    Throughout the entire journey, Arlo was lost in his thoughts.


    ''I hope she is okay!'' He could tell from the connection established between them by being in Ella''s pack, that while she seemed to be in great danger, her life essence wasn''t actually decreasing. This meant the others in their group could also feel her condition, but he didn''t care about such things.


    ''But what was she trying to tell me?!'' he could still vividly remember the urgent look on Rose''s face and could tell what she saw must have been very serious not to mention the words she said.


    "You...die be careful..." he trailed off as he continued contemplating, ''Did she see my death?''


    Ever since he received his dragon sense, Arlo could sense an impending doom drawing ever closer to him. He had thought it had something to do with his eighth birthday which was in two days, but now he wasn''t so sure anymore.


    They traveled in this silence...


    ''I hope the situation in the central continent can still be salvaged.'' Evangeline thought.


    ''Sis, you must remain safe!'' Joe prayed.


    None of them could have imagined that the end of the secret realm which should have been a reason for celebration would be a prelude to a disaster.


    Soon a dark veil connecting the sky to the earth entered their vision. Without any hesitation, Evangeline accelerated and flew into the veil, marking their return to the northern continent.

 CHAPTER 177: ABOMINATIONS!

    Within an underground chamber, three little kids sat in cultivation. While the kids were of different ages, it was clear that the age gap between them wasn''t much as the youngest was around 12 and the oldest was 15.


    The two oldest among the trio had an evil aura surrounding them from which came wailing sounds of ghosts, uncomfortable and unpleasant to the ear. A green essence surrounded the youngest among them, as he worked on improving his innate talent. He didn''t seem to be affected in the slightest by the demonic aura pervading the entire chamber, which was something that would shock countless minds if revealed.


    Suddenly, a formation in front of the chamber lit up, as intricate runes appeared on the ground. A second later, a figure appeared on the ground, painful grunts leaking from his mouth. The metallic smell of blood spread out, adding to the debilitating aura of evilness.


    "Father!" The three kids exclaimed. They quickly approached Emperor Razor.


    "Father, what happened?"


    "Father, are you okay?"


    "Father!"


    While the three simultaneously spoke, only one of them had a look of worry on their face. And that was the youngest.


    "Enough!" Emperor Razor pushed the trio aside as he rose clumsily to his feet. Using his will, he stopped the flow of blood from his wound.


    The previous calm had long disappeared from his face and was replaced by a vicious look.


    "It is all because of that brat!" A burst of murderous intent exploded from his body, causing the three little kids a short distance from him to shiver. All his plans that he had meticulously worked for had all been ruined in a moment, and by a brat no less!


    After venting a bit of the rage that threatened to explode his body, he finally calmed down.


    ''I can''t let it all go down like this!''


    ''My dream of being even of little assistance to my Lord must not go unfulfilled.''


    ''I need to act fast!''


    He wasn''t worried about Scarlett finding him anytime soon, as the underground chamber he was in was surrounded by an ancient concealing formation, one that was supposed to be lost to history. But it wasn''t like he could remain inside the chamber forever either.


    "Even if I want to enact my plan, I must get rid of that bitch, if not it will all go down the drain!" The number of people who could threaten someone of his level could be counted on both hands. Still, he wasn''t alone and had secretly corrupted more than a third of the magical beast population into demons. This was a plan that had been put into motion for almost a decade. With a terrifying army of billions, even less than five would be able to threaten him. But he knew there was one person who could immediately cause his plan to fail.


    Scarlett!


    Not only was she the strongest existence in the whole Lunar World, but she was even among the top five strongest figures across the whole galaxy, just falling a few short behind figures such as the ancestor of the Asura race and the newly acclaimed strongest, the Void Emperor.


    However, even these two legendary figures wouldn''t hold a candle to Scarlett''s might if they were within the Lunar World. Here, she was a goddess!


    "In other words, my greatest priority is sending Scarlett out of this world and holding her up!" He didn''t even dare attempt to kill her as he knew it would just be a fool''s errand. Even his Lord hadn''t been able to accomplish such a feat.


    After racking his brain for several minutes, Razor still couldn''t come up with a viable plan.


    "I have no choice!" Since the matter was so complicated for him to overcome, he would just ask someone who was leagues above him.


    Demons, servants of the Evil Lord could be grouped into five in order of hierarchy and power.


    Lesser demons! Greater demons! Demon Lords! Supreme demons! And finally, the strongest of the Evil Lord''s servants, possessing strength that rivaled his...


    Abominations!


    Though they were few, they were strong enough to compare with the mightiest existences in the whole galaxy. Only they were worthy of becoming the Evil Lord''s guardians.


    Having made up his mind, he took out a communication stone, one similar to the one Zara had handed Arlo. Rather than calling it a Communication stone, the object functioned more like a transmission stone, as unlike the former that could only send and receive messages across small or long distances within a world, the transmission stones could do the same but across worlds. However, their use was limited to one time.


    Emperor Razor sent his mana into the formation disc that was shaped like a stone, in his hand. Activating one of the two formations within the stone, it shone with a light orange color, before Emperor Razor started recounting what happened to him and the major obstacles he encountered. He also added information about the disappearance of the secret realm and didn''t forget to mention Arlo''s involvement.


    Done, he activated the second formation, causing the communication stone to burn with a silver light. Soon after, the silver light pierced into the space before him, disappearing from his sight. He gazed at the marking left on his palm by the communication stone, and waited patiently. Since he was in the ancient formation, he wasn''t afraid Scarlett would pick up his actions.


    The three little kids who were supposedly his children stood quietly behind him, with servile looks on their faces. They didn''t resemble a family in the slightest.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    An hour later, the space in front fluctuated wildly before a small crack appeared. A silver light soon flew out of the crack and into his hand, the marking left behind by the communication stone disappearing soon after.


    Pouring his mana into the new communication stone in his hand, a deep voice boomed across the underground chamber, the mere power within the voice seemingly shaking the space within.


    "Send her to me!" It was a short and simple reply, one filled with authority.


    Just when Emperor Razor''s face started distorting because of how he was supposed to accomplish that, the deep voice resounded once again, "...Use your life!"


    Since the presence on the other end demonized him, he had no choice but to fulfill the order. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn''t hesitate to sacrifice himself as long as it contributed to his Lord''s wishes, but now he was unwilling. He harbored so much hatred for Arlo, that he felt his heart might explode if he didn''t kill him soon. How was he supposed to die with such a grievance?


    If the order had come directly from his Lord, he wouldn''t have harbored any other thoughts and would have fulfilled it without any hesitation. But since the order simply came from a superior, he could spare some of his time to kill Arlo. Of course, he also had to fulfill his Superior''s order, it was just engrained within his essence. It also helped that his superior didn''t tell him how to accomplish his mission, so he could do as he seemed fit, and just ensure that the mission was a success.


    Suddenly, an idea lit up his mind. Looking at his last born, the one uncorrupted but had been brainwashed since he was little, Razor narrowed his eyes.


    "Boy, I have a task for you!"


    .....


    Within a dimly lit hall, a few figures stood quietly as if awaiting someone''s arrival.


    Principal Stanley, Teacher Julian, and a few teachers of the third year stood a short distance away from each other. Even though they seemed to be a group, none of them attempted to communicate and instead remained in silence.


    On the other side of this group of figures was a young boy who despite looking to be at most 14 or 15 years, was already in his late teens. His short dark hair interlocked with several snow-white streaks was neatly trimmed, and his ruby eyes shone brightly within the dim hall. Even the darkness shrouding the area couldn''t hide the light smile tugging at the sides of his mouth.


    In response to the look of disgust and contempt some of the teachers and principal were throwing at him, Stefan flashed a small smile, his expression unchanged.


    The group stood for an unknown time before a silver light suddenly lit from the front of the hall, brightening the entire place.


    As the silver light slowly died down, five figures appeared within the hall.


    Evangeline, Arlo, Arianne, Joe and Ella.


    A short period of silence ensued, as Stefan became stunned by his junior sister''s different outlook. Unlike before, she was now over two meters tall, even surpassing him in height. But that wasn''t all. Her hair was now a colorful blend of snow-white and blood red, harmoniously mixed to elevate the natural charm emanating from her young yet bursty body.


    Unlike him, the others were stunned because of the absence of the other students. Ten Darkblood students had left, yet only three returned. And those three were even the youngest and weakest among the group.


    Just when some of them registered the appearance of Ella, a werewolf, and a member of their mortal enemies, Evangeline quickly voiced out before any of them could act:


    "Out liege told me to bring the werewolf cub. Don''t worry, she will remain by my side at all times!"


    Unlike Arlo who was personally protected by Scarlett''s command, Ella would be threatened at all times if she was left alone in a territory only filled with blood-sucking vampires.


    None of them replied, but instead glared silently at the little girl for a while. If the party knew her status was not the least inferior to Arianne''s, it was a mystery how they would react.


    After a short while, one of the third-year teachers bowed to Evangeline, before voicing the confusion currently plaguing their minds:


    "Lady Evangeline, where are the other students? Are they with our liege?" It wasn''t wrong for them to think so, after all, a few of them knew Evangeline had left with Scarlett to check out the disturbance created by Arlo''s heavenly tribulation.


    Evangeline looked at them silently for some time, her emotions unknown. Then, her lips slowly parted, a mesmerizing yet cold voice sounding out without the slightest tremor:


    "They are dead!"


    "Huh!?"


    All the teachers were rooted on the spot by the unexpected reply, their eyes slowly widening in horror, and their throats bobbling up and down, the voice refusing to spill from their outstretched mouths.


    "Brother!" Uncaring about their reactions, Arianne leaped into Stefan''s embrace, the latter rubbing her back affectionately. None was still the wiser that while Rook and his party had indeed killed the third year students, one of them had still escaped their clutches and he was the strongest among the group. Yet he wasn''t present...


    Because he had been killed before the dragon medallion could teleport him out of the secret realm. And the killer was none other than the little girl who was currently enjoying her brother''s caresses, with an innocent smile on her face.


    After finding out that almost all his team had been wiped out, Landon had been so overwhelmed by guilt that he had unconsciously blurted that he wished to die, something that his little princess was happy to fulfill the next second, to his great shock. He didn''t know that Arianne had already condemned him to death, and her killing him was actually a favour. Because it was unknown what would have happened to him if he had appeared before Scarlett with such a failure. Atleast Arianne was sure he would have suffered a pain that was far worse than death. As the leader of the group, not only had he abandoned his teammates in order to help another team...from an entirely different race, he wasn''t even aware of their situation till the very end. Not to mention that Eleanor had not even handed him any mana fruits in the end, after all, the reason for their cooperation was to defeat or if possible, kill the male Asura, something they had failed to accomplish. Yet he had continued to follow Eleanor to the fourth zone of his own free will, due to his lack of trust in his own strength.


    Even though the Elven princess had also made the same mistake as him, she was in the end a princess, with a status that was only slightly inferior to Arianne''s. While she might be punished, it was sure not to be anything life-threatening, especially after she returned with many mana fruits and other treasures.


    Although, Arianne had informed him that Theodore had glanced in her direction before he was teleported, so he might have seen Landon explode into a bloody mist. That would also explain why the smart boy didn''t make any mention of him.


    .....


    Arlo took in the sight around him, his clouded mind hidden behind a calm visage.


    He could feel Joe''s anxiousness and his gradually reducing patience. It seemed his first friend was truly worried about his sister''s well-being. Not to mention his state of mind upon finding out that one of the only two living people related to him by blood was a demon. The thought of when Razor had been demonized filled not only Joe and him, but even strong figures such as Scarlett, Rebecca, Jake, and even Evangeline with apprehension.


    Then there was Rose who had collapsed after catching a glimpse of the future...his future, and the words she had left behind.


    There were the dreadful warning signals his dragon sense was still sending him...


    His birthday was in two days.


    Arlo took a deep breath and pulled his mind from the worrying thoughts.


    ''All I can do is keep my head straight and my eyes, focused. In the end, I just have to do my best, not to mention that I am not alone. I have Anita and my two new summons, Arianne, Joe, Ella, Scarlett, Rebecca, and Evangeline. I have no reason to be afraid.''


    As for what he could for now, Arlo remembered the words he swore exactly a week ago, his eyes flashing with a dangerous light.


    With the hall filled with Arianne''s chuckle, and the teachers and principal yet to react, Arlo''s voice spread out, the rage hidden within barely noticeable:


    "Has the Second-year ranking war ended?"

 CHAPTER 178: SECOND YEAR RANKING WAR

    AN: Sorry I didn''t release a chapter on Wednesday. I had some health issues... Also, a few changes have been made to the previous chapter. Please re-read the ending, to be up to date.


    Resources were distributed from the nine prominent vampire clans to the Darkblood Academy every year to produce and groom new talents for the vampire race.


    To allocate these different resources, the ranking war was established for all the students, from the first to fourth years. The top ten within each of these ranking wars were given more resources than the others, and the allocation was further distributed according to their ranks. And it just so happened that today was the second-year ranking war. The first part of the competition was already held in the morning in the form of a battle royale with six contestants rising above the other contestants to become the winners.


    .....


    Despite being in a minor world, the Darkblood Academy was still ultimately within the Lunar World. So it didn''t escape the lightning that covered the sky, and the tremors that shook the earth. Thankfully, before a commotion could break out, the authorities were able to soothe the students and maintain order. Mirroring the structure of the Lunar World, the academy was divided into five areas, the northern, southern, eastern, western, and finally central area.


    The southern and northern were respectively occupied by first-year and second-year students.


    Within an auditorium located in the northern region...


    In the heart of the auditorium, a grand ring stood as the focal point, surrounded by rows upon rows of plush seats extended outward, each meticulously arranged to provide an optimal view of the central stage.


    The second stage of the second-year ranking war was about to begin but unlike before, the auditorium was full of people. Students from the third and fourth years mingled silently with the second years who had already lost in the battle royale held in the morning and could only spectate the rest of the competition.


    "Hey, did you hear the rumors? Apparently, a few first-years were sent into the secret realm and I heard, two of them were not even from our race," said a second-year student.


    "Yes...but can it be trusted? I also heard that the third-year students sent perished, and only those three first years survived. Doesn''t that sound too ridiculous?" another second-year student responded.


    "You are right? But... don''t you think the reason why many people came to watch the ranking war today is to see the human boy who had challenged Jude last week, after all, he is rumored to be one of the three first years."


    "...True. I can''t think of any other reason."


    Discussions like these continued within the auditorium, as the students spoke in hushed voices, some opting to communicate with spiritual energy. Hence, despite the majority of the hundreds of spectators present, the place wasn''t noisy at all.


    Soon, a commotion broke out. Several figures with grand status arrived one after the other.


    Counts!


    Higher class nobles!


    Middle-class nobles!


    The hushed voices slowly died down, and the auditorium descended into pin-drop silence. Only the respectful voices of the Second-year principal and teachers resounded as they welcomed one affluent figure after another.


    The students, be it the second years, third years and even the relatively few fourth years knew that a storm was brewing.


    After a few moments, the Second-year principal who was a beautiful middle-aged woman entered the ring to announce the start of the competition, but before the words could leave her mouth, three new figures walked into the all, garnering the attention of those seated.


    The one at the forefront was a young boy whose dark hair was interlocked with countless snow-white streaks, an amicable smile plastered on his face.


    Walking a few feet behind was another dark-haired boy with white reptilian eyes and a girl whose hair was a beautiful blend of snow-white and blood-red. Despite her considerably young age which showed clearly on her face, her body was nothing otherwise. With a height towering above two meters, and a body so plentiful yet not visibly ripened, the little girl with ruby eyes stole the attention of almost all the parties in the hall, especially the young males.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    However, a discrepancy was soon noticed...


    Stefan led his sister and Joe to a relatively empty corner among the spectator''s seats, which coincidentally was opposite the side where the counts and great nobles had been seated.


    The tension in the building suddenly rose.


    Ugly looks appeared on the faces of almost all the students in the hall, and while the adults tried not to show it, a slight look of displeasure and dissatisfaction uncontrollably found a way to their faces.


    How could they not tell from the aura around Arianne and Joe that the rumors had indeed been true? If not, how would they explain how two little kids who just entered the academy were able to release pressure that even superseded those of the third years not to mention the second years?


    Unfazed by the situation, Stefan looked at the seats on the other side of the ring, and ignoring the majority of those who were seated there, he smiled lightly at his rival, Toon, who similarly had an ugly smile etched on his face.


    Sure, the vampires didn''t mind that Arianne had entered the secret realm and reaped the benefits as she was not only one of their own but even their only and respected princess. But what about Joe?


    Not to mention that if he was there, then the rumor about the human was also likely true, even though he hadn''t appeared before them.


    However, since the higher-class nobles and Counts had yet to say a thing or make a move, it wasn''t in the place of mere students to do otherwise, Toon included.


    The more rational students among the fourth years were able to figure out the reason why the higher-ups hadn''t reacted...yet.


    Since the beast and human had entered, that too without anyone''s knowledge, it didn''t take a genius to realize that someone at the top of the ladder had made it so...


    Probably the King and Queen, or maybe the Protectors...


    Or even their Liege.


    As the silence slowly became stiffening, the middle-aged woman in the ring quickly cleared her throat.


    "Once again, I welcome everyone to the Second-year ranking war. It is our great pleasure and privilege to have you in our midst! Without further ado, let the competition begin."


    Pointing to her left, she gestured towards the nine figures who stood at the side of the ring, with a look of confidence and pride on their faces!


    "These are the current best among the batch of second-year students. Ranked first to the ninth, they have proved their talents to be above and beyond those in the same year!"


    Because Scarlett had killed the previous first rank in the awakening ritual held some time ago for reasons still unknown, the second to tenth rank rose a level, leaving the tenth seat empty.


    This made this week''s ranking war a bit special as not only would the seats of the top nine be challenged, but a new student who be chosen to occupy the tenth rank.


    Pointing to the other side of the ring, the principal gestured towards a group of six, who looked less confident compared to the group directly across them. Some of them had anxious looks while a few of them even had a look of fear on their faces.


    "These six would first compete to decide the new tenth rank, and after that, there would be an open challenge for any of the other ranks. Not only that, a challenge has been issued by the ninth rank to the third rank. If both parties retain their positions at the end of the competition, a duel will be held between them!"


    After introducing the program for the day, the principal called the six challengers to the ring to pick lots to determine the matches. However, the first student who was called suddenly raised his hand, "Principal, I would like to redraw from these matches!"


    "What!?" The principal furrowed her brows in anger as she questioned, "Why?"


    They had important guests and she didn''t wish to show them anything disgraceful.


    "I want to challenge Jude for his seat!"


    "Oh!" The principal''s frown slowly smoothened, a thoughtful look on her face.


    "What is Roy doing? Why would he miss such a great opportunity?"


    "Leave that Idiot! Does he really think he is someone great to keep challenging Jude? I expect nothing less from a Plebian!"


    A small commotion broke out among the second-year students.


    The boy who wanted to face Jude was the strongest among the six challengers and had even challenged Jude last week only to be dominated completely. It was after his defeat that Arianne had also issued a challenge. Yet it seemed he was still hell-bent on defeating Jude.


    ''If he had partaken in the matches for the position of the tenth seat, it would have been somewhat easy for him to win. Compared to a total domination and complete beatdown, it would be less satisfying. Besides, it shouldn''t affect Jude much in the last duel too...''


    In the end, she felt it was okay...or even better. But she still had to ask Jude if he was willing to accept the challenge


    "Allow him! It seems I didn''t teach him a good lesson the last time. And it just so happens that I don''t make the same mistake twice!" Jude readily accepted the challenge. He was already seething with fury. The thought of Arlo and Joe receiving a privilege he had always dreamed of, made his stomach churn and his heart almost burst.


    Not to mention that he had flinched after sensing Arianne''s and Joe''s aura. A feeling of fear had uncontrollably crept into his heart from the thought of the human boy appearing before him with the same might as the duo. But after not seeing Arlo, that feeling had disappeared and slowly gave way to...shame.


    He didn''t believe he had been afraid of a human boy...and that too at a weakling he had dismissed just a week ago.


    Seeing the foolish challenger, he decided to use him as an outlet to vent his emotions. It wasn''t for no reason he was called a mad dog.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 179: SEEKING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

    With Jude''s agreement, the Principal announced the new changes. Because the number of competitors had now become odd, one of the remaining five was lucky enough to be exempted from the first round of elimination.


    After several rounds and bouts which went on for two hours, the new tenth seat was determined. It was a beautiful young girl with light freckles on her cheeks. But because she was a lower-class noble, none of the spectators paid her victory much attention.


    Soon, it was Jude and Roy''s match.


    Jude stood on one corner of the ring as he gazed menacingly at his opponent. It wasn''t for no reason that he was feared among the second-year students.


    Not only was Jude angry because Arlo and Joe had been allowed into the secret realm, but he was also displeased that a weakling he had put down several times still dared to challenge him, especially in front of such grand spectators.


    ''I will just put him down for good once and for all!''


    With that thought in mind, Jude attacked his opponent first, something he didn''t do last time, as he enjoyed crushing his opponent''s will.


    "Seems Jude really wants to put Roy down for good this time."


    "I would do the same if I was in his shoes. Being challenged by a Plebian fool I could easily put down is nothing but infuriating." The Second year students conversed among themselves, as they waited with dark expectations. The previous matches for the tenth seat while not boring, weren''t anything interesting, which was further proven by the nonchalant looks on the Counts and higher-class noble''s faces. So, they all looked forward to a good beatdown.


    The funny thing was that even those Roy usually defended from bullying from higher class nobles weren''t exemptions.


    Jude appeared before Roy with ghostly speed as the second years communicated among themselves, his fist thrown out in a punch.


    However, what happened next wasn''t something anybody was expecting.


    Two swords suddenly flew into the air, one cutting into Jude''s fist and the other streaking past his face, a line of blood drawn on its path. At the same time that blood spurted into the air, Jude''s painful cry rang across the whole auditorium.


    His challenger didn''t hesitate to make use of this opportunity.


    "Hands of darkness!" Several huge hands rose from the ground of the ring before surrounding the still-screaming Jude from all directions. At the same time, the two swords flew towards Jude, their sharp edges glistening threateningly. Roy didn''t fall behind his attacks, his body dissipating into a dark fog, that instantly closed the distance to the still-screaming Jude.


    Vampires could suppress their emotions, and that included pain. But because, Roy had surrounded the swords with darkness essence, and also taken Jude by surprise, he was able to inflict serious pain that had already passed the threshold of what a normal cultivator could ever bear.


    The huge dark hands caught Jude in a tight grasp. Roy arrived before his two swords. His fingers turned into claws, something every vampire could do; and was different from Clan Cromwell''s unique ability.


    "AHHHH!" Under the relentless barrage of attacks, Jude roared like a wounded beast, his body covered in several cuts, some even revealing his white bones.


    The spectators had yet to react and were still shell-shocked from the unexpected situation. Even Toon had a lost look on his face as he gazed at his number one underling. Soon after, the surprised look gave way to a deep scowl.


    As if sensing Toon''s glare, Jude didn''t dare to hold back any longer and erupted with his full strength. He felt so angry to the point of vomiting blood.


    Not only had the princess he had toyed with just last week become far stronger than him, but even the weakling he had effortlessly defeated was able to inflict serious wounds and pain on him. He had planned to defeat Roy instantly before taking his sweet time to teach him a lesson, but it seemed the latter had also experienced a breakthrough in his cultivation, becoming a late-advanced mage like him. He was genuinely surprised as he himself just had a breakthrough recently yet Roy was able to keep up with him.


    The truth, however, was that he had severely underestimated his enemy, which placed him in his current predicament.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Now he didn''t dare to do the same...


    Erupting with all his strength, a burst of dark essence erupted from his body, the force destroying all the dark hands restraining him, knocking back the two swords that continuously moved past him as if controlled by invisible hands, and finally sending Roy flying.


    Even though they were both at the same level of cultivation, Jude was a supreme-level talent which meant he could fight above his level. It was because of that reason that he challenged the third-ranked student. Honestly, while he had the lowest cultivation among the previous top ten, the truth was that his combat prowess was already among the upper ranks of the top ten. It was just that he enjoyed acting like a mountain that obstructed the other students from moving forward.


    Invoking his clan''s unique ability, Jude''s hands transform into a monster''s. His arms seemed to be covered by shining dark scale-like armor, while his fingers turned into four menacing claws, incomparable to Roy''s transformation. The ends of his claws flashed with a sharp light.


    "Just because you learned a new trick, you think you are now my match?" Jude walked threateningly to his opponent.


    While the vampires could use weapons, most opted to use their bodies. Only a few tended to rely on external strength, the majority of them coming from Clan Ashley, Evangeline, and Rosaline''s clan.


    Jude''s claws slashed through the air quickly, the sound of the air ripped apart resounding loudly within the building. Like two knives cutting through tofu, the two flying swords that had swooped in to attack him were cut into several pieces.


    Roy ignored the pain he felt and tried to rise to his feet only to fail as Jude''s kneel connected with his abdomen sending him back to the ground.


    Raising his leg, Jude gathered all his strength and stomped down.


    *Crack!*


    The sound of breaking bones resounded clearly across the place.


    "AH!" Roy shrieked in pain as he felt several of his ribs broken.


    "What?" Jude flashed a smile, the blood filling his mouth making him look evil. Together with his red eyes burning with fury, he looked no different from a demonic beast.


    "You are screaming already? I am just getting started!" Finished with his words, he raised his foot and stomped again, the cries of the body beneath him growing louder.


    *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!**BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*


    Jude stomped again and again until the crowd lost count of the number of times he had repeated this same action. At this point, Roy''s high-pitched cries had turned into low whimpers.


    *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*


    Laughing maniacally as he continued man-handling Roy, Jude displayed why he was called the mad dog, and why several of his mates feared him.


    The beating continued for almost fifteen minutes during which no one made a move to stop him. In fact, some of the onlookers had pleased expressions on their faces. The thought of a Plebian defeating one of their noble geniuses didn''t sit well with them.


    Also even though Roy appeared to be at death''s door, the truth was that as a vampire, all he had to do was rest for about a month and all his wounds would recover naturally. Taking blood would even speed up the process.


    However, while he might heal physically, the mental scar might never disappear.


    Despite being a Plebian, Roy had endured numerous bullying and had worked hard to obtain his current strength. It was only by his power that he could prove himself and raise his status.


    Yet despite being the eleventh...no, the tenth strongest among the second years, and even surpassing many nobles, it seemed nobody still acknowledged him, as proven by how he was left to suffer under Jude''s hands. He was sure that if Jude were on the receiving end of this beatdown, the match would have been stopped almost immediately.


    ''I thought I could prove myself...'' Tears uncontrollably spilled from his eyes.


    "Huh!?" Jude finally stopped moving, "Hahaha! Are you crying? The fool is actually crying, hahaha!"


    The body below him was completely unrecognizable at this point.


    Roy''s limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, his chest had become mangled flesh from which several broken ribs jotted out, and his body was completely covered in blood. He was such a sorry sight.


    Jude''s laughter slowly died down as he looked at Roy with a crazy expression on his face, a vicious light glinting within his eyes


    Grabbing Roy''s bloodied head, he pulled him to his face before flashing his trademark evil smile, "There is still more!"


    Roy looked at him with shaky eyes as Jude clenched his other free hand.


    "Now the best part, the face..." As he spoke, he unceremoniously smashed his fist towards Roy''s face.


    Roy closed his eyes, his mind clouded in despair.


    Nobody came to help him.


    Not even his Prince and Princess...


    Not even the Counts...


    Not even his Principal...


    Not even his teachers...


    And finally, not even his friends...


    In the end, no one cared about him...


    The tears fell like water from a broken dam.


    However, after a couple of seconds, Roy noticed something wrong.


    ''Why hasn''t the fist connected with my face? Or have I been hit and the pain was just too much for my brain to register?''


    Confused, he slowly opened his eyes to see a fist just an inch from colliding with his face. At the same time, the sounds of shocked gasps drifted into his ears. He quickly shut his eyes once again to allow the tears clouding his vision to spill completely. Then he opened them and looked up once more.


    This time he could see clearly...


    There, behind Jude was a golden-haired boy with blue reptilian eyes, who restrained Jude''s fist by merely grabbing him by his shoulder.


    Then, Roy watched stupidly as the golden-haired boy''s expression abruptly changed.


    A tail suddenly appeared behind Jude''s head as it swung forward with so much force that Roy thought he heard the air exploding. Thankfully the golden-haired boy was able to pull Jude in time to save him from the tail. It was just that the golden-haired boy seemed to have not controlled his strength, as Jude was swung away, his body spinning several meters above the ground before he unceremoniously kissed the ground and rolled away like a ragdoll.


    ''Huh? Was I beat to the point of seeing things?''


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 180: KIRA

    A few hours before the second part of the second-year ranking war started...


    Within the southern region of the academy, and at the Principal''s office...


    Sitting on one of the two sofas facing each other, Arlo, Arianne, and Joe briefed Principal Stanley and Julian on what happened in the secret realm. They shared some of their experiences, including how they had witnessed the death of the third-year students, and how they had survived Rook and his party''s chase.


    Of course, certain information was withheld, such as Landon dying at Arianne''s hands, and the fruits they had found on the floating mountain.


    "So you are saying that little werewolf and this brat...I mean Joe killed the Rook and his team?" Teacher Julian asked shell-shocked.


    "That is right?" Arlo had no choice but to reply as Arianne seemed uninterested in responding to their questions. It seemed she still held a grudge with Principal Stanley. Besides, it seemed her brother being asked to wait for them outside unnerved her greatly. Joe on the other hand was too worried about his sister to care about their questions.


    As for Evangeline, she had left in a hurry to inform the Protectors about what transpired within and outside the secret realm. Ever since Scarlett killed the first ranked Second-year student whom people were still not aware was a demon, the Protectors had secretly moved to investigate the entire academy and find out if other students or staff had been corrupted. Ella had no choice but to leave with her, as she needed a powerful backer to remain safe.


    "The last question..." The silent Principal suddenly spoke, his expression slowly becoming grave. Looking intently at the three small kids before him who he wasn''t sure would remain under his jurisdiction any longer due to their newfound strength, he opened his mouth and spoke, his deep voice ringing across the entire room:


    "What is the cause of the tribulation lightning that suddenly shook the skies and rumbled the earth?"


    As if planned, Arianne and Joe looked at Arlo. They knew something like those could not be hidden, as many more witnesses were aware of the truth.


    Seeing the two little kid''s reaction, Principal Stanley and Teacher Julian also shifted their gaze to Arlo, awaiting his reply.


    Under the stare of all the parties in the room, Arlo remained calm, his expression unchanged.


    He had thought deeply about what to say during their return to the academy. While Scarlett, Rebecca, and the other leaders had not had the opportunity to ask them that question because of what transpired, he knew it was only a matter of time before he was asked.


    And there was no way he could reveal Seraphina''s existence. But he also had to tell a believable lie that would explain such a manifestation of heaven''s fury.


    Arlo couldn''t come up with a tangible lie even after racking his brain several times. So after a long and careful thought, he decided to tell the truth...or rather a truth. Something about him that was simply unbelievable...but still in the realm of humanly acceptable.


    Pointing at the unconscious Anita who was still resting comfortably on his head, Arlo spoke with a calm voice:


    "I believe you are already aware that I am a warrior. Well, this is my first summon."


    Principal Stanley and Teacher Julian studied Anita for several moments, a look of surprise on their faces. This was the first time they had seen a slime, especially one that was a summon. Still, they got over their surprise and threw a questioning look at Arlo:


    "So!?"


    What does the slime have to do with the lightning tribulation?


    Arlo remained silent for a moment, before he gathered his courage and revealed a secret of his, one that he had been planning on keeping to himself but now had no choice but to reveal:


    "Well, I connected to another summon within the secret realm."


    The Principal and Julian looked at him with blank expressions for several moments before their eyes widened like saucers.


    "Wh-What!?"


    They couldn''t believe their ears. It was widely known that only the ancestor of the Asura race was able to summon two astral warriors, making her talent in Ki cultivation monstrous and unrivaled.


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    Yet a boy before them was claiming to have talent that rivaled hers?


    Feeling his throat go dry, Principal Stanley spoke with a slightly trembling voice:


    "C-can you show us? I mean your second summon..."


    Arlo shrugged, "Why not?"


    After a great deal of thought, he had already decided on which of his two summons he would reveal, as that would allow him to use their abilities freely in the open.


    Connecting with the fox seal of his upper arm, Arlo commanded within his mind:


    "Come out!"


    A huge portion of his Ki was instantly sucked into the seal, and before he knew it, a black light shot out of the seal before turning into a small figure on his lap.


    When the figure appeared fully, Arlo was stunned senseless. The others shared his reaction, including Arianne and even the downcast Joe.


    This was the first time Arlo was seeing his second summon, and he had to confess that she was the most beautiful and adorable monster he had ever seen. No, she was the most splendid creature he had ever laid his eyes upon.


    There on his lap was a small black fox with nine tails, her sleek fur as dark as night itself. Each of her tails swayed gracefully behind her, a testament to her otherworldly beauty. Yet, it was not just her ebony coat that captivated the eye.


    Upon closer inspection, one would notice the delicate edges of her tails, painted in hues of deep purple that shimmered in the light within the room. These accents contrasted beautifully against the velvety blackness of her fur, adding an ethereal quality to her appearance.


    Her eyes, too, held a mesmerizing allure, glowing with the same enchanting purple hue as the tips of her tails. They seemed to hold the secrets of the universe within their depths, drawing in those who dared to meet her gaze.


    As she moved with a feline grace, a mane of soft purple fur cascaded down from below her neck, framing her slender form in a regal embrace. It danced with every step she took, adding to her mystique and enhancing her already enchanting presence.


    This small black fox, with her nine tails and eyes like pools of amethyst, was a creature of rare beauty, a sight to behold.


    "KIAAAH!" The deafening silence was suddenly broken by Arianne''s cute cry.


    Lunging forward, she tried to grab the cute creature from Arlo''s lap only to be stopped when the fox bared her small but sharp fangs at her. Only then did Arlo recollect himself. As if sensing his emotions, the fox turned back to him before moving closer and snuggling into his embrace.


    "I am so happy to finally meet you...Arlo." Her soft, beautiful, and soothing voice rang out in his mind.


    "Kira..." For some reason, this name suddenly appeared in his mind, as if imprinted within. Caressing his new summon, Arlo reveled in how pleasing her fur was to the touch, and the small but cute purring sounds Kira released further boosted this feeling.


    "A-hem!" The Principal suddenly coughed. Repressing the urge to snatch the little fix from Arlo and caress her to his satisfaction, he looked at Arlo with confused eyes:


    "But that doesn''t explain your tail and eyes..."


    While Kira indeed had tails, three at that, the tail behind Arlo''s back was distinctly different from hers. While hers was night black with purple edges, Arlo''s was longer and covered in multicolored scales. Not to mention that Kira''s eyes were purple while Arlo''s were blue, and even looked reptilian.


    Shrugging, Arlo pulled Kira closer to the fox''s satisfaction and responded, "I don''t know. I just became like this after connecting with her."


    Arlo already knew that while revealing Kira''s existence could explain the heavenly tribulation, it couldn''t clear the doubts about why he had changed so much. But he didn''t care, it wasn''t as if they had a choice other than to take his word for it.


    .....


    Four figures walked steadily on the wayside. The streets were somewhat empty, with many buildings made from darknite lining the roads.


    Principal Stanley had offered to take Arlo to the Second year ranking war, but he politely refused. He already had Stefan to guide him, so he didn''t need his assistance. Him staying longer with them would only displease Arianne further.


    Speaking of the little vampire Princess, she held the unconscious Anita within her embrace and glared resentfully at the beautiful fox within Arlo''s.


    "Hmph! Who wants to touch you!? My Anita is enough..."


    The little fox merely opened one eye and spared her a glance, her eyes soon shifting to the blue slime. Soon after, she moved her head to the other side before shifting to a more comfortable position, ignoring Arianne and Anita altogether.


    "You..." Anita''s face flushed red from anger, causing Arlo to shake his head wryly.


    Seeing Joe remain silent, Arlo felt bad upon seeing his friend downcast. Suddenly, he had an idea.


    Moving closer to Joe, Arlo offered with a smile, "Why don''t you touch her!?"


    Joe who was lost in his thoughts was suddenly attracted by Arlo''s voice. Looking at the black fox in Arlo''s embrace, he hesitated for a moment, especially when he caught sight of Arianne''s expectant eyes.


    However, after a while, he gritted his teeth and brought his palm closer to the fox.


    As if feeling his approach, the little fox opened one eye, her purple eye immediately fixing on Joe causing him to flinch. But even after a while, the fox didn''t react and merely stared at him.


    Seeing this, Joe gathered his courage and slowly pushed his hand forward, before...patting the fox on her back. Seeing that the fox didn''t reject him, he went further and caressed her black fur, reveling in how comforting it felt to the touch.


    Arianne''s increasingly gloating eyes gave way to shock before turning into boiling anger. Her ruby eyes shone brightly, and her body trembled. She didn''t even notice that she was squeezing the blue slime in her hands tighter. Thankfully, Anita was still in her process of transformation and wasn''t conscious.


    A little away from the trio, Stefan watched with an amused smile.


    Seemingly no longer satisfied with merely touching her, Joe tried to grab the fox from Arlo only to finally elicit a reaction from the new summon. Baring her teeth, she growled softly, showing her rejection of being separated from Arlo.


    Joe quickly retracted his hands, and even though he had failed to carry the fox, a sincere smile still painted his face. Seeing that his mood had indeed improved, Arlo thought to himself:


    ''I should try communicating with Seraphina, and get her to release the pitch-black snake. That should keep him company and maybe take his mind away from his sister.''

 CHAPTER 181: I JUST WANTED TO

    Since there was still sometime before the second-year ranking war, Stefan took the small group to one of his favorite spots within the northern area of the academy.


    A tea shop.


    This was not the first time Arlo had tasted this substance as his mother often brewed it for their family at home. However, Arlo had to admit that this particular tea had a certain appeal. It calmed his mind and soothed his nerves. For the past couple of days, the group had been in constant danger. Not to mention Arlo who had to bore through an excruciating pain just to achieve a breakthrough. The destructive nature of Aether further made things worse for him. Even though he had Ki fruits, Arlo didn''t have any intention of breaking through, at least for months. Going through such inhuman pain would only take a toll on his mind.


    The tea almost had the effect of washing the painful experience away. Even Joe seemed more relaxed.


    "So, what has been disturbing you?" As they sat around the table, Stefan suddenly asked Joe. Normally, he wouldn''t have had any interest in a beast like Joe, however, Joe wasn''t a stranger to him anymore. He was now one of the few friends his younger sister had. Thus, seeing someone important to his sister look worried, Stefan felt obliged to ask the reason why.


    Joe didn''t reply, a look of hesitation showing on his face.


    Seeing this, Stefan raised a brow before waving his hand in dismissal, "If it is something you are uncomfortable sharing, then don''t worry. Just imagine I never asked."


    Joe looked at Arlo, as he silently asked for what to do. But seeing the latter shake his head, he released a sigh.


    Scarlett had clearly warned them not to reveal what had happened outside the gate, and while Stefan was her grandson, they were still obliged to obey her words.


    In the end, Joe could only reply succinctly, "My sister is in danger."


    "Oh!..." Seeing that Joe had no intention to elaborate, Stefan merely brushed it off.


    ''Way to go genius!'' Arlo complained inwardly. He had been feeling grateful to Stefan for bringing them to this place. Not only did it calm him, but it also seemed to have worked on Joe. However, Stefan just had to ask what he had been trying to make Joe temporarily forget.


    Intending to alleviate the awkward silence, and shift Joe''s mind from his sister, Arlo quickly changed the topic.


    Looking at Arianne, he asked, "Arianne, what about your life beast? I haven''t seen it in a long time!"


    Arianne wore a confused expression for a moment before a look of realization dawned on her.


    "Oh, Batty is with grandmother. She is undergoing her evolution."


    Arlo''s lips suddenly trembled. Even Stefan couldn''t stop the sides of his mouth from twitching.


    Arlo hesitated before looking at Arianne uncertainly, "Do you mean Betty?"


    Arianne frowned, "No! Batty is Batty!"


    Seeing the strange look on not only Arlo''s face, but even Joe and her brother, a look of displeasure appeared on Arianne''s face.


    "Humph, what is it?"


    ''What bad naming sense.'' Arlo thought but didn''t dare to reveal. Instead, he squeezed out a small smile and wisely replied, "Ah-its nothing."


    *****


    Within a room in the auditorium where the second-year ranking war was being held...


    Arlo sat cross-legged on the ground, a blue slime resting on his head, and a little three-tailed black fox lying comfortably on his lap.


    On the way to the auditorium, Stefan had informed them that the ranking war this time was a little special, and after he had learned that it would take some time before he could fight with Jude, Arlo asked if there was some quiet place where he could meditate in before the fight.


    Thinking that he wanted to bring himself to his maximum condition, Stefan had brought him to this particular room. But what he didn''t know was that Arlo didn''t put his fight with Jude in his eyes and only wanted to have some private time with Kira and his other summon and get to know their abilities.


    Shifting his head down, Arlo looked at his second summon and marveled at how beautiful she was. He had always found Anita, or rather her attitude and behaviors to be cute, but he couldn''t deny that she couldn''t compare to Kira in this aspect. Of course, to him, Anita would always remain his most trusted partner and no other summon could ever occupy her position.


    As if sensing his gaze, the little fox opened her eyes and returned his gaze. Like this, the two silently locked eyes for several moments.


    After some time, Arlo smiled and spoke in the gentlest voice he could muster:


    "We haven''t had some time to ourselves. I am very happy to have you as my summon."


    Kira''s purple eyes sparkled joyfully, and instead of replying, she snuggled closer and rubbed her head on Arlo''s palm, to the latter''s satisfaction.


    After a while, Arlo voiced the question that had been plaguing his mind, ever since he set eyes on Kira.


    "So Kira, do you have your memories?"


    Unlike Anita who he had named himself, Kira had told him her name. This meant she still retained some of her past life''s memories.


    "Yes..."


    Excited, Arlo was about to ask about her experience in the realm of the god. Though he knew that place was far too distant from him, he still couldn''t help but wonder what such a legendary domain would look like.


    However, before the words could leave his mouth, Kira''s voice resounded within his mind once again:


    "But I don''t remember much."


    Disappointed, but trying not to show it, Arlo asked:


    "So what do you remember?"


    "Only my name and some of my powers. Every other thing appears fuzzy."


    Arlo unconsciously released a sigh, ''It seems she doesn''t remember much either. But according to Old Bro, the more she grows and becomes stronger, the faster her memory will return.''


    "So what can you do?" Arlo asked after some thoughts.


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    "My powers are Shadow territory and Shadow clones. But you inherited those two from me, so I can''t use them."


    Arlo silently nodded prompting the black fox to continue:


    "However, I still have many other abilities aside from those two..."


    "Oh!" Arlo''s eyes sparkled, momentarily forgetting the matter about the realm of the gods.


    Not keeping him waiting, Kira spoke in a mild voice:


    "Not only can I instantly move through shadows, I can also manipulate the shadows around me using my affinity with shadow laws."


    Arlo''s eyes widened slightly.


    It seemed that just like him, Kira could also teleport instantly by moving through shadows. However, her ability was even better as he had to deploy Shadow territory before he could teleport or summon his shadow clones and swap positions with them.


    Just when Arlo was marveling at how insane his new summon''s battle prowess was, Kira''s pleasant voice drifted into his ears.


    "...I can also create a shadow army."


    Arlo became petrified on the spot, his mind going blank.


    It wasn''t until after several breaths that he came to, and looked at Kira like he was looking at a monster.


    His mouth dry, Arlo whispered:


    "Crazy..."


    However unlike Anita, his new summon didn''t care about how strong Arlo perceived her to be and simply brushed his words aside. Looking at Arlo who was still gazing stupidly at her, Kira spoke:


    "You know you still have one more summon, right? That stupid monkey must be enjoying himself right now."


    Pulled back by Kira''s words, Arlo smacked himself on the head. He had planned not only to talk with Kira but also his third summon, as even though he didn''t plan on revealing him to anyone any time soon, he still wanted to get to know him.


    Quickly connecting with the third clear seal on his arm which resembled a monkey wearing a hat, Arlo spoke in his mind:


    "Come out!"


    There was no response for several breaths, and just when Arlo was about to speak again...


    With a puff of smoke, a new figure appeared before him, stunning him for the second time in less than five minutes.


    A small monkey with resplendent yellow fur and piercing yellow eyes sat before him, exuding an aura of divine majesty. His presence commanded reverence as if he were a deity incarnate in simian form.


    Adorning his limbs and tail were golden rings, each bearing intricate patterns that seemed to pulse with an ancient energy. Three rings adorned his tail, each gleaming with a brilliance that hinted at their divine significance, while a single ring graced each of his wrists and ankles, symbolizing his connection to the sacred. With every movement, the rings emitted a faint glow, casting a soft golden light that illuminated the room. Their presence spoke of untold wisdom and power as if they were relics from a time long past, imbued with the essence of ancient gods.


    In his hand, the yellow monkey held a small rod, seemingly unremarkable at first glance. However, upon closer inspection, one could sense the archaic ambiance that emanated from it, swirling with the echoes of long-forgotten legends and mythic tales.


    As it sat, the yellow monkey surveyed Arlo with serene confidence, his gaze holding the wisdom of ages past. In his presence, Arlo could not help but feel the weight of history and the reverence reserved for beings of divine lineage.


    Arlo''s mouth slowly parted, the words barely squeezed out:


    "Kong..."


    Unlike Kira, Arlo had known the name of his third summon since he was in the secret realm. After all, he had used the power he inherited from him to rain down massive structures from the sky prompting Zara to surrender. Since then, he had suspected that his new summons had some memories of their past, unlike Anita. Among his three summons powers, the one that truly impacted him the most was Kong. He already subconsciously knew that Kong would be nothing short of strong or impressive, but this?


    Arlo was stumped and didn''t know how to react.


    The summon before him was simply too majestic. He even wondered how he was able to connect with such a powerful being.


    Just when he started feeling uncomfortable under the monkey''s stare, Kira who was resting on his lap suddenly lashed out:


    "Stupid monkey, you even dare to deceive your own master?"


    Under Arlo''s confused eyes, the shadows of the object within the room suddenly moved before turning into sharp spikes that lunged at Kong and tore his figure apart instantly.


    "NOOO..." Arlo screamed in horror, only for his voice to gradually die down.


    The image of the majestic monkey before him suddenly became foggy, before dissipating like smoke.


    In the place of the glorious monkey was a similarly yellow monkey, who despite looking alike like the former seemed unrelated to it. There was no aura of majesty...


    No piercing eyes that shone with the wisdom of ages...


    And most importantly, the monkey was sleeping, with a dark hat that resembled a magician''s covering its face.


    "An illusion!?" Arlo''s face instantly turned ugly.


    As if sharing in his displeasure, Kira commanded one of the thorns made from shadow to poke the small monkey in the rear.


    A painful cry pierced the walls of the room...


    *****


    After almost two hours of communicating and learning more about his summon, Arlo left the room with a satisfied look.


    He had wanted to quietly enter the auditorium, but soon found out he didn''t need to. Because even after entering, no one spared him a glance. All their attention was focused on the ring. Arlo quickly located Stefan, Arianne, and Joe and found them sitting in a conspicuous place. Grumbling under his breath, he silently blended with the second-year students.


    Curious, he gazed at the center of the ring, interested to see what was so captivating that even Arianne and Joe had not noticed his presence.


    However, what he saw made him frown...


    There, at the center of the ring was the person he had condemned to death, raining punches and kicks on another boy, with a manic grin on his face. Arlo soon recognized the boy who was being beaten badly. He had seen him challenge Jude last week and fail miserably, yet it seemed he had still rechallenged him today.


    The boy''s painful cry slowly died down, and soon low whimpers took its place. He could see Jude using his dark essence to boost his attacks and magnify the pain he was inflicting. Even yet, the boy refused to succumb to the pain and lose consciousness. Instead, he glared at Jude hatefully, his eyes shining with unbending stubbornness. However, his unyielding attitude only seemed to fuel Jude''s madness, as the boy raised his leg and stomped his chest several times with barely any rest.


    The unyielding light within the boy''s eyes slowly died down. With the clear vision granted to him by his dragon eyes, Arlo vividly saw the boy throwing a desperate look in Arianne''s direction, before shifting towards where the Counts sat, and finally in his direction, where the second years were staying, as if searching for someone...or something.


    It seemed he didn''t find what he was looking for as the light in the boy''s eyes slowly turned to despair and soon after...two lines of tears streaked down his face.


    Suddenly, Jude cackled loudly, before yanking the boy towards him, an evil grin plastered on his face. He spoke some words and then clenched his other hand, not before covering it in thick darkness.


    The boy closed his eyes as if submitting to his fate.


    Arlo took in all this with a calm gaze, the frown already long gone. Finally, he closed his eyes...


    Somewhere deep within his heart, he felt a bit of disappointment towards Stefan...and Arianne. However, he couldn''t blame them either. To them, Jude and the boy were just another person, a stranger they had no relation to. Not to mention that their status was worlds apart, so it was normal for them not to put the duo in their eyes.


    In fact, Arlo wondered if Arianne would have even spared him a glance if he wasn''t somehow related to Scarlett. However, he quickly killed this thought and shook his head.


    All these thoughts passed through his mind in a split second. Opening his eyes, Arlo simultaneously released his two new domains. The floor of the whole auditorium instantly turned into darkness, however, before the darkness materialized completely, it was masked by the illusion domain, making the ground appear no different from normal. Only a few beings within the hall felt the changes but before they could react, and as Jude''s fist was still hurtling towards the boy''s face, Arlo suddenly disappeared from where he was sitting and appeared behind Jude. Raising his hand, he tried to stop Jude''s fist from colliding with the boy''s face, only for his expression to change.


    It seemed he wasn''t the only one who was displeased with Jude''s action, as another person acted, not intending to stop but kill him. Well...rather than saying another person...it was more apt to say another...part of him.


    His tail suddenly swung forward with a deadly might, and even Arlo couldn''t help but think he didn''t ever want to be at the receiving end of such an attack.


    Before the tail could achieve its aim though, Arlo swiftly pulled Jude from its path, saving the Idiot''s life without his knowledge. But because he didn''t control his strength, Jude was thrown back by his pull, his body spinning several times in the air before rolling on the ground.


    ''Oops!''


    Arlo glared at his tail which was swaying left and right in his face as if asking him why he had done that.


    Just when Arlo was about to chastise his new mate, a low voice suddenly pulled his attention.


    "...Why?"


    Looking down, the mangled body of the boy who had been torturously beaten by Jude entered his vision. The boy was currently looking at him in confusion, his eyes struggling to stay open.


    Not even hesitating for a moment, Arlo simply shrugged, "I just wanted to..."


    The boy seemed to be stunned by his reply before two trickles of tears fell once more down his face. Straining to speak, he choked out:


    "...Thank you."


    And then he fainted.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 182: A HARROWING DEATH

    Arlo looked at the unconscious Roy, his emotions unknown. Suddenly, his expression crumpled when he felt movement from his side, however, he quickly relaxed when he saw his tail merely poke Roy in the face.


    His tail continued to poke around his body for several moments as if studying Roy, and it wasn''t until a furious scream resounded from behind them that it seized its movement.


    Turning back, Arlo watched Jude rise, his bones making popping sounds as they rearranged to their proper place.


    Jude gazed at him with enraged eyes however the hint of fear lying deep within their depth didn''t escape Arlo''s notice. At the same time, Toon who had an ugly look on his face and was sitting at the seats meant for high nobles suddenly stood and was about to erupt in anger only to be cut short by a hand raised before him. Count Cromwell, his father had gestured for him to wait. It seemed the Counts and other elders still wanted to watch how the situation would unfold, leaving Toon no choice but to swallow his anger...for now. The same went for a middle-aged man who sat behind the Count and was trying his hardest to mask his displeasure. This man was Jude''s father.


    Back in the ring, Arlo stood before the unconscious Roy as if to protect him from the fight that would soon unfold. However, his calm look and relaxed posture showed that he wasn''t worried in the least.


    At the same time, the light of fear within Jude''s eyes slowly disappeared. He couldn''t feel any mana from Arlo, hence he couldn''t judge his strength either. Of course, he already knew that Arlo was a warrior but he refused to believe that he would have grown as strong as Arianne and Joe. After all, advancing in Ki cultivation was at least ten times harder and slower than breaking through in mana cultivation. Not to mention that Arianne and Joe''s abrupt rise in strength could be attributed to the Mana fruits within the secret realm but there were no such fruits for Ki.


    ''I was simply caught off-guard...'' Jude dismissed the immense power he had felt from Arlo''s pull to him being simply taken by surprise.


    Still, he didn''t dare to underestimate Arlo and had thoroughly prepared to put him down once and for all.


    He flashed an evil smile, as he continued to stare at Arlo with a vicious look in his eyes, "If I remember correctly, you said you would kill me today, didn''t you?"


    Arlo didn''t reply and merely continued to stare at him with serene eyes.


    Further infuriated by the lack of response, Jude gritted his teeth, "Then do not blame me for acting to kill you too..."


    Before his words finished, he stomped on the ring, causing several cracks to spread out, his body launching forward like a cannonball.


    Not seeing Arlo react, he sneered thinking that the fool couldn''t follow his movement. In just a second, Jude bridged the distance between them and swiped his bloody claws at Arlo, not before coating them with dark essence. Not only did he wish to kill Arlo, but he also wanted him to suffer by his hands. Even when his claw was merely an inch to his face, Arlo showed no reaction whatsoever, causing Jude''s claws to slash through his body.


    Just when a gleeful look appeared on Jude''s face, his smile froze. His claws had indeed slashed through Arlo''s body, however, that body suddenly distorted, before becoming foggy, and abruptly dissipating into nothingness.


    "What!?" Jude exclaimed.


    Feeling a chill run down his spine, he quickly turned, preparing for an attack, only for him to be stunned and become rooted on the spot.


    In front of him was Arlo, who locked his hands behind his back in a relaxed manner. But that didn''t stun Jude. Instead, it was the almost twenty figures that now stood within the ring with the both of them...or three of them if the fainted Roy was included.


    Several figures who resembled Arlo to the tiniest detail stood before him, causing Jude''s heart to beat fiercely against his rib cage.


    "What sorcery is this!?"


    Not caring about his confusion, the several clones suddenly lunged at him. One of them arrived before him and punched out, but he was quick to dodge and quickly slashed his claws at it in a cross. His claws passed through the clone''s body unobstructed, causing his eyes to widen.


