《Dawn Of Legend:Rise Of An Extra》
Chapter 1 1:Nightmare
?Strange¡
It was a strange ce....
Rather than calling it a ce, it was better to call it a graveyard as it looked like and used for the disposal of bloody corpses.
ins and meadows were drenched in blood. Ravens ploughed through the decayingnds gnawing their beaks upon the corpses covering thendmass.
Shipwrecks and dead bodies floated all across the oceans dying in red.
The white kes of snow that one was familiar with had ovepped with the colour of blood forming a cemetery of frozen corpses with limbs that could be seen sticking out from the thickyer of ice.
After being engulfed by terrifying disasters, the weather remained the same regardless of the season.
There was no more warm sunshine for people to bask in leisurely nor was there any drizzle that made the parched earth regain its vitality.
The conditions of the entire world were terrible, it was a wintry hell where blizzards never stopped blowing, followed by showers of ashes instead of snowkes.
A huge and endless crack extended throughout the sky around which fluctuations and ripples were spreading slowly.
If one looked at the world, he would have a feeling that the world was going to plunge into dust and debris at any moment.
Among the corpses, there were some battered bodies with dead and tired eyes staring towards a certain ce with a hopeful gaze wishing for him to confirm whether they won or lost.
At the centre of the barren and deste world, which was reminiscent of a scorched section of hell, stood a huge pir that seemed to pierce through the sky.
Around the pir, blood-stained ground corpsesy from which dark mist erupted.
The crows roared around it while feeding on the corpses and around the deste barren ce sat a man with bloodshot eyes leaning against the pir.
The pir on which he leaned seemed to be the symbol of strength and standing on something ominous that made one mind go numb in fear.
Cough...Cough...
The man heaved out a dry cough as he opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry and groggy. Witnessing the mass of destruction left behind, his expression crumpled and at the same time he felt pain oozing out from every part of his body.
His right earlobe was missing, a deep scar ran through his left eye over the face. Two fingers on his left leg were missing and his body had been riddled with scars umted throughout the ages.
But, as if numb to the pain, he opened his tired eyes from which drops of water started to trickle down.
His throat was parched and it burned as if it was on fire. He could feel the expected gazes of dead bodies on him but he could only swallow his saliva while questioning himself with a hoarse voice.
"Am I the only one left alive?"
"Is this the end?"
"Is this the victory we sought?"
A quiet and sorrowful wind blew in response to his question.
He bit his lips and emotions welled in his chest wanting to tear his chest and burst out.
It was the emotion of emptiness that a person encounters when he spends his day and night achieving the desired goals but has never given a thought about what to do next.
The silence coupled with the inner emptiness started to hunt him in a vast deste ce filled with a putrid odour of rotten smell.
Unable to keep his eyes open, his eyelids close due to exhaustion.
Murmurs and hums echoed in his ears giving him a piercing headache that almost split his brain.
His mind which was clouded due to exhaustion was unable to discern whether this was real or an illusion.
[Just for how long can you trap me.]
[For a decade, for a century or for a millennium.No matter how long it takes, I will be freed one day after all your body is already on the verge of breaking down.]
A hoarse voice resounded in his ears.
[And once I am out, everything will be over.]
[Everything you have done to keep me caged will be for naught. All the sacrifices you have made are meaningless.]
[And you who are the only one to survive will be trapped in an endless cycle of worry and misery.]
[Cause I am the end.]
He was still sceptical and didn''t know whether he heard the voice for real or if it was just a fleeting illusion but tears of blood started to burst from his eyes as all the memories of his suffering from his birth started to y in the loop before his eyes.
His heart seemed to be ignited with rage.
He clenched his fist to the point that his nails dug into his skin and blood oozed out from it.
Squeezing out his remaining strength, he opened his eyes.
His eyes became bloodshot and his breathing hastened as he tried to hold back his fading consciousness.
"If only we could have known about this."
"If only those bitches would have helped us instead of abandoning us."
"If only I have someone to rely on."
"Still it''s not over."
"It''s not over and will never be...."
"Not until I am alive. I will fix everything even if it takes aeons beyond aeons."
[Drifting Sword Technique]
''I got technique out of nowhere. Do I have a protagonist halo?''
''Oh, my God. This is the luckiest moment I had aftering here.''
Ami noticed changes in Lucas''s expression and coughed...
"Lucas, before you let your thoughts run wild, I wanted to tell you that you are not the only one who I have given this technique to."
"Huh! Lucas frowned and stared at her with an inexplicable gaze.
[There exists a flow in everything. Drifting sword art traces the path of flow with fast and precise attacks countering the opponent''s moves with subtle gentle movements and piercing the opponent''s defenses by following the flow.]
Lucas raised his eyebrows as he felt the technique quite familiar.
"I see. It''s an imitation of Miss Ami''s Grade 4 sword arts."
Martial and different types of weapon arts were first divided into ranks starting from G to SS.
However,ter it was seen that people overpowered high-rank sword arts with low-rank swords which shows it was difficult to divide sword arts over a long range of rank so the list waspacted and divided into 5 grades starting from 1 to 5. Grade 5 arts can bepared to SS level and are top secret.
Only a few families have this. Frost and Warren''s household have their Grade 5 swords Art.
Frederick converted the sword arts of Frost to spear arts which shocked everyone, especially his father.
"Today was a good day. Let''s stop for now."Lucas, keeping the scripture back, walked away while wiping the sweat on his face.
As he came out and lowered the towel, his body froze seeing the person staring at him.
''What is this man doing here? ''Lucas notice the time and understanding.
Lucas trains till 12 while this guy mostly leaves around 11.
"Hello!"
"Uh..He...Hello.."Lucas greeted back with a stiffened expression.
The person was none other than the mc of the story.
"You train hard."Frederick praised Lucas with a smile and lowered the bottle he was holding.
"I have to if I don''t want to get kicked out from Horizon."
An awkward silence prevailed after this.
Feeling ufortable, Lucas asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Training just like others."
"I know that much. I mean why are you training here instead of training in your dorm? You have a whole apartment with a personal gymnasium attached to it."
"It feels stuffy. Moreover, training with others gives me motivation."Frederick answered with a smile.
Lucas found the answer quite odd and looked around. His tone seemed to be quite unnatural as if he was nervous.
The ce was empty except for the two.
''Is someone monitoring us?''
Lucas dismissed this thought and stared at Frederick with an entric gaze.
Lucas, who knew the reason for which Frederick might be here, clicked his tongue...
"Hey, do you.."
"Sorry, I need to go. I have some work. Bye and have a nice day."Lucas cut Frederick''s speech in the middle.
"Huh! Wait...I"Before Frederick could stop him, Lucas ran away as if he was a gue that needed to be avoided.
"Haaaa....Is it that hard to make a friend?"
Frederick shook his head and walked away with a lonely back filled with an expression of forlornness.
Chapter 28 28:Too Much Of A Coincidence
?===============
Name: Frederick Frost
Species:Transcended Human
Bloodline Grade:tinium
Level: 3-Star
Combat Ability:E-
Strength: 3-star -
Agility: 2-star-
Stamina:3-star
Perception: 2-star-
Magic Power: 3-star-
[Profession]
Spearmanship Level:Advanced
None
< Arts>
[Frost''s Spear Art],[Frost Martial''s Art],[God Spear Art]
Blessing Of Thunder God
Thunder Loch[Unawakened]
[Bloodline Ability]:
================
Frederick nodded in satisfaction seeing his status. He exited the temple beside the infirmary and made his way back to the dorm while thinking about the recent encounter.
"Strange."
"There''s something in him that gives me a weird familiar feeling."
"By the way, why the hell did he look so frightened?"
"His expression became pale when I greeted him as if I was a monster."
"It felt awkward and embarrassing."Frederick scratched his head.
[Maybe he thinks you are troublesome.]
A deep heavy voice reverberated in his mind.
"What do you mean by troublesome?"
[He might be feeling that tagging along with you might bring him trouble or so. Since he is amoner, I don''t think he is biased about your status and rumours. Moreover, I did not feel any hate for youing for him.]
[And about the strange feeling. Frederick, something feels out of ce.]
Frederick raised his brows. Being curious, he asked his partner about it.
"Did you notice anything amiss?"
[Not sure how to phrase it but his body and soul seem to be discordant with one another.]
"Ehh¡.why?"
"Does he have a soul injury?"
[All of this is just an assumption. I am still at a rudimentary stage. So, I might be wrong. My senses are already dull due to being a deadweight for several eons.]
[I felt his vessels being clogged. Perhaps, he had some trouble during the awakening process.]
"Hmm!"
Calm and collected, Frederick peeked outside the window in the hallway.
There was a hint of loneliness in his eyes when he stared up at the night sky.
Most of the nobles enter the academy mainly for two reasons.
To make connections and find underlings.
While others wanted to prove themselves in the battle of a session of their house and outwit the pre-decided heirs.
Contrary to them, what Frederick scoured for was some sincere friends.
Friends that could spit facts on his face when he takes any wrong path and he could leave his back to them.
Gazing at the sky where there was only a full bright moon without thepany of stars, he spoke with a hint of despondency"Do you also feel lonely?"
"Do you also miss thepany of stars around you?"
Silence prevailed for a moment.
Frederick sighed and walked back.
He wanted to be closer to them and walk alongside them, however, he doesn''t remember them. He had only a vague resemnce and obscure memories of their existence.
On top of that, he fears.
Fear of changing the predetermined flow which might lead to more disastrous oues.
An unseen oue that might be precarious not only for himself but for the world....
.....
"Damn man!"
"You stay in the Leader quarters with the best facilities avable at your disposal. You have a whole floor with a gymnasium so why do you have to train publicly."
Most of the rankers generally practice in their private training chambers because they believe it would be detrimental for them if some see them training and discern their weakness.
Minuscule things like these interactions are skipped in the novel and these microscopic things might call forth macroscopic changes in the whole plot.
Lucas did not fear the change of plot because his presence might have already changed the plot and he had no qualms about interacting with Frederick.
The Mc''s may be cmity mas but as said, fortune lies in cmity, he could use him to hoard a ton of resources however the time was not ripe.
He needs to be in 2-Star or at least 1-Star peak so that he could protect himself in case of any trouble.
However, that was not the real reason.
The truth was, he was afraid of Frederick''s spear. It was said to be a weapon of the Gods. An artifact with an ego that is as knowledgeable as a sage.
What if the spear was able to detect that he was not of this world?,
[ Arts]
[Bloodline Ability]: Telekinesis
========
"Holyshit!"
"Telekinesis...."
Gaping at the status screen, Lucas covered his mouth with his hand.
"Fucking hell...This twirp''s family had telekinesis as a bloodline ability. No, I can''t believe it."
Rubbing his eyes, Lucas pinched himself to wake him up to reality but the words on the screen did not disappear.
"This is reality."
He almost shed tears of joy.
"The ancestors of this kid''s family might have been quite powerful until bloodline degradation took ce. I wonder from whose genes this bloodline ability came"
"Is it from my father or mother? Maybe my father wooed my mother who belongs to a rich family and eloped."
Letting his run wild, Lucas couldn''t help but salute the spirit of his heroic father giving him a thumbs up.
''Father, thanks for sacrificing yourself for your future generation. You might have surely lived a hard life with a constant threat from my mother''s family.''
"Let''s see...Telekinesis is the ability to manipte objects from a distance using mental power or by non-physical means."Lucas mumbled trying to remember the telekic power he had seen in anime.
"I hope one day I can hit my enemy with buildings just like a mob. What an interesting way to kill?"Lucas rubbed his palms and then extended his hand.
He tried to pick one of his books from afar.
"Booke to me..."Lucas imagined the processes in his head over and over again while his heart screamed in excitement.
However...
Even after a moment, nothing happened.
Lucas then made various hand signs one after another only to feel thin air ruffling him.
"System, did you just scam me by showing this?"Lucas gritted his teeth and pouted.
Running his brain, he decides to change his target trying to lift various objects.
After a few moments of testing.....
THUD!THUD!THUD!
Lucas hit their head on the wall and shouted"Just kill me. I can''t take this humiliation."
Undergoing repeated trials and errors, the sessful result he got was that he could lift the eraser, candy, and pens.
"What do you want me to do? Throw mini stones at my enemy and kill them by making themugh."
"No, Lucas, calm down."
"Great power looks useless at a low level. They just need to be levelled up and then.."
"Or maybe I need to train my power properly. Most people began to get the hang of bloodline ability from the 3-Star stage."
Saliva dripped from Lucas''s lips as he emerged in the sublime fantasy where he would crush the enemies just by lifting a finger.
''Time Dtion¡My foot¡I am gonna make telekinesis the best bloodli¡"
THUD!
Lucas choked as the eraser that was kept flying by his power fell.
Lucas felt someone p his ego just now but he ignored it.
"Let''s take a bath."
Knock¡Knock¡
"Who is it now?"
Confused by the sudden visit, Lucas opened the door.
SLING!
As the door slid, a sickly thin woman with fuzzy hair covering her face reflected in his eyes.
Her clothes were stained with a reddish liquid.
A chill crept up inside him and as soon as the woman ruffled her hair, Lucas''s hair stood up seeing a pale bloody face and he screamed in terror.
"GHOST!Ahhh!"
"GHOST!"
The other side also yelled, making Lucas''s heart skip a beat.
BAAM!
Lucas shut the door to save his life and prayed to the Goddess¡
"Oh, my God..now how did I offend an undead and how did an undead appear here."
KNOCK¡KNOCK¡
The door vibrated as the other side smashed it repeatedly.
Lucas ran his mind at full speed, looking for his gun and sword.
''I don''t think this is an undead. Either someone is ying a prank on me or she may be after my life.''
Just as he picked up his phone to inform the authority, he saw a message from an unknown person.
[Dimwit, It''s me. Professor Shiya, open the door.]
"What?"Lucas shrieked in panic and opened the door.
"Professor Shiya, what are you doing here and why do you look like a ghost.?"
Shiya, who was about to scold Lucas for treating her rudely, choked as he stared at Lucas.
Feeling her odd gaze, Lucas screamed in panic and covered his dirtied body.
Fortunately, his lower body was covered.
"Cough¡Cough¡"
"I wanted to talk about that candy. When you are free, meet me in the garden"
Shiya muttered averting her gaze and was about to leave but seeing the mess inside the room, asked curiously "What is going on here?"
Seeing her sharp gaze, Lucas smiled bitterly"Nothing, I just took a potion to get rid of my body impurities."
"I see¡."Shiya nodded and walked away.
Walking back, she waved her hand to fan some air over his face.
Sniff¡Sniff¡.
Lucas, crying inwardly cursed himself for being absent-minded,
Having his image ruined, he closed the door with a bang.
Chapter 59 59:Witnessing A Different World
?
Out there in the vast garden, Lucas sat down before Shiya observing her serious expression. She looked as if she was going to devour him.
This meeting was about to take ce in her office, but Lucas''s body trembled uncontrobly just by standing before the entrance. Her office room looked like a hellhole, akin to a ce where people were tortured and killed, so the location was changed to here.
"Professor, can you stop staring at me like that?"
Cough...Cough...
Shiya, coughing embarrassingly, pursed her lips.
"Lucas, I want to ask you something important. This is a grave matter so I hope you can speak the truth even if you have any inconvenience..."
Lucas, unable toprehend the context, just bowed his head.
"Hm.....So, Lucas are you taking drugs?"
Cough...Cough...
Lucas coughed violently and almost choked his saliva.
"Professor, are you kidding me? Did you bring me here for this?" Lucas asked.
"Gosh...Lucas, I am serious¡"
Shiya shook her head.
"Remember,st time we stumbled upon each other, a few balls of candy dropped here and there, from them I took one."
"Okay, so...."Lucas said indifferently with a neutral expression but inwardly he was freaking out.
''Bluff...Bluff¡.Lucas fake it or you''re going to be in trouble.''
''This is the moment.''
"What is that candy?"Shiya stared at Lucas with a piercing gaze.
"That...as far as I know, it''s a calming candy."
"Where did you get it?"Shiya pressed forward.
Lucas at the moment, felt something weird. Instead of reprimanding him, she looked troubled.
"I mostly visit the outskirts and go on dungeon raids with a mercenary group. There, I saw a hawker selling this candy. He said it acts simr to tranquiliser which soothes your nerves and calms you down. It''s not a drug for sure and you will never get addicted."Lucas attempted to exin as reasonably as possible.
He could see her interest in this. It took a bit of time to guess her intention but after connecting the dots and seeing her appearance, Lucas could easily make a guess.
"I see¡"Shiya fell into deep thought.
"Professor, why are you looking for this?"
Shiya pondered for a moment, asionally taking a few peeks at Lucas.
''This kid is quite gentle and well-behaved. Maybe I could ask him a bit in exchange for some benefits.''
"Lucas, you might already be aware of my condition. I don''t remember when but even before awakening, I would always hear faint whispers. At first, I ignored thinking that I have super sensitive hearing but it started to get worse. It wasn''t until I awakened, I became aware of a new world around us."Shiya spoke vexedly.
"For me, it was quite frightening. Fortunately, our family''s standing is quite good, and being eligible to enter high societies, my father looked for help and that''s where my aptitude for spirit magic was determined. Being too sensitive to nature enables one to borrow nature''s power and summon spirits capable of causing cmity, however on the downside, for every moment of my life, I had to live with these annoying presences haunting me."
"And it''s getting worse. I have to rely on drugs and tranquilizers or indulge myself in hard drinks to dampen my mind, however, nothing has worked like this candy."Shiya''s eyes moistened a bit as she told her story to Lucas.
Her words sounded simple but the pain reflecting on her face can''t be described with mere words.
Lucas staring at her sympathetically, asked cautiously, "Is it that worse?"
"Ummm...You seem to have a low aptitude for spirit magic. Still, would you like to see the world I see?"Shiya said, drawing Lucas''s curiosity.
"Can I?"
"Yes, you can. Just hold my hand."Shiya extended her hand towards Lucas who did not shy away.
Lucas grabbed her soft small hands and stared around.
A cold current passed through his body followed by a gloomy glow enshrouding him after which, the world around him lost its colour bing nk and lifeless.
His vision distorted for a moment and his pupil shrank. Lucas looked to see a faint golden austere covering him while Shiya emitted a darkish orange austere which seemed to be the colour of the distinctive aura every person has.
It was then, Lucas found the picture of the whole world changing into something uncanny and something sinister. The lush and vibrant garden around him had disappeared leaving behind annoying patches of darkish wriggling slimesying over a parched earth.
The sky became greyish covered by a thickyer of a darkish gas-like substance.
Over the parched ground, tentacles-like objects sprouted from the cracks dancing crazily.
Rotten ravenous flies swarmed all around. The ground was blood-stained and from ckish slimes, many wriggling masses of maggots oozed out that sucked the malevolent darkish gas all around.
Lucas suddenly felt a cooling sensation on his shoulder. Turning his head in a robotic motion, he saw ck sticky liquid over his shoulder. With trembling hands, he reached out and touched out only to find ckish leeches jumping on his finger.
"Kkkkkk''s!"
"Kyakamak!"
"The human found us."
"Run¡"
"He is dangerous."
A piercing sharp pain assaulted Lucas''s head as if someone had cracked open his skull with a knife.
Swallowing his saliva, Lucas staring
at his feet, found awl holes over the slimes and fat leeches clinging over his body sucking something that dispersed noticing his gazes.
The entire sight was horrible and disgustingly hideous.
Lucas''s heart hollered in bewilderment and fear. He turned his head towards Shiya and almost lost his sense of reason.
Ice Spikes, Shadow Steps
[ Arts]
Drifting Sword Art
[Bloodline Ability]: Telekinesis
==========
Chapter 113 113:What Do You Have That We Dont
?
"My swordsmanship had reached the intermediate level. It''s really unbelievable. I thought I would be stuck in the beginner stage for years."
Advancing in weapon arts may be child y for some, while some spend their entire life honing their skills but are unable to advance a single step. On top of hard work and talent, one needs to understand the way of a sword.
"It seems while I had that weird trauma, I gained sudden enlightenment and made a minor breakthrough."Lucas rubbed his chin.
"With blessing, I can easily advance to 3-Star. It would also enhance my healing powers and fill me with vitality. Other people''s strengths would also rise. This is a blessing in disguise. Before the tournament, everyone needs to get stronger than before so that they can avert another disaster."
Lucas sitting cross-legged picked up a spoon and started to concentrate on it. Keeping a steady breath he visualised the picture of a bending spoon in his mind.
As his consciousness sank deeper, mana started to swirl around the spoon. Lucas, who was in the crucial step, was suddenly jolted by the ringing of his smartphone.
"Hushhh...Who is it now?"
On picking up the smartphone, Lucas saw the message from the ss group.
[Vagrave]:ss C-1 has advanced to Grade A. Grade A virtual battle is going to happen after two days so we will be participating in a strategy meeting tomorrow at 7 PM in the ssroom.
Lucas after a single nce, kept the phone aside and went back to his training.
...
Next day in the cafeteria.
As soon as Lucas stepped in, he felt his body froze. The atmosphere was oddly cold. It looked as if blood was going to be sttered any moment from now.
Grabbing his food, Lucas was about to take his seat when Roan called at him from a distance. Lucas screamed in panic and waved his hand signalling him to stay away as much as possible however Roan misunderstood that Lucas was calling him and hurried his way towards him.
''Damn!'' Lucas facepalmed.
''Why is he so dimwit''
Roan was in a separate ss. Interacting with him or Frederick now was akin to calling for trouble.
BAAM!
Lucas ignored Roan, and just as he tried to sneak into the crowd a loud bang resonated in the cafeteria drawing everyone''s attention.
Lucas''s eyes fell on a huge imposing tall guy bulging with muscles colliding with a thin handsome boy. The tall boy was Ezekiel Holmes who was ranked 4.
"Hey, double battery single power. Don''t you have eyes?"Ezekiel
"I am so..."
BANG!
Before the pitiful boy could apologise, he was hit in the face. His body swayed and the tray in his hands flew in the air and fell over a group of people.
Lucas whose eyes were glued on the tray sucked cold air seeing the person on which it fell.
"Charles.."
It wasn''t only Charles, Frederick was also beside him.
"What is Frederick doing with him? And why the hell do both of their faces look swollen? Originally this should have fallen on Frederick.''
Many questions rang in Lucas''s mind.
Charles''s eyes darted across the room. Taking out a handkerchief, Charles wiped his face while speaking coldly.
"Just because I am staying low it seems some filthy dogs raising their heads are barking too much."
"What did you say? Did you just call me a dog?"Ezekiel roaring in anger walked towards him taking long strides.
"What you aren''t?"Charles spoke with his annoying smirk and then his eyes shed with chillness"If you aren''t a dog stop behaving like one."
"Charles, keep your temper in check. Don''t fly too much otherwise your fall will be very pitiful. In virtual battles, your ss will be first to be cast out."
Everyone''s expression froze for a moment.
"Why do you think so?"Frederick stood up ring at Ezekiel.
Interchanging his gaze between Frederick and Charles, heughed.
"Hahah!Charles you called me filthy then why are you mingling with a bastard carrying filthy blood."
"It''s weird why the hell is Charles sitting with him?"
"It seems, he also had fallen from being noble."
"It seems after getting beaten by Frederick, he had no way out."
"Haha! He deserves it."
"What an arrogant bastard!Serves him right!"I think you should take a look at
The air whistled and crackled with a sickening crunch as the spear dug a hole in the shield and struck Sheldon.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"With eyes filled with disbelief, Sheldon let out a cry of pain and the vision before his eyes turned white.
As the spear collided with the shield, the energypressed over it burst out with a terrifying explosion.
Blood spurted out from his lips and a crackling sound was heard as the spear passed through the flesh and bone. The scales over his body were torn apart and everything was lit up for a moment.
When vision returned to everyone''s eyes, all of them gawked at the scene.
Except for the pair of legs everything above the waist was missing and behind him, arge crack extended for many metres.
After a moment, Sheldon''s remaining corpses fell on the ground with a loud thud following which everything plunged into silence for a moment.
...
Keep aside the Top 3, five individuals will stand out the most during the Tournament.
Dual Wielder Ezekiel, Magician Monica, Steel Fist Axel Steel, Priestess of Life E, and Parth.
Yeah, it might look unbelievable but Parth was really that formidable. Especially if he fights at night with his bloodline powers. If he gives up on hiding his shadow power, you will face a menace for real.
As for Ezekiel, he was already a foe to contend with. During the Tournament when he was forced into a deadlock, he finally showed the world his true prowess.
For Lucas, the chances of winning were almost 30% even if he went all out. However, that would be if Ezekiel fought him in his prime state but now his condition was quite battered. And Lucas''s goal wasn''t to win but rather to humiliate and destroy his future ns. For the egoistic, getting pushed to this stage was already humiliating enough.
Once Ezekiel exposed his dual wielding, his performance would be affected in the Tournament as his enemies would have prepared quite well.