    ''Another illusion?''


    Deciding to confirm his assumption, Jude attacked several more clones, the result remaining the same as in the previous cases.


    "I don''t know what tricks you are using, but if you think this is enough to bring me down, then you are greatly mistaken!"


    He decided to ignore the illusion and instead attack the real Arlo who still stood further away, his hands still placed behind his back as if he was but a mere spectator to the fight.


    Suddenly three clones surrounded Jude, but he decided to ignore them since they weren''t real.


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    The clone in his front sent a punch to his face, however, Jude willingly moved towards the attack, intending to pass through it and lunge at the real Arlo.


    But...


    Something entirely unexpected suddenly happened.


    The clone''s fist collided clearly with his left chin, and before Jude could register what happened, he felt his brain shake within his skull, and his ears submerged by an intense ringing sound. But that wasn''t the end.


    His lower jaw flew off from the overbearing force hidden within that small fist, and as his body soared backward due to the attack, a painful shriek escaped his mouth. But because his mouth wasn''t entirely complete, the sound that came out was simply ear-grating and disconcerting.


    Jude hadn''t even flown for a meter when the clone behind him suddenly swung its right elbow down in a vicious attack.


    *CRACK!*


    The chilling sounds of bones cracking rang out clearly within the ring, as Jude felt his spine fracture before breaking into pieces. Due to the sudden impact from behind even while his body was thrown back from an immense force, his body twisted into the form of a bow before it was abruptly sent flying forward.


    The first clone attacked once again, this time with a high Kick, causing several more cracking sounds to resound, as his skull fractured, several pieces of it piercing into his brain and eliciting a muffled cry from a completely deformed mouth.


    His body was sent flying this time to the left, towards the last clone, who expertly jumped with his right knee raised high. Jude''s flying body connected with the knee, and for several seconds that seemed to last for eternity, his body remained glued to it in mid-air, with bone-chilling now-familiar cracking sounds spreading out. All his ribs were broken.


    Still, he was knocked flying in the other direction...


    Sandwiched between the three clones, Jude experienced a total beat down, one that caused even the higher-class nobles to flinch every time the sounds of breaking bones drifted across the auditorium.


    The second-year and third-year students who had dissatisfied expressions on their faces when Arlo first appeared in the ring were now silent, as a giant fear gripped their hearts. Before overwhelming power, all must concede.


    The real Arlo suddenly sighed, before controlling the remaining illusions to disappear, leaving only three clones to deal with Jude.


    Before saving Roy, he had already released his two new domains, superimposing one on the other. And the result was nothing short of shocking.


    While the auditorium seemed to look the same, the truth was far from it. The whole ground was already covered by thick shadows, but masked by his illusion domain, they appeared no different.


    Seeing the ingenuity in this combination, Arlo decided to try several more moves on Jude.


    And the result didn''t disappoint him.


    He had first summoned his three shadow clones and then used his illusion powers to make them appear no different from him. Then by further applying his illusion domain, he created more illusions of his clones before sending them all to Jude, with the three clones mixed within.


    Jude had been caught in his trap from the beginning...


    However, while he appeared to look overpowered, Arlo knew he was far from it. From the moment he had unleashed both his domains, Arlo could tell that several figures had seen through his techniques.


    The Counts, noble elders, the Principal and teachers, and even the fourth-year students had instantly seen through him. Even Arianne wasn''t deceived by his illusions...


    But that was normal.


    While his illusions were different from soul attacks and could not be easily defended, the vampires were beings with high and pure spiritual energy, so it wasn''t surprising that his illusion didn''t work on the more powerful ones.


    Quickly shifting his attention back to the beat down before him, Arlo sighed once again when he realized he couldn''t continue. He had controlled his clones to minimize their strength as much as possible, if not as nine-star warriors, just the shockwave from their punch was enough to turn Jude into meat paste. But it seemed that even with all his efforts, he wouldn''t be able to take his time in dealing with Jude.


    While it seemed like he was being arrogant by not joining his clones to deal with Jude, the truth was that he was actually cautious of sudden attacks from the outside. Arlo had already noticed that Stefan was the only person he could rely on within the auditorium. But in the end, Stefan was a student and no matter how strong and talented he was, he couldn''t compare to these elders and Counts. So he had to be prepared, not to mention there was no need for him to attack Jude personally.


    He was simply too weak.


    Seeing that Jude couldn''t last any longer, Arlo expertly used his illusion powers to create several dark hands that rose from the ground.


    The shadow clones stopped after receiving his command, leaving Jude to stand on his feet barely. His breathing was shallow, his body was covered in blood, his lower jaws were missing, and one of his eye sockets was empty with blood streaking out of it, down his face.


    However, while his outward injuries appeared grave, they couldn''t be compared to his internal injuries in the slightest. Even his natural regeneration as a vampire was having a difficult time healing his body.


    Struggling to open his remaining eye, Jude''s breathing stagnated when he saw his body surrounded by numerous dark hands.


    "Whaaa....heeeee...goooooh..." he wanted to say what is going on, but only incoherent words escaped his partially destroyed mouth.


    Not caring about his reaction, the dark hands suddenly grabbed him by the leg causing a putrid smell to spread out.


    Jude had wet himself from the primal fear that gripped his heart.


    Raising his head he looked at Arlo and as tears broke down his face, he pleaded:


    "Phlyssss!"


    Arlo remained unphased, and instead quickly controlled the dark hands to act. He could already feel some movement from the audience seat and knew he didn''t have much time left. He was greatly determined to kill Jude today.


    The dark hands clutching Jude''s legs suddenly pulled down, and to Jude''s horror, he suddenly found his body sucked into the ground.


    "WAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He screamed in fear.


    "Stop!" a deep voice suddenly resounded, but to Jude''s further horror, the dark hands merely pulled faster. Before he knew it, only his upper Torso still remained on the ground.


    "Foolish boy, didn''t you hear you should stop!" Another voice, containing no less authority than the previous one rang out.


    Ignoring the Counts who were shouting at Arlo in anger, Jude quickly outstretched his hand to the only figure who had acted and quickly moved to the ring, intending to save him.


    It wasn''t Toon...


    Neither was it any Count...


    "Father..." Jude hoped his father would quickly grab his hand, and while his father''s figure quickly expanded in his vision, it still seemed that he was too late, because...


    Jude suddenly found himself to be surrounded by thick darkness.


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel, <3.

 CHAPTER 183: ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE

    Immediately after leaving Arianne, Arlo, and Joe behind, Evangeline soared into the blue sky, as she expertly used her will over Mana to carry Ella along with her. Together, they moved at great speed towards the central area of the academy.


    Here there were several small yet high-class buildings arranged orderly around each other. This was the living area of most teachers in the academy.


    Moving to an especially tall building compared to the others, Evangeline entered and arrived in a dark hall.


    "...Since when do we allow a little brat to summon us? We answer to Scarlett and Scarlett alone." An old voice suddenly grumbled, his voice tinged with annoyance.


    "Just say you are angry Scarlett took the little girl with her instead of us, and stop giving excuses..." Another voice, this one female, voiced out.


    "Humph!" The first voice harrumphed in displeasure.


    All this discussion entered Evangeline''s especially sharp hearing, however, she merely dismissed it without a care and only spared a glance at the grumbling old man who was Lord Cromwell.


    Nine figures were already present within the hall, awaiting Evangeline''s arrival after receiving a summoning message from her. If it wasn''t because they were all curious as to what happened in her journey with Scarlett, all of them would have ignored her summon. In fact, most if not all of them weren''t supposed to be at the academy, however because of the first ranked Second-year student who had been demonized and killed by Scarlett during the awakening ritual, they had been charged by their liege to search the entire academy personally for another victim.


    *Tap!* *Tap!*


    Lord Holden, who was the Headmaster of the Darkblood Academy and one of the strongest among the nine lords suddenly tapped his walking cane on the ground, a gesture for silence.


    After garnering the attention of the other eight Lords, he turned to Evangeline and smiled, "Little Evangel, something must have happened for you to summon us, not to mention..." He paused before narrowing his eyes at Ella who stood behind Evangeline, her face a bit pale from the monstrous pressure unconsciously exerted by the mightiest force of the vampire race.


    "...the situation must be unusual for you to bring a werewolf to our territory, and a princess no less."


    The other Lords including Lord Cromwell suddenly put on serious expressions as they awaited Evangeline''s reply.


    Evangeline''s mouth twitched a bit when she heard Headmaster Holden call her little, but she didn''t refute him as he was indeed her senior not to mention that she respected him greatly.


    Thinking deeply, Evangeline pondered on how to break the situation to them. In the end, she decided to start with...


    "...The situation is critical..." She slowly recounted everything that happened outside the secret realm, the nine Lord''s expressions distorting the more they heard her words.


    After a short yet seemingly long period, Evangeline finished recounting what happened.


    A deafening silence ensued...


    Slowly the aura within the hall turned stiffening. The nine lords who were usually aloof now put on grave looks. The thought of a situation similar to what happened almost a decade ago made even these grand figures feel a sense of fear.


    "Hmmm..." Headmaster Holden lowered his head to hide his furrowed brows. After some time he raised his head.


    "Cromwell and Hayes shall continue with the student''s investigation. We have already secured the first, third, and fourth-year students. Only the second-year students remain, and considering they aren''t many, the task wouldn''t take much of your time."


    "After you are done, you will return outside, to join the others who will ensure the safety of our people, focusing mainly on the King and Queen''s safety and the capital city."


    "Aaron and Vlad shall go in pursuit of our liege and offer whatever assistance they can render. As for me, I shall remain behind, and ensure that the academy is safe."


    Nodding to his orders, the nine lords quickly but quietly vanished from the hall. But before leaving, Evangeline heard Lord Cromwell addressing Lord Hayes.


    "Those second-year students should be having a ranking war right now. That will make our work easier as the bulk majority if not all, would be present in the same place."


    "Okay." a short reply soon followed.


    "Evangeline..." Lord Holden called to her gently, pulling her attention back to him. "You have done well. You shall remain here and guard the academy with me, your main focus shall be the human Khan. Also, make sure to keep the wolf girl with you. We don''t want any commotion breaking out now that we have our hands full."


    Evangeline nodded her head as she maintained her usual indifference. It was only when she was with the few she counted close that she revealed the other sides to her. In that aspect, she was quite similar to Arianne.


    Left alone within the hall, Headmaster Holden sighed, before glancing up, his eyes seemingly able to pierce through the roof and lock at the sky, "I fear troubling times are coming... and it won''t be long..."


    .....


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    High up, in the sky above an auditorium within the northern region of the academy, two figures quietly appeared.


    "It seems they have started." Lord Cromwell spoke, his spiritual energy enveloping the building below without the knowledge of those present within it.


    "Hmm..." Once again, Lord Hayes simply nodded. It seemed he treated his words dearly.


    Lord Cromwell''s eyes suddenly shone:


    "Incredible! The princess broke through several levels and is now at the peak of the master realm. She must have consumed a lot of mana fruits. Speaking of which, did they bring any more back from the realm?"


    Only silence answered him, however, he didn''t mind as he was already used to his friend''s behavior.


    A look of contempt briefly showed on his face when his gaze fell on Stefan, "Useless impure..." Realizing he had voiced his thoughts, he quickly shook his head and kept quiet. Luckily, the only other person around him was one he considered close.


    "Oh! What an interesting show!" He wisely ignored Joe''s existence as he felt like he might do something he would regret if he didn''t. Just the thought of an outsider and a beast at that, enjoying what one of their kind should have, made him feel greatly displeased. But as it was his Liege''s will, he had no choice but to accept it, but that didn''t mean he could stomach it. So, he wisely ignored the brat.


    As for Landon and the others who had died, he didn''t really care about them. While their deaths were definitely a great loss for the vampire race, it was also not anything worth distressing over, especially for great figures like them. The third years were the least talented among the current batch if students after all.


    Looking at the center of the ring, a look of amusement flashed on his face as he watched Jude throw several punches and kicks at his opponent.


    "Now that is how things should be. Impures should know their place. Only those of noble blood have the right to rule."


    While he was enjoying the little show taking place in the building below him, he didn''t notice how the usually stoic expression of his friend quickly broke before giving way to shock.


    Lord Hayes ignored the fight currently ongoing, and the people altogether and instead watched a golden-haired boy excitedly converse with three little creatures within a room.


    Not intending to interrupt the competition, they both silently agreed to wait for it to finish before continuing with their investigation.


    Like this, time quickly passed.


    However, the more time passed, the more Lord Cromwell''s expression fell. Watching the situation that unfolded within the hall, his eyes slowly turned cold, and when one of the few supreme geniuses that the current generation had suddenly fell...and by a human''s hands no less, Lord Cromwell felt something snap in his brain.


    Even the always-quiet Lord Hayes now had a gloomy look on his face.


    .....


    Arlo watched Jude disappear into his shadow territory, his expression serene unlike the despair look on the latter''s face. A figure suddenly appeared within the ring intending to save Jude, however he was a split second late. What remained at Jude''s previous position was an empty floor of the ring made of strong material.


    Arlo''s muscles slowly tensed when he noticed the stark similarity in the appearance of the new arrival and the now-dead Jude. He watched as the middle-aged man lowered his head, his emotions unknown and his body not showing any sign of movement. But it didn''t take Arlo a genius to know how the man would feel considering he might be related to Jude.


    At the same time, the entire place remained silent for several minutes.


    All the students had shocked looks on their faces, not believing one of theirs had fallen...just like that, and before them no less. It was one matter to wound and torture a student like Jude had done to Roy, and it was another matter to kill someone. Considering that their race was few and numbered compared to other great races, the vampires took the lives of every member importantly. It was why the majority of them were shocked by Landon and his mate''s death within the secret realm, and if it wasn''t for their anger toward Joe and Arlo entering the secret realm and enjoying the privileges that occupied their minds, the great majority of them would have been anguished by the sudden loss of many members.


    However, one such member just died before them...and it was Jude who was far more talented than Landon and his mates. Not to mention that his status was greatly different from Landon''s. As a child of high-class nobles with relations to a Count''s family, Jude enjoyed several benefits, not to mention that he was Toon''s most loyal follower. Speaking of Toon...


    "Father..." Toon rose to his feet, mad fury burning within his eyes. Count Cromwell didn''t reply, his face distorted because of the sense of shame he felt when Arlo ignored his command. The same was for Count Hayes who sat a short distance from him. Both of them had instructed Arlo to stay his hands, yet the latter had simply ignored their commands. They felt humiliated.


    Especially Count Hayes who already harbored hatred for Arlo, because he had defied him when he commanded him to kneel at the start of the awakening ritual.


    As the shock slowly passed, it gave way to anger. Many eyes stared daggers at Arlo, yet no one acted. It was almost as if they were waiting for someone to act before following their lead. Still, being subjected to several burning gazes would have made an average person succumb to fear, yet Arlo''s back remained straight, as he paid strict attention to the middle-aged man before him, and prepared to react at any moment.


    As the deafening silence increased to the point of palpitating...


    An angry voice suddenly resounded in Count Cromwell and Toon''s head.


    "What are you waiting for? Get him!"


    Toon and his father''s expression changed slightly when they recognized the voice within their head.


    ''But father, Our Liege said not to harm him.'' Even though he was angry and displeased at Arlo, and wanted nothing but to hack him into pieces, Count Cromwell was a leader of an entire clan and was able to keep a cool head. He knew it was entirely unacceptable for them to go against Scarlett''s orders.


    There was a brief silence before an old voice resounded once more in their minds.


    "...Don''t worry. We can use the guise of trying to capture him to hurt him. Of course, don''t kill him."


    That was all Toon needed to hear.


    While his father still hesitated, Toon exploded with blinding speed, and in merely two breaths, he appeared within the ring and behind Arlo.


    But to his surprise, Arlo was able to react to his arrival thanks to his dragon sense, and with fluid yet fast movement, he turned back, and used his speed to his advantage, throwing a punch with all the power he could muster.


    The sound barrier was broken... and before the sound of the explosion could spread, Toon watched with widened eyes how a beam...no, a massive pillar of compressed air flew in his direction, the ring exploding in its path.


    "Humph..." Harrumphing, Jude released his will.


    *Booooooooooooooom....* A deafening explosion spread out only to be cut abruptly, as a domain of darkness spread out before swallowing the pillar of compressed air effortlessly, continuing on its path, its target, Arlo.


    Arlo''s two hearts pounded fiercely against his ribcage when he realized he didn''t have any more time to react. Under his slowly contracting dragon eyes, the darkness encroached on him in just a split second...


    Only to be stopped!


    Another will exploded outward, a domain of darkness spreading out, and stopping Toon''s own in its path.


    Stefan flashed beside Arlo.


    Just when Arlo breathed a sigh of release, his dragon sense suddenly tingled greatly, overwhelming him to the point of almost suffocating.


    The vampires who had been boiling in anger about Arlo being allowed into the secret realm...


    The vampires who were shocked to see one of their kind killed before them, and felt stifled because they couldn''t hurt a hair on Arlo''s body due to Scarlett''s command...suddenly moved.


    And all hell broke loose!

 CHAPTER 184: THE CURSE OF AETHER

    A myriad of attacks flooded Arlo from every direction. There were arrows, darts, bats and some other flying creatures, chains, swords, spears, needles and many more. The attacks seemed endless...However, they all shared one similarity.


    They were made from dark essence!


    Arlo felt the light quickly disappear from around him, only to be replaced by thick and eerie darkness.


    A storm of attacks released from hundreds of figures were just that overwhelming.


    But...


    Despite the storm of attacks that surrounded him as if to wipe him out of existence, Arlo kept his calm. It was at times like this when he showed how different he was from others in his age.


    He had expected something like this might happen from the beginning, hence he had taken a few contingencies. It wasn''t for no reason that he was able to lead his team in several occasions to defeat those who were overwhelmingly stronger than them.


    He knew that the only person with reliable strength he could depend on within the hall was Stefan. Arlo could teleport away within his shadow territory which had been deployed since the very moment he attacked Jude, but he couldn''t do that as almost the entire building was full of attacks.


    Since he had intended to simply appear behind Jude, he had only deployed his shadow domain to the limit of the building, hence why he couldn''t teleport outside the building despite his territory being able to cover a region of almost one kilometer. He needed a few breaths to fully unleash his domain and a few more to teleport.


    And...he didn''t have those few breaths.


    Yet he wasn''t afraid.


    Why?


    Because while he would soon be devoured by the flood of attacks in but a split second, there was one person in the hall that could move fast within that time period. Terrifyingly fast at that!


    And that person wasn''t him...no, it wasn''t even Stefan who was overwhelmed by the sudden burst of his people and was left stumped on how to react. Instead, it was his best friend.


    Joe!


    Arlo had secretly asked Joe immediately when he killed Jude, using his spiritual energy. Ever since merging with Seraphina, Arlo''s gain wasn''t limited to just his Ki cultivation. No, his spiritual energy energy had been enhanced and purified several degrees, to the point of being able to compare with a race who specialize in spiritual cultivation like the vampires. And if it wasn''t for him not yet awakening his mana core, he didn''t doubt that he would have been enjoyed more benefits. Who knows? The gains might have been even more pronounced.


    As a few thoughts flashed within his mind, and the myriad of attacks were about to engulf him, Arlo caught sight of a ray of light tearing a path through the encroaching darkness, and before his mind could even register what that light what, he felt the space around him shift, before founding himself outside the auditorium, with a panting Joe beside him.


    It seemed it hadn''t been easy for someone even as terrifyingly fast as him to escape and cut a path through those devastating attacks.


    Just when Arlo was about to ask his friend how he was doing, a sudden silence suddenly engulf the area, before...


    *BOOOOOOOOM!*


    A deep explosion resounded from within the building, the shockwaves generated from the explosion blowing the auditorium into pieces of darknites. Several dark lights quickly flashed out of the building before they were submerged under the collapsing structure. It wasn''t like they could die from something like that either.


    The words died down Arlo''s throat when he found himself surrounded by the previous mob, the only difference being that they were now in the open. There were several figures on the ground like him, while several more opted to climb to the top of the buildings lining the Street.


    In essence, he still wasn''t out of danger.


    "Stop!" Just when some of the younger figures, the kids were about to attack, Arianne''s voice suddenly rang across the area.


    The second year and third year students who were about to act suddenly succumbed to the bloodline suppression. Even a great majority of the fourth years experienced the same, while the older and more experienced Elders and Counts were able to resist it. Arianne''s bloodline was far purer than theirs and hence could exert a degree of suppression even to figures like them, but in the end, she wasn''t the one that changed them. That privilege was only wielded by one person, Scarlett. It would take her only but a thought to destroy erase the vampires from existence, of course that is if she wants so. This was why her authority was unmatched.


    "Get that brat! That beast boy seems tired and shouldn''t be able to pull the trick he used before. I will handle Stefan." Toon suddenly said to one of the few fourth years beside him who was able to resist Arianne''s command.


    Right now, it seemed the Counts and Elders were not willing to interfere with the matter...atleast directly, as they continued to watch from the top of the buildings. The gaze of a particular middle-aged man appeared heated as he looked at Arlo with undisguised hatred. Only the impression of his bloodline was keeping him from riping Arlo into pieces.


    "You, I said stop!" Arianne felt her anger boil when Toon and another boy suddenly dashed at Arlo.


    Stefan quickly intercepted Toon, but he could do nothing about the other boy who charged past him and towards Arlo.


    Two wills collided, causing the skies to shake and the ground to rumble. Not willing to put the lives of the younger students in danger, Stefan and Toon took their battles to the sky. As Orange core mages, they all could fly. However, that wasn''t the most terrifying thing that separated them from warriors.


    Arlo eyes trembled when he saw two fields filled of palpitating darkness and that each stretched for over thrity kilometers collide in the sky.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The entire sky of the northern area of the academy was blotted by thick darkness.


    From within the two fields came myriads of attacks made from pure darkness. Many weapons made from pure darkness collided against each other, releasing a cacophony of clanging sounds, as if made from actual metal. It almost seemed like a march of two armies crashing against each other.


    In the time it took Arlo to watch the attack of the mages in the true stages of cultivation, the other fourth year student was also intercepted by Arianne, stopping him momentarily. In less than five breaths, the boy was able to charge past Arianne, easily avoiding her attacks and not harming her in any way. Even though the boy was but a fist-level Red-core mage, the gap in strength between them was even greater than one between a peak grandmaster mage and a mundane human.


    Arlo quickly brought his focus to the enemy before him.


    ''Should I teleport away?'' He could see from the side of his eye that Joe was yet to regain himself. He would need several more breaths.


    ''No, I can''t. I can''t abandon my friends.'' While the more calculative part of him told him that his friends wouldn''t be in any danger and he should escape, Arlo felt like he would lose a part of him-something that made him, him.


    Besides he didn''t believe the vampires would kill him after Scarlett''s command, Jude''s kin was the proof of that. But he couldn''t guarantee that they wouldn''t make him feel a world of pain either.


    ''What can I do?'' Only about two breaths remained before the enemy would arrive before him. But even within this short timeframe, many thoughts went through Arlo''s mind.


    Even though he now had a lot of techniques in his arsenals, Arlo felt like he wouldn''t be able to contend with the approaching enemy. The gap between their cultivation was almost unsurmountable.


    But the emphasis lied on almost.


    Arlo was a six star warrior comparable to a peak level advanced mage, meaning a gap of three great realms surrounded them. Not to mention the gap between the grandmaster and red core stage was countless times wider.


    ''But...''


    He had something within his arsenal that just might pose a danger to such a dangerous opponent. Something he was yet to use....no it was more apt to say that it was something he had feared to use.


    Generally, all laws were equal and could take one to the very peak of cultivation, with each having its own uniqueness. Yet Arlo felt like there was some laws that just stood far and above the others. A perfect example would be the dreadful evil laws. He had personally experienced how overwhelmingly powerful this law was, to the point of destroying several cities even when the wielder wasn''t even present within the world. The ability to corrupt the very essence-be it life or soul- was simply too broken.


    Yet, even such a law wasn''t able to receive the title of ''unique''. Only one law deserved that title...


    The law of Aether!


    It was time to see just how special it was.


    ''I don''t have a choice...'' Using his new control over his Ki granted by his dragon horns to stabilize the still unconscious Anita on his head, Arlo gritted his teeth, and sent his Ki into his right hand.


    Connecting with the laws around, Arlo willed for the multicolored strings to flow into his right hand. As a warrior, he could only use his body to interact with the laws which was why it was important for them to be tempered by such laws.


    Suddenly, Arlo felt his dragon sense tingle greatly, warning him of the disaster he was about to cause. At the same time, Old Bro who had remained silent ever since he had left the secret realm suddenly shrieked within his mind:


    <<Boy, stop!>>


    However it was too late....


    An overwhelming pain hit Arlo so badly that he almost lost consciousness. Gritting his teeth he watched his right hand shine with a multicolored light, and how in less than a breath later, his flesh pulverized, revealing a tempered bone covered in a beautiful tapestry of colors. But Arlo''s face paled when he felt the destructiveness hidden beneath this beauty...


    His tempered bone glowed bright, his hand becoming a beacon of multicolored light beneath the shadow cast by the darkness shrouding the sky.


    It was also at this time that the fourth year student arrived before him.


    Left with no choice, Arlo punched out, and sent all the aether essence in his bone flying towards his enemy


    Unlike his previous attacks that produced beams of compressed air, a small stream of multicolored essence merely flew out.


    "Oh! What a beautiful attack! Is this supposed to mesmerize me?" the fourth-year student mocked.


    Not putting the attack in his mind, he covered his hand in thick darkness and swiped at the stream of multicolored essence intending to slap it away.


    But, a split second later, he realized he had made a deep mistake. The stream of essence that seemed to be flying leisurely at him suddenly appeared in a split second before his chest, rendering his move useless.


    However, that wasn''t what was important.


    The Aether essence touched his body, and before the boy could even realize, a multicolored light which started from a circle spread out around his body, instantly making his figure glow and appear mesmerizing.


    "Whaaa..." That was the last sound he made before he was erased from existence.


    All this happened within a split second, within the time it took the attack to pass through his body. It seemed the multicolored essence still contained residual energy as it shot out, and instantly passed through several figures, pulverizing them in burst of multicolored light.


    In less than three breaths, ten figures had died.


    Thankfully, Arianne wasn''t in its path, as the fourth-year student had charged around her to approach Arlo.


    However, the same couldn''t be said for the others.


    Before the others could react, and in less than five breaths, not less than fifty figures had died, the majority of them second-year and third-year students.


    Finally, the aether essence arrived before another fourth-year student with the same cultivation as the one who had died less than ten seconds ago. In the face of death, this fourth year student exploded with his full might, and didn''t dare to underestimate the lunging attack. His will spread out and was able to keep the aether essence at bay. However, rather than saying it kept it at bay, it was better to say that the field of darkness was been obliterated by the aether essence until the residual energy within it was used up. Soon after, silence continued in the area, leaving only the panting fourth-year student who had just brushed with death. Of course, he wasn''t tired and was merely overwhelmed by the fear he felt.


    In fact, if the first fourth-year student had pulled out a proper defense, it wasn''t sure if the eather essence would have been able to cause any harm to him. Alas, his arrogance made him pay, taking the lives of over fifty students along.


    The attack had been astonishingly swift and beautiful, but the result?


    It caused pure destruction to the molecular level, leaving no trace of it''s existence and havoc behind.


    Arlo''s heart clenched greatly, as he ignored his bony hand which was no longer glowing yet looked mesmerizing due to the hues of color covering it, and fell to his knee. A feeling of suffocation overwhelmed him. He hadn''t intended to kill anyone...


    Yet he had even reaped the lives of several tens...each far important than the lives of hundreds of humans.


    The battle raging above slowly stopped as if sensing the mood below.


    Several seconds trickled by, turning into minutes soon after. Yet nobody moved, as if not registering what they just saw.


    In fact, several of the students thought that they were dreaming. But that thought was soon crushed when a few figures resting atop the buildings suddenly moved.


    An overwhelmingly crushing force abruptly fell from the sky, landing on Arlo and sending him down to the ground. His body blasted a human-shaped hole in the ground, and even Joe who was beside him didn''t escape that fate.


    The Counts and Elders were angry!


    But they didn''t need to act, as Arlo was already experiencing an agonizing pain. Two lines of tears fell down his eyes. He had killed when he was five, and had even reaped a few lives since entering the Lunar world.


    Yet...


    This sin was just too great! He just reaped the lives of innocent bystanders.


    Just as Arlo felt like he was about to drown in his feeling of guilt...the sound of fast yet calm footsteps suddenly drifted into his ears. Soon after, the crushing force pressing down on him disappeared.


    Opening his eyes, Arlo saw a hazy figure standing before him in his cloudy vision.


    Even though he couldn''t see the figure clearly, Arlo wouldn''t mistake that presence for any one else.


    With his voice choked with tears and his two hearts bursting with guilt, Arlo choked out:


    "Evangeline..."

 CHAPTER 185: LADY EVANGELINE VS LORD CROMWELL I

    The northern region of the academy had always been silent, just like most cities of the vampire race. With the ability to communicate telepathically, most found it unneeded to voice their thoughts through their mouths. However today, this area of the academy was unusually quiet, eerily so.


    The majority of the buildings populating this region of the second-year students were empty, except for a select few.


    What was the reason for such an anomaly?


    It wasn''t the fact that today was another ranking war...


    Neither was the fact that the majority of the students had assembled at the auditorium where the ranking war was to be held...


    Instead, an unbelievable scene had taken place in the wreckage that was once the auditorium, rendering all the students and teachers, including the guests of grand status who had come specifically for the ranking war, silent.


    The ranking war prematurely ended...


    The venue of the event was destroyed...


    One of the participants of the event, a one-of-a-kind supreme-level genius had died...


    For the first time in almost a decade, more than fifty vampire lives were sniffed out in an event not related to the Evil Lord...and that too in their very territory...


    And the cause of all this was...one boy.


    A golden-haired boy who wasn''t even eight years old, but just shy from it.


    The students couldn''t believe it. Not even the fourth-year students could wrap their heads around what just happened...and that included even their princess.


    While the students couldn''t, the elders and Counts and even the teachers had seen what had taken place clearly. Sure, everything had happened within the window of just five breaths, but they were beings who could accomplish a lot within that period too. And it was because of this fact, that they found what the golden-haired boy just accomplished unbelievable. In their carelessness, they lost many of their students.


    For a moment, many forgot about Scarlett''s command, the thought of ripping Arlo into shreds fully occupying their minds.


    Count Hayes who already hated Arlo since he disrespected him at the awakening ritual was the first to move. The second was Count Cromwell who had still been feeling uncertain about his Lord''''s order and his son''s action. With his mind now clouded in anger, he threw his hesitation away.


    The third to react was Jude''s father...a higher-class noble. As a follower and direct subordinate of Count Cromwell, his son had followed in his footsteps, becoming one of Toon''s minions. Now, however, that his son who was even more talented than him and had been his dream of reaching great heights was dead. And he died before him no less. If it wasn''t for Scarlett''s order and the suppression of his bloodline, he would have long erased Arlo from this world, of course, not before torturing him. He didn''t care that the human boy was very young...wasn''t his son also young? Yet he had been killed in cold blood. To him, Arlo was a cold-blooded killer wearing a child''s skin. Unlike the first two Counts who had somewhat restrained their will, Jude''s father unleashed a great portion of his will and sent it barraging forward. The two other Counts present and the Elders soon mirrored their actions.


    With the will of several mighty figures pressing down and concentrating on just one point, the sky rumbled and the land shook. There was no doubt that even a red-core mage would be killed under such an attack...and there was even a chance an orange-core mage would suffer the same fate. Mages had weak bodies after all, and their bodies couldn''t handle such pressure.


    All these wills fell upon the golden-haired boy who was responsible for today''s disaster. It wasn''t until their attack fell on the boy that the great majority of them regained their senses, their faces turning pale in fear. They had disobeyed the one person they shouldn''t.


    Yet, what happened next totally surprised them. The boy fell face flat into the ground, without being able to resist the attack in the least. His body cracked in several places and blood seeped out of these cracks, a pool of blood soon congregating under his body. But...he wasn''t dead.


    Despite feeling thankful that the brat was still alive, they couldn''t help but question why. Wasn''t his body too powerful? Even a twelve-star warrior would have exploded under that overbearing attack and only a true astral warrior would have been able to resist it with their almost undying body. Did that mean that the boy before them was an Astral warrior?


    Shocked again at how unusual the human boy before them was, the Counts and elders didn''t notice a dark light streaking in their direction from the distance. And it wasn''t until it drew near, that the Counts took notice. However, it was too late.


    In just a second, the dark light stopped before the human brat, effortlessly destroyed their combined will...and slowly lowered her head.


    "Evangeline..." Seeing the human brat call out her name with tears on his face, the four Counts and Elders thought he was happy to find someone who could save him despite committing such an atrocious sin. This fueled their anger once more.


    "Evangeline, get out of the way! That human boy must pay for his crime." Count Hayes commanded angrily. The great majority of the vampires admired Evangeline, but he didn''t. As a senior to her when they were in school, he didn''t need to show any form of respect to her, not to mention that he was now also a leader of an entire vampire clan, so his status wasn''t any inferior to hers. His only inferiority was his strength and that made him secretly despise Evangeline.


    Even after several breaths, Evangeline didn''t reply and merely kept her head lowered, her expression unknown. The face of Count Hayes who was about to speak suddenly turned unsightly when he saw an unfamiliar face help Arlo up to his feet. Soon after, she lifted the unconscious Joe who was still foaming at the mouth. Despite not being the target of the previous will attack, Joe was still greatly wounded just by being near it.


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    Arlo on the other hand...was all healed up. The regenerative ability of a dragon combined with the natural regeneration of a warrior produced an effect that was human standards...one that even vampires who prided themselves in their restorative ability fell short of.


    ''Just what and who is this boy?'' Count Hayes thought in his head but he didn''t let his thoughts show on his face. Instead, he momentarily ignored the presence of the werewolf who was the unfamiliar face that helped the human brat up and focused on the more pressing issue. His deep voice rang out, stopping Count Hayes who was about to burst from Evangeline''s lack of reply:


    "Evangeline, move aside. That human boy killed tens of our students and a great second-year talent. He must pay for his actions."


    Evangeline finally reacted. Ignoring all those around her, she turned her head back and pierced Arlo with her cold eyes.


    Arlo met her eyes calmly, but she could see the guilt and pain hidden within. Even the tears had yet to stop falling from his eyes. Despite trying to mask his mental state, his emotions betrayed him.


    Her cold eyes locked with his silver eyes for several breaths trying to pierce deep into his soul. She cared for Arlo more than a teacher should care for her students. Arlo had become someone close to her despite the short time they had spent together. It started with her curiosity, which soon grew to admiration for his talents. At some point though, her admiration soon grew to genuine liking. She wasn''t sure why but she knew it was when Arlo had lost himself at the first-year training center and was subjecting himself to great pain by continually punching one of the building''s sturdy pillars. A bond had formed between them at that point...one that slowly grew these past days...and became further pronounced in his absence.


    Yet, despite her liking for him, a part of her wanted to crush his head where he stood. He had killed her people after all...and many of them at that. Young kids with great futures ahead of them were now forever lost. Most importantly, she had once promised Scarlett she would defend their race with her life.


    Two contradicting emotions raged within her mind, rendering Evangeline stumped on what to do.


    Being outright ignored made Count Cromwell frown in displeasure but before he could react, his more grumpy friend burst out first:


    "Didn''t you hear us wench! Get out of the way! Or do you think you alone can stop us?" It was quite surprising how Count Hayes was related to someone like his Lord who was renowned for his silence and tranquility.


    Evangeline finally turned back and pierced Count Hayes with her cold eyes, "I will personally punish him. You can all leave!"


    "What!?" A look of displeasure appeared on Count Cromwell''s face while Count Hayes''s eyes turned red in anger. The two other Counts and Elders around them also shared their emotions.


    "We should get out? Aren''t you being too arrogant?" Count Cromwell voiced their thought.


    Pierced by their angry eyes, Evangeline merely smiled coldly, her smile bewitching. Her slender figure hugged by her characteristic black suit became more pronounced, and as she took a step forward, a crushing pressure exploded from her body outwards rooting all the vampires in place.


    "And so what?" Her voice dripped with arrogance, but her confidence was not unfounded.


    Nobody responded to her question as they found it difficult to breathe. The Counts were not exceptions...


    Count Hayes glared at her hatefully and used all his effort to remain on his feet. He couldn''t humiliate himself before many eyes.


    It seemed Count Cromwell''s state wasn''t far different from his, because while he tried to hide it behind a calm visage, Count Hayes could feel his body trembling ever so slightly under Evangeline''s will.


    Thankfully, the students seemed to be unaffected by her will, as she only focused on the elders and Counts...with the only exception being Toon.


    As the only student pressed under Evangeline''s imposing will, Toon was the only one currently spread out on the ground in a humiliating posture. No matter how he gritted his teeth and tried to fight against the crushing force, his body didn''t budge an inch.


    After almost a full minute, an angry voice suddenly fell from the sky.


    "Little girl, stop this instant!"


    A cold sneer found its way to Evangeline''s beautiful face. Still after a few more breaths, she stopped exerting her will.


    Remaining unfazed, Evangeline looked at the sky and spoke with a cold voice:


    "You finally decided to appear?"


    Lord Cromwell''s face distorted in anger but he tried to suppress it as much as he could.


    "Release the boy to us!"


    "Have you finally grown senile?" Evangeline''s eyes turned more cold...chilling cold. Shifting her eyes to the second figure in the sky, she nodded in greetings.


    "Lord Hayes..."


    "Evangeline." said the quiet Lord, reciprocating her greetings.


    "Surely, even you won''t go against our Liege and kill the boy, right?"


    Lord Hayes remained silent for several moments before his short reply came.


    "I assure you the boy won''t die."


    All the figures below them had already kneeled in silence to pay their respect to the two lords, and that included the Counts.


    Evangeline watched the two lords coldly for several breaths before shaking her head.


    "You need not worry. I promise to enact a just punishment to the boy."


    Lord Hayes''s eyes shone with a bit of surprise. Vampires were a noble race, and as such cared about their honor. They despised telling lies, which was why the quiet Lord was surprised by Evangeline''s reply. She really didn''t mean to protect him but was just afraid that harm might come to him. The quiet Lord wasn''t sure of what to do...


    But he wasn''t the only lord present.


    Lord Cromwell had grown fed up with Evangeline''s arrogance. He already felt unhappy about only her following Scarlett and felt like their liege thought more of the girl than them.


    He didn''t mind putting the girl in her place. How can a girl who was still in her twenties compare to old men like them? Sure, Evangeline was a rare talent, and that was proven by how she was a first-level yellow-core mage at such a young age. Still, Lord Cromwell felt angry about how the rumors had spread that she was among the top five of the vampire race. Then, was she stronger than him who was a seventh-level yellow core mage? Surely, the rumors were unfounded.


    Before anybody could react, the vampire lord moved with uncanny speed and appeared before Arlo in a split second, his hand stretched out to grab him. His target was too weak to even follow his movement, as his eyes were still fixed on the sky, at his previous position.


    To be fair, all the people present couldn''t follow his movement and we were still gazing at the sky. But he couldn''t help but feel a bit surprised when he saw the tail behind the human boy react ever so slightly to his movement. Still, it was too slow, and couldn''t stop him.


    But it didn''t have to...


    A small pale hand suddenly fell on Lord Cromwell''s outstretched hand, and with a loose yet firm grip and fluid movement, the hand twisted, and borrowed his body''s moving force to launch him into the air.


    Before Lord Cromwell could react, his back slammed into the ground, the air almost knocked out of his lungs.


    The ground beneath him sank greatly, and his mouth opened uncontrollably, giving way to a jet of blood that flew into the sky.


    His vision clouded for only a moment during which the sound of shocked gasps drifted into his ears, but soon after the clear blue skies entered his vision.


    ''Huh!?''


    As he was feeling lost, a familiar young and beautiful face poked into his sight, two crimson fangs bared at him, and two ruby eyes pierced into his head coldly.


    "Old fool...are you looking to die?"


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 186 : LADY EVANGELINE VS LORD CROMWELL II

    "Old fool...are you looking to die?"


    Lord Cromwell gazed at the figure above him with a stunned look, her words echoing in his mind endlessly.


    As his mind finally registered the shocked gasps around him, his stun gave way to humiliation which soon turned to anger.


    "Little wench, I will kill you!" The old Lord bellowed in anger. He felt so stifled to the point that he felt his heart might burst any moment. But despite, his anger, what greeted him was a pale fist and before he knew it, his brain shut down, this time for several more breaths. The sickening sound of bones breaking resounded in the area, as Lord Cromwell''s face caved in, his nose broken and his lips burst in blood.


    The old Lord felt his anger rise to a level he had never thought possible. However, he had learned his lesson. Instead of lashing out, he moved to change to a favorable position. With a blur, his body disappeared from the ground and appeared a few feet from Evangeline, his wound having healed within that short moment.


    However, he wasn''t happy...


    Looking around, he saw the people present had wisely shifted further away from their fight, their heads lowered to the ground, none daring to meet his gaze. But he didn''t need to see their faces to know how they felt.


    They were shaken...


    Especially the members of his clan.


    Even Count Cromwell wasn''t an exception.


    Taking a deep breath, Lord Cromwell shifted his head back to Evangeline and was about to voice out how he would take his time to crush and humiliate her, as he tried to salvage the situation. However, his eyes contracted into pins when he saw what greeted him.


    An arrow streaked toward him with great speed, and before he knew it, it appeared right before his chest. Lord Cromwell was quick to react though, his hand turning into a swift blur that caught hold of the arrow shaft with an iron grip. While he successfully stopped the arrow in its path, the force still knocked him several feet back, shocking him to the core.


    ''How does she possess such strength?'' Several whooshing sounds drifted into his sharp ears in just the split second that he was lost in his thought.


    Discarding the useless thoughts, Lord Cromwell focused on the fast-approaching arrows that seemed to easily pierce through air and space to arrive at their target. He allowed his eyes to shift to the source of the arrows and couldn''t help but be mesmerized for a moment. At some point, which he guessed to be when he had escaped from beneath her, Evangeline had summoned her soul artifact and transformed it into a heavy bow. Several arrows flashed from the spatial ring in her hand, before lining up orderly behind her. With quick movements, the arrows flew into her right hand, and with fluid and graceful motions, she nocked and fired with a straight posture, her face placid, but her ruby eyes bore into his mind.


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    Her hand turned into a blur, and before Lord Cromwell knew it, ten more arrows joined the previous six that were about to arrive before him. A strange thought appeared in his mind at that moment.


    ''Now, I know why she was called a weapon master.''


    However, he quickly crushed the feeling of admiration welling within him and focused on his opponent. The vampires were a race that respected strength, and Lord Cromwell was no exception. But he knew what was at stake at this moment...his honor. He couldn''t humiliate himself any further, if not his clan''s glory would fall to rock bottom. While the Protectors didn''t care about such worldly affairs and didn''t interfere with clan matters, his pride wouldn''t allow him to disappoint his followers. They were all bearing his name after all, down to their leader, the Count.


    With a low growl, he invoked his vampiric transformation, an ability his clan had inherited from him.


    His arms morphed, and grew larger, with dark scale-like armor covering his flesh. His hands now possessed three fingers instead of five, with three sharp claws protruding from their ends. Since they weren''t alone and were also in the middle of the academy, they had to keep their fight strictly physical, in order to minimize the damage.


    Quickly raising his arms, Lord Cromwell protected himself from the first arrow. Unlike before, his body stood like a mountain, while the dark arrow exploded into iron splinters. But Lord Cromwell didn''t pay it any attention.


    ''Five more!'' He knew that ten more arrows were already flying toward him, but he had already determined he would have a few seconds'' gap between both attacks. Seconds he planned to use to close the gap between them and launch a devastating attack.


    Just like he had expected, five more arrows impacted into his arms without any result. Lord Cromwell quickly raised his head and was about to dash out, however...


    "What?" his eyes widened when he saw the first of the other ten arrows already before him.


    ''How?''


    Left with no choice, Lord Cromwell stood his ground and braced the attack.


    The first arrow knocked into him, the result was no different from the former...


    The second arrow followed a split second later, without any result...


    Then, the third...


    The fourth...


    Fifth....


    Sixth....


    Seventh...


    Eight...


    Ninth...Lord Cromwell grunted as he was finally pushed back from the impacting blows. A stinging pain spread from his transformed hands but he gritted his teeth and bore through the annoyance, his mind not even caring about the pain.


    The tenth soon rammed into him, this time throwing him into the air. But he didn''t care...His body pulled forward ready to dash out once his feet touched the ground when...


    *Clang!*


    Another arrow pushed him back once he returned to the ground.


    Grunting under the pushing force, Lord Cromwell shifted his eyes to his attacker but what he saw almost made his eyes burst out from their sockets.


    Evangeline''s right hand couldn''t be seen and what remained at its spot was a blur....


    A magical scene played out before his eyes...


    Arrows continued to fly out in his direction, and as if controlled by an invisible hand, they lined up orderly as they continued on their paths, landing into him with a cacophony of clanging sounds.


    This allowed them to impact the same point on Lord Cromwell''s transformed arms, and as his body was pushed back by each successive arrow, his well-protected arms were finally pierced through and before he knew it, a fountain of blood spurted into the air.


    They were moving so fast that their fight appeared to have taken long, but the truth was that not even ten breaths had passed since Evangeline shot the first arrow. Most of those present couldn''t even keep track of what was happening.


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 187 : GLORIOUS CLASH BETWEEN ELITE VAMPIRES

    ''I can''t continue like this...'' Lord Cromwell concluded as the distance between him and Evangeline increased, contrary to what he wished to accomplish. What infuriated him the most was the serene look in Evangeline''s eyes as if she wasn''t doing much.


    Gritting his teeth, and fueled by his anger, Lord Cromwell stomped on the ground and launched forward with all his might. He didn''t bother trying to move away from the arrow''s path as he could tell they were being controlled by his attacker''s spiritual energy.


    With his pure strength, his body cut a path in the rain of arrows, and in just two breaths, he bridged the gap between them. He pulled his arms apart and launched his first attack, his fist thrown in a punch.


    The sound barrier was easily shattered by his fist, and as if it had smashed space itself, his fist arrived before Evangeline''s face.


    Well, it should have arrived before her face.


    Unlike Arlo''s attack which was restrained within a limited area to create beams of compressed air, a massive air cannon shot out from Lord Cromwell''s fist, pulverizing what remained of the auditorium, and continuing unrestrained. Several buildings fell, and before he knew it, a path several kilometers wide was formed before him, all the previous buildings standing in its way obliterated. The sound of explosions still resounded from far ahead from his attack, but Lord Cromwell ignored it...


    ''Where?''


    ''Where is she?''


    He couldn''t catch sight of Evangeline, but a split second later, the sound of sliced air came from above him.


    ''Up!" Lord Cromwell quickly raised his head at the same time he raised his hands to protect himself from the arriving attack.


    ''No!" his eyes widened when he didn''t see the person he was expecting above him. Instead, he saw a bow held by a hand made from pure darkness, with another dark hand shooting an arrow from it.


    Lord Cromwell''s quickly raised defense protected him from the attack, but he wasn''t happy...


    That was because he could hear something moving below him...


    ''Damn it!''


    A foot slammed into his lower jaw sending him flying up, but the two dark hands above him had already dismissed the bow and arrows in their grasp to attack him. Before he could even fly high, he was knocked back to the ground...


    Lord Cromwell felt so angry...but he couldn''t do anything.


    His eyes widened when he saw several dark hands appear beside him and with fluid yet fast movement of an expert martial artist, they all attacked him.


    ''She can control all these dark hands? What a monster...'' Evangeline''s clan was supposed to be the weakest among the nine, as their ability were more oriented towards intelligence, high analytical, and thought processes. In other words, they could do several things at the same time, as if their minds were split into many pieces, each able to perform different tasks. While that sounded powerful and resourceful, the truth of the matter was that it didn''t directly boost their combat strength, unlike other clans who could raise their strength, speed, and defense by several folds not to mention transform into swarms of bats that could independently launch attacks or even turn into a dark fog that could ignore all physical attacks.


    It was for this reason that Evangeline had been looked down on despite being one of the three only figures with a god-tier talent in the entire vampire race.


    But she has proven them wrong...


    Dedicating her entire life to learning myriads of martial arts and mastering countless weapons, Evangeline turned out to be a pure monster in combat...


    Evangeline appeared before him, also launching her own devastating attacks.


    Left with no choice, Lord Cromwell ignored the several dark hands and focused all his attacks on Evangeline alone.


    As if knowing that she couldn''t compete with him in pure force, Evangeline twisted her body at unnatural angles and dodged all his attacks. It was as if she could already tell where his attacks would come from even before he executed them, and with short but quick movements, evaded all of them. And every time he thought he had caught her, she would twist her body as if they didn''t contain any bone, and escape unscathed. Even though he was holding back his strength, the force from his missed attacks had already long decimated the surroundings. Thankfully, Lord Hayes had already taken the students to the sky, away from the devastating fight.


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    Lord Cromwell on the other hand was already covered in blood. The twelve dark hands surrounding him attacked relentlessly and while they didn''t possess monstrous strength compared to their owner, the force behind their attacks couldn''t be neglected either. Some of the hands hit him at the back of his head making him stagger forward, and giving Evangeline a chance to land an attack from the front.


    She remained impassive and didn''t seem to have broken a sweat, an amused smile dancing on her lips.


    "Eh....is this all you can do Lord Cromwell!"


    Peeved by her sudden remark, Lord Cromwell finally succumbed to his fury and roared atop his lungs:


    "These are but mere tricks!"


    ''Before overwhelming power, they are all but useless.'' he said the second sentence in his mind instead of voicing them, after all, he was the one on the losing end.


    Fed up with the current flow of the battle, Lord Cromwell decided to finally go all out. He had been suppressing himself so as not to cause too much damage or hurt the students but now he didn''t care any longer.


    ''Curse you, Hayes!'' he felt stifled about why his friend continued to watch without interfering, and more angry that he hadn''t even dismissed the students.


    Was it fun watching him get beaten?


    Dodging Evangeline''s quick attacks, Lord Cromwell jumped back in time to escape from the barrage of attacks from the dark hands.


    "Die!" He roared with red eyes, his will chaotically spreading out.


    Lord Hayes''s expression changed abruptly, and without any hesitation, he took the students away from the battlefield as they flew across the sky. Only Stefan remained in the sky with Arlo, Arianne, Ella, and Joe who had been zapped awake by the werewolf princess.


    "We should go to. It''s getting dangerous." Stefan voiced out.


    But a succinct reply soon answered him.


    "No."


    Gazing at Arlo, a displeased look appeared on his face. He was already feeling conflicted about Arlo''s previous actions and now his emotions were starting to lean towards the negative side.


    "Brother..." Arianne grabbed him by the side, as she shook her head pleadingly.


    Taking a deep breath, Stefan controlled his emotions and moved to the front of the group to protect them from stray attacks and the shockwaves of the terrifying fight below them.


    Arlo ignored them. The only person in his sight at this moment was Evangeline.


    .....


    "Die!" Lord Cromwell roared out, his voice filled with anger, humiliation, and distraught.


    As if responding to his will, the sky suddenly darkened. The black clouds rolled chaotically and soon after something massive seemed to move within them.


    A monstrous hand, similar to Lord Cromwell''s, soon pierced the sky, before covering an area of almost fifty kilometers, rendering Stefan speechless on how he was supposed to defend such an attack. The sky above him and behind him was covered by the dark inhuman hand, and it seemed like there was no area to escape to. In fact, Stefan doubted if the students Lord Hayes had quickly taken away would be safe too.


    Is he trying to get us killed??


    On the ground, Lord Cromwell''s expression distorted as he glared at the unmoving Evangeline who had her head raised to the sky.


    He suddenly felt a chill run down his back when he saw Evangeline lower her head and look at him. Her previous serene eyes were now boiling in anger, her face cold to the point of chilling.


    How could Evangeline not tell that Arlo and the others were still behind her?


    "You.are.courting.death." Her words were called one by one, her voice filled with murderous intent.


    Before Lord Cromwell could react, Evangeline''s will spread out, making it feel as if a mountain was pressing on his shoulders.


    However, Lord Cromwell didn''t care about the crushing force acting on him...


    Instead, his mouth uncontrollably fell open when he saw the sight before him.


    ''Are you kidding me?''


    Countless weapons emerged from Evangeline''s spatial ring. It seemed the young girl had only filled her storage ring with weapons, but that wasn''t what shocked Lord Cromwell.


    As Evangeline''s will continued to spread out, dark hands formed around her and before he knew it they blotted the sky, blocking his will attack from view.


    There were hundreds...


    Then thousands...


    Then tens of thousands...


    Tens of hundreds of thousands...


    Before he knew it, a million dark hands covered a region of almost 80 kilometers, far surpassing his own field. The entire academy was covered in darkness.


    The hands moved and with fluid movement, caught hold of the weapons that flew into the sky.


    A million hands holding a weapon, ranging from swords to daggers, spears, maces, nunchakus, sabers, and many more.


    His lips dry, Lord Cromwell''s throat bobbed up and down.


    "Wait..."


    As if having the opposite effect, the countless dark hands moved, all falling in his direction.


    Lord Cromwell belatedly realized that before his attack fell, he would be long dead from the charge of the million dark hands. What further surprised him was that the dark hands moved orderly, without colliding against one another, as if they were being controlled.


    ''Is she able to control all these hands? Mental...''


    Even in the face of death, he couldn''t help but marvel at his opponent''s talent.


    *Tap!* *Tap!* *Tap!* *Tap!*


    The sound of metal colliding against the ground rang out and soon after a deep voice followed.


    "Enough!"


    Seeing the newcomer, Lord Cromwell couldn''t help but sigh in relief.


    Headmaster Holden appeared between the duo and commanded, his voice grave.


    However, he was soon surprised to see that a million hands were still charging forth.


    Furrowing his brows, Headmaster Holden''s will surged forth.


    A massive bat wing appeared before his right, connecting the sky to the ground and blocking the rain of dark hands.


    Before the attack reached, the wing''s flesh was soon covered by dark scale-like armor, adding more to its formidability and durability.


    A million hands soon fell, but Headmaster Holden''s face remained indifferent.


    Until...


    A shower of blood fell from the sky.


    AN: I would like to hear your thoughts on the novel so far. Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 188: THE BEGINNING OF THE END

    Five figures quickly flew across the sky, their faces painted with awe and admiration.


    Thousands upon thousands of dark hands flew past them as if aware, and with unique weapons in their grasps, they launched at the sudden flesh barrier that had obstructed their paths.