"I have already shown mercy on you. These grenades were Grade 1 with an effective explosion radius of 5 metres. If I used Grade 2, even that barrier of yours would be useless."
He wasn''t lying. Sadly, he used all the Grade 2 ones in the mission otherwise this entire area would beid to waste.
"Good...Good.."
"You managed to infuriate me."Ezekiel then bursting intoughter pulled out his gauntlets and keeping them inside the ring, pulled out two swords.
His sudden manoeuvre startled everyone who was watching the scene. When Lucas came, most of them didn''t even know who he was and now Ezekiel changing his weapons gave them another blow.
Ezekiel who was about to move suddenly heard a loud st and on witnessing the scene, his eyes popped out of the socket.
Lucas did not attack but rather waited for Ezekiel to recover his senses.
"Sheldon!"Ezekiel''s dazed eyes finally moved and fell onto Frederick who looked like a monster in human skin. He knew just how tough Sheldon''s defensive scales were but it was blown away by a single spear strike.
This was unbelievable
Frederick noticing Ezekiel''s gaze just gave a smug smile infuriating him further.
"I have underestimated you greatly," Ezekiel murmured faintly.
"But not anymore. I am gonna tear you all into pieces and you filthymoner, you will be first to bear my wrath."With a scream, Ezekiel finally pulled out two des and dashed towards Lucas.
"I was waiting for that."Lucas smirked.
Chapter 123 123:Endgame
?
Letting out a maddening roar, Ezekiel rushed towards Lucas with a murderous expression. Calming himself, Lucas raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
BANG!BANG!BANG!
Three bullets shot forward creating a loud bang. Whistling and tearing the air, the bullet appeared right before Ezekiel however before they could pierce him.
Ezekiel whipped both of his hands. The two swords moved, leaving behind after images, struck the bullet and deflected them.
CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!
Lucas''s brows creased a little. He expected this but the reality was a bit hard for him. Ezekiel''s des moved swiftly as if they had their own mind, striking in every direction at once.
The bronze sides of the distant mountain made by the crimson rays of the setting sun fell upon them. One wouldn''t miss this chance to appreciate the view but all of them were rather preupied.
Without holding back, Lucas kept pulling the trigger. The bullets whizzed over his head, missing by a mere inch. Though Ezekiel was quite skilled and deflected most of the bullets aimed at him, he started to feel a headache on drawing near to Lucas as the speed of a bullet and the momentum they carried seemed to be increasing.
Luck seemed to be on his side but it would be reckless to rely on this fickle luck so much. It was then he spotted Lucas reloading the gun.
Shouting with a murderous glint, he threw one of his swords straight at Lucas''s vital point"Dieee!"
Lucas immediately sprang into action and dodged the sword hurling at him.
As Lucas dodged the sword, Ezekiel crouched low and reduced the space between them and then pounced up to attack him.
Witnessing Ezekiel right before him, a grin formed over Lucas''s lip as he pulled out another gun pointing at Ezekiel, startling him.
"Did you think, I have only one?"Lucas mocked while pressing the bullet immediately.
BANG!
Just as the bullet shot out from the end of a gun aimed at Ezekiel''s head, he moved his remaining sword to block.
A tremor permeated into his arms numbing him, making him take a few stumbling steps back. Meanwhile, seeing Ezekiel''s vulnerable state, Lucas pressed forward aiming at Ezekiel.
Just when the result of the match seemed clear, Ezekiel made a beckoning sign. A white light shed in the air and a sword went past Lucas'' sword slicing the front end of the gun, seeing which Lucas jump back and threw it away.
[Beckon]
Ignoring all the rules, a sword flying in the air appeared in Ezekiel''s hand. It was their weird bloodline ability with which they can call the weapons or things marked by them.
"It''s a troublesome ability."Lucas snorted.
Seeing Lucas moving like a slippery eel, he changes his tactic.
"Survive this!"
"zing Sword art!''''Ezekiel shouted and his dual sword became fiery red. Locking onto Lucas, he shed his sword throwing multiple swords arc-like missiles.
Reacting swiftly, Lucas shifted his weight and activated sh steps.
With swift jump-alike movements, Lucas ran around the meadow, deftly evading the fiery projectiles bombarding him.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
The piping-hot sword arcs met the ground and detonated upon impact creating sts one after another.
Lucas glided down and couched onto the ground while jumping away to avoid the strikes. The energy contained in those strikes was enough to slice a person in half.
He tried to maintain distance and lead the charge towards others in the periphery.
"Ahhhh!"
"Run!"I think you should take a look at
"Arghhhhh!"
The students fighting around the ce ran away in fear of seeing the devastating aftermath left behind by Ezekiel''s sword strikes.No one had ever imagined, Ezekiel who fights like a brute could use such sophisticated sword art. On top of that, he seemed to be quite proficient.
Seeing the slippery eel, Ezekiel shouted furiously.
"Stop running, coward! Fight me head-on."
Noting this, Ezekiel charged in and shot sword arcs at breathtaking speed. The round arcs turn their trajectory and circled Lucas trying to epass him.
Leaving no time to catch his breath, Lucas stomped the ground and leapt over to the air allowing it to st the ground. The force of the explosion hit Lucas and sent him up further.
Seeing Lucas in mid-air, Ezekiel fired another sword aiming to catch him off guard.
Lucas''s eyes widened and without any hesitation, Lucas pulled out his sword.
Channelling his mana onto the sword, he swung his de giving a horizontal sh.
A golden arc was drawn in the space that shot down towards the ground.
SLING!
In a fleeting moment, a golden line appeared over the sword arc cutting it into two that still moved, towards Lucas who shot ice spikes at it.
BOOM!
Another explosion resounded in the air causing white smoke to cover the vision.
Ezekiel whose senses were at an all-time high, reacted sensing another attack aimed at him.
This time, from behind his back, coating himself and his weapon in mana, Lucas quickly attacked with variousbinations of shes and thrusts.
However, Ezekiel was already used to this. Turning around, he raised his sword and sneered "I won''t fall for this for the second time."
CLANG!
A numbing pain coursed through Lucas''s body pushing his feet away. Ezekiel with a slight nudge, deflected Lucas''s sword. His bnce faltered as his right shot behind.
With a glimmer, Ezekiel shed his other sword with immense force. Sensing danger, he knew this was enough to cut him down so to protect himself, he raised his other hand holding the gun.
Ezekiel''s hands came vertically downward, changed their trajectory and swung back, he rolled his hands and shed from downward.
A line was drawn over Lucas''s arms, and the portion from Lucas''s shoulder was cut.
"Arghhhhhhhhhh!"Letting out a loud shriek, Lucas jumped back in pain and fell to the ground.
With a reddened face, he gritted his teeth to suppress the pain.
"Hehehehehehe!What did I tell you?"You are nothing but a mere ant whom I can crush as long as I wish?"
"Hahaha!"Laughing loudly, Ezekiel looked down and stomped on Lucas''s cut hand trying to humiliate him.
"This time it''s hand, next time it will be your head.''''
"You are really an idiot."
Lucas who was groaning suddenly gave a hystericalughter baffling Ezekiel.
Looking at him with pity, Lucas gave Ezekiel a cutthroat sign and before Ezekiel could understand Lucas''s words, beeping noise echoed in his ears.
Chapter 124 124:Endgame[2]
?
A sharp sound of slicing the air whistled as Jteshed her whip at Charles. An intense flurry of attacks poured upon Charles as he lunged around, trying to avoid getting whipped.
CRACK!
The ground on which he stood before cracked, as the whip struck the ground.
"Haa...Haa..."
Panting heavily, Charles channelized his mana to propel himself but his steps faltered as a suffocating pain welled near his chest.
Charles''s steps ceased and his expression became pale.
''Damn, I have overexerted my vessel too much.''
"Is this what you have got?"Jete sneered at Charles and lunged forward whipping her whip while chanting"Thorn st!"
The whip slices the air shimmering with a ck haze. The thorns embedded in it glow and as he shed it at Charles, the thorns shot at Charles.
Gaining his bnce, Charles unsheathed his de channelling his mana. A bursting difort as if tearing off flesh surfaced again but suppressing his inner turmoil, he swung his de with all his might.
[Sand Illuminating sh]
The scenery around Charles was distorted. For a fleeting moment, the rocky terrain around Charles morphed into shifting sand.
A sandstorm appeared and encased him through which, a small glimmer twirled. Following it, a brown line appeared, tracing which particles of sand started to perfectly follow the path creating a huge sphere of a sandstorm around Charles.
KABOOM!
The thorns that shot at Charles bounced off after shing against the sandstorm and shot around.
"Gotcha!"
Charles, who just heaved in relief, was shocked to hear the sound. From the covering of sand, Jete holding a whip covered in mana appeared right before him with a smug smile.
"It''s over."
The distance was too close for Charles to defend. His sword was useless, as the whip would just wrap around the sword.
With no way out, he needed to use bloodline ability even though he had to face bacsh and suffer pain. Fortunately, it was a virtual battle otherwise this might be thest time he would use his bloodline ability.
Just as Jete stepped on the ground, before she couldprehend her situation, her body was tossed in the air.
Charles stomped his ground and used his bloodline ability to morph the ground making it a trampoline.
Charles then pped and mmed his palm on the ground.
BANG!
Jete spun her body in mid-air tond. But before she couldnd, tworge hands of stones shot out from the ground and mmed her.
The p crushed her into the pest and as the stony hands reverberated back, Jete''s lifeless figure crushed into a pellet fell.
SPURT!
Spurting blood, Charles kneeled on the ground. His body was on fire and he felt his mana vessels had been stretched and torn.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Charles felt a soft touch on his shoulder. On looking up, he saw Frederick staring at him worriedly. Seeing this, he felt ufortable as both of them had been going over each other''s throats a month ago.
Even though the feeling of being disgusted had lessened, it was still there.
"Here, take a potion."
Seeing Frederick taking out a potion, Charles choked and coughed more blood. After drinking so many potions, Charles had already developed a trauma towards potions.
"I am okay. I have just overstrained myself." replying nkly, Charles asked, "Is it over?"
"Almost!"Frederick replied, peering at the battle afar.
"He is an unbelievable guy. He will win, by the way, do you know about Parth''s whereabouts?"Frederick asked worriedly.
Charles, looking at him seriously answered.
"He is dead!"
"What?"Frederick eximed in panic.
.......
Several red dots blinked, emitting a mechanical beep sinking Ezekiel''s heart in dreariness but remembering something, his expression turned normal.
"Bombs can''t harm me."
"No, they can!"Lucas grinned, pulling out an amulet from the ring stunning Ezekiel.
Ezekiel''s eyes popped out of the socket and before his hands could search the waist, a sonorous st broke out sinking the ground beneath him.
"Noooooooo!"
Ezekiel wailed loudly but his scream of despair was suppressed by the sound of explosion that engulfed him.
BOOOOM!
Shockwaves radiated around along with bursts of mes sweeping away the dirt and debris. The ground trembled and jolted due to the st and from the burning mass, a figure shot out leaving behind a trail.
mming against the ground, Lucas''s body slid off the ground for a few meters.
Letting out a groan, Lucas coughed a mouth full of blood. The protective amulet casted a 3-Star barrier but this wasn''t enough to take the explosion that was much more fierce than before.
There was no way he could defeat Ezekiel in closebat. If he tried to aim for his head, he would be butchered. So, he attached a fidget-shaped orb to his gun from before and let it st.
For this, he attacked Ezekiel from the back and stole the amulet. If this n failed then as always Frederick was there to clean the mess.
Having a protagonist ...he meant a protagonist friend is a great boon. He would be a fool if he didn''t use Frederick.I think you should take a look at
Biting his lips to avert the burning pain of his cut arm and the bleeding of the internal, he looked at the ce of the explosion.
There weren''t even remnants of Ezekiel''s corpse as it was devoured by the mes. It was one of the worst ways to die and this might have left a trauma.
"Poor guy!" Lucas smiled thinking about Ezekiel''s furious expression after he teleported outside.
Taking out a potion, Lucas engulfed it and stared at the missing arm.
"A necessary sacrifice."Lucas consoled him.
As soon as the explosion dissipated, the onlooker''s eyes gleamed seeing two gs left behind after Ezekiel''s death.
Seeing this, many ran toward the spot.
Swish!Swish!Swish!
Arrows struck the ce drawing a line.
On looking around, they saw Rose standing on a tree bunch signalling that everyone who crossed the line would die.
Following this, with another bang Axel and Stephen appeared before it. Slowly, all the notable figures appeared but none of them picked the g.
"These guys!"Lucas let out a sigh.
Getting up, he looked at the timer. There were still 18 minutes left before the end.
With a crooked smile, Lucas made his way toward the ce.
Under everyone''s astonishing gaze, the people who were on the spot and those outside, Lucas walked with a nk stern face.
His teammates who circled the g, gave him away for him as a sign of respect.
Yes, all of them already had a tacit understanding. Only Lucas had the right to lift it.
From identifying traitors to misleading other teams, setting them up, and dealing the final blow, all of this was orchestrated by him.
Standing before the g, Lucas''s eyes shone strangely. Looking around, he saw 19 people of his ss surrounding the ce.
Half of the numbers that entered were traitors which was a worrisome thing.
As he started at the g, strange thoughts shed in his mind.
Was there reason to be deeply involved in such a senseless battle and n out too much?
It was useless in Lucas''s view if not for the blessing but since he stepped here, he decided to form a connection with a certain someone.
And to do that, he needs authority and an unchallengeable one on top of that.
There is only one way to do that which was to prove his worth so that no one could ignore him.
Bending down, Lucas picked one g and waved it as a sign of victory. The one-hour time is useless if the battle ends and points would be given regardless.
"We are not going to take the second g?"
"What?"
"Why?"
"Lucas, what are you saying?"
"This is absurd, we worked hard for this?"
As soon as Lucas''s words fell, voices of dissatisfaction rang around him.
"One g is enough for our ss to win. With kills and contribution points, we will already win. There is no need to create an overwhelming lead. We are here to win, not dominate. We should let another team do it."
"I think Lucas is right."Vagrave supported his decision and exined.
"In doing so Lucas also averted the threats that mighte from all sses banging up and attacking us in this short time. Since we have exposed ourselves to other sses, they would not let go of the opportunity to bite us if he pushed them too much."
Lucas then stepped forward, looking at certain individuals who looked at him in disbelief.
''At least he is smart enough to know that I am speaking to him.''
"I am not pitying you, rather think of this as a favour you owe in the future. I acknowledge you and I wish to work with you in the future.''''
''I guess this is enough to bind him to me for now. I will wait for you.''
''Zack is hailed as the best tactical Commander who is going to shine brightly during the uing war.''
Giving him a brief nod, Lucas retreated.
Following Lucas''s lead, The ss A-3 retreated from the ce after which another bloody fight ensued.
In the end, the leftover g was taken by ss C-1 with thebined effort of ss A-10.
With this curtain, the Inter ss Battle Royal finally came to an end.
........
Meanwhile, at a broken embankment.
A figure drenched in mud and filth stepped up with torn clothes.
"I missed my chance to shine."
"Noooooo!''I can''t believe this. How can you do this to me?"
"Fuck you, Lucas! Fuck you, Charles."
A bestial cry of sorrow erupted.
Chapter 125 125:Insecurities
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As soon as students came out from the virtual world, all of them were taken to the infirmary for a check-up. The damages and wounds they had gotten in the virtual realm wouldn''t reflect on them but after going through a brutal battle and the feeling of death, many of them might have mental abnormalities and trauma that may be detrimental to them in the future.
Many students who were killed earlier in the virtual world became unconscious as soon as they stepped out. While many cried out in pain still feeling the pain of getting their flesh ripped.
The weaker ones who died were affected the most.
Lucas even saw Ezekiel destroying things and screaming his name like a maniac and was forced to sleep by the Priest''s spell.
"Do you feel any abnormality?"Halos, the doctor who oversees things in the infirmary asked.
"I am alright. Except for some minor headaches."Lucas then pausing a bit, stared at his left arm and spoke.
"My left arm feels a bit weird. There is an incoordination in the movement."
"That''s because you lost your arm and regained it as you came out again. So, your mind is still confused about reality and illusion. Just take a rest and stretch a bit. It will go back to normal."
"Okay!"
"If you feel any abnormality. Inform us. The Priest can cast a healing spell that calms your mind."
Halos, after noting down Lucas''s condition, was about to leave when Lucas spoke in a stuttering voice.
"Th...There is another, I wanted to ask about."
Halo''s brows creased seeing Lucas''s condition and felt something was off with the boy.
"When I was on the mission, I saw some dead bodies. I am already used to killing and seeing corpses but the bodies were disfigured in odd shapes. Maybe it was too much for me as my mind almost exploded seeing that and my vision turned red."
Lucas''s body shivered a bit as he looked at his hands.
"I felt like I was sinking in a pool of blood. I tried to get away but hands emerged from the pool and tried to pull him down. I can''t describe it but the picture is still vivid in my memories."
Speaking up, as Lucas propped his chin, his pupil stirred.
The light turned abnormally red. Instead of humans, he saw a bloodied skeleton standing before him and his feet were sunk in half a waist puddle of blood.
Unlike before, Lucas didn''t freak out. Slowly he had been getting used to this unfamiliar sensation.
Every time he lets his thoughts go wild, he loses the reign of his emotions.
"Do you feel anything?"
Lucas snapped out of his thoughts hearing the voice.
"You came at the correct time Angelo."Halos smiled bending down and whispered"Lucas, I am sure Angelo will help you. He is best when ites to this."
Halos casting a meaningful smile left quickly.
Angelo then sat beside Lucas and asked"What do you feel seeing them?"I think you should take a look at
"Did you feel guilty? Did you feel remorse? Most psychological trauma originates from the guilt of killing that starts to eat you slowly however it is also a good thing."
Lucas frowned for a moment. Seeing Angelo''s pure white eyes, he asked"How?"
Angelo pointing at Lucas''s chest answered"It proves that you have a heart. Most of the people as they climb higher, either lose it or it bes stone. They feel emotions are burdensome which makes them weak so they try to cut them down. Every time, we do something whether good or bad, we should question ourselves?''''
"What am I feeling now? Is there a better way to do this? Would things have been different if I took a different path? All of these questions might feel meaningless but when we reach the end of the journey, it will be these questions that will keep us connected to the ideal and beliefs so tell me Lucas, what came to your mind seeking them?"
Lucas caused his mind, taking a moment to ponder about the things. His stirring heart started calming down steadily.
"I did not feel guilty nor remorse. It was not my fault that I ended up like this, however, it was ufortable. My heart wrenched seeing those innocent gazes filled with sorrow and disbelief. I pitied them not because I wanted to, it was just because I felt sad for them to lose their lives like this."
Angelo squinted his eyes seeking Lucas''s aura bing darker. A subtle trail of crimson aura covered the gloominess.
"That''s where I thought. If one day, I end up like them, would anyone pity me? Would someone take revenge for me? What if the corpse lying before belongs to someone I love or my acquaintance? What would I do then? What will I feel? I don''t want to end up like this nor do I want anyone close to me?"
"I am a coward. I fear that one day this thin veil of peace would be torn apart and I will die brutally. I just don''t know how to cope with this."Lucas''s breathing hastened as he poured out things that he had been suppressed in his since the beginning.
Angelo, sighing heavily, patted Lucas''s shoulder and spoke calmly, "I will not give you false security, Lucas."
"You will face defeats, you will face fear, you may also see your loved ones die, and you will face many insecurities like this. Life is a blend of happiness and sadness bound together. One''s life doesn''t have to be grand and full of ambition. As long as you can live a life true to your desire, you can aplish many things."Angelo then reminisced about his past and spoke.
"In truth, even I am like you. Even though I fear death and fear of losing everything just because of that I can''t step back, can I?So, all I need to do is work forward with such momentum that everything whiches my way would be torn apart. The greatest way to get rid of insecurities is to get stronger. Get stronger until nothing can pose any threat to us. Only then, you can protect yourself and others from harm. As per the trauma, try to rest and sleep by thinking positively. Justify your reason. As long as you think, what has been done was the right thing, your trauma will slowly disappear."
"I wish it was that easy, "Lucas said with a bitter smile.
...
While Lucas and Angelo conversed, outside the room two shadows stood there motionless.
"I told you he isn''t alright," Parth murmured.
"It''s not easy when ites to things like this. He is a weird guy. He knows how to control himself to the point that he looks like the perfect guy but he has his own set of insecurities. Every time I see him, I can feel a huge burden weighing on his shoulder"Frederick spoke remembering Lucas''s actions.
Unlike Lucas, Frederick was quite hot-blooded and retaliated at the slightest grievance. After suffering a bitter childhood, he wants to fly and wants other acknowledgements. For that, he always tries to sh with anyone as soon as he is provoked. However, meeting Lucas he understood that he had always been rash and quite immature.
To jump, one needs to step back and strike with all his might. Nothing goodes out if you keep on provoking everybody. Moreover, you don''t need people''s acknowledgement to move further. As long as your heart tells you that you have done good work, that''s enough.
In his mind, Lucas may look weak but he was the type of guy you can depend on. This was also the case with the mission. Without him, Frederick wasn''t confident enough to take care of things as perfectly as Lucas did.
"I wish, I may be stronger and a dependable guy so that he could one day share his problem with us," Frederick spoke with a sigh.
"He needs some time to figure out his thoughts. I am sure he will ask for our help if he feels the need for it."Parth spoke with a sigh.
"I hope so."Frederick closed his sinking into deep memories.
Chapter 126 126:Ranking
?
Pfft!
"Hahahahhaha!"
"Oh, my God!"
"I can''t believe this. This is unexpected."
"How did this happen? Bombing a whole sector to get rid of everyone? Since when did we have such a crazy brat? That Ezekiel''s heart must be bleeding a lot."Josh shouted with excitation.
"These noble brats'' ass might be on fire till now. This is the funniest thing I have seen in my whole life."
Seeing his excited gaze, Herman felt that this guy would surely create some trouble.
In fact, even he was baffled by the scene. Making a temporary dam and blowing it to cause a flood to carry everyone to a ce that had been nted with hundreds of bombs and then shoot them with guns.
This was absurd and unbelievable nning. This guy killed 129 students out of 303 gathered at the ce by himself
What kind of devil mind does this guy have toe up with such a tactic?
However, this was also the reason for his worry. This old man wouldn''t let this chance go to humiliate the pitiful children.
"Vice-Principal, it''s time for the ranking ceremony."
"Hmm!"
Caressing his beard, he looked at the top 10 performers of the test. He can''t help but grin inwardly in happiness.
How many years have been since I seen someone like this who can disrupt the whole bnce of the hierarchical society?
"Wait, is he the one who took out that half-demon?"
"Yes! Even I am surprised. I thought that was a fluke before but seeing the events, he surely has something"Herman assessed.
Though he was happy, he thought that the boy should haveid low for now and shown himself in the tournament.
"Let''s see how things will be going out. I hope he doesn''t get targeted from all sides and get crippled."
"By the way, he is also Julian''s secretary?"Herman spoke.
Absolute silence reigned for a moment after which Josh screamed in shock.
"What?"
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
"Are you telling me this now?"
"You didn''t know," Herman asked, stupefied.
"Damn! Why the hell did she take a boy as a secretary and why him out of everyone else ?"
"Block it. Block it, block every piece of information. If that bandit king heard about this, something bad will happen."
"Vice-Principal, you are exaggerating too much. It''s not that bad."
Josh stared at Herman deeply and said"Go and spend a day with her. The next day you will find me burning an incense at your grave."
"So, go now. Make sure his information doesn''t go out."
....
Three dayster in Horizon.
The tension was high, as most of the first-year students were anxiously waiting for the ranking.
In the big seminar hall, all students filled their seats, and arguments broke out asionally. Many were frustrated as even though the battle was over, the ranking board can only be seen by the Vice-Principal and Student Council President but both of them made sure to keep this secret.
Lucas tried to satisfy his curiosity however he failed at the end. Julian was too strict. Even Miss Ami didn''t know about this.
"Stop barking like a dog."One of the boys shouted.
"Keep quiet."
"It''s obvious our ss is the one that won."
"No, I am sure it will be A-3?"
"I also think that.A-3 dismantled everything."
"Even if I don''t want to ept the fact, damn man that was awesome."
Students chatted among themselves. Some were happy while some sat back with a sullen expression.
"Why is it taking so long?"Parth barked and shouted, "That old man didn''t forget, did he?"
"He is our Vice-Principal, not your neighborhood uncle, "Roan said.
Parth, ring at him, said, "You made a good choice for not entering otherwise you would be killed easily"
"Just like you.Dying while showing off!"Roan mocked.
"What? When did this nerd learn to talk back? Lucas, what did you teach this kid?"
Lucas and Frederick message their forehead hearing Parth and Roan squabble.
"Guys, calm down. I request you."Lucas begged, feeling his head bursting apart.