    As Stefan used his will fueled by his mana to expertly control their retreat in the sky, he couldn''t help but gasp at the sight of hundreds of thousands of weapons colliding against the massive scaly wing.


    A deafening sound of metals colliding against each other spread far and wide, disorienting the retreating figures and those far away. A massive shockwave spread around the area, disrupting Stefan''s will, and before he knew it, he lost control of Arlo, Arianne, Joe, and Ella''s bodies.


    "No!" Stefan shrieked as he stretched his hand at the plummetting kids but because he had not regained his balance in the sky, he couldn''t control his will perfectly.


    However, what he feared didn''t come to pass.


    Among the countless dark hands drifting past them to join in the clash of weapons and flesh, five hands suddenly flew out, and discarding the weapons in their grasps, they moved with ghostly speed, and caught the plummeting group.


    Arlo and the others regained their balance in time to see through the gaps in the shower of darkness and metal before them, how the dark scales covering the fleshy wings that stood high as a mountain cracked before countless trails of blood trickled down from it.


    Just when the group was thinking that the army of darkness and metal might just gain an edge, the dark hands suddenly stopped in their paths. Soon after, they turned into pools of darkness that slowly disappeared. The weapons they held flew through the air towards Evangeline, before disappearing into her spatial ring.


    A long pause soon followed, during which nobody reacted. The magnitude of the short yet terrifying battle that had unfolded before their eyes not only shocked little kids like Arlo, Arianne, Ella, and Joe but even a grown teen like Stefan.


    The falling massive dark hand conjured by Lord Cromwell''s will attack had long disappeared, with the massive scaly wing alone remaining, with rivers of blood flowing down.


    A few more moments of pause ensued before a sigh broke the pin-drop silence, at the same time that the huge wing disappeared.


    A perfectly unharmed Lord Holden looked at Evangeline with an unreadable frown on his face. It seemed the injured wing had not affected him in the slightest. A look of surprise further surfaced on his face when he saw the usually respectful Evangeline look at him coldly.


    Only Lord Cromwell appeared disheveled despite not suffering any injuries. Those inflicted on him had healed a long time.


    "What happened here?"


    Lord Cromwell frowned, a look of displeasure contorting his face when he saw Lord Holden throw the question at him.


    Annoyed, he harrumphed and didn''t reply. Instead, he glared at the young girl in a black suit who continued to stare at him with a chilly gaze.


    Despite being shocked by Evangeline''s shocking strength, Lord Cromwell felt more annoyed and angry. Not only had he lost his face before many eyes, and due to a girl young enough to be his daughter no less, the girl in question seemed to not be satisfied.


    Lord Holden furrowed his brows when he didn''t receive any reply, but thankfully a new figure appeared at the now great clearing of almost five kilometers, at that moment.


    Lord Hayes kept silent for a moment, throwing a surprised look at Evangeline, then finally opening his mouth and recounting what happened.


    The more Lord Holden heard, the more his expression turned ugly.


    His now cold eyes lingered on Arlo who had wisely been brought back with his group by Stefan, before shifting them to Evangeline.


    "So, correct me if I am wrong. But this boy killed almost fifty of our students, yet you are willing to protect him?"


    Evangeline didn''t reply for several breaths, causing the already chilly air to turn suffocating.


    "You are wrong." She shook her head before she continued, "He must pay for what he has done, that is certain."


    A confused look flashed on Lord Holden''s face, "Then what exactly is your problem."


    Ignoring him, Evangeline merely pointed at Lord Cromwell causing the latter''s expression to distort, "It just mustn''t be him!"


    "Girl, you are taking it too far. No matter how talented you are, it wouldn''t matter if you lack respect for your elders." Lord Cromwell bared his two fangs.


    "Eh!" Evangeline merely smirked without commenting. Her lack of response only further infuriated Lord Cromwell. It made him feel like he was the one not behaving his age.


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    Now fully understanding what truly happened, Lord Holden rubbed his face with a tired look.


    "So you are telling me you endangered the students, destroyed several kilometers of structures, and almost killed each other because of a simple misunderstanding?"


    "A simple misunderstanding?" Lord Cromwell scowled. "This little girl disrespected me in front of many eyes and instead of criticizing her, you are complaining? Tell me, what did I do wrong by wanting to punish the human? If we want to go by her actions, doesn''t that mean she wouldn''t allow even you to punish the brat?" Lord Cromwell threw out several questions without a pause, his eyes burning fiercely into the hunched old Lord.


    Lord Holden sighed. Of course, he was too old to be goaded easily by his friend''s words.


    However, he couldn''t help but feel tired.


    ''Why is today so long?'' The Old lord thought to himself.


    Not only had there been a sudden commotion caused by the appearance of lightning flashes in the sky and the sudden rumbling of the earth, but there was also the matter of Emperor Razor...


    And now this...


    Another sigh escaped the old Lord''s lips, this time sounding more weary. He rubbed his face and thought of how to resolve the situation. In normal situations, he would have simply corrected Evangeline and given her a small smack on the head, however, he obviously couldn''t do that now, as for some reason the young girl was acting especially cold.


    Not to mention that her power shocked him greatly...


    Of course, he wasn''t threatened by her strength but knowing that the young girl now had power that far surpassed even many of the clan Lords, the old Lord couldn''t help but reevaluate her standing.


    Stumped about what to do, the Old Lord grumbled in his mind.


    ''Could this day get any worse?''


    And as if fate had been waiting for him to ask that very question, Lord Holden felt a connection established deep within his body and mind, a connection that bore through his very core, cut abruptly.


    ''Huh!?'' The Old Lord blanked out for a moment before his eyes widened. Slowly but surely, his eyes glowed red at the same time that they shone with madness, his bloodline rampaging fiercely within his body.


    The Old Lord wasn''t alone...


    Lord Cromwell who had been glaring fiercely at Evangeline had similar reactions to him, and the same was true for the cold yet calm Evangeline. Her indifferent expression was broken, her face distorted by anger, with a light of intense madness flashing deep within her eyes.


    .....


    Arlo experienced a rollercoaster of emotions that day. Not only had he not gotten any rest after his harrowing experience in the secret realm, but he had even identified and exposed one of the strongest leaders of the world as a follower of evil, putting in motion a disaster whose magnitude he couldn''t even imagine. Then Rose seemed to have seen a part of his future, one that didn''t bode well for him from her reaction. After that, she had fallen into some sort of deep coma, and he didn''t even get a chance to figure out her state deeply. If it wasn''t for the connections established between them as members of Ella''s wolf pack, Arlo would have been feeling extremely anxious, even more than Joe felt for his sister, and would have lost his calm a long time ago. Then, he returned to his academy and fulfilled the promise he made a week ago. He knew the repercussions of his actions wouldn''t be small...but he never knew it would be so grave, ending with him killing tens of figures he wasn''t even familiar with. The deaths of these young talents weighed down on him like a mountain and seemed to have left some scars in his mind, one that even Arlo himself wasn''t yet aware of.


    As if that wasn''t enough, the vampires seemed to want to ''punish'' him, something Arlo was definitely sure wouldn''t be so simple. But it wasn''t like he didn''t deserve it...however, Evangeline had swooped in and defended him.


    Despite feeling choked by strong negative emotions, a warm feeling engulfed Arlo''s heart. That was why he refused to leave her side.


    But it seemed Evangeline defending him had now also put her in a tight spot, one that Arlo didn''t hope for.


    A feeling of fatigue engulfed his body. Despite being a powerful warrior with a formidable physical body, one proven by how his bony hand had already healed, Arlo felt a feeling of weakness fall over him. No matter how Arlo tried to act calm or behave in ways that showed he had a great deal of maturity, he was still a child in body and mind, one that would turn eight in but a couple of hours. Add the negative emotions and guilt pressing on him, it wasn''t unreasonable for him to feel mentally strained. The fact that he was still able to act and stand firm was nothing short of admirable and deserving of respect.


    But he had reached his limit...


    Seeing the old Lord who had previously appeared before them in the forest outside the academy rub his head tirelessly, Arlo decided to speak out and receive his punishment. He didn''t want to pull his teacher into his problems than he already did.


    "I..." Before he could say more than a word though, he felt something was wrong. The air was suddenly cold...chilling and frighteningly cold.


    And then he noticed it.


    The sudden dark look on not only the Old headmaster''s face but even Evangeline''s, Lord Hayes and Lord Cromwell''s. And with the almost 360-degree vision granted to him by his dragon eyes...


    He saw the same look on Stefan and Arianne''s face.


    The aura around them suddenly turned chaotic causing Joe and even Ella to shrink back in fear.


    ''What is going on?'' A feeling of deep unease suddenly settled within his mind, one greater than all the times his dragon sense had warned him about today.


    Just as Arlo started feeling that something big must have gone wrong, Lord Holden, Lord Hayes, Lord Cromwell, Evangeline, Stefan, and Arianne suddenly raised their heads and bellowed to the sky.


    "ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAR!"


    Arlo''s eardrum vibrated intensely from the deafening roar, but he ignored the sensation as he belatedly realized that the roars weren''t only coming from beside him...but all around him.


    Close and far away, the entire academy seemed to be shaken by countless roars that pierced the sky and shook the air. And Arlo couldn''t help but notice what they shared in common.


    Madness!


    One so deep and intense that it made his skin crawl!


    What Arlo didn''t know was that it wasn''t just within the minor world the academy was located in, as similar situations were happening within the Lunar world and many more worlds ruled by vampires.


    As the countless roars seemed to merge into one, the intensity of madness rising to a limit that shouldn''t be possible, Arlo inadvertently remembered the event that seemed to have happened a decade ago, one that had almost plunged the humans of the Lunar world into annihilation.


    But before he could dwell too long on that thought, there was a sudden change beside him.


    The roars still continued to shake the void, without any sign of stopping soon. However, Arianne''s angry bellow seemed to have turned to stifled tears at some point when he was lost in his thoughts.


    "... grandmother...wuuu."


    Arlo''s expression instantly changed, "What happened to Scarlet?" He asked his voice filled with agitation.


    Covering her face with both hands, the previously cold but now mischievous Arianne choked out in between her sobs.


    "I-I don''t know. But...my connection with her suddenly cut off."


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 189: THE ROYAL BASILIKS

    AN: Sorry for the few mistakes in this chapter. Been sick lately and didn''t have the chance to edit it.


    *****


    A couple of hours ago...


    Two figures quietly appeared in the clouds above a huge city on an island surrounded by nothing but beautiful water reflecting the blue hues of the sky.


    Scarlett and Rebecca watched with indifferent eyes as aerial-type beasts flew below them across the sky, without any clue of their presence.


    On the streets moved land-type magical beasts; some beasts resembled tigers, bears, spiders, rhinoceroses, and many more. In the waters surrounding the island moved sea-like beasts; giant snakes hundreds of meters long and with bodies as wide as buildings, giant squids over 500 meters, whale-like magical sharks and many others swam to and away from the shore. The beasts within the city moved peacefully as they went about their normal lives. Some of the beasts transformed into human forms before entering the high-rise high-class buildings. Overall, despite appearing bustling, the city looked very prosperous and quite magical. It wasn''t every day you see beasts of different kinds mingling and living amicably together, not to mention transforming into humans.


    Sparing the surrounding beasts one more glance, Scarlett and Rebecca disappeared, as if they were never there.


    A split second later, they arrived in the clouds deep within the city. Below them was a massive estate owned by the royal beasts family of the central continent.


    The central continent populated by magical beasts was ruled by four main beast families.


    The Emberclaw Legion.


    The Stoneclaw Pride.


    The Beast association and finally...


    The Ancient Basilik family, the acting leader of the four great beast''s family.


    As the capital city of the beast kingdom, it was only normal for the four great beast family to have their main branches situated there. Scarlett and Rebecca were now in the territory of the Royal Basilik family.


    After giving some simple instructions to Evangeline and the others, Scarlett immediately brought Rebecca here to search for Beast Emperor Razor. As the will bearer of the Lunar world, it wasn''t hard for her to instantly teleport to the central capital.


    Without any hesitation, she released her spiritual energy and effortlessly spread it out to cover the entire region. Closing her eyes to investigate properly, Scarlett spent five minutes carefully inspecting every rook and crony of the palace beneath them, the entire estate of the Royal family, and eventually the entire city. During the whole time, Rebecca silently stood by her side.


    However, noticing the deepening frown on her face, she couldn''t help but voice out:


    "How is it? Any success?"


    Scarlett opened her eyes and shook her head with a grave look, causing a look of worry to appear on Rebecca''s impeccable face.


    "Then where could he be?"


    Rebecca knew Scarlett could use her connection with the world to perform a worldwide scan relatively fast like she had done before when Emperor Razor disappeared before them. However in order to perform a thorough search, much time was needed. Ranging from between three to five hours; time that they did not have as if Emperor Razor was left to act freely, the worse the situation will devolve.


    "Let''s go!" Scarlett grabbed her once more, and she of course didn''t fight her. Soon after, they both disappeared without a trace.


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    This time they appeared within a section of the estate beneath them. Scarlett started walking and just when Rebecca was wondering why she was wasting the precious time they had, the smell of debauchery drifted into her ears, and soon after, she was able to pick up the sounds of pleased moans.


    A look of understanding flashed within her eyes, as they soon entered a massive luxurious building and effortlessly made a way through the maze of corridors to a specific room.


    .....


    In a master bedroom located within the luxurious building.


    The sound of meat smacking against meat resounded loudly yet orderly, with the alluring moans of a woman in the background.


    At one side of the massive room was a big bed that could fit about ten adults with some space still left to share. However, currently, only six figures can be seen on the bed, and the figures are all female. They all had different appearances, some having furry tails, some long pointy tails that resembled a scorpion''s. However, one thing they all had in common was that they were all naked, their skin glowing with overflowing youth within the resplendent light of the chandelier hanging above the room.


    Another thing they had in common was that they were all asleep, a look of tiredness gracing the beautiful contours of their faces. A white murky liquid covered parts of their bodies, and many more covered the bed bringing with it the arousing scent of a female. The scene was certainly arousing enough to awaken the most nefarious and perverted desires of the purest being in the universe.


    And on the other side of the room were two figures, from which the sounds of smacking skin and blissful moans originated from. A gorgeous woman with ample curves and fluffy ears that resembled a rabbit was forced against the wall as a tall naked man with chiseled muscles rammed into her continuously with an indifferent look on his face. With each of his thrusts, the woman screamed in pleasure, her hands balled into fists. Seeing her reactions and guessing that she was about to reach her limit, the man decided to pick up the pace. He forced the two hands with which the girl was using to support herself against the wall behind her, catching the girl off-guard. Just when she was about to stumble forward and hit the wall, the man grabbed her tightly by her waist in a manner that her two voluptuous breasts were pressed together and bulged more bountifully from the pressure below them.


    "Argh!" The girl screamed in surprise but that cry was soon cut abruptly. Grunting slightly, the man stopped his movement for a moment before thrusting into her once again with far greater force and speed compared to before.


    The tempo at which the meat smacked against each other increased, and the moans of the alluring girl soon turned into rough gasps mixed with short bursts of pleased cries.


    Just when the man thought she was about to climax, the girl in his arms suddenly lost consciousness. His fast thrusting movement slowly came to a stop at the same time that a displeased frown appeared on his face.


    "Hey, what are you doing?" A deep grumpy voice escaped his lips.


    However instead of getting a reply from the girl, a domineering voice answered him from behind.


    "Get dressed."


    His eyes widening in shock, the man turned back abruptly, causing the unconscious body of the young woman he had been feasting on to land carelessly on the ground.


    However, he didn''t care as his eyes bulged to the point of popping out.


    "You...you...L-Lady Scarlett and Lady Rebecca!" he stuttered before falling to his knees.


    While Scarlett appeared indifferent to his still naked body and the stiff rod still bulging out, Rebecca''s face distorted in disgust. Now she knew why Scarlett hadn''t just teleported into the room.


    "Put on some clothes first!"


    "Yes..yes." The man nodded readily and quickly summoned a robe before clumsily putting it on.


    The look of disgust on Rebecca''s face grew when she studied the room and saw the six unconscious girls on the bed and the white unknown substance covering their bodies.


    She knew the royal Basiliks were the most lecherous race, as their men and women enjoyed sleeping with the opposite sex from the same or different races. She just couldn''t help but wonder how their former king, one of the few people she had recognized could come from this race. After all, she knew he had only known one woman, and while there was a rumor that he had a bastard child, she didn''t believe it as she still remembered his firm and loyal character. It was just such a pity that he had suddenly died about two months ago, him and his wife and his children with only his eldest left behind. Even now, no one knew the cause of his death as the only witness of the incident, his son seemed to have been too shocked by the incident and had lost part of his memories.


    But now they knew it must have all been a lie and while she still didn''t know the cause of his death, she could now make some conjectures. After all, his son who had survived was no one else but the current ruler of the magical beasts, Emperor Razor.


    Looking at the man who knelt before them with his head lowered respectfully, and who had the second greatest status among the magical beasts, as he was their past ruler who had no choice but to abdicate his thrown to King Joe, and was also the uncle of the current ruler, Rebecca''s eyes flashed with an unknown light.

 CHAPTER 190: THE BEAST EMPERORS SONS I

    Looking at the still kneeling, Scarlett couldn''t help but feel anger well within her. After the brief yet impactful incident at the awakening ritual, she instructed the Vampire Lords to carefully investigate the minor world in which the Darkblood Academy was located. But now that she knew the demons had a means of masking their law essence, she couldn''t help but feel like all their efforts were wasted. And who knew if they were more like the previous first-ranked second-year student?


    In hindsight, she should have known something was amiss for a corrupted student to go unnoticed by several powerful figures for almost a year.


    At least now, she wouldn''t repeat such mistakes.


    Stretching her hand out to the kneeling man, Scarlett''s cold yet alluring voice resounded within the room:


    "Release your law essence."


    "What?" The middle-aged man''s eyes widened in disbelief, but seeing that her firm look didn''t leave way for refusal, he quickly did as instructed.


    Holding her hand, the middle-aged man couldn''t help but wallow in its softness, though briefly as he didn''t dare to step out of his bounds.


    A few breaths later, a green essence covered his hand before passing into Scarlett, and he actively tried to poison her to no avail.


    A brief glint flashed within Scarlett''s eyes before she let go of the middle-aged man''s hand. Now that she had cleared her doubts, she went straight to the point.


    "Where is Razor?"


    The middle-aged man didn''t think too deeply about it before he responded:


    "He left to investigate the cause of the previous occurrences; the lightning sea that covered the sky and the sudden tremor of the earth."


    Scarlett''s brow furrowed when she didn''t see any hint of a lie in his eyes not to mention that the man still seemed oblivious to everything that happened outside the secret realm. Realizing that Emperor Razor had indeed not returned, Scarlett couldn''t help but feel anxious.


    It had been a very long time since she felt a situation out of her control.


    Turning to Rebecca who gazed at the middle-aged man in disgust because he was engaging in carnal pleasure while something dangerous that could affect the fate of not only his life but his entire race was happening, Scarlett quickly voiced out as she grabbed her shoulders.


    "Let''s go!"


    However, this time Rebecca resisted her control. Looking at Scarlett who had a questioning look on her face, the short but busty werewolf queen shook her head gently.


    "You go! I will remain here. We don''t know if he will return."


    A look of understanding appeared on Scarlett''s face.


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    "Alright. I will first go to the two minor worlds outside the influence of my will. Maybe the reason I couldn''t feel his aura before was because he wasn''t here in the first place."


    Scarlett had quickly tried to sense the entire Lunar World for Emperor Razor''s aura outside the secret realm but had not succeeded in locating him. Of course, her search wasn''t thorough so there was a possibility that she might have missed him...


    Rebecca nodded, and a moment later, Scarlett disappeared from her sight. The two were aware of how dire the situation was, so they didn''t need to share many words. Just the look in their eyes was enough to pass the message across.


    Now left alone with the slender and curvy queen whose front robe seemed about to burst from her graceful chest, the middle-aged man couldn''t help but gulp nervously.


    Rebecca spared him a glance before she disappeared with a flash of purple light.


    .....


    Time quickly passed as Rebecca remained within the main hall of the palace. Slowly but surely, her anxiousness grew.


    Unwilling to continue doing nothing, she called for Dave, who remained outside the hall like a servant despite his great status.


    "Yes, my lady! How may I help you?"


    "Call all those who are very close to your Emperor to this hall. I want to see them fast and quickly."


    A look of confusion appeared on Dave''s face. He had been wracking his brain on why the two most terrifying figures of the world came to look for him. While he still couldn''t guess the reason why, he could tell it had something to do with his nephew who was yet to return. Slowly, an uneasy feeling set into his heart.


    "Why are you still here?" Rebecca frowned when she saw him not move even after her command.


    "This..." A look of hesitation appeared on Dave''s face but gritting his teeth, he gathered his courage, bowed further, and asked:


    "May I ask what is going on?"


    Rebecca''s eyes suddenly flashed with purple lightning causing Dave to flinch.


    "You need not ask questions. Just do as I say, if not..." Rebecca''s cold voice sent a chill down his back. Not willing to stare further into those two lightning pools, he lowered his head again.


    "Of course, of course..." he repeated twice before scurrying clumsily in fear out of the hall. Now Rebecca knew why Dave had to relinquish his throne to his brother. Someone with no spine like him wasn''t fit to rule.


    Sure, she knew she was mighty and terrifying, and most had no choice but to kneel before her, however, those with great power would still maintain a semblance of their dignity.


    As if scared of offending her further, Dave did as he was told sooner than even Rebecca expected.


    Now the hall was full of several figures, each acting quiet and servile as they gazed at the purple-haired figure before them. They must have been warned before being brought to the hall, but it wasn''t like Rebecca cared.


    Unwilling to waste time, Rebecca spoke, her voice calm yet authoritative:


    "Are these all the people closely related to Razor?"


    A few figures frowned at the way their ruler was being addressed disrespectfully, but after being shot down by a quick glare from Dave, he quickly responded:


    "Yes, my lady. These people are either related to him by blood or closely serve him."


    Studying the almost forty figures within the hall, Rebecca nodded only to frown a second later as Dave''s voice resounded within the quiet hall.


    "It is just that..." Dave seemed to hesitate but seeing the frown on Rebecca''s face, he quickly continued, "I couldn''t find his three children!"


    Rebecca''s eyes narrowed, a cold light flashing within her eyes.


    "Send people to search for them. I want to see them as soon as possible."


    "Yes..."


    Seeing Dave quickly call some guards to dispatch her orders, Rebecca turned her eyes to the people in the hall.


    "All of you should come one at a time."


    No one dared to disobey her and soon after, they all approached her one by one and followed her instructions.


    Time slowly passed.


    Even after checking the essence of almost 30 figures, Rebecca didn''t find any corrupted demon, easing her worry greatly.


    ''Maybe it isn''t as bad as we think...'' Just when this thought appeared within her mind, a guard suddenly entered the hall with three little kids tagging behind him.


    "My lady, I have brought the Emperor''s children like you have instructed."


    *****


    AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 191 II: THE BEAST EMPERORS SONS II

    AN: This chapter is full of errors. I will be sure to edit it later during the day. Sorry for the inconvenience.


    *****


    Maybe it isn''t as bad as we think...'' Just when this thought appeared within Rebecca''s mind, a voice suddenly pulled her attention.


    "My lady, I have brought the Emperor''s children like you have instructed."


    Shifting in the direction of the voice, Rebecca saw a guard approaching with three boys behind him. Even without asking she could tell from their appearance that they were Razor''s sons.


    The guard stopped about two meters away from her, causing a crease to form on her face, as she felt something was amiss. However, before she could address her suspicion, the eldest among the three boys suddenly approached her.


    "Greetings, my lady!" he knelt on one knee, a display deserving of one of noble blood.


    Rebecca looked at him calmly. She couldn''t help but feel a bit complicated when she saw the boy who was just a few years above her youngest bow before her with a reverent look. To think that his father was the harbinger of the doom that was about to befall their world. It had only been about a decade since she had clashed with the legions of corruption, yet to think that the peace they had strived to achieve would be broken so soon...


    Releasing a sigh, she stretched out her hand to the young boy, "Grab my hand!"


    The boy did as instructed.


    "Now, release your law essence."


    Seeing no change in the boy''s expression, Rebecca sighed in relief but not even a second later her expression suddenly turned stone cold.


    Instead of the dark-green essence of the poison attribute, what enveloped Rebecca''s hand was a dark energy filled with thick and potent evil essence.


    The evil energy quickly crawled along her arm and tried to engulf her body. Some had already bore into her body and tried to corrupt her essence.


    "Humph!" The main hall suddenly flashed with a piercing purple light that illuminated the ghastly look on the faces of the more than forty figures in the hall, as they gazed at the scene in front of them with pure horror.


    Purple lightning crackled along Rebecca''s body, destroying the evil energy around her in a split second. In the next moment, one of the purple arcs on her body snaked across her body and passed through her hand to the smaller hand in her grasp. She watched with cold eyes as the hand in her grasp was instantly incinerated before the body soon followed after. Soon after, the smell of burnt flesh drifted slightly within the hall, serving as the only reminder of the young figure that had been in the place of the now-black ashes on the ground.


    Rebecca closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered the expression on the face of the young boy even as death drew near him.


    Serenity and Loyalty!


    To a figure he had never even seen before...


    She was reminded of how hallowing and chill-inducing the powers and abilities of the Lord of corruption were.


    All these thoughts passed through her mind in less than a second before she opened her eyes. Within that short time, the people in the hall seemed to still be shocked by what they had just witnessed. Some of them couldn''t even process what had just happened.


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    No...they refused to believe what they had just witnessed, as they knew the meaning behind its significance.


    Chaos, Pandemonium, and death.


    Rebecca ignored the frozen people around her with fear-filled looks on their faces, those who had fallen on their rear in fear as they shook their heads in denial as they muttered "No no...", and finally Dave who stood behind her in a stupor.


    Looking at the remaining two sons of Emperor Razor, she took a step closer and spoke, her voice now a pitch lower than before.


    "You next! Give me your hand!"


    The youngest among Razor''s sons who looked only a year older than her youngest Ella, seemed to be terrified by the sudden death of his brother. He seemed to not be able to understand why the beautiful figure before him had suddenly killed his brother, but Rebecca didn''t care.


    "Your hand!" She called once more, her cold eyes causing him to tremble in fear. Not daring to disobey her any longer, the boy moved his trembling hand slowly, but Rebecca quickly caught hold of it.


    "Release your essence!" She commanded once again.


    The boy did as he was told as he willed the mana in his core and used it as a medium to connect to one of the myriad laws around him.


    Soon a dark green essence burst out of his body, and it wasn''t until after Rebecca saw it that her cold eyes softened slightly.


    Seeing the boy still trembling in fear as he looked at her with fear-filled eyes, Rebecca spoke:


    "It''s okay. I won''t hurt you."


    As if sensing the sincerity in her gaze, the boy fell to his knees, and soon after a warm liquid filled his crotch area, causing an unpleasant smell to permeate the hall. However, Rebecca didn''t seem to mind as she tried to wrest her hand gently from the hand of the boy who had now broken into tears before her. She didn''t have the time nor mind to soothe him, as she felt a great rock pressing on her chest.


    However, to her surprise, she couldn''t release her hand from his grip as the boy held onto her tightly.


    Just when a displeased look started growing on her face, something unexpected suddenly happened.


    The last born who had been standing with a scared look on his face suddenly sprung forward and appeared before her instantly, a dark energy from which came the wails of ghosts covering his body.


    "Humph!" Before the boy could even throw his clenched fist in an attack, Rebecca''s will fell like a mountain on his body, and before he knew it, his body was turned into meat paste on the ground.


    But despite achieving such a result, the look on Rebecca''s face wasn''t happy or satisfied, instead, it was a bit pale.


    In the same moment that the boy had appeared before her, six figures suddenly launched out from the still shell-shocked people around her. Rebecca identified them to be among the ten remaining figures she had yet to check.


    Her face went pale when she felt her worst fear come true. Not only were Emperor Razor''s sons corrupted, but even many more seemed to have suffered the same fate.


    The six figures closed the distance to her and launched varying attacks from all directions.


    Massive roots coated with evil energy erupted from the floor of the hall, before streaking towards her. Stone spears, arrows, and swords covered by the same harrowing evil energy were launched towards her at great speed.


    Seeing that some of the attacks were directed towards the small boy still holding her hand in fear, Rebecca pulled him close into her embrace with her hand, before stretching her other hand forward. She felt the hand of the boy in her embrace grab her back tightly but she didn''t put much thought into it, as she pulled her raised hand down.


    "Fall!"


    *Rumble!*


    The roof of the main hall exploded into tiny debris, as purple lightning fell from the sky and incinerated all the attacks launched at her, before devouring the attacks soon after.


    It must be known that unlike the previous sons of Emperor Razor who had attacked her, the six figures who had just surrounded her wielded powers similar to that of the vampire Lords. Yet it had taken only an instant for Rebecca to send them to Lord Yama, without giving them time to display their full strength.


    However, once again instead of feeling happy, what Rebecca felt was deep horror as she suddenly looked at the small boy in her embrace.


    Unlike before, the boy wasn''t looking at her with scared eyes instead his now icy-cold eyes shone with a cunning light.


    "You..."


    That was the only word Rebecca was able to say before the small-sized formation that had been formed on her back activated and before she knew it she was forcefully teleported away.


    The whole palace was in shambles from the brief but terrifying confrontation that had taken place. But in one of the corners of the destroyed palace, the eyes of the guard who had brought the beast Emperor''s sons shone with a vicious light, and a sinister smile planted on his face.


    .

 CHAPTER 192: DIE

    A couple of years ago, the magical beasts of the central continent were threatened by not only the vampires and werewolves but even by outsiders who appeared out of nowhere. To resolve the problem, their then king, King Joe, one of the most talented geniuses in their race, had no choice but to personally venture out and investigate the figures threatening their existence.


    However, while the outsiders were indeed taken care of, the casualties were enormous by then. After that particular incident, the Royal Basiliks under the order of King Joe had called the three other Great Beast families for a meeting.


    After a long and careful debate, the four great families agreed to relocate the capital city to a massive island surrounded by water. The important members of their families were moved to the island, and while the general public response to their decision wasn''t good, they didn''t care. Besides, it wasn''t as if they abandoned them as they still had many branches and members spread across and controlling the various cities in the continent. After some time, affluent figures were able to gain access to the island, and before you knew it, the city grew to the size it was now.


    .....


    Emperor Razor watched with cold eyes as the werewolf queen, someone who in normal situations he wasn''t able to have a single exchange with disappear due to his meticulous yet treacherous plan. He had to use a special technique to hide the scent of his body to the utmost limit due to the inhuman sense of the werewolf race. And yet despite all his plans and even after withdrawing his aura to the fullest, he was almost found out in the first instant she set his eyes on him. Thankfully, everything turned out well, all because of his supposed last born.


    ''The greatest decision I had ever made is not corrupting that boy.'' He couldn''t help but thank his lucky stars for the choice that he had made then because of the unique abilities of the boy. But now, that decision of several years was what saved him today.


    ''But it is not yet over...''


    Not even a second after Rebecca disappeared, Emperor Razor''s eyes moved inside the helmet covering his head as he quickly surveyed the room.


    He felt a pang of pain at the loss of his Elders who he was planning to corrupt. Such terrifying figures had been eradicated in a mere instant...he. couldn''t help but feel a chill...


    Shaking his head, he noticed that the majority of the figures he had brought with him had died, some by Rebecca''s hands like his two deceased sons and some from the aftermath of the lightning falling from the sky. The only person remaining was his last born who had been protected by Rebecca herself yet had been her downfall. Seeing the boy disappear into the shadows, Emperor Razor couldn''t help but nod his head in appreciation.


    ''Smart boy...''


    However, his eyes soon creased when he didn''t see a figure or at least his corpse in the destroyed hall.


    ''That coward must have fled at some point...'' He wasn''t surprised to see his uncle Dave had fled. In fact, if it wasn''t because he had to be prudent because of how alert his uncle was, he would have corrupted many more among the elders.


    All these thoughts went through his mind in less than five seconds. He knew that the guards along with other members of his race would be here soon due to the brief yet alarming battle, but most importantly...


    ''She will be here any moment. I have to act fast...''


    His body seemed to defy all logic, as he broke the sound barrier with a Sonic boom, the sonic wave clearing all the debris around him. In less than a split second, Razor disappeared from the spot as he crossed several kilometers in but a second. Without holding back his strength he ran with all his might, his only thought, to leave as much distance as he could from the ruined palace.


    Five seconds after Emperor Razor disappeared from the scene, the space suddenly distorted for a moment before a tall and slender figure appeared.


    Standing at over three meters in height, Scarlett''s snow-white hair danced behind her even in the absence of air as her aura increasingly rose. Her usual indifferent but cold eyes shone with a rare murderous intent as she surveyed the scene around her. She had just left the minor world in which the humans were hidden and were about to head to the Darkblood academy when she felt the aura of her sister suddenly vanish from her senses.


    She could sense some fluctuation in the space before her, which she didn''t need to guess to be the reason for her sister''s disappearance. Seeing that the fluctuation was about to disappear completely, she quickly spread her will which was connected to the world together with her spiritual sense.


    It didn''t take Scarlett long to notice two figures running in opposite directions as if trying to escape from something or someone. Scarlett frowned a little when she saw the small boy of about twelve years running with all his might, as a greenish essence covered his body. She quickly ignored his existence as she didn''t believe such a young boy could have anything to do with her sister''s disappearance.


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    But when she focused her senses on the other figure, a wave of murderous intent erupted from her body. It didn''t take her a moment to identify who he was. If she had not entered a minor world, she might have sensed his presence if she had tried to search for him again, alas, it seemed luck was on the other party''s side.


    Her body blurred for a moment as she thought to give chase, but she quickly decided against it when she could only feel a slight trace of the previous fluctuation in space in front of her.


    Without hesitation, she slashed her hand down as if wielding a sword in front of her and what happened next was nothing short of shocking.


    A long tear appeared in the space before her and not even a second later, Scarlett plunged into it, but not before her cold voice resounded in the area.


    "Die!"


    The long crack in space quickly healed and in just three breaths, it disappeared without a trace.


    .....


    Emperor Razor had already left the area around his palace and soon after he left the grand estate owned by the Royal Basiliks. Even then, he ran without any care of the expenditure of his mana, as he entered a street lined by the sides by tall luxurious buildings.


    Just when he sighed a bit in relief, a cold voice seemed to cut through space and arrive beside his ears:


    "Die!"


    Razor''s face fell, as his body became cold. Looking up, he saw the clear sky covered by several flying beasts suddenly darken, causing the aerial beasts to scream in fear.


    Chaos erupted as the blue sky turned dark. Then the sky for hundreds of kilometers rumbled as lightning cackled noisily, and intermingled with the blood-red snakes were crimson flame whose terrifying heat seemed to burn the ground despite the distance.


    Several figures panicked as little beasts in their human forms cried in fear, while the fear-filled roars of countless beasts filled the skies.


    No one knew or understood what was happening but their instincts told them to move as far away as they could from the darkened skies. However, how was it possible for these weak beasts to cross hundreds of kilometers in a short time when even Razor could not?


    Less than three breaths after the blood-red lightning and crimson flames manifested in the sky, a massive pillar formed from their combination suddenly fell from the sky, covering an area of hundreds of kilometers.


    The ground turned into lava before the pillar of flame and lightning even arrived, and countless figures died before they could scream in fear.


    "AH!"


    An angry and unwilling cry suddenly shook the area.


    Emperor Razor watched the falling pillar of destruction with craze-filled eyes, and without any restraint, all his mana burst out from his body.


    His skin turned crimson red from the falling pillar, however, the pain he felt only fueled his unrelenting determination to survive. His will erupted from his body and together with his mana, the poison laws in his almost seventy-kilometer surrounding had no choice but to fall into his control.


    An evil essence erupted from his body soon after, before covering the same range of the field formed from his will. All those who had survived the heat screamed in fear as their bodies engulfed by the evil energy, started getting corrupted. But before the process could even finish, Emperor Razor''s will finally manifested.


    The ground beneath him and his will field seemed to turn into an abyss located within the terrifying maw of an ancient beast. Soon after, a pillar of black-greenish poison rose from the ground before rising to the sky to meet the crimson pillar with blood-red snakes crackling around it.


    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!


    RUMBLE!


    The skies rumbled as the earth shook. All the lives under the falling pillar were instantly sniffed out, safe for Emperor Razor who was still roaring atop his lungs with his eyes raised high as if supporting the skies.


    The black-greenish breath-like attack surrounding him seemed to stop the crimson pillar from falling from the sky despite being several times smaller.


    However, Emperor Razor''s already reptilian eyes narrowed into pin size as the falling reflection of a crimson pillar stopped for a moment before descending with a crushing force shone in his eyes.


    "NOOOOOO!" An unwilling scream shook the area before it was swallowed by the crimson pillar.


    RUMBLE!!!


    The entire city spanning thousands of kilometers shook as if experiencing a severe earthquake. Shocked cries filled the entire city as it descended into pandemonium.


    *****


    The Emberclaw Legion, Stoneclaw Pride, and Beast association were alerted to the sudden chaos within the city. Several grand figures trembled in fear as they gazed intently at the calamity that had abruptly descended from the sky.


    They didn''t doubt for one second that the main branch of their rulers, the Royal Basiliks had been razed to the ground, as their territory was also within the range of the crimson pillar. The only question in their mind was how many survived and why such a disaster had befallen them in the first place.


    After the dust settled, several strong aura suddenly flew into the sky in the direction of the attack.


    Not before long, the leaders and elders of the three great families arrived at the scene. But what they saw shocked them to the core.


    A massive crater hundreds of kilometers wide and hundreds of meters deep formed in the ground. The ground had turned into molten lava, the heat searing at their skin even though they were in the sky. The sudden flashes of blood-red lightning within the lava pool made their hearts tremble.


    "Heavens! Wh-What is going on?" An elder couldn''t help but voice out with a shaky voice, unfortunately, nobody could answer him, as they were just as oblivious to the situation.


    Just when many of the elders were about to move to check on the territory of the Royal Basiliks, a certain part of the lava sea below them bubbled, causing them to flinch in fear.


    "What is it now..." Before that person could finish his words, a figure engulfed in thick darkness burst out from within the lava before shooting into the sky.

 CHAPTER 193: THE FOUR GREAT BEAST FAMILYS LEADERS CLASH!

    The Capital city of the magical beasts.


    The four great families had moved to this place in the hope of using the water as a natural form of defense, of course, that was what was told to the general public, however, no one believed them, and they were smart not to. The truth was that the Royal Basiliks had secret records of an ancient defense formation located deep within the water, and it was only after sharing this information that the other families accepted their proposal.


    But who would have thought that what they feared most wouldn''t be caused by outsiders trying to attack the city, but instead by a citizen living within it, and one with one of the highest status at that?


    One-fifth of the massive city was submerged by lava, every wisp of life eradicated within its range. And that included the main branch of the Royal Basiliks: their elders, members, armies, and even their servants. There was a big possibility that they were all dead. As for the leader, no one was sure if he was dead as they knew he had left to investigate the cause of the sudden lightning flashes in the sky and the shaking of the earth, a couple of hours ago.


    Just when some of the leaders and elders started moving towards the direction of the Royal Basiliks territory, a sudden change took place. A certain portion of the lava below them churned greatly, and before they could react, a figure shot into the sky, and quickly cut across it.


    "Wh-What? Who was that?"


    The elders screamed in surprise, as they couldn''t catch a glimpse of the figure that moved so fast their eyes couldn''t follow the movement. Only the expressions of the three leaders changed, as a shocked look appeared on their faces. Quickly exchanging glances, they shot into the distance as they gave chase.


    The elders were perplexed about what was going on but left with no choice, they quickly followed their leaders.


    .....


    The magical beasts within the capital city trembled in fear, their eyes filled with pure terror. If it hadn''t been for the members of the remaining three great beast families who were quick to act, it was sure that the cities would have been filled with chaos. But under their control, each member of the city was forced to stay in their house and not leave until further notice.


    Within the territory of the Beast Association.


    Unlike the other great beast families who had a unique bloodline that was passed to future descendants, the beast association as could be inferred from its name, was an association of different magical beasts who refused to be under the control of the other three great families. After several years of resistance and with many powerful figures at their helm, the association was able to stand toe to toe with the other families. Of course, they were still the weakest among the group, but that didn''t matter. What mattered was that they also wielded power almost equal to the three, and could make decisions on their own.


    "Stop right there!" An angry cry suddenly shook the skies above the territory of the Beast Association. Most of the important figures had already moved out into the city to control the situation while those remaining had already shut themselves in their houses, leaving the streets empty and devoid of any presence.


    Razor who had been flying across the sky with the little bit of strength he had left finally fell to the ground after failing to dodge the attack of the leader of the Emberclaw legion.


    Bang!


    His body formed several craters of different sizes as he rolled across the ground before coming to a stop.


    Razor''s mouth opened uncontrollably, and a red liquid with dark wisps forced its way out of his mouth, with pieces of his internal organs mixed within.


    Despite surviving through Scarlett''s attack, Razor''s current state could only be described in one word.


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    Grave!


    Pieces of his scorched flesh clung to his body, some even revealing part of his bones. His dark hair was almost completely burnt, the revealed scalp suffering the same fate. His body was covered in blood, his blood, and his breath was shallow and almost to the point of non-existent, showing that he was almost close to death.


    Raising his head, Razor''s blood-red eyes quickly fixed on the figure who had attacked him.


    A red-haired man with matching eyebrows glared at him in fury. It didn''t even take a moment to recognize the presence above him despite his blurry vision. Not many had such a distinct appearance, and among those few, only one had such an immense presence.


    "Cassian..."


    That was right. The person above him was the leader of the Emberclaw legion.


    Cassian''s fiery temperament erupted instantly. Looking at the sinister aura surrounding Razor, he roared out, his voice booming in the distance:


    "Razor, you file beast! I always felt there was something wrong with you. To think that you were one of the corrupted..."


    He didn''t even finish his words before he jumped into action.


    Razor wasn''t surprised. The Emberclaw Legion were known for their fiery disposition, and even among them, Cassian stood out.


    A massive fireball five meters in diameter suddenly lunged at the kneeling Razor, the heat emanating from it burning his already scorched skin before arriving.


    "Great wall!"


    RUMBLE!


    The ground in front of Razor suddenly shook, before a wall about twenty meters high rose before him.


    BOOOOOOOOOOM!


    The fireball exploded against the thick wall, causing countless cracks to spread from the point of impact, however in the end, the wall held, even protecting Razor from the shockwaves generated.


    As the wall fell back to the earth, Razor saw a gaunt-looking man standing before him.


    "Galen! What are you doing?"


    Cassian shouted at the yellow-haired man in front of him, who shared the same status as him.


    The leader of the Stoneclaw Pride appeared indifferent before Cassian''s rage.


    Instead, he threw a pill at the kneeling Razor and said one word.


    "Heal."


    Seeing this, the last presence who had appeared at the same instant as Cassian and had protected the houses around them from his attacks using their shadows finally spoke:


    "Galen?"


    Galen looked at the questioning look on the face of the leader of the Beast Association and opted to remain silent. His usually warm eyes were now cold, while the friendly aura he usually emanated was nowhere to be seen.


    Seeing that Razor was rapidly healing after taking the pill, Cassian quickly acted.


    "There is no need for words. It is clear that Galen is with that bastard, and we must kill them without fail." Shouting to no one in particular, Cassian lunged at Galen.


    Two fireballs appeared at his sides this time, with a size double the previous one. The heat emanated from them caused the temperature in the surroundings to rise several degrees and it wasn''t long before some of the buildings around them started showing signs of catching fire.


    ''This bastard...'' Iro cursed Cassian''s several generations within his mind. The fiery idiot had not even taken a moment to think about the implications of two out of the four great beast families becoming corrupted and had merely acted on impulse.


    Left with no choice, Iro quickly commanded the shadows cast by the houses around him to cover them and offer a layer of defense.


    Thankfully, the elders of their families finally arrived.


    The two fireballs cast by Cassian collided with two massive hands that were formed from pure stones.


    BOOOOOM!


    BOOOOOM!


    Two great explosions shook the area, and if it wasn''t for the dark shadows covering the buildings, they would have been long destroyed.


    "Quickly evacuate the citizens!" Iro shouted at his elders only for his eyes to widen at what he saw.


    Taking advantage of the other elder''s confusion when they appeared at the scene, the Stoneclaw Pride''s Elders launched sneaked attacks, taking the lives of many unaware elders. Blood rained from the sky, as a thick metallic smell spread out.


    The other elders acted quickly and successfully defended themselves, though they didn''t escape unscathed.


    Seeing three of his elders who had shared and laughed with him in the morning killed in an instant, Iro finally registered the severity of the situation.


    Three of his people had died, and they were strong people at that. The question was how many more would follow? Thousands? Millions?


    ROOOOOAAAAR!


    Shifting his eyes to Cassian who had turned into an eighty-meters-long red wyvern and Galen who had turned into a sixty-meters-tall yellow-striped tiger, Iro slowly brought down his raised hands, causing the shadows surrounding the buildings to retreat.


    ''That is right!'' he couldn''t help but agree with the foolish Cassian, ''What matters now is killing these two and their elders quickly.''


    He knew the terror of the evil laws. It was almost like a virus that could spread undetected and he knew that if they didn''t bring these few corrupted down quickly, the entire magical beast race might be at risk.


    With his mind made up, Iro finally launched into the great brawl which despite having started less than three breaths ago had caused great destruction to the surroundings.


    As his body moved towards the fight between the two titanic figures, his body was suddenly engulfed by deep Shadows, and from within their embrace came a forty-meter-high beast.


    ROOOAR!


    The furious roar of a shadow panther shook the surroundings.

 CHAPTER 194: IRIS

    "AHH!"


    "RUN!"


    "WE ARE GOING TO DIE!"


    Iris looked at the chaos around her as she panted for breath. The once great magical beast''s capital city has descended into chaos. Smoke rose to the sky, as countless buildings caught aflame. The sound of explosions constantly shook the city, causing her to lose her footing and fall clumsily.


    But every time she fell, Iris would quickly rise and run.


    Run for her life.


    She didn''t want to die...


    No, she couldn''t die. She had yet to avenge her father, mother, and her big sister. Not to mention that she still wanted to see her little brother.


    Joe!


    Despite not being from the same mother, Iris loved Joe like she would any other. She had always wished to have a junior sibling as she hated the way she was always treated as the last born. Everyone spoilt her and would grant her every wish. That in itself wasn''t bad, but the way they treated her words like a little child''s always infuriated her. Of course, she was a child, but it was as if they all wanted her to remain that cute girl, whose cheek they could always pull in joy.


    But the heavens had answered her wish, and her father had brought a little brother for her from outside.


    And she had abandoned that little brother of hers a few months ago.


    Every night Iris spent since then always felt long, as she couldn''t sleep, her thoughts clouded by her brother''s welfare.


    She had already regretted her decision many times and had gone in search of her little brother. However, she couldn''t find him no matter how she searched.


    It was almost as if he had disappeared or...


    He was dead!


    ''No, no...'' Iris shook her head as she rejected that thought, ''He is alive. He is definitely alive.''


    Finding renewed strength from her belief, she ran faster towards the gate of the city.


    However, she wasn''t alone, as the streets were crowded by terror-stricken beasts who were trying their hardest to escape from the great clash far behind them.


    Iris had no choice but to push and squeeze past several bodies. There were times when she saw people fall accidentally in their hurry before they were stampeded by the crazy crowd. Children cried for their mothers but she ignored them. Elderly beasts cried for help but she ran past them.


    After months of suffering and struggles, she finally found her way back to the capital city, where the target of her revenge was. Only Iris knew what she had suffered and lost to Join the Beast Association. No other family could help her fight her enemy who now wielded the entire power and force of the Royal Basiliks.


    And among the other three great families, only one could help her.


    The Beast Association!


    But it wasn''t easy joining the association, after all, she was a member of the people they had formed to fight against. But she had proven herself to the higher-ups of the association and after seeing that her will for revenge was indeed genuine, they finally accepted. It hadn''t even been a week since she was allowed into the main branch in the capital city.


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    Yet it seemed death had come for her even before she could achieve her goals.


    ''No...''


    ''I have to survive!''


    ''I must survive!''


    Suddenly...


    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!


    Iris turned her head back in time to see in the distance how a several hundred-meter-long green-scaled snake coiled around itself, before launching itself up like a spring into the sky.


    Its razor-sharped teeth plunged into the neck of the red wyvern eliciting a pain-filled scream, before its hundred-meter-long body quickly coiled around it and drew taut.


    The wings of the massive red wyvern were forcefully squeezed against its body, causing the two titanic beasts to fall from the sky.


    ROOOAR!


    The red wyverns roared in anger, a fiery breath shooting out from its mouth, destroying countless buildings and lives in its paths before spreading a wave of fire to its surroundings. More smoke rose to the sky.


    However, despite his mighty attack, the wyvern''s struggle was to no avail. The rapid descent of the two titanic beasts pulled by gravity reflected in Iris''s eyes.


    Subconsciously, she quickly braced herself for what was about to come.


    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!


    A mighty shockwave spread out from where the two beasts had fallen, destroying the structures in its path, and arriving before Iris in less than three breaths.


    Iris''s irises contracted to the utmost, as she watched the shockwave impact into her and send her body flying forward for tens of meters. She collided with several objects, some soft and some hard eliciting several bursts of moan filled with pain from her mouth. Throughout the entire flight, the ground shook greatly as if experiencing a severe earthquake.


    After what seemed like an eternity, she came out of her disoriented state and weakly raised her head. A trickle of blood fell down the side of her mouth and it wasn''t until after a full minute that she finally came to. As her blurry vision cleared, what Iris saw elicited tears from her eyes.


    Countless bodies were strewn around her with no sign of movement. A pool of blood had long covered the region. Iris realized that she couldn''t move her body. A deep feeling of fear engulfed her when she thought she had lost her lower limbs or worse had damaged her spine. It wasn''t until after she calmed down a little that she realized that she was buried under several bodies or rather corpses.


    She struggled to push them off her to no avail. It seemed that despite surviving, she wasn''t in her beast state.


    The image of the hundred meters long snake pulling the massive wyvern was still imprinted in her mind.


    ¡¯How do I face that...Him?'' There was no need for her to ponder the identity of the green-scaled snake. There was a reason why her eldest brother was named Razor. Normally, the Royal Basiliks had two long sharp fangs protruding out of their mouth, with which they could bite into their enemies and inflict deadly poison. However, Razor was different. Rather than two long fangs, what filled his mouth was a set of razor-sharped teeth, hence his name.


    A feeling of tiredness suddenly gripped Iris''s heart as she was awoken to her great weakness.


    Raising her head stiffly, she looked into the distance and saw how a forty-meter-high black panther suddenly appeared from the back of a sixty-meter-high yellow-striped tiger. Five huge earth spikes suddenly rose from the sides of the tiger to attack the falling panther, only to be held back by dark hands that seemed to have risen from the tiger''s shadow. The panther successfully landed on the back of the tiger but just when it opened its jaws to bite into its neck, the tiger twisted its body, causing the two to tumble around themselves and destroy whatever remained of the buildings around them. Iris could feel the slight tremor in the pool of blood beneath her every time the two beasts clashed against them.


    Raising her only free hand to no one in particular, Iris struggled to shout but her voice only came out as a low whisper:


    "Help..."


    However, even after many breaths, no one appeared to save her. Just when Iris''s hand was about to fall, she suddenly felt a small yet firm grip on her hand.


    Opening her eyes once again, she saw how a boy about twelve years old grabbed her hand while he threw the bodies off her.


    Her eyes slowly widened when she identified her savior, and soon after two lines of tears fell down her face.


    ''Is fate playing a prank on me?''


    She watched as the short dark-haired boy with green reptilian eyes like her, carried her before placing her body on his back. Then with slow but steady steps, he made his way out of the city.


    Closing her eyes, Iris relaxed weakly on the boy''s back.


    To think that she would be saved by the son of the person she was trying to kill...


    That is right.


    The person who saved her was no other than Razor''s remaining son, his last born, and her nephew.


    *****


    AN: Enjoyed the chapter? Then, drop a comment!

 CHAPTER 195: THREE ABOMINATIONS

    AN: I am sorry I didn''t publish any chapter for almost an entire week. I have been sick and bedridden these past couple of days, and it wasn''t until recently that I could continue writing. I promise if such a thing is to happen again, I will at least drop a notice beforehand. Sorry once again for my absence.


    *****


    Immediately after stepping into the spatial crack, Scarlett felt like she was floating in the endless void. However, just as her mind registered the feeling, she felt solid ground beneath her.


    She didn''t need to look around her to know her surroundings. Still, she opened her eyes, but the first thing she looked at was the dark sky. There was no sun, no moon, and no star. With no source of illumination, the sky was pitch darkness.


    It didn''t take Scarlett a second to realize where she was.


    ''A dead planet?''


    A trace of surprise flashed through her eyes. She had thought the Void Emperor had already taken care of every dead world since the last great war. So how was it that she was in one?


    ''Unless...'' A feeling of anguish gripped her heart, but she quickly shook the emotion away.


    Cracks filled the ground below her, as a feeling of desolateness pervaded the area. She could feel how the world was devoid of life, an inherent quality of a dead world. And since she knew that every known one had been destroyed, the only explanation was that this dead world was once a vibrant world, like hers. However, it had been corrupted, its world consciousness destroyed, and every sign of life wiped away.


    She didn''t know how that was possible, especially since she knew that the void Emperor had surrounded countless worlds with spatial barriers just like the Lunar World.


    Yet it seemed even with all the contingencies put in place, the forces of corruption could not be impeded.


    All these thoughts went through her mind in just a moment.


    "I''m sorry, sister..." A soft beautiful voice pulled her out of her thoughts.


    Raising her head slightly, Scarlett saw the person she had chased after and crossed many light-years for. Rebecca stood in the sky, her short but slender figure radiating with might. Despite being surrounded by countless dark figures, her small figure stood out like a moon surrounded by innumerable stars.


    Instead of answering her directly, Scarlett sent her voice directly into her mind:


    "What is going on?"


    "Let me show you..."


    Rebecca brought her most recent memory to mind for her sister to see, and as the event of how she was sent into this dead world became known to her, a cold light flashed within Scarlett''s eyes.


    ''So, it was that boy!''


    She wasn''t sure if her last-ditch attack had killed Emperor Razors but now she was determined to skill both father and son once she returned to her world.


    "Old bitch!"


    A deep voice called her attention. A fierce glint flashed within Scarlett''s eyes as she finally surveyed the crowd, no...the army that surrounded her. Countless figures filled the skies and the ground, looking like a dark tide that covered the earth.


    Her spiritual energy burst out from her body and in but three breaths covered the surrounding 100 kilometers, and yet she still couldn''t see the end of the dark tide. She estimated that the figures surrounding her were well past a billion, and even had a feeling that the number might be several times that.


    Still, her spiritual energy quickly focused on the three figures within the encroaching darkness, and what she saw finally made her cold yet indifferent expression break, even if it was only for a moment.


    Abominations!


    The guardians of the Lord of Corruption!


    Scarlett didn''t know which type of demon Emperor Razor was, but she could tell he was a new kind, one unknown to the world.


    Still, three kinds of followers of the Lord of corruption were known to the public, especially after the last great war.


    The lesser demons- beasts whose senses had been stripped off and were no different from mindless weapons. Their only desire was to taint any pure source of life around them and bring worlds and the universe as a whole into endless ruin.


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    The greater demons-the true menace among the followers of the Evil Lord. Indistinguishable from normal humans, they secretly mingle with people and actively corrupt those they deem important. The only way to source them out is to force them to use their mana.


    And last but not the least, the recent followers who appeared in the last great war.


    The Abominations-the guardians of the Lord of corruption. Each represented a unique emotion of the Evil Lord, and each wielded unfathomable power no less than their lord. They were the main reason why the Lord of Corruption had survived the onslaught of countless worlds and many mighty powers in the last great war.


    And among those small but mighty guardians, were three who stood within the army that surrounded her. The worst of it all was that Scarlett recognized one of them who was known to be one of the strongest among the abominations.


    "Pride!" Scarlett''s voice which sounded like a whisper was carried by the winds into the distance toward the target.


    A huge grotesque figure about three hundred meters high who resembled an amalgamation of countless corpses flashed an evil grin when it heard its name.


    "You remember me? What a pleasure!"


    Scarlett took a step forward causing the numerousfigures that surrounded her to flinch. However, she remained uncaring as her tall figure appeared beside Rebecca, her ruby eyes glowing in the surrounding darkness as they fixed on the titan in the distance.


    "How are you here? Is your pathetic Lord with you?" She threw out two questions at the same time.


    Hearing her call their Lord pathetic, the dark tide which had remained still suddenly stirred, as a wave of evil aura erupted from them before shooting into the sky.


    "My my! You are still as fearless as I remember. Don''t you fear your life will end today?"


    Genuinely surprised by the reply, Scarlett raised an eyebrow before studying the army who glared at her with red eyes, as if they wanted to drink her blood and suck her bones. Her gaze rested on the two other mountainous figures just a bit smaller than Pride in the distance before finally returning to Pride.


    "With just you?"


    Hearing the arrogance in her voice, Pride burst into laughter, his voice causing the surrounding foul air to rumble.


    "Hahahahahaha!"


    "With just me? Hahahahaha!"


    "Sorrow, Doubt, did you hear what she said?" Pride kept laughing even as he spoke but it seemed the two other abominations didn''t share in his humor, as one merely snorted while the other remained silent.


    After a while, Pride''s laughter slowly died down.


    "You know..." he trailed off as he brought his mountain-like hand down to his side before lifting an object that had been resting there, "Not only are we-am I going to kill you, but I am also going to kill that wretched werewolf beside you. And then I will offer both of your corpses to my Lord to turn into his new minions." Resting the enormous axe on his shoulder, Pride continued, "While me alone might not be able to accomplish it, which hits my pride so badly, I don''t believe thirty billion corrupted together with Sorrow and Doubt will not be enough. After all, this is all we have to offer after almost an entire decade of preparation."


    Scarlett''s eyes instantly narrowed when she heard the shocking number of thirty billion. It seemed she had not been wrong in her estimate and had even wildly understated it. It also confirmed one of her suspicions.


    ''This dead planet was once a world. And the majority of these people were its inhabitants.'' Despite dividing her mind to listen to the Abomination and think at the same time, Scarlett was also able to not only pay careful attention to the terrifying army surrounding her but was also secretly conversing with Rebecca using her spiritual sense.


    "Besides..." Pride continued, "I left a gift for you in your home world." Finally eliciting a great change from Scarlett''s expression, Pride laughed out in satisfaction.


    "Is wasting time like this not giving them a chance to plan? This would just lower our chances of successfully killing them." Another deep voice, not lacking in the slightest in power suddenly cut Pride''s laughter short.


    "You are no fun, Doubt!" Despite saying that, Pride pointed his axe in Scarlett''s direction and then commanded.


    "Attack!"


    The still and silent army finally moved.


    At the same time, Scarlett''s voice continued to resound in Rebecca''s mind.


    ''So, the plan is to escape?''


    ''Yes, sister. And the sooner the better. We don''t know what our people are facing right now, but we have to assume the worst situation.''


    ''Okay then, let us deal with the small riff raffs.''


    ''Just my thoughts exactly.''


    .....


    A massive cloud of sinister evil energy billowed against the two slender figures, one tall and one short from every direction, yet both figures remained impassive and without any fear in their charge.


    Rebecca raised her hand lightly, and in response, the dark clouds above her suddenly churned, before purple lightning started crackling intermittently within them.


    Illuminated by the new source of light, the approaching enemies truly resembled a dark surge that was trying to swarm and swallow them. However, before the first person could even approach them, Rebecca brought her raised hand down.


    "Fall!"


    With Rebecca as the center, purple lightning as thick as an adult thigh fell continuously from the sky in the surrounding hundreds of kilometers, incinerating all the armies who tried to struggle against them in an instant, and causing a huge clearing to form at the vanguard of the approaching enemies.


    "How sad! Hundreds of millions of corrupted just died like that." The only Abomination who had yet to speak suddenly voiced out.


    "Hahaha! It''s not as if they were alive, Sorrow." Pride bellowed out in laughter, as he remained unaffected by the grand display of power from the enemies he was trying to kill.


    ''Sister...'' Rebecca said in her mind.


    ''I know.'' A cold voice responded to her.


    Looking at the still innumerable enemies that surrounded them, Scarlett''s ruby eyes shone with a cold light, as her spiritual energy burst out from her body like an endless sea before swallowing all the enemies in her sight, including the abominations.


    Her red luscious lips parted slightly for her cold voice to spread out:


    "Attack!"


    In response, the laughing Pride and the still Sorrow and Doubt finally had a grave change in expression when they felt control of their minds actively being wrung off from their grasp.


    However, while they were still struggling to fight against the terrifying soul attack, they saw how their armies of tens of billions seemed to lose all minds and start attacking each other.


    As a look of displeasure started surfacing on Pride''s face, Scarlett''s cold but arrogant voice suddenly drifted into his ears.


    "How dare you act so arrogantly before me with such a measly army?!"

 CHAPTER 196: CLASH OF THE MIGHTY!

    What is the concept of an attack reaping the lives of hundreds of millions? Such power had almost left the realm of human understanding. Such was the power wielded by mighty figures such as Rebecca, the strongest of an entire race, and a major one at that.


    However, despite the wondrous display of her might, Scarlett went far beyond her... with just a word.


    Soul cultivators.


    Even more rarer than the mighty physical warriors were the terrifying soul-forging cultivators. Like mana and Ki cultivators, soul cultivators had their cultivation system which could be divided into two major stages.


    The preliminary stage involved developing and improving the quality and quantity of spiritual energy.


    The main stages, involve using the formed spiritual energies to form Spiritual bodies such as the spiritual lake, the sea of consciousness, and the fabled mental world.


    Just like the beginner, advanced, master, and grandmaster realms were to prepare mages to form their true core, and one-star to twelve-star stages were to prepare warriors to form their astral bodies, the preliminary stages of soul cultivation involved a simple yet difficult process. Forming and developing their spiritual energy not just in quantity but also in quality.


    To enter the true stages of soul cultivation, a soul forger needed to have spiritual energy that could cover a distance of ten kilometers. Just what was the concept of that? It meant one would be able to see and observe a region of ten kilometers with even clearer details than with the naked eye.


    Such a stringent condition made it so that soul forgers are even more difficult to find than ki cultivators.


    Once a soul forger fulfills the condition, they will be able to embark on the true stages of soul cultivation and become an Infant Soul forger.


    The true stages of soul cultivation could be divided into three grand realms.


    The Infant Soul stage which is further divided into low-level, mid-level, high-level, and peak level. At this stage, the soul forger turns their spiritual energy into a lake of consciousness.


    The Adult soul stage with a minimum condition of spiritual energy that could cover a 100km distance was also also divided into four smaller levels. Here, the soul forger transforms their lake of consciousness into a sea of consciousness.


    And the legendary Supreme soul stage, where the soul forger transforms their sea of consciousness into a mental world that they could summon into the physical world. In their mental world, the soul forgers are no different from gods. However, such a stage has never been reached before, at least even when traced back to the ancient records, there has never been such an existence.


    The closest there have ever been was an adult soul forger, and that person was a singular existence in all of the dark universe. No other soul forger has been able to break the barrier between the infant soul stage and the adult soul stage. It must be known that just having a quantity of spiritual energy that could cover a hundred-kilometer distance was the minimum condition, and there were far stricter conditions that dealt with the quality of the spiritual energy.


    Since soul forgers were even rarer than Ki cultivators, it was only normal that they would wield more fearsome abilities than a warrior''s inhuman might and undying bodies.


    And that horrifying power was currently being displayed by the strongest soul forger in the history of soul cultivation, a singular existence in the entire universe, the primogenitor of the vampire race...


    Scarlett!


    With her spiritual energy covering a region of almost five hundred kilometers, Scarlett''s single word had turned all within her sea of spiritual energy into mindless beasts.


    The terrifying sight of an army of hundreds of millions attacking each other mindlessly would send a chill down the spine of any observer.


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    Standing within such a slaughter, Scarlett watched serenely as Pride, one of the three abominations who had trapped her, fought against her soul attacks. Despite looking calm, the trickle of sweat that fell down the side of Scarlett''s face betrayed her serenity. Even for her, such an attack was a bit too much for her to handle and it was clear she wouldn''t be able to hold on for long.


    ''Now...'' she quickly transmitted to Rebecca.


    Rebecca didn''t hesitate any longer, as she lunged towards one of the three abominations, Doubt, bringing with her, her lightning field of almost a hundred meters, as the rain of purple lightning incinerated all the mindless corrupted in her path. Her charge formed a straight clearing a hundred meters wide in the dark tide of corrupted. In but three seconds, she arrived before Doubt, the lightning field she brought with her raining devastating attacks on the struggling abomination.


    However, before the purple snakes could deal any substantial damage, Doubt who had been holding his head while releasing painful grunts suddenly snapped his eyes open in her direction.


    Five halos of dark light suddenly burst out of his body with whirring sounds as they rotated at great speed. One of the black halos quickly flew above him, one flew to his front, another to his back, and the last two to his right and left, before they turned into spinning wheels that turned into bottomless abysses as they swallowed all the purple lightning rained on him.


    Within the domains formed by his five halos, Doubt''s building-sized eyes glared at Rebecca''s small figure as two massive pitch-black sabers appeared in his hands.


    Together with his body that was over two hundred meters tall, Doubt resembled a true unholy titan that was trying to cleave a mountain into two as he swung his two huge sabers in a cross slash.


    Seeing Doubt break out of Scarlett''s soul attack, Rebecca didn''t hesitate to bring out her full might. She knew this was a race against time, and Scarlett wouldn''t be able to continue her almost god-like feat much longer. So she had to eliminate at least one abomination with the time she had bought for them.


    Her body suspended in mid-air within the field of purple lightning quickly underwent a massive transformation. Her small but busty figure slowly disappeared and what took its place was a huge mighty wolf with purplish furs about sixty meters high. Its purple eyes resembled two purple suns that sparked with a million charges. Golden bracelets with intricate designs covered the wrist and ankles of the purple wolf, adding an aesthetic beauty to its mighty figure.


    Not even two seconds after Rebecca fully transformed, the sixty-meter-high purple wolf suddenly bared its terrifying fangs before transmuting into a thick lightning that lunged at the front spinning halo. Like a drill piercing into a thick wall, the thick lightning seemed to penetrate the bottomless abyss before it, as it made a narrow opening through which a flood of purple lightning entered.


    However, like Moses parting the Red Sea, the flood of purple lightning was suddenly cleaved into two by Doubt''s hill-sized sabers, causing the purple flood charging at it to pass by his sides. But before he could even celebrate his successful defense, from within the purple flood that passed beside him, a bolt of thick lightning suddenly charged out before re-transforming into the sixty-meter-high wolf who used its claw to grab the back of Doubt''s grotesque head. Before Doubt could react, his body was pushed forward against his will, and he slammed into the ground with a great rumble.


    BOOOOOM!


    The shockwave formed by the titanic figures of Doubt slamming into the ground not only generated a mighty shockwave that pushed the surrounding flood of lightning and even the still-spinning black halos away but even caused the bodies of thousands of mindless corrupted surrounding them to burst into bloody mists.


    VOOOOOOOM!


    At the same time, the eyes of Scarlett whose face had already pooled with sweat turned into pin size as she watched the pitch-black massive axe suddenly thrown by Pride break the space barrier and arrive before her in less than a split second.


    Subconsciously, she raised her hand to stop the axe, a foolish gesture as the axe was tens of times bigger than even her tall figure. Despite the terrifying power hidden within her body, Scarlett was flung away together with the axe like a ragdoll into the distance. Instantly, the corrupted who were being mindlessly controlled came to, a confused expression painting their faces.


    But their confusion didn''t even last long as...


    ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!


    Scarlett who was flung away together with the huge axe suddenly roared in anger, and from her hand which was still in contact with the shaft of the axe, her body quickly transformed.


    From the air, two massive legs suddenly fell to the ground, creating two massive ditches as they slid across the earth from the remaining force. The flying axe was brought to an abrupt stop by a hand filled with sharp glistening claws.


    Surrounded by a pool of dark blood which had formed on the ground by the unfortunate corrupted who were squashed by the two massive legs, a hundred meters high monster with no eyes or nose on its face opened its mouth filled with jagged teeth and released a deep terrifying roar.


    ROAR!


    The minds of the corrupted who just came to blanked out, their heads filled with ringing sounds, as the sound wave passed ahead of them and cleared the dark sky.


    AN: Drop a like or comment. It helps to motivate me to write and will help in improving my writing.

 CHAPTER 197: CLASH OF THE MIGHTY II

    A world of darkness descended upon the area. A black sphere about ten kilometers in diameter formed on the battlefield, engulfing the world in pitch black.


    From within the walls of the sphere formed countless bats with crimson fangs. The innumerable fangs flew towards the hundreds of millions of corrupted within their constraints.


    However, the corrupted now free from Scarlett''s spiritual attack didn''t remain still.


    Mana-formed attacks of different laws filled the skies. But what the different attacks shared in common was the sinister energy that permeated them and filled them with an aura of evilness.


    The uncountable fist-sized bats were destroyed relentlessly by the attacks of millions yet it didn''t make any difference. More bats were created and filled the gaps left by those who were killed.


    Soon several sharp teeth digged into the flesh of corrupted and feasted on their wicked blood. No painful cries filled the air, as corrupted were creatures who had lost all their human emotions. Only those who were very high among them were able to regain a semblance of their feelings.


    Corpses filled the ground as the mummified bodies piled up. It started with hundreds but the numbers soon turned into thousands, and that also quickly changed into millions.


    SHWISHWIDHWI!


    Within this vicious clash of two inhuman forces, a massive shadow streaked across the ground with the sounds of fluttering wings. The majority of Scarlett''s monstrous body was covered by enormous black hair, which fluttered in the air like the sounds of the terrifying bat''s wings simultaneously flapping their wings.


    With swift movements and with her feet not touching the ground, she crossed a distance of hundreds of kilometers in an instant. However, even with her great speed, it seemed she wouldn''t be able to close the distance to Pride easily, as she had been flung far into the distance by his thrown axe. Her body charged through the bats feasting on the corrupted and not before long, whirring sounds drifted towards her senses.


    Even with no eyes and ears, Scarlett''s now monstrous face turned towards the seven rotating halos that expanded instantly and easily cut through the bodies of the corrupted on its path like a knife through butter.


    Unlike Doubt, it seemed Pride could use seven dark halos, showing that he was a level above its allies.


    However, that didn''t make any difference to Scarlett. With fast movements, her body seemed to turn into a streak of darkness that wove around the lunging halos crisscrossed around each other and had expanded to titanic sizes, while still emitting fluttering sounds in the surroundings.


    Against Pride''s expectations, Scarlett arrived before him in less than five breaths. He retained his calm and quickly commanded the expanded halos to return to their original size. Simultaneously, he threw his building-size hands in a punch towards the lunging Scarlett whose appearance could even send chills down his grotesque back.


    Just like with his halos, Scarlett moved deftly around his fists like darkness, and before Pride could react, she arrived beside him, her claws appearing from the darkness and grabbing onto his massive head. Scarlett''s massive body twisted gracefully as they instantly materialized, and together with the force from her jump, she grabbed Pride by the head and raised his massive body into the air before slamming him into the ground. Both of their bodies slid forward because of the remaining momentum.


    Disoriented for a moment, Pride''s eyes trembled when he saw Scarlett''s monstrous visage cover his vision, her wide mouth opened fully to reveal the menacing jagged teeth that filled them.


    ROAR!


    She released a short roar, causing her saliva to splat all over his face, and as she could feel the retreating halos, she quickly threw her face into his neck, as her horrifying teeth opened to dig into his disgusting flesh.


    At least that was what she planned to do before she got distracted.


    Her moving head stopped for a moment before it turned toward Rebecca who was just about to bite off Doubt''s head from his neck when Sorrow rammed into her and sent her sixty-meter-high enormous body flying. Both of their figures tumbled around the ground for several meters as Sorrow clung tightly onto her and refused to let go. It quickly regained itself first and climbed onto her body, gripping her two jaws with its huge hands before pulling apart with its full force.


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    A whimpering sound escaped Rebecca''s mouth as lightning quickly accumulated around her body and burst outward. However, despite being blasted by several currents of electricity, Sorrow refused to let go and instead released a fierce war cry before bursting out with all his might.


    Rebecca''s two jaws moved further apart and just when it looked like it would snap apart, Sorrow''s body suddenly went rigid when Scarlett''s spiritual energy slammed into his mind unrestrainedly. Rebecca didn''t fail to make use of this opportunity to throw his massive body off her back before clumsily rising onto her feet as she shook her head to regain her bearing.


    If it wasn''t for having to restrain the surrounding army who were launching attack after attack on her with her lightning field, she would have been able to focus all her attention on the two terrifying opponents before her and use all her might. Alas, that was the plan of the enemy. Despite the armies weren''t able to deal any fatal attacks towards them, they were still able to whittle their energy and stamina little by little, and most importantly split their focus.


    Thankfully, her sister was able to help her in time, if not it wouldn''t have ended well for her.


    Doubt, whose head had slowly been snapped off before seemed to have fully healed and was now also charging towards her.


    Rebecca quickly turned her head in her sister''s direction hoping that she was well after aiding her earlier.


    Thankfully, no harm came to her, as Pride who had wanted to take advantage of her monetarily lack of attention was restrained not only by her claw still digging into his head but also by several dark tendrils which had risen from the darkness that had covered the ground below it.


    Also, several long dark hands flew from around Scarlett''s monstrous figure before lunging towards the shrinking Halos and stopping them in place.


    Rebecca quickly turned her attention back to her two opponents.


    She knew she was stronger than each of them, but she couldn''t guarantee her victory while facing both of them at the same time. Not to mention that she also had to split her attention to stop the dark tide still charging into her lightning field from interfering with their fight.


    Murky liquid flew from her opened jaws as she bared her fangs.


    AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


    A huge blood moon slowly rose behind as her fierce howl resounded across the distance.


    ''Enough with testing the waters. Now, the real fight begins!''


    Both sides lunged at each other...


    .....


    At the same time that Rebecca and Scarlett were clashing with the armies of the Lord of corruption on a dead planet, the Lunar World was also experiencing a great ordeal.


    Not only had chaos erupted in the capital city of the magical beasts, with millions of beasts losing their lives and many escaping into other cities, but turmoil filled the whole central continent, as several corrupted suddenly emerged from several other cities before attacking their friends and families viciously, and throwing the whole continent into disorder.


    Not only that, the vampires who had felt their connection with their progenitor cut abruptly seemed to lose all semblance of their mind, as they charged into the central continent and started a massacre.


    It seemed that despite not sharing a close connection like with Scarlett and her vampires; the werewolves had also been alerted of their Queen''s disappearance. That was only normal, as members of her pack could tell her situations just like Ella had bonded with Arlo and the others.


    In essence, the whole Lunar World had descended into chaos!


    .....


    Today could be said to be the longest day of Arlo''s life...


    Not only had he returned from the secret realm where he almost lost his life many times, but he had exposed one of the strongest beings in the Lunar World as a corrupted, setting into motion a catastrophe...


    He had fulfilled his word of killing Jude but at the cost of what? He had taken many innocent lives just because of his revenge over something insignificant...


    And now he found out that him, unexpectedly revealing Emperor Razor''s secret identity might have endangered the life of the person who had helped him since the first day he entered the Lunar world...


    The roars together with Arianne''s cries died down from Arlo''s ears, as he stood on the spot with a blank look on his face. He didn''t know when the tears spilled from his eyes like water from a broken dam, but what Arlo did know was the suffocating feeling that gripped his two hearts so tightly.


    ''What have I done?''


    While they still didn''t know about Scarlett''s status, the fact that the vampires had reacted so intensely showed that something bad must have happened. Something unusual, one that made them restless...


    His mind was entirely clouded, Arlo didn''t even notice when the three Lords and Evangeline turned into dark lights that charged into the distance.


    Stefan seemed to want to follow them but was quickly shot down by Evangeline''s cold voice:


    "Stay and watch over them for me!"


    Together with the four, several more dark rays exuding great aura and feelings of madness flew into the sky before streaking in the same direction.


    The teleportation formation.


    .....


    Nighttime.


    The moon hung in the sky illuminating the world with its gentle glow. While the academy had never been noisy, it had similarly never appeared so deserted.


    Within the training center of the first year southern region were two young figures.


    One was a dark-haired boy with white reptilian eyes. His eyes were closed as he rubbed the pitch-black snake wrapped around his neck which his friend had just summoned back for him.


    The second boy was similarly a boy...a golden-haired boy who sat crossed leg on the ground, with a small cute fox with nine tails lying comfortably in his lap, and a little blue resting slime in his hands.


    These two figures were exactly Joe, and Arlo.


    The blue slime within Arlo''s hand trembled ever so slightly, and he could tell for some reason that she was about to finally awaken.

 CHAPTER 198: HEAVY TRAINING

    Arlo held the blue slime in his hand gently. If it were a day before, he would have been happy to see Anita awaken and excited to know how strong she had become. But after today''s events, his mind became too clouded to entertain such thoughts.


    Kira who was on his lap watched the duo, her purple shining brightly.


    A few more moments passed before Anita stopped shaking. After ten more breaths, Arlo heard that childish and cute voice his heart had longed for...


    "H-huh? Where are we?"


    A light smile graced Arlo''s face before he took his time to explain what happened since she went unconscious. It took him almost an entire thirty minutes to explain the situation.


    In the end, even the always playful Anita became despondent as she spoke in a hushed voice:


    "I-I am sorry I wasn''t there with you."


    "It''s all right."


    "No, it isn''t. Y-you..." She raised her voice only for her to become silent. She didn''t know what to say.


    Trying to change the mood, Arlo turned to Kira.


    "Say hello to Kira. She is the second summon I awakened. Oh, and there is one more but I can''t summon him now."


    Anita struggled a bit in his embrace, before shifting in Kira''s direction.


    ''W-What? What is this cute thing?'' Even Anita had to acknowledge the black fox was simply lovely. But a moment later, she harrumphed, before speaking, her voice tinted with a bit of displeasure:


    "Hello. I am Anita, a great Universal Devouring Slime. As your senior, I have to show you the ropes of how to become a dependable summon." Despite trying to sound serious and dignified, her young cute voice only made her seem adorable.


    "My name is Kira. It is nice to meet you, Anita." Unlike Anita, Kira''s voice sounded soft and soothing. She simply greeted her and didn''t state her race to flaunt her status making Anita feel uncomfortable.


    "Hmph...why aren''t you calling me senior?"


    "Surely, you jest. It is obvious you are but a mere child."


    "W-What did you say? I am no child! Besides, I came before you and that makes me higher in seniority..."


    "That doesn''t matter."


    "No, it does to me. I demand you call me senior."


    "I refuse."


    The two summon bantered back and forth giving Arlo no small headache. Left with no choice, Arlo intervened.


    .....


    "So Anita, did you become stronger?"


    Despite knowing that Anita''s ability was nothing short of exceptional, Arlo couldn''t help but feel that she was a bit lackluster compared to his two new summons.


    Sure Anita could theoretically acquire the abilities of any creature she devours, but the fact remained that the creature must first be killed or at least restrained. Not to mention that devouring took longer the more powerful the creature was.


    "Of course. I have become stronger. Far stronger than you can imagine." Anita who had been saddened because Kira refused to call her senior started bobbing up and down in excitement when Arlo asked her about her new abilities.


    Now filled with a bit of excitement, Arlo asked:


    "So, what can you do?"


    Arlo who had been feeling down couldn''t stop his heart from beating faster after hearing what Anita said.


    "Not only has the time needed to devour and digest creatures decreased, but I can also transfer any ability you want permanently to you."


    "W-What?" Even Kira sounded shocked, "Are you certain of what you are saying?"


    "Of course..." Anita stammered slightly.


    Seeing this, Arlo''s rising excitement slowly died down.


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    "Anita?"


    "I am not lying. It is just that..."


    "That what?"


    "I can only transfer one ability to you."


    "Oh..." he sounded a bit disappointed.


    Surprisingly, Kira was the one who backed Anita up.


    "Even with that restriction, being able to acquire any ability you want is still a cheat."


    Arlo couldn''t help but agree with her. While Anita could acquire new abilities, he couldn''t share them with her. Instead, he inherited all her innate abilities from her past life which Anita similarly couldn''t use them.


    Thinking about this, Arlo thought of something causing his eyes to shine.


    While Anita was wallowing in bitterness because the person she was displeased with had defended her, Arlo quickly tested out his suspicions.


    Gathering his Ki, he sent them into the slime seal on his upper arm. Soon after, blue Ki left the seal before congregating at his hand.


    Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing!


    Fifty spinning orbs the size of a basketball spun around him like moons around the sun.


    "What''?" Joe who had been sitting a short distance was surprised by the grand display.


    Seeing the great enhancement to his techniques, Arlo was satisfied. He felt he could even summon up to a hundred even if he put his mind to it, not to mention that he could feel the range of Ruler''s Authority had also increased greatly.


    Dispelling the orbs, Arlo pulled Anita to his face and rubbed against her gently.


    "Hehe....hehehe!"


    Anita''s pleased giggles resounded within the hall.


    Suddenly, the door swung open.


    Turning to the direction of the door, Arlo''s eyes widened, " It''s you." He was surprised to see who entered the center, "How are you here?"


    The dark-haired boy, with matching eyes, spoke with a look of gratitude.


    "Sorry to disturb you. I want to thank you for swooping in earlier to help me." Bowing till his upper body became parallel to the ground, Roy spoke, his voice choked with emotion:


    "Thank you for saving me!" Even though Arlo didn''t know him, he didn''t hesitate to jump in and save his life when his friends and mates just watched from afar. He knew Jude wouldn''t have killed him, still, he didn''t know what he would do if Arlo hadn''t appeared.


    Seeing the boy who was almost the same height as him but was older than him by almost five years, Arlo couldn''t help but smile, this time his smile appearing genuine.


    The lives of the students he had taken had been weighing down on him but that burden lessened slightly when he saw Roy alive and well.


    "It''s okay. Please, stand up."


    Roy maintained his posture for a few moments before straightening his body.


    "It''s just..." Arlo paused as he gazed at him with a look of confusion, "How come you are already healed?" He knew Roy''s injuries more than anyone else, after all, he had appeared right before him and saw his condition. It was because he saw him that he knew that Roy should be bedridden for at least a month even if he was a vampire, yet...


    "Haha!" Roy chuckled dryly as he rubbed the back of his head, "I might not be strong, but I have always had a sturdy body."


    Vrrrr!


    Vrrrr!


    ''Huh?'' Arlo was stunned when he felt his dragon sense tingle slightly as if warning him of something.


    "So...I am surprised you are so powerful despite being so young. Is it because of the secret realm?"


    Roy seemed to want to change the topic quickly, and Arlo also didn''t put much thought into why his sixth sense was warning him.


    Not knowing what to say, he could only reply with a "yes".


    "Wow!" Roy exclaimed in amazement, "Can you tell me how you became so strong?"


    Arlo hesitated, "I am sorry but I can''t."


    "Oh, I understand. " Despite saying that, he couldn''t hide the disappointment that flashed on his face.


    Trying to clear the awkward silence, he quickly changed the topic once again.


    "So what are you doing here at this time?" It was already past midnight, yet Arlo was still at the training center.


    Arlo pondered for a moment. Stefan had gone to check on Khan, after all, Evangeline was no longer with him, and now that the vampires were not in their right mind, staying alone would be very dangerous.


    With his thoughts up to here, Arlo couldn''t help but realize something important he had missed.


    ''Something happened to Scarlett, yet he seems unaffected.'' All the vampires were riled up because of Scarlett''s unknown situation, yet Roy seemed perfectly fine as if he wasn''t bothered by the situation in the slightest.


    Vrrr! His dragon sense warned him once again.


    "A-Arlo?" Of course, Roy needed no introduction to know the name of the human who had become so popular after returning from the secret realm.


    "Oh!" Arlo shook the unnecessary thoughts away. "I came to train."


    ''And clear my mind.'' he added in his mind. That was the same reason why Joe had also followed him.


    Roy''s eyes widened slightly before looking at him in admiration.


    ''He is so strong for his age yet he is still diligently training at this time?''


    Placed under Roy''s heated gaze, Arlo shifted slightly.


    "C-can I train with you?"


    Arlo was a bit surprised by the unexpected request. Still after thinking about it for a moment, he couldn''t find any reason to refuse.


    Instead, it was to his advantage that he could find someone strong to spar with. He just acquired many abilities from his new summons which he had yet to adapt and train with, not to mention the new improvement in the techniques he acquired from Anita.


    "Okay."


    Both of them went to the middle of the hall before they started sparring. Of course, Arlo restrained himself to match Roy and only focused on using his new abilities.


    Surprisingly, Joe, who was despondent and silent Joe seemed to have been riled up after seeing Arlo training.


    ''To save sister, I need to be strong!''


    Now that he had undergone a complete transformation after the secret realm, Joe couldn''t be underestimated any longer. In fact, among his team, he might not be the strongest but he was definitely the fastest.


    ''But it is not enough.'' Clenching his hands into fists, Joe''s unseen white eyes flashed with determination.


    Gritting his teeth, his body slowly morphed into a 40m long black snake.


    "Ah!" his painful cries resounded within the hall, halting Arlo and Roy in place.


    "What is he doing?" Roy asked.


    Seeing Joe turn into his beast form before reverting to his human form and repeating the process, as his painful cries continued without pausing for a moment, Arlo''s eyes flashed with a complicated light that soon turned into resolve.


    "He is training. Let us also continue."


    "Y-yes."


    The three boys trained through the night. While they trained, Anita and Kira slowly approached the pitch-black snake which had been resting in a corner and watching Joe.

 Chapter 199 I; THE LAST DAY BEFORE AWAKENING I

    Early morning.


    Arlo and Joe in the company of their summons quickly walked across the empty streets as they made their way towards the boy''s dormitory. Stefan had agreed to recoup with them there yesterday, but lost in their training, they forgot the passage of time.


    Detailedly, Joe passed out after only an hour of training. It seemed that transforming was still a great burden for him to bear. Arlo on the other hand trained with Roy until he became completely exhausted. Despite being young, he was already a warrior with a physical body that could match a superhuman, so he didn''t easily get tired. But after a very long day, and several hours of training, he finally collapsed to the ground. He was grateful Roy was able to last long with him during training, despite being clear that he had reached his limit long ago. With his help, Arlo was able to acclimate to the increase in his physical strength and sync with his new abilities.


    With no energy to even lift their fingers, the duo also slept in the training center. It seemed they slept for long, as the sun completely hung in the sky, illuminating the world in its scorching light.


    "I have not seen anybody..." Joe commented as they walked along the roads.


    "Hmm." Arlo silently nodded. The academy seemed more deserted than usual, and Arlo had a feeling why it was so.


    ''It must be because of Scarlett''s disappearance.''


    Yesterday night, he could feel the auras of several people, weak and strong, disappearing from the minor world. Which was why he had decided to train quietly within the training center. He didn''t wish to antagonize the antsy vampires.


    After a few minutes of walking, Arlo and Joe finally arrived at their dormitory.


    ''Huh?''


    But what they saw made their eyes widen. There were more figures than they expected waiting for them. Stefan, Arianne, Ella, and two figures who he recognized.


    The first was the first vampire he met after entering the minor world, Argon. He was a fourth-year student who had been in charge of guarding the teleportation formation connecting to the outside world at that time and seemed to be on good terms with Stefan.


    And the last person was actually what surprised Arlo the most, as the aura around him was different from a vampire''s.


    ''Khan?'' The first human he had met in the Lunar World was also with them. He was the representative of the human faction and worked as the blacksmith of the Darkblood Academy. He wondered what he was doing at his dormitory, but before he could voice his confusion, Stefan''s cold voice drifted into his ears.


    "Who is this?" He didn''t know whether it was because of what he did yesterday, or Scarlett''s unknown situation, but Stefan''s voice sounded more cold than usual.


    But after seeing his unusually deep-red eyes which Arianne and even Argon shared, Arlo realized it must be the second option.


    "This is Roy. He is the second-year student I rescued yesterday." Arlo introduced. Roy had decided to tag along with him, and he didn''t find any reason to refuse. Despite having seen him yesterday, Stefan must have found him insignificant to have already forgotten about him. His thoughts were proven in the next moment.


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    "I see...We need to talk, and it''s very urgent."


    Arlo could tell from the anxious expression on Khan''s face and the cold and ashen looks on Stefan, Arianne, and even Ella''s face that something bad must have happened.


    "What is going on?"


    Instead of answering immediately, Stefan pointed at Argon.


    "This is Argon, a fourth-year student."


    Arlo nodded at him in silent greeting as Stefan continued.


    "He was among the many who left yesterday after that incident." Hearing this, Arlo''s eyes widened. Of course, he knew what Stefan meant by ''that'' incident. But before his mind could even wander for a moment, Stefan coldly continued, "...and the reports he brings are all bad."


    "W-What is going on?"


    Instead of answering, Stefan stared at Argon, his intention clear.


    A look of displeasure appeared on Argon''s face. He didn''t know why Stefan was making him recount all that he had already informed them to a mere human when they were supposed to be working with time. Of course, he knew how strong Arlo was, but what could he do in the grand scheme of things? Still, he swallowed his annoyance and did as Stefan wanted.


    "Yesterday evening, after our connection with our liege was cut off, many vampires left to where they last felt her aura which was the central continent. The Nine protectors, Lady Evangeline, and a few teachers left the minor world while outside, some of the counts and even the majesty her queen had also rushed to the central continent in a hurry... specifically to the capital city of the magical beasts. But..." Argon''s annoyed expression slowly turned grave, "...who would have thought that the Capital city would have already been overrun by corrupted?"


    Arlo''s eyes widened, "W-What do you mean?"


    Joe on the other hand had a more intense reaction. His face turned paper-white pale while his hands trembled greatly.


    Undisturbed, Argon continued:


    "The main leaders of the four great beast family were defeated and corrupted, and so were their elders. Many beasts died from the result of their terrifying clash, and the famed capital city turned into a ruined city."


    Argon took a breath before he continued in a serious voice:


    "When the vampires and also the werewolves arrived, it was already too late. No matter who or what they asked, the corrupted didn''t even open their mouths. In their anger, they started killing the corrupted that filled the city undescrimately. It wasn''t a difficult feat as there were far more strong people on our side. The Queen, the protectors, Lady Evangeline, a few Counts, and also the werewolves. It was quite a rare sight to see the vampires and werewolves working together. However, what they didn''t know was that..." Reaching this point, not only did Argon''s face turn pale, but even Stefan, Arianne, Ella, and even Khan did.


    "While the vampire and werewolves went to investigate what happened to our leaders, the corrupted would make use of that opportunity to appear in our backyard? That it was a trap?"


    Arlo''s mind went blank for a moment, and just as the realization of the words that Aragon said started settling in, the latter continued:


    "An abomination appeared within the northern and southern continents each. Summoning an army of millions comprised of undead skeletons, undead Knights, undead mages, undead Archers, and many more, they ran amock and unrestrained as they killed tens of thousands in but a short moment."


    Arlo could feel his heart thumping louder and faster as the gravity of the situation registered within his mind. He had a foreboding that...


    "The King together with the remaining Counts tried to hold the abomination back until the forces that left returned, but I don''t know..." A look of fear appeared on Argon''s face.


    "Before I was sent back, they were failing badly at restraining that monstrous titan. Not even the King who is as strong if not stronger than the protectors, together with the help of several Counts were able to hold it back. The situation outside is pure chaos. Many vampire cities have already been destroyed, and the magical beasts and werewolves are also experiencing similar situations. I was told to come back to the Minor World with an order that the prince and princess together with every student who hasn''t left must remain here where it is safe."

 CHAPTER 200: THE LAST DAY BEFORE AWAKENING II

    Noon.


    Many figures gathered within a massive hall after a general meeting had been called.


    The Darkblood Academy wasn''t known for its number of students in the first place, and now that many had left, only a few remained. The first-year students, Arlo''s group included, barely numbered ten, while there were only seven second-year students, five third-year students, and three fourth-year students. All together, the students numbered twenty-five.


    At the podium of the great hall stood many elderly figures. All the first, second, third, and fourth-year teachers were present except a minority like Evangeline. They were the strongest force of the Darkblood Academy as Headmaster Holden and the more powerful figures had left since yesterday.


    There were four Principals, and twelve teachers present at the moment.


    An old man with an air of tranquility around him walked to the front of the podium, before looking at the remaining students present.


    Seeing the angry looks on their faces, and the crazy light flashing in their eyes, the old man who was the principal of the fourth years couldn''t help but shake his head ruefully.


    With his years of experience, how could he not notice the feeling of fear the students were trying to mask with all their might? If it wasn''t for the report they heard, and their quick response in stopping the remaining students from leaving any further, it wasn''t clear how many of these students would be present. It wasn''t known how many of them would have already died.


    The Old man released a silent sigh before his calm voice resounded within the quiet hall.


    "You have all been called today to receive a very important instruction. I''m sure rumors must have spread, but for those of you who are still oblivious to what is happening outside, let me quickly explain the situation."


    Looking at the students who were still looking at him silently, the old man gathered his thoughts as he chose his words carefully so as not to spread panic.


    "The outside is in pure chaos."


    But in the end, he could only come out with the truth. There was just no way for him to sugarcoat his words.


    "Millions have died, millions are dying right at this moment I am talking to you, and millions will still die."


    Finally, the students couldn''t hold back their fear. The faces of the students from the first year to the fourth year turned pale. Many of them had been living in a world of peace, and suddenly thrown into war sent the great majority of them into panic.


    "Relax..." The Old Principal''s voice sounded more gentle like a parent trying to sooth a child. It had a great effect as many of the students relaxed visibly, and the panic that was about to erupt died down before it could even spread.


    However, whether the students were truly calm like they portrayed, nobody knew.


    "Nobody will be allowed to leave." his soothing voice suddenly turned authoritative, with a trace of threat hidden within, "You shall all remain within this hall where we can protect you. Fret not, we have a strong and reliable elder protecting the teleportation formation on the outside. Not..."


    A student suddenly raised his hand causing the Principal to come to a stop. Seeing the child who interrupted him, the old principal couldn''t stop a frown from appearing on his face.


    "What is it? Can''t you see I am still talking?"


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    "I-I am sorry..." Joe gathered his courage, before he spoke with an anxious look on his face, "I need to leave. My sister is in danger and I..."


    "No!" The principal''s impassive voice cut his words short.


    "B-but I am not a vampire." The tears Joe had been trying to hold back because of his promise within the secret realm finally fell like a waterfall. "Please, let me go. My sister is the only family I have left." Joe''s voice trembled, as he spoke in between his sobs, with a pleading look on his face.


    "Y-you do not need to worry about me. I will leave by myself and not endanger any of you. Just please let me go!"


    PA!


    A resounding slap suddenly echoed within the hall. Nobody saw how the old principal moved but what they did see was how young Joe was sent flying to the back of the hall, before colliding with the wall.


    Joe slid down, as a scorching red imprint of a palm appeared on his face. He looked blankly to the front where the Old principal glared at him with threatening eyes. Noticing the way the other students gazed at him with fierce looks as if they wanted to eat his flesh and drink his blood, Joe''s young mind finally registered the situation he was in.


    The vampires were angry. Very angry!


    However, their fear surpassed their anger which was why those present were not running loose. He was of Royal blood, and as a noble, he had learned about the past of the Lunar World.


    The vampires had once attacked the humans about a decade ago in a wild frenzy almost sending the entire race into extinction.


    Now that they were afraid of the Corrupted and angry with the magical beasts, it could only be called a miracle that he was still alive in their midst.


    But he knew the reason why they didn''t...no they had not attacked him.


    "Hey!" A girl''s angry voice shook the air. Arianne''s ruby eyes glowed as she glared at the old principal, "How dare you attack him?"


    She seemed like she would strike him any moment if he didn''t give her a satisfying answer.


    The fierce look on the principal face disappeared when he turned to her as if a lie. He merely looked at her and didn''t seem to have any intention of answering.


    Just when Arianne wanted to explode in anger, a familiar hand fell on her shoulder and gripped her firmly.


    Her elder brother, Stefan silently shook his head.


    After Argon had told them about what was happening outside, Stefan and Arianne had rushed to the teleportation formation, anxious to see their parents. However, they were stopped, and no matter how or what they said, they weren''t allowed passage. Knowing this, Arianne gritted her teeth as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.


    Joe who had risen finally realized something.


    Arlo had his head lowered. and his shoulders were drooped. It seemed as if a great weight was placed on him. And Joe had a tinkling of the reason why.


    ''He is feeling guilty...'' If Arlo had not exposed Emperor Razor, none of these would be happening now.


    Shifting his attention to the person beside Arlo, Joe saw the usually quiet Ella shedding silent tears.


    ''She must be terrified about her mother''s wellbeing yet she can''t even be with her people ...''


    He noticed Stefan''s free hand trembling ever slightly. He was the sole prince of the vampires. Not only were his grandmother and parents in danger, but even his people were dying, yet he could do nothing about it.


    Even old Khan appeared crestfallen.


    It was then he noticed it...while the great majority of the vampires were glaring at him dangerously, a few had anguished looks on their faces. They also had parents. They also had people they loved and cared for.


    Realizing this, young Joe grabbed his heart. Despite his anxiousness, despite his fear, despite his impatience, despite his anguish...


    He wiped the tears off his face and silently returned to his group.


    .....


    The metallic smell of blood permeated the great hall. The hall was simply too large and with only a few present, it appeared empty.


    A gloomy feeling hung in the silent hall. The students sat in groups, with none in the mood to talk.


    To calm the students down, the principals and teachers had decided to bring out all their reserves of food which they normally handled sparingly.


    The students drank from the blood bags given to them without any restraint. It seemed letting loose on the blood bags was their way of venting their emotions.


    It was already evening and the sun was already setting. It wasn''t clear whether it was because of the tension or something else, but today, time seemed to slowly pass.


    Arlo, Joe, Ella, and Khan sat with Stefan and Arianne. Argon and Roy also remained with the group. Stefan and Arianne refused the blood bags handed to them, but Argon dined on them with no reservations.


    If it was a normal time, outsiders like Arlo, Joe, Ella, and Khan would have been terror-stricken or disgusted by the sight of several vampires feasting on blood, however, none of them seemed to care as they were each in their world.


    It was then...


    ...that the students and every figure within the hall felt the burst of repulsive evil energy that erupted within the minor world.


    The demons had invaded.


    *****


    AN: We finally reached the 200th chapter, hurray! Thanks to all those who have been following the novel so far.

 CHAPTER 201: THE LAST DAY BEFORE AWAKENING III

    "Good evening everybody." A loud voice rang across the minor world. "How are you all doing?"


    The voice paused for a moment before it continued, "Tsk tsk. Is this how you treat your guests? Not to worry, I Cassian, am not one to keep a grudge... hahaha!"


    The tall red-haired Cassian with matching eyebrows laughed boisterously with an amicable voice. If it weren''t for the waves of evil energy that erupted from him, one would have thought he was a friendly neighbor living next door.


    Even as he laughed, more figures appeared within the minor world before spreading out. Soon their numbers reached a thousand but in less than thirty breaths the number changed to several thousand. After about twenty thousand Corrupted appeared, nobody else emerged. Someone approached the still-laughing Cassian before saying in a low voice:


    "Leader, what should we do?"


    Cassian''s laughter stopped as if a lie, as he glared at the man who had interrupted him. The man shivered under his gaze, and if eyes could shoot fire, he would have already been burnt into ashes by now.


    If it wasn''t because the fool was an elder from his family, Cassian would have killed him on the spot. Reining his anger, he pulled out a small bottle. Within the bottle was a small amount of blood releasing wisps of evil energy.


    They were tasked with three missions, in order of importance.


    The first was to find a golden-haired boy and bring him back to Emperor Razor alive. Even though he didn''t understand why Emperor Razor was attaching such importance to a small child, Cassian who was now a Demon Lord, had an obligation to fulfill his orders. Thankfully, it shouldn''t be hard to find a human among the group of vampires.


    His Second mission was to kill the prince and princess of the vampires. To him, this mission was far more important than the first.


    The last was to kill all the younger generations of the vampires in the academy. By so doing, they would cripple the vampires even if their plans were to fail.


    Cassian didn''t think he would fail any of his missions, after all, he was with a big army of twenty thousand corrupted, among which more than 60% were Red-core mages or above. Not to mention that he was here, and there was someone else as strong as him present. If it wasn''t for the old man who was guarding the teleportation formation who had reduced their numbers by almost five thousand, Cassian would have been 200% sure of his success.


    After thinking about it, Cassian decided to hand the bottle to the elder beside him.


    "Here, take this. According to Razor, this blood should lead you to that human."


    The Elder hesitated but after remembering the orders they had received, he gritted his teeth and spoke carefully, "My Lord, what about you?"


    "Me? I am going to play a game with our hosts." Saying so, he looked in several directions where the aura of powerful figures erupted before moving towards him.


    "Go, take about five thousand men with you. That should be enough for just one human, right?" asked Cassian as he looked at his elder from the side of his eye.


    The Elder wanted to complain that it was overkill, but after remembering the importance of his mission, he nodded and spoke with confidence:


    "It is more than enough!"


    "Good." Cassian nodded, satisfied.


    As the Elder together with more than five thousand of the army left, the other fifteen thousand stood behind Cassian who grinned in the direction of his approaching enemies.


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    ''This should be fun.''


    Gathering his mana to boost his voice, Cassian''s words reached every rook and crony of the minor world.


    "Bring the human to me, and we will retreat." It was just one sentence, but the impact it had could be felt, as even the approaching powerful figures stopped for a moment before they continued.


    Cassian grinned evilly at the sight.


    Even though he looked like one who would act before he thought, the truth was that he was quite a cautious man. If not, he wouldn''t be the elder of an Ancient beast family.


    About ten seconds after his shout, many figures arrived before him.


    The four principals among which were Principal Stanley, the teachers, and instructors among which were Teacher Julian, Moose, and even the cloaked Grim, arrived before the terrifying army.


    Looking at his hosts, Cassian spread his arms out as his eyebrows burst into deep red flames.


    "Welcome! I have been waiting for you."


    .....


    Less than a minute after Cassian appeared with his armies, the silent hall within the central regions finally erupted in chaos.


    The fear the students had been suppressing finally burst out, and as the students cried and shouted at the same time, the panic seemed to spread even to the authorities.


    The Old principal seeing this shouted in a loud voice:


    "Quiet!"


    Despite feeling terrified, the students still shut their mouths after being covered by the principal''s horrifying aura.


    Looking at the terrified students, the principal didn''t waste time and went straight to the point:


    "The students shall move towards the teleportation formation in the west and escape the minor world."


    "Sorry Principal..." Teacher Julian suddenly interjected.


    "... Yes?"


    "Rather than moving together, would it not be better if the children split into groups and escaped in different directions? That way, their chances of survival will be higher."


    "Hmm..." The Principal pondered about it for a moment, but he didn''t need to think for long to see reason in what was suggested.


    "Then we shall do as you said. Since there are three fourth-year students present, split into three groups with them at the helm. The enemies came through the teleportation formation in the east, but we still have three more formations in the north, south, and west. Each group shall move towards the formations. Divide yourself as quickly as possible while I and your teachers try to buy you time."


    After saying that, the old principal led the other principals and teachers and left. They knew they were time-pressed, so they had to move quickly, if not the other party would start their search. Besides they had to move together to try and hold tback he entire army. This way their students would have time to escape.


    So as not to reveal their location, the principals and teachers restrained their auras as much as possible before separating from each other.


    After moving a considerable distance from the hall the students were in, they charged towards the enemies from different directions.


    Back at the hall...


    Stefan, Argon, and a girl stood in front of the other students.


    "Ella and Khan are with me..." Stefan said, to which no one argued. He had been tasked to watch over them by Lady Evangeline after all.


    "Arianne, Arlo, and Joe are with me too." No one opposed his choice again. Arianne was his sister, so it was only normal that she moved with him. As for the human and beast, honestly, nobody wanted to have them in their group.


    With that, Stefan had a total of six people in his group, himself included.


    The others also worked fast to choose who would be in their group. They had to take full advantage of the time their teachers were buying for them.


    Since there were 22 students present, the fourth-year students were excluded, the group had to choose seven students each, with one group having one more.


    "Hey, you come here!" Argon called to Roy. He was among the few familiar faces he knew among the students remaining.


    However, Roy ignored his call and instead approached Stefan.


    "Can I follow you?"


    "Sure." Stefan didn''t mind. As the strongest among the fourth years, he still had three more students to pick. With Roy on board, he had to choose two more.


    He opted to choose from the third-year students as his group was filled with majorly first-years. But before he could voice his thoughts, Arlo beat him to it.


    "Bon, Judi, you should join our group too..."


    Arlo had already seen Tibu''s kids among the first years remaining. It seemed they were late to leave before the order. It was just that he wasn''t in the mood to talk which was why he hadn''t approached them.


    Stefan frowned when Arlo decided for him, a look of displeasure making its way to his face.


    Turning to Arlo, his eyes shone with a ruby glow as his mouth parted to make way for his voice. But once again, before he could speak his mind, somebody else beat him to it. And that somebody wasn''t in the hall. A deep and powerful voice drifted into the ears of every student present.


    "Bring the human to me, and we will retreat."


    The deep voice only said one sentence, but it was enough to cause all the heads in the hall to turn towards one person.


    Arlo.

 CHAPTER 202: THE LAST DAY BEFORE AWAKENING IV

    "Welcome! I have been waiting for you." Cassian''s friendly voice resounded within the area.


    The auras of sixteen powerful figures soon exploded before him. The four Principals and twelve teachers narrowed their eyes on Cassian, and while some of them tried their best to mask it, Cassian was able to perceive the deep fear nestling within their eyes when they inadvertently glanced at the army behind him.


    "What happened to the elder outside?" The Old principal questioned in a deep voice.


    A dumbfounded look appeared on Cassian''s face before he grinned knowingly.


    "Oh, Are you talking about the super-strong elder protecting the teleportation formation?"


    The old Principal didn''t respond and merely kept his eyes on him.


    Seeing this, Cassian lost interest in toying with his enemy and merely shrugged.


    "He is dead."


    A brief deafening silence ensued.


    "W-what?" A teacher questioned with a shaky voice.


    Cassian''s face turned impassive as he looked at the small group in front of him, "I must confess, the old dude was quite strong, terrifyingly strong. Even when besieged by almost 25,000 magical beasts, he remained strong and steadfast. In the end, he took down 5000 souls, but he still couldn''t escape the inevitable..." He paused as he flashed an evil smile, "Just like you guys wouldn''t."


    "I see..." The old principal trailed off before lowering his head slightly.


    Despite grinning victoriously, Cassian''s mind spunned.


    ''Is this the strongest force they could muster? If so, I don''t need the army behind me.''


    ''Still, why are they being impassive, this is unlike a vampire!'' Cassian''s eyes narrowed. He knew how domineering and prideful vampires were. When they acted, they did so arrogantly with no care for the other party. In fact, the vampires inherently look down on other races, yet those same vampires who acted impulsively were calm in front of their enemies. It almost seemed as if they were trying to buy time...


    When his thought reached here, Cassian''s eyes widened, before he looked past the figures before him and into the distance.


    ''Don''t tell me...The students?''


    Cassian was almost certain of his conjecture. Thinking of how desperate the usually domineering vampires were acting, he couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Hahahahahaha!"


    The magical beasts had always acted tamed in front of this superior race. This world was once theirs, and only the werewolves were formidable enough to contend with them. Yet, one day, the vampires appeared out of nowhere and terrified the world with their unusual prowess. But now, those same vampires were cowering before him.


    "Hahahahahaha!" Cassian laughed to the point that tears formed at the sides of his eyes. He couldn''t believe he had always been afraid of these blood-sucking bats.


    Seeing Cassian suddenly laugh with a condescending tone, some of the teachers couldn''t help but frown in displeasure but the principals stopped them from acting.


    "Do not move. Our main goal is buying enough time for our students to escape."


    "Once the time comes to fight, we the principals will try to restrain Cassian, the others should join hands to kill as many corrupted as you can. Just draw their attention enough and don''t give them any chance to think too deeply."


    Cassian had actually guessed correctly. While the group before him appeared to be disheartened by the loss of one of their elders, the scene couldn''t be farther away from the truth.


    They were expertly communicating with their spiritual energy, and they thought the beasts were none the wiser. It was why what happened next shocked them to the core.


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    "March in. Kill any student on sight." The laughing Cassian abruptly commanded.


    The fifteen thousand army behind him didn''t hesitate to obey his command.


    "No!" The Old principal shrieked.


    "Where do you think you are going to?" Cassian singlehandedly blocked the way of the vampires.


    "Attack!" The teachers had already acted before the old principal could even command.