Parth was about to spout another bullshit but stopped as a loud chime rang announcing the beginning of the announcement.I think you should take a look at
"Yo kids, I hope you are having fun." With a flicker, Josh appeared on the stage startling everyone.
"It seems that getting your ass kicked pathetically in front of everyone isn''t enough to shut that damned rotten mouth of yours."
"Okay, okay. Don''t worry everyone will have their fair share of ass kicked again during their stay here."
"Damn, this old man roasts us too much."
"Does this guy eat and spit venom?"
The students grumbled inwardly.
"Quiet."
"I am here to announce the ss rankings along with the top 10."He said with a smile as the sound of pping began.
"However, before I announce that I have a surprise for you. Come on, don''t make that expression. I am sure you will like the surprise."His lips curled upwards with a genuine smile but in everyone''s eyes, he looked like an evildoer for some reason.
"Everyone might be wondering what was the reason for this senseless battle for ss ranking. Many might already be aware but seeing that rotten curious expression, it seems many are drunk
in having fun that they don''t even bother to train hard."
A subtle clicking sound echoed.
''This guy''s ability to roast and drop fire is on another level.''Lucas muttered while squinting his gaze at the students'' frowning expressions filled with bewildering.
"First thing is points. From now on, the ss will receive points in the respective order of the ranks that would be distributed to the students ording to their contribution in Inter ss Battle Royal."
As soon as his words fell, everyone''s mind blew up as if they had been struck with thunder. Especially those who hadn''t participated in this, felt their soul leaving their body.
Seeing Roan''s pale expression, Lucas patted him"Just listen to him. We will lend you points if necessary."
"Yes, you would get points like before. This is just the bonus and this will continue till the Tournament while the system would change a bit. That''s why don''t worry too much. So, without further ado let''s begin announcing the ranks of the ss first."
The sses starting from D were disyed on the screen one after another. Though it was just for formality as everyone knew about the ranks of the ss from D to B.
When it came to the ss of Grade A, nervousness shed before everyone''s eyes drowning them in fear and anxiety.
"Here are the ranks of Grade A."
1. A-3
2. A-9
3. A-2
4. A-5
5. A-10
6. C-1
7. A-1
8. A-4
9. A-8
10. A-7
11. A-6
The entire hall plunged into deep silence for a moment. As expected A-3 remained at the top but no one expected ss A-9 to retain the second position. They had fought quite conservatively and hadn''t taken many risks.
Aside from the sses A-10 and C-1 which were considered the weakest among the bunch were able to attain rank 5 and rank 6 positions respectively. And despite the loss, ss A-5 was in 4th position.
"Hereby I dere that ss C-1 name would be changed to ss A-11. Please give a huge round of apuse for their effort."
The students pped and praised them with sincere admiration.
"I will now start announcing the name of the Top 10 performing students so all of you hold your seat for the oing excitement."Josh looked at the whole rows of students staring at them with excitement. There were some deted looks, especially some noble children who had been beaten to dust.
"In the Tenth ce, we have our one and only Charles Waren! Pleasee up to the stage."
Hearing the call, Charles stood from the middle row of the seat.
His name ranked at 10 shocked many of them. As he walked onto the stage, Charles could feel the scrutinizing gaze of many.
He could hear the murmurs filled with resentment and ridicule.
"It seems our mighty Charles had fallen."
"Too much show-off leads to doom."
"I never liked him from the start."
"This is just the beginning of your fall, asshole."
Charles, instead of feeling uneasy and angry, didn''t even bother answering them. At that moment, his expression looked rather peaceful. Facing everyone''s jesters and ridicule, he wasn''t offended a bit.
He may have stepped back a little but it was just a momentary retreat just like a predator taking a step back before pouncing the prey.
Under everyone''s scrutinizing gaze, Charles walked onto the stage, and stood at the ce, appointed to him.
Seeing his serene and calm expression, Lucas shook his head with a smile.
''It seems from now on, there will be no viin named Charles Warren.''
Chapter 127 127:Ranking[2]
?
Josh after giving a brief nod continued his speech.
"Now,ing on to the next, the students from rank 10 to 4 are disyed here."
Except for the Top 3, The names shed onto the screen one after another.
1.
2.
3.
4. Rose Seyfried
5. Humphrey Befall
6. Tiffany Dearillole
7. Hailey Maceis
8. Jete Tierney
9. Monica Crystal
10. Charles Warren
''So, this guy wanted to roast Charles this way foring 10. That''s why he called Charles names first and then disyed the list.''
Lucas sighed inwardly. If it was before Lucas could have given a thumbs up but now he felt bad. Charles''s nature had changed and his rank was low because of Lucas. If he didn''t follow Lucas''s arrangement, he would be ranked in the top 3 for sure.
Lucas then stared at Parth who was originally ranked 5 but now his name was nowhere. However, in this case, he did not feel an ounce of guilt.
As he looked at the list again, a sudden realisation hit him.
"Wait a minute!"Lucas shrieked, startling Frederick, Parth, and Roan.
"Where is my name?"
He was confident that his kill count was enough to ce him in the top 10 so why was his name not there?
A sense of uneasiness washed over him.
"I think you are ranked in the top 3."Roan spoke with a smile.
''That''s even a bigger problem.''Lucas thought.
If he continued to kill with his gun, he could have surely swept out all mobs of 2-Star and even many 3-Star but he did not because he wanted to stay under rank 5 and he did not know how many would be killed by explosion so he yed safe.
Lucas started to sweat as Josh started his speech.
"Before announcing the Top 3. I would like to make an announcement. The top 10 performing students would be sent on a trip to receive a blessing cast directly by the Saintess."
"Oh my god!"
"Holy shit!"
Josh''s words sent everyone into a stupor.
A blessing and directly from the Saintess itself. This was a heavenly opportunity that would enhance their power and strengthen their body.
Lucas gave a bewildered gaze feeling things have changed way too much.
"Nowing onto the Top 3."
"In third ce, we have Ezekiel Holmes."
Ezekiel standing up walked towards the stage gracefully in a dignified manner which was in sharp contrast to his rotten sullen expression.
His expression was dark as if he had stepped on some shit.I think you should take a look at
"For the Second ce, we have the student having the current rank of the first-year, Frederick Frost."
pping echoed as Frederick walked towards the stage while giving Ezekiel an annoying smirk.
Most of the nobles who had tried to bring him down had a darkened expression seeing him walking.
"Now as we move on to the next. Let me tell you something. In myst 40 years of experience in Horizon, I have never seen someone who created mayhem by pulling strings and dismantling everything rising against the hierarchy of ranks."
Lucas panicked for a moment feeling a bad premonition well up in his heart.
"For rank one we have the student who rose against the norms. Wee to the rank 1 Lucas Bright."
A hush of silence fell over the entire hall.
Sighing heavily, Lucas got from his seat, resigning to fate.
Everyone''s eyes across the ce turned toward him. For many, it was the first time they had seen such a guy so naturally they tried to remember him but nothing out of ce came to their knowledge.
Before he was like an ant. In his whole life, a person must surely encounter an ant and take a moment to look at it and then ignore it. That was the case with Lucas.
Many might have seen him but none knew about him.
The guy walking across looked ordinary but those eyes were. The sharpness and indifference in those damn eyes were a menace that cast a nightmare on those who died by gunshot and explosion.
''Dual personality asshole. Just a moment ago, his eyes looked carefree like a free-spirited guy but in just a second, they turned into a brutal psychopath.''Parth scoffed.
Lucas was about to step on the stage when a loud sound burst out.
"Excuse me, Vice-Principal. I think there is a problem. How can amoner bastard attain rank 1? What did he do?"A professor stood out, unable to take it anymore.
"Everyone had seen the footage. He rarely appeared in the battles. Except for Ezekiel, he hadn''t fought with any."
"The guy killed them using external means, not by his own hands. This Battle Royal should be a demo of war on a small scale but we all know how it turned into a y of cat and mice. This was beyond the norm. I don''t think a guy deserves this rank."
Lucas''s eyes became dull for a moment. He had expected this to happen somehow. Among the ten, all of them were nobles of a higher ss except him whose family was not even fit to be their servant in other''s view.
However, pondering for a moment, Lucas said"Sir, I think professors are correct. I don''t deserve rank 1. I think Frederick would be perfect for that. Just give me the rank 10."
It was a good opportunity so naturally, he wouldn''t let it go.
Josh gave Lucas a mysterious stare.
"Shut up! You don''t even deserve rank 10."The professors shouted.
''Damn, you! Do you think I stepped back because I fear you? I stepped back because I did not want to be ranked 1, you dumbshit.''Lucas cursed inwardly.
Staring at the group professor standing from their seat to oppose a boy, Josh''s eyes became cold.
A greenhorn trying to question his judgement.
Ami facepalmed and made a holy sign.
''How long had it been since I watched such a show.''An old man caressed his beard while watching from the sidelines.
''Damn, you! Did you guys cut your softballs and grow balls of steel?'' Herman''s heart quivered thinking about the scene that was about to happen. Even if he wanted to stop him now, he wouldn''t listen, rather he would be beaten for speaking up.
''I can only burn incense for peace. At least I can do this much for you.''Herman shook his head in pity.
"Professor Reid!How unfortunate!"
A sigh escaped from Josh''s lips.
Before anyone could understand what Josh meant, a loud bang echoed.
BANG!
Leaving an afterimage, a body crashed onto the wall breaking it apart.
Chapter 128 128:Ranking[3]
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Even before anyone could understand what transpired within a moment, all they saw was Vice Principal Josh standing in the rows where the Professor sat.
Professor Reid who was voicing out his grievance a moment ago seemed to have vanished and as everyone turned their gaze towards the source of the loud sound, they saw Professor Reid''s body stered onto the wall.
"Did you ask for my permission before speaking?"
"Are you questioning my judgement? A mere 5-Star is trying to judge a 9-Star.You dare speak without my permission."
The surrounding temperature froze as a deathly aura permeated from Josh.
"In ss,when students speak out of turn they are punished so don''t you even know this much?"
"You call yourself noble when you don''t even have the manners of a gentleman."
"You!" Josh turned his gaze aside.
"Ahhh!"
The Professor saw cold gaze hidden behind the speck. Feeling a sense of crisis, he turned back to run but his whole body halted as he felt a tight hold.
Looking back, he saw his long hair held by Josh and before he could speak, he was pulled back.
Swish!
Pulling back, Josh toppled the Professor''s body, sending him crashing to the ground and forming arge crack.
The man''s face cracked and blood seeped out from his face.
"Ahhhhh!"
Cries of multiple professors and students rang out in unison. Their bodies trembled on seeing the bloody scene.
The Professor in the seat jumped back in panic while praying for the old man not to hit them.
The two professors who were hit weren''t moving and no one knew whether they were alive or not.
"Take them away and throw them away. There is no need for such idiots in this institution."
"Now anyone else wants to voice out their opinion. Don''t force me to show my wild side. If you want me to behave civilised, handle the process in a civilised manner. If you have anyints, you should voice them out in the meeting."Josh snorted.
The Professors who supported Reid suddenly realised their mistake. Voicing out their opinion in the middle without higher authority permission is akin to undermining his authority which was a grave mistake.
Seeing the bloodied mess and damage all around, Herman almost hit his head.
''Damn, Old man! Even if you don''t think about your image, at least think about this property. Why did you need to break the walls and floor? Who is gonna pay? And stop being a ruffian.''
Herman could only swallow his thoughts, otherwise the next day, he would be missing from here.
Lucas sighed watching the scene.
''This man is too brutal.''
Cough...Cough...
"Sorry, for the inconvenience," Josh spoke which embarrassed expression.
"Let me end with an important note."
"The Top 10 Prepare yourself to visit the Parish of Damita within a few days. The Student Council President will apany you."
"I wanted to talk about the Tournament but I am not in the mood now because of some ignorants."
"Dismiss.''
''Are you kidding me? You don''t even want to talk about it but just to make things difficult for the troublemakers, you knowingly add fuel to the fire.''Herman screamed inwardly.
Josh, noticing Hemran''s re, just shrugs his shoulders while praising him.
''You are quite sharp. As expected of my disciple.''
Lucas finally heaved in relief. He was now at the centre of the hurricane so he needs to be cautious.I think you should take a look at
''I should look to the Princess for help.''
Formting his future, as Lucas walked down the stage, he heard a voice in his head.
[Don''t worry about them. You did well. Don''t let others undermine your achievement.]
''Who?''
Lucas jolted in shock hearing an unknown voice ringing in his head. Startled, he looked around to identify the person who spoke just now.
Gazing all around, his eyes finally fall on Josh who winked at him giving a small smile.
''Vice-Principal!''
Before Lucas could react, Vice Principal Josh''s figure disappeared leaving Lucas bewildered.
''What is this? Telepathy?''
''Did he have such power?''
"Lucas, what happened, are you alright?"
"Huh!"
Lucas saw Frederick and Charles closing onto him with a frown.
"Your face looks pale as if you have seen a ghost," Charles said.
"I am alright. It''s just that events that happened here feel odd."
.......
After the hectic ceremony, Lucas felt tired like never before. His eyes were heavy due to theck of sleep and his mind was a bit messy.
"Something feels weird. My heart is heavy and feels stuck with an uneasiness."
"What can be wrong?"
Entering the room, Lucas jumped onto thefy bed. Staring at the nk ceiling, Lucas took a moment to organise his thoughts.
This entire episode was way out of the plot which made him worried that things went way off track.
They should have been rewarded with an opportunity to choose a skill but instead of that they would be blessed.
The blessing was a power derived from divinity. You can use it as soon as you get it or you can store it in your body. The energy of blessing will help you ovee the wall, and would also nourish your vessel helping you to get rid of hidden injuries.
Lucas was on the verge of breaking to 3-Star. He could attempt a breakthrough but he halted it after hearing about the blessing.
"I would store the power in my body and aftering back I would ask Sir Harris to train me rigorously and point out the ws. Before the tournament, I have to be twice or thrice as strong as I am now."
Lucas clenching his fist got up.
Recalling everything, he felt that name, Damita, was the cause of uneasiness. Unable to remember anything substantial, he took out his diary.
As he skidded through the page containing the events of the first year, he didn''t find anything about it. Then he looked at the 2nd-year section, there was also nothing in there.
"Weird, there is nothing here."
Lucas for peace of his heart skidded through the 3rd year. There was an event where Frederick''s squad woulde across Saintess and the ce was the City of Valco which was infested by ck Magicians.
Taking out his smartphone, he searched the content and as he saw the result, he cursed.
"Shit!"
"The Parish Of Damita is near Valco."
"The ck Magician wouldn''t have started their work, would they?"Lucas spoke with a smile.
A hushed stillness lingered in the room.
Chapter 129 129:Her Stance
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Entering the President''s quarters, Lucas found the atmosphere quite strange. On his way to the office, he didn''te across any maids or servants.
Julian had seven maids assisting her directly and under these, there are some servants whom Julian picked while touring around.
And all of them were women.
Being the only male here, at the beginning he would bear the scrutinizing gaze of the people working here. He felt suffocating and awkward to work around them.
Fortunately, none of them made things difficult for him as who knows what will happen if one day someone uses him of molestation. Though Julian trusts her people, Lucas doesn''t so he always has his spy camera activated. Even Julianmended him for his thoughtful thinking.
"I feel fresh," Lucas murmured, seeing no one.
He went straight towards the office without any hesitation. Previously, he used to inform a maid guarding the door but now he didn''t need to do that.
After working for a few months, the distance between them had narrowed by a very slight margin.
Lucas was about to push the door when a cold sensation gave him a shiver. Halting his steps, Lucas looked through the keyhole and found someone meeting Julian.
"Strange, there wasn''t any meeting scheduled today."Lucas rubbed his chin, deciding to eavesdrop a bit.
...¡
"Student Julian, I hope you change your mind after listening to our pleas."
"What are you nning now?"
Calming herself, Julian silently looked at the four people led by Professor Lokov trying to discern the underlying intention.
What left the deepest impression on her was the subtle hidden meaning thaty behind their ttery and the disy of vignce, panic, and distrust.
"Student Julian, we havee here with a simple request. Things are not going well in the First Year and Vice Principal Josh is adamant about his decision. We can only ce our hope on you."Professor Lokov spoke, representing the other two.
"Please stop going in circles and tell me the reason for your visit."Julian rebukes them with a sharp tone.
Lokov swallowed his saliva seeing her cold lifeless gaze and coughing a bit to shake away his embarrassment, he muttered"We are here to talk about Students Lucas."
A deep frown appears on Julian''s face.
"What about him?"
"Student Julian, first you appointed Lucas as your Secretary and now he appears at the top of the rank so don''t you think this is too much of a coincidence," Professor Noah said with an anxious expression.
Anticipation shed in Lokov''s eyes as he pressed further"I am not using you of helping him or saying that there is some kind of foul y. What I want to say is that this guy is destroying the honor of the Student Council. First thing, he is amoner and second, he doesn''t even qualify to enter the Student Council."
"He will only tarnish your reputation. Aside from being a student, you are the Princess, the highest in nobility so how can you stay with themoner all day? So, we ask you to impeach him."Professor Noah supported Lokov.
With a low but not heavy tone, she spoke calmly"Hmm! Then whom do you think I should ept as my secretary?"
"You can take Ezekiel Homles from First Year or Sandra Hearts from Second Year."
Maintaining an unperturbed expression, Julian murmured faintly.
"As expected."
As soon as her words fell, the temperature of the room plunged by a few margins.
Noah and Lokov started to shiver in fright. Looking at them with a cold piercing gaze, Julian spoke with a smile.
A smile that tore their heart into shreds.
"You want to kick Lucas out or do you want to put your people in my ce?"
"Tell him toe up with a better excuse next time. Please leave for now."
"Julia.."
"Leave!'''' Julian''s voice turned grim, sending chills down their spine.
Gulping their saliva, they stood up and walked back with trembling legs.
"As Professor, you should be maintaining neutrality instead of swaying to the side. If you advise me next time, you better be prepared."Julian paused a bit. Seeing no remorse on their face, her bloody eyes glowed fiercely.
"As a student, I can''t do anything but as a Princess, I can surely do many things. Maybe your family will go bankrupt or they may disappear, who knows what will happen in the future."
"No, please."
"We beg.."
Swish!
A chilly aura sted them away making them kneel.
The four of them looked at her in bewilderment. All of them were at 6-Star but the differences in strength between them were too vast.
"There is no next time. This is thest warning and my stance will not change no matter what.''''
"Yes!"
Giving her a bow they ran away.
Julian heaved in relief seeing their departing figure.
"You dare threaten me with my reputation to force me to remove someone. You sure have grown a lot of guts."I think you should take a look at
Murmuring faintly, Julian raised her hands to stretch a bit but she froze sensing someone peeking at her.
"Lucas."
"Hi...Highess.I didn''t see anything. I am blind."A bewildered scream echoed.
"Come out!''
Seeing her murderous glint, Lucas jumped out from the small passage.
Julian corrected her posture and sat there elegantly. There was no embarrassment on her face.
"Since when have you been here?"
"From the moment you threaten them."
"Hmm! What do you see?"
"I see nothing. I have poor vision," Lucas shook his head trying to calm his heart.
"How unfortunate? As my precious subordinate, how can I ignore this? I will help you sharpen your eyesightter."Julian''s cold voice echoed.
"Okay," Lucas answered dryly.
He was just curious about the contents, so he eavesdrops through a narrow gap in the door and hides using shadow steps.
As he appeared again, he saw the heavenly sight of the Princess stretching.
He didn''t want to see this but his body was frigid. She looked like a piece of art in that position that forced the onlooker to admire her.
And also she has nice curves.
''Noooo!Parth is influencing me. I shouldn''t think like that. Parth is tainting my mind.''
''Amitabha, I am a good boy.''
Shaking his head Lucas asked"Was Senior Isaac behind them?
Lucas tried to steer away from the conversation and Julian didn''t push this matter further.
Hearing Lucas''s question, Julian just gave a small nod seeing which Lucas cursed inside.
''That damned guy will not let me rest in peace.''
"Princess, is there nothing we can use against him?"
"It''s difficult. Duke White is quite stern and meticulous. We all knew about his involvement in shady business but we were never able to step on his trails. Issac is like him."
Lucas''s heart warmed a little as Julian conveying this meant she started to trust him.
"Then why don''t we hit them by reducing their ie first?"
"What do you mean?"Julian''s eyes glistened with interest."
"Your Highness, the tax policy of the Empire is quite bad. The nobles collect taxes from noblemoners and the Empire collects from nobles. Being the middleman, the nobles embezzled a lot, and on top of that, the tax rates were different all around the Empire of Cyprus. What if The Empire collects the tax directly?"
"No, we can''t. This will lead to a strong sh of interests intensifying the friction between noble and Imperial factions."Julian responded calmly.
"There is another way. First, you should pass a bill to fix the tax rates creating amon tax rate throughout the Empire by basing them on ie rather than ss. For example, people who earn 10000R a month should pay 4% interest of which 2 should go to the Empire directly and 2 to nobles."
Julian silently contemted the things.
"Your suggestion of creating amon tax rate and categorizing based on ie is a good thing but dividing the tax into two,won''t it create too much hassle? It would be quite troublesome and we have to set up a branch and hire more people to do this."Julian narrated the w.
Lucas, hearing it, shook his head with a smile.
Julian felt her heart strung for some reason seeing that smile.
''I always feel weird when he makes that kind of expression.''
"That''s where the crux lies. Noble takes people''s money and pays to the Empire and in doing so they hide their earnings. Most of the calctions are made based on noble earnings through tax but you all fail to note that nobles earn much more than that from other sources."
Julian''s expression hardened as soon as she heard Lucas''s words.
"Since they just take and pay the Empire, nobles don''t need to show their ie or the wealth under them but if they had to pay the tax directly, they need to show their properties. And before doing that, we can organize arge-scale search of all things under each noble. However, with a standard tax rate, nobles can increase taxes ording to their will."
"Brilliant."Julian praised Lucas.
"If this came to fruition, you will be rewarded greatly foring up with such an idea."
''White is one of the most corrupted nobles and would soon be cancerous in society. The tax rate in White territories is 80% and less tax will cut off their wings.
Once I gain Princess''s trust and find a way to move the Secret Society under her, I could surely step on his tracks. Before he attacks, I need to make sure he is preupied with minor skirmishes and drive his attention away from me.''Lucas thought inwardly.
"Princess, there is another important thing I came here for."
"Yes, tell me."Julian nodded.
Lucas took a deep breath and spoke"Can we cancel our visit to the Parish Of Damita"
Hearing his words, Julian''s expression cracked and she asked"What?"
Chapter 130 130:Her Strange Behaviour
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"Have you gone mad? You want to cancel such an opportunity."
Julian''s calm demeanour broke for a moment. Blinking her eyes momentarily, she wondered if she heard something wrong.
Shaking her head, she decided to hear his reason first.
"Why? First, tell me the reason."
"I mean, can''t we do the blessing ceremony in the academy? Saintess Luna can also take this opportunity to visit here to reminisce about her past."Lucas suggested with a pleading gaze.
Holy Land is a neutral zone that is present between the three empires. Since they don''t have an academy like this, The Saintess is sent to study at the Academy of Empire in the cycle. The Previous Saintess studied in Ralph while Saintess Luna studied here and she is a senior of Julian.
"Is that the only reason?"Julian asked.
"Also, this whole journey is too cumbersome," Lucas spoke dryly.
"Is there anything that''s not cumbersome for you?"
Julian stared at Lucas''s nk expression trying to discern his hidden thoughts. It sounded unbelievable but as far as she knew,8 out of 10 things are cumbersome for this guy.
Julian''s expression sank for a moment.
Sighing heavily, she exined to Lucas.
"Originally, this blessing ceremony was scheduled to happen here and Bishop Ian of the Cathedral of Ivan was going to conduct it. I nned to take leave to visit Saintess Luna for some personal reasons. Vice-Principal Josh, after hearing this, got the idea to take you all there so I requested Saintess Luna to oversee the Blessing ceremony and thankfully she agreed. Actually, she is quite excited to see the future generation of Horizon."
Hearing the inner details, Lucas fell into deep thoughts.
''If it''s like this, the Princess would be put in an awkward position if the schedule is changed. It seems I have to go there.''
Noticing Lucas'' sinking mood, Julian spoke softly"Actually if possible, I would also like to proceed as per your proposal but we can''t. She might be called a Saintess but her seat isn''t fixed. The previous Saintess is in aa, not dead. So to solidify her seat further, she needs to prove herself. That''s why she is quite busy. We will put her in a difficult spot if we ask her to visit here at this time."
"I see. Sorry for putting you in a troublesome spot."Lucas apologised.
"It''s okay. You can leave today. I have taken care of the task. Just prepare for the journey."
Giving a brief nod, Lucas left without speaking anymore.
As he was about to step out, he heard Julian''s words from behind.
"Congrattions on getting first in the Battle Royal. I know it might be overwhelming but if you require any help, this door is always open for you."