    "Hehehe...you really look down on me!" As Cassian spoke, his body quickly morphed before a towering figure soon blocked the path of the vampires.


    A Wyvern tens of meters long, with its red scales shining brightly below the resplendent moonlight, raised its head and released a roar.


    The vampires came to a sudden stop when the suppressing aura of the fake dragon before them engulfed them.


    As Cassian''s scales flared blindingly, a small ball soon formed above him. In but five seconds, the fireball turned into a mini-sun that became an artificial source of light that illuminated the whole minor world. It was as if the sun which had set a while ago had risen back again. The surrounding temperature rose, the heat suffocating all those present.


    The red wyvern shifted his window-sized eyes on the vampires before him.


    "Die!"


    The red sun descended.


    Ah!" The old principal released a breath as he gazed at the fast-approaching catastrophic attack. He realized that he had been too arrogant and complacent to plan to attack the presence before him with just the four Principals. The towering figure before them was the leader of an ancient family, a family that has survived for thousands of years. Comparing him to the nine protectors of the Royal family wouldn''t be an understatement. Can they handle such a figure with just a few numbers?


    He didn''t need to think deeply to arrive at the answer.


    No!


    As the blinding sun descended, the vampires noticed that while Cassian had commanded the army to leave, about four thousand corrupted remained. It didn''t take long to know the reason why.


    The four thousand figures spread out before surrounding them from every direction. Then, their bodies morphed into wyverns with scales similar to that of Cassian. Despite being of far smaller size, the deep-red light that shone from their outstretched mouth spoke volumes about their strengths. None of these figures could be underestimated. Yet each of them launched a fire breath that combined to form a wall of fire that closed on them from all directions. And above the enclosing walls was a falling red star.


    As the old Principal looked at death approaching, he made a decision.


    "Grim!" Rather than communicating telepathically, his voice echoed in the area, showing that despite the situation they were facing, he still retained his calm.


    A grating voice that sounded like a metal rod being rubbed against solid ground resounded from behind him.


    "Yes?"


    "Please, save as many students as you can." he pleaded without looking back, his gaze fixed on the approaching attacks.


    Nobody responded this time. Instead, a moment of silence passed during which the heat suffocating them increased several notches higher. Soon after, Grim who was covered entirely by a black cloak quietly disappeared, reducing the number of vampires to 19.


    Feeling the sudden disappearance of one of his instructors, the calm look on the principal''s face suddenly disappeared as if a lie, and what took its place was a crazy light flashing within his eyes. His hunched back slowly straightened, and as his eyes started shining with a crimson glow, the old principal spoke with anger evident within his voice:


    "The people responsible for the disappearance of our liege are before us, yet they dare to run rampant. I believe it is time to remind the people of this world why they shouldn''t mess with vampires."


    Even in the middle of his speech, the other principals and teachers started undergoing a drastic transformation.


    Their eyes shone with a ruby light, as two crimson sharp fangs jotted out from their mouths. But that wasn''t the end. Each of them invoked their clan''s unique abilities. Some transformed their hands, some their legs, some turned into swarms of bats, some info a black fog, some had a dark sheen shining on their skin like black armor that increased their defense and durability, and many more.


    "Go!" The old principal commanded and in response, 19 figures disappeared.


    Perhaps it was more apt to say that they charged towards the enclosing walls of fire at breakneck speed. As darkness bloomed around their bodies, each of these powerful figures plunged into the wall of fire without any hesitation. The darkness around them offered a layer of protection that allowed them to pierce and pass through the fiery walls, however, three of them still succumbed to the unbearable heat and before they could come out from the other side, the darkness around them was incinerated before their bodies soon followed after.


    As if they could feel the death of their members, the now remaining 16 vampires raised their heads and released fierce roars.


    The wyverns who still had their mouths outstretched as they released fiery breaths had no idea when the vampires pierced through their attacks and arrived before them.


    It was then that the vampires displayed why they were one of the most fearsome races not only within the Lunar World but even in the whole universe. They were the only races who could be described as natural tri-cultivators.


    They showed their superior physical might that was almost comparable to warriors as they closed their distance to their enemies in but an instant.


    Streaks of darkness coursed around the thousands of wyverns and before they could even react, their bodies were evenly split apart. Dark fogs wove around the towering wyverns, and from within the fogs came sharp claws that easily pierced into their deep-red scales like knives through butter.


    It was then...


    ...The falling star finally met the ground.


    With a blinding light that illuminated tens of thousands of kilometers, the world went silent.


    *****


    AN: Thanks for your comments and reviews. They go a long way in making me a better writer.

 CHAPTER 203: THE LAST DAY BEFORE AWAKENING V

    "Give us the human and we will leave!"


    A deafening silence pervaded the great hall, as these words continued to reverberate within the minds of the students.


    After what seemed like an eternity, one of the students couldn''t help but mutter:


    "So, if we give up the human, we can all live?"


    While the student''s voice sounded less than a question and more like an affirmed whisper, because the pin-drop silence was still ensuing, all of those present were able to hear him clearly.


    Unconsciously, some of the vampires started edging closer to Arlo, causing Khan to move in front of him and narrow his eyes at the vampires.


    However, Khan didn''t need to act, as Stefan''s cold voice soon cut through the air and into the vampire''s ears:


    "Are you seriously considering obeying them? Since when did we vampires submit so easily and to people who killed our people no less?"


    As if brought out of a trance, the vampire students who had acted subconsciously out of their fear suddenly stiffened before lowering their heads in shame.


    Stefan glared at them angrily, his eyes shining with a ruby glow, but Argon couldn''t help but become more anxious and reminded him:


    "Stefan, we need to leave now. We don''t know how long the teachers and principals can hold out."


    Stefan''s shining eyes slowly returned to normal, but it was then that he belatedly noticed something. And he wasn''t the only one who felt it.


    "Why did it suddenly become so hot?" One of the students couldn''t help but question.


    The surrounding temperature abruptly rose so high that if it wasn''t for their strong bodies as vampires, they would have caught aflame. The same was true for their uniforms which were made from special materials and had been treated by professional tailors.


    As if sensing something, Khan who had been protecting Arlo behind him suddenly left the hall, with Stefan, Argon, and the others quickly following behind.


    As more and more students left the hall, they all became petrified on the spot as they watched the scene unfolding far in the distance.


    A massive circular wall of fire rose into the sky, and in contrast to it, a gigantic fireball that could better be described as a sun was descending onto the earth.


    While the sun seemed to be falling at a slow speed, the situation couldn''t be further away from the truth. The red star was falling so fast that it left afterimages in the sky, and it was precisely those afterimages that the students were staring at.


    The eyes of Khan, Stefan, and the few strongest suddenly contracted to the fullest, as Stefan quickly opened his mouth to shout a warning.


    "R- Run..."


    Alas, he was too late.


    The world was suddenly engulfed in silence, a brief silence.


    BOOOOOOOOOOM!


    A blinding light erupted in the distance causing the students to unconsciously shut their eyes because of its intensity.


    RUMBLE!


    A massive explosion tens of meters high and several kilometers high erupted in the distance. The ground beneath them seemed to shake despite the considerable distance they were from the site of explosion, and the skies seemed to rumble.


    However, that wasn''t all.


    The explosion generated tremendous shockwaves that spread out in all directions, and the earth itself began to buckle and roil about, toppling houses and snapping any obstacles in its paths as the shockwaves blew them into smithereens.


    The shockwaves traveled so fast that in less than ten breaths they arrived before the students who were several kilometers away.


    A split second before the shockwaves arrived, several dark long chains spread out from Stefan before wrapping around Arianne, Ella, Arlo, Khan, Joe, Bon, Judi, and Roy. More chains moved out to wrap around more students but before they got the chance, the shockwaves blasted their surroundings and sent each of them flying in different directions.


    A loud ringing sound enveloped all of Arlo''s senses, as his body rolled on the ground, and smashed into several buildings before tumbling a few more times and finally coming to a stop.


    It took several moments for the ringing sound to disappear. Arlo shook his head several times to bring himself out of his disoriented state.


    As his vision slowly cleared, Arlo found himself to be surrounded by a thick cloud of dust. But due to the acute and powerful vision granted to him by his dragon eyes, Arlo was able to see that he was on flat ground that spread out around him for several kilometers. And the only thing around him was dust, fine smooth dust left behind from the destruction of countless buildings.


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    After briefly studying his surroundings, Arlo quickly checked his body. Despite his now powerful body, Arlo was covered by countless wounds that were regenerating at a fast speed. In but three breaths, his body healed completely...the bloodstains left behind being the only evidence that he suffered an injury.


    While his body healed, the same couldn''t be said about his clothes. Sighing lightly, Arlo used the increased sensitivity granted to him by the two small bumps on his head to create another white robe covered in dragon patterns.


    Immediately when Arlo had seen the blinding light erupting in the distance, he was only able to send his two summons back into their seals, and before he could raise a layer of protection, the shockwaves had already engulfed him.


    After taking about thirty breaths to make sure he was in good condition, Arlo finally paid attention to the dark chain wrapping around his hand and disappearing into the distance. He had caught a glimpse of when Stefan had acted and hadn''t bothered to resist in the slightest.


    He couldn''t help but think about the other''s situation when suddenly Arlo''s expression changed as he felt several powerful auras fast approaching from the direction of the explosion. Since the other party didn''t seem concerned about releasing their auras, Arlo could tell that thousands of people were moving in his direction. And from their presence, he judged that the great majority of them had already entered the true stages of cultivation. It didn''t take a genius to know who was approaching.


    Just when Arlo was thinking of how he would find his friends, he suddenly felt a slight tug from the chain around him. The pulling force from the chain slowly increased, and soon after his body flew into the air as the chain pulled him in a particular direction at neck-break speed. The air cut through Arlo''s face, but Arlo didn''t resist in the slightest. In but a few breaths, several familiar figures appeared before him. The dark chain brought him to the group, before unwrapping from his hand and retreating to Stefan''s body.


    Arlo saw Stefan, Arianne, Khan, Ella, Joe, Roy, Bon and Judi. Among the group, only Stefan, Arianne, Ella, and Khan seemed completely uninjured. Arlo guessed Stefan must have been able to protect them somehow. While Joe seemed to have no injury, Arlo could tell from the blood stains on his body that he must have suffered some injuries too, which must have healed just like him. Roy was the same too, while Bon and Judi were the only ones whose injuries were still visibly recovering.


    This was quite normal, as they were the weakest among the group. And if it wasn''t because they were vampires, they might have been incapacitated by now.


    The look on the eight was quite grave as Stefan spoke immediately when Arlo arrived:


    "We need to leave now."


    The approaching enemies were still some distance away, but with the speed with which they were moving, it wouldn''t take them long to reach their location.


    Stefan couldn''t help but worry about Argon. and the others. In that situation, he only had enough time to wrap his chains around the members he had chosen in his group. In the end, he could only hope that they were safe, and could escape by themselves.


    Now the problem was how they were going to move. He was capable of carrying the eight people with him using his mana and will, but the problem was that their speed would be greatly diminished. While the dust might cover their presence for now, if they didn''t move fast, the enemies would soon notice them. After all, moving in the air was the same as revealing their location to every eye.


    Stefan. couldn''t help but contemplate leaving a few figures like Roy, Bon, and Judi behind. That way, the situation would become a bit more bearable.


    The group was able to sense what was on his mind, as even after Stefan said they had to move, they had yet to leave.


    Just when Arlo was about to propose summoning Anita, and transform her into her firebird form to use as transport, the quiet Joe suddenly spoke with a resolved look on his face.


    "Leave it to me.*


    Stefan frowned at him, but ignoring him and everyone else, Joe approached Arlo and handed the pitch-black snake around his neck to him. Arlo seemed to understand what his best friend was about to do, but after thinking about it, he didn''t dissuade him. Even if Anita was able to carry them, their position would be easily revealed as they flew in the air, not to mention her firebird form was quite eye-catching.


    The pitch-black snake looked at Joe with its starry eyes for a moment, before obediently slithering across Arlo''s hand to coil itself around his neck.


    Joe took a deep breath before moving a short distance from Arlo and the others. Taking another deep breath, he invoked his bloodline.


    Despite transforming a couple of times the night before in training, the act of tearing his human form still caused young Joe to release a painful cry.


    Slowly his body morphed and as his cry reached a crescendo, a forty-meter-long and five-meter-high snake appeared before the group. Blood stains from the transformation covered the green scales of the giant snake. It took a short moment for the white pupils of the snake to settle. Only then did Joe''s voice drift into the ears of the group.


    "Climb on."


    Stefan hesitated for a moment. Joe might be able to carry them all but what about his speed? However, before he could say anything, Arlo, Arianne, and Ella slowly walked towards Joe, before climbing his body from his tail.


    Stefan frowned slightly but his sister''s voice soon addressed his worries.


    "Don''t worry big brother. Joe is one of the fastest people I know, almost as fast as you."


    Stefan''s eyes widened slightly, a disbelieving look on his face. It must be known that he was an Orange-core mage. Forget about Joe being almost as fast as him, Stefan didn''t believe that Joe was as fast as a Red-core mage, after all, the gap between the preliminary and true stages of cultivation was even wider than the distance between heaven and earth. Sure, he had seen Joe carry Arlo out when he was attacked after killing Jude, but his speed wasn''t too remarkable in his eyes and he believed it was only because the vampires were caught off guard that Joe was successful in his rescue.


    Still, pressed for time, Stefan climbed onto Joe''s back and decided to see how the situation unfolded. If he wasn''t pleased with Joe''s speed, he would have no choice but to cut some weight.


    After Stefan, Khan and the others also climbed onto Joe. Since his body was enormous, the group had no difficulties staying on top of him. In fact, Joe''s back still appeared spacious.


    "Hold on," warned Joe.


    Arlo, Arianne, and Joe who knew how terrifying Joe''s speed was held onto his scales, but others merely watched them in wonder, surprised at why they were overreacting.


    However, as a beautiful divine white light shone from Joe''s massive scaly body, their surroundings suddenly changed. In but an instant, they crossed the entire several-kilometer-wide area of destruction and soon arrived at the intact region.


    If it wasn''t for Stefan. who had acted quickly and surrounded them with his chains, Khan, Roy, Bon, and Judi would have been thrown off the moment Joe moved.


    "Incredible..." Stefan muttered dumbfounded, as he watched the buildings zoom past them, as Joe slithered across them at a speed that easily shattered the sound barrier.

 CHAPTER 204: SPACE AND TIME

    Silence.


    Within the chaotic void, there was nothing but pure darkness. There was no life, no natural laws, no space-time, no gods, only nothingness.


    Suddenly, two horizontal cracks hundreds of thousands of miles long appeared within the void. The cracks slowly widened, and after what seemed like an eternity, two titanic eyes appeared within the silent void. The eyes seemed to encompass the entire universe with its size.


    However, its size wasn''t what made it special. Its appearance itself was nothing short of heaven-defying. Its existence was simply out of the world.


    The sclera of the eyes seemed to mirror the chaotic void around it, while the ring formed between the iris and pupil was a resplendent golden river within which swam endless golden runes. Each rune was unique, radiating an aura that seemed to even precede ancient, and holding different boundless powers. The ring in the right eye spun clockwise while the ring in the left spun counterclockwise, creating an effect that seemed to distort the chaotic void around it.


    Despite the eyes being the only presence within the void, a heavenly voice soon resounded:


    "It is almost time."


    The slowly opposite spinning eyes seemed to pierce into the void in front of it, and not before long countless images flashed before it.


    The sight of the Realm of the gods appeared in its sight. It saw the beautiful, otherworldly plane that seemed to span the size of countless universes and was occupied by only higher beings, gods. One god after another flashed before it and soon after, the ten supreme gods appeared before it, followed by the strongest gods, the three sovereign gods.


    However, the eyes didn''t even spare them a moment, and instead pierce further into the void before its vision reached into another plane, one no less massive than the realm of the gods. The only difference was that while the realm of the gods looked and felt like the abode of heavenly beings, the underworld gave off a sinister and evil feeling. Presences no less strong than the fabled gods flashed before its eyes one by one, but as if feeling disdain for them, the eyes at most spared them a glance before moving further into another plane.


    The mortal plane.


    The speed at which the eyes seemed to spin seemed to have increased up a notch, and without hesitation, its eyes zoomed past billions of starfields, and countless worlds before settling on one.


    Piercing into the world, the sight of vampires, magical beasts, and werewolves in war flickered before it but as usual, the eyes ignored them all, as if searching for a particular thing.


    Its vision soon moved into the minor world the Darkblood was located in, before instantly settling on a figure.


    A group of children were riding on an enormous snake 40 meters long. Of course, to the eyes, the snake was nothing but a speck of dust. Yet, for the first time, the vision of the eyes lingered on one being for several moments and didn''t seem to have any intention of withdrawing any time soon.


    The eyes were fixed on a boy, a back-length golden-haired boy, whose silver eyes within which rested blue draconic irises shone with an intelligent light that didn''t seem to match his age. The eyes pierced into the existence of the boy, and soon, unknown to Arlo, all his secrets started revealing themselves before they were all laid bare.


    Anita, Kira, Kong, and six more unawakened summons...all special existences from the world of the gods, and even some seemed to be from the underworld.


    The greatest divine relic that had been lost and searched for within the realm of the gods...The Chaotic Twin-swords.


    Merging with the most unique existence among dragons, one that bore the greatest destructive power.


    And most importantly, his talents...


    "Mortals giving birth to a god, an outlier that has never appeared since time immemorial..." The eyes mumbled to themselves as they studied Arlo.


    It could see the divine treasure actively restraining Arlo''s status as a god, but it seemed even the greatest artifact of the realm of the gods had reached its limit. The eyes could tell that in but a few hours, its restraint would be broken...


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    "His affinity for time, for me, has reached a level that was deemed impossible..." A glint of excitement seemed to flash within the spinning eyes for an instant before disappearing as if an illusion.


    "Hmm?" Suddenly, the eyes withdrew their focus from Arlo and the planes altogether, before focusing on the void in front of it.


    A vertical crack appeared before it, as it slowly widened. A single vertical eye, that was the size of the two golden eyes combined appeared before it. The single eye, deep silver in color, contained endless concentric circles that made one fall into an infinite loop the instant they gazed into it.


    "Brother..." The two golden eyes whispered at the single eye before it. Despite, the distance between them being countless light years, the silver eyes seemed to be in front of it, which was an effect caused by the silver eye, despite the absence of space within the void, its authority overruling that reality.


    "Sister..." The countless concentric circles seemed to focus on it, and soon after a deep voice whose power seemed to send even the chaotic void around it shaking, boomed across the area:


    "Are you really going to do it? The others will not be happy."


    "Hmph..." A light harrumph that could stun the heart of any man resounded before that heavenly beautiful voice continued:


    "Who cares about them? An anomaly like this boy has never existed since we awakened our sentience. How can I give up this chance?" Innumerable years had passed since they awakened their sentience. Forget about the mortal plane, they have watched billions of gods fabled for their eternal lives rise and fall. They have watched countless gods rise to the level of sovereign gods and have lost a sense of how long they have existed. Now something which has never occurred before since their existence had taken place, and that thing was even related to it, how could it not take advantage of it?


    The deep male voice didn''t reply for a long time before it asked a question, one which had even been disturbing the golden eyes.


    "What about Aether?"


    Unlike before, the golden eyes didn''t immediately reply. After some time, its voice resounded, this time sounding a bit more subdued.


    "I will not lose this opportunity, brother. I will not." It stressed again.


    The deep male voice sighed before speaking with a resigned tone:


    "Fine. I will stop the others from noticing what you are about to do. How long before they realize it, I don''t know."


    "Thank you..."


    "As for Aether, let''s hope it remains uncaring as it has since that brat, goddess of destruction died."


    "Hmm." the otherworldly beautiful voice sounded in agreement. It didn''t fear the others, and as for Aether, it could only hope it wouldn''t meddle in its affairs.


    .....


    The Lunar World.


    The higher world which had been enjoying a decade of peace was suddenly thrown into chaos overnight.


    War ravaged the five continents, and with each passing breath, millions died, their lives ever lost to the underworld.


    Nightingale.


    The once quiet yet great capital city of the vampires was now a ruin of destruction. Several high-rise buildings collapsed to the ground, fire rose into the dark sky with smoke spreading across the area. A river of blood flowed across the ground, and that enticing metallic scent that the vampires would usually love to smell made the few remaining vampires nauseous.


    After Scarlett''s sudden disappearance, many of the powerful vampires charged into the central continent to find the cause of her disappearance. These presences included the Queen, the nine protectors, and Lady Evangeline. Just like the vampires, the Elders of the werewolves had also hurried to the central continent, after their Queen''s pack members felt her disappearance through their connection.


    After these powerful figures arrived in the central continent and found out that the culprits of the situation were the corrupted, they commenced a massive slaughter in anger.


    But what they didn''t know was that they had unconsciously shot themselves in the foot. Their territories which had lost a huge part of their main force suddenly suffered abrupt attacks from demons, with an abomination each appearing within their capital cities.


    An abomination, Greed appeared within Nightingale, and before the King who despite feeling anguished about his master and mother-in-law''s welfare, could react, Greed summoned countless undead into the capital city, while at the same time, the other cities within the northern continent suffered varying attacks from Corrupted.


    The abrupt appearance of hundreds of millions of skeleton soldiers, Knights, Archers, and mages threw Nightingale into chaos, and but a few minutes after their appearance, rivers of blood flowed.


    The king had quickly acted and tried to stop Greed''s onslaught. Supported by four Counts, the current leaders of the vampire clans, the King had thought he would be able to restrain Greed, even if he couldn''t defeat him.


    But the outcome was far from what he expected. In but a single move, three Counts died before the regenerative abilities of their bloodlines could even kick in. Left with no choice, King Nathan had to face Greed alone. But despite being among the five strongest vampires alive, Scarlett excluded, he could barely hold on for thirty minutes.


    After their short yet terrifying clash, King Nathan knelt on the floor as he panted for breath. His body was completely covered in blood, his body not able to regenerate any longer due to his reserve of energy having reached rock bottom.


    Just like him, the titanic figure of Greed, who had only a single eye on his head, resembling the fabled Cyclops, also suffered mid-grade injuries. But it merely stretched out its hand and absorbed many undead around it, before its chopped hand regenerated instantly. The cuts around his three-hundred-meter-high body quickly healed too, as it returned to the state it was in when it appeared.


    Despite the tired look on his face, King Nathan''s ruby eyes shone with an angry light, the dark veins beneath them spasming.


    Just when Greed raised his massive hand to finish him, ten powerful figures suddenly approached from afar.


    Except for the Queen who had remained behind within the central continent to keep searching for her mother, Lady Evangeline and the nine protectors had returned.

 CHAPTER 205: LADY EVANGELINE AND THE VAMPIRE LORDS VS GREED

    The once great and mighty capital city of the northern continent was now a place of ruin. As rivers of blood flowed unrestrained on the ground, the sounds of vampires clashing with undead permeated the area.


    No matter what, the vampires were a superior race, and even the feared undead in a normal situation would have no chance against them. But what about a situation where millions of undead suddenly besieged the vampires, outnumbering them thousands of times? Not to mention if they were further caught off-guard?


    The vampires simply stood no chance.


    Heads rolled on the ground with every swing of the mighty swords wielded by the Skeleton Knights. Covered in mysterious black armor releasing an aura of death, with their eye sockets radiating wisps of crimson lights, the Skeleton Knights charged towards more formidable vampires, assisted by spells by Skeleton mages, and a barrage of arrows by Skeleton archers.


    Quickly, the thousands of vampires in Nightingale diminished to a measly hundred, while the number of undead barely decreased, as they raised more skeletons into their ranks from the fallen corpses.


    And at the center of such a losing battle was King Nathan kneeling in front of a grotesque behemoth, standing hundreds of meters high, with only an eye on its head.


    The Behemoth, Greed, raised its right hand, sending it down as if trying to swat an ant. King Nathan stared at death approaching with an unconcerned look on his face. Some might think that he was already resigned to death if they couldn''t see the angry glints flashing within his eyes.


    Watching his people killed before him filled King Nathan''s heart with anger. He had lost three Counts, three mighty pillars of their race in but a moment of carelessness. Having seen that the Counts who were among the strongest in their race stood no chance against this Abomination, he had sent the last Count with him to deal with the army of undead, to whittle down their numbers. But who would have thought that the spread-out undead killing unrestrainedly would suddenly concentrate all their efforts on the Count?


    Besieged by tens of millions of Undead, even the peak Orange-core Count didn''t last a minute before succumbing to death. Each Undead was as powerful as a peak Red-core powerhouse after all. What was the concept of millions of Undead with the cultivation of the Red-core realm and above?


    King Nathan doubted such a force was wielded by a single power in the universe, further reminding him of how terrifying the Lord of Corruption was. Even in his absence, just a part of his forces was enough to send a mighty race like the vampires into a state of despair.


    As these thoughts passed through his mind, and as Greed''s arm fell like a guillotine, King Nathan thought about his master who had accepted him despite the protectors and the noble vampire''s refusal...


    He thought about his wife, whom he had grown up with and had wished to share the rest of his eternal life with...


    He thought about his son whom he had unknowingly passed a horrible fate of being shunned by their race to...


    He thought about his daughter who filled his heart with pride, another Vampire Progenitor in the making, no less than Scarlett...


    ''I am sorry. But it seems I will leave first.'' The sides of his mouth curved slightly upward into a rueful smile, as Greed''s hand smashed into him.


    However...


    A figure suddenly flashed beside him before the moment of impact, two massive fleshy wings folded gracefully above him to shield him from death''s claw.


    BAM!


    RUMBLE!


    Greed''s massive hand crashed into the wings, but the wings didn''t falter in the slightest as they held steadfast like Mount Tai.


    The shockwaves from the impact of their collision spread outwards sending all the debris of the destroyed buildings, rocks, and the pool of blood around them flying.


    But that wasn''t all.


    "Die!"


    King Nathan would never forget the voice he so hated to hear, a voice that always sent a feeling of irritation across his body any time they drifted into his ears.


    Lord Cromwell arrived before them, and as he roared out, he released his will field, causing a massive hand thousands of times larger than even the titanic figure of Greed, to fall from the skies.


    Greed, caught off-guard, couldn''t react as a monstrous hand spanning tens of kilometers fell from the sky at light speed and squashed his grotesque body into meat paste.


    Just as the massive monstrous hand started disappearing, the folded wings above King Nathan were retracted.


    "Lord Holden!" King Nathan breathed in relief as he watched the old man holding a black cane stand beside him.


    Lord Holden nodded at him before shifting his eyes to the bloody gore of what remained of Greed''s body. He watched as wisps of evil energy emerged from the massive meat paste and soon after, the deformed flesh started enlarging. Quickly the figure of a titanic figure was being reformed.


    "What?!" Lord Cromwell screamed in shock, "It still isn''t dead?"


    Lord Holden quickly tapped his cane on the ground twice, successfully garnering the attention of the figures who appeared before him.


    "Lady Ashley and Lady Evangeline, please take care of the army of undead." Lord Holden said after a quick but careful thought.


    Evangeline nodded as she joined her Clan''s ancestor and charged towards the millions of undead.


    As she moved forward, her spatial ring shone with a golden light, and soon after thousands of different weapons flew out of it. Soon, the weapons reached an astonishing amount of a million, which made one wonder if she only filled her storage space with weapons.


    Evangeline''s will spread out before spanning a region of tens of kilometers with her at the center. Using her will as a medium, her mana erupted from her body as she actively controlled the darkness laws within her will field to materialize into several dark hands. In but a second, a million hands surrounded Evangeline, and as her spiritual energy spread out to cover the same distance as her will, she watched as the scattered undead charged toward her to besiege her like they had done to the previous Count.


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    However, who was Evangeline?


    Even Scarlett had to acknowledge her as a formidable figure and a fearsome foe on the battlefield. In fact, aside from Scarlett, Evangeline was the second figure among the vampires who had the highest quantity of spiritual energy, something her clan was unique for. With indifferent eyes, Evangeline watched the millions of undead charging towards her like an unending swarm of densely clustered locusts, and as she put the unmatched analytical abilities of their clan to use, each dark hand flew towards a particular weapon hovering around her before grabbing it.


    Then millions of streaks flew across the sky, signifying the start of a slaughter.


    Thousands of heads of skeletons rolled across the grounds every second and in but a few seconds, that number combined to form a million. The undead seeing that they couldn''t even close the distance to Evangeline, started attacking from afar. The long-range undead, the mages, and archers launched several spells and arrows from afar, but before their attacks could even reach Evangeline, the dark hands holding shields suddenly moved in front of her before gracefully combining to form a massive wall of metal that successfully protected her from the rain of attacks. The dark hands-wielding weapons suddenly lunged forward before killing the Skeleton mages and Archers. Spears continuously stabbed, slashed, and thrust as if controlled by master experts.


    Swords swung in every direction as they drew graceful arcs across the air. Due to the Undead being skeletons and lacking blood, bones flew across the skies with their every movement.


    Despite being a slaughter, the sight was so beautiful to behold. The scene looked like the gathering of countless weapon experts laying waste to a swarm of locusts. Alas, there was nobody to witness it, as the others on the battlefield were preoccupied with their tasks.


    Unlike Evangeline, Lord Ashley merely summoned hundreds of thousands of sharp needles before expertly controlling them to kill the undead. Despite being a powerful figure in her own right, her performance couldn''t help but look lackluster compared to Evangeline.


    On the other side, Lord Holden together with Lord Cromwell and the other Lords attacked Greed together. But despite them having the advantage in numbers, they were still being suppressed by the lonely abomination.


    King Nathan who had retreated to the back finally realized that Greed had not taken him seriously in their previous clash.


    Three pairs of arms erupted from the sides of Greed''s body and together with his previous pair, the eight massive hands smashed around, destroying all before them and creating shockwaves that blasted all objects around them into the distance. Every time the hands landed on the ground, massive craters hundreds of meters wide and tens of meters deep would form. The battlefield had been thoroughly destroyed and deformed by Greed''s unmatched physical strength.


    But that wasn''t all.


    Three dark haloes rotating with a ''zing'' sound surrounded him and every time the Lords tried to take advantage of his massive build to close the distance between them, the rotating haloes would abruptly expand, before cutting into their flesh and severing their body parts.


    Like this, the lords were not able to draw near.


    Seconds trickled into minutes, and soon after the minutes turned into hours.


    ''We can''t continue like this!'' The bloodied Lord Holden thought as he watched the abomination before him. As the vanguard of the group, he was the one who suffered the most injuries. Now that his energy was reaching rock bottom, he couldn''t afford to regenerate and heal his wounds and had no choice but to suppress the healing ability of his bloodline.


    Just when Lord Holden was having a headache about how to subdue Greed, a massive arrow that resembled a javelin instantly split the air into two as it smashed into Greed''s single eye.


    "ROOAR!" Despite not having any mouth, Greed released a painful cry, which was the first sound it made since the battle started.


    The Lords couldn''t help but look in the direction the arrow had come from, and there they saw Evangeline standing far in the distance on top of the only building that was still standing, with a bow in her hand.


    Her suit was soaked with sweat, which caused it to hug her body more tightly than usual, and made her plentiful figure more pronounced.


    Despite not having any injury on her body, Evangeline still panted for breath as her face shone with tiredness.


    It was only then that Lord Holden. and the others realized that the hundreds of millions of undead had been taken care of.


    ''What a scary brat.'' A look of fear appeared on Lord Cromwell''s face as he stared at Evangeline who nocked another massive arrow to her heavy bow. Unlike her Clan leader who had collapsed some distance away with her body covered in blood, Evangeline still seemed to have a bit of fight left in her.


    Before Greed''s eye could heal completely, another arrow shot towards him at light speed.


    The arrow arced around its raised hands and even moved past the spinning haloes to dig into his eyes once more, this time the force enough to drill into its brain and blast a hole out of the back of its head. This time, Greed couldn''t even release a cry of pain, as even for it, having its brain blasted into bloody mist was a fatal wound.


    "Now!" Lord Holden shouted.


    They couldn''t lose this opportunity Evangeline had created. All the Vampire Lords erupted with their full might.


    A Lord''s body exploded into a terrifying swarm of a million bats, and soon after, the bats opened their mouths to release crimson beams of light that covered the sky and flew towards the stumbling Greed...


    Once again, a monstrous hand spanning several kilometers in size fell from the skies at light speed...


    Two massive wings connected the skies to the earth, and as the wings swung forward, they resembled sharp blades of light that split the air apart, causing several tiny cracks in space to form around them, as they lunged at Greed...


    All the remaining lords erupted with their full might, and none of them doubted that their combined attacks would fail to kill the abomination before them.


    Alas, what they wished for might not be what fate has in plan...


    As their attacks moved forward with world-shaking might, the vampire''s mind suddenly jolted as a terrifying primal roar shook their consciousness.


    "ROOOOOOOOOOAR!"


    It was a deafening roar filled with pain, sorrow, anguish, and most importantly anger.


    ''Arianne?''


    A name appeared within the minds of the vampire Lords and Evangeline.


    It seemed something bad had happened to their Princess, sending the Lords and even Evangeline into a panic.


    Arianne was their future and they couldn''t allow anything to happen to her. Not to mention that their primary task as Protectors was even to protect Scarlett''s family. But none of them thought the prince and Princess would be in danger as they were still in the minor world, and there was an elder as strong as a protector protecting the formation needed to enter it.


    In the moment that Arianne''s roar shook their minds, their attacks faltered for a split second.


    While a split second might sound long, to experts such as them, a split second could decide life and death.


    Greed who had still been underestimating his opponent''s and had suffered for it, didn''t miss this moment. Its head healed instantly and without hesitation, it erupted with its full power. The three haloes rotating around it expanded and destroyed the attacks they could take down while at the same time...


    A horizontal crack appeared on Greed''s face just below his massive single eye. The crack soon widened and opened enough to reach Greed''s bosom. Such a sight was simply harrowing, as Greed was hundreds of meters high, meaning that his mouth had widened to occupy at least half of its size.


    A terrifying suction force erupted from within the bottomless abyss of its mouth and soon after, the remaining attacks thrown at it were sucked into it before the Lords soon followed.


    Evangeline who was farther away from Greed than the others was also subjected to this suction force, but was able to resist it due to the distance.


    Just as she moved to save the Lords, Lord Holden and the other''s voice shook her mind.


    "Go! Go save the princess! Go!"


    A look of hesitation flashed on Evangeline''s face for a split second, before her expression hardened. Soon after, she turned into a streak of black light that disappeared into the distance.


    ''Survive.''


    She could only transmit her will to her Elders and make use of her remaining reserve of energy to move at her fastest speed.


    Her destination?


    The Minor World.


    *****


    AN: The first volume, Awakening(Two months) is soon coming to an end. Thanks tp all those who are following the novel.

 CHAPTER 206: CHAINS OF TARTARUS

    A white blur streaked around buildings at such an astonishing speed that even a powerful Red-core mage would have trouble keeping up with it.


    In just a short breath, Arlo''s group had already covered a region of two kilometers, despite the buildings blocking their paths.


    Just when Arlo and the others became relieved at the thought that they would reach their goal in but a few minutes with the speed at which they were moving, Stefan''s expression suddenly changed.


    Despite Arlo, Arianne, Roy, and the others only seeing the surrounding scene flash past them, Stefan could follow Joe''s movement quite easily. In fact, even Khan could see his surroundings clearly, while Ella who had an affinity with Lightning could just barely make out her surroundings.


    Barely a minute after their journey, a few figures moving in small groups started appearing in their paths. At first, Joe was able to move past them before they could even sense his presence, a maelstrom of wind left behind in his wake.


    But soon after, the situation changed. More powerful figures who seemed to be touring the area in search of vampires started appearing on their way.


    Just as Joe turned round a corner with a flash of bright light, an unbearable heat crashed into his massive scaly face, as his white reptilian pupils trembled at the sight of the gigantic spear made from fire that seemed to have been thrown at him even before he appeared.


    Without a doubt, this was not an attack he could take head-on.


    "Stop!" Stefan shouted in anger, as he swung his arm out, causing a long thick chain to burst out at a speed that even outmatched the speed at which Joe was moving.


    No matter what, Joe was still at the peak of the master realm. Despite having a great affinity for light laws, and his bloodline allowing him to move at incredible speed, due to the great constraint from his cultivation, he could only move twice as fast as the speed of sound at the moment and hadn''t reached the realm of his mother who was able to move at a fraction of the speed of light.


    Yet despite that, his powerful bloodline and his talent as a god tier allowed him to outmatch even those that are higher than him by almost two great realms in speed.


    The black chain thrown by Stefan moved and coiled forward like a flood dragon before piercing through the fifty-meter-long fire spear easily like knife through a butter, the spear erupting into a conflagration of flames, as the black chain continued uninterrupted and moved at almost light speed to wrap around the hand of the attacker. Before the man who had launched a surprise attack to stop Joe could even realize it, the black chain had coiled around his right hand like a serpent.


    With a slight tug, Stefan screamed in anger, the emotions he had barely been suppressing erupting completely:


    "Get over here!"


    The man didn''t even have a second to react before his body was yanked forward at a speed that broke the sound barrier, with sonic waves spreading out into the surroundings.


    In just a second after Stefan''s command, the man''s pupils trembled when he saw himself flash before the former, and before he could even blink his eyes, a fist covered by a crimson gauntlet covered his vision.


    With a bang, his head exploded into a bloody mist, the residue force sending what remained of his body flying soon after.


    While all this sounded long to describe, from the moment the fire spear arrived before Joe to Stefan killing the enemy with his fist, barely three breaths had passed.


    Arlo, Arianne, Ella, and even Khan who belatedly sensed the danger due to their sharp senses paled, but before they could even react, Stefan had already dealt with the threat.


    Arlo gasped softly as he gazed at Stefan with a dumbfounded look. Even Arianne and the others shared the same expressions.


    They could judge from the aura that still covered them that the middle-aged man who had surprise attacked them was far more powerful than a Red-core mage and was definitely in the Orange-core realm if not at its peak, yet Stefan who was only a first-level Orange-core mage had insta-killed him before the other party could even react.


    How powerful!


    Domineering!


    Stefan ignored the look of astonishment and admiration the others were throwing at him, and instead spread out his spiritual sense, causing a deep frown to appear on his face.


    "This has gotten more difficult..."


    Just when the others were wondering why he said that despite his jaw-dropping display of strength, their expressions quickly changed when they felt many auras rush in their directions.


    Before Arlo could even urge Joe to run, twenty figures flashed before them, directly blocking their path.


    The elder of the red Wyverns who had left Cassian''s side after entering the minor world led the twenty figures as he grabbed a bottle filled with blood.


    "I don''t why he even gave me this thing. In the end, it was useless..." he grumbled as he threw the bottle on the ground, causing it to break and the blood it contained to splash around. If it wasn''t for the conflagration of flames that rose to the sky a few seconds ago, he wouldn''t have located Arlo''s group.


    Arlo''s face turned pale when his dragon eyes showed him the amount of mana coursing through the body of the man standing before them. To Arlo''s horror, the density of the man''s mana was at least a hundred times higher than Stefan''s.


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    "A Yellow-core mage..." Stefan muttered as he walked to the forefront of the group and stood at the very edge of Joe''s massive head. A deafening silence ensued as a palpitating pressure built up.


    Arianne and the others paled as they could tell the situation they were in. The worst was that it felt as if they didn''t have any chance of survival, as in just the few breaths of time both parties stared at each other, more figures arrived in the skies.


    The initial number of twenty had already turned into eighty and the number was steadily increasing the more time they wasted.


    In fact, Arianne and Arlo who could use their divine sense could feel the presence they had been running from was fast approaching, which didn''t bode well for them.


    Of course, Stefan could also sense it.


    He could tell that the others were delaying and buying time for their comrades to arrive. What Stefan didn''t know was that the red-haired elder secretly felt surprised, which is why he hadn''t given an order for his group to attack.


    He could see the corpse splattered on the wall of a nearby building and from the aura emanating from it, he could tell the dead man was a peak Orange core mage, yet he couldn''t even last ten breaths before they arrived.


    He wasn''t scared of Stefan''s group but still decided to increase his chances and wait for the others to come.


    Likewise, he also didn''t know that Stefan was using this opportunity to converse telepathically with the juniors around him, despite their situation worsening every breath.


    "Beast boy, I will create a path for you to run." He said telepathically to Joe who couldn''t answer due to his lack of spiritual energy. Thankfully Arianne answered for him.


    "No! Big brother, I am not leaving without you..."


    Arianne''s already pale face seemed to worsen as she gazed at the back of her brother with a look of fear.


    "Arianne..."


    "No, don''t say anything. I refuse to leave you."


    "Sister..."


    "No!"


    Arianne moved, intending to hug her brother, but was held back by a small but firm hand.


    Turning back, the sides of Arianne''s eyes glistened with tears, as her beautiful face now turned pale gazed at one of the few persons she had recently come to find important.


    "Arlo?"


    Arlo''s heart wrenched as he gazed at the tears that slowly spilled down Arianne''s face.


    "Why...why are you holding me?"


    Her question stung his heart greatly, a suffocating feeling engulfing his body. Yet, he didn''t reply and merely locked eyes with her with a grave expression on his face.


    "No-dont tell me...you too..." Her silent cries soon turned into choked sobs, "Th-That is my brother...my brother..."


    Despite the pleading edge in her voice and the sorrowful look on her face, Arlo''s grip didn''t slacken and instead grew firmer.


    "Thank you..."


    At the same time that Arianne continued to beg him to let her go, Stefan''s grateful voice suddenly resounded in his mind.


    "I will leave her to you."


    Arlo didn''t reply and merely nodded in his direction. Seeing their quick exchange, Arianne could tell they were communicating, causing her to throw herself into Arlo''s embrace and cry her eyes out.


    "Isn''t that the vampire princess? To think her cries would sound so pleasing to the ears!"


    "Hahahaha! Don''t tell me you have a thing for young ones?"


    "Eh?"


    The surrounding corrupted snickered and mocked Arianne and Stefan. Within this short time, their number had already increased to more than a thousand. So they already saw Stefan''s group as fish on a chopping block.


    Suddenly...


    Stefan who had remained still for almost a minute slowly floated to the sky, his eyes fixed on the red-haired elder.


    "I will leave the ones on the ground to you." He said to no one in particular.


    The red-haired Elder raised an eyebrow as he gazed at the about three hundred Corrupted who couldn''t fly and were on the ground, showing that they had yet to break into the true stages of cultivation, before glancing at Arlo''s small group on the 40-meter-long green snake. Soon after, he shifted his eyes back on the flying Stefan and couldn''t help but question:


    "You don''t think you can escape us, do you?"


    Stefan looked at the red-haired elder who was as strong as a Count, the leader of a vampire clan, before studying the over five Hundred figures surrounding him in the air, and covering any gap he could use to escape.


    "Escape?" He chuckled before flashing an evil smile, "I am going to kill you! All of you!"


    A stunned look appeared on the red-haired elder and the surrounding enemies'' faces before a bout of uncontrollable laughter soon erupted.


    "Hahahaha!"


    "Is he serious? He will kill us all?"


    "Maybe we scared him silly..."


    Words of mockery along with laughter echoed out, and even the red-haired elder couldn''t help but shake his head in disdain.


    However, while his enemies were laughing and making jest of his words, Stefan merely gazed at them, as his anger began to bubble, causing his eyes to shine with a crimson glow.


    His Grandmother...


    His Parents...


    His Principals and Elders...


    His friends and mates...


    His people...


    Some were dead, while the status of others, he couldn''t confirm. Hiding within the minor world to protect Khan, Ella, and his sister had filled him with a sense of shame and anger, yet he bore through it and persevered.


    But who would have thought the other party wouldn''t be satisfied with killing those on the outside and would stoop so low as to invade the minor world to kill the vampire''s younger generation?


    He had had enough!


    "You are all courting death!"


    Stefan''s angry voice pierced through the laughter and jeering of the surrounding hundreds of enemies, causing the great majority of them to keep quiet.


    The eyes of the red-haired elder instantly narrowed at Stefan, and while he couldn''t see Stefan''s spiritual energy he could still feel it with his sharp senses. And it was because he could feel it that he could tell that Stefan had surprisingly instantly covered the surrounding thirty kilometers with his spiritual energy, engulfing him and every member of his group in it.


    "That is enough! Attack him!"


    Despite not knowing why their boss suddenly gave that order, the corrupted obeyed instantly and launched varying attacks at Stefan''s lonely figure.


    A Kaleidoscope of lights filled the skies as hundreds of attacks made from different laws surrounded Stefan.


    "BROTHER!"


    Arianne''s anxious voice pierced through the sky from below, as she watched her brother besieged from every direction by hundreds of mages with a minimum cultivation of the Red-core realm.


    As he watched the attacks flying towards him, and at the same time that his will spread out with him at the center to cover the region filled with his spiritual energy, Stefan''s soft voice drifted into the ears of his sister and those around him.


    "Do not worry sister, something like this cannot kill me!"


    Using his will as a medium, Stefan''s body burst out with dark essence as he controlled the surrounding darkness laws to manifest his domain.


    "CHAINS OF TARTARUS!"


    Silence engulfed the world, as gigantic chains tens of thousands of meters long and tens of meters thick instantly manifested, their numbers quickly surpassing a thousand, before reaching an astonishing number of a hundred thousand. Yet, they showed no impression of stopping soon. The black chains twisted and turned around themselves like flood dragons as they covered the skies, destroying all the attacks thrown at Stefan and even coiling around the bodies of a third of those in the skies.


    Looking at the corrupted who were gazing at him with a lost look on their faces, the sides of Stefan''s mouth rose to form an evil spine-chilling smile.


    "Didn''t I tell you, you will die?"


    Before anyone could react, the chains coiled around almost two hundred Corrupted tightened abruptly, causing bloody flowers to bloom in the dark skies. At the same time, thousands of chains twisted around themselves before lunging at the still stupefied corrupted, their tips shining with a dark ominous light that matched perfectly with their master''s evil smile.

 CHAPTER 207: ENTERING THE SHADOW REALM

    Thousands of chains lunged at the flying corrupted as they effortlessly destroyed all the attacks thrown at Stefan. Even when the Corrupted tried to release their will field, they found to their despair that their mana was being actively sucked by the thick gigantic chains, causing none of their will field to manifest. The Red core corrupted died without offering any form of resistance, with only the orange core and above being the only ones who could destroy the chains.


    TA! TA! TA! TA! TA! TA! TA! TA! TA!


    Stefan''s feet tapped lightly on the black chains as his body turned into a blur. Because the gigantic chains covered the skies, there was not enough space to fly and move around, limiting the movements of the Corrupted.


    But as for him?


    The black chains parted like the red sea before Moses every time they blocked his path, with some actively moving towards his feet anything time he didn''t have any surface to step on.


    Like this, Stefan flashed before the still resisting Orange core corrupted before reaping their lives with a single punch from his crimson gauntlet-covered fists.


    Just when he killed the tenth orange core corrupted, and was about to dash in another''s direction, a feeling of death suddenly engulfed him.


    "ROOOOOOOOOOAR!" The angry bellow of an enraged red wyvern shook the surroundings.


    ''Shit. That red-haired elder.''


    He had planned to take out the weaker corrupted and leave the strongest red-haired elder for the last. Of course, he didn''t dismiss his presence and had commanded a great portion of his chains to keep the elder occupied. But it seemed he had greatly underestimated the prowess of an orange core mage.


    From the side of his eye, his already dashing figure was just barely able to make out the sight of a fifty-meter-long red wyvern opening its mouth wide to release a fire breath at him. Despite the attack still building up within the wyvern''s outstretched jaws, Stefan could tell that it would only take an instant for the fire breath to reach him.


    Just when Stefan thought we would die without any doubt, the voice of the human boy whom he had recently started to feel displeased with suddenly pierced the skies.


    "KONG''S STAFF!"


    The skies already covered by the terrifying hundreds of thousands of gigantic thick chains suddenly darkened further.


    Stefan and the red wyvern raised their eyes to see through the gaps from the gigantic chains, tens of staffs, each hundreds of meters wide and thousands of meters high falling from the sky in the latter''s direction.


    The red wyvern didn''t hesitate in the slightest to change the target of his attack.


    A pillar of flames thousands of meters wide flew into the sky destroying the gigantic chains in its path, and even the five hundred meters surrounding chains, as it lit the dark sky.


    However, what happened next stupefied not only the corrupted but even Stefan...


    The fire breath passed through the falling staffs without any resistance before piercing the dark clouds that covered the skies.


    BOOOOOM!


    A congregation of bright hot flames lit the world.


    ''An illusion?'' The red wyvern thought before shifting his head in Stefan''s direction, ignoring the remaining falling staffs, as it started building up another fire breath attack within its mouth.


    Stefan didn''t miss this opportunity to change his position. Instead of running along the chains as he did before, his body directly turned into a dark fog, that swished and hid behind the gigantic chains and moved near his targets.


    Before the Orange core corrupted could react, his smoky body turned into a terrifying swarm of bats that shot crimson beams into its body, annihilating his existence from this world. Once again, Stefan transformed into a dark fog that streaked behind the chains as cover and moved around the red wyvern who was still charging his next attack.


    Five breaths after his last attack, the red-haired elder in the form of the red wyverns finally charged his next attack, and opened his mouth in the general direction of the fast-moving fog, about to release his second breath when...


    "His huge eyes widened, with his eyeballs almost bursting out as a massive staff that resembled more of a pillar smashed into him from the skies.


    BAAAAAAM!


    His fifty meters long body fell to the ground like a red comet, before he smashed into the ground.


    BOOOOOOOOOOM!


    The earth shook from the impact, as a massive shockwave spread out destroying all in its path.


    Thankfully, Joe, who had been warned by Arlo, and a few corrupted individuals who had seen the attacks coming, had already fled into the distance.


    Stefan experienced a brief moment of shock before he directed his spiritual energy to search for his sister and the others. Sure enough, they seemed to have distanced themselves from the battle, yet had not left.


    He quickly passed his thought across to Arlo:


    "Thanks for your help. But you need to leave now!"


    Arlo couldn''t reply since the distance between them was too far for his spiritual energy to cover, regardless, Stefan''s voice continued to reverberate within his mind.


    "Please, take off my sister.¡±


    Arlo''s face hardened for only a moment. During this time, the corrupted who had escaped with them tried to sneak an attack, but before they could gather their energy, Joe''s massive body disappeared from their sight.


    Seeing this, a relieved smile found its way onto Stefan''s cold face.


    "ROAR!"


    The red-haired elder who had been smashed into the ground by Arlo''s sneak attack roared before lunging back into the sky unscathed. The gigantic chains tried to coil around it and restrict his movement, only to be destroyed by a single sweep of its tail. Its gigantic red eyes blazed with fury as it glared at Stefan''s small figure.


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    At the same time, the other surviving orange core corrupted made use of the short window, during which the red-haired elder restrained Stefan to quickly transform into their beast form. With their transformations, the gigantic chains found it difficult to restrain them any further.


    Like this, Stefan found himself surrounded by tens of massive red wyverns each in the same cultivation as him.


    Looking at the red-haired elder who had risen above him and was looking down at him from the skies with his window-sized eyes, the gigantic chains covering several kilometers around Stefan suddenly froze.


    A grave silence descended into the area as Stefan watched his enemies with a cold look on his face.


    The palpitating pressure kept increasing...


    After almost a minute which felt like an eternity passed, an angry voice came from the skies:


    "Attack!"


    Without hesitation, the tens of red wyverns surrounding Stefan opened their jaws, as a terrifying amount of mana gathered within their outstretched jaws. The same was for the red-haired elder who was above, his fireball congregating within his mouth and lighting up the dark skies.


    However, Stefan didn''t remain still as his opponents acted. His body started transforming, one which while not as drastic as his sister''s was nevertheless fear-inducing. At the same time, the thousands of frozen chains suddenly moved. But this time, instead of attacking the red wyverns, they continuously coiled around themselves and not before long, almost a hundred gigantic black eastern dragons made from pure chains covered the skies, stupefying the wyverns who were still charging their attacks.


    The black dragons opened their mouth as if to release a roar but no sound came out, which was quite normal since they were composed of only chains. However, they didn''t need to release any sound as the roar came from somewhere else.


    "GRR..."


    Startled by a guttural sound, the red wyverns shifted their focus back to their center only to be greeted by the sight of a dreadful monster.


    "ROAR!"


    A primal roar shook the skies.


    .....


    The group continued in silence as Joe''s body continued to move around the buildings. Unlike before, Joe didn''t move at his fastest and instead moved with more caution due to their previous experience. Due to the explosion brought by Cassian''s attack at the beginning, the students had been flung in different directions, so the group had no choice but to discard their previous plan and move towards the nearest teleportation formation, which was found in the northern region.


    With Joe''s current speed, it would only take them about thirty minutes before they arrived at their destination, and hopefully escape from the minor world.


    It was already deep into the night, and the moonlight which was supposed to bask the world in its gentle glow failed to reach the earth as it was obscured by dark clouds.


    About twenty minutes went by without anything happening. Roy, Bon, and Judi who were too weak to offer any help unconsciously relaxed the closer they inched toward their goal.


    Throughout their journey, Arianne remained in Arlo''s embrace, her silent cries making the mood of the group more gloomy.


    Sigh!


    The old Khan who was to the side remained silent with a difficult expression on his face. He wasn''t weak and was an orange core mage just like Stefan but the problem was that he had a utility-type innate talent and all his techniques were related to blacksmithing. When it came to actual combat, his strength could probably only compare to a beginner Red-core mage.


    Time slowly passed as the group continued in grave silence, with the only change being their surroundings that zoomed past them at great speed.


    It was then it happened...


    Joe''s swooshing body abruptly came to a stop.


    Arlo who was rubbing Arianne on the back to comfort her was wondering what happened, and was about to voice his confusion, only for the words to die down his throat.


    The group watched their front in stunned silence before a seed of despair sprouted within their minds


    The shadows cast on the buildings by the moonlight seeping past the dark clouds suddenly moved as if they had come alive. They congregated towards their front and blocked their path before a calm figure slowly rose out from their embrace.


    The corrupted leader of the beast association gazed at the kids before him with a serene expression. Just like Cassian, who seemed to have become more raucous after being corrupted, Iro appeared even more calm and calculating.


    His eyes fixed on the human boy on the gigantic snake as he wondered why it was so important for Razor to not only send Cassian but even him.


    While he was pondering, the other party was engulfed in a feeling of pure despair. Even without him acting, Arlo and the others could tell the figure blocking their path was terrifyingly strong, so strong that they doubted if they could survive even if their principals and teachers were present.


    Arlo''s throat felt dry. The feeling of despair growing within him soon turned into anger as he tightened his embrace on Arianne.