Lucas''s eyes widened upon hearing Julian''s words. This might look simple but when ites from Julian it''s like a deration that she will support him and will help him in time of need.
"Thanks!"Lucas bowed her head and walked out.
Seeing his receding back, Julian murmured"How odd! Why are you so difficult to deal with? Your thoughts are always difficult to grasp."
"It''s as if there is a huge burden on you due to which you can''t be careless even for a moment. What do you fear?"
"More than that, why do I feel so peaceful when I am with you as if you will never betray me? I need to get those answers. Even if I can''t know about you, at least I can know about the inner turmoil that I feel when I am with you. I hope Senior Luna might know something."
Thinking about all those questions Julian sank deeper into endless thoughts.
....
The sun dyed the garden with a golden glow. Chirps of birds ringing in rhythm filtered through the rustle of grasses and leaves. The dusk chorus erupted as the sun settles down the horizon.
With a deep sigh, Lucas walked towards the garden to ease himself.
"I can only hope for the best now."
Strolling through the garden, Lucas came across a familiar figure that stood near the pond.
"Professor Shiya!"
Murmuring faintly, Lucas walked towards her.
"Hello Lucas, you have grown quite a bit since I saw you."
"It''s just your illusion, Professor."Lucas waved her hand and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you?"
Lucas''s brows creased upon hearing her words.I think you should take a look at
"Did you perhaps know that I will being here?"
To Lucas''s question, Shiya just nodded her head gently with a warm smile.
"How?"
"Spirits told me?"
Seeing Lucas''s confused expression, Shiya exined"Do you know how most seers do divination? They borrow the power of spirits as a medium."
"How can the spirit know the future?"Lucas asked curiously. He knew many things about them but their connections with Seers and about this topic, his knowledge was still vague.
"Whether it''s past, present, and future. The spirits knew about it all."Shiya then waved her hand.
A small cute girl appeared over her shoulder.
"This Aerin. She is a mid-grade wind spirit. She can onlymunicate with me through telepathy."
Aerin rose and sat over Aerin''s head.
"She looks cute," Lucas murmured, extending his hands to touch her but she disappeared as if she disliked Lucas.
"Spirit can be categorized into low, intermediate, and High. The highest-grade spirits are the King Spirit which is synonymous with the God of the elemental ss spirits. After a spirit bes a High-ss spirit, it can enter the Spirit realm."
"Spirit Realm!"Lucas''s eyes widened.
"Is there a whole realm just for a spirit?"
"Yes, there is a whole realm while the spirit lives simrly to us. The Spirit realm is independent of the world. There is no concept of time in that ce. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are all the same. However, what makes it interesting is that a spirit can transfer a part of the thoughts and feelings to the past self."
Lucas had a sudden realization on hearing this.
"Since they can enter our world freely that means they can observe the flow of the world and each spirit can receive a bit of future knowledge from its future self," Lucas muttered.
"Correct!"Shiya returned a smile.
"Wait!Wait!I am confused. Isn''t this too op? I mean, this feels out of bnce."Lucas scratched his head in confusion.
"That''s why they can only transfer a part. Only a King level spirit can transfer a whole vision, however you must know that the future is changing and the future they envision might never happen."Shiya spoke with a smile.
"By the way, why are you exining this to me? It feels odd."
Shiya took a moment to seize Lucas and then gave him a mysterious one that baffled Lucas.
Walking towards him, he pulled Lucas''s hand, much to his surprise.
"What are you doing?"Lucas tried to pull back his hand but she tightened her hold and pointed at his wrist on the right arm.
"Arghhhhhhh!"
Lucas felt a searing pain on his skin as if thousands of ants were biting the same spot.
"It''s over!"Shiya released the hold.
Lucas jumped back in panic and looked at his wrist.
There was a small circle tattoo with an image of a Phoenix-like bird.
"What''s this? A ve symbol?"Lucas''s body jolted in shock and his heart became uneasy.
"Aren''t you thinking too much? What did you think of me?"Shiya muttered, puffing her cheek.
"This is something that will help you. Believe me, you will need it."Shiya then gave a wink with a crooked smile.
"I will need it. Did you know something, Professor Shiya?"
"Not much. I only know this will help you. Nothing more. I am not a seer after all," replying, Professor Shiya walked away hurriedly as if trying to hide something.
Lucas, who didn''t know what was going on, just stood there bewildered.
"What the hell is going on here? Do you need to act so mysterious?"Lucas grumbled seeing Professor Shiya disappearing back.
"This is making me more ufortable," Lucas spoke with a deep sigh.
Chapter 131 131:Bribery
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A ce filled with grim silence was broken by the approaching footsteps of patients or words of sympathy offered to the diseased as they groaned in pain.
Along the corridors, there was a great hustle and bustle. Doctors and nursing sisters in their white uniforms were moving up and down with tired looks.
Even if medical science had advanced by leaps of bounds, many diseases weren''t curable by the use of modern methods.
A gue had broken out of nowhere. People who came from the south were suddenly found suffering from a disease in which dark ck spots simr to mould appeared on the skin along with lesions.
It was a ce where life and death intertwined with one another. If not handled properly a nationwide crisis may ur suddenly.
So, instead of handling themselves, they requested aid from the Church.
"I hope the disaster may be averted."
"Don''t worry, The Holy Lady is here. Believe in her."
While doctors and nurses consoled the patients inside the infirmary.
.....
With hair that looked purer than gold and a smile brighter than the light of the sun, the golden-haireddy stared at the group of people lying on the floor with various dark spots.
"Does it hurt?"
"Yeah, it hurts a lot."
"My skin itches.''''
"It''s even difficult to get up."
"You all have suffered a lot."The golden-haireddy spoke with a disheartened expression.
She joined her head and started to pray.
"May the Goddess alleviate your suffering and lead you to a prosperous life."
She then waved her hand over the patients. Golden particles aggregated over her hands and a strong austere encased her.
A warm and fuzzy feeling coursed through the body of the patients. The dark spots over their body slowly started to disappear.
"I am healed."
"We are alive."
"Long live the saintess."
"Long live the Saintess."
"Saintess, you are kind. While others refused to help us, you descended into our lives like an angel."
"Shees! It''s nonsense. I am just a mere human doing my duty. Nothing more, nothing less."She refuted them with a smile.
"Hahaha!As the Saintess said."
After a small hearty chart, she stood up and walked away.
Coming out from a rugged refugee camp, her expression changed.
The Pdins, noticing her odd expression, asked.
"Saintess Luna, is everything all right?"
"Who said this was a gue?"Luna asked in a grim voice.
"The local authorities."
"Ask them to search the city of Valco once again. This is not a gue. The people here were exposed to the ck magic power which had caused a sudden gue."
"As per your wish!"The Pdin nodded.
After the Pdins left, she started to think about the blessing ceremony.
''Julian is alsoing there. I haven''t seen her for so long. Let''s see if you still have that icy-cold expression. I just hope nothing is wrong in the City of Valco, otherwise, people''s lives might be in jeopardy."
''Oh Goddess, just what is your wish? Just where is the world heading to?''
........
In the Church of Ivan.
Searching around, Lucas finally came across the Priest he was looking for.I think you should take a look at
In the white room, James stood at the side watching the interaction between Lucas and Priest.
"Priest Luce, please help this poor soul." muttering softly, Lucas stared at the Priest with a pitiful gaze.
"No, we are too busy. It will depend on your request."
Lucas pushed a small piece of parchment toward him, seeing which his tongue-tied.
There was a check for 100,000R before him, seeing which heart was satisfied a bit.
"We followers of God have already risen above worldly desire.."
His speech stopped seeing another cheque of 500000 R.
" I don''t think bribing a Priest is a good thing."
Lucas stared at Luce''s nk expression deeply and sighed.
"My bad. Forgive me for misunderstanding you."Lucas muttered, pulling back the cheque.
"Let''s go, James, we will look for another Priest."
Luce''s nk expression faltered and he spoke hastily"Wait...Wait!I can help."
"If your request isn''t too much, I will try to fulfil it to the best of my ability," Luce spoke with a flustered expression.
Letting out a foxy smile, he pulled back the cheque from Lucas''s hands and put it back in his pocket.
''Greedy bastard.''
Lucas maintained an amicable expression, signalling to James.
Getting his signal, James put two storage rings in it.
"Please bless the things in it."
"What''s this?"
"sh bombs," James muttered nonchntly.
Priest Luce fell into deep thoughts for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders.
"Now,ing onto the next request. I want Holy Water. The purest Holy water you have.Not the ones you generally sell."
Aside from being a Priest, Luce is also a second-hand dealer who sellsrge quantities of things to the ck market.
He was an acquaintance of Reynolds however as Lucas knew this from the novel, he didn''t need to look for Reynolds''s help otherwise that greedy fox would take middleman fees from him.
Priest Luce rubbed his chin.
"Did you know something? You came to find me particrly and requested this as if you knew it."
shing out an innocent smile, Lucas gave a brief nod.
"I see. I will prepare it but why do you need this Holy Water of the highest calibre."Priest Luce asked in confusion.
"For an unforeseeable situation."
Giving an ambiguous answer, Lucas and James walked out of the ce.
"This was nerve-wracking,'''' Jamesined and asked, "Scotch looked for signs of undead and ck magic, however there weren''t any so why are you so agitated?"
"When you don''t know what to expect, you should prepare for the unexpected. You should put yourself in such a position where you have a couple of options avable so that when the timees, you don''t die with regret andment for not preparing well enough."Lucas advised James.
"Hey, Lucas, aren''t you being too serious? Don''t forget you are a kid. You need to be free-spirited rather than having a dampened gloomy serious mood."James advised and then spoke with a grin.
"Use the time of your youth well and enjoy the feeling of spring. Catch a girlfriend and go on a date."
Halting his steps, Lucas gave James a weird gaze.
"Aren''t you old enough to have a child? So, why don''t you marry and take a wife."
James choked upon hearing Lucas''s words and spoke with drooped shoulders "It''s because I...I am a special being like you who is called an introvert."
"Shut up. I am not an introvert."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."James mumbled but his eyes signalled something else.
Chapter 132 132:Arriving At Parish Of Damita
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Rattle! Rattle! Rattle!
The entire ce shook as the carriage passed over the bumpy, uneven roads.
The blood pulsated violently as the heart pumped more blood into the veins fiercer than before.
The atmosphere was strangely sombre and tense.
A deathly silence lingered, in which an odd eeriness screamed in Lucas''s sixth sense.
''This is dangerous.''
''This feels hell, as if I am sitting in between enemies who could point a sword at me any moment.''
''Haa! It''s nerve-wracking.''
Lucas sighed deeply, leaning back on his seat.
Before him, sat Ezekiel, who locked his eyes on him. Lucas felt that aser beam would shoot out from Ezekiel if he was careless even for a moment.
Beside him, Jete was also looking at him with a venomous gaze, sending shivers down the spine. Averting his eyes, he swept his gaze inside the carriage.
Currently, they were travelling in a carriage. Since they have to pass through rugged terrain, cars weren''t suitable for that road.
Moreover, carriages were magically protected and more secure than cars. Even though a magical barrier protects the car, the vibrations due to being bombarded by enemies may cause the engine to explode, so the carriage was a lot safer than cars.
A carriage can hold five people.
Lucas sat by the window, and beside him sat Humphrey and Monica. At the front were Ezekiel and Jte.
"Here, take this."
Lucas looked down and saw a piece of chocte bar.
Raising his chin, he took it with a slight hesitation.
"Umm¡ Thanks, Humphrey."
Humphrey smiled, and then his sparkling eyes turned towards Monica.
"Monica, you must be hungry. Here, eat something."
Lucas''s lips twitched, seeing the loving gazes of Humphrey directed at Monica.
''It seems he gave me this to ease the awkwardness.''
''Where did I end myself?''
He was given a chance to sit in the Princess''s carriage, but he couldn''t ept this as there are people out there who would seek his blood at any cost if they ever heard this.
In the other carriage, there were Frederick, Rose, Tiffany, Hailey, and Charles.
There were chances of Tiffany being Charles''s love interest mentioned in the novel. There were talks about this, but nothing much happened due to Charles''s viinous phase, but who knows what will happen now.
He would rather not sit and disturb the couples there.
However, he had never imagined that Ezekiel and Jete would be already paired while Humphrey seemed to be chasing after Monica.
Shedding virtual tears, Lucas looked up into the sky.
''There is too much love in the air that it feels suffocating.''
''It seems god is sprinkling too much love on my single soul.''
.....
As soon as the carriage reached the Parish of Damita, Lucas was the first one to jump out.
The moment Lucas''s feet touched the ground, a serene, captivating sight unfolded before his eyes.
From afar, Lucas could catch the sight of a huge, marvelous white building.
The Church before him wasrge and lovely. The path skirted through the white marble and ran along the crest through the meadows filled with gardens and flowers.
Everything was made of white that zed, reflecting the warm light of the sun. Feelings of holiness coursed through his heart as he looked around.
''If every region has a church like this, then how much do they spend on making such grand structures?''
''Regardless of which world you read about, these blind religious fanatics are too much.''
"Lucas."
"Yes!" Lucas nodded, seeing the Princess walking towards him.
"Help the coachman to park the carriage aside and also take proper care of the coachman. Don''t treat them rudely."
Lucas frowned, wondering if he really needed to do that and for some reason, Julian seemed to be focusing on the coachman too much.
Julian, after ordering Lucas, walked past him in a slow-paced manner. As she walked past him, she whispered in his ears.
It was just a small moment, but within that moment, Julian ryed many sets ofmands and flicked her finger while passing through.
Something small dropped into the nk pocket of his shirt.
Lucas''s eyes widened for a moment upon hearing her words. More than that, he was startled by her urate aim.
"Lucas, why are you standing here? Let''s go." Frederick, spotting Lucas, spoke loudly, walking towards him.
"You go first. I have to take care of the carriage parking and arrange a ce for the coachman to stay as ordered by the Princess." Lucas answered, retaining hisposure.
"That''s bad. It seems you have to work even here. It might be troublesome to be a secretary."
"Yeah!" Lucas nodded with a pitiful gaze.
"Ohh! Okay! Come back quickly" Frederick waved his hand and walked towards the Church.
Charles, also giving a brief nod, went past him.
Lucas led the coachman to the parking stand ording to the Princess''s instruction and then took the partially paved pathway which was in the opposite direction to the white marbled pathway.
This pathway led to the backyard of the Church, and Julian specifically asked Lucas to take his road while returning.I think you should take a look at
Lucas, who strolled around, saw the trimmed oak trees shading the flowers of myriad colors.
Various flowers of different colors bloomed, making the ce look more vibrant and colorful.
Sniff¡ Sniff¡
Lucas halted his steps, sniffed the air, and scanned the surroundings.
"I didn''t notice it before, but there appears to be a strong scenting from lc flowers. The Princess asked me to take a look at the flowers and report to her about the types of flowers growing here."
Confused, Lucas stood there nkly for a moment.
"Lc¡ Lc." Lucas mumbled as a sudden realization came to his mind.
"I think I should inform her of this," Lucas murmured.
....
Entering the giant hallway, everyone spotted statues of several religious figures. Stained-ss windows depicting numerous biblical stories or myths were used as a ceiling through which colorful light poured over the hallway.
"Your Highness, please follow me, the Holy Maiden is waiting for you inside." A Priest came forward and guided the team.
"When will the ceremony take ce," Julian asked calmly.
"Your Highness, The ceremony will take ce tomorrow. You all should be tired from the long journey. So, today, you can rest and enjoy yourself."
Julian nodded and looked back at the nine people following behind her.
Seeing their carefree expressions, she spoke coldly, "All of you be on guard and stay alert."
Frederick frowned upon hearing Julian''s words and wondered if there was something more.
''Maybe I am thinking much.'' Frederick shrugged his shoulders.
"What happened?" Rose asked, noticing Frederick''s expression.
"It''s nothing." Frederick returned a smile.
The Priest led them to the room at the end of the passage.
A pleasant, warm sensation coursed through their body as they stepped in.
Inside it, a golden-haireddy standing up held her skirt slightly and bent her knees, curtseying to them.
"On behalf of the Holy State, I wee you all. I hope you all have a pleasant day staying in this shabby ce."
"May The Goddess be with you."
"Thanks for having us, Saintess." Julian returned the curtsy with a slight bow.
"Sheesh!"
"Don''t call me Saintess. It makes me feel old. Just call me Senor Luna. I am your Senior, after all." Luna spoke with a giggle.
The rigid expression on her face disappeared and at that moment, she looked like an easy-going warm senior.
"Will do," Julian muttered and introduced her junior"Senior Luna, these all are the rankers of the recent battle royal."
Julian started addressing them.
Luna walked forward and greeted everyone with pleasant ttery.
"Nice to meet you. May your smile be evesting.'''' Ezekiel bowing his back, held Saintess''s hand and kissed the back of her hand.
"May your beauty be evesting."
"The Saintess looks much prettier than the rumors."
Luna greeted everyone and exchanged a few pleasantries with a smile, while also dropping subtle advice.
"May you have eternal life." Charles greeted her with a cold expression.
Luna simply smiled, shaking her head, and whispered while passing through him.
"The transition in your character will avert many dangers."
Charles just gawked at her sight.
Luna greeted the girls and just spoke a few words.
However, when she came across Frederick, her smile widened and her eyes gleamed.
"This humble one is asking for the blessing of Your Eminence. May God be always with us." Frederick greeted her politely but unlike others, he just held her hand for a bit and retracted his hand.
Luna, giving a mysterious smile, leaned forward and whispered faintly.
"Your journey until now was hard. You might have found peace now, but troublesome times are up ahead. Still, don''t give up. Heaven is watching over you and wishing for your sess."
Frederick''s eyes widened, and his eyes turned cold for a moment.
"What did the Saintess mean?"
Instead of answering, she gave a foxy smile and looking back at Julian, she retreated while leaving Frederick with an ugly expression.
"Is someone missing? There should be ten, no?"
"I have sent him to run some errands. He might being any moment from now." Julian answered.
Luna nodded and was about to walk back when her heart began to beat faster.
Her back tinkled and her senses shrieked in despair, sensing a frightening existence looming over them.
She turned around abruptly with a perplexed expression.
Her fierce gaze locked onto the entrance.
A subtle tapping sound stirred her heart and as soon as the man appeared, her mind exploded.
Her vision became bloody and a gruesome sight of a man with messy hair, covered in the blood of countless people stepping over the pile of corpses, reflected in her sight.
Chapter 133 133:Mysterious Scene
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Until now, Luna had seen many things. Her life was flipped upside down from the moment she awakened.
The same world that she was living in since her birth started feeling unfamiliar.
She gained eye power that could pierce through a person''s soul and could identify whether the person was lying or not. It could also unravel the secrets of heaven and at the same time help her identify a person''s nature.
She had roamed through the borders. Had met countless war heroes, soldiers, and even criminals. But never in her life had she seen a person''s soul stained with blood to such an extent, and what was more confusing was that there wasn''t a single speck of malice in the soul.
Innocence, kindness, and all forms of human desire were still present in it, as if the soul had been left untouched despite such a thick murderous aura.
Each step of his stirred the very depth of ominousness in her heart, sending a chill down her spine.
This boy wasn''t normal. He was a walking disaster, carrying an ample amount of negative karma that is forcing the world to reject his existence.
The boy walking inside lifted his chin to stare at her. Meeting those confused curious gazes, her body shivered, feeling herself drowned in blood.
As she started deeply, a pair of crimson eyes appeared behind him, and her vision was forcibly shut.
Lucas, who just entered, after looking around, was startled to see Saintess Luna staring at her. For a moment, her yellow eyes directed at him became green, seeing which he freaked him out.
He wanted to turn away and leave, but his body seemed to be frozen under an invisible force. And the Saintess staring at him also seemed to be frozen.
Julian was the first one to notice the ambiguity in the situation and reached first.
"Senior Luna, are you alright?"
"Huh! Yes, I am alright?" Luna answered, wiping off the beads of sweat that formed on her forehead.
"Your face looks so pale," Julian eximed in surprise.
"Maybe I am too exhausted. I will be alright after I take some rest."
"Priest Ian, please arrange a room for everyone to rest a bit and Julian, please apany me to my room."
After brief words, Luna parted with Julian''s support.
Lucas nudged Frederick and Charles, asking them what happened here.
"She was alright, a moment ago, but her expression became weird as soon as she saw you," Charles answered with a confused expression.
"What did I do?"
"How can I know that?"
"Hey, Lucas, have you met Saintess Luna before?" Frederick asked, rubbing his chin.
"As far as I remember, no. I don''t think I have ever met her." Lucas refuted.
"That''s strange. At first, it looked as if she saw a monster, but then her gaze changed as if she met someone she knew. It''s really weird."
As Frederick finished his assessment, his lips twitched, seeing Charles and Lucas giving him a strange look.
"How did you know that? You read her expression as if she were your childhood friend. Meanwhile, when I looked at her, she seemed to have a nk expression," replied Charles, giving Frederick a curious gaze.
"I¡ I." Frederick stuttered for a moment.
Seeing this, Lucas shouted"Rose, take care of your guy. This bastard seemed to be an expert skirt chaser. He can even discern a girl''s thoughts from their face."
Feeling a deep dreary feeling from behind, Frederick''s heart screamed in terror.
"Nooo!"
Looking back with trembling legs, he saw Rose staring at him coldly.
"Sorry, we will not disturb you anymore."
Lighting a fire, Charles and Lucas ran away.
Swallowing his saliva, Frederick waved his hand trying to calm her, "Rose, listen to me. I can exin."
...
Cramping in the small room with a small bed and a table, Lucas stared at the ceiling with a deadpan expression.
Thousands of thoughts shed in his mind.
Lucas was scared.
What he was feeling now was akin to his life hanging over a tightrope that could be cut any moment now.
The scene of an inquisitor or pdins bursting their way through the door yed in his mind.
Presently, he was like a harmlessmb that could be ughtered.
His toes tapped on the floor repeatedly, and he twirled his finger, wondering what could have happened, actually.
"Saintess Luna had Mystic eyes that unravel heaven''s secrets and see the truth. Her initial expression was that of shock, but then her expression shifted and there was subtle fear in her nce. Did she somehow notice that I am not the real Lucas, but how?''''
Lucas felt his head throb thinking about this. He wasn''t careless, but he didn''t imagine that Luna Mystic''s eyes could see through this.
It was too overpowered.
"What should I do now? If she knows the truth, then there is no way she will let me go. She might conclude that someone had taken over Lucas''s body through witchcraft."
"Should I run away? Even if I ran away, there is no way I can be safe from the Church''s pursuit."
"Damn, man, this is frustrating. She even pulled the Princess with her."
Lucas was on the verge of breaking down. He ran his mind at full speed.
Lies would be useless as Saintess Luna can filter the truth.
"If I get caught. I can onlye up with ambiguous answers. However, if this fails, then there is only one option, which is to speak the truth about this world."
Yeah, at first, they might p him and consider him to be a madman, but under the oath of speaking the truth, there is no way they could deny his ims.
"I knew it. Mingling with the damned religious bastard will bring trouble." Lucas, who kept walking to and fro, suddenly stopped as his nose, picked up a strong smell of fragrance.
It was then he realized that he hadn''t spoken to Julian about this, as Luna did not give them the opportunity.
Lucas immediately opened the window to trace the source of the smell.
"What?"
Lucas''s mind blew up, seeing the scene outside the window. The outstretched bushes, trees, and shrubs were all burning with dark mes.
"What the hell is going on? Is this an attack?"
Lucas panicked seeing the scene butpelled himself to calm down.
"Surely, there is no rest for the wicked."
"I need to regroup otherwise, with my luck, someone will surely find trouble with me," Lucas muttered while hurriedly making his way out.
....I think you should take a look at
Scenes floated above the pure white field of view.
Several images were passing through, making messy thoughts. The sound of gasping for breath and the loud sound of a thumping heart made her restless.
A voice came from afar. The voice was cold andcked empathy, but for her, it was the sweetest she had ever heard.
It was weird.
No, everything appears to be peculiar.
"Don''t worry, I have, I have, and I will always have your back."
The world began to be coloured. In the tent where thenterns shimmer, a woman with a bottle of wine in one hand sat.
The other hand held a sharp, glistening sword that was pointed at the neck of the man who kneels before her.
Looking at the man who had always been distant and yet so close, she spoke in a reminiscent tone.
"Life in itself seemed to be boring. So, how long are you going to wait."
The man raised his head. His red, bloodthirsty eyes shimmered, and a wide grin appeared over his scarred face.
"Until I am worthy enough."
"Tsk!"
A clicking sound was heard, and the world broke apart into countless pieces.
"Haas¡" Julian closed her eyes and messaged her forehead to subdue the aching pain.
''Why did he look so simr to him?''
"What did you see?"
Julian''s blurry vision returned to normal, and he stared at Luna leaning against the bed.
"Something useless." Snorting Julian red at her.
"Ohh! It seems Julian had seen something interesting that she can''t share with her older sister."
"Shut up!"
Luna giggled, seeing embarrassment on her face.
"I extended so much energy to make a glimpse of the heaven secret, yet this is how you treat this kinddy. Hush! As expected, you royals are too cruel." Luna made an exasperated sigh and gave a pitiful expression, seeing which Julian''s head throbbed.
"Can please stop your useless banter? I am not in the mood." Julian grumbled and was about to speak when her senses caught something.
"They are here."
"Who?" Luna asked with a frown.
"Don''t make that an innocent expression. You already expected this." Julian muttered, standing up while pulling something from her ring.
"Yeah, I expected this but wait."
"Julian, don''t do that¡" Before she could finish her speech, her vision blurred.
....
"Aahhhhh"
"Argh!"
"Stop screaming white dove bastards."
[Blind Faith]
[Hellfire]
[Azure st]
A series of screams rang as a group of dark robbed figures darted across the hallway.
"Stop them."
"Don''t let them go!"
The Pdins shouted and quickly charged at them.
BOOM!
A loud st echoed, and dark gas filled the ce.
The Pdin''s vision was momentarily blinded, which allowed the figures to pass through them.
The Pdins tried to fight back, but their body felt weak and a high fever out of nowhere assaulted them.
"Search each room!"
Giving orders, a man holding his staff hit the ground. The entire area was covered in darkness.
[Arise, my fellow deceased and kill everyone]
Many darkish humanoid bodies arose and started to create mayhem.
The entire lobby was filled with ghouls that kept Pdins at bay.
Searching the room, they finally found the right one.
"We found her."
Inside the room, a golden-haireddy was asleep in the bed.
"Hmm!"
Opening her eyes, she muttered in a half-dazed state.
"Who are you? How dare you barge into my room?"
"Shut up."
Before she could speak, a group dashed forward and stuffed her mouth.
Uwu¡Uwu...Uwu¡
"Stop screaming, no one going to save you today."
Knocking her out, he shouted in joy."
"We have caught the bitch. Let''s leave."
"Her sacrifice will fulfill our long wished ambition."
Chapter 134 134:Church Under Attack
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The bright sun descended slowly while spreading its austere.
The sky looked quite beautiful, filled with a tint of pink and a hint of orange. As the sun finally went down below the Horizon, the sky turned to a dusky purple haze littered with tiny silver dots twinkling around.
Under the peaceful sky filled with serenity that calms down the inner turmoil inside one heart, a couple strolled over the wide pathway.
"Rose, I think there is a misunderstanding," Frederick muttered with pleading eyes.
"Hmph!" snorting, Rose walked ahead without looking at Frederick.
"You are wrong Rose, I am just good at reading others'' facial expressions."
Hearing his sincere tone of apology, Rose halted her steps and red back at Frederick.
"Then, tell me what I am thinking?"
Beads of sweat formed over Frederick''s head as he stared at the icy cold gaze of Rose.
"It seems you are angry."
An ufortable silence lingered for a moment as both of them stood motionless staring at each other''s eyes.
Pfffft!
"I am not that childish. It was just a joke."Rose giggled softly.
"What! You can even joke."Frederick eximed in shock.
Rose''s smile cracked upon hearing his words.
''Dummy.'' Rose snorted and turned away.
"Hey, sorry it was also a joke," Frederick mumbled with a puppy look.
ncing around, he saw plump pink roses growing over a lush green garden. Taking a moment, he walked inside the garden to pluck a few strands of rose.
Frederick bent down to pick a rose and as he got up, his eyes widened seeing a familiar figure.
"Humphrey!"
"Who?"
Startled, Humphrey stood up straight and hid the flowers that he plucked behind him.
Both of them stared at each other nkly without replying.
The awkward atmosphere was broken by a shrill cry.
"Rose."Frederick, screaming in horror, ran back. Humphrey was also taken by surprise and decided to follow them.
Hurrying his way, Frederick frowned seeing Rose''s eyes scanning around holding her bow
"What happened, Rose?"
"Someone is here? I sensed a faint presence."
"Weird, I don''t feel anything," Humphrey mumbled in a stupor. The surroundings were as calm as the ocean waves.
Frederick''s expression turned grave, walking closer to Rose, he held her hand and whispered.
"Pull down your bow and lessen your guard for a moment."
Rose gave Frederick a weird look but followed his words. Putting down her bow, Rose gasped heavily and stood motionless.
Frederick closed his eyes. His senses became sharper, even though his body looked rxed, he was on alert.
Frederick''s eyebrows fluttered and when he opened his eyes, his spear was lodged in a dark beast''s neck.
Dark blood dripped down from the ce the spear was stabbed and a thick liquid soaked the earth with a fishy smell.
The outstretched arm of the beast was long and threatening and was just a few inches away from Frederick''s neck but despite that, there wasn''t a single shred of fear in Frederick''s eyes.
It was a threatening situation so how many people could remain impassive in the face of fear but Frederick stood unfazed.
While in Rose and Humphrey''s eyes, it may look like a deadly situation but this was just a child''s y in Frederick''s eyes.
"What is that?"Rose asked.
"Witchbeast?"Humphrey questioned.
"You can say so. Specifically undead summons," Frederick mumbled, kicking the corpse frozen like a statue.
"An undead? How did an undead appear here? What the hell?"
Humphrey eximed in shock and horror, pulling out his rapier. He almost had a heart attack after witnessing such a scene.
The moment he saw the undead monster, he thought that someone would die but in an instant, Frederick''s hands moved like lightning invisible to his eyes. A spear appeared and the tip pierced straight through the throat.
Frederick tugged and bent down to swing his spear around him.
A force of magic st spread around the ce.
After a moment of silence, loud cries echoed. Many dark figures appeared one after another.
"Ghouls!"
Rose mumbled.
"It seems we are under attack!"Frederick muttered, taking his stance. It was then a message appeared on his smartwatch asking him to group up.
Swish!Swish!
Frederick and Humphrey''s bodies darted toward the group of jumping ghouls.
Lines of various colours were drawn in the air.
The ghouls tried to surround the two but brilliant clusters of light whizzed, striking them down. Blood gushed out and dripped on the ground
"It feels amazing," Humphrey mumbled. There was a perfect synergy between the two as if they had fought alongside countless.
"Frederick, look there, a fire is spreading from the meadows," Humphrey spoke with a frown.
Frederick, keeping his guard, looked ahead.
Beyond the garden, dark smoke rose into the sky but instead of the pungent smell of soot and ash, it smelled like a flowery perfume.
Frederick''s heart stirred a bit.I think you should take a look at
"Let''s not waste time. I will clear away through the encirclement. Either way, we need to group up with others instead of taking unnecessary risks or move to the parking stand."
.....
On stepping out into the hallway, the first thing Lucas heard was the sound of battle cries echoing one after another.
Going ahead a little further, he felt a nefarious energy up ahead. Dark fumes covered his vision and through faint blurry sight, Lucas saw dark morbid creatures that look like decayed human bodies. It wasn''t a skeleton figure of an undead but rather a flesh of a decayed human that looks worse whenpared to a zombie.
Lucas''s heart thumped seeing them. Without sparing them a nce, he ran back while trying to match their description with the knowledge he had.
"It''s a ghoul. Damn, a church was attacked by a ghoul. This is pathetic."
Feeling annoyed by the ipetence of the Church, he wanted to curse these white robe bastards.
Ghouls are evil demonic spirits that eat dead and decayed bodies. While a corpse became an undead, the soul and resentment in them when summoned became ghouls who are very much interested in unpleasant things.
Simr to spirits, ghoul levels were categorized into low, intermediate, or high. Fortunately, the ghoulsing at him were low-level ones.
"Since there are ghouls there ought to be ck magicians, that means, their target is either Saintess or Princess."
As Lucas ran back, a loud screech echoed from behind. Without looking back, Lucas drew his sword and spun his body.
Swish!
The head of the ghoul that jumped on him rolled on the ground and copsed onto the ground.
Generally, until a ghoul is purified it''s gonna be on your trail and can even join the cut part. But all of Lucas''s weapons had been blessed so the ghouls can''t recover their lost part once sliced.
Lucas kicked the ghoul sending it flying back. The headless ghoul mmed against the other and four ghouls fell onto the ground.
Lucas''s current sword was of C rank that could store mana and create a small st however this will damage the de. Lucas poured mana onto it while pulling out another sword.
Stomping the ground, Lucas pressed forward.
Multiple sword lines were drawn at once that cleared up the monsters rushing at him once.
Five ghoulsing at him were shredded into pieces. Lucas cut all of their limbs and sliced them into pieces.
SCREECH!
"kheumm!"
"Khukkk!"
"Kierkk!"
Emitting weird noise akin to the scratching of metals, another horde moved toward him.
"I can''t go like this. Like a zombie swarm, they''re gonna swarm in endlessly unless someone purifies them."
It was at that time, a pair of hands searched through the floor as if they were trying to grab onto something.
Lucas stomped the hands, ttening them to the ground.
"At least give me experience. Why are these pieces of shit, not dropping any experience?"Lucasined.
A golden glow encased his sword.
Nudging his shoulder, he threw his swords toward the iing horde.
[Destructo]
The sword spun in the air like the des of a fan and as it struck the ghoul, it exploded.
Arge amount of magical energy poured out creating a loud shockwave.
The ghouls were sted away by the force of the explosion. The pir at the side burst and the ground sank creating a wide space. The pir at the side falls.
Seeing this scene, Lucas immediately waved his hand and used telekinesis. The sword whirling in the air flew towards it.
As soon as Lucas turned around, his heart froze seeing another waveing from the other side.
"Should I just blow up the whole building with bombs?"
Lucas, who was amidst the thought felt a strong vibration.
BANG!
A huge earthen erupted wall in the middle of the hallway blocking them.
From the stairs leading to the upper floor that was a few meters away, Charles hurried down and blocked the entrance.
Behind her Tiffany and Monica came down with a pale face.
Monica was a mage so her physical attribute was quite bad meanwhile Tiffany was horrified after seeing such a disgusting thing.
"Lucas, are you alright?''
"I am alright? But where are the others? And why are all the rooms empty?"
"Our rooms are scattered for some reason. I only found Tiffany and Monica with me. Others are out."Charles answered.
"Ha..Ha...The rooms are used by Church personnel who are usually busy during this time so that''s why they are empty.''''Tiffany muttered catching her breath.
"We should first get off here?"Monica spoke worriedly.
"The ghouls are everywhere. Fortunately, we didn''t encounter a ck mage otherwise things would be troublesome."Charles murmured.
"We can make our way through the hall and clear through the group of ghouls but we will have trouble encountering stronger ones and I don''t know where the Church personnel went, "Tiffany suggested.
"No, we can''t take the hallway. We don''t know what we will face. The direction of the window faces the garden. Let''s break through the window. With Charles''s help, we can build a slope or use a rope to get down. Then Charles can use his ability to extinguish fire or Monica can shoot a water spell. After that, we will get to the carriage. It has a barrier function that can take strikes up to 6-Star."
"That''s a good n."
"Let''s do that."
"Yeah!"
nning a bit, they moved quickly. Lucas messaged about the change of n and changed the meeting location to the parking stand.
At that moment, Princess''s subtle meaning behind the instructions rang in his mind.
''Just how much of this did you expect?''
Chapter 135 135:Church Under Attack[2]
?
Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish!
Landing on the ground, Lucas witnessed the dark red mes ravaging thend extending to the wide meadows filled with lush green vegetation. A huge part of the Church was covered with gardens and meadows that served as excellent fuel for the fire.
Stepping ahead, Charles kicked the ground with a loud bang. The ground trembled, forming curly waves. The upper portion of the soil filtered the burning mass above and exchanged it with the lower soil encasing the upperyer.
"I will make a path so follow me quickly. The path might not be wide. It expends too much mana."
Everyone nodded at Charles''s words.
"Let me help," Monica said, taking out her staff.
[Water Magico]
A magic circle appeared from which a huge fountain of water erupted and sshed all around them, extinguishing the fire at the side.
After that, she casts a wind spell to divert the smoke that may suffocate them.
Making a path, Charles darted ahead. The cracking sound of fire echoed from both sides. Even though Monica was acting as support. The heat radiating around was lowered narrowly still they could feel the hot air brushing past them.
"Damn!"
"Oh my god!"
It was then, a group of ckish ghouls blocked their path. Charles couldn''t afford to stop as the moment he stopped the earth maniption, the fire from both sides would engulf them.
Lucas frowned seeing the roadblocks and fell into a dilemma wondering whether he should use his bombs now or not. It was then he noticed a movement beside him.
It was so fast, that all he saw was something hurling beside him.
Charles who was in a stupor at the front suddenly felt something go past him after which a loud shriek echoed.
Brains and flesh spurted out around the ce, and the axe de mmed.
The ghoul who stood at the front was sliced but with the momentum carried by the axe, it went past the ghoul and decapitated two more behind it.
Lucas''s eyes shing with horror turned around only to notice two axes in Tiffany''s hands. It wasn''t only him, Monica and Charles''s gazes also interchanged between Tiffany''s lean dainty hands holding the axe and three decapitated ghouls wriggling on the floor, ahead.
Tiffany, who was the most frightened one among the bunch, turned out to be savage. Lucas didn''t know much about her fighting pattern. Even if there was something mentioned, he would have just skipped it.
"Huh! Why are you staring at me like that? It''s making me embarrassed."Tiffany spoke shyly while swaying her body with a pout.
"Nothing! Let''s go."
Lucas gave Charles a sidelong nce praying for his well-being.
''Charles, this girl might look shy but she is too wild. Who knows if she turns out to be a tomboy in the future?''
More ghouls tried to block the way but Monica got rid of them using long-range spells. Still, the ghouls didn''t give up and tried to run after them as they weren''t properly taken care of but the group just focused on the hit-and-run method.
Tiffany threw the hatchet and axes one after another terrorizing everyone.
As they walked further, Lucas finally found some familiar figure afar making him heave in relief.
........
The acrid smell of blood and the sensation of minced rotten meat sticking to the skin was quite horrendous and unpleasant.
Panting heavily, he searched for the next enemy.
Along with ghouls, there were corpses dressed in ck. Humans whose facial skin had been ripped off and sliced bizarrely. They tried to kill them at the cost of their lives but nowy before him.
When he turned around, various stifling images of charrednd and dead bodies shed before his eyes.
As he tried to find the enemy again, suddenly the image of a rose hair girl appeared in his eyes.
A trembling voice tickled into his ear snapping him out of his stupor.
"Frederick.."
As soon as he heard the voice, his heart which had been gripped with eeriness eased a lot.
He had always been calm andposed. It was very rare for him to lose himself to the madness of fighting and running amok on the battlefield. So, it might be a shock for some to see him ughtering the enemies into minced meat.
As soon he realized the fact, he loosened the grip of the spear. Stammering words escaped from his lips.
"Umm...Rose...That?"
Turning around, he saw Rose''s widened eyes, staring at him. She seems to be in shock.
"It''s okay. They are our enemies. It''s useless to show mercy towards those who wanted to kill us."
Rose''s kind words eased his heart.
Humphrey who stood at the side had a pale expression on his face. For a moment, he wondered if what he saw was real.
The fight was going well. Clearing the encirclement, they were making their way quickly. It was then, two ck-robed figures appeared who summoned more ghouls.
They also attacked them with a dark spell due to which they fell into a disadvantageous situation. The ghoul of intermediate rank was extremely difficult to deal with and they fell into a pinch wondering what they should do now.
It was then as if consumed by madness Frederick started to run amok. With his spear, he dug holes into the ghouls making them look like Swiss cheese.
The ck wizards marking Frederick as dangerous poured out curses on him but tearing through the barrage of curses, Frederick appeared before them after which hell descended on the two.
Within an instant, Frederick sliced and butchered them into countless pieces of flesh giving him and Rose a sense of dreariness.
"Frederick!"
They were snapped out of their thoughts hearing loud voices. Turning around, they saw a group of people making their way.
Humphrey sighed in relief seeing Monica safe and sound among them.
Coming forward, they stopped for a moment seeing Frederick drenched in blood and meat. An awkward silence prevailed.
Lucas coughed to shake away the awkward atmosphere and said"I don''t know what happened here but let''s leave that forter."
"Everyone must have gotten a token beforeing here. This token allows us to enter the barrier of carriage that has a radius of 5 metres. This token is key to our survival."Lucas exined.
Julian was the one who informed him about this and asked him to hide in a carriage in case of trouble.
With a tacit understanding, they made their way to the parking area.
"Did you encounter any pdins or priests on the way here?"Humphrey asked.I think you should take a look at
"No, we came out from the other side. We might have encountered them if we came through the hallway."Lucas replied.
"Where are Ezekiel, Jte, and Hailey?"Tiffany asked while raising the axe in her hand.
"We don''t know where they are but don''t worry, they would have surely seen the message sent by Lucas," Humphrey said.
"That''s the part I am worried about," Lucas said nonchntly, but a grave silence lingered after that.
Seeing the blitz of mes, the party halted for a moment.
Charles with a tired expression was about to step forward but Rose took the lead and shot an arrow.
Swish!
The arrow exploded creating airwaves that extinguished the fire while carving a path for them.
Lucas senses suddenly screamed of danger ahead as if warning him there was someone ahead. A scream erupted from Lucas''s lips.
"Dodge!"
Lucas wasn''t the only one, Frederick also noticed something. His body reacted on its own to the dangerous situation and gripping the spear tightly, he threw it away and then pushed everyone.
BOOOM!
A loud st encased before them.
There was a look of iprehension on everyone''s face but all of them reacted to Lucas''s scream, and the reaction was immediate.
Jumping around, they rolled on the ground.
A fiery breath passed over their head.
Monica threw herself first, then started chanting shield magic. Because it was quick action, the output was poor, still, it was enough to cover everyone.
Swoosh!
As the fiery aura retreated, everyone raised their heads. Through the dark mist, they saw a few dark robe figures appearing before them with sinister expressions.
"What do we have here? A group of measly worms trying to crawl out."
Lucas shook his head to clear his blurry vision. As soon as his senses returned, his heart thumped wildly seeing three dark mages of 5-Star.
For a moment everyone''s mind went nk.
Panting heavily, Frederick red at them while kneeling on one knee.
"What is your target? Do you want to kill us? Let me tell you if something happened to us you would all be hunted down by the whole Empire."Frederick spoke unperturbed by the danger.
Lucas stared at Frederick''s back and wondered what was going through his mind.
It wasn''t as if a murderer will tell you everything before killing you and as far as he knew, Frederick is not that naive.
''Are you buying time?''
Lucas at the same time weighed all the options. Seeing their conversion, he pulled out the life-saving locket.
Contrary to his expectations the ck mage answered Frederick''s question.
"You all were never our target. We are not fools. Don''t worry, we will not kill you. Our goal is to capture Saintess. We are here to wipe out your memory."
A sinister smile appeared on his face.
"What happened to the pdins?"Charles asked.
"Pdins and Priests are in a pitiful state. The smoke that you breathe carries poisons that cause allergy in those who have divinity."
''Damn!'' Lucas almost swears after hearing this.
From the moment he saw so many Liliac, he had a bad premonition.
In the future, a drug made from Lc was going to be introduced that will be a nightmare for people with divinity.
It should be introduced next year so it was unbelievable that it had been made already.
''I should have barged my way to the Princess at that time.''
"Now that I have answered all your questions, let''s finish our work."
"Do you think we will let you do..."
Before Frederick could react, the four of them raised their staff and shouted at the same time.
[Bleed]
Swish!
A dark wave hit everyone.
"Ahhhhhhh!''''
"Argh!"
"Damn!"
"What the hell?"
Screams of agony echoed in Lucas''s ear.
Bleed was a spell that lowered stats, and inflict them with a status ailment. It will blind one senses and make the body weak.
Lucas gnashed his teeth to remain standing.
''I can''t fall. Once I fall it''s over.''
Through his dimming vision, Lucas looked around and noticed everyone rolling on the ground.
With a heavy heart, he looked ahead and saw Frederick standing up with a drooping shoulder trying to fight the pain of curse.
A bluish haze erupted from him followed by a loud deration filled with resolution.
"This time, I will protect everyone.''''
Chapter 136 136:Church Under Attack[3]
?
A searing pain simr to getting torn apart conversed through his body. The legs on which he stood trembled, unable to support his weight. The hand that held the spear started to fall apart. The body that was full of energy a moment ago, was on the verge of copse.
The senses were overwhelmed by darkness and the heart started to sink in despair.
Screams of agony erupting from behind were the only things that saved him from sumbing to the darkness. The eyshes for some reason weighed heavier than ever and wished to close the line of sight.
His consciousness wanted to sink into darkness and his mind screamed for him to run away and let go of struggling.
"Noo," Frederick screamed and bit his tongue to stop himself from falling unconscious.
''You can''t fall.''
''You can''t lose.''
''If you lose here, you will lose everything.''
''If I fall, they will be hurt. I have to stand up. I have to fight and protect them from harm.''
Through the evesting darkness, his mind echoed with the events of the past ying back over and over like some movie as his consciousness sank.
....
The sky was red, and the battlefield was torn and littered with broken limbs, arms, and armour. Horses, beasts, and monsters were screaming at the top of their lungs. The wind that blew, filled the air with a sickly pungent smell of blood.
A tense confrontation prevailed among the people standing there. Sworn brothers who preached the promise of staying together until death, and fought shoulder to shoulder nowy on the ground like rotten flesh.
Not far away from the sea of corpses kneeled the body of a tall handsome blue-haired human, stained with blood from a massive fight.
Injured seriously, he knelt on the ground with his bloody spear keeping him upright as he leaned on it. Blood was pouring from his chest and from his back which had been riddled with holes from countless stabs.
The blood oozing out from his wounds trickled down on the dampened earth and dyed it.
With a shallow breath, the man opened his lips"We won!"
There was a hint of ecstasy in his voice.
"We.w..won.."
Words stuttered and crystal dew drops started to slide down from his cheeks.
Following his speech, loud voices reverberated again.
"We won!"
"We defeated that fiend!"
"Everything is over."
"We can finally live in peace."
Loud cheers and cries of happiness erupted from everyone.
The blue-haired man whose face was filled with wrinkles nced up towards the sky thinking about the countless sacrifices of loved ones without which, all this wouldn''t be possible.
There was no joy in his teary eyes. All it had was a feeling of sadness and agony. The gentle breeze that blew over him carrying the smell of his deceasedrade for some reason felt fresh.
Reminiscing, he opened his lips.
"Finally...Final.."
CRACK!
His words were cut short by a loud deafening roar bellowing across the whole world.
The sound of cheers stopped and everyone stared up toward the sky wondering what was happening now. As they looked up, their body trembled and an unspeakable fear gripped their heart. All of their bodies froze as an excruciating pressure descended upon them.
The bloody sky above them split apart, and a burst of blood rained down from the sky. A huge crack asrge as the endless horizon appeared and from that crack, a ck hand emanating an unfathomable energy descended upon them.
The blue-haired man tried to react. He waspletely exhausted but he moved. Gripping his spear, he shot forward with a battle cry trying to destroy the hand.
s!
Before the mighty palm, everyone''s efforts were for naught and soon everything in the world descended into darkness.
.....
[Blessing Of Thunder God]
BOOM!
CRACKLE!CRACKLE!CRACKLE
Lightning burst out from his body and a bluish haze erupted with a st. The barrier was broken apart and his strength started to increase astonishingly.
The mana inside Frederick''s body ran amok. From peak 3-Star to early 4-Star then to mid-4-Star.He broke through in one go however the energy pulsating through his body didn''t diminish.
"Not enough...Not enough.."Frederick roared with bloodshot eyes.
The vessels pulsated and his heartbeat started to increase rapidly creating the sound of the beating of drums. The veins all over his body bulged and gritting his teeth, he finally gave another push.
CRACK!
A cracking sound exploded in his body once again.
Frederick pulled another spear with a sharp reddish spear tip and pointed at them.
"Don''t you dare touch them?"
With a loud deration, Frederick took a step.
Lightning sparkled wildly. Covered in lightning, with a single step Frederick appeared right before them.
[Evil Piercing Stab]I think you should take a look at
Under the ck Mage''s astonishing gaze, a man covered with lightning made a move. Screaming in panic they tried to cast a shield however as soon as the spear struck the shield, it shattered like ss and the destructive magical energy ran wild and loud explosions urred that blinded their vision.
BOOM!
At the back, Lucas wiped out the blood trickling from his nose. Breathing in relief, he took out a vial of Holy water and emptied it.
The curse inflicted upon him subsided immediately and he looked ahead with a hint of admiration.
"Is this what plot armour looked like?"
Lucas knew exactly what might have happened. Being pushed into such a situation, Frederick must have broken through and used the blessing of the Thunder of God.
For a moment, Lucas even saw a blurry manifestation of a human with a horse head, the guardian spirit Thunder Loch. It was within his expectations but what surprised him was that Frederick broke through to the peak of 4-Star one go.