    He couldn''t believe the opportunity Stefan had created for them with his life would be wasted so easily.


    ''No...''


    ''We haven''t lost yet.''


    He refused to give up until the end.


    His spiritual energy silently spread out as he hurriedly sent a message to Joe.


    "Run! Just take another path."


    Joe hesitated briefly before he barely shook off his fear after Arlo''s constant pleading.


    His body quickly turned and without holding back in the slightest, he erupted with his maximum speed and slithered back in the direction they came from. Of course, he didn''t plan to return when they were so close and merely wanted to change direction before continuing toward their goal.


    Iro merely watched the massive snake disappear from his view calmly before dissolving back into the shadows.


    .....


    Five minutes later...


    Arlo''s face distorted in anxiousness as he felt his heart rise to his throat.


    No matter how they ran to escape, Iro would always appear before them a short while later. Yet he didn''t attack and merely studied them as a predator who was certain its prey could never escape would.


    Arlo used his illusion domain to try to deceive him several times, yet despite not having spiritual energy like vampires, Iro simply saw through his tricks with his sharp senses. The strength gap between them was simply too much for Arlo''s illusion to work.


    Also, Arlo wasn''t sure if Iro was doing it intentionally, but the more they changed their paths, the further away they got from their goal.


    Just when Arlo was falling deeper into the pits of despair, a soft and beautiful voice suddenly resounded within his mind.


    "Arlo..."


    It was his second summon, Kira.


    "I think I can help..."


    Despite sounding unsure, Kira''s beautiful voice and most importantly, her words calmed Arlo and brought him out of the pit he was falling into.


    .....


    Once again, Iro stepped out from the shadows and gazed at the huge snake before him calmly.


    It wasn''t that he was toying with his prey, but he was simply curious about what was special about the human and his group. He wanted them to try their all to escape from him to gauge their abilities, but so far he was left disappointed. The group had launched lightning, illusion, and many more attacks. In fact, he had even been attacked by massive falling staffs. Sure, he was a bit shocked by the group''s terrifying combat prowess despite their low cultivation and could tell the group had many one-of-a-kind geniuses, but still, in the grand scheme of things he couldn''t tell why they were important, except for the vampire princess who could be used to hasten the fall of the vampires.


    ''I have seen enough...'' Decided Iro as he waited for Joe to arrive.


    However, he soon noticed an incongruence. Joe had arrived, but unlike before he showed no sign of stopping and retreating.


    Flabbergasted by the sudden change, Iro belatedly realized the appearance of a new figure among the group. The human boy who was hugging the vampire princess, with a pitch-black snake coiled around his snake, now had a new figure atop his right shoulder.


    ''A fox? With two tails?''


    A question mark appeared on Iro''s head only for his eyes to widen slowly.


    Joe who was about to reach him suddenly jumped into the air, before his 40m long body slowly fell towards him.


    Just when Iro was wondering why they were suddenly attacking him despite knowing full well the gap between them, the shadows lining the street suddenly flew into the air before hugging Joe''s massive body. The shadow fully engulfed the light bursting out from his green scales due to his light laws, in darkness, and under Iro''s continuously widening eyes, Joe''s figure fell before plunging into the deep shadows that had congregated just a few feet before him without his knowledge.


    He watched with a blank look, as Joe together with the bodies on his back disappeared into the ground quickly, the tail swishing about for a moment before vanishing soon after.


    "W-What?"


    AN: Sorry for the late update. I heard the story''s pacing is too slow. Is that truly so? Let me know your thoughts.

 CHAPTER 208: AWAKENING I

    AN: This is the longest chapter in this book so far. I hope you enjoy it.


    *****


    ''Where did it all go wrong?''


    A golden-haired boy covered in blood knelt blankly on the ground as he stared at the corpses strewn around him like grasses on a field. Rivers of blood flowed on the ground dyeing the earth in its crimson color. The characteristic iron smell of blood filled the air, and if one took a deep breath, even its unique taste could be sensed.


    The sky was overcast and gloomy. Dark clouds shrouded the path left by the moon, making the atmosphere hazy.


    The night air that touched the skin felt damp and humid, making it feel like it would snow or rain at any moment.


    And so it did...


    Starting with a drop...


    A few drops...


    ...and then a shower.


    Despite being beaten by rain, the blood on Arlo remained, while the bloody river on the ground refused to be washed away.


    ''When?''


    Arlo looked to his right...


    There he saw a dark-haired boy lying on the ground a short distance away from him, with his hand stretched in his direction and no sign of life in his eyes. He could still remember how he had swooped in and saved his life. He could still remember the night before when he had visited him to express his gratitude.


    But now?


    ''Dead.''


    Like a robot, Arlo turned his neck stiffly. There, he saw a boy being hugged tightly by a girl, with blood pooling underneath them.


    ''Ah.''


    He tried to scream but he couldn''t.


    He could still vividly remember how those siblings had wickedly treated him when he was brought into the northern territory. Yet they had reconciled and had gotten close together. He even requested them to be in their group, to ensure they survived.


    But now?


    ''Dead.''


    Arlo''s breathing turned shallow, as he grasped his chest tightly. It was almost as if a hand was gripping his heart and squeezing with the intent to burst it.


    But that wasn''t all.


    Shifting his head once more, he saw a headless figure, one that gave an aura that was similar to his, showing that he was human. As if being controlled like a marionette, he turned his neck and saw a head covered in red hair, a small distance from the body. Despite not being close to Khan, he had been treated kindly the first time they met. He had given him advice on how he could break through in his Ki cultivation and had even presented him with a pair of daggers, one that he hadn''t had the opportunity to use.


    But now, he was dead.


    "Dead...they are all dead...dead..." Arlo''s voice broke the silence, as he muttered blankly, with ragged breaths.


    It was then...


    He caught sight of something from the side of his eye, shaking his body to the core. No, he had long since noticed it, with the 360-degree vision granted to him by his dragon eyes, but had vehemently denied it.


    But he couldn''t reject it any longer...


    Finally, the tears he had been holding back streamed down, as he clawed his way in the direction of the three bodies.


    "Arianne...Joe...Ella..."


    "No no, please...no..."


    Incoherent words leaked from his mouth, as he slowly closed the distance to them.


    It was then, it happened.


    BOOM!


    BOOM!


    The blood-covered earth shook rhythmically, causing Arlo to stiffen. A foreboding feeling engulfed him causing his slowly beating heart to pick up speed.


    Turning his head, he saw it. Through his eyes clouded in tears and through the rain that filled his vision.


    An army of corrupted was marching ever so slowly, as they stepped without hesitation on the corpses of their members strewn on the ground.


    Thousands?


    The approaching army filled his vision from every direction making Arlo unable to estimate their numbers.


    Suddenly, a shadow fell on him out of nowhere, causing Arlo to raise his head.


    "You..."


    Arlo''s body trembled greatly.


    "Hehehe..." An evil cackle reverberated within his ears. "Do you remember me?"


    Arlo''s clouded eyes shook in anger. How could he not remember the figure before him?


    With his face twisted in hatred that didn''t match his age, Arlo gritted his teeth in anger:


    "...Razor."


    BAM!


    A hand slammed down on his head with enough force that Arlo thought his brain would explode. His head slammed into the ground, adding to the pool of blood already below him. As blood covered his hazy vision, Razor''s voice entered Arlo''s ears.


    "That is Emperor Razor for you, you brat!"


    "Oh!" He exclaimed suddenly as if remembering something.


    "I have lost count of the number of ways I have devised to torture you, who ruined my work of almost a decade and made me fail my mission. But after thinking about it, I think the best way to start would be to give a present. Here."


    Arlo whose head had been filled with ringing sound suddenly had his hair grabbed forcefully as he was pulled up from the ground.


    "Look at this!"


    Emperor Razor brought something to his face with his other hand.


    ''Huh?'' Arlo couldn''t make out the object before him easily, as his vision was obscured by the blood leaking down from his forehead.


    But as his blood-filled eyes concentrated, and as the rain fell on his face and helped to improve his sight, Arlo could finally see what was before him a bit more clearly


    Arlo''s eyes widened slowly, with a stunned look on his face.


    ''M-master?''


    "Hahahaha!" Emperor Razor erupted into laughter when he saw Arlo''s reaction. He dangled the head Arlo was gazing dumbly at, and started spouting words that Arlo couldn''t hear any longer.


    As he gazed at the face of the person who had treated him so dearly since he entered the Darkblood academy, Arlo''s young mind finally broke down and he lost consciousness.


    "Oi oi," Razor dropped the head in his right hand and started smacking Arlo around. With each of his movements, blood flew into the air, but no matter what he did, the young boy in his hand refused to wake up.


    "Hey! Are you kidding me?" Razor twisted one of Arlo''s arms, causing his bone to pierce out of his skin, yet he didn''t receive any reaction from Arlo.


    No matter what he did, no matter the pain he inflicted, Arlo refused to wake up.


    He didn''t know it, but his revealing Evangeline''s state was the final nail that broke the coffin.


    The army of undead stood orderly a short distance away as they watched their commander continue to torture the human boy to no avail.


    The shower of rain that fell seemed to increase in intensity, giving off the feeling that the world was weeping.


    As Razor''s angry scream continued to resound in the area, a deep elderly voice that seemed to come out of nowhere suddenly shook the whole world.


    <<Finally...>>


    Emperor Razor seized all movement as he gazed at the saber marks at the back of the twisted hands of the boy in his grasp.


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    "What the h..."


    Before he could finish his words, that deep voice shook his mind once again.


    <<It is time!>>


    Emperor Razor who had been stunned belatedly realized that the rain had stopped falling at some point.


    He unconsciously raised his head, with his army of corrupted mirroring his action, but when they looked at the sky, what they saw made them swallow their spit in fear.


    At the same time, within Arlo''s mind.


    "Why?" A young boy sitting with his head lowered and his hands curled around his knees continued to mumble the same question, again and again.


    As if noticing something, the boy stopped speaking before raising his head.


    There, he saw a wizened old man with a head full of white hair and a matching beard hanging down to his chest and fluttering even in the absence of air.


    <<My child, It is time!>>


    As if he didn''t hear what the old man said, the young boy repeated the same question.


    "Why?"


    The old man sensed he wouldn''t be able to get to the boy no matter what he said or did, so he sighed before snapping his fingers.


    << Let me show you what happened.>>


    A screen the boy was already familiar with appeared before him before many scenes started flashing on it.


    .....


    The group was a few minutes from their destination, only for an unknown man to block their path.


    The man who seemed able to control shadows wasn''t in a hurry to capture them and instead continued to obstruct their path with a studying look on his face. The situation remained the same no matter what they did until...


    His second shadow, Kira intervened.


    After entering the shadow realm, the situation completely changed.


    This wasn''t the first time Arlo had been at the receiving end of a chase. When he first entered the secret realm, he had been chased by slave traders...


    In the secret realm, he had been chased by the red ants and the magical beast team...


    But the situation this time was a bit different.


    After entering the shadow realm, and with the help of Kira, Joe was like a sea serpent swimming within the ocean.


    No matter how much the enemy chased after them, he couldn''t bridge the distance and instead was only slowed down by Kira who wrung the control of shadows away from his hand within the shadow realm and continuously obstructed his path by creating dark objects.


    Together with Arlo who still retained his senses within the shadow realm and was able to direct the blind Joe, the group soon arrived at the building housing the teleportation formation.


    Joe quickly reverted to his human form but soon collapsed from weakness. Continuously travelling at his fastest speed for several hours, while still carrying many figures on his back had completely drained him.


    Without any choice, Arlo carried him as the group quickly entered the building. Khan hurriedly started the formation as he sent his mana into it, with one member after the other arriving safely beside him.


    Arlo who was carrying Joe was the last to enter the formation but before he could step into it, the shadows moved and blood flew into the air.


    The two of them stumbled on the ground, and as his vision grew hazy, the last thing he remembered was Arianne opening her mouth wide. And then, darkness covered his vision.


    ....


    In Arlo''s mind sea.


    The wizened old man stood at the boy''s side silently as he watched him clench his hands in pain as scenes continued to flash on the screen he had conjured.


    Despite already knowing what happened, the old man shifted his eyes to the screen and observed what happened after the young boy lost consciousness.


    .....


    Iro stepped out of the shadows immediately after arriving within the building. He couldn''t help but release a breath in relief when he saw he wasn''t late. He had almost failed his mission due to his overconfidence.


    Now that he had learned his lesson, he decided to take things seriously.


    It seemed the human boy had lost consciousness, which was normal. His mind must have shut down from the pain of having his lower limbs severed.


    ''Now, it remains the vampire princess.'' Iro thought as he shifted his eyes to the group already in the formation.


    ''Shit.'' That was the only thing he could come up with when he saw the vampire princess abruptly transform into a three-meter monster with only a wide horizontal crack on her head. As the crack widened to reveal a set of jagged teeth that sent chills down his spine, he instinctively knew what was about to come. Alas, it was too late for him to react.


    "ROOOOOAAAAR!"


    A roar containing a myriad of emotions shook his eardrums. He could feel the pain, anguish, anger, and many more emotions hidden within this deafening roar.


    As his mind slowly blanked out, he noticed the other vampires within the group collapsing on the ground, as if knocked out by the monster''s roar, before he felt his senses completely cut off from the world.


    Arianne didn''t seem to have any intention of stopping as her roar continued unabated, with her spiritual energy spreading out.


    First, it was her grandmother.


    Then, her brother...


    And now, Arlo...


    She released all her stifling emotions with this roar.


    "Now!"


    Ella who belatedly came to, shouted as purple lightning gathered on her body. Aside from her and Arianne, the only person who was still conscious in their team was Khan.


    The red-haired elder didn''t hesitate to send his mana into the teleportation formation again, as purple lightning flashed beside him before returning a second later with Arlo and Joe.


    The ground beneath them covered in runic patterns lit up with a bright silver light, causing Khan to breathe in relief.


    "Where do you think you are going!?" Iro who had been standing blankly suddenly roared in anger, having lost his calm.


    The shadows around him abruptly congregated to form a dark spear that was launched instantly, piercing the widened jaws of the still-roaring Arianne.


    With a bam, her head exploded into pieces, covering the stunned Khan in blood.


    Only three seconds! From the time that Arianne roared to her head exploding, only three seconds had passed.


    ''If only we had two more seconds, we could have escaped.'' Khan sighed, a look of regret contorting his old face.


    Iro had already arrived before them, his hand stretched out to grab the headless Arianne and the unconscious Arlo.


    Just as Khan was wallowing in despair, another change occurred at that moment.


    A thick pool of darkness emerged behind Iro, and before the latter could react, a figure covered in a hooded robe appeared from the darkness before pulling him by the neck and yanking him out of the formation.


    ''Grim?'' Khan thought as he gazed at the hooded figure.


    "No!"


    Khan heard Iro''s scream before he was covered by an intense silver light and his surroundings changed.


    "Ah!" he released the breath he had been holding only for his eyes to widen once again. He had lost count of the number of times he had been surprised within the same minute.


    They had already appeared outside the minor world and should have appeared in the wide plains the formation was located in.


    Instead, an unknown man was standing before him with an evil smile on his face. Just when Khan felt like the man shared some resemblance to the beast boy, Joe, he saw something flash before him, and soon after, the world seemed to turn around him.


    As his already widened eyes widened further, he realized that the world wasn''t turning around him, his thought confirmed by the headless body standing in his position.


    ''No...'' That was the last thought he had before his life was snuffed out.


    .....


    The young boy watched the situation playing out on the screen before him with a lost look on his face.


    He couldn''t believe that after all their struggle, what awaited them at the end was their inevitable death.


    He watched as the pale Ella stood in front of the collapsed group, with a determined look on her face.


    Razor merely cackled at her display of bravery, as he gestured at the army of corrupted surrounding them. But as he was still talking, a dark streak abruptly descended from the sky, causing him to shrink back in fear.


    But when he saw the appearance of the new arrival, an evil smile found its way back to his face.


    ''Master...''


    Arlo whispered as bloody tears fell slowly from the side of his eyes.


    Evangeline who appeared had long lost her intimidating aura. Despite not having a single wound on her body, her face was paper-white and her body was drenched in sweat. Her breaths were ragged, and even though she stood straight, she couldn''t mask the look of tiredness on her face.


    The scared Razor suddenly laughed mockingly as he commanded his army to attack.


    Arlo watched as thousands of weapons appeared around Evangeline, a far cry from the number she had summoned when she faced Lord Cromwell. Dark hands grabbed the weapons before they commenced a massacre. Evangeline started a deadly dance with Razor who was soon assisted by another figure who seemed as strong as him. The new figure controlled the earth, blocking off Evangeline''s attack whenever she almost reaped Razor''s life. Despite feeling annoyed, Evangeline remained steadfast and protected the fallen group behind her. A wall of dark hands had long surrounded Arlo''s group and killed any corrupted that dared to come close.


    Time slowly passed, but the wide plains were quickly strewn with corpses.


    Unbeknown to anybody, the teleportation formation lit up, as two new figures arrived on the battlefield.


    Before Evangeline could react, she was caught in a sneak attack by the two arrivals.


    Arlo''s body trembled as he watched his master sigh before looking at the skies.


    A massive red wyvern who seemed no less strong as Razor had appeared in the sky, while the deep shadows shifted before a figure Arlo had come to hate so deeply stepped out from their embrace calmly.


    Surrounded by enemies and having lost an arm that could no longer heal to the sneak attack, Evangeline sighed in defeat before secretly sending out a message.


    "Run!"


    The army of corrupted had since fallen but Evangeline had also finished her reserve of energy and could no longer control the dark hands.


    Still, Arlo''s group remained unscathed, with only Ella conscious to watch the unfolding fight.


    The usual sleepy Ella shed silent tears as she received Evangeline''s message.


    "Take only Arlo and Arianne and run. Be fast."


    Though Ella hesitated for a moment, she still quickly approached Arianne and Arlo, before carrying them.


    Her movement didn''t escape the senses of Razor and the others.


    "No! Stop her!" Razor roared out in anger.


    However, before he or the three others could move, Evangeline blocked their path as she gave her final stand.


    "You bitch..." Razor grumbled in anger as he glared at the one-arm enemy who was still able to restrain the four of them, albeit for a moment.


    Evangeline''s eyes remained indifferent as she dodged their attacks and launched hers whenever they wanted to move past her. But her indifferent emotion soon cracked when she saw Razor flash an evil smile.


    "Hey, boy, enough with the acting. There is no better time to expose yourself!"


    Evangeline who did not understand what was happening but had a foreboding feeling suddenly heard a painful groan behind her.


    Turning back quickly, Evangeline''s mind shook greatly when she saw a sword stabbed into the back of Ella who was charging her lightning.


    ....


    Arlo stood stiffly as if struck by lightning.


    ''Roy?''


    He looked at the figure standing behind Ella with his sword pierced into her heart.


    The scenes continued to flash before him on the screen, but Arlo was no longer paying attention to it.


    He couldn''t help but remember the many times when his dragon senses tingled greatly whenever he was with Roy but he hadn''t paid it any attention.


    After all, the essence Roy released was that of darkness and he had felt it himself.


    A suffocating feeling of betrayal welled up within him as he struggled to focus his eyes back on the screen.


    Ella had fallen, and Roy had walked to Razor''s side. The group of five didn''t seem to be in a hurry as they mocked the lonely Evangeline, with victorious smiles on their faces.


    Razor wrapped his arm around Roy''s shoulder, "You see this boy isn''t real."


    As if he could sense the feeling of confusion in Evangeline''s eyes, he continued, "He is merely a clone created by my last born, who is actually a god-tier genius just like you. In fact, I dare say he is a bit more special, as he has a second affinity to a never-before-seen abstruse law. Hahaha, the best decision I have made is not corrupting that boy."


    Evangeline slowly closed her eyes in defeat while Razor continued to rant about the plans he had hatched.


    That was why they couldn''t react when Evangeline''s body suddenly ballooned and exploded.


    The screen before them turned dark.


    Tap.


    The wizened old man grabbed the young boy by the shoulder gently.


    "She decided to commit suicide and take her enemies down with her."


    Arlo lowered his head as he didn''t need to hear more. He already knew the rest of the story.


    Roy was dead and considering he only saw Razor when he woke up, the three others must have died too.


    ''Master...''


    Tears fell into the darkness below him.


    The hand on his shoulder suddenly tightened as the old man spoke:


    "Boy, I can''t hold on any longer. It is time for you to awaken."


    It was then that Arlo was struck by a realization.


    A new day had already arrived, and this day just happened to be his birthday; his eighth birthday.


    *****


    AN: This chapter is actually two in one. I will be traveling on Thursday night so I need time to prepare. This means the next chapter will be on Sunday. Till then, and thanks for reading.??

 CHAPTER 209: AWAKENING II

    Ten higher worlds rule over the ten-star zones, splitting the dark galaxy. A higher world divides its star zones into star fields and puts a middle world in charge of them. Therefore, each starzone contains approximately 300-500 star fields, with each star field being predominantly populated by thousands of lower worlds.


    While many characteristics divide a world into its classes, the most important difference is the amount of mana the world contains. A higher world contains enough mana to birth Yellow-core mages, a middle world could give rise to Orange-core mages, while a lower world could only support the existence of Red-core mages. That was the fundamental difference between the three classes.


    The Elves claimed two higher worlds, showing their prestige as one of the mightiest higher races. The only race that could stand shoulder to shoulder with them were the werewolves who also had two star zones under their rule, at least until the vampires appeared a couple of decades ago out of nowhere. Due to the emergence of the vampires led by Scarlett, the Lunar World, a higher world fell into the hands of the vampires. Still, due to their low numbers, the vampires couldn''t spread their influence across countless worlds and could only concentrate their power within a few notable middle worlds, ensuring thousands of lower worlds in their jurisdiction. Because of that, the starzone ruled by the vampires was still called the Lunar Star zone, as the werewolves still ruled the bulk majority of the worlds within it.


    The humans with their high reproductive abilities could give birth to countless experts over the years, allowing them to compete with the higher races. Eventually, the humans rose to rule a star zone. However, if one were to ask who was the true ruler of the dark galaxy, no one would hesitate to mention the Asura race. With three star zones under their belt, the Asuras were the undisputed rulers of the dark galaxy, with their ancestors usually referred to as Mama at their helm.


    No one knew the state of the two remaining starzones, as an unbreachable barrier that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere had separated them from the others even in the history books.


    .....


    Emperor Razor released Arlo as he quickly retreated with a ghastly look on his face.


    Mana surged wildly from every direction, appearing as blue hues of energy as they congregated at Arlo''s position.


    As if an illusion, Arlo''s wounds quickly disappeared, his broken bones snapping into their right positions before healing instantly. Surrounded by an immeasurable amount of mana, his body rose into the air before disappearing in their embrace.


    While all this was taking place outside, Arlo''s senses were fixed on the transformation occurring within his body. Out of nowhere, foreign objects appeared at the position of his navel. Small orbs that seemed to be bound by thick chains materialized, and upon further observation, Arlo noticed the saber marks that were imprinted on the entire length of the chain.


    It didn''t take Arlo a moment to realize what the chains were.


    << I can''t stop it any longer...>>


    As the sounds of Old Bro''s grunts resounded within Arlo''s mind, he saw cracks abruptly spread along the chains, and before Old Bro''s words could even be completed, the chains shattered.


    Then, something marvelous occurred.


    The tens of orbs which Arlo now recognized to be cores suddenly sprung into action.


    With the singular large core at the center, the smaller cores of the same size started revolving around it like planets around the sun. The revolution started slowly at first before it started gaining speed, and soon after, Arlo couldn''t follow their movements.


    With their untraceable movement, a nebula of energy giving a milky glow started to form as the mana surrounding Arlo was sucked into his body like water falling into a bottomless abyss.


    << The essence of reality...>> Old bro whispered with a melancholic tone, but Arlo was too distracted to hear his words.


    BOOM...


    Arlo couldn''t see it, but the many cores revolving at his abdomen started losing their black colors. But he didn''t need to see it as he could feel it.


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    He had broken into the beginner stage before he could even make head or tail about what was happening...


    BOOM...


    BOOM...


    Sounds of explosions continued to resound within his body, as his cultivation rose at an unprecedented speed.


    The cores within his body quickly lost their black colors as the impurities within them were expelled, turning them into colorless stars. Then, with a terrifying speed, the cores were slowly divided into different parts and it wasn''t until each of them were separated into twelve holes that...


    BOOOOOOOM...


    An explosion that rocked the surrounding mana shook the ground, causing the army of corrupted to stagger.


    The spinning colorless orbs suddenly seized their movements as if locked in space, allowing Arlo to see how in the proverbial blink of an eye, one part of the twelve wholes took on a red hue.


    Red-core stage!


    But the changes didn''t end there.


    Boom...


    Boom...


    With each lower boom, the red hue started spreading along each part, until the once colorless cores now appeared completely red.


    BOOOOOM!


    Another explosion rocked the ground, and this time, many of the corrupted fell uncontrollably to the ground. Emperor Razor was among the few who could remain standing without exerting much effort. However, the pale look on his face as he gazed at the sea of blue mana covering the skies revealed how deeply his inner mind was shaken.


    Within the sea of mana...


    Once again, the previously spinning cores abruptly stopped as a part of them slowly became tinged with the color orange.


    Orange-core stage!


    While the process was described as slow, that was only relative. To Arlo, he could see the cores change from red to orange slowly before they were being swallowed by the latter color, however, to those outside, there was no time interval between each explosion that shook their senses.


    Boom...


    Second-level Orange-core stage!


    Boom...


    Third-level Orange-core stage!


    Boom...


    Fourth-level...


    Boom...


    Fifth...


    Boom...


    The sounds of explosions seemed to combine into a cacophony of sounds that engulfed the world.


    Quickly yet steadily, Arlo''s cultivation advanced.


    BOOOOOOOM!


    This time, even Emperor Razor could not avoid staggering.


    The cores stopped once again, as Arlo noticed a yellow tint on their surfaces.


    Yellow core stage!


    "Ah!"


    A low moan unconsciously leaked from Arlo''s mouth.


    Now he understood why they called him a monster. This was simply...


    ...Too much.


    While Arlo reveled in the transformation brought to his body by each breakthrough, the changes didn''t show any intention of slowing down not to mention stopping.


    Boom...


    Boom...


    Boom...


    Boom...


    ......


    After a short while that seemed to last for an eternity, Arlo finally opened his eyes, causing two blue beams to pierce through the sea of mana. At the same time, the explosion that had been shaking the surroundings finally came to a stop. It wasn''t that the changes had stopped...


    No!


    Waves upon waves of mana were being continuously sucked into Arlo''s body, however, no matter how his cores drew upon this mana, no other breakthrough occurred.


    He seemed to have reached his limit.


    ''No...''


    Rather than calling it his limit, Arlo felt like it was more appropriate to say he had hit a barrier, one that seemed unbreakable.


    "Haa..." Arlo released a deep breath.


    Still...


    "Twelfth level yellow core stage!" Arlo clenched and unfolded his hands several times as he felt the terrifying power nestling within his small body.


    However, the changes within his body were the least of his worries, as he moved his senses once again to his core.


    The milky energy formed around the now slowly revolving cores filled Arlo''s mind with an unknown emotion.


    If put into words...


    "I feel like I can control the world, no..."He trailed off, "...the entire universe."


    From within the sea of mana, an inestimable amount of spiritual energy spread out in all directions, causing Emperor Razor to stiffen on the spot with an expression of horror.


    It seemed his mana wasn''t the only thing that had transformed with his awakening.


    In less than ten breaths, Arlo felt his spiritual energy engulfing the whole Lunar world.


    The central continent...


    The four polar continents...


    The minor world within which the Darkblood academy was situated. As his thoughts arrived here, Arlo noticed a few life signals flashing within the minor world.


    "Thank goodness!" A look of relief flashed on his face.


    A few vampires had still survived the invasion of the army of corrupted, and among them was an unconscious Stefan who seemed to be carried by Grim.


    Even the other minor world hidden from the Lunar world didn''t escape Arlo''s senses.


    "Rose..." The corners of his mouth lifted slightly to form a wry smile, as the sight of an unconscious girl with a beautiful blend of golden and green hair entered his vision.


    Shaking his head slightly to force himself to focus on the more pressing matters, Arlo shifted his senses from the unconscious Rose to all the corrupted present within the Lunar world.


    No matter their location...


    Be it the abomination still clashing against the Vampire Lords, or the corrupted killing unrestrainedly as they continued their slaughter.


    All of them entered Arlo''s sight.


    Then Arlo closed his eyes.


    Sending his will to his lower abdomen, Arlo tugged at the small amount of milky essence produced along the paths of his core''s revolution.


    Fwoosh!


    The sea of mana engulfing Arlo scattered like smoke in all directions as his eyes snapped open.


    Now exposed to Emperor Razor and the army of corrupted before him, Arlo raised his right hand as he unleashed one of the dual innate talents he had acquired upon his awakening.


    As he pulled his hand down as if swatting a fly, his voice reverberated across the four corners of the Lunar World.


    "Dust to Dust. Ashes to Ashes!"

 CHAPTER 210: AWAKENING III

    Within one of the thousands of lower worlds populating the Lunar Galaxy, a small village rested peacefully in an isolated region.


    A large field could be seen in the immediate surroundings of the village, with a few figures surrounding two couples.


    A golden-haired woman whose face was covered by a veil sat on the grassy field as she wove the needles in her hands to form a cloth, which, upon further observation, was a golden scarf.


    The woman''s hand shook constantly, showing her restless state of mind, yet she pushed through her anxiousness and finally completed her work. Releasing a sigh of relief, she shifted her head to her front. A short distance away from her was a silver-haired man whose body was perfectly perpendicular to the ground, with his legs pointing towards the skies. With just one finger, he pushed his entire body off the ground as the tight muscles on his bare torso contracted and relaxed with each of his movements.


    "Ten thousand and fifteen..."


    The sweat running down his upper body lined his well-sculpted chest, tight abs, and ripped arm muscles.


    The golden-haired woman looked at the full moon in the sky before she shifted her eyes back to the man before her as she spoke with a shaky voice tinged with myriad complex emotions.


    "Arthur, it is time."


    Pain, fear, guilt, and many more. But among all these emotions, longing was the most palpable.


    The silver-haired man who had been pushing himself off the ground as he counted suddenly seized all movement. After a short moment, he pushed him back to his feet with a graceful movement.


    "I know!" he said as his right hand disappeared into the space beside him. With a pull, a silver shirt appeared in his grasp, which he immediately put on without hesitation.


    Looking at the few figures around him; a bald-haired man, a fiery red-haired woman with a sensual figure, a fat woman with makeup on and on high heels, and finally a dark-haired woman with beautiful features, the bright silver eyes of the silver-haired man rested on the golden-haired veiled woman last.


    A powerful light shone in his eyes as he smashed his right hand behind him.


    There was no sound of explosion nor was there any shockwave generated, instead a long crack silently appeared in space, and without any hesitation the silver-haired man stepped into it, followed by the golden-haired woman. It wasn''t until after this duo entered that the remaining group followed suit.


    There was no need for words at this point. This was something they had been expecting since almost a decade ago after all.


    .....


    The Lunar World.


    On the vast plain, a few kilometers from Nightingale.


    The air blew lightly, sending a cold shiver down the back of a stunned man.


    With this stimulus, his eyes seemed to regain focus, but soon after his teeth clattered and his mouth trembled.


    A feeling of fear never before felt before engulfed Emperor Razor. Not even when he faced his lord did he experience such an intense feeling.


    When he turned his head stiffly to his sides, Emperor Razor''s pupils contracted into pin-size.


    "Gone..." he choked out.


    "...They are all gone." his body trembled profusely, as an unpleasant smell pervaded the surroundings.


    He had wet himself.


    A whole acclaimed Emperor had wet himself out of fear, not to mention that this being was even a corrupted, known not to show much emotion.


    But he wasn''t to be blamed.


    In but an instant, the terrifying army behind him, and all the corrupted in the Lunar world had disappeared along with Arlo''s voice.


    They were all gone.


    No!


    Perhaps it was more apt to say they had turned into dust that the lightly blowing wind had scattered.


    All in an instant!


    What kind of notion was that? That kind of power had already left the realm of reasonable and had well enough entered the realm of impossible.


    The only corrupted remaining within the Lunar world was the lone Emperor Razor, no..., the lone Razor who was gazing into the sky with a look of pure terror.


    Arlo raised his other hand, causing Razor to fall on his rear in fear. While he didn''t plead for mercy nor forsake his lord, the deep fear that had pierced into his bones caused this once dominant figure to tremble like a fire flickering within a storm.


    Arlo, on the other hand, merely watched the figure who once seemed unreachable just a day ago.


    <<Boy...>>


    "I know." Arlo cut Old Bro off. He didn''t need to listen to his words to know the danger gathering above him. Ever since his awakening started, lightning of different colors started gathering above the skies.


    Now, multicolored lightning engulfed the entire sky of the Lunar world.


    ''It seems the world is rejecting me...'' Arlo thought to himself as his eyes remained transfixed on the trembling Razor who didn''t dare to harbor any thought of resisting.


    Not willing to waste more of his limited time, Arlo tugged at the remaining milky essence within him before unleashing his second innate talent. He didn''t need to use such an overpowered ability to handle Razor, but he still wanted to. Only then could he find satisfaction.


    Space essence erupted from his body before gathering at his left hand. Soon, a pure silver ball appeared within his grasp.


    "Space bead!"


    Within this silver bead lay a small world, one whose laws were completely under his control, making him no different from a will-bearer.


    Stretching his other hand towards Razor, Arlo spoke.


    "I will make sure you never die. You will be continuously struck down by lightning, engulfed by molten lava, and swallowed by the sea. Yet you will find no death, at least not until I allow you to. This world shall forever be your prison."


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    "Ah..." Razor seemed to have lost his senses as he looked dumbly at Arlo. He wanted to plead for mercy, but the will of his lord wouldn''t allow him.


    Without caring for his broken mental state, Arlo waved his raised hand, and the bead sucked Razor into it. With but his will, he sent it into Seraphina''s mental world.


    Like that, one of the strongest figures of a higher world disappeared without a trace.


    "Now..."


    Using his mana, Arlo gently sent the surrounding bodies into the distance. When his spiritual energy had covered the world, he noticed something he hadn''t before due to his roiled emotions.


    His friends had not died. Only Khan...and Evangeline had.


    With a small tug of his mana, two heads flew into his hands.


    << Arlo...>> Old bro pressed.


    " Even if I die, I wish to save them."


    <<...that is impossible. >>


    Arlo ignored Old Bro''s words as if he hadn''t heard them in the first place as he mustered the few bits of the essence of reality he had left and had regenerated within this short time.


    However, no matter what he tried, his wish simply seemed impossible to accomplish.


    "Why?"


    Arlo couldn''t tell, but ever since he awakened, his aura completely changed.


    His still baby face possessed an absolute charm, and yet hidden within this charm was a lofty and immovable presence that exuded an unparalleled and dignified demeanor. Yet this figure, who looked like a baby immortal out of a painting, was now shedding tears.


    "Why? Why can''t I save them? Am I not a god?"


    Arlo truly felt like he could hold the whole universe in his hand, and even that seemed not enough.


    He was weak!


    <<... Technically, you are not a full god. >> Old Bro hesitated before clarifying.


    "I-I don''t understand."


    <<Sigh, you are being restrained by this world and can only reach the peak of the yellow core stage. If not...>> He didn''t continue his words, but he didn''t need to.


    The smart Arlo could already get the gist of the matter.


    He hadn''t broken out of the cultivation of the mortals. In fact, he was far from the peak. It would only be abnormal if he could already accomplish feats only a god could.


    Arlo felt a stifling feeling suffocating his heart. Unable to bottle these complex emotions within himself, he raised his head and roared to the heavens, only for his body to be sent down to the earth by a black lightning that had abruptly smashed into him from the skies.


    RUMBLE!


    A phenomenal sight played out as the lightning engulfing the entire skies of the Lunar world moved in the same direction.


    Above Arlo.


    "Ah!"


    A golden streak rose back to the skies at unmatched speed. Now that he had awakened, Arlo''s disposition had undergone a fundamental change. It was just like when he had first encountered Bon and Judi at their father''s castle. Pressed underneath the former''s foot, he had erupted with great might, and his aura had completely changed. He gave off the feeling of a god disdainfully looking down at an ant.


    It was simply the pride of a higher being...


    ...the pride of a god!


    Abruptly struck to the ground had stoked Arlo''s pride, not to mention that he had been feeling a pent-up rage due to his inability to revive his master.


    Therefore, Arlo released all his anger on the heavens.


    At least that was what he tried to do...


    Looking at the skies, the fast-moving Arlo who had easily broken through the sound barrier slowly came to a stop.


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    Claps of thunder shook the earth, as the entire skies of the Lunar world covered in lightning snakes exuded a tangible pressure that shook the planet.


    Arlo could feel it!


    It wasn''t like when he was in a secret realm. At that time, while the lightning tribulation seemed like it wanted to destroy, the truth was time the heavens still gave him a way out, its power restricted to the same or a bit higher realm as his. In a word, one could describe it as a ''trial''.


    But this time, things were different.


    The heavens really wanted to erase his existence!


    The power of the lightning gathering in the skies had long since surpassed the limit of the yellow core stage, and its power was still building up.


    Instinctively, Arlo knew even with the strength he currently wielded, he would die.


    However, just because he knew he would die didn''t mean that he wouldn''t struggle to survive.


    Raising his hands, Arlo erupted with his full might. Despite the depletion of his essence of reality unique to a god, Arlo still had access to his mana. Unlimited mana!


    Unlike humans who were restricted to a single core, Arlo currently had tens of cores, each of them filled to the brink with the power of a peak yellow stage mage, which was the highest cultivation allowed in the dark galaxy.


    Boom!


    Half of his body became engulfed in silver mana, with the other half covered in golden mana. The two distinct mana surrounding him rose to form a pillar that pierced through the lightning above him.


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    The clap of thunder reverberating across the world increased in intensity! The heavens were angry!


    But Arlo didn''t care. He was also angry!


    The two distinct mana surrounding suddenly blended.


    Boom!


    A shockwave that rippled across space-time spread out. The lightning disaster roaring in the skies came to a stop as if frozen in space. Then quickly but silently, they were expelled into the void.


    The skies above the Lunar world regained their clarity. However, that was only for a split second.


    As if an illusion, the lightning storm reappeared, and before Arlo could react, countless lightning arcs pummeled his body.


    BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!


    His body was sent back into the earth once again, causing a massive crater thousands of meters wide to form on the earth.


    "Ack!" Arlo, who felt the air knocked out from his lungs, didn''t even bother to protect himself, as he struggled to use his space abilities to send his unconscious friends far away from his location. Evangeline''s and Khan''s heads were also sent into Seraphina''s mental world.


    << ARLO!>>


    Old Bro''s anger shook his mind. Very rarely did this Artifact spirit call him by his name, and Arlo could tell why.


    A magical sight was playing before him.


    The lightning snakes covering the world were falling towards him. From above, his sides, back or front, lightning of different colors surrounded him. The sight looked like a scene out of an apocalypse. His eardrum shook from the clap of the approaching disaster.


    Arlo felt a feeling of powerlessness overcome him.


    He could only watch as his body was pushed down and further down into the earth as his body was struck by lightning. The strikes were unending. The power in each strike was unimaginable.


    Arlo''s dragon tail swinging around to form a barrier was quickly enveloped in the lightning storm. The protective mana covering his body was broken through easily. The dragon form he had prided himself in was easily ripped out.


    Slowly but surely, Arlo could tell that he was dying. His Simmon''s anxious cries couldn''t reach his mind.


    The lunar world experienced an unprecedented disaster. One that seemed even scarier than the appearance of the corrupted.


    The enemies had abruptly disappeared, but before the inhabitants of the Lunar World could even celebrate, the skies were swallowed by kaleidoscopic lightning that swarmed in one direction. And then the earth started quaking as if the world was experiencing a worldwide earthquake.


    Buildings toppled to the ground, and the dying cries of the inhabitants reverberated across the world.


    A higher world, one of the few ten, seemed on the verge of destruction.


    Just as the eyelids of the culprit fully closed in surrender, his mind was suddenly awakened by a heavenly voice.


    << Sigh...even after preparing for it, the situation seems unstoppable. >>


    Old bro could feel Arlo''s emotions...


    << Do not be mistaken. The heavens don''t hate you. What is happening to you right now is simply the natural law. Gods cannot exist outside their realm, that is the ''order''. If not, if such a thing was allowed, wouldn''t the mortals have long ceased to exist? Alas, you are just an irregular. To think two mortals could birth a deity, such a thing is supposed to be completely impossible. But it happened. That is why I merged with you and have suppressed your status since your birth. But even I have my limits. Still...>>


    The dim eyes of Arlo, who was completely submerged by the lightning storm started gaining their light.


    << There is still hope. >>


    The saber imprints on the back of his bloodied hands suddenly released a bright glow.


    << I am the greatest treasure in the realm of the gods! All these years, I had hidden my aura from the heavens, appearing no different from a normal weapon.>>


    Arlo finally understood why Old Bro never helped him, even when his life was in danger.


    << Even though I had merged with you, I had to focus my powers on suppressing your cores. But now, things are different. >>


    The bright light flashing from the saber marks suddenly turned into sparks.


    << I am the Chaotic twin Saber! At least, that is the current form I am assuming. And as my wielder, you have access to my powers.>>


    The sparks forming on Arlo''s hand suddenly turned into lightning snakes...golden lightning snakes that covered his body.


    << I am Chaos! The ruler of the five primary elements! >>


    Arlo, who had now fallen into a pit thousands of meters deep and tens of thousands of meters wide, was uncontrollably raised by the golden lightning enveloping him.


    The multicolored lightning striking upon his body caused no effect and was instead assimilated by the golden lightning.


    << Water, Earth, Air, Fire, and Lightning. >>


    Golden sparks filled Arlo''s eyes as lightning arcs of matching color snaked around his hair.


    << I rule them all! >>


    An arrogant voice shook Arlo''s mind.


    << Now, you do too! >>

 CHAPTER 211: AWAKENING IV

    The Lunar World, one of the few higher worlds that had existed for several millennia, now stood on the verge of destruction.


    Heavenly tribulation filled the skies no matter the position you looked up from. While the lightning tribulation concentrated at one specific location, the crushing pressure caused the earth to quake, waves of the sea rolled like a tsunami, mountains fell, and tens of millions of lives, regardless of race, were extinguished.


    At a plain located a few kilometers from the capital city of the vampires, Nightingale...


    The once grassy location underwent complete ruination. This location had turned into a massive crater, wide enough to cover the entire plain and deep enough to be considered an abyss.


    And the center of this ruin of destruction was a small figure floating in the air, the lightning snakes above him falling onto him like a heavy downpour of rain.


    Heavenly tribulation was ninety percent destructive and ten percent life-giving. As long as you are strong and lucky enough to grasp that small chance of survival, the chances of passing it are very high.


    Boundless tribulation clouds covered this entire world. It was like the apocalypse had come.


    Lightning flashing within these tribulation clouds descended upon Arlo, a terrifying pressure that caused heaven and earth to quiver settling upon him. Such pressure was enough to take away the breath of a peak-yellow core mage. Yet Arlo''s expression remained indifferent as he absorbed the multicolored lightning falling upon him like a bottomless abyss.


    His body was enveloped in golden lightning, making him look like a god of thunder descended upon the world. The sight of his small figure standing unfazed when surrounded by such an apocalyptic event was simply domineering.


    "This is the power of lightning?" Arlo looked at his hands covered in lightning snakes, his face dumbfounded by the power boiling within his body. After awakening, he felt like there was nothing he could not do. But now that he had received Old Bro''s power, he felt like his body was about to explode from the unfathomable strength resting within him. After all, his body cultivation had not risen with his awakening.


    << With this power, this lightning tribulation that is enough to kill experts three to four great realms higher than a yellow-core mage is nothing to you."


    "What?!" Arlo exclaimed. It was such a funny scene as his body was still being bombarded by apocalyptic lightning, yet he could remain unconcerned.


    << You have now become the ruler of the five elements, so you are immune to attacks made from them. >>


    A look of understanding flashed in Arlo''s eyes, even so, he couldn''t believe he was now strong enough to ignore attacks powerful enough to kill experts three to four great realms powerful than a yellow-core mage. It is important to know that yellow-core mages were the strongest figures within the dark galaxy. Ever since a barrier separated them from the rest of the universe, the mana and Ki energy within the galaxy fell to a low level that was barely enough to allow the birth of experts comparable to yellow core mages.


    << Boy, you still haven''t escaped this calamity.>> Old Bro''s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.


    With a grave face, Arlo nodded. The lightning attacks raining on him were getting stronger by the second, and the pressure it released was slowly but surely destroying the Lunar World. Even if he could survive this tribulation, this higher world wouldn''t be able to. So even though he could now be considered a ruler of lightning, this wasn''t a definite solution.


    Thinking of something, Arlo asked, his eyes flashing with a light of hope.


    "I doubt I can stay in a world any longer, but can''t I just escape to outer space?"


    << You are looking down on the heavens. No matter where you are, this heavenly tribulation will chase you until you leave this galaxy. >>


    Arlo''s face twisted in anger. Even though he knew the heavens were simply trying to purge him, a virus out of its body, he couldn''t stop himself from boiling in anger. Just how was he supposed to continue to live? It wasn''t as if he wished to be born as a deity.


    Suddenly, Old Bro threw out an unexpected question:


    << Boy, what do you think is the heavens? >>


    Arlo suddenly became tongue-tied. No matter how he tried to voice his thoughts, he couldn''t put them into words.


    << I see...>> Old Bro could read his thoughts, << To you, the heavens is more like a concept, something like nature or the very cosmos, but the truth is that just as higher worlds have their will, the galaxy as a whole has its own will.>>


    "What?!" Once again, Arlo was shocked, his widening to display his emotion.


    << You are now strong enough to know certain truths, but this is not the time to explain them to you.>>


    Arlo couldn''t refute his words and simply shrugged in understanding.


    << What I want you to know is that no matter where you go, you cannot escape the will of the galaxy. >>


    "Then what am I supposed to do?"


    <<...>>


    "Old Bro?"


    Still, there was no reply. The smart Arlo suddenly realized something.


    " You know something, don''t you?"


    Old Bro sighed.


    << That is right. There is only one way to escape your current plight. >>


    "Oh! What is it?" Arlo felt the flames of hope within him reignited.


    << You need to cripple yourself. Destroy your core and leave the central one. That way, you wouldn''t be able to create the essence of reality, and would no longer be considered a deity.>>


    "..." Arlo was stunned into silence.


    << That is the only way.>>


    Old Bro descended into silence as he watched the stunned Arlo. He didn''t even dare to directly read his state of mind. Arlo had been looking forward to this day, and he wasn''t disappointed in the end. The power he now wields makes him the undisputed strongest in the entire galaxy. Old Bro knew if Arlo were to be placed in the outside galaxies, he would still be considered a major powerhouse.


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    Yet, now he had to relinquish such power even before he could relish it?


    That was something almost impossible for any human known for their selfishness to do. As such, Old Bro decided to give him some time.


    Like this, time slowly passed.


    The earth of the Lunar World split apart as lava burst into the skies.


    Old Bro, who had decided to give Arlo some time to think couldn''t hold on any longer. He was just about to speak when something unexpected happened.


    Space fluctuated fiercely some distance behind him.


    Turning back, the silent Arlo profusely trembled.


    There, about two kilometers away, appeared six figures who were gazing dumbly at him.


    Arlo wouldn''t miss that bald head that was currently reflecting the lightning in the skies, even if placed in a crowd of millions.


    He had missed seeing that wavy fiery hair and that sensual figure his father always secretly drooled at.


    He didn''t miss the chills that fat figure on high heels and covered in makeup sent down his back one bit.


    He missed the affectionate eyes his dark-haired teacher always looked at him with.


    And finally...


    "Father!" Tears spilled down Arlo''s face.


    Now that he had awakened and even received Old Bro''s powers, Arlo could feel and gauge the power nestling within his father''s body.


    Tyrannical!


    That was the only word that could describe his father.


    If anyone asked him who was the strongest person he had ever met, Arlo wouldn''t hesitate to reply ''Scarlett''. Yet now, Arlo could tell that his father was several levels above her. In fact, comparing the two was simply wrong.


    As his feeling of admiration quickly wore off, a feeling of longing took its place.


    He regretted the way he left off with his father, and when he thought he had died, he felt so suffocated that he wished to die. Now that he saw those silver eyes filled with dignity and confidence, Arlo couldn''t restrain himself.


    "Father!" He cried as he unconsciously broke the sonic barrier and disappeared. Despite being a god, Arlo''s current appearance was no different from a child seeking his parent''s warmth.


    << Stop! >> Old Bro anxiously cried out. This was the first time Arlo had ever heard the voice of the artifact spirit sound so hoarse. He quickly came to a stop before he could cover more than a kilometer, and it didn''t even take Arlo a moment to realize the reason for Old Bro''s fear.


    Even now, he was still being bombarded by heavenly tribulation. Arlo''s eyes contracted into pin size as a feeling of dread overcame him. He had almost committed a terrible mistake. He didn''t doubt for one second that even his father, who was so strong that even he felt admiration for, would be instantly eradicated by the multicolored lightning surrounding him.


    However, while Arlo understood the situation he was in, that didn''t mean others would.


    << No, stop!>> Old Bro screamed again, this time, not in Arlo''s mind, but in the outside world.


    A golden-haired figure had launched herself in Arlo''s direction.


    " My son!" Arlo saw the veil covering his mother''s face fly off because of her abrupt movement and when he saw her face, his heart tightened as if it was being squeezed.


    Scarlett, Rebecca, Evangeline; every one of these figures could be called a world-toppling beauty. Yet, none of them came close to how beautiful his mother was.


    But what made Arlo feel suffocated were the crystalline tears left in the wake of his mother''s charge.


    It was impossible to quantify a mother''s love. And not even death could stop it.


    " MOTHER, NO!"


    As if sensing something, the lightning attacking Arlo suddenly came to a stop. Then three lightning arcs as thick as an adult''s torso flew towards the daring intruder. Rita didn''t even sense the attack, as the three lightning arcs pierced through space and arrived before her. However, the lightning attack wasn''t the only one that appeared beside her.


    A silver-haired man suddenly pulled her into his embrace as he raised his hand at the approaching death.


    "Black Hole series..."A dark ball instantly formed on his outstretched hand.


    "Mini-black hole."


    The world suddenly descended into darkness, as the dark ball sucked in the surrounding light.


    The first lightning arcs disappeared without a trace, and the second lightning arcs soon followed. However, cracks appeared around the conjured black hole.


    When the last attack smashed into it, the black hole shattered, the residue from the last lightning smashing toward Arthur and Rita.


    Arthur was quick to turn around as he shielded his wife. When the residual energy smashed into him, his body was sent flying into the distance as he coughed up mouthful upon mouthful of blood. His aura plummeted; even then, he wrapped his wife tightly in his embrace and received the brunt of their fall as they rolled for several kilometers.


    "Arlo!"


    Anna, Martins, Ari, and the others quickly disappeared and arrived before the duo. Seeing Arthur''s condition, they couldn''t help but suck in a cold breath.


    Only three attacks left the strongest existence within the dark galaxy at the gate of death! They knew that Arthur had also gone through many lightning tribulations every time he accomplished something that was supposed to be impossible, yet he couldn''t even survive just three attacks from his son''s tribulation.


    What they didn''t know was that what Arthur accomplished was simply phenomenal.


    Old Bro had made it clear that each of the lightning attacks was powerful enough to insta-kill an expert three to four great stages greater than Arthur, yet he had received three of such attacks and was still alive. Put in simpler terms, Arthur just survived attacks comparable to a full-launched attack of an expert about 48 levels above his cultivation. Even Arlo was almost sent to death despite being a deity and possessing tens of mana cores. The only reason why he could now ignore such attacks was because of Old Bro; if not, he would have been long dead.


    "A-Arthur!" Rita became pale as she quickly checked her husband''s condition. Without hesitation, she used the power she had been refusing to use for almost a decade, as golden light enveloped her and her husband.


    In a normal situation, her powers were enough to heal a person who was at the point of death almost instantly, yet she found that there was a strange energy stopping her husband from recovering. Still, his condition was improving, albeit slowly.


    "AH! FUCK OFF!''


    For the first time in his life, Arlo cursed, as he felt his veins almost burst from the anger he was feeling.


    With an angry cry, he soared towards the heavenly tribulation covering the skies, as a sea of golden lightning erupted from his body.


    RUUUMBLE!


    The skies shook as the sea of golden lightning formed a golden vortex that pierced through the heavenly tribulation clouds.


    Arlo''s hair soared behind him as golden lightning crackled noisily around him. Standing within the vortex that had pierced the tribulation clouds, he spread his hands wide, and the golden vortex widened as they swallowed the multicolored lightning around them.


    Like a ring of fire spreading out on a piece of paper, the golden vortex spread across the skies, and the tribulation of lightning around them was sucked without a trace.


    ROOOOAR!


    As the golden vortex continued to expand, the multicolored lightning moving from every direction across the world to this location suddenly changed.


    Lightning dragons of different colors swam through the skies as they approached the still-enlarging golden vortex.


    The two lightning attacks met, and the world went silent.


    Ari, Anna, Martins, Rita, and Arthur had long distanced themselves from this apocalyptic clash. With a look of terror, these mighty figures that could individually dominate any world they were placed in, gazed at the world-destroying scene above them.


    Like a mirror that had cracked, tiny fissures appeared in the skies. The fissures seemed to grow every second as they spread out in every direction.


    It seemed the Lunar World had finally reached its breaking point.


    << Arlo!>> Old Bro sighed. No matter how he called Arlo, he couldn''t get to him. It seemed he had finally been overcome by his emotions. The rollercoaster of emotions Arlo had experienced on this short day was enough to overwhelm even the coolest adult.


    Old Bro felt rueful that a higher world would be lost because of Arlo''s awakening. Not to mention the higher world was even ruled by Scarlett, and if it was destroyed, she would suffer a terrifying backlash.


    Just when it seemed like the situation could no longer be resolved, two thin cracks appeared above the golden vortex and the surrounding lightning dragons. While the two thin cracks appeared to widen slowly, the truth was that they were moving too fast to register. When they stretched completely, two world-encompassing golden eyes covered the skies, and the world suddenly went still.


    Arthur, Rita, and the group were frozen...


    The golden vortex and lightning dragons were frozen...


    Old Bro, the strongest artifact in the realm of the gods was frozen...


    The Lunar world was frozen...


    In fact, hundreds of thousands of orbiting planets were frozen...