As the loud st settled, a man dressed in his blue armour holding a spear appeared. The ck mage that was nearby tried to cast a spell but with a flick, his wrist was cut apart from his arms making him scream in panic.
Turning his gaze around, Lucas pulled out water balloons containing holy water and threw them onto a team that was rolling on the pain.
POP! POP!POP!POP!POP!
On hitting them, the balloon burst and drenched them in holy water. ck smoke that was a remnant of the curses rose and disappeared.
"Are you all alright?"
Cough...Cough...
"Lucas, what''s this?"Charles asked while coughing violently to catch his breath.
"This is holy water."
"Why do you have holy water? You also stored them in a balloon pouch."Humphrey asked.
"I have a weak physique so I drink holy water," Lucas answered with a straight expression that made everyone choke.
Drink holy water.
If the Priest were here, then they would beat the shit out of him.
"Stop gawking here. The situation is quite tense here. Frederick is taking on them by himself. We need to leave so that we don''t be deadweight and pull him down."Lucas spoke.
Everyone nodded at his words.
Rose hesitated a bit and looked at Frederick fending off against the ck mage. From a nce, she could tell that he was at a disadvantage. If it was a warrior, he could have won easily but ck Mages are quite tricky to deal with.
"All of you take these vials of holy water. We may be attacked with another curse."Lucas handed them vials of holy water and they prepared to leave.
Frederick looked back and gave Lucas a brief nod giving him the signal to get away.
"Let''s go. I am sure nothing will happen to Frederic, "Lucas assured others and also himself.
If he was that easy to fall apart, he wouldn''t be the protagonist.
Without wasting any more time, all of them left and ran.
They were quite close to the parking area. Seeing no ghouls or any other ck mages appearing on the way, Lucas finally sighed in relief.
"I think we will be safe now," Monica muttered with a dry tone.
However, just as her words fell, a loud st echoed with a screen of dust clouds from afar.
After which loud wails emerged along with dark bodies.
Everyone stared at Monica for a moment who just averted her case with a flustered expression.
''Thank god, this time I am not the one who put the death g.''
Halting for a moment, Rose said"What should we do now?"
"I think we should retreat," Tiffany suggested with a pale expression seeing many ghouls blocking them.
It appears they didn''t encounter any trouble because all trouble was present here waiting for them.
When falling into deep thoughts, a horizontal line was drawn over the space, and the ghouls were cut into two.
"Kids!"
A loud voice drew their attention.
"Coachman Smith!"
They gasped in surprise seeing them.
"Kids, quickly run towards the carriage. I will cover for you. The pdins have fallen. My two teammates are engaging with the ck Magician, I ran here sensing your presence."Smith muttered while dealing with the ghouls.
"I will take on the stronger one and leave the weaker for you to fend off."
Behind him, 7 ck magicians were fighting with the two 6-Star who came here as their coachmen.Behind them two Priest were trying to act as support.
Curses and spells were flying around them. They might get injured if even one of these spells hit them.
"We have to take this final leap. All of you are noble children so I am sure you have the Vestige Vestigw armour."Charles''s cold voice reverberated.
"De Facto!"
Walking forward he raised his hand and clenched his fist. The ring in his hand glowed and encased him. Mana swirled around him and tinum armour started to surround him.
Leaving Lucas, everyone pulled on their noble Vestige armour while Lucas just stood gawking at them while admiring their transformation.
Seeing them posing like heroes and heroines, Lucas screamed inwardly.
''Are you rubbing salt on me? Why don''t you start your own power ranger show?''
Chapter 137 137:Church Under Attack[4]
?
Have you ever felt that you have been worried in vain?
That''s what Lucas was feeling now.
Lucas knew he was poor whenpared to others still he had never felt that so-called inferiorityplex till now.
The portable ring that turns into vestige armour wasn''t an ordinary thing. This was an artifact that cost a lot and on top of that, only a master cksmith could craft something like this. The defences against physical attacks were absolute.
These types of armour were only possessed by the nobles.
Lucas didn''t know about the rank but if their armour were C rank then no 5-Star attack could kill them. Though they may be injured from the shock st of the attack, they won''t die.
Looking at their transformation, Lucas shouted"What the hell? If you have these, why didn''t you wear them until now? Did you think we were walking in the garden?"
Humphrey turned towards Lucas. His head was covered with a helmet so Lucas didn''t know what expression he was making.
"Lucas, it''s not that simple. Look here."Humphrey pointed at the crest engraved over his chest.
"Once we take out this armour, we represent our house. We can''t lose our face after we put this on and put shame on your houses. So, unless required, no noble would dare to wear this especially if you aren''t the head of the house," Humphrey spoke in a high-sounding tone.
Lucas gritted his teeth.
If not for the situation, Lucas would have punched Humprehy.
''These vain pride of the nobles. You all deserve to die.No, let''s stop.''Lucas closed his eyes to calm down.
Besides the three coachmen, Lucas saw two priests acting as support to dispel the curses but theirbat capability was either weak or too low for them to engage in.
He focused his gaze up ahead. The three coachmen were at 6-Star and the battle was in a standoff, but one of them noticed the student''s presence and moved back to clear the pathway for children.
All of them, who had their bodies stiffened with shock, let out a sigh of relief after putting down their armour.
Charles, who had the highest authority here, stepped ahead.
"Please leave the ghouls to us. Just keep the ck magicians in check."
"Okay, we will try to block as much danger as possible."The wrinkled faced man muttered.
Charles then turned back and instructed"Humphrey and Tiffany would stay at the rear. Rose and Monica would be in the middle and I would lead from the front. We will form a circle around Lucas. Since he doesn''t have any armour, he is vulnerable so we will protect him."
Everyone naturally agreed to Charles''s proposal.
They proceeded as carefully as possible but it was impossible to dodge the iing enemies.
Dozens of weird monster-shaped ghouls were wriggling and running around. Some of the dogs turned into ghouls were screaming, after noticing their presence.
The ghouls squirmed their way towards them.
Charles immediately stepped forward to meet them head-on.
Swish!
Vertical lines were drawn in the air and the ghoul that passed through the line broke into three pieces forming perforated lines, from which ck blood oozed out.
As the ghoul stopped moving, two dogs jumped at Charles from behind but before they could reach him, one of the dogs was struck down by an arrow while another skull was cracked open by the bullet.
On turning back, he saw Rose aiming with her bow while Lucas held a long ck gun.
Lucas waved at him and spoke coldly, "I may look useless but I am not."
Charles clicked his tongue with a faint chuckle
''Anyone who thinks of you as useless will not know when he will die.''
Charles then caught the sight of beastly pupils ring at them and shouted.
"All ready for battle."
The bony figure that had been rushing towards the front was crushed by a skull with a loud bang.
Countless ghouls swarmed in. Onto the left, arrows sted them drilling a hole into their bodies and on the left, they were assaulted under the barrage of Monica''s spells.
[Wind Lance]
[Firidum Heveosa]
Fire erupted and burned them whilences made of wind struck them down.
The ones that were able to pass through the barrage met Tiffany and Humphrey''s assault.
Tiffany''s axe shot down like thunder. With a puck, she splits the ghouls that were rushing towards them into two.
Tiffany spun around and shot another one.
With a thump, a scream erupted with a shockwave. Humphrey picked up the rapier from the scabbard like lightning, and a de coated in silver aura pierced the head of the ghouls.
BAAM!BAAM!BAAM!BAAM!
The sound of screams and sts resonated around Lucas.
Calm and collected, Lucas shot them down to provide support. He rolled his eyes over Tiffany and wondered how many axes she had kept in store in the storage ring.
"Rose, don''t use too much force. Just coat the tip with wind and burst their head. Making a hole in the chest is of no use but if you destroy their head it would be difficult for them to find the enemy," Lucas spoke with a slight hesitation as he had no prior engagement with her.I think you should take a look at
"Okay!"
Rose, staring at Lucas, gave a slight nod and surprisingly followed his instructions without any hesitation.
"Thankfully she isn''t arrogant."Sighing in relief, Lucas squatted down and aimed at the ghouls. Since the ghouls can''t use mana to strengthen themself or cover them, even simple bullets were enough to pin them down. However, he needs two to three bullets to burst their head.
As if practising, targets Lucas immersed in shooting them while scanning around. Their number was endless.No matter how many, they killed more and kept swarming in.
"If we stay here, we will either die of exhaustion or make a mistake."Lucas bites his lips. Unlike others, he didn''t have armour so he had the highest chance of getting injured.
Looking at the carriage that seemed to be around 200 metres away from him, Lucas made a decision.
"I am just being a nuisance to you all and pulling you down. So, I suggest you form a squad to go ahead."Lucas advised while shooting down unruly dogs.
"What? You are asking us to abandon you."Charles spoke in disbelief.
"I mean, I will run towards the carriage. I have my movement technique so stop worrying about me."Lucas assured them and then ran ahead pulling out his sword.
Sharp golden air scratched the air.
Two ghouls screamed and twisted their bodies trying to block him but Lucas just jumped over them and as soon as hended on the ground, his image vanished from everyone''s sight.
[Shadow Steps]
Lucas emerged 50 metres up ahead and then activating the sh steps, he lunged ahead. Getting into the radius of a shadow, he disappeared again.
Swaying to and fro, Lucas finally appeared near the carriage. The moment he emerged, his back turned cold, feeling danger.
"Shit!"
Looking back, his eyes widened seeing strong ghouls. It seems he had stepped out from the shadow of the intermediate ghoul so instead of engaging, he ran away.
The ghouls were faster and extended its long gnarly hands to catch him but Lucas just turned around and threw a vial of Holy Water.
SCREECH!
A screeching wail echoed and the hands that stretched out towards him were burnt.
Lucas pulled out a token and jumping ahead rolled on the floor.
The ghoul behind him following him jumped but he mmed against an invisible wall and was thrown back.
Getting up, Lucas saw a blue barrier.
"Thank God!"Lucas wiped off the sweat and as he looked around, he saw three familiar figures knocked unconscious.
"Ezekiel, Jte and Haily. So they are already here."Lucas felt bitter seeing them safe and sound.
The ghoul, after failing to break through the barrier, walked back.
Gasping heavily, Lucas stared at the battlefield.
The battle between guards who disguised themselves as coachmen were having a hard time dealing with the ck mages. Along with the army of ghouls, it was especially vexing for them to deal with the two.
With the appearance of Charles and others, they can fully concentrate on the ck mages as a major chunk of the ghoul is moving towards the student group but despite this, it would be difficult to make a breakthrough.
They need someone whose attack can reach the other side.
Finally, after a long arduous journey, Charles and others managed to reach here.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, except for the fact that we arepletely exhausted," Charles spoke in a dry tone.
As soon they entered, all of them slumped down on the floor.
"What will we do now? Stay here cooped up?"Monica asked, gasping heavily.
"Until the ck mage is defeated, we have to stay here," Humphrey spoke.
"What if they won? I mean in terms of the number our side is at a disadvantage?"Tiffany spoke with a worried expression.
"That''s not a problem anymore. We already won"Lucas dered.
"Enn!"
"What?"
"Huhh!"
Seeing their confused expression, Lucas pointed ahead with a smile"Just watch!"
"Our saviour is here!"
As soon as Lucas''s words fell, leaving behind a sh something struck near the ck mages. The lightning sted them, giving them a shock.
When the dust dissipated, a spear appeared in every one view that rose back in the air and flew in the air towards the man who exuded mighty pressure.
His armour was stained with blood but despite this, it wasn''t able to hide the shiny austere. The moment, a pair of deep bluish eyes locked onto the ck mage, their whole body shuddered and a deathly chill blew over them.
Chapter 138 138:The Protagonists Might
The darkness of night had already swallowed the line of one''s sight. A chilly breeze blew, carrying along the whistling sound of leaves that gave one the feeling of dreariness.
On a mushy mud road far away from the cathedral, a group of dark-robed figures escaping from the siege of the Cathedral Pdins ran towards the secret base prepared in the forest.
"We need to hurry. The ritual had to take ce in the darkest hour, we couldn''t bete." A man muttered while breathing heavily.
Traversing through the deadly forest, they finally appeared at the base and started the preparation.
...
In a dark room with only a faint light emanating from a smallmp hanging down from the middle of the ceiling, a woman was ced on the floor with her hands and feet tied with cuffs and a ck cloth covering her face.
Hush¡ Hush.
The sound of harsh breathing emerged through the fabric. The woman''s body trembled in panic, showing the amount of anxiousness and fear she was going through recently.
After an unknown period, theyer of ck cloth was peeled, revealing a beautiful face. Messy golden hair drafted over her shoulder and taking heavy breaths, her eyelids opened and closed simultaneously many times until she got used to the surroundings.
A man with thick eyebrows frowned after entering the room on seeing the woman''s sharp expression. Despite the situation, she still looked alright for some reason.
''Something is weird.''
"Who are you? Why did you kidnap me? Do you know who I am?"
Her loud voice filled with hatred bellowed.
The thick-eyebrowed man smiled. Squatting down, he muttered"Isn''t that Saintess Luna? As per who I am, what does matter even if you know?"
"You are going to die? Oh, sorry!"
"Let me rephrase it. You will be sacrificed for the future wellbeing of our society."
"What?" She screamed.
"I can''t believe a meager filthy ck mage would dare to be this brave?"
"Hehehehehe! Let me tell you something. You have been betrayed by the Pdins. You might be wondering why there is no reinforcement. That''s because you are disconnected. The Vice Captain of Pdins of the 21st squad had joined hands with us. With his help, we brainwashed the people here.''
The man then burst intoughter.
"Saintess, how can you be this naive? I have heard that you have eyes that can differentiate the truth, so how can you not know that you have been trapped the moment you appear here? If not for the presence of the people of Horizon, we would not have resorted to this. You are favored by the heavens. Those bastards and the Princess were a major roadblock to us. We didn''t want to do this but we can''t miss this opportunity after all we have been nning for a long time..But rest assure, we aren''t going to harm The Princess and Student of Horizon."
Thinking about this, the man''s expression turned grave.
The church was their nemesis and if others were added to the equation, there was no way they could stay safe and alive. Horizon was the nest of nobles. So touching it now, would surely lead to death. So, all they have to do now is simply shuffle their memories a bit.
"You calcted quite well."
"Huh!" The man frowned, hearing a cold voice.
"I can''t believe there is someone gullible enough to ry the inside information."
"Hahaha! It''s because you have no chance to escape. You are going to die here."
"Hmph!"
A cold snort echoed.
It was then astonishment appeared on his face and his eyes widened as the temperature of the room went down by several margins and snow particles started to dance in the air.
"It seems you are mistaking something."
CLANG!
The cuffs and chain binding her broke and the woman''s figure started to change.I think you should take a look at
"You didn''t kidnap me, rather, I came here on my ord. You just led me to your filthy hideout and made my work easier."
"Now die!"
BOOM!
The entire ce erupted with the loud st, and the sweet dreams harbored by the ck magician were turned upside down instantly with her appearance.
...
Every time the spear swirled, an explosion erupted without fail. It was a blow that was packed with condensed mana. The overloaded magical energy exploded, scattering blood and meat pieces everywhere.
The raw force along with the sophisticated spearman ship was a marvellous sight to behold. Even the guards momentarily stood rooted in their ce, gasping heavily as an earth-shattering scene took ce before their eyes that couldn''t be described with mere words.
With one step, a ghostly downward sh blew off the arms of one ck mage.
In two steps, a blue solid line was drawn horizontally that severed the legs of enemies.
In thest three steps, the head of the ck mages that had put a tough resistance to the guards of Horizon was now squirming onto the ground.
In a split second, Frederick, who stood in front of enemies was now standing at the back and five corpses with cut limbs and armsy across him.
A powerful blow was needed to overturn the situation, and Frederick just delivered this.
As he stood motionless, screams erupted from the other two ck mages.
Overwhelmed by fear, the remaining two decide to flee, but the guards start to chase after them.
As they moved back, Frederick finally copsed on the ground and vomited blood.
BUERGHH!
Frederick had used Time Dtion beyond the limit his body could endure. Presently, he didn''t even have the strength to remain standing, but he mustered his strength to keep standing because if he ttered now, then fear of him in the ck mage would have vanished, and they would have either killed him first or taken him as hostage.
As his consciousness sank, he felt a pair of hands gelding him.
"Drink this."
Frederick opened his lips and drank the potions offered to him. Strength slowly returned to his body and his breathing stabilized. But the mental strain was too much for Frederick, and his consciousness finally slipped away.
Lucas, after handing the potion to Frederick, left him in Rose''s arms.
"Thank god, everything is over," Monica said, trying to ease the situation.
"Frederick''s fight shocked me to the core. I can''t believe the scene that I just witnessed. He hides too deeply." Tiffany''s eyes were staring at Frederick with a surprised expression.
Charles stared at Frederick with aplicated expression and clenched his fist with aplicated expression.
While all of them stood in awe, the guards finally took down the remaining dark mage and following their death, the ghouls disappeared.
Except for the trail of fire, everything returned to normal. The guards, after taking a moment to catch up, searched around the cathedral looking for the Princess.
Inside the Cathedral, the corpses of the pdinsy on the ground. Out of 30 Pdins, only ten were alive, but all of them were suffering from high fever.
Most of the priests were either dead or injured, except for the two Priests who were fighting with the guards. Since the parking area was at the far end, and the direction of the wind was in their favour, they hadn''t inhaled much smoke.
Lucas hardly took a rest when he heard a scream.
"The Princess and Saintess are missing."
As soon as the words resounded, everyone stood up in shock as if struck by lightning.
Chapter 139 139:Who Are You?
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Two women of great power had been kidnapped right under their eyes. If words go out, most people will die.
There might be a bloodbath for real if this reached The Emperor''s ears.
The rtionship between the Holy Church and the Cyprus Empire may deteriorate due to this situation. If anything happened to the two women, the world would surely be flipped outside this.
Only a madman with a death wish would dare toy hands on the Saintess and Princess at the same time.
Lucas whose mind became nk seeing everyone panicking suddenly remembered something.
These two women weren''t soft rice nor did they like to y damsel in distress. There was no way, both of them were gonna be kidnapped this easily.
"Please can you lead me to the Saintess room?"
Everyone narrowed their eyes and looked at him with confusion.
"Why?"
"There is something in there that might help? Her Highness told me about this?"
The Priest named Oswald, frowned hearing his words.
"Why would she tell you about this in particr instead of relying on us?"
A thick vein bulged over Lucas''s forehead.
''If you all were that reliable, this shouldn''t have happened in the first ce.''
"He is Her Highness Secretary and ranked 1st among the group."The guard named Henry tried to ease the Priest.
"Hmph! You don''t look like one."Oswald snorted but stopped seeing Henry''s re.
"Okay, I will show you but don''t you dare do something to the Holy Lady''s room."
Oswald''s tone was annoying but Lucas held his urge to hit his face.
On their way to Saintes''s room, the path was littered with blood, corpses and debris. A frightening battle had taken ce here.
Lucas could feel the malevolent spirit loitering around due to the dark mana used by the ck mage.
The door of the Saintess room was open and the sheets were in disarray. It was easier to tell what might have transpired here. The Saintess might have surely been kidnapped along with The Princess.
"Now, what do you want to do here?"The Priest gave Lucas a condemning gaze.
Lucas sighed softly. Entering inside, he made a rough judgement of the room. Scanning around, his eyes fell on a chest at the side of the table.
The chest had many luxurious patterns engraved on it. The room was quite simple without much furniture or things of great value so the chest stood out too much.
"Does this chest belong to the Saintess?"Lucas asked curiously.
"Huh!" Oswald stared at the chest in incredulity.
"No, it isn''t her. The Holy Lady doesn''t keep such high-priced things."
Getting the lead, Lucas walked towards the chest. On extending his hand towards it, an electrifying sensation erupted from it pushing away his hands.
"Ouch!"Lucas stepped back grimacing in pain.
"What happened?"Both Henry and Oswald, eximing in shock, tried to take a look.
Their hand was also repelled by some sort of barrier startling them.
"What''s in there?"They mumbled.
"What''s this chest doing here?"Oswald spoke in confusion.
"I think it''s something important."
Lucas pulled out a key and as he extended it towards the chest, under everyone''s astonished gaze, a blue barrier that encased the chest started to disappear.
Stepping forward, he put the key into the keyhole cautiously.
CLINK!
The lid of the chest flung open with a click and seeing the scene inside it, Lucas shrieked.
"Saintess!"
"Holy Lady!"
Oswald''s face glinted with bewilderment seeing Luna locked inside the chest.
Her hands and feet were wrapped with clothes.
"Stop staring at me and take me out."Luna protested.
"Oh yes!"
They uncuffed her wondering who dared tomit such a vile act.
Lucas wiped the beads of sweat.
''Oh, my god! What''s going on here? If she is here, then where is Julian?''
Lucas coughed a bit to draw everyone''s attention and asked.
"Saintess, do you know where Her Highness is!"
"Imprudent brat, can''t you see the condition of Holy Lady? She needs some rest before she can entertain you."Oswald scowled.
This time Lucas''s expression was cold.
"Priest Oswald, are you saying that you will take responsibility if something happens to Her Highness?"I think you should take a look at
"Let me remind you, she is the apple of the eye of the Imperial family. Even if it''s just a scratch, the Emperor wouldn''t hesitate to burn your Holy State."Lucas cursed at him.
"What? Are you condemning us? You are filthy heretic."Oswald refuted.
"Keep quiet!"Luna shouted and red at Oswald.
"All of you get out and Lucas you stay here. I want to discuss something with you here."
Luna''s words shocked Oswald and he retorted"Holy Lady, how can I leave you alone with this vile boy? What if he tries to assault you?"
Luna''s eyes shed with chill as she gave Oswald a deathly re "Do you want to get revoked? If not then just get out."
"Sir, please take him out," Luna asked Henry who nodded and pulled out Oswald.
"I should also go out."Lucas coughed embarrassedly.
"No, you stay here."
An awkward silence fell in the room as everyone left. Lucas also wanted to get out of there. If given a second chance, Lucas promised himself that he wouldn''t fight in the battle royal ande here.
He was sure that the Saintess had seen something.
Luna leaned up a bit and stared at Lucas with mixed emotions.
"Who are you?"
As soon as she said that, Lucas felt his mind explode.
"Hahaha! Saintess, what do you mean by that?"
"I am Lucas Bright, a student of Horizon," Lucas spoke with an awkward smile.
"I am not asking that."Luna cut off Lucas''s words and spoke menacingly.
"What is your real identity?"Her voice became cold and her yellow eyes turned green.
"Let me ask you once again. Who are you? You don''t seem to belo..."
"Ahhhh!"
A scream erupted from Luna''s lips out of nowhere and a heaven-defying scene appeared before her.
The flow of time paused for a moment. Everything around the world ceased. Except for the sound of her ragged breathing and wildly thumping heart, all other noises of the world ceased to exist.
She attempted to open her lips again, but words stuck in her throat. At that time, thousands of strings of fate wrapped around her neck forcing her to swallow her words.
This was a signal.
No, this was a warning from Providence that she wasn''t allowed to continue her sentence. If she spoke any more than this, something bad would happen. The string of fate that was binding the lives of many might be torn resulting in a catastrophe.
Luna gasped heavily and stared down as the thick bundle of strings wrapped around her neck and then turned towards Lucas whose body had also frozen.
It was then she saw a shadow shing behind Lucas from a blue screen and the manifestation of the figure had a simr appearance to Lucas but the bloody killing intention radiating from him made his face dyed in blood.
Before Luna could understand the situation, the whole world in her eyes turned nk.
QUAKE!QUAKE!
"Earthquake, no the whole world is trembling."Luna gasped in shock.
For a moment, Luna was pulled into a battlefield with corpses and shards of broken weapons.
Corpses filled the ground and blood from corpses had formed a shallow ocean of half feet deep.
QUANG!QUANG!QUANG!QUANG!
The sound of weapons shing with one another resonated and thunder roared in the sky. It was then, an uncountable number of shadows shed around that seemed to sing the hymn of war and praise someone.
Her eyes were then drawn towards an overwhelming presence that made her doubt the existence of such a being.
In the middle, a man sat on a huge pile of corpses forming a throne.
His blood-red eyes were tired and filled with boredom as if nothing in the world could cause a ripple on his face.
It was simply devoid of any emotion.
That gaze¡.That presence¡.
That man seemed to be the embodiment of fear in itself.
No, he was death in itself unbound by anyws.
The man''s blood-red eyes shone and as he locked those terrifying piercing gazes on her, Luna''s whole body trembled as if her body was gonna burst into pieces.
Her eyes glowed and her divinity erupted illuminating the whole ce with a holy light. As if a Goddess had descended thend, Holy Hymns reverberated in the sky trying to counter the man.
However...
It was then all noises in the world ceased and from shadows, countless blood-red eyes erupted, locking her with a killing ferocious intent.
The figure of the Goddess behind her vanished as if it didn''t exist.