    The entire dark galaxy appeared to be frozen.


    As the two golden eyes filled with golden runes spun in opposite directions, they gazed at the only object that was yet to be frozen within this stopped frame of time.


    Arlo, who had been rampaging in anger, looked at the two golden eyes in stunned silence.


    ****


    AN: Sigh! Another long chapter. Well, we have two to three more chapters before we reach the end of the first volume (Awakening). Thanks for reading.

 CHAPTER 212: AWAKENING V

    Within the frozen galaxy, a clear voice rang out:


    "What are you?" Arlo was dumbfounded. He felt as if his voice was passing through space and time to reach the universe''s boundaries.


    Under the stare of this world encompassing golden eyes, Arlo felt himself to be miniscule which shocked him greatly. Ever since he awakened a few hours ago, he felt this innate pride in his bones, one he couldn''t ignore. This pride made him almost subconsciously disdain every sentient being in the mortal plane.


    However, subjected to the sight of this unknown being, that pride receded as if it was afraid to show itself. It was almost like a prideful lion retreating under the stare of a mighty dragon.


    What further shocked Arlo was that he could feel the world around him was frozen. Even the almighty heaven tribulation did not escape this state. Also, no matter how he called Old Bro, he didn''t receive any reply. Wasn''t Old Bro supposed to be the strongest divine weapon in the realm of the gods?


    [Boy...]


    A divinely soft and beautiful voice reverberated inside Arlo''s mind. When this voice entered his mind, Arlo felt his pent-up emotions disappear as if a smoke. His mind had never been so clear before.


    [ I don''t have much time before the others notice my presence.]


    A confused look appeared on Arlo''s young face, but the beautiful voice continued, unconcerned.


    [With the way you are right now, there is no way you can continue to live, at least not in this plane. But I have a solution.]


    Arlo''s eyes shone, but that didn''t last long before it died, and a guarded light took its place.


    [Merge with me! That is the only way for you to survive.]


    Arlo unconsciously retreated when he heard that, but underneath those universal eyes, there was nowhere for him to escape.


    He couldn''t help but think the eyes had come to possess him. Of course, he knew that even with his lightning immunity, he couldn''t continue his normal life unless he followed Old Bro''s advice. But he wasn''t willing.


    Now he could only grasp at straws.


    As if reading Arlo''s mind, the soft voice resounded once again:


    [Don''t worry. It is not as you fear. You and I will become one. Of course, you will still be in control of your body. You can see it as some symbiotic relationship. With me merging with you, my freedom would no longer be restricted, and you would be able to use my powers.]


    The ends of her words contained a trace of enticement, but Arlo didn''t call for it.


    "Who are you?"Arlo asked for the second time.


    [...That I cannot tell you. We don''t have much time. I will give you five seconds to decide. Just know you will never receive this opportunity again.]


    Arlo gritted his teeth. He could feel the boundless power within those eyes. He didn''t doubt that those eyes were capable of stealing his body from him, yet they didn''t and had instead, asked for his cooperation.


    Not to mention that he wasn''t willing to discard his normal life. He wanted to spend more time with his father, mother, Scarlett, and his friends. When his thoughts reached here, Arlo quickly asked a question in the third second.


    "Can you help me revive them?" His tone sounded more like a request than a question.


    The golden eyes shifted to the two heads that had appeared in Arlo''s hands.


    [Hmm...]


    After only a second of thought, it replied:


    [I can save one. Nothing more.]


    Rather than feeling happy, Arlo only looked remorseful.


    "Why?" He could tell that if this existence was willing, there was nothing it wouldn''t be able to accomplish.


    [I told you, my freedom is restricted. You only have a second more. Decide!] The voice hurriedly spoke.


    Looking at Khan''s head, Arlo used his mana to remove the blood stains on it, and as a sad tear fell on his face, he spoke with a trembling voice:


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    "I am sorry."


    Seeing that Arlo had made his decision, the golden eyes acted.


    [What I am about to do is supposed to be impossible. It is something that goes against the natural order, but your existence has made it achievable.]


    The universal golden eyes shone with a golden light.


    Arlo quickly sent Khan''s head back into Seraphina''s mental world as he planned to bury it. Evangeline head, in his other hand, suddenly shone with a golden glow before shooting out of his grasp and into the sky.


    In but a split second, new flesh formed beneath the cut neck, and soon after, a whole body shining with the light of life appeared before him.


    Arlo''s heart sped faster, as tears streaked down his face. He was just about to charge at Evangeline''s naked body when the golden eyes in the skies suddenly turned into a golden light that shot towards him, and before Arlo could even react, it entered his body.


    [The merging process does not come without sacrifice!]


    "What?" Arlo''s expression changed. The voice didn''t mention anything like this in their agreement.


    [For you to gain, you need to lose. That is the natural law. While there is nothing that could compare with me in the boundless cosmos, you still need to pay a price.]


    Arlo suddenly felt a feeling of weakness overcome him as he fell from the skies.


    [ First, you are stripped of your status as a god!]


    Sounds of explosion boomed within Arlo''s body as he coughed blood again and again. All his cores had been destroyed, except for one; the central core which was thrice as huge as the normal cores.


    Arlo''s eyes dimmed and his face became pale. The sense of loss he felt almost sent his mind into oblivion, but that wasn''t all.


    [Except for the summons on your right hand, I shall strip you of your other summons!]


    "No..." Arlo screamed in refusal only for him to cough up more blood. His aura plummeted.


    [Oh!] A sound of astonishment filled his mind.


    [To think you would summon the contactor of Aether, that makes things a bit difficult.]


    After a short while, the voice seemed resigned.


    [I shall only collect the summons on your left hand.]


    Immediately after, Arlo saw the four seals on his left upper arm disappear, and he felt an innate connection he had not felt before, severed. A sense of loss that was no lower than when his cores were destroyed overwhelmed him.


    Arlo finally broke down.


    Aside from Anita, Kira, Kong, and the unawakened seal on his right arm, the bigger seal at the back of his neck remained. If someone ever asked who Arlo felt the closest with, he would not hesitate to say his parents. But after them, not even Scarlett and Evangeline came close to the kinship he felt with Anita. He didn''t see her as a summon or a servant. To Arlo, she was his friend and partner.


    Now, four such potential partners had been lost. Just like that.


    Just when Arlo felt like his world was crumbling down, that once mesmerizing but now hateful voice resounded within his mind.


    [Hmm, that is not enough. It is not even close...]


    A breath later, the voice continued:


    [I will also collect your innate talent for space and strip you of your affinity with it. From now henceforth, you shall only wield the power of time.]


    Once again, Arlo felt as if he lost something very important to him, but he was too weak to even dwell on it.


    [Still not enough...]


    A light of hatred flashed within Arlo''s dim eyes.


    The voice continued with a hint of hesitation.


    [Seems I will also have to sacrifice that artifact...] It sounded unwilling.


    Arlo took a moment to register the words he just heard. Arlo didn''t where the sudden strength came from, but he made every effort to open his mouth:


    "DON''T YOU DARE!"


    Arlo felt mixed feelings towards Old Bro. Truth be told, aside from his parents, Old Bro''s position in his heart was almost on the same level as Anita''s. After all, he had been with him ever since he was born. It was just that, since he entered this world and went through a lot of trials, he felt angry with the artifact spirit because it had never really remarkably helped him. However, he now understood that it wasn''t that Old Bro refused to help him, but that he couldn''t.


    The soft voice also seemed to hesitate using the greatest treasure in the realm of the gods. Doing that would leave traces of itself. Not to mention that the karma it would invite wasn''t one she was willing to bear. About two breaths later, the voice echoed within his mind.


    [Are you sure? If you don''t sacrifice it, the merging process will be slow.]


    "I refuse!] Arlo didn''t even take an instant to reply.


    [Okay...]


    Arlo unconsciously relaxed. A look of relief shone on his weary face when...


    [One more thing.]


    Arlo''s youthful face distorted. Such a reaction was unbecoming of a child his age, of course, that was regarding a normal child. Arlo was born a deity. Unfortunately, that was now a thing of the past.


    [For saving that girl, I will take your cultivation.]


    "What?"


    Before Arlo knew it, the massive core located at his navel suddenly changed from bright yellow to pure black.


    "@#$$##!" Once again, Arlo cursed the second time in his life, and that too within less than five minutes.


    As Arlo started feeling as if he had made the greatest mistake in his life, a golden screen appeared before him, as a series of messages flashed before him.


    Fusion process with ???????: 0.01%


    Time for complete Fusion: Five years.


    Note: The user will be forced to sleep within this period.


    Forced sleep will begin in 10


    9


    8


    As Arlo watched the countdown before him, despite not knowing what or how the screen appeared, he understood the gist of what was happening to him.


    7


    ''Arianne, Joe, and the others should be safe.''


    6


    ''Unfortunately, I wasn''t able to summon the pitch-black snake from Seraphina''s mental world back for Joe. Well, he will just have to wait.''


    ''Thank goodness. Master is alive. Just for that, this decision was worth it. Not to mention, with this, I won''t be targeted by the heavenly tribulation any longer.''


    3


    ''I will miss Dad and mum. I wish I could spend more time with them.''


    2


    Golden light burst out from Arlo''s body.


    1


    As Arlo uncontrollably closed his eyes, he had one more thought.


    ''I hope Scarlett and Rebecca are alive!''


    0


    Arlo''s eyes closed at the same time that the golden light erupting from him encased him in golden ice.


    Only then did the frozen galaxy return to normal.

 END OF VOLUME ONE; CHAPTER 213: AWAKENING VI

    "ARLO!"


    Several anxious shouts echoed in every direction. Nobody knew what was going on.


    One second, the world seemed to be on the verge of destruction, another second, the world returned to normal. The terrifying lightning tribulation that covered the entire skies of the Lunar World disappeared without a trace. The spider-web cracks that formed and spread out in space were nowhere to be seen.


    Instead, within the scorched ground was a bottomless abyss that stretched for thousands of miles. It looked like the gaping maw of a terrifying ancient beast.


    And at the opposite edge of the bottomless pit was a figure encased in golden ice. Evangeline''s naked figure was nowhere to be seen.


    Ari was the first to arrive before the golden ice. The ground beneath her seemed to shrink as she instantly flashed beside Arlo. A few breaths later, Anna, the fat woman in make-up, and Arthur, supported by Martins, appeared beside him.


    "Son..."


    Rita wept as she embraced the golden ice. Looking at the two crystalline tears that appeared to have been frozen at the edge of her son''s closed eyes, she felt like her heart was being pierced by thorns.


    "My son...my only child..." Her choked sobs resounded clearly within the silent world. "I am so sorry you have to suffer alone."


    Arthur, who always looked confident, as if even if the world were to fall, he would be able to lift it, was now pale. It was unknown if it was because of his injured state or if it was because of his son. But his red and wet eyes spoke volumes of the reason.


    "He seems okay..." Ari who had arrived first and had already investigated Arlo''s condition, paused for a moment as she chose her words wisely. After all, she was talking to a mother who had been separated from her child for two months, and now that they finally met, she couldn''t even share a moment with her child.


    "It is weird. There is no threat to his life, but it doesn''t appear like he is just unconscious either."


    What she said was what the others felt too. Even with their deep knowledge and experience, they couldn''t explain the situation.


    "Dear..." Arthur rested his hand on Rita''s trembling shoulder.


    "I know." Rita cut him off. She didn''t need others to tell her. With her great affinity to the laws of time, she could clearly feel the surrounding essence of time enveloping Arlo, like a mother gently cradling her offspring.


    A ring on her finger flashed with a silver light, and a golden scarf appeared in her hand. Looking at the young face before her, she touched the ice affectionately, before gently placing the scarf around it.


    No one bothered suggesting breaking the ice. With their senses, they could feel that whatever was happening to Arlo was beyond them, and they didn''t dare to act impulsively and place his life in any danger. Besides, they truly could not feel any threat to Arlo''s life. Instead, they could instinctively tell he was transforming. Whether it was a good transformation or not, only time would tell.


    "Old man, are you there?" Arthur suddenly called out.


    "Old man?"


    "Oi, old fool, answer and explain what is going on. This wasn''t part of the deal." His voice quivered slightly in suppressed anger.


    However, no matter how he called, no one responded to him. It seemed even the artifact spirit was slumbering.


    Rita continued kneeling beside Arlo as she caressed the ice in silence, her thoughts unknown.


    Suddenly, Arthur and the others raised their heads as they gazed at the sky.


    "Guests have arrived," Anna said coldly, as a sneer formed on her face.


    "It is normal. A few days ago, the secret realm closed shorter than usual, not to mention Arlo and his team''s accomplishment. Very few were able to bring out any treasure this time, and a lot of geniuses with immense potential had even died. For them to come now and at the same time shows that they had met beforehand and planned on coming together. Arlo''s sudden awakening must have simply quickened their arrival."


    With their powers and senses, they could all sense the spacecraft that had appeared outside the Lunar World. Normally, they would have even come a while ago to demand an explanation for what happened in the secret realm, but it wasn''t for no reason that the Lunar World appeared deserted for a planet its size. The vampires were feared across many worlds, and no one dared to barge into their home world, especially humans. Despite being the only higher world in its star zone, the Lunar World appeared to be barren. Aside from the vampires and the werewolves in their territories, only the magical beasts could be found, and that too only in the central continent. As for the humans, they hid in a minor world, in fear of being killed or consumed for their blood. That they hadn''t completely abandoned this world for another safer one showed their great attachment to the Lunar World.


    The spacecrafts could only remain outside, as none of them had any confidence in entering this world on their own. This just went to show how they greatly feared Scarlett and her race. Even now, these experts at the peak of their races still didn''t dare to enter until they received permission.


    Suddenly, space fluctuated wildly a great distance from them.


    "Oh! Someone dares to directly teleport here?" The fat woman voiced in surprise, but when the group saw who stepped out from space, they were frozen.


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    "We are representatives of the Osmont galaxy. We ask for permission to land." A voice that seemed to come from the heavens suddenly shook the skies, however, Arthur and his team acted like they didn''t hear it.


    It wasn''t until after a few breaths, that their frozen expressions suddenly gave way to ugly looks. Without any hesitation, Ari flashed to the front of the group as she summoned a shield and erupted with earth essence.


    A wave of earth rose to the sky to form the shape of her summoned shield, thousands of meters high and hundreds of meters wide. The huge earthen shield shone with a dirty brown glow that they gave an aura of an immovable mountain.


    About half a kilometer away from their position, a waist-length dark-haired man watched the group''s reaction with a cold look.


    He ignored the conjured shield and as if his eyes could pierce through the earth barrier to see what was behind it, they rested on the golden ice. His eyes seemed to lose their focus as he watched the space in front of him.


    Like this, time slowly passed.


    Arthur''s group remained alert. Despite being the strongest humans in the whole dark galaxy, the indifferent looks on their faces couldn''t hide the light of apprehension hidden within their eyes as they gazed at the dark-haired man.


    The people in outer space continued to ask for permission to land, yet they received no reply whatsoever. Nevertheless, they didn''t dare to enter and could only continue asking for permission in vain.


    The dark-haired man adorned in matching robes looked to be gazing into the distance yet seemed focused on the space before him when he suddenly shook fiercely. After reading the series of messages that flashed on the invisible screen before him, the iciness on his face increased by several notches.


    For the first time since he arrived, he shifted his eyes from Arlo before studying the group before him. But when his eyes rested on Arthur and he noticed his injured state, the cold light in his eyes suddenly intensified manifolds.


    "Not good," Martins shouted as he quickly crushed a jar in his hand. Immediately after, a crimson aura that caused heaven and earth to change color enveloped him.


    The dark-haired man in the distance didn''t seem to notice all this, as his eyes remained fixed on Arthur, as if he was the only one in his world.


    His eyes still flashing with a cold light, the dark-haired man raised his foot to take a step, only for him to be frozen still. He wasn''t the only one as the expression of Arthur and his group distorted briefly before returning to normal.


    In another direction, a wild fluctuation appeared in space, and soon after, two figures appeared.


    Both figures were women. One was about three meters tall, with snow-white hair and pale skin. Her ruby eyes widened slowly as she took in the world around her. The second woman, who had purple hair and a short but busty figure, also shared her reaction. Their bodies were covered in blood, and both their faces shone with exhaustion. Yet, the terrifying killing intent they were giving off caused the air around them to freeze.


    A pin-drop silence enveloped the area.


    Rebecca was the first to react. When she saw Arthur and his group, the angry look on her face gave way to stunned surprise. But when she saw the dark-haired man, her purple eyes contracted into slits, a look of fear flashing on her face.


    "DIE!"


    An angry cry shook the area. Scarlett, who had enveloped the entire world with her spiritual sense and had connected with the world''s will, roared as she disappeared from the spot.


    Her body bent forward, and her legs moved so fast that they turned into a blur. Her movement looked more like a monster''s than a human. Despite looking so tired, she appeared before the dark-haired man in an instant and slashed her fingers, which turned into sharp claws forward.


    The dark-haired man only followed her movement with cold eyes, and it wasn''t until the claws were about to tear into his face that his eyes shone with a dark glow.


    A massive figure with a blurry outline appeared behind the dark-haired man. With lightning-fast movement, its hand moved before catching Scarlett in an iron-grip. No matter how Scarlett struggled, she couldn''t free herself.


    "You are courting death!" Another fierce cry shook the earth as purple lightning covered the entire skies.


    Before the lightning could even fall, Martins had already appeared beside the dark-haired man, his body shining like a crimson sun on Earth. As his sword, covered in the same aura, slashed forward, space was easily split like a knife cutting into a soft bread.


    For the first time since his arrival, the dark-haired man spoke:


    "Evil God Possession!"


    The burry figure behind him instantly solidified to form a figure covered in a hooded black cloak. With one hand still grabbing Scarlett, two red eyes flashed underneath the hood of the colossal figure as a wave of evil energy spread out in every direction.


    RUMBLE!


    Purple lightning fell from the skies while a crimson light pierced through the cloud of evil energy. But just as a scythe materialized in the other hand of the massive hooded figure, a black gate appeared behind the dark-haired man and before he could react, he was forcefully sucked into it


    Martin''s eyes widened slowly when he saw his target suddenly disappear. Thankfully he was able to stop his attack, but the same couldn''t be said for Rebecca. The lightning snakes as thick as an adult''s thigh fell before Scarlett, the shockwaves sending her flying into the distance.


    "Sister!" Rebecca''s anxious cry shook the area. Only she knew how tired Scarlett was. Not only did she singlehandedly take down Pride, but she had even been the one to deal the killing blow to Sorrow. Not to mention the billions of Corrupted that had been annihilated by her spiritual energy.


    A figure silently appeared behind the flying Scarlett, before catching her in his embrace. Scarlett coughed a mouthful of blood as her ruby eyes shone with a fierce glow.


    Shaking the hold around her waist away, Scarlett''s cold voice filled with hatred resounded in the area.


    "Bastard, he only appears when the situation is favorable for him and runs when it is not."


    Arthur smiled wryly when he saw Scarlett push him away and ignore his existence.


    "We are representatives of..."


    Before the voice coming from the skies could even finish, Scarlett''s angry cry cut it off.


    "FUCK OFF!"


    If Arlo and the others were here, they would be shocked senseless to see the always cold Scarlett curse.


    But those present understood her emotions. Not only was the Lunar World in a state of destruction but hundreds of thousands of vampires had lost their lives. They didn''t number much in the first place, so losing so many vampires would greatly affect the race and impact their activities in other worlds.


    The spacecrafts outside space seemed to shake from Scarlett''s cry. Still, they didn''t leave and merely retreated a great distance from the planet.


    "Why are you so angry?" A sensual voice suddenly reverberated within the ears of Scarlett and the others. Scarlett was just about to curse for the second time when she suddenly froze.


    "Ohoho! I see the little rat got away!"


    Following the direction of the voice, Scarlett, Rebecca, Arthur, and the others suddenly understood why the dark-haired man had quickly escaped. Only Rita remained indifferent to what was happening around her as she hugged her frozen child in silence.


    "Master..." Arthur, Scarlett, and Rebecca voiced out at the same time.


    A red-haired woman with matching skin, wearing scanty clothes smiled at the group.


    "How many times will I tell you to call me ''Mama''?"


    END OF VOLUME ONE:AWAKENING (TWO MONTHS)


    AN: We have come a long way. It has been over a year since I started publishing FAA and I would like to use this opportunity to thank all those who have been following the novel.


    FAA will resume on the 8th of next month. I want to use this period to edit the novel and make some minor corrections in the story. Also, I need to rest, as I have been having some health issues lately, which was why I didn''t update any chapter last Sunday.


    I promise to come back with a more engaging, exciting, and fast-paced volume. Until then, take care.??

 VOLUME 2: ARTHUR AND DEANS PATH; THE GREAT WAR. CHAPTER 214: MASTER AND STUDENT

    A magnificent castle whose outer walls were painted in gold stood at the very heart of the city. This castle was well known as the home of the Goldsborn Royalty.


    A tall golden-haired woman whose face was covered by a light veil walked to one of the fields located at the back of the castle with light footsteps. The golden dress wrapped around her body accentuated her mouth-watering curves and slender waist. Yet, despite how attractive she looked, one couldn''t help but want to keep their distance from her, as she exuded a natural aura and bearing only a great ruler could ever possess.


    The woman came to a stop after reaching her destination. A short distance away from her, sat a silver-haired youth who looked to to be about seventeen years of age. The boy sat cross legged with his eyes closed. On his lap was a golden spear about 3m long, its shaft adorned with a dragon-shaped pattern.


    ''Sigh!'' The veiled golden-haired woman couldn''t help but let out a sigh when she noticed the subtle changes in the teen before her.


    The boy was usually unruly, stubborn, and acted impulsively without a care for the world. But after the incident five years ago, he started restraining himself. Now, he looked like a completely different person. He appeared more calm, collected and mature. However, the woman didn''t know if that was a good thing. After all, it was very hard for a person to change their innate nature.


    Shaking her head, she threw the miscellaneous thoughts to the back of her mind and addressed what she had come to do.


    "I see you made another breakthrough." Her voice sounded soft and very pleasant to the ears.


    The shoulder-length silver-haired teen slowly opened his eyes. His once mischievous eyes now appeared sharp, with a calculating glint flashing within them ever briefly.


    "Master!" The boy spoke as he stood.


    "You still refuse to call me mother, huh?" chortled the woman as she flashed him a small smile.


    The serious look on the face of the boy was immediately broken, a light blush flushing his cheeks.


    Seeing this, the woman couldn''t help but chuckle lightly.


    She raised her hand and rubbed his head, ruffling his silver hair, "You are impressive. You are even more talented than me."


    Despite being almost 1.8 m tall, and at the peak of his growth, the silver-haired boy was still half a head shorter than the woman.


    "Surely, master jests," he remarked with a rueful smile.


    The woman shook her head at his statement, "While I dare say that I am unrivaled in terms of talent, the truth is that in some areas, you have already surpassed me. Anyway, you will understand what I mean later. Now that you have experienced another breakthrough, would you like to spar?"


    The silver-haired boy couldn''t help but flinch when he heard the end of her sentence. He who enjoyed fighting more than anything, couldn''t help but shiver to the prospect of sparring with his master. After having his ass given to him countless times, a seed that he would never defeat the golden-haired woman before him was already planted in his heart.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    As if sensing his upcoming refusal, the golden-haired woman quickly interjected, "Rita experienced a breakthrough in her cultivation yesterday. She is now a fifth-level Red-core mage. Yet, you are still at the peak of the master realm. If you don''t show me that it is truly worthwhile to delay your cultivation to deepen your understanding of space laws, then I won''t have a choice but to interfere in your cultivation path."


    Seeing that his master seemed serious about what she had just said, the silver-haired boy had no choice but to relent. Gritting his teeth, he agreed to spar with her.


    "Master, disciple asks for a spar."


    He had thought that after comprehending his new technique, he would become unrivaled and wouldn''t need to fear anybody, atleast among his equals. Yet before he could relish in his newfound strength, his master appeared to break his sky-high confidence.


    Not caring about his dignity, the boy immediately launched his first attack, hoping to catch the woman off guard.


    But when he saw the golden eyes behind that light veil, he realized that all his thoughts were already laid bare and all his movement had been read.


    ''Shit.''


    Even till now, he didn''t know the true depth of his master''s strength. He didn''t even know what her true power was.


    Since he couldn''t pull back the launched arrow, he had no choice but to continue with his attack. The only thing he could do was erupt with his full strength.


    "Spatial Collapse!"


    .....


    Ten breaths later, Arthur lay on the grassy ground as he looked at the clear sky with a dumbfounded look on his face.


    He couldn''t help but question himself, ''Did I become stronger?''


    As the turmoil in his heart grew uncontrollably, a beautiful voice pulled him out of his thoughts.


    "Incredible. You are a monster."


    Raising his head slightly, he gazed at his master Sylvia, with an unbelieving expression.


    "You only say that to console me."


    "No. It has been a long time since someone lasted longer than three breaths against me."


    Seeing that his master was serious and wasn''t making fun of him, Arthur smiled ruefully as he rested his head back on the ground. Gazing at the clear blue sky, he clenched his hands into fists and spoke with unwavering confidence:


    "Don''t worry! I will defeat you...soon. Very soon."


    Hearing her student''s words, a beautiful smile filled with contentment lit up on Sylvia''s face. Unfortunately, there was nobody to appreciate the mesmerizing sight.


    "That is right!" Sylvia smacked her head lightly as she remembered what she had come for.


    "There have been sightings of demons in a mid-sized city. We have already dispatched our troops to the city, and Rita and Martins also followed suit. I came to see if you would also be interested in going."


    Immediately when Arthur heard the word, demons, he sat up straight.


    Seeing the series of complicated emotions flashing on his still youthful face, Sylvia sighed and spoke once again, this time her voice sounding softer:


    "So? Do you want to go?"


    Five years ago, the first demons appeared within the Goldsborn world. And it just so happened that Arthur and her daughter were adventuring within that city at that time. After their encounter with the demons, their newfound friend died before them, and that too in the hands of a boy their age; a boy that they couldn''t be familiar with. After that, they still had to experience the only family member of their new friend, her grandma, passing away in tears.


    Ever since then, not only did Arthur change, but even her daughter experienced a drastic change. She became more cold and shut herself away from the public for many years.


    Ever since then, sightings of demons started appearing frequently but Arthur and her daughter never left the castle again. Whether it was because of fear or another reason was unknown. Now hearing that her daughter had escaped her shell, Arthur couldn''t help but feel conflicted.


    After some time, he took a deep breath as the emotions flashing within his eyes disappeared and his silver eyes became a calm lake.


    "I will go."

 CHAPTER 215: RESURFACE OF THE GIANTS

    Like every other day, the residents of Stark City continued with their day-to-day lives.


    As a mid-sized city with considerable popularity, many merchants established their businesses within its safe walls.


    The city was bustling today, with several carriages moving along the wide paved roads.


    The occasional laughter and playful cries of children echoed in the surroundings as they ran across the streets, the adults shouting to restrain their movements to no avail.


    Helpless, the adults could only shake their heads, and leave the kids to their play. It wasn''t as if any carriage were moving fast, so the kids should be relatively safe.


    As the kids ran across the streets, they patronized numerous stalls selling anything eatable. Each time they arrived at a stall, they would flash the vendor a cute face, causing the vendors to have no choice but to give out their treats freely. Not long after, the sounds of the kids giggling spread in every direction as they feast on the delicacies in their hands.


    However, a resounding explosion soon drowned that heart-warming sound.


    BOOM!


    A shockwave spread out from the center of the city in every direction, blasting everything in its path into oblivion.


    Before the giggles of the joyful kids could even end, their existence was sniffed out from the surface of the earth.


    Like that, a five-kilometer diameter of pure destruction appeared within the city, turning about three-quarters of its structures and inhabitants into history.


    Chaos descended into the other regions of the city that survived the explosion, as numerous buildings collapsed from the severe shaking of the earth, causing the death counts to escalate past a million.


    ¡°No! My child! Somebody, please save my son!¡± A woman covered in blood seemed to not notice her legs squashed by a massive rubble as large as a boulder, as she clawed towards a collapsed shop, her tears mixing with the red pool that had formed below her.


    ¡°Mummy!¡± A young girl wiped her tears, smearing blood across her face, as she gazed at a puddle of crushed flesh before her.


    Numerous scenes played out throughout the city.


    Parents lost their children.


    Children, their parents.


    Many lost their loved ones¡­


    The once lively city quickly turned into a scene pulled out from an apocalyptic movie.


    ¡°W-what is that?¡±


    Someone screamed as he pointed towards the ruin which was left of the center of the city.


    No one had paid attention to what had caused the explosion, or why it had even happened in the first place.


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    They were just too lost, broken, and panicked, to keep their heads straight in this situation.


    But at the call of this man, some of them couldn''t help but turn their head in the direction of the main area of destruction.


    From the very center of the city, they could see a massive dark throne whose edges were covered in crimson lines soar from the ground and into the sky. The throne emitted such an intense evil aura that made the hearts of the onlookers feel suffocated.


    And sitting atop this eerie throne was a man who despite sitting at the moment appeared to be 40m tall.


    The intense feeling of dread spreading through the bodies of the onlookers soon gave way to shock as they stared at this immense figure.


    ''A giant?''


    Despite it being their first time seeing such a figure, everyone was sure the figure above them was a giant.


    ''How''s a giant here?''


    The minds of these people who saw their worlds shatter before them, blanked out.


    The Giants were a race from legends. It was once rumored that the mighty and formidable Asuras were actually descendants of the giant race. As for the credibility of such a piece of information, nobody knew, as there had never even been a sighting of giants before. In fact, there was no record of their existence in the history books.


    Besides, no one dared to question the background of the Ancestor of the Asura race, a being who had lived for several millennia and stood at the very peak of the galaxy.


    Yet, such a figure from the legends seemed to have appeared before them.


    In a not too remarkable city, within one of the thousands of lower worlds, ruled by a middle world, among hundreds of other star fields.


    How could they not be stunned senseless?


    .....


    A long crack appeared beneath the throne floating high in the air. As the space crack widened as if stretched by two invisible hands, the injured residents were awoken by the sight of many figures walking out from its confines.


    An army of undead skeletons soon emerged from the space crack.


    ¡°AH!¡±


    It wasn''t clear who screamed first, but it seemed to serve as a spark that started a chained reaction.


    The people were scared out of their minds, and without even caring about grieving for their lost ones, they ran in the opposite direction, in pursuit of a feeling of safety.


    A cruel scene soon unfolded.


    Overwhelmed by fear, people rammed into each other as they ran towards the fallen city walls. Even as they trampled on their fellow humans, without care for if they were even an acquaintance, their steps didn''t falter for a moment as they hurried away for their lives.


    At the heart of the city, the mighty figure on the colossal throne seemed indifferent to the reaction of the surviving residents. He looked below him to see the last of his army appear from the space crack.


    Not only were there an uncountable number of undead skeletons but there were also thousands of humans and beasts exuding an evil aura. Among them, about ten appeared to look normal, but when his gaze fell on them, they flew into the skies simultaneously before stopping behind his throne.


    As the crack finally healed from the laws of this world, the mighty giant commanded in a deep voice, his words spreading far into the distance and sending a chill down the spine of every ear that heard him.


    ¡°Kill!¡±


    A wave of murderous intent filled the entire world, causing the fleeing residents to scream in terror.


    The remaining city guards who manned the city gates and its other entrances quickly moved forward to offer a wall of protection.


    The city guards failed to understand how the forces of evil had appeared within the city despite arduously screening the people entering its walls. Not to mention that the range of the earlier explosion just so happened to cover all the regions where teleportation formations had been constructed, essentially cutting them off from outside assistance.


    Now that the situation had deteriorated to this state, they could only offer up their lives to atone for the million they failed to protect. Some of them even shouted a war cry as they charged to avenge their loved ones.


    However, before they could even approach the army of corrupted, bone arrows flew into the skies and covered the region in total darkness, sending a feeling of helplessness and despair into the heart of the city guards who seemed to have charged into a vain death.


    AN: I deeply apologize for any grammar mistakes. I am having issues with my writing device but hopefully, it will be resolved soon.

 CHAPTER 216: ENIGMA - ANCIENT CITY I

    Enigma Ancient City.


    As an ancient city that was no worse than the Goldsborn city in its prestige, the Enigma - Ancient City had a population of nearly one hundred million.


    However, today, a heavy gloom hung above the city as it descended into silence.


    Within a great hall located at the end of the city facing the foot of the mountain¡­


    A heated discussion was ongoing in the hall as several elders conversed with grave and concerned looks on their faces.


    "A scout just reported that the city has been decimated and that too in just a few minutes." As one of the elders suddenly opened his mouth after connecting with his communication stone, the great hall quickly quietened down.


    The Enigma Ancient city was ruled by the Enigma Ancient family. That was not their name but what they were called by the public.


    The Ancient families never intervened in mundane affairs and always kept to themselves as long as their interests were not affected. Yet even among the seclusive ancient family, their Enigma family was rather secretive.


    They had appeared within this lower world a short thousand years ago, and ever since then, they hid themselves within the great mountain on whose foot this city was created. Over time, the Enigma Ancient city was founded but not many knew many things about them. Their bloodlines and abilities were hidden, and so were their background. Due to their secretive nature, they were eventually called the Enigma Ancient Family, with the city they were living in also sharing the name.


    This morning, one of their many scouts had reported the appearance of an army of corrupted within one of their neighboring cities.


    They had not given the matter much thought as they couldn''t interfere in such matters in the first place. Besides, this wasn''t the first time demons had appeared, especially in these past five years, so they had thought the city would receive support from other major forces and the situation would be resolved swiftly.


    But who would have thought that the city would be destroyed and that too in just a couple of minutes?


    The fact that the city didn''t receive any assistance also made the elders feel uneasy.


    "We need to report this matter to the family head." After a long period of silence, one of the elders carefully spoke up.


    "But he is in seclusion, and he seems to be at an important juncture." Another elder couldn''t help but interject.


    "Then what are we supposed to do?"


    The elder who had suggested reporting to the family head sighed as he gazed to the front of the hall. There stood a magnificent throne which was currently empty, and by its side rested a much smaller throne with less grandiose on which a youth was currently sitting in silence.


    All the elders couldn''t help but gaze at their young master for help.


    This young master was their hope for revival. He and his twin sister''s bloodline was so pure that the family speculated it had regressed to their ancestral bloodline. Such great luck had not befallen their family this past millennium. Ever since they were cast out from the main family which was one of the hegemony forces that ruled the only star zone overseen by humans due to an incident that happened a thousand years ago, they had no choice but to cross an uncountable distance and hide in a small corner of the galaxy. But now, they could see their hope in getting back at the main branch.


    Despite being in a lower world with a lower concentration of mana, their young master was still able to reach the third level Red-core stage before becoming an adult. His cultivation alone was already enough to rival many of the elders in the hall.


    Brian''s hair was a vibrant shade of emerald that seemed to glow even within the hall. His face shone with a level of maturity that didn''t match his age, and several emotions flashed ever briefly within his eyes, his thoughts unreadable through his calm expression.


    Seeing the elders rest their eyes on him, Brian didn''t feel nervous in the slightest. Since an early age, he already knew he bore a great burden on his shoulders, one heavy enough to not only make him seek strength fast but mature quickly.


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    "Has the city''s protective formation been deployed?" He questioned after some thoughts on the matter.


    "Yes." An elder responded.


    "At full power?" He inquired with a serious look.


    "No..." The elder quickly shook his head, "The expenditure for deploying the formation at full power is so much and not one we can bear..."


    "Deploy it at full strength!" Brian cut into the Elder''s words, his voice sounding authoritative. He knew this elder was the one controlling the family''s expenses and finances, but he couldn''t believe that in such a time, his stingy nature would still kick in.


    Despite feeling unwilling, the elder had no choice but to reluctantly nod his head.


    "The safety of the city is at stake, and since we can''t show much of our strength currently, we have no choice but to summon outside forces. Ask for help from the mercenaries in the city, and deploy the corps we have been training to fight for us."


    The elders found no issues with his commands. The Elder in charge of finances quickly left to fulfill the instructions he received.


    Another elder followed him to prepare the troops that would defend them.


    Seeing the two elders leave, Brian fell into thoughts.


    No matter how he racked his brain, he couldn''t figure out why no other forces came to support the destroyed city.


    It must be known that ever since the appearance of Demons, the Goldsborn family had created an alliance with other forces to swiftly take care of the evil abomination immediately when they were sighted.


    Yet, for some reason, they had not appeared this time.


    Moreover, the power of the army of corrupted this time couldn''t be compared to previous times. They weren''t on the same level.


    ''Giants¡­'' Brian narrowed his eyes. As a branch family from one of the hegemony forces that ruled the galaxy, their family was privy to information that wasn''t made public. That was why they knew just how significant it was for a giant to appear. If this information spreads, the entire dark galaxy will be thrown into chaos.


    "Send someone to inform my mother and sister about what is going on. They would decide whether to inform my father or not." He decided to be very cautious with this matter. His father was secluded on the mountain, and his mother and twin sister were also cultivating there.


    He had only come here to oversee this city in his father''s place, after all, the reason it was created was to lay a foundation and create a formidable force that would support them in their future revenge. So this city was essential to their family.


    "Young master is wise." The elders couldn''t help but praise. They were very satisfied with his decisions. Despite wielding such strength at such a young age, he wasn''t overconfident and arrogant. They were also amazed at how he could keep his calm in such a situation, something even they, with their age, failed to do.


    Brian smiled slightly but still waved his hand to show he didn''t do much. He was just about to open his mouth to address another issue when¡­


    BOOM!


    BOOM!


    BOOM!


    BOOM!


    Four simultaneous explosions rocked the city. The great hall shook greatly under the impact, but luckily the material it was made from wasn''t ordinary. Aside from a slight tremor, it remained standing.


    The expression of the elders and Brain suddenly changed, and that feeling of unease that filled their hearts rapidly skyrocketed.


    With their hearts beating fast against their chests, they quickly turned into flashes of light that left the hall.


    When they appeared outside, their faces turned unsightly.


    They could see smoke rising into the sky from four different directions.


    "That is where the teleportation formations are located." An elder said anxiously.


    Brian''s young face became ugly as the Elder''s words affirmed his thoughts.


    Seeing the barrier surrounding the entire city and feeling the power emanating from it, his heart settled slightly.


    ''The defensive formation has been deployed at full force, so there shouldn''t be any danger for the moment. But how were the teleportation formations destroyed?''


    With his quick mind, he could already guess why the previous city didn''t receive any support.


    ''There are traitors among us.'' His ugly expression deepened when he arrived at this thought.


    ''We have to quickly investigate the situation and take care of the traitors, if not¡­''


    With his thought here, he was about to command the elders to investigate the four directions, when he suddenly noticed the ground beneath his feet shake ever so slightly.


    It seemed he wasn''t the only one who noticed it, as the panicking elders also quietened down.


    The ground continued to shake at the same frequency. The tremors started small, but soon after it''s intensity increased.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The sound of something heavy colliding with the ground entered Brian''s ears, and the initial slight shaking of the earth had already evolved into earthquakes.


    Brian and the elders could hear the commotion from the city wall and with their hearts in their throat, they quickly flew into the air.


    But what they saw almost made their soul flee their bodies.


    A titanic figure over 50m high was sprinting towards their city.


    Every time his feet connected with the ground, his massive body was propelled forward as he crossed several kilometers with but a single step. Massive craters that resembled holes formed by a meteor colliding with the ground were left in his wake.


    Brian''s face turned paper white as he screamed atop his lungs.


    "EVACUATE THE CITY!"


    Alas, he was too late once again¡­


    The giant took another step, the force propelling him into the air. With just this single jump, he swiftly bridged the distance to the city. With his body hunched in the air, he rammed into the barrier covering the city, and without any suspense, the sound of a mirror shattering filled the air.


    BOOOOOOOOOM!


    The giant fell back to the ground, his body propelled forward, leaving two bottomless ditches on the ground before he stabilized himself.


    All the buildings on his path disappeared without a trace, and the surrounding two kilometers around him became a region of death.

 CHAPTER 217: ENIGMA - ANCIENT CITY II

    Brian and the elders were blown away by the shockwaves generated by the giant''s fall.


    When Brian came to, what he saw made his eyes turn red.


    A region of destruction appeared within the city, with millions of lives sniffed out just like that.


    The city suddenly descended into chaos, as the sound of cries and fearful shouts filled the air.


    Despite feeling like he was about to lose his mind, Brian forced himself to calm down as he took in the entire situation.


    In but a split second after, he issued several commands.


    "Send word immediately to my mother and sister.


    "The mercenaries and troops should prioritize evacuating the city. Every single life counts.


    "As for the members of the Enigma family, hear my command¡­" Brian paused as he gazed at the giant who remained on the spot after arriving, and the massive crack in space that suddenly appeared behind him.


    Taking a deep breath, and despite knowing that he might regret it, Brian still commanded in a hoarse voice, his eyes filled with hatred:


    "Attack the demons and buy enough time for the people to escape!" His voice spread out far into the distance.


    Hearing his command, many people sprang into action. The elders showed faces of unwillingness, but they knew they had no choice but to reveal their family''s power, if not, they might just meet their ends. Then, there would be no meaning in keeping their powers a secret.


    A dark tide rapidly poured out from the massive crack in space behind the giant.


    Skeletons emitting baleful auras filled the surroundings, their numbers quickly rising to millions. But that wasn''t the end.


    Humans soon emerged from the crack. However, the aura around them indicated that they weren''t ordinary. While their numbers paled in comparison to the undead skeletons, the overall aura they released couldn''t be compared to the latter.


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    Brian, who was about to attack the giant, or rather try to gain his attention, suddenly stopped when he saw the few corrupted who flew into the sky from the spatial crack.


    ''Peak Red-core mages!''


    His pupils contracted when he saw these figures appear and stand silently behind the giant as if waiting for his command.


    As the Goldsborn world was a lower world, the highest cultivation it allowed was a Red-core mage, and seeing several figures who had reached the peak of that realm appear among his enemies almost made him lose his calm for a second. Since the giants were natural warriors, he couldn''t sense the cultivation of the giant before him. But seeing the peak red core corrupted mages appear respectful behind him, he knew that the situation was beyond his control.


    Rather than foolishly sending himself to his death, Brian thought about using the entire force of his family present to resist the giant. He didn''t dare to underestimate the race from which the Asura race descended.


    While all these thoughts were going through his mind, the others had long since acted on his commands.


    The powerful mages in the city and the mercenaries used their will to gather as many of the city''s inhabitants as they could before flying into the sky away from the city.


    As for the Enigma family elders, none of them had yet to act and, at most, supported the escape of the denizens. Since their young master had not moved, they also remained rooted on the spot. In the first place, they weren''t willing to reveal the secrets they had been hiding for a millennium. While they felt their young master was their hope for their ascension, they knew he was still far from the limit of his potential and couldn''t yet cause any major waves in the grand scheme.


    While the Enigma Ancient family was still hesitating, the still-Giant suddenly moved.


    Brian flinched when he saw the giant suddenly squat as the muscles in his thigh contracted.


    A foreboding feeling engulfed him as he had an inkling of what was about to occur.


    Unfortunately, before Brain could do anything, the unmoving undead suddenly sprang into action.


    An army of millions suddenly rushed towards them from the front, while behind were the denizens who were still attempting to escape.


    Altogether, the elders of the Enigma family barely reached a hundred, so some mages helping with the people''s escape didn''t have a choice but to step forward and resist the approaching tide of enemies.


    Brian and the elders also didn''t dare to dawdle any longer.


    Brian''s mana surged within him as he flew into the air. He hadn''t even flown for long when his body experienced a drastic transformation.


    His almost 2m body rapidly shrunk in size, and his bones twisted grotesquely as he transformed into a golden crow.


    BOOM!


    The speed of his body instantly accelerated, and in just a split second, five cone-like waves were left in his path, showing that he had reached mach-5.


    With a speed five times faster than the speed of sound and with golden fire erupting from his body, Brian, in his golden crow form, turned into a golden beam that pierced a deep hole into the unending swarm of corrupted.


    In but a short second, he was less than a hundred meters from the still-squatting giant.


    However¡­


    Golden blood suddenly flew into the air as Brian was abruptly stopped in his path. He felt as if he had rammed into an invisible wall, and if it wasn''t for his formidable bloodline, he would have been squashed into meat paste considering the speed at which he was moving.


    One of the flying corrupted behind the giant brought his raised hands down as the surrounding space fluctuated wildly.


    At the same time, with the still squatting giant as the epicenter, spider web cracks formed on the ground before spreading in every direction.


    A split second later, the sound barrier was forcefully broken as the giant disappeared from the spot.


    "OH NO!"


    The elders cried out in horror when they heard the resounding boom that came from the top of the mountain behind the city.


    It suddenly dawned on them that the army of corrupted was never after the previous city. Instead, it seemed their family had been their goal all along.


    With the teleportation formations within the city destroyed, and the nearest neighboring city eradicated, the Enigma Ancient city was essentially cut off from the outside world.

 CHAPTER 218: STELLAR TRANSFORMATION

    A great battle ensued for several hours.


    Countless corpses could be seen floating on the sea of blood that covered the earth for several miles.


    Bloody waves rose from the sea every time a shockwave spread to the surroundings.


    Within the encirclement of a dome of earth tens of kilometers in diameter, and thousands of meters high, Brian and the elders of the Enigma Ancient family fought a heated battle with the forces of Corruption.


    About three hours ago, the mercenaries and the mage corps the family had formed had tried to evacuate all the denizens of the city. Alas, even with the support of the Family elders, less than half of the population escaped successfully.


    The others floated above the bloody sea, the warmth of life forever lost from their bodies; an expression of fear, anger, remorse, and grievance forever etched on their pale faces.


    BOOM!


    BOOM!


    BOOM!


    The constant sound of explosions echoed in the surroundings.


    Brian and his elders clashed against several demons.


    They had thought the army of undead, despite being innumerable, wouldn''t have taken a great deal of energy and time to handle, but to their horror, every time the skeletons were cut apart, smashed into pieces or even burnt into ashes, they would rise again as if they never suffered any damage in the first place. They truly lived up to the names of the undead.


    Thankfully, after seeing the situation devolving, one of the elders quickly sealed the undead into a massive ball of fire. He reduced the size of the ball into a fist and then temporarily redrew from the battle, his attention focused on keeping the undead away from the ensuing clash.


    With the undead handled, Brian and the others had a more breathing space and could place all their attention on dealing with the thousands of demons and the earthen dome that had immediately covered the city when the corrupted giant disappeared.


    The lesser demons who formed almost ninety percent of the remaining forces of evil were not much to handle, as they seemed to have lost control of their minds; their only thoughts to bring death to all uncorrupted things around them.


    The main problem was the hundreds of greater demons at the red core stage and the ten at the peak of that realm.


    The few mercenaries and what remained of the mage corps, having lost any person to protect, attacked the lesser demons, while the family elders took care of the greater demons.


    The family finally revealed their powers to the world, although whether such information would spread would depend on if anyone present would live to tell the tale.


    The family elders freely transformed into mythical beasts, as bodies of titanic sizes filled the skies. The magic they cast shook the earth, and caused massive explosions in the surroundings.


    They were simply living calamities, yet the greater demons were able to make a stand against them, revealing why they were feared across countless worlds.


    However, the most noteworthy fight would be the clash between Brian and eight of the peak Red-core stage greater demons.


    Despite being at a disadvantage in numbers, Brian was able to singlehandedly reduce the number of his enemies by half. However, he had to pay the price for such a feat. His body was covered in varying wounds that could no longer be healed by his depleted bloodline energy. His mana had fallen to an all-time low, and Brian knew that he wouldn''t be able to last an hour longer in this state. Despite that, his face remained calm, his gaze clear, without showing any sign of fatigue or worry.


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    He momentarily shifted his eyes to the two greater demons on the other side of the battlefield. These two had not participated in the battle so far, but Brian knew one of them was responsible for the earthen dome that caged them. From how the shockwaves generated from their battle seemed to not affect the earthen cage in the slightest, Brian knew that none of them would be able to break out of it unless they attacked one spot for countless hours without being interrupted. He could feel the dome was deeply connected to the earth and could suck its energy to repair and increase its strength.


    As for the other greater demon who had not participated, he was the one who had summoned a spatial wall to stop his charge at the giant in the beginning. He could tell that he was a mage connected with space laws, and he appeared to be the strongest of this bunch.


    Brian took a deep breath as he shifted his gaze back to the four greater demons flying above him. Since his mana was at the bottom, he decided not to fly and save up as much energy as he could.


    Right now, he was facing three men and one woman.


    Not only do these four wield evil energy, but they even retained their previous powers.


    Suddenly one of the three men moved.


    With a raise of his hands, tens of thousands of fire swords appeared, their sheer numbers blotting the skies-well the ceiling of the dome.


    With a wave of his raised hands, these swords fell like rain, congregating at one spot- Brian.


    But that wasn''t the end.


    Countless branches rose from the ground as they rapidly moved to restrain Brian. Some of them flung like a whip, desiring to slash his body into countless pieces.


    Seeing the attacks closing in on him from every direction, Brian quickly acted. He roused up his remaining bloodline energy and invoked one of the fifty bloodlines he had acquired.


    The numerous branches with spikes at their sides that desired to restrain him were the first to arrive, as they swallowed him whole.


    However, not even a second later...


    BANG!


    A body forcefully broke out from their embrace.


    A seven-meter-high and thirty-meter-long cheetah with golden and black stripes around its body easily broke the sound barrier as it wove around the branches, whipping towards it from every direction with ghostly speed and deft movements.


    In but a second, the cheetah left the branches behind it and arrived below the rain of fiery swords.


    As the heat from the approaching swords blew into its face, the cheetah roused a bloodline within it as it jumped into the air to confront the swords without an ounce of hesitation.


    Once the distance between was almost bridged, the Cheetah suddenly disappeared, and what took its place was a firebird that burned like the sun.


    SCREEEEEEEEEEE!


    The bird opened its beak and released a resounding cry.


    Without any suspense, all the fiery swords were sucked into its beak, and before the four Corrupted could react, it flapped its two fiery wings and turned into a ray of light that pierced the Corrupted who summoned the fire swords.


    Just when it appeared again, the pierced Corrupted had already disintegrated into ashes.


    With a peck of its beak, the Corrupted who had summoned the branches was turned into a bloody mist.


    However, the remaining male and the only female greater demons quickly reacted.


    With them being just a short meter from Brian, they opted to explode with their evil energy rather than use their abilities.


    A cloud of evil energy instantly covered a kilometer region and didn''t show any sign of stopping.


    Alas, before it could continue to spread, a bright golden sun exploded from within it, and a clear, powerful bird cry shook the area and even seemed to pass the earthen cage to pierce into the sky.


    BOOOOOOOOOM!


    SCREE!


    The cloud of evil energy immediately gave way to a domain of fire that raised the temperature of the battlefield to the point that the sea of blood on the ground instantly evaporated and the earth quickly turned into magma.


    A golden flash flew out from the fire domain, and with a speed that was easily five times faster than the speed of sound, it instantly appeared before the remaining two greater demons who had not participated in the fight so far.


    The greater demon with control over space raised his hand calmly, as he formed a spatial wall before him.


    The fiery beam that flew out of the sea of fire once again was stopped by the spatial wall, but this time, it didn''t bounce back; instead it created a small crack in the spatial wall formed.


    The greater demon was a bit surprised but that was all. With his strength, he still didn''t care about the level of power his opponent displayed.


    But that was until he saw a finger-sized insect fly out from the small crack before him.


    As his pupils contracted, the insect, which looked more like a housefly, instantly increased in size, and a white ape about 20m high appeared before him.


    The instant change created a stunning visual effect that sent the mind of even the Corrupted into chaos.


    Before he could react, the white ape clenched its right fist, the air around it exploding from the force generated.


    With a swing, a fist covered in white fur instantly shattered the space before him as Sonic booms shook his eardrums. With his vision covered entirely by that massive fist, the corrupted greater demon was only able to form a few dozen spatial walls before him out of his natural battle instincts, before the attack arrived.


    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!


    A massive shockwave shook the area, as the earth from the epicenter exploded into rubbles that filled the air.


    The other battlefields immediately came to a stop as the shockwaves sent allies and foe flying in every direction.


    Many lives were reaped as mages were known for their weak bodies.


    Those who couldn''t summon their defense were instantly eradicated.


    With that, the battlefield appeared more deserted.


    The spatial cracks that had formed at the center of the explosion rapidly healed.


    Despite the attack that had deformed the entire tens of kilometers, the earthen dome remained standing. The countless cracks that had formed on it were instantly healed by the dirty brown essence that was sucked from the earth.


    Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa!


    Brian gasped on the ground heavily. His mana was completely depleted and his bloodline energy was used up. His face was pale from the energy depletion, but he still forced his heavy eyes open to watch the result of his final attack.


    When Brian''s vision came to, a deep feeling of despair almost overwhelmed him.


    The earthen wall before him slowly parted and two figures walked towards him.


    One of the figures was covered in blood but remained whole. As for the other, he was completely unaffected.


    Brian realized that the greater demon that summoned the earthen wall simply took his partner and retreated from the battlefield at the last moment.


    After his attack ended, they returned once again.


    *****


    AN: Please drop a comment so I could know your thoughts on this new volume so far.

 CHAPTER 219: THE GOLDSBORN FAMILY ARRIVES

    A deep feeling of despair enveloped Brian''s heart when he saw the two figures who walked towards him, one with leisurely steps, the other with heavy steps.


    The spatial corrupted mage said nothing as he stood in front of Brian, his eyes flashing with viciousness.


    As a rare supreme talent, he was an existence who could only appear once among hundreds of millions of people. Not to mention he was a rare spatial mage who went against the norms. Spatial mages were mostly known for their ability to teleport, giving them an edge against other mages at the beginning stages of cultivation. Very few of them could develop abilities outside of teleportation, making them renowned for their needed assistance in creating spatial artifacts such as space rings or in creating formations such as teleportation formations. Aside from those, spatial mages were usually looked down on as they had weak offensive abilities and leaned more toward supportive mages. And even among these groups, the help they could offer on the battlefield wasn''t great; after all, once a mage breaks into the Red-core stage, their speed becomes inhuman, granting them speed not much lower than teleportation.


    But he was different.


    Which was why he was favored by his Lord. If not for the artifact the Lord required, he wouldn''t have remained in a lower world such as the Goldsborn planet, and would have long broken past his current cultivation realm.


    Yet, he was injured on such a backwater planet. Of course, he knew Brian was a great talent even if he was placed in a higher world, but he didn''t care; after all, the former was still a brat.


    An ominous light flashed across his eyes as he raised his bloodied right hand and forced the space before him to crush Brian.


    He would give him a slow and painful death.


    ''Oh...''


    A trace of appreciation briefly flashed across his eyes when he saw Brian not make a sound even after being subjected to such inhumane pain for almost a minute. It was very rare to see a child with such a tempered will.


    But soon after, the spatial mage sneered as he increased the crushing force around Brian.


    Or at least he tried to.


    BOOM!


    The earthen dome that had remained undamaged since the start of the battle was cleanly cut apart into two, revealing a clear blue sky and allowing the thick metallic smell of blood that had been caged-in to spread out into the surroundings.


    As the outside world was revealed to them, the two corrupted mages and Brian noticed the tall mountain at the back of the city had long collapsed. Above it, in the air, was a massive spherical formation housing an artifact scythe.


    Even across the distance and through the formation, Brian could tell that this scythe was extraordinary.


    This was the supreme artifact that his family had escaped with after leaving the main branch a thousand years ago. While they still couldn''t tap into the power of the artifact even till now, they could still use its natural ability to conceal itself to hide from the main branch.


    And since the artifact wasn''t any of their family''s bloodline-related artifacts and was only an object one of their ancestors had found within a secret realm thousands of years ago, the main branch stopped their search for them after a few years. With the scythe, they knew it was almost impossible to find them if they decided to hide in this wide galaxy, not to mention that they didn''t care as they didn''t see them as a threat.


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    Now, it seemed the army of corrupted was after this mysterious scythe, after all.


    Brian gritted his teeth when he saw the man blocking the way of the giant, with a sword in his hand.


    Well, rather than say blocking, it was more apt to say he was trying to stop the giant.


    With a simple punch from the giant, the space exploded, as a massive air Cannon moved towards his flying father.


    His father quickly swung the sword in his hand, which was a heaven-ranked artifact.


    The artifacts made by blacksmiths could be divided into five groups.


    Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Saint, and supreme artifact.


    The mortal artifacts were weapons used by mages in the beginning or preliminary stages of cultivation. They could only absorb a few traces of mana and were not that different from ordinary weapons used by mortals.


    The earth artifacts could fully absorb mana and were mainly used by mages in the grandmaster realm, as only they had the minimum quantity of mana required to use such weapons. Such weapons, while not possessing any extraordinary abilities, far outclassed normal weapons.


    The heaven artifacts were used by mages in the Red-core stage, the saint artifacts by those in the orange-core stage, and the supreme artifacts by yellow-core mages.


    The heaven artifacts could house one supernatural ability, the saint artifacts two, and the supreme artifacts three. Depending on the level of the ability, each stage is further divided into low, mid, high, and peak.


    As Brian watched his father swing his sword, he saw the sword fly out of his hands before turning into millions of smaller swords that rained upon the giant.


    Alas, the downpour of silver flashes was easily blasted away by the massive air Cannon, and the residue of the shockwaves slammed into his father, sending him crashing down to the earth like a falling star, as he coughed a mouthful of blood.


    The giant, with an ever-calm look, squatted slightly as he looked at the spherical formation in the air.


    He was just about to jump toward his target when a bright white light illuminated the world.


    ''Fiona!''


    Brian thought as his vision returned to normal. Then he saw white flashes surround the giant as if trying to engulf him.


    He knew this was one of his sister''s bloodlines. She transformed into an eagle surrounded by a bright white light. With an affinity to the rare light laws, she could move at a speed that was almost undetectable by the naked eye, and her strong feathers allowed her to easily cut iron apart.


    Alas, even as the giant stood there, Brian could see that he wasn''t injured in the slightest. It seemed his fleshy body had reached an unimaginable level.


    Even till now, the giant showed no obvious emotion on his face, and with a slight shake of his body, the space around him shattered, and his sister was sent flying into the distance.


    Luckily, a slender figure caught hold of her, but even with her assistance, the duo still turned into a flash that soon disappeared into the distance, their life or death unknown.


    ''Mother...'' Brian finally broke down, as tears streamed down his face as he looked in the direction his mother and sister disappeared in.


    Uncaring about what was happening in his surroundings, the giant tried to move towards the formation once again only for him to stop, an emotion finally showing on his face.


    With an annoyed frown, he turned around in time to see several golden flashes approaching from the distance.


    He had thought it would still take some time for outside assistance to arrive but it appeared he had miscalculated. He never knew the Enigma Family could use the scythe as the base of a defensive formation to slow him down for so long, and considering he couldn''t use much of his power to prevent this world from collapsing, he could only slowly wear the formation down.


    Just when he thought he would accomplish his mission, new pests arrived.


    A look of surprise flashed across his big eyes when he saw the golden flashes tens of thousands of kilometers into the distance suddenly arrive above him.


    Looking up, he saw about a dozen birds with resplendent golden feathers carrying ten figures.


    ''They must be the Goldsborn family.''


    A rare look of seriousness appeared on his face as he quickly decided to use more strength to take control of the situation.


    Unfortunately, before he could act, his body suddenly froze. He wasn''t the only one, as all the figures present, be it the wounded Brian and his father, the remaining elders and surviving greater demons, or the two remaining peak Red-core greater demons...


    Countless golden magical circles covered the skies, as the mages adorned in golden battle robes raised their staffs to the sky.


    Then, time within the surrounding ten kilometers came to a stop.


    Immediately after, ten figures jumped down from the only bird that wasn''t carrying people wearing golden battle suits.


    Instead, each of them was covered in armor of different colors.


    As the ten figures landed on the ground, one of them with auburn hair quickly moved towards the still surviving demons, and with each graceful swing of his sword, he sent their heads flying, causing a red suffocating aura to start building up around him.

 CHAPTER 220: OUTCLASSED

    Martin watched the destruction before him and when he saw what remained of the once prestigious Enigma-Ancient City, a city that was always compared to their capital city, he couldn''t help but feel his blood rush to his head.


    Still, he knew not to allow his emotions to overwhelm him and quickly suppressed his rising anger.


    Immediately when the elite mages from the Goldsborn family cast their spell, he jumped down the bird he was on.


    He could feel the others follow his movement, and from the sudden fall in temperature, he knew he wasn''t the only one who was angry.


    ''Damn! Sophia is angry.''


    His mind cleared a bit when he felt his hot-tempered friend was about to lose it, and for once, he didn''t try to stop her and would rather she let loose.


    Even from such a distance, he could feel fatal danger from the giant frozen in time, and if it wasn''t for his princess who was with them, he wouldn''t have hesitated to abandon their rescue mission and turn tail and run.


    The Goldsborn family had no deep relationship with the Enigma Ancient family in the first place, and they weren''t righteous enough to send themselves to their death for the sake of people they didn''t care about. If it wasn''t for the alliance their kingdom formed, they might not even have come


    With these passing thoughts, Martin kicked off the ground immediately when his feet made contact with the earth, his short auburn hair flying even in the absence of wind. His space ring flashed with a silver light, and a blood-red sword appeared in his hands.


    As his body turned into a blur, he arrived before one of the frozen demons.


    While he wasn''t close with the Enigma Ancient family, he was still human, and tasting the characteristic metallic smell of blood still in the air, he knew that countless lives must have been killed for the smell not to have diffused till now.


    With his anger surfacing once again, he sent his sword in a downward stroke, causing a head with a frozen look on its face to fly into the air. No blood spurted as time was frozen for the decapitated body, and the only reason the head flew in the first place was because he temporarily negated the time spell on it.


    With a red aura building around him, he moved toward the second demon and brought his sword down before advancing toward the third.


    Then the fourth...


    And the Fifth...


    As the palpitating aura around him continued to build up with each kill, Martin''s speed skyrocketed, and soon after, his figure couldn''t be followed by the naked eye. The only thing that could be seen was a red sun appearing and disappearing on the earth, creating a visual impact for any observer. In less than thirty seconds, more than fifty percent of the still surviving greater demons were killed.


    He wasn''t alone in his rampage, as icy chains danced in the air, as they lashed out and pierced their targets before freezing their blood, and soon shattering them into countless ice fragments. The sight appeared both beautiful and chill-inducing.


    As for the other mages, they focused more on supporting them. The wood element mages quickly healed Brian and the other surviving humans, while a few others joined them in killing the demons, taking full advantage of the Goldsborn mages'' time spell.


    Martin was just about to move towards another demon when his senses suddenly screamed at him.


    Without even thinking about it, he compressed the aura that had built around him into a red layer that covered his body. With this layer, Martin''s physical might was boosted thousands of times, and his defense was raised to abnormal levels. With his newfound strength, Martin knew he could destroy their world if he let loose, as even though he was still in the Red-core stage, his actual combat prowess had reached the middle of the next stage, a power that their lower world couldn''t bear.


    Alas, even with this formidable power, Martin didn''t feel any relief, and the reason for that was shown an instant later.


    A gigantic body appeared beside him like a phantom, and before his brain could even register its appearance, a fist twice as large as his body smashed into him, turning him into a bloody mist.


    "Martin!" Sophia shrieked in fear as she watched her friend die before her before she could react.


    However, the giant frowned as he watched the bloody mist in the air congregate before turning into Martin''s body once again.


    With his face pale white and his eyes flashing with fear, Martin instantly flew into the air as he took advantage of his status as a mage to distance himself from the monster before him.


    Rather than chasing after him, the giant instead gazed at one of the flying birds high in the air.


    His eyes instantly locked onto a slender figure whose face was covered with a golden veil.


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    "Retreat!" shouted Martin, and soon after, the others followed his instruction. Despite being unwilling, Sophia still listened to his command.


    "Are you okay?" She asked as she appeared beside him.


    Martin didn''t reply and instead looked at the giant gravely.


    ''That is not a monster we can face!''


    He hesitated on whether they should abort the mission, but after thinking about the princess who just saved his life, he decided to watch the situation unfold for a little while.


    He knew how talented his princess was and was clear on how terrifying her powers were. He didn''t think she fell short of the giant before them.


    Alas, if only he knew that the existence before him was related to the Asura race, maybe his decision would have been different.


    "What are you doing?"


    His attention was quickly pulled by Sophia''s angry shout.


    "I am sorry but we cannot leave our ancestral weapon!" Brian''s father said as he flew before the spherical formation and refused to retreat. Still, his condition had improved with the help of the wood element mages.


    Martin frowned when he saw this. His instincts told him the black scythe in the formation wasn''t ordinary.


    ''Is that what these demons are after?''


    He quickly shook his thoughts away. Now that the time spell had been lifted, the giant wasn''t the only one they had to look out for.


    He could tell two of the still surviving greater demons could even pose a great threat to him, so he didn''t dare to let his guard down.


    Both sides came to a standstill as they gazed at each other.


    Suddenly a glint flashed within the eyes of the giant, and before anyone could react, he magically appeared before the bird carrying the golden-veiled princess and punched out.


    At the same time, the corrupted spatial mage teleported in front of the healed Brian. With the latter taken by surprise, he couldn''t react when the corrupted mage slashed his hand down, causing a thin spatial blade to fly toward him.


    While the speed of the attack appeared slow in his eyes, Brian couldn''t move as the surrounding space bore down on him greatly, essentially freezing him in place.


    At the same time, the corrupted mage who had summoned the earthen dome also acted.


    Massive hands rose from the earth, an evil aura surrounding them.


    With a speed that defied their sizes, they closed the distance to the Goldsborn mages and the Enigma family elders floating in the air, before swatting out, as if trying to kill a fly.


    All these events happened at the same time, and if it were any other party, they would have been overwhelmed by the situation.


    However, the Goldsborn family was no ordinary family.


    Before the earthen hands could even complete their swatting motion, they were frozen in mid-air, the surrounding temperature falling to the point that the water vapor in the air was frozen.


    At the same time, Martin exploded with killing intent that locked onto the corrupted spatial mage and momentarily stunned him. With a speed that easily shattered the sound barrier, he appeared before the stunned demon, the Sonic waves generated from his movement shattering the frozen massive hands, causing them to turn into countless ice fragments.


    Before the corrupted mage could react, a blood-red sword covered in thick, suffocating killing intent, fell towards his head like a guillotine.


    Luckily, a stone wall appeared in time to shield him, but something amazing occurred soon after. The earthen wall that could absorb the essence of the earth, boosting its defense to an unimaginable degree, was easily smashed into pieces as the blood-red sword continued in its path, cleaving the corrupted spatial mage in two.


    At the same time, countless golden circles appeared around the giant, as the Goldsborn mages tried to freeze him once again.


    Alas, the giant used more than twenty percent of his strength this time. With no suspense, the golden circles shattered, and the fist continued unrestricted in its path.


    As Rita watched the world-encompassing fist approach her, she quickly deployed her domain. She could see many invisible threads connected to her from all the people on the battlefield, and with a thought from her, she focused on the enemies and absorbed their life essence.


    The cleanly cut Corrupted spatial mage and all the other demons present, including the formidable greater demon with earth laws, instantly turned into husks of flesh as their vitality was absorbed.


    BOOOOOM!


    A resounding explosion shook the heavens as mighty shockwaves


    blasted the surroundings into oblivion.


    The surrounding space shattered, turning the place into an endless void.


    The mountains in the distance were crushed into pieces and the earth rumbled as if the world was about to collapse.


    Suddenly, some kind of energy moved from all over the world before congregating at the battlefield, and soon after, the shattered space was healed. Still, the entire process took minutes, showing the alarming damage done to the surroundings.


    Once the situation cleared up, only one massive figure remained on the battlefield. However, the grave look on the face of the giant showed that he wasn''t pleased with the result of his attack.


    He suddenly shifted his eyes in a direction in time to see Martin, Sophia, the Goldsborn mages, Brian and his father appear once again, their bodies intact.


    Before all of them stood a girl in a golden dress, the matching eyes hidden behind the veil glowing with a mesmerizing light.


    "Princess..." Martin sighed in relief.


    That previous attack from the giant had turned the entire group into dust; fortunately, their princess was still able to salvage the situation.


    However, the faces of the entire group were still pale, as the horror of having died without a corpse overwhelmed them.


    With this situation, the giant could tell that while this young girl could not match him in power, he also couldn''t do anything to her. She seemed to possess a heaven-defying ability that allowed her to ignore death.


    Normally, he would have put the mission his Lord gave him foremost, but this time, his pride wouldn''t allow him.


    He was a noble being...


    He was from the only race closest to the legendary gods. And if it wasn''t for that wench''s conspiracies thousands of years ago, the giant race would remain the sole ruler of the entire dark galaxy.


    How could he, one of the few survivors of the most powerful race not be able to kill a measly human?


    ''Fifty percent!'' He decided to use half his strength. He didn''t care any longer if this world would be able to contain his power. The only reason he didn''t act openly with his almost unmatched power was that there was a figure in this world that even he feared. And the funny thing was she was a human. The Queen of the Goldsborn family.


    ''Wait...'' Something suddenly clicked in his mind.


    And for the first time since the giant appeared, he opened his mouth.


    "Are you related to Sylvia?"


    Martin, Brian, and the others felt their ears ring and their brain shake when they heard the giant''s voice. While he didn''t appear to be shouting, his voice still boomed in the surroundings, and shook their heads to the point that their minds blanked out.


    Only one person remained unaffected.


    Rita gazed at the giant before her seriously, as she could not lower her concentration for even a moment. As for the giant asking about her mother, she ignored the question, as she had no intention of interacting with a demon, even if it was a fabled giant.


    Her hatred for corrupted demons was deeply rooted within her, and she couldn''t wait for the day she would end their Lord''s life with her own hands.


    Seeing that the human girl ignored him, the giant felt his pride further wounded.


    Ssssssik!


    Red smoke emanated from his body as an aura of destruction spread out into the surroundings, causing the sky to go still.


    The visual impact of a figure more than fifty meters in height releasing smoke from his well-toned body shook the minds of Martin and the others. Many of them almost knelt to plead for mercy, as the fear of death overwhelmed them.


    As silence pervaded the entire world, as if in prelude to something calamitous, the giant''s expression suddenly distorted as he turned towards the direction of the floating spherical formation.


    "YOU DARE?!"


    The entire Goldsborn''s world rumbled from his bellow.


    At the receiving end of his scream was a young teen with silver hair who appeared out of nowhere before the floating scythe.


    With a wave of his hand, he tried to collect the artifact into his ring, only to fail. It must be known that his ring was a heaven-tier artifact with a small world inside it. Its divine ability even allowed it to contain a living being without any problem, yet such a formidable artifact couldn''t shake the floating scythe before him in the slightest.


    Left with no choice, he sent the floating sphere into his pocket space, before turning towards the far away giant.


    His silver eyes contracted for a moment when he felt the hidden strength contained within that massive body, but despite the feeling of dread he felt, his voice still appeared calm as it spread in every direction.


    "There is nothing I do not dare to do."


    *****


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 CHAPTER 221: TRUE DRAGON SPEAR

    ''I am not his match.'' That was the first thought that appeared in Arthur''s head.


    However, what came out of his mouth was:


    "There is nothing I do not dare to do."


    He knew he couldn''t appear scared. If not, he would lose the initiative before the battle even started.


    Besides, he had to raise the morale of his team, and just as he thought, the face of Martin and the Goldsborn mages brightened upon his arrival. Only two people had different reactions.


    Sophia harrumphed in displeasure upon seeing his timely appearance. She would never forgive him for humiliating her father five years ago in the tournament for the princess''s hand in marriage. And if it wasn''t for the Queen''s liking towards the other, she would have used her status as a Duke''s daughter to deal with him long ago. However, she could only rely on her strength if she wanted to have her revenge, something she hadn''t been able to achieve till today despite her higher cultivation level. And she doubted if she would ever be able to.


    As for the second person who reacted differently, it was Rita. A strange glint flashed within her eyes when she saw her-to-be-husband.


    While the group was reacting to Arthur''s arrival, the giant silently closed the distance to the former and punched out.


    BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!


    The space before him collapsed for tens of kilometers, as darkness swallowed the region far into the distance.


    A spear covered in dragon patterns silently appeared beside the giant before piercing into him.


    Or at least it tried to.


    With the sound of metal colliding echoing in the surroundings, the giant waved his hand to swat the fly that had teleported to his side into meat paste.


    Alas, his attack met nothing once again, except for turning the world before it into chaotic space.


    Arthur appeared a short distance away, with sweat matting his forehead. He quickly raised his golden spear and stabbed out.


    Strangely his spear point seemed to disappear into space, and before the giant could react, it appeared directly in front of one of his eyes before poking at it.


    Still, no damage was done as the sound of metal clashing resounded once again. It seemed even the eyes, a common weak point of many races, were as formidable as the giant''s tempered body.


    Seeing the strange attack that appeared before it out of nowhere, the giant restrained his anger before narrowing his eyes at his opponent.


    He could tell his opponent was a child, and even more shocking was his low cultivation.


    ''A weak master realm human brat was able to survive my attack twice?''


    ''Such talent.''


    Even if Arthur was a spatial mage and could instantly teleport, it still didn''t change the fact that he survived his attacks that were more than two times faster than the speed of light and should have overwhelmed his reaction speed.


    It must be noted that even the princess, who he was beginning to admire for her talent and suspecting had to be related to that monster to be so powerful at her age, died under his attacks and had simply used her strange powers to survive.


    However, Arthur did not, which showed that despite having a slower speed and power than the giant, Arthur''s combat awareness was so unimaginably high to the point that his body was able to automatically react to danger even before his mind could process it.


    ''Not to mention his ingenious use of space laws in combat.'' The giant realized the corrupted spatial mage he had converted and had thought was once in a generation talent was nothing but fart before this young teen before him


    ''He is a great danger to the young lord.''


    The giant quickly arrived at this point as the talent of the human child before him sent chills down his prideful spine, and he concluded that he must kill him to sniff out the danger in the bud.


    At the same time that the giant was lost in his thoughts after their brief clash, Arthur was similarly having his inner struggle.


    ''F*CK! F*CK! F*CK! ''


    ''That was close.''


    ''Just the shockwave is enough to send me to Yama.''


    ''I have to run...''


    ''No, I can''t abandon the others.''


    ''How about I just teleport them away before escaping?''


    He shook his head inwardly as he knew the giant wouldn''t just allow him to do as he pleased. Even with his teleportation speed, he knew the giant was still several times faster than him, and if it wasn''t for the spatial sense that he had developed in recent years that allowed him to sense even the slightest change in the space around him, he would have long died to the first punch.


    ''Wait...''


    ''Is this giant a demon?'' Despite not knowing anything about the giant before him he could tell he wielded unmatched might. So how could his enemy, Dean, who was the same age as him, be able to convert such an existence into one of his underlings?


    Arthur couldn''t help but feel fear grip his heart.


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    This was the fourth time he had ever felt fear in his life.


    The first was when he was small and was almost killed in a dark alley by a food vendor for stealing his merchandise. That was the defining point in his life, as it was then he awakened his mana core.


    The second time was five years ago when he stupidly barged into the Goldsborn capital and interrupted the tournament for their princess''s hand in marriage. When the queen gazed at him, he didn''t feel like he was looking at a human. Instead, he felt like he was looking at death in the eyes. Luckily, his master appreciated his talent at first sight and didn''t act towards him. She had even shielded him from the repercussions of his actions and even accepted him as her only student.


    The third time was similarly five years ago, when he saw the young girl, who called him big brother despite knowing each other for only a short while, killed before his eyes. He feared her death and resented his weakness.


    Today, was his fourth time. With just a simple punch from the gigantic monster before him, his power, which he had always prided himself in, was rendered useless.


    He couldn''t help but smile wryly when his thoughts reached here.


    He had just made a breakthrough and came out to flex some of his powers, only to be miserably humbled.


    Now that he knew he wasn''t the latter''s match, Arthur did the next best thing he could.


    "If we want to escape, we need to attack together."


    So, he asked for help.


    The arrogant, unruly, and stubborn ''him'' asked for help.


    Some would argue that he was a disgusting person, and honestly, he didn''t think he could argue with them.


    But could he blamed?


    He grew up in the gutters with no parents. In a world of magic, where 99.999% percent of the population awakened their mana core, he belonged to the few 0.001%. Hence, he was deemed useless by society.


    Left to fend for himself on the street, how could he not become unruly? How else would he have survived? With just his pure willpower and luck?


    Bullshit.


    Then, what about when he suddenly awakened his power and even found out he was very talented? Could he be blamed for acting out?


    Would any other person have done better?


    Arthur didn''t know.


    But what he did know was that he regretted his actions in the tournament five years ago. His unruliness had forever changed the path of a very talented rival.


    Now the world...no...the entire dark galaxy had to suffer it.


    If it was before, he would never allow anybody to interfere in his battle, as only in fights did he truly feel alive.


    However, he had changed over the years and had learned, in a painful way, that his every action had repercussions.


    .....


    Arthur didn''t care about the look of shock on Martin, Sophia, and the other''s faces. He could tell that even Rita looked surprised by his words. But he knew now wasn''t the time to entertain such thoughts, so he quickly sprang into action.


    "Let''s join hands together to defeat him!" He shouted once again, and without waiting for a reply, he made his move.


    The truth was that Rita, Martin, and Sophia were restricted on the amount of power they could use. If not, they would have long used their awakened will ability as a Red-core mage to control the laws around them and perform extraordinary feats. Alas, their combat prowess far surpassed their cultivation level, so they couldn''t unleash their full strength for fear of affecting this lower world. Only in a middle or better, a higher world could they let loose freely.


    Well, the same could be said for the giant, as Arthur could tell he wasn''t even trying.


    "Mirror clones!"


    Ten Arthurs appeared in Rita''s midst, and before any of them could react, five of the clones teleported the Goldsborn mages and Enigma-Ancient family elders out of sight.


    The remaining five moved before Rita, Martin, Sophia, Brian, and his father before speaking simultaneously:


    "Launch your strongest attack you could manage at me!"


    At the same, the real Arthur clenched the shaft of his golden spear tightly before taking a deep breath.


    Since he was still not a Red-core mage, he could not fly and could only remain on the earth, but he didn''t care about such a limitation, as he could teleport freely around him, be it to the air or on the ground.


    The spear in his hands was a heaven-ranked artifact his master gave him, but he couldn''t use all its power for obvious reasons despite his mana outclassing a peak grandmaster mage in quality and quantity.


    The gap between the grandmaster stage and the Red-core stage was almost unsurmountable, and the distance between these two realms could even be compared to the strength of the beginner stage to the grandmaster stage multiplied by several folds.


    But the important key here is that the distance is ''almost'' unsurmountable.


    There was a reason why Arthur was far behind his mate in cultivation.


    That was because he abandoned increasing his realm and focused more on understanding the space laws. Every time he meditated on the profundities of this supreme law, Arthur always felt free and at rest.


    It was almost as if the space was his mother, and only within her embrace could he find peace.


    Therefore, Arthur''s accomplishment in the law was so great that even a monster like Sylvia had no choice but to admit defeat in this area.


    The giant didn''t seem to care that Arthur teleported some people away.


    To him, only Arthur, who had the artifact he wanted and who he wanted to kill for his monstrous talent, and Rita, who didn''t pale that much to Arthur, mattered.


    "Dragon spear!"


    Arthur poured his mana into the spear in his hand before stabbing out fiercely.


    ROOAAR!


    The golden spear released a resounding roar that shook the area, and before the giant could react, the spear point stabbed out from a hole directly behind him, despite Arthur still being before him.


    Bang!


    Once again, there was no damage.


    But Arthur didn''t care as he turned into silver flashes that kept the distance and teleported around the giant, his spear stabbing into the giant as it defied the laws of physics.


    The giant remained at the spot and simply allowed Arthur''s attack to land on him. He knew that if he wanted to kill Arthur, he had to do it in one fell swoop. And to do that he must catch him off guard.


    As the spear point continued to materialize around him from places he could not even imagine, the giant''s senses suddenly tingled causing him to shift his attention to Rita''s position.


    There, he saw one of Arthur''s clones absorb a golden orb that seemed to be made of several clock gears condensed by the princess.


    But that wasn''t the end.


    Killing intent suddenly radiated from Martin as his body became enveloped by a suffocating red aura that turned him into a red sun on Earth.


    Without hesitation, Martian slashed his sword down, and before he completed his movement, the red aura around him was instantly absorbed by the falling sword before a massive red head flew out of it.


    "Asura''s fangs!"


    The monstrous head image opened his mouth wide to reveal crimson fangs that shone with an eerie light. The attack flew towards another one of Arthur''s clones, but the latter simply raised his left hand and the space before it rippled, before swallowing the Asura head.


    At the same time, Sophia used all her mana to condense a small white ball, causing a chilling cold to spread out in the surroundings.


    "Frozen end!"


    The space around the orb directly froze as it moved towards Arthur''s clone before disappearing without a trace once again.


    Seeing this, the giant''s trained senses tingled wildly, and he didn''t plan on waiting for Brian and his father to prepare their attacks to find out what would happen.


    Just when he was about to move, silver essence erupted from Arthur''s body wildly as he raised his spear to shoulder height like a javelin before taking a throwing stance.


    "True dragon spear!"


    "ROOOAAAR!"


    The spear turned into a kilometer-long eastern silver dragon that broke the sound barrier, Sonic waves left in it''s wake, before it disappeared into space.


    But Arthur didn''t seem done.


    Raising both his hands in the giant''s direction, a resolute look appeared on his face as he invoked one of the three techniques he had learned in his recent breakthrough.


    "Spatial Collapse!"


    With Arthur at the center, the surrounding 30m suddenly shattered as chaotic space swam menacingly toward the enemy''s gigantic body.

 CHAPTER 222: PISSED

    The world was engulfed in darkness, as chaotic space rampaged about wildly.


    Soon after, under the effect of the world''s reparative energy, the collapsed space reformed, and an unscathed humanoid being tens of meters high vaguely came into sight at the center of destruction.


    But before the space around the giant could fully heal, a resounding dragon roar shook the skies and rumbled the earth. An air of nobility spread out as a divine being was forcefully summoned into the mortal plane.


    For the first time, the giant defended himself from an attack.


    The golden dragon coiled around itself in the skies, and even then, its length surpassed three hundred meters.


    The golden whiskers on its head fluttered slightly, as its silver eyes fixed on its target.


    Without any hesitation, it descended on the earth, its twisted body uncoiling itself and revealing itself in its full glory. Its golden scales shone brightly under the sunlight, seeping through the clear clouds that had appeared after its noble roars dispersed the darkness that covered the skies.


    The giant watched the divine existence falling upon it with a slight look of surprise on his face, yet he remained calm.


    He was only able to cross his massive arms before himself as a form of defense before the golden dragon, still falling from the skies, was suddenly swallowed by a silver light and disappeared without a trace.


    "True Dragon Spear!"


    BOOOM!


    The dragon appeared directly in front of the giant and slammed into him.


    The giant was sent flying away yet he refused to fall on his back, as he grunted and exerted more force into his arms.


    With a small cry, he planted his two huge legs back forcefully on the ground, as he tried to resist with all his might. Alas, his body was pushed for several kilometers as his two legs formed two ditches tens of meters deep in the ground.


    An angry light suddenly flashed within the giant''s eyes.


    With a slight grunt, he shifted his arms from their defensive position and instead allowed the dragon''s head to slam into his chest. Then he hooked his massive hands around the dragon''s head, covering the creature''s more than five meters-high skull easily. Then with a deep grunt, he mustered more than fifty percent of his body''s strength and clenched forcefully.


    The dragon''s head exploded instantly like a popped balloon, and from its neck down, its more than five hundred meters long body dissipated slowly.


    Finally, the giant was able to come to a stop, however, he wasn''t relieved.


    His pupils contracted when he heard a loud ringing sound, and he saw the golden spear twirling within the still-dissipating body of the dragon body.


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    ''I have to stop it.'' The thought immediately formed in his mind.


    Alas, his opponents seemed to have no intention of allowing him to.


    A small golden orb appeared directly behind the giant''s head, and before he could even react, it slammed into him.


    Countless golden patterns in the form of clocks suddenly spread around his body.


    ''What happen...''


    The giant was astounded but before his thought could fully form, the numerous clocks released a small ticking sound, and immediately after, the giant froze in space.


    Unlike before, when the Goldsborn Mages had deployed their magic and forcefully frozen everything in the surroundings in time, this time the giant could not even form any thoughts, as his entire body, spirit, and soul were frozen. Space fluctuated before the frozen giant once again, and soon after a white orb materialized in front of him. The surrounding temperature plummeted greatly as a chilling air spread out from the orb.


    Then with a movement that was neither too fast nor too slow, the white orb smashed into the giant''s chest.


    Soon after, ice spread from the point of contact, and in less than a second, half of the more than fifty-meter-high giant was already encased in ice.


    ''...No...''


    A red light suddenly sparked within the unfocused eyes of the giant.


    ''...How dare...'' As the red light started intensifying, the giant''s eyes started coming into focus.


    Alas, the red light was forcefully erased as a gigantic Asura''s head suddenly appeared before the giant before entering his mind.


    His rapidly recovering thoughts were suppressed by a deep, suffocating killing intent, and the time spell cast on him took advantage of the opportunity to freeze his spirit once again.


    At the same time, the ice spreading around the giant''s body fully encased him. An ice sculpture tens of meters high and in the shape of a humanoid suddenly appeared before the rapidly twirling golden spear.


    *WHIRR!*


    The spear spun fiercely as it pierced into the ice sculpture before it, like a knife cutting into tofu.


    .....


    ''Now is my chance!''


    Immediately after launching all his spears and his team''s spells, Arthur didn''t even wait to see the result of their attacks, as he instantly teleported and appeared before the group.


    Then he willed his mana, and silver essence erupted from his body greatly.


    He quickly wrapped his team in his energy and ignored their questioning looks.


    Just as he started breathing a sigh of relief, as their bodies faded away, two structures suddenly clenched his body from the sides, and a massive shadow engulfed their bodies.


    "Just where do you think you are running to?"


    Arthur''s breath froze in his throat. He turned his head stiffly to see a massive eye right behind his back. He realized the structures holding him in place were actually two of the giant''s fingers, and he didn''t even doubt for a second that if the latter exerted just a bit of strength, he would be squashed into meat paste.


    Arthur wasn''t the only one who was frozen in fear.


    Rita held her breath in fear, and Martin, Sophia, Brian, and the others had looks of despair on their faces as they gazed at the giant before them who had a quickly closing hole in his chest.


    In less than two seconds, the hole healed completely, and once again, the giant appeared completely unscathed.


    "Pl-dont-wai..." Arthur continuously stuttered as he gazed at the completely red sclera beside him that was almost his size. It didn''t take a genius to tell that the giant was incredibly pissed.


    "Hmm?" The angry giant suddenly shifted his head away as he gazed in a specific direction.


    Then, against Arthur and the other''s expectations, he let go of the former before taking a single step back. A step that brought him away for almost a kilometer.


    Then the stunned Arthur and the others were awoken by the giant''s next words.


    "You must be Silvia!"


    .....


    AN: Sorry guys! A lot of things have been happening to me lately and I haven''t had time to write much. But I promise to make it up to you all. Also, there will be less of action for a while, so I can build the plot.


    Expect an extra chapter within the next 24 hours, and more within the week. Hopefully.

 CHAPTER 223: IS THAT A C?

    "You must be Silvia!"


    A deep voice filled with power and prestige resounded in the area.


    Seeing the arrival of their queen, Martin and Sophia finally couldn''t bear it any longer and collapsed on the ground. Brian and his father were no different.


    The sudden transition from being close to death to guaranteed survival almost overwhelmed these talented mages.


    While Arthur and Rita didn''t collapse like the others, their eyes showed visible signs of relief.


    Arthur shifted his eyes to the figure who had arrived unnoticed.


    "Master..."


    Queen Silvia stood a short distance from the group, her slender figure highlighted by a tight golden battle suit. Her face was still covered by a veil, just like her daughter, but the two calm pools of golden hues shining behind the veil left no doubt that a world-destroying beauty was hidden behind it.


    The giant gazed at the small figure a kilometer before him. Despite the unsurmountable difference in size between them, the giant''s senses were screaming like never before that the woman posed a fatal threat to him, and he didn''t doubt it.


    ''She is the only existence with a talent above the god tier in the entire dark galaxy, after all.''


    Even with her cultivation being only at the peak of the Red-core stage, as she was limited by this world''s mana, the giant knew that he might not be her match. And that was saying a lot. Even he was in a stage which, when compared to mana cultivation, could be translated to the Red-core stage. However, he had the strength to decimate all the existences, a great realm above him, and could defend himself from an existence that had recently broken into two stages above him. It wasn''t for no reason that the giants ruled the entire galaxy until some millennia ago.


    The giant narrowed his eyes at the still-quiet Silvia. He felt unnerved that his opponent didn''t respond to him. It was almost as if she was ignoring his presence. But he knew that was not the case, as ever since she arrived, her light golden eyes had never left his massive frame for a split second. Her tight grip around her two swords had never lessened for a moment.


    ''Should I test her?''


    The giant knew he had failed his mission ever since Queen Silvia arrived. However, he was unwilling to leave just like that. He had lost his army and had failed to retrieve the artifact his Lord required. Not to mention, that he had been humiliated by a group of snotty brats.


    Despite now being a demon, the giant hadn''t lost a bit of his pride. If he wasn''t in a weakened state, his Lord would have never been able to convert him in the first place.


    A deep silence ensued. Seconds trickled into minutes and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, a quarter of an hour passed. Yet, the giant and Silvia remained at the same point, not having made any movement, their eyes fixed on the other.


    Arthur and the others also didn''t dare to breathe too loudly or make any sudden movement.


    They weren''t sure if even their unrivaled Queen would be able to stop the existence before them. That was how deep an impression the giant had left on them.


    Arthur didn''t doubt for one second that he stood no chance against the giant. If it wasn''t because the latter had underestimated him, he never would have been able to scratch him, even with the elusiveness of his space laws.


    The giant suddenly clenched his huge hands into fists causing Silvia''s body to tense slightly, her grip around her weapons tightening further.


    Suddenly, the giant who seemed like he was about to attack shook greatly. His clenched fists loosened, and a look of reverence appeared on his face.


    Then he looked at Silvia with his gigantic black-as-night eyes, and his mouth parted slightly, his deep voice reverberating:


    "We shall meet again, human queen."


    "Very soon..."


    He didn''t wait for Silvia to respond as with a slight shake of his body, the space around him shattered and he started fading out of existence.


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    Arthur could tell that he was teleporting to someplace outside of this world, which shocked him greatly. Even he, who had a deep mastery of space laws, couldn''t achieve that, at least not yet.


    ''Huh?''


    Suddenly, Arthur felt a deep chill running down his spine. Before the giant disappeared completely, his eyes rested on him for several seconds, and for some reason, Arthur felt his gaze wasn''t the same as before. It was almost as if an entirely different being was looking at him, and he even felt that gaze to be a bit... familiar.


    But before he could point at where he had felt it, the giant disappeared from his sight.


    The only thing that proved that he was ever there was the two bottomless long ditches and the surroundings hundreds of kilometers that had been turned into flattened ground. The city had long disappeared, the mountains had been turned into dust, and the rivers had been erased from existence.


    Queen Silvia breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief, before sending her weapons back into her space ring.


    Then she turned her golden eyes to her daughter''s, as her lips raised into a small smile. Alas, such a mesmerizing smile was hidden by the veil.


    She shifted her eyes to Brian''s father, before nodding her head slightly as a way of greeting.


    Brian''s father quickly bowed 90¡ã degrees, as he silently thanked his benefactors. If it wasn''t for their arrival, not only would his family have lost everything, rendering their millennium-old grudges useless, but they wouldn''t have been able to stop the giant from taking the Scythe.


    Of course, while he wanted to retrieve his family''s heirloom back from Arthur, he had no intention of voicing it directly. And instead opted to see how things turned out.


    Queen Silvia didn''t react much to the ancient family leaders'' bow. Instead, she shifted her eyes to her student, and a speechless look appeared on her face; of course, no one could see it.


    "Why didn''t you use your new technique?" She asked with a speechless tone, her soft beautiful voice making the bones of those who heard it feel mellow. She couldn''t believe that even when her student was facing an enemy he could not defeat, he would still hold back his strength. And not by a small amount at that. While they couldn''t use their full strength due to their fear of destroying their world, she was aware Arthur''s technique had nothing to do with destruction. Yet if he had used it, while he still wouldn''t have stood a chance against the giant, he would have been able to escape easily.


    "Hehe..." Arthur scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.


    "There was no use in revealing all my cards so soon, especially when I know I can''t defeat my opponent."


    The sides of Silvia''s lips twitched slightly, while Martin and the others had perplexed looks on their faces.


    Shaking her head slightly, Queen Silvia suddenly disappeared. Just as she arrived unnoticed, she left unnoticed, with no one having any idea how she did, despite their eyes never leaving her body.


    Arthur knew she hadn''t disappeared by bending space as he didn''t feel any fluctuations from the surrounding space.


    ''Master is truly the strongest!'' He sighed deeply, but soon his eyes shone with determination.


    ''I will still surpass her...''


    .....


    After Queen Silvia left, Arthur teleported the group to where he had sent the Goldsborn mages and the Enigma family elders. They were on a mountain thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield, but what surprised Martin and the others was that two unexpected figures were also present.


    "Mother! Sister!"


    Brian shouted as tears streamed down his young face. Despite his calm exterior, he was worried about his mother and sister''s fate ever since they were sent flying away from his sight.


    Thankfully, they appeared unscathed, and Brian knew it must be because of the Goldsborn wood-elemental mages.


    Brian''s father visibly relaxed as he embraced his wife and daughter, together with his son. As for the elders, they stood behind them and waited for them to finish their reunion.


    On the other side were Martin, Sophia, and the Goldsborn mages.


    "So, what do we do?" Martin asked his silent princess.


    "I don''t know. You are the one in charge of this mission, so you decide." Rita spoke for the first time, her voice sounding heavenly to the ears.


    Martin scratched his long auburn hair. He had the habit of smoothening his hair when he was feeling pressured.


    Just when he was about to ask Sophia about her thoughts on the issue, a figure suddenly approached them from the other side.


    It was a young girl who seemed to be about their age.


    "FIONA!..." Her father and brother shouted from behind, but the girl ignored them and drew closer to Arthur''s group.


    Martin wondered why Brian and the others had strange and uncomfortable looks on their faces. But he didn''t need to think for long as the young girl with long emerald hair and matching eyes stopped before them before bowing slightly.


    "I thank the benefactors for saving mine and my family''s lives."


    Martin was a bit mesmerized by the beauty before him. While she didn''t reach Rita''s level, he could swear she was the second, no, third most beautiful female he had ever seen. The first and second are Silvia and Rita, despite him never seeing their appearance. But he had never doubted their beauty for even a moment.


    Martin wasn''t the only one who was mesmerized. All the Goldsborn''s family male mages shared the same reaction. Luckily they were quickly awoken by a loud harrumph from the red-haired Sophia.


    Martin quickly waved his hand to show that they didn''t do much, as he tried to hide his embarrassment.


    Fiona didn''t dally and quickly turned towards Arthur.


    "I know you saved us, but please, can you return the artifact to us? It is our family''s heirloom and we are willing to compensate you in any other way." Fiona spoke as she shook away the slightly uncomfortable feeling she was feeling from his silent stare.


    Arthur''s eyebrows furrowed on her face, yet he didn''t reply and merely continued to watch her intently.


    While the others thought he was pissed, no one knew that his attention wasn''t the slightest on Fiona''s face.


    ''Is that a C-cup? No, it must be a B...''


    He gulped secretly but he made sure to fix his eyes on...face.


    Only one person had an inkling of why he was so quiet.


    Rita looked at him quietly from the side of the eye.

 CHAPTER 224: ALLIANCE

    AN: I am sorry, guys.


    *****


    ''How...''


    ''How is...''


    ''How is this possible?''


    ''She is only about the same age as me and the others. Yet...''


    Arthur tried his best not to move his eyes away from Fiona''s face.


    It wasn''t that he had never seen a woman with such a large chest. His master was such one person.


    It was just that he had never seen anyone at his age with such a massive bust.


    In the end, while he tried to change his character over the years, he wasn''t able to change his core. At least, it wasn''t easy to do.


    Fiona continued to feel uncomfortable under Arthur''s stare and couldn''t tell why. Still, she decided to wait for the response of the silver-haired boy in front of her. Even she had to admit that the boy before her outclassed her brother in appearance.


    It wasn''t every day you saw a boy with long silver hair, not to mention that the confidence Arthur unconsciously radiated and the pride hidden within his bones could easily draw the opposite sex''s attention even if he didn''t intend to.


    However, even after a full minute of waiting, Fiona didn''t receive any reply, causing her to frown slightly.


    While she knew she was very beautiful, she didn''t think it was to such an extent that the latter would be stunned into silence. Especially considering the golden-haired girl beside his group.


    Even she had to admit that she paled to her in terms of bearing and aura. As for her appearance, she still had confidence that she wouldn''t lose to anyone, at least not badly.


    As if he could sense Fiona''s rising displeasure, Arthur quickly cleared his throat before putting on a serious expression.


    "Why don''t you return with us to the palace? Then we can talk more about your family''s heirloom."


    Fiona''s eyes widened slightly in surprise and even her family and her elders shared similar reactions.


    "Are you sure?" she hesitated before asking.


    Now that the Ancient Enigma City had been wiped off the surface of the earth, her family had nowhere to return to. Of course, that was no big problem for them. With their strength, it wouldn''t take them long to find a new location to establish their base, or at least steal one that is already occupied.


    Besides, they didn''t want to impose on the Goldsborn family. News of what happened would soon spread, and considering the gravity of the situation, with the appearance of a giant, it was expected to draw a lot of attention from the hegemon forces of the dark galaxy.


    What did that mean?


    There was a high chance the main branch of their family would catch a sniff of them.


    And that might implicate the Goldsborn family even with a monster like Sylvia at their helm.


    Arthur simply shrugged before throwing a look at Martin.


    Martin hesitated slightly but after pondering about it for a little while longer, he slowly nodded his head.


    "Sure. It would be our pleasure to receive the Enigma family."


    Since he had somewhat succeeded in his mission of keeping the main forces of the Enigma Ancient family intact, he didn''t see why they should not invite the other party to their kingdom. Not to mention they could use this opportunity to foster the relationship that was just beginning to grow between them. If they could have one of the unaffiliated major forces of the Goldsborn world ally with them, the endless benefits it would bring outweighed the potential dangers.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The only regret Martin had was that he wasn''t able to save the inhabitants of the Enigma Ancient city.


    The massive aerial mounts the Goldsborn mages had brought with them spread their wings as both groups climbed onto them.


    Due to their large numbers, the mages who had broken into the red core stage had no choice but to fly after them.


    Like this, both groups flew to their new destination.


    The Goldsborn Kingdom!


    .....


    On a desolate mountain that dominated the horizon, its jagged peaks cutting into the sky like the teeth of some ancient beast, lay a simple manor.


    The manor appeared like a speck amidst the enormous mountain that stretched for hundreds of miles.


    Within the manor''s main hall sat a few figures around a round table.


    Each chair the individuals sat upon resembled actual thrones used by famous kings in their palaces.


    Five of the seven chairs were already filled, while the two chairs at the opposite ends of the round table that were even distinguished from the other grand seats remained empty.


    "The demons have struck again. In less than a day, millions of lives were reaped before the kingdoms could act." A burly man with red hair surrounded by bright yellow flames voiced out in a deep, angry voice.


    "Calm down, Jack." A soothing voice responded to him from the opposite side of the table.


    *Bang!*


    Jack slammed the table as his flamy hair danced behind him, his spittle filling the air.


    "You dare tell me to calm down? We have lost countless lives for goodness sake! The people are getting restless and it is only a matter of time before chaos erupts. This unknown force emerged five years ago and even after all these years and after allying, we still can''t put an end to them. Not much is known about them. If things continue this way, the people will eventually lose trust in us."


    The light blue-haired woman facing him calmly brought out a small cloth before wiping the spittle on her face. Done with that, her eyes seemed to shine with a soft blue glow that contrasted with Jack''s flamy hair that lit up the hall.


    "Sit your butt down, Jack!" Despite the words that came out of her mouth, her voice remained calm and soothing, a gentle look still plastered on her face.


    Jack''s expression changed slightly before he harrumphed and quietly sat down. His flamy hair returned to its original docile state, and the surrounding temperature that had risen several levels slowly returned to normal.


    "Now..." The blue-haired woman smiled lightly; however, her eyes, which had turned cold, didn''t reflect her expression. She glanced at the three other figures before her, her luscious red lips parting slightly:


    "While I dislike this smelly gruff, I can''t help but agree with him this time."


    She decisively ignored the look of displeasure on Jack''s face as she continued:


    "These demons, as we call them, appeared five years ago, not long after one of the four kingdoms, the dark kingdom, disappeared overnight."


    The faces of the other figures in the hall became grave as they remembered that incident five years ago.


    While the blue-haired woman said the kingdom disappeared, these grand figures didn''t believe so; after all, only the people vanished, with the kingdom''s buildings and wealth remaining intact.


    Countless clothes filled the capital streets and buildings, and the only thing occupying them was some ashy remains.


    This has led to several conjectures over the years with the likely scenario being that they disappeared somewhere. After all, if they were dead, they would leave behind corpses or at least a semblance of them.


    No one tried to correlate the ashes to the missing people- at least, no one dared to-as the implication of such a thing was simply chill-inducing.


    Another thing that shocked the major forces and was hidden from the public was that the bottomless abyss behind the towering walls of calamity that the dark kingdom has guarded since immemorial also disappeared without a trace.


    What was once deep glaring darkness was now a normal inhabited land that was no different from the usual ground.


    This mysterious incident sent the other kingdoms and ancient family into panic for some time, and the appearance of the demons not long after that only served to escalate their unrest.


    Not long after, an alliance was formed among them to deal with the situation.


    All the major forces combined their information networks in the hope of swiftly dealing with the situation, yet even after five years, all they knew could be summarized into three points:


    -The lost prince of the vanished dark kingdom has something to do with the demon''s appearance.


    -The demons could corrupt a person''s essence and turn them into their own.


    -The demons appear no different from normal humans and the only way to tell them apart is by releasing their tainted mana.


    That they didn''t have much information on their enemy was a big shame for these leaders of the major forces.


    After allowing her words to sink deep into her colleague''s head, the blue-haired woman continued:


    "I am afraid this situation is beyond our control. Rather than wasting time and endangering our people, I suggest we report this matter to the higher-ups!"


    *Ba-dum!* *Ba-dum!* *Ba-dum!* *Ba-dum!*


    Barely a second passed after the blue-haired woman ended her words when she heard her heartbeat playing like music right beside her ears.


    At the same time, her calm expression finally broke as her face contorted into a deep scowl.


    Gritting her teeth, her eyes involuntarily shifted to the other male who had yet to speak within the hall.


    The black robe covering the man''s body could barely hide the deep muscles hidden within them. With long black braided hair that fell to his back, and a dark face covered by similarly braided beards, the man''s brownish eyes fixed onto the woman''s blue eyes as he locked his fingers together and rested them on the round table.


    "Do you know the implication of what you just said?"

 CHAPTER 225: THE GOLDSBORN KINGDOMS PAST

    AN: Happy New Year!!!


    *****


    "Do you know the implication of what you just said?"


    Hearing the man''s words, the leaders couldn''t help but remember that unprecedented incident that shook the whole galaxy.


    Sylvia, the well-beloved princess of the strongest kingdom, sneaked out, with none the wiser.


    Unfortunately, she met with an unforeseen accident while on her adventure journey. She was in the range of a berserk magical beast being subdued, and the shockwave of the beast''s rampage had killed her instantly on the spot.


    At the time, Sylvia was barely five, and was yet to awaken her innate talent, something rarely seen in the world of magic.


    But her death seemed to be the trigger for her awakening. No one knew what had happened until a few days later when several terrifying auras engulfed the Goldsborn world.


    These unknown figures who looked more like gods to the world''s inhabitants, had instantly attacked the Goldsborn Kingdom upon their arrival.


    With but a few moves, the strongest kingdom was almost wiped out of existence, with but a pitiful few remaining. What brought not only the Goldsborn world but the entire galaxy into chaos was that the ancestor of the Asura race had also appeared. While she didn''t attack personally, she also didn''t stop these gods from laying ruins to the Goldsborn Kingdom.


    Luckily at the verge of the Kingdom''s annihilation, an unknown old man had appeared out of nowhere and saved the remaining members of the Goldsborn''s royal family. That such an unknown figure could cause these terrifyingly powerful figures who could cover the entire skies of countless worlds with their hands to stay their hands sent another ripple across the whole galaxy. Even the fabled Asura ancestor had not acted upon his arrival.


    It was then that a piece of news that shocked countless worlds spread out.


    The princess of one of the kingdoms of a lower world had died but unexpectedly returned to a day before her death, as if time had been reminded. What was truly excessively horrifying was that the power of her talent had not only affected her world but also influenced the entire galaxy.


    Such a talent had already exceeded the scope of human sense. This was simply a power that could only be wielded by gods.


    Unfortunately for the princess, while her talent was so heaven-defying that it could rewind a galaxy''s time, the subtle changes brought about by the effect were not able to escape the senses of the major powerhouses of the dark galaxy.


    In less than a day, they were able to trace the cause to this unremarkable lower world and acted immediately to capture her. Such a talent even sent chills down the back of these figures hailed as lords.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The awakening of such a talent should have been an unprecedented joyful occasion for the Goldsborn Kingdom, but instead, it had brought a cloud of calamity over their heads.


    Admirably, the kingdom had fought to protect their princess even in the face of power that induced their fear.


    However, a thrown egg could never shake a mountain.


    In but a few moments, the kingdom was reduced to the size of a family, and if it wasn''t for the appearance of the old man who people speculated was that legendary Divine blacksmith who had crafted the saint artifacts of the major forces, they would have been wiped out of existence, with their princess suffering a life of captivity, probably for eternity.


    No one knew the old man''s agreement with the Asura ancestor and the others. Still, in the end, not only were the few remaining Goldsborn members not killed, but they also pulled back all their influences, making this lower world one of the select few not under their control.


    While this result, at the time, meant nothing to the Goldsborn family, who grieved for their loved ones, the other kingdoms and forces of the Goldsborn world were high in the cloud.


    Not only were they now exempted from paying tributes, but they also became free from any conscription by the major forces above.


    .....


    The main hall became quiet as the leaders briefly went down memory lane.


    What they didn''t realize, however, was that in one of the shadows cast by the single lamp in the hall, a figure had appeared silently and unannounced for some time now, the golden pools behind the light veil unfocused as they gazed lost in space.


    The middle-aged man with locked hair gazed intently at the blue-haired woman, and it wasn''t until several moments that he redrew his domain.


    Hearing the loud beating sound of her heart gradually fade away, the blue-haired woman sighed, her forehead matted with sweat.


    "Asking the higher-ups for help is the same as inviting them back into our world, and we don''t want that, do we?"


    The faces of Jack and the others became unsightly upon hearing the middle-aged man''s words.


    "We don''t have a choice!"


    Unexpectedly, an answer the man was not expecting to hear came soon after. With his eyebrows creasing into a frown, the middle-aged man turned his head to the direction where the response came from, only for him to become stunned.


    Feeling something was not right, the others followed the direction of his gaze only for them to share the same reaction.


    Sylvia ignored the stunned looks the five leader''s faces and calmly left the embrace of the shadows before sitting on one of the head seats.


    Quickly regaining their composure, the five leaders, three men, and two women, quickly stood and performed a noble bow.


    Sylvia shifted her serene golden eyes from one person to another, causing a suffocating aura to engulf them before she redrew her gaze.


    Jack, King of the Fire Kingdom.


    Bathilda, Queen of the water kingdom.


    Vernon, king of the earth kingdom.


    Benjamin, Family head of the beating heart ancient family, and finally...


    Joy, branch leader of the Merchant Association, and finally.


    Sylvia''s gaze finally landed on the empty seat across from her and she couldn''t help but sigh.


    That seat was meant for the King of the Dark Kingdom. Unfortunately, he was no more. Leaving a space for him at the table was a way of honoring him.


    Returning her gaze to the still-standing leaders, Sylvia nodded her head as her form of greeting, and only then did the five leaders sigh before seating back down.


    The middle-aged man with locked hair, Benjamin of the beating heart ancient family hesitated for a moment before asking in a deep voice:


    "Lady Sylvia, if I am not mistaken, you said we have no choice but to contact..." he didn''t complete his words and instead pointed his index finger upward.


    Sylvia didn''t answer him directly and only replied with a statement, her voice remaining light:


    "A giant appeared among the forces of the corrupted."


    There was a collective "Huh?" before a sharp intake of air resounded deeply in the silent hall.