Fear struck her heart and her soul was almost shattered by the coercion.
She could feel that person had restrained his aura otherwise, he could y an entire army of a top powerhouse with those gazes only.
It was then a deadly deep cold solemn voice emerged from his lips.
"Woman!"
"Know your ce."
Chapter 140 140:Who Are You?[2]
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Luna''s vision copsed and she slumped down onto the ground.
Various visions shed before her eyes making her shudder.
Giving him a deep stare, she suppressed her fear and asked cautiously, "What do you want to achieve? Do you want to wash the world in blood?"
"Instead of asking me, you should ask those bitches about this. You, out of everyone else, should know about your fate."
"Tsk!"The man clicked his tongue with a smirk.
"Poor and abandoned pet, you also had worse."
His words sounded like thunder and as her eyes turned green, various images shed before her eyes.
Her expression became pale and her body started to shake. Her eyes widened with shock and disbelief seeing the scene of herself crying pitifully like a lost soul.
Noticing the bewilderment, on her face, a deep smile formed over the figure''s face.
"Like everyone else, you are also just a chess piece for them. Everything is a ploy in the name of protection."
Luna opened her lips but no words came out from her voice.
After a moment, a trembling voice echoed.
"So, what is your goal? To overthrow them."
"Overthrow them? Hahaha!"
The man burst intoughter.
"What a joke! I have already lived my life. I don''t wish to interfere. All I did was give a chance to the chess pieces to overturn the whole board and flip it upside down."
"There are only two ways for a chess piece to survive."A vicious smile formed over his lips.
"One is to be such an important piece that you can''t be discarded even if they wanted and another is to reach the other end of the game and be powerful enough to tear down the entire board."
"As per what happens in the end, I don''t give a shit."
A hint of indifference appeared on his face as if he didn''t care.
As soon as his deration fell, his figure started to turn blurry.
Luna, who was still staring at the unfathomable figure, was forced awake. The feeling that the figure was emanating wasn''t something that even God couldpare.
"Despite my words, if you want to kill him, you can. But let me give you a piece of advice. Kill him without giving him a chance to escape because if he ever escapes, the entire world would be plunged into a nightmare. Human hearts are bound by the chain of morals, emotions, and rtions binding down the beast inside. The tougher they are to crack the more grim consequences will be, once broken and this guy is much more of a monster than I am."
"He doesn''t follow the principle of an eye for an eye.Rather if you take his eye, he will take your whole head irrespective of the consequences."
With thisst bit of deration, the vision in Luna''s eyes faded away and everything returned to normal.
....
Lucas started to sweat profusely as soon as he heard the question.
Not only that but seeing Luna''s expression bing as pale as sheet paper, his heart screamed in fear.
Unaware of the heaven-defying conversation that had transpired in the background, Lucas thought that her eyes seemed to have seen through everything.
Luna, who was staring ahead with a nk look, suddenly turned her gaze towards Lucas, frightening him.
With a pained expression, she squeezed out her words softly.
"Tell me who you are to Julian?"
"Who are you?"
"A friend or foe?"
The moment Lucas heard her words, cold water poured over his burning throat. For a moment, Lucas thought about his luck which had always dumped him but suddenly acted in his favour.
"I am her frie..No, I am her helper. I don''t deserve to be friends with Her Highness."Lucas muttered hurriedly.
Luna observed Lucas''s anxious expression. More than that, she was surprised by the genuine concern for Julian in his voice.
Luna pondered for a moment and stared at the nk ceiling.I think you should take a look at
"Julian should have been born with a sickly body. From birth, her body shouldn''t be able to bear the burden of her power. The previous Saintess predicted that she wouldn''t live past 30."
"What?"Lucas screamed.
"How is this possible? Though Her Highness suffers from random chills attacks, it isn''t lethal."Lucas asked in bewilderment.
"Ohh! So, you know about that. Except for the Imperial family and a select few, no one knew."
Lucas felt chill seeing Luna grinning with a wolfish smile.
''Did I step into the enemy trap?''
"I am not lying, Lucas."
"She should have been a weak feeble girl that needs others'' protection to live but isn''t she too strong and fierce?"
"Just say what you want to say, Saintess? Don''t talk in a roundabout way."
Luna shook her head and started to narrate a story contrary to Lucas''s expectations.
"There was a being who sold his soul to the Devil in the primordial ages. That being rose to the epitome of power and earned the title of God with his own hands. He had three children who carried his bloodline. The second was a tyrant that would lose his reason as soon as he began to fight.The second one was cruel and crafty while the third one was kind and weak.Out of them, the third son was despised for having a soft heart and was abandoned by their family."
"Do you know who are they?''''
Unbeknownst to him, Lucas was drawn into the story. His curiosity was piqued as soon he heard something that wasn''t in the novel''s contents.
Seeing Luna pausing a bit, Lucas shook her head.
"The first child became the ancestor of the Demon. The Second child passed the crafty bloodline to his offspring. The two of them were big figures so what about the third one?"
"Ancestor of demons," Lucas murmured in disbelief. There was something like that in history. There were some vague hints in the novel but nothing was concrete.
''Sure enough, the waters of the world are too deep.''
"When the other two engaged in war, the third one, unable to bear the sheer cruelty, decided to hide and take refuge in the human world. He was calm, rational and kind, unlike his brothers. He led a good life, married and had children. He lived a blessed life until..."Luna paused a bit.
Lucas''s body shivered uncontrobly and his blood boiled for some reason. Though itsted only for a moment, Lucas was startled to see his body reacting like this.
Maybe his heart was excited listening to the myth.
"The two brothers wanted to overthrow their father but in doing so, they also started to fight and they split into three factions. The mes of war reached our world. Everything was turned into dust. The mes burnt humans who lived and among them, was his family. By the end, all his dear ones left making him fall into an endless pit of sadness. For months, he stood before their grave and mourned while the war went on unbridled until the fury in his heart burst out. "
"He wanted peace, he wanted happiness and wanted to live his life away from the cruelty of his family, but it was then he realised that he can''t run, he can''t hide, he can''t escape. Being born into that family was a curse and there is only one way to wipe that curse which was to kill them. And from there,began the journey of Blood Thirsty Asura, The God Of ughter."
"It was a good story. But what does it have to do with Her Highness?"Lucas asked, confused by Saints'' weird stories.
"The noble family of Demons, The Lockhearts and Grand Duke of Ralph are descendants of these three families respectively have blood-red eyes. This bloodline ismonly called the Devil''s bloodline and all of them are cruel, bloodthirsty and cold."
Lucas, understanding the crux of the matter, felt a sense of trepidation" Does Her Highness have the Devil''s blood?"
Luna nodded and spoke with a saddened expression"Yes, and that was the reason for the alienation Julian suffered during childhood. Rumours spread out that she isn''t the Emperor''s child and that someone had killed the real Princess and reced Julian with her or she might be an illegitimate child. Since the world was busy with the matter of the North, The Emperor didn''t have time to look after it. Moreover, he had never imagined that Julian would be treated so unfairly. When he learnt this, he was heartbroken and conducted a public parental test to prove this. I remember the Saintess'' shocked expression as even she could not see through fate and find the reason for her possessing this."
"Maybe the Imperial lineage have the genes of that Devil bloodline. Someone from that family might have married their lineage years ago."Lucas concluded.
"Maybe or maybe not. The devil bloodline in Julian''s body is quite faint. This didn''t affect her personality severely but it managed to change her constitution and improve her physique and except for the icy illness, she could lead a long life unless she stepped into 8-Star. From there the illness would be quite severe."
After Luna gave a brief, Lucas asked"You divulged some great secret but why did you say it to me? If Her Highness knew about this there would be grave consequences for me."
He may be silenced for real if she knew this.
"Because yours and her fate are twisted quite weirdly."
"Sorry, I don''t believe in this fate bullshit."Lucas refused.
"Say that to your bad luck that is waiting for an opportunity to strike down at any moment."
Lucas''s expression turned ashen on hearing this. The Saintess was too brutal, stabbing right at the point that hurt most.
"Lucas, go after her and I will owe you a favour."
"What do you mean to go after her? Was she kidnapped for real?"Lucas asked in bewilderment.
"She used an artifact to disguise herself as me and instead of me."
Chapter 141 141:Troublesome Situation
?
"She used an artifact to disguise herself as me and got herself kidnapped?"
Lucas''s head throbbed hearing Luna''s descriptions.
"How can she make such a foolish decision? Entering into enemy territory like this is foolishness and rash. I know she is capable enough and might have many life-saving artifacts but what if her ailment acts up?"
"That''s what I am worried about?"Luna spoke with a sigh.
"She did this because we have no other option. The ck mages had locked down the entire area. Once you enter, themunication will be cut off."
Lucas pulled out his smartphone under Luna''s scrutinising gaze and checked the signal.
There was a signal on his smartphone.
"As you see, we are locked. They might have already made a move but waited until you all came. Moreover, if she fought here, all our lives might be in jeopardy. Most of the ck mages left, leaving a handful of them to deal with us."
Lucas naturally understood the reason behind it. If Saintess was missing before they came, the news might spread around.
So, they waited till they settled down and decided to act. And this might have be sessful if Frederick wasn''t there and if Lucas didn''t have the Holy Water of high purity.
On the other hand, even if Julian can take on all of them, she can''t go all out while protecting others and there might be reinforcement from their sides so she decided to divert their attention away from this ce.
"Haa! Still, I don''t think this is a good choice."
"Do you know where she is?"Lucas asked with a solemn expression.
Luna nodded her head and said"ording to me, the ck Mage would use the area near The Holy Guardian Tree in Medea forest. That area might have been tainted by them."
"Hahaha! So, you are telling me to go and die there."Lucas chortled.
"No, the remaining pdins would apany you and carve a path for you. You just have to use this cross to purify Eunox, The Holy Tree that formed the barrier. It will also help you and lead you to the ce, they are preparing for the ritual."
"You want me to specifically do this task."
"You are right!''
"Why? This is absurd. Why do I have to sacrifice my life stupidly?"Lucas freaked out seeing the way the conversation led to.
"Because only you can. You have the correct pieces so you just need to join them at the correct time."
The more Luna exined, the more clueless he became.
At this point, he can only assume that Luna might have seen something that''s going to happenter.
Still, this feels shit. Lucas had a premonition that Luna might have seen something about him and may ckmail him if he didn''t agree.
"Okay, but before that I wanted to speak about another thing."
"Will I get anything in return?"
"Yes, believe me. You might regret itter if you don''t go."
Seeing that foxy smile, Lucas wanted to hit his head.
Seers and Sages really had a knack to piss someone.
.......
Lucas after finishing the conversation decided to take a look at Frederick.
Entering a room, where everyone sat with an exhausted expression, Lucas saw Frederick''s pale expression as hey on the bed.
Rose sat near him staring at him worriedly.
The atmosphere of the room was quite heavy and solemn. After the attack, everyone decided to stick with one another.
"How is he?"
"His condition is stable now. He pushed himself a bit and suffered an internal injury due to the forceful breakthrough. His body is almost squeezed out of all the mana. With proper rest and the blessing, he will be alright."The Priest who examined his condition replied.
Lucas frowned hearing about Frederick''s condition. It meant, if Frederick didn''t get the blessing, he would suffer a grave injury that mightst long enough.
Taking God''s elemental blessing wasn''t as easy as it sounds. First, your body should bepatible with that element and then you need to strengthen your vessel and make your body resistant to the element so that you can bear the influx of arge amount of power when you call forth the power of the blessing.
Looking at Frederick, Lucas felt that the situation had gone from bad to worse. He hoped for Frederick to apany him which would also serve as an assurance, s.
Lucas just sighed heavily.
"Is the Saintess alright?"Charles asked.
"Yeah, she is fine."
"What about Her Highness!"
Lucas''s expression froze a bit upon hearing this.
Luna asked her to keep quiet about this for now and talk about it when everyone calms down.
If they knew that all of them are locked by the enforced barrier, a situation of panic and chaos may ur.
"I don''t know. She is busy out there somewhere."
"Take care, everyone, I will see youter."Lucas greeted them and was about to leave when Ezekiel shouted.
"Hey, where are you going? Didn''t you hear the order? We are asked to stay put here."
Lucas stared Ezekiel unfazed by his ugly expression.
"I have some things to do.''''
"Who the hell are you? You are busier than us nobles."
"Hey, Ezekiel, why do you always ask such stupid questions repeatedly? I am the President''s Secretary so unlike you I have some work to do. I can''tze around here."Lucas answered nonchntly and walked out without giving a damn about what Ezekiel thinks.
He wasn''t in the mood to argue with a shithead.I think you should take a look at
"Hey, Lucas!"
Lucas turned back with a frustrated expression wondering what happened now.
"Tell me the truth, something bad has happened, hasn''t it?"Charles asked, staring deep into Lucas''s eye.
Lucas raised his brows and answered, "You can say so."
Hearing such a dry tone, Charles took up a moment to clear his head.
"I don''t know what happened nor I will pry further, however, if you need any help you can just ask."
Lucas contemted for a moment. If it was Frederick or Parth, Lucas would have agreed at the moment but he wasn''t sure about Charles.
''Let''s not put his life at risk. I have a protective amulet but I don''t know about him.''
That was the main reason he agreed otherwise he wouldn''t agree with Luna no matter what.
"Okay, I will call you if required."
Charles sighed seeing Lucas''s tough attitude and flicked his figure.
"What''s this?"Lucas eximed in surprise, catching a mini object.
"Return it to meter."Charles left hurriedly leaving Lucas in bewilderment.
Lucas, taking a look at the object, screamed.
"Holy shit!"
"It''s Charles Vestige Armour."
......
The deeper one went into the forest, the more deste the scenery became. There was nock of shrubs, bushes and thorns through the path except their condition was a bit strange.
The atmosphere was quite humid and the trees seemed to be eerie and dark. Prickly brambles and grass grew from within the cracks of the rocks. Withered trees started to manifest themselves in the distant darkness and the terrain started to turn ominous giving a dreary sensation of the ghostly forest.
The cold wind could be heard blowing through the branches emitting ghastly whispers of warning.
It was really weird for awakenings like them to feel cold and shiver.
CRACKLE!
The small sound drew everyone''s attention. The man without panicking squatted down to see the source of the sound. On dusting the dried leaves and twigs under his foot, he found a cracked skull that seemed to be human.
When the scene was reflected in everyone''s eyes, they swallowed their saliva in fear.
''I knew it. I shouldn''t have agreed to this suicidal mission.''Lucas sighed looking around.
Apanying him were two guards, two pdins and a priest who seems to have simr feelings as Lucas.
There was a look of resignation on the Priest and he seemed to be screaming inwardly.
''Why are you pulling me into his shit? Out of everyone, why me?''
He was the youngest one among the remaining Priests and was pushed here.
''I shouldn''t have believed in the Saintess. I thought a whole squad of Pdin would apany us but she sent only two.''
Lucas clutched the holy cross over his neck more tightly. It was Luna''s locket that would avert evil spirits and ghouls away from him.
Dragging his limping limbs, Lucas and the guards followed the Pdin''s lead.
"Are we there?"Henry asked cautiously.
"Almost!"The pdin named Tom answered, looking at the man.
"We can''t reach there without a map, you idiot. The barrier is transparent and covered with an illusion of magic. We need to use divinity to get there otherwise we will just be going round and round."Priest Lein shouted with frustration.
"Huh! Was there something like this?"Tom eximed in shock.
"Damn! Who the hell stationed you here? You don''t even know such a simple thing."
Lucas, Henry and Owis just stared at them bantering through the way.
"I don''t think we can get there like this. Oh my God, if we don''t rescue Her Highness, I have to offer my head as a gift to the monarch...sob..."Owis started to shed tears.
"Do you think your life is worth anything in front of Her Highness?"Henry condemned him.
Lucas''s lips twitched witnessing the weirdest party members around him that were selected personally by Luna.
''What am I doing here?''Lucas looked up at the dark starless night with a depressed expression.
As he wasmenting, the cross over his neck started to glow.
"Huh!"
"It''s glowing."
"No, it''s telling something."
The cross rose and pointed forward with a slight pull.
Lucas gazed in the direction it was pointing.
For a test,he turned towards the opposite direction but the cross turned and rotated towards the original ce.
"It''s just like apass," Lucas murmured.
"Let''s go quickly. We need to hurry lest something happens to Her Highness."Henry spoke while wondering what lied ahead of them.
Chapter 142 142:Medea Forest
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"I think this is the ce."Lucas gasped heavily, feeling a strong reaction from the Holy Cross.
I don''t know what we may encounter inside the barrier so I think we should take a moment to replenish ourselves and return to the peak of our condition."Henry suggested.
"I agree," Tom murmured.
Lucas then walked to the side and took out a potion.
[Super Sensory Potion]
Lucas''s hands trembled a bit as he stared at the small vial and remembered the warning.
"Lucas, this potion would be effective for four hours and your senses would heighten to that of a 4-Star warrior or even 5-Star. I don''t even know the full extent of it. As soon as the effects wear off, there may be grave repercussions of extreme difort and hallucinations. You will find it difficult to perceive the external surroundings and you need to rest so that your body can adjust to extreme difort."
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Lucas chugged down the potions.
Lucas sat down and closed his eyes to concentrate.
At first, it was faint but his ears started to ring again. A splitting headache ran through his mind and the increased sense of smell gave him a sickening feeling.
The moment Lucas opened his eyes, the world around him started to change and the rapid influx of information perceived by him momentarily stunned him.
Lucas didn''t panic and tried to process his thoughts by getting himself familiarised with the surroundings.
"I hope this helps," Lucas muttered and getting up, executed simple moves to get used to his feeling.
On looking at the status screen, he was startled to see his perception at the peak of the 5-Star level.
"No matter what, I am not gonna die today.
........
A bright light erupted from the Holy Cross covering the whole area. Upon being led by Holy Cross, they entered a tnd filled with grass but the density of mana was way higher than before.
It was then The Holy Cross shed, and the curtains upon entering the ce simmered. The fray dark clouds that had been throwing cold icy winds disappeared, and a clear sky filled with clusters of stars appeared. The refreshing scent of flowers greeted them and a panoramic view filled with beauty startled them.
"Wooow!"
"What''s this? This ce looks mesmerising."
"Beautiful."
Everyone gasped in shock and took a moment to relish the beauty. However, before they could, the Holy Cross on Lucas''s neck erupted and a bright light shed again.
The space before them was distorted.
Suddenly strong winds blew and then the red mist pushed by the wind engulfed the ce.
Lucas saw the faint shadow of things scattered onto the floor and a faint fishy smell passed by the tip of the nose.
Lucas moved forward with hastened steps followed by others.
Running ahead, Lucas checked the figure scattered across the ground.
Facing the shocking sight, Lein''s breath stopped for a moment.
Dozens of pdins and Knights with broken armour scattered here and thereid on the floor with widened eyes filled with fear.
"How can it be? They went on a mission two weeks ago so how can their corpse be here?"Lein screamed in bewilderment.
"Do you know them?"Henry asked calmly.
"Yes, they are the main pdin''s squad of the Parish. It''s because they are missing, we are in trouble, otherwise, why would our security be so poor."Lein exined.
Lucas bending down examined the corpses.
The whole body was covered in blood and the skin had been pierced as if it had been hacked by thorns.
Lucas''s eyes then fell on the deformed limbs which seemed to have been crushed.
Lucas''s heart started to beat crazily as if it would explode. His back tingled and his body shivered.
His eyes widened and the hair on his skin stood up as the odd feeling of something rolling appeared.
It was then, Lucas felt feet slight tremors.
Lucas''s body reacted, and he jumped up with a scream.
"Be careful."
Lucas''s words drew everyone''s attention. On turning around, they were startled to see dark hands rising from the ground.
"These are..."
Eximed in shock, everyone moved back.
Hands sprouted from the ground trying to pull them down.
Thankfully, Lucas''s warning saved their lives. Otherwise, who knew what would happen?
Henry, pulling Lein, jumped into mid-air and shouted.
"Stay away from the ground."
Lucas beforending on the ground used shadow steps and appeared far away from the spot.
With a pale expression, Lucas scanned all around wondering to whom these hands belong.
Undead or ghouls?
"Hmm!"
Lucas sheathed his sword and stabbed it in the ground creating a small crack. He then threw a bomb into it and stepped back.I think you should take a look at
BOOM!
The ground erupted and a small crater was created, inside which many disfigured corpses were burnt by the st.
"There are dead bodies inside, "Lucas screamed.
Henry and Tom stared at each other for a moment.
Henry then threw Lien to Tom andnding on the ground, mmed his fist.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM BOOM!
Following his notion, Owis and Cale also hit the ground.
Dust rose as the ground was pulverised and the top portion of the soil was swept away exposing the ugliness inside.
When the dust dissipated, they saw the ragged ground stained with blood with a ckish mass wriggling around on the corpses that had been buried there.
Lucas''s head throbbed as he remembered that horrific scene he had witnessed with Professor Shiya.
Leeches and ck slimes seemed to be sucking blood on the corpses creating many gap holes.
"What''s going on here? And how are these corpses moving?"Henry muttered while looking around with a baffled expression.
"There isn''t any necromancy involved here. Though this ce is filled with malevolent energy, I didn''t feel any necromancer nearby."Lein spoke with a pale expression.
The corpses turned their body to look above the ground and stumbling in their steps, started climbing out from the cracked ground.
Seeing their zombie-like movement, Lucas had a sudden realisation.
"Puppeteer! There seems to be a puppeteer somewhere nearby."Lucas spoke and then observed the terrain.
"The puppeteer must have hidden nearby to control the puppets. That means he is observing us."
"How will we find it?" Tom asked.
"We have no other option than to fight these dead ones while searching around. Lein cast your Holy Light."Henry shouted.
Lein nodded and started praying.
A bright light shimmered and fell on everyone.
Lucas felt a warm current flowing through his body. He could feel his strength and vitality rising with a refreshing feeling.
The locket squirmed as if conveying something.
Suppressing his excitement, Lucas stared at his status screen.
Lucas''s jaw dropped wide, seeing his status screen as if it was nothing less than a miracle. Hisbat ability had risen to mid of D+ which is synonymous with peak of 4 Star.
His stats looked the same but Lucas was sure it was above 4-Star in all stats.
"I knew Priest boosts help a lot but aren''t this way too much."Lucas gave Lein a weird look and then stared at the Holy Cross.
"It seems that the Holy Cross had a hand in it. I thought it was a normal cross but is it a precious artifact?"
There was no status screen to alert you about an artifact rank in this world nor was he well versed in this field.
Moreover, unlike other Lucas boosts, it was way bigger as Lein was a 6-Star priest and Lucas was sure that this guy wasn''t an ordinary priest.
"It seems, Saintess glimpsed all this. Okay, for this time I will trust you."
The dead bodies containing nefarious energy shed their scimitar at Lucas''s neck.
Lucas saw the deing at him. It was quite slow. The energy contained by the corpse was at 5-Star still it didn''t pose any threat to Lucas.
Lucas bent his needs. He dodged the de of a scimitar with a slight difference, then shed his sword.
THUD
A head flew back andnded behind.
Lucas then kicked the ground and rushed at the dead bodies attacking him.
[sh Steps]
Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish
Along with the frightening sound, the bodies of the five corpses were split diagonally.
SLASH!
Lucas''s de shimmered and sizzled as dark blood burned over the de that had been blessed.
His heart thumped. Magical energy pumped over his body and a sense of excitement welled inside him. He felt free and the power to do anything at the moment courses through his heart.
"What the hell? I thought that guy with blue hair is the only abnormal among the bunch but this guy is also a monster?"Tom screamed in horror.
"Yeah, even I am having trouble dealing with so many ghouls and dead bodies so how is he dealing with them?"Henry spoke with a frown and felt embarrassed.
"I think something is helping him. The ghouls and dark energy around him are getting purified and they are turning weak in facing him."Lein spoke calmly.
"How can it? Does he have a special power?"Tom asked.
"No, I think it''s the effect of the Holy Cross that Saintess carries, "Lein concluded even though he wasn''t sure, still he believed that it wasn''t an ordinary cross.
Lucas''s eyes sparkled. He dashed into the battlefield leaving his body to that feeling of bravado and started ughtering everything that came before his eyes.
He looked like a red wolf strolling amidst a flock of sheep. As he submitted himself to the desire to ughter everything, Lucas''s pupil dted, noticing several threads around him.
Tracing the strings, his eyes fell on a distant tree. Due to heightened senses, his sight had improved greatly and he finally glimpsed a person hiding in the shadows who jumped up in bewilderment on meeting his gaze.
Chapter 143 143:Medea Forest[2]
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He wanted to be the greatest puppet master. He had the talent, he had the skills. He had everything required to climb the peak of puppet mastery. Bloodline doesn''t y a major role in puppet masters. Even if you are low rank, you can control others much higher than your rank if you have strong willpower.
However, there is one thing that blocked his way. That was resources. A puppet master needs resources in a much greater amount than others.
If you are spirit summoner along with the puppet master, you can control others, and even living beings with the help of spirits but if not you can only control puppets created with huge resources.
But he was neither a spirit summoner nor did he have money. His talent was overshadowed until he found this group of maniacs that decided to nourish him. He was reluctant to join them but he had no other option. Joining them, he found a new way to use his skill which was to control ghouls, corpses and the dead.
All of them were excellent puppets but they were much harder to control due to the deep resentment and hatred making one lose their mind. However, he was able to protect his mind from erosion.
However, at that moment.
The moment the boy turned his head.
Melvin, for the first time in his life, felt that overwhelming sense of suppression.
The reddish-golden eyes that shone in the darkness were bleak,pletely cold and dark. It was so sombre that he felt as if ayer of chill as if darkness itself was going to engulf him.
It was the most piercing gaze he had ever seen.
Melvin, who observed the person, was momentarily startled by a small smile that crept over the boy''s lips giving him goosebumps.
The boy started to walk towards him.
Being panicked, he waves his handsmanding everyone to attack that boy who was giving him an odd feeling.
......
''It''s quite odd.''
''I have never felt confident like this before. If only I had this type of confidence in my previous life, I wouldn''t have died single.''
''Tsk!''
Lucas shook his head to stop his mind from going astray.
''Lucas, don''t be arrogant.''
Ghouls rushed at him with a frightening speed.
Unfazed, Lucas just swung his sword.
Countless golden threads were drawn in the air and the ghouls aiming at him were sliced like paper.
"Lucas, leave them to us."
BANG!
Henry cleared the ghouls in a straight line with a punch.
"There might be ck wizards hiding here. Don''t care about them and go straight for the guardian tree."Henry advised.
"Okay, before that I need to open a path towards the right. I want to deal with the puppeteer."Lucas spoke.
Henry didn''t question Lucas''s decision and just nodded.
Henry gasped heavily, gathering his energy.
He rotated his fist and lowered it towards his waist. A thick bundle of magical energy coagted on his fist.
As Henry''s aura grew wilder, he unleashed a set of destructive punches.
[Sky Divine Fist.]
....
Seeing ayer of dust flying around and many corpses and groups of ghouls'' bodies were getting sted, he gritted his teeth.
"Why are they attacking this side?"
Melvin almost chewed his nails feeling nervous.
He tried to coordinate the ghouls with his senses but a growl appeared on his face as he saw a dark smoke obscuring his vision.
"Why is the smoke not dissipating?"Melvin asked in disbelief.
"It''s because this isn''t natural smoke."
"Ohhh!I got it...ahhhhhhhh!"Melvin screamed as he felt a cold de ced on his neck.
"Who are you?"He asked in a panicked tone.
Melvin was at 4-Star levels but in terms ofbat, he can''t even defeat a mere 2-Star.
"Your death," Lucas replied.
"Answer me and I will grant you life."
"How can I believe you?"
"You are not a ck wizard nor did we have any enmity. It seems you are working with them just to fulfil your purpose."
"What? How did you know that?"
"It''s me who will ask questions and you will answer?"
"I will not answer your quest....ahhhhhhhhh!"
The sudden influx of pain blinded his vision. On turning his head, he saw a dagger embedded in his shoulder.
Lucas pulled out a potion and spoke.
"If you answer my question, I will give you this potion otherwise I will cut one finger every time you don''t answer a question."
Melvin''s body shivered to hear that cold lifeless voice.
"Okay!"Melvin nodded his head.
Lucas heaved in relief. From the moment he saw him, Lucas knew that this guy was a coward and was still a greenhorn.
"What''s your name?"
"Melvin!"
"Melvin Humble!"Lucas eximed in shock.
"What? How did you know my full name?"I think you should take a look at
"I heard in the ck market, people praised you as a genius," Lucas said nonchntly, trying to hide his shock.
"What really?"
"Yes."
Master of Demonic Toys a.k.a Melvin will wreak havoc in the future using dead and deceased to fight.
The concept of using puppets had existed since long ago but none used the deceased as puppets. People might have tried but none seeded except this guy because the malevolent spirit is quite strong.
"Tell me, did you kill every one of these?"
"No, I have never killed anyone. I just joined these maniacs four days ago. They asked me to care if anyone appears here but believe me I am trying to push you away. If I wanted to kill you, all of you would have died, the moment you enter here."Melvin spoke in a pleading tone.
"Where are the ck wizards?"
"I don''t know, they moved inside the Tree. I don''t even know what is going on there. I was forced to work for them or I would have been killed."
"Nice!You still have chance to repent"Lucas''s eyes gleamed.
"Sign this."Lucas threw a paper on the ground.
"What''s this a ve contract?"
"You can say so."
"I will not sign it."
"You don''t have a choice. Did you think you can buy time to attack me with the ghoul?"Lucas''s image disappears along with Melvin and using shadow steps he appears 30 metres away.
"I told you not to y tricks," Lucas shouted and stomped on Melvin''s leg.
"Kyakkkkk!
Lucas scratched Melvin''s neck with his sword and spoke in a threatening tone.
"Sign this or die."
"I promise you will regret it if you make another stupid move."
"Damn it!"
Melvin''s body shivered in fright seeing Lucas''s menacing face. He opened the scroll and signed with his blood.
''I am gonna pay you for this humiliation. I swear.''
At that time, Lucas''s eyes gleamed and a vision appeared before him.
Lucas put back the mana contract and pressed Melvin''s shoulder while holding the cross and spoke with a yful smile.
A small light erupted from the Holy Cross as he pressed it on Melvin''s shoulder.
A small sign of Cross tattoo appeared over Melvin''s back.This would make sure, Melvin didn''t have any thoughts of betraying him.
This information, came up out of nowhere inside his mind and he was now even more that this Holy Cross wasn''t any ordinary artifact.
"Leave now."
"What?"Melvin''s eyes gleamed.
"Don''t worry. I won''t make things difficult for you. I just want you to work for me and that contract you signed meant you agreed to be my underlying. Naturally, I will treat you well. I will give you advice. Don''t use dead humans for now and instead of that use dead monsters. They will be more useful."
"By the way, where do you want me to go?"Melvin asked.
"Go to the City of Hines and look for a guy Creck in secret Puppet Club. He might teach you something. Once you are strong I will contact you. Keep it with you till that time. And yeah, don''t try to run. I can easily find you with the help of the contract.''''Lucas gave some important information while caressing Melvin Melvin''s throat.
Melvin stared at the boy in astonishment and stood up with a hint of resignation on his face.
He picked up the storage ring and things that were thrown at him.
"What''s your name?"
"Lucas."
"Now leave before the Church catches you," Lucas spoke before dashing towards the guardian tree.
Seeing the disappearing back.
"This is one of the craziest days of life."
"Haa...Am I his servant? Shouldn''t he at least take me with him?"
"Arghhh!Why am I thinking like this?"
"This is the contract''s fault. It is surely messing with my thoughts, making me look at him in a new light as if he is my master."
"Damn!"
...
The moment Lucas reached near the guardian tree all he saw was the sign of death.
Corpses hung over the tree and maggots covered them sucking blood. It was a horrific scene.
Lucas remembered that retired mage from the Mage Association of Empire. He was injured and the mana rings were destroyed and his level fell to 5-Star. With not many days to be alive, he retired here but who knew he would face such a misfortune?
Out of 15 corpses hanging here, it was even difficult to identify the person riddled with holes.
Shaking his head, Lucas walked towards the Holy tree, it was then the Holy Cross quivered and a blinding sh erupted from it that covered everything.
Lucas''s senses dimmed and he closed his eyes due to the intense light and when he opened it, he found himself in a narrow dark space.
"Where am I?"
Lucas muttered looking at the woody vines around him.
DRIP!
As he searched around, a drop of liquid fell over his cheek emitting a foul fishy smell.
Lucas''s heart vibrated as he wiped the liquid and he looked up towards the origin of this.
Seeing the scene, Lucas''s eyes widened with disbelief.
Chapter 144 144:I Am Not A Loli
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Lucas''s mouth opened wide as he gazed at the ragged figure hanging on a tree-like structure.
A golden-haired woman was tied with a chain and was kept hanging.
Countless dark snake-like creatures wrapped around the figure. Dark blood oozed out from the skin and there were many holes over the surface.
Slimes and maggots wriggled around making the scene horrendous and sickening. Dark mist lingered and swirled around and countless flies swatted around there.
If it was before, Lucas would have vomited seeing the disgusting scene but he was d that he was now tolerant of these kinds of scenes.
The coldness that seeped from the ce was spine chilling making Lucas shiver at the odd stifling scene.
As he gazed at the figure, he found that this was a woman figure of short stature and after taking up a moment to get the hang of the situation, Lucas muttered in bewilderment.
"A loli."
The sound reverberated in the space and after a moment, the dead corpse-like figure opened her eyes.
"What? Which bastard called me Loli?"
A loud scream erupted from the loli lips startling Lucas.
"You are alright. I mean you are alive."
The voice drew the loli''s attention to Lucas. Staring at the boy''s solemn expression and familiar speech, she shouted.
"Damn you! Stop jinxing stupid human."
"And for your kind information, I am not a loli, I am the guardian spirit Eunox, you shithead."
"What kind of guardian spirit uses foul words?"Lucas asked, surprised by her figure of speech.
"It''s all because of foul breath human influence. You, rotten stinky human, stop staring at me with those perverted eyes."
Lucas blinked his eyes in confusion.
''Perverted¡me. This girl is now asking for spanking.''
"I came here to save you but it seems, I have to change my wind."
"What? No¡No."
"Oh, kind human. I take back my words. You are less disgusting than those ck shit scums. Compared to them you are as good as trash that can at least be used by others."
"You¡"
Lucas, getting rebutted, was about to speak but a beam of light erupted from the Holy Cross and shot at Eunox.
Swish!
The entire area was covered with a bright light. The dark mist swirling around was shaken away by the holy light.
A screeching sound apanied by a scream of pain echoed around Eunox.
The malevolent spirit around Eunox was burnt and purified by the beam of light. Eunox felt a warm energy gushing into her and filling her with vitality.
When the dazzling light subsided, Lucas saw Eunox''s body fluttering in mid-air.
Lucas stared at Holy Cross with a weird look.
"Do you have an ego? How do you act on your own and your timing is quite immacte."Lucas muttered in disbelief.
He didn''t remember the novel mentioning anything special about this Holy Cross. Maybe the Saintess''s presence overwhelmed it.
"Let me rify it once again. I am not a Loli. It''s just that malevolent spirits were trying to taint me but failing in doing that, they sucked my energy so I just changed my figure to a small size to conserve my energy."Eunox spoke with a menacing gaze.
"Stop being fixated on something so silly. I am running out of time. The Saintess said you would lead me to a ce where Her Highness is Kidnapped."
"Are you asking about those asshole ck wizards?"
"Yeah!"Lucas spoke with a flustered expression after hearing her rough speech.
"Those damned perverts invaded this ce, destroyed and took over the barrier and tortured me with those worms. It was so difficult."Eunox''s sharp eyes became teary and she started to sob.
"It''s okay, can you lead me to those ck wizards? And what are they doing here?"Lucas asked.
"There is a subspace that can be essed by me. They are preparing some weird rituals there. They kidnapped a woman and took her there. She might be the one you are looking for. "
"Please teleport me to the ce and quickly take over the barrier that is blocking the signal" Lucas spoke hurriedly.
Once the barrier is dispersed, they can ask for help from the surrounding territories.
"Okay! I will first teleport you and then take over the barrier."Eunox spoke with a solemn expression and snapped her finger.
"Remember to teleport me to a safe distant location at the corner, not in the middle of some battlefield," Lucas shouted.
"Yeah,I get it. Just get the hell out of here now."
A bright light erupted and covered Lucas''s figure.
As soon as Lucas''s figure disappeared, Eunox slumped on the floor gasping heavily.
She cuddled and hugged her knees to find a bit of warmth left around the ce and tried to stop herself from shivering.
"I can''t believe this."
"I can''t believe I met him. I think he doesn''t remember or maybe he isn''t awakened. Who knows if I acted differently, what would have happened?"
"I thought I was unlucky but those ck wizards out of all existence had to provoke him and that girl. If by chance, he remembers everything, only God knows what he will do."Eunox mumbled with a frightened expression.
.....
With a faint flicker, Lucas appeared in a darkly lit ce.I think you should take a look at
Looking around, Lucas saw faint shadows of towering tall trees by the side of the forest.
As he walked further, faint snowkes fell over him. The soil was slowly enveloped with ayer of snow as he went deeper. The white fluffy deep snow makes it hard to walk and his feet be numb due to the cold.
Lucas squirmed his eyes as the snowfall intensity increased. A blizzard blew over the ce out of nowhere. The faint howling of wind sounded like ghosts swarming at him that suppressed the muffled sound of sts echoing again and again.
Through theyer of mist, Lucas finally glimpsed the sight of a figure.
The back of the figure looked lonely. Still, it was as straight as a mountain. There were scratches and wounds with blood trickling from the back.
The white dress was stained with blood which was in sharp contrast to the white snow underneath her feet.
And surrounding the figure stood many dark-robed figures trying to bring her down.
Lucas''s heart jolted and uneasiness welled up in his heart seeing that sorry figure.
"P...Princess!"
Unbeknownst to him, a voice filled with worry emerged from his lips.
...
A huge number of undead and ghouls surrounded her.
As soon as Julian grasped their number to some extent, Julian confidently took a step forward and prepared to counterattack.
Beside her,rge chunks of ice appeared all of a sudden that were slowly growing in size.
The ice with sharp edges shot all around bouncing off against the army of undead and ghouls sending them flying.
The sharp shard pierce through their defence and blew them into tatters.
[Ice Mass]
This time instead of ice shards, huge masses of ice cubes appeared over the sky and crashed onto them crushing them into a paste.
Pulling out her greatsword, she shed with all her might.
A horizontal line cut through the ce clearing out everything before her sight.
"Tsk!"She clicked her tongue in displeasure.
The ce was full of ck wizards and necromancers. Until she deals with them, killing these minions wouldn''t be worth much.
"Give up!"
"You can''t harm us."
"You will soon be exhausted."
Julian''s sharp eyes narrowed and she started at the wizards sneering at her.
"You underestimate people too much."
As soon as her words fell, the ground started to rumble. A whitish aura burst forth from her body and a mighty pressure radiated from her body.
With her at the centre, an icy storm blew freezing everyone
The sword in her hand squirmed and as she swung her sword encased with pure white light, a huge arc of white light burst out tearing everything in her way. Everything enveloped by the mighty arc was frozen and shattered like ss.
Seeing things going out of hand, the ck wizards made their move.
Julian''s eyes gleamed with danger sensing a colossal array of attacks being shot at her.
[Ice Wall]
She swung her hand and then erected arge barrier to prevent the attacks from reaching her.
BOOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM
The wall exploded into pieces after being hit by the magic spell. A thickyer of white mist covered everyone one vision.
Heinrich, the man leading everyone squinted his eyes due to the sudden forbidding.
It was then, he heard loud grasps and shrieks from around.
"Ahhhh!"
"Kheumm!"
"Noooo!"
His eyes darted around towards the source of the sound.
Countless white lines drew over the nk ce as if trying to paint the ck canvas with a white appeared in his vision.
Five snow storms erupted that sucked the undead and ghouls while a white light shed through the air.
And in the white line, a woman with two icy wings holding two swords drenched in blood wasing towards him while ughtering everything in the path.
The ck Wizards were taken by surprise seeing her astonishing speed. Leaving behind after images, she appeared in front of them and even before they could cast a barrier, they were hacked into pieces by her.
"Bitch!"
Heinrich screamed and waved his hand.
"I summon you, Heavenly Knight of Evil King."
"Please heed the request of this follower. Please ept the sacrifices."Heinrich took out a red stone and crushed it.
A magic circle appeared emitting an intense light and a huge pir of magic soared endlessly into the sky scattering an eerie red light.
Chapter 145 145:Few Inches From Death
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A huge magic circle formed with numerous magic strokes.The magic circle scattered red light dyeing the space with a reddish glint signifying the harbinger of destruction.
A suction force appeared around Heinkel that started to suck the life force of the people around him.
"How can you do this?"
"Noooo!"
"Don''t kill me?"
"You bastard."
The ck wizards screamed and tried to run away but all of them were locked by an invisible barrier. Helpless, they screamed while trying their best to go out but everything was meaningless.
Their body was sucked dry out of vitality, and all the life essence was moved into the red pir.
For the first time, an expression of panic appeared on Julian''s face.
This was a mistake.
A grave mistake on her part.
She had never expected this maniac to be this ruthless. Not only did the leader sacrifice his people but he also sacrificed his own life.
With the death of ck wizards, the ghouls and undead summons were undone and the space before her was cleared of obstruction.
Julian barged her way through the barrier and raised her sword to attack and disrupt the summoning ritual.
She gathered her aura and condensed it over the sword but before she could attack, the magic pir exploded disrupting her.
A strong shock wave of pure magical energy hit Julian.
Spurting blood,Julian''s body flew and crashed onto the ground forming a crater.
"Ughhh!"
A groan escaped from her lips as she felt an intense pain in the back of her head to the point that she thought she was going to faint.
Blood trickled from her forehead and her left arm became numb with pain due to crashing awkwardly.
As she tried to get up on her feet and pull out an elixir, her feet trembled and she coughed more blood.
The attack hit her at a crucial point disrupting her mana flow. She made an effort to force out the foreign mana from her body but it was stronger than she imagined.
Moreover, she suffered a bacsh due to the Curse of Frost that froze and blocked her mana vessels.
Intense pain as if her body was ripped apart coursed through her body. Every time the illness red up, she had to suffer endless pain and stay in a warm heated area for a few days.
For her, it wasn''t anything significant as she was already used to this but it came at the worst time.
"I can''t go down. I need to kill it before the summon appears otherwise there would be a huge threat."
Julian with great difficulty drank a healing potion with trembling hands but except for healing the wounds, it didn''t lessen the pain nor did it get rid of the chill attack.
As Julian got up on her feet, a red aurora filled the sky. A single eyerge enough to cover the sky above began to look at the world.
Heavy dark mana filled the atmosphere. A feeling of pressure weighed on Julian. It was only then she realised the darkness of the abyss that was crashing into her.
In the darkness beneath her feet, many eyes that had been silent floated upward. It was then eerie eyes made up of red and ck that shifted their attention towards Julian.
Julian''s heart froze seeing the eerie scene. Suddenly she felt a sense of emptiness. Her vision turned blurry.
Her emotions died down and for a moment she started to look back at her life.
''Why am I doing this?''
''Why did Ie here?''
''Does it matter if I die?''
''Does my existence have any value?''
''Why should I fight for the people who don''t mean anything to me?''
''All of them pretend good but if I show a moment of weakness, all of them will stab me in the back?''
''It''sughable that I am fighting for the people who can stab me at any moment.''I think you should take a look at
''While I am suffering here, all of them should bezing on their cosy bed?''
Various questions shed over her mind.
Whispers echoed in her ear asking her to give up. The flow in her eyes dimmed down and it became nk.
"You are right, I should just die. I am just a cursed woman destined to die tragically before 30 so why should I struggle? Is there any meaning to it?"
Julian felt a wrench in her brain and she couldn''t think straight anymore. Gradually, her consciousness started to drift apart and sink into darkness.
She felt as if she was drowning in the darkness with no one to see her.
It seems she would die without anyone to grieve for.
Instead of being sad, she felt happy about approaching freedom.
"Finally, I will be free of suffering."
"I will be fr...."
"Shut up."
A shape voice pierced her sense of reason and through the darkness, she showed a bright hand holding her tightly.
A warm golden light shed and cleared away the darkness.
Julian''s vision became blurred and when her eyesight recovered, she saw a man dressed in Vestige armour pinning her down.
"What?"Julian''s mind exploded and became nk for a moment, unable to discern the situation.
"Your Highness, you are not alone."
Julian snapped out of her thoughts hearing a choked voice.
She stared at the figure pinning her with a dazed expression.
The face of the man was covered with a shiny helmet but through the eye holes, she could see sharp golden eyes staring at her.
"Lu...Lucas.''''
"Even if your life is full of sadness, please don''t throw it away like this. There may be thousands of reasons to die but one reason to live is enough to overpower those thousand reasons and bad memories"
"There are many people who care for you genuinely and you will encounter many who will love you truly. So, you will never be alone believe me."
"I swear in the name of Gods."
For a moment an awkward silence prevailed. Except for the sound of two people gasping heavily, all noise ceased to exist.
Julian stared at her wrist held tightly by Lucas''s trembling hands as if she was gonna disappear, the moment he let go of her wrist.
Julian''s face heated up but she just took a moment to stabilise her thoughts and muttered"I understand so can you get up."
"Yeah!"Lucas immediately stood up and helped Julian to get up on her feet.
"What''s going on?"Julian asked with a confused expression.
"Your Highness, you are under the influence of this evil spirit Ajkerbern, one of four Evil Heavenly Spirits under Evil God. On being close to it, your deepest insecurities will resurface that clouds your mind with negative thoughts. Once your mind is controlled, it feeds on your negative emotions and destroys you. It doesn''t matter if you are a 9-Star. As long as a person has regrets and insecurities, the person will be influenced unless he had a strong mental strength."Lucas exined hurriedly.
"When I came here, I saw you holding a sharp icy shard that was almost near the throat. If not for this Holy Cross lent to me by the Saintess, I might have also fallen for this."
Lucas didn''t want to make a move but the situation was quite bad.
''Princess was unlucky this time, otherwise, she would have frozen everything already. Moreover, her illness red up at the wrong time.''
Julian blinked in surprise as she couldn''t believe that she would fall into such cheap tricks. But as he thought over Lucas''s words, she had to ept that she had too much fear hidden under the cold mask and for a moment felt embarrassed that a person had seen through the veil.
Remembering Lucas''s words, she was slightly flustered. In fact, she didn''t even know how to react to all of this.
Still, she needs to behave and maintain the dignity of a Princess. She can''t just throw a tantrum or behave like spoiled children just because the other side sees her embarrassing side.
"By the way, how did youe....aahhhhh?"A scream erupted from her lips before she could finish her sentence.
A cold, piercing aura pierced through Julian that froze her whole body. But regardless of the pain, she tried to stand up.
Her vision again sank into pitch darkness but unlike before she moved forward without hesitation and it was then, a pair of warm hands touched her, conveying the warmth that her body craved.
Chapter 146 146:I Am Just Doing My Job
Chapter 146 146:I Am Just Doing My Job
[Bl...Blood¡Blood...Blood]
An eerie murmur echoed in Heinkel''s ear as the reddish light washed over.
Looking down at the magic circle, he tried to stop his consciousness from sinking away and heard the voice.
He was taken by surprise finding himself alive even though he had offered his life in exchange for the summon.
[What do you want, human?]
A cold eerie voice echoed.
"Heavenly Spirit Ajkerbern, please descend upon the mortal ne and eliminate the fools who are opposing the resurrection of Evil God Mephisto and help us capture Saintess so that we can use her as a vessel for Evil God to descend.]
A deep silence reigned for a moment.
[I can''t]
"What?"
"Why?"
"We are doing this for the Evil God.So, why are you not helping us?"
A panic-stricken voice erupted from Heinkel. He had sacrificed his own and his underlyings life to summon him so as soon as he heard refusal, his heart sank.
[Fool, did you think The Evil God needed you to think about him and how dare you insult My Lord, by preparing a weak human vessel.]
[Moreover,the sacrifice isn''t enough for me to descend.]
Heinkeil''s expression faltered and his face became as pale as a sheet of paper. He sacrificed his own and other''s lives betting everything on this chance but it was useless.
"No, it can''t be. You can''t do this. You have already taken the life force, you can''t turn against us and break the deal."
Heinkiel screamed with bloodshot eyes.
[I am not breaking the deal, rather I will give you a portion of my power in exchange for the life force. You can do what you want with that power. After you finish your job, I will take away your soul.]
After the voice fell, Henkel felt a surge of power coursing through his vein.
"Ahhhhh!"
Heinkel''s body morphed followed by an unending pain.
"Pow...hehe hehe...kill...."
Heinkel started losing his mind due to his immense power. His body started to swell and his face distorted, having a bizarre smile hung over his entire face.
Saliva dripped from his mouth like a dog that found its delicious food.
"Power...More power...Kiehheeee!"
A screeching voice akin to nails scratching over a metal surface erupted from his lips.
Finally, Heinrich''s body exploded in various ces and a turbulent energy began to spurt out like a stream from the gap.
Gradually, his body shrank and arge pair of horns emerged over his body. A strong muscr body was revealed however the previous sagging ck flesh was dripping down from his wrist, ankles and feet as if they were lumps.
A dense wind emerged from his body, causing him to stay in the air.
Heinkiel started to rip off the dripping flesh. A shuddering sound as if a stack of papers were being torn all at once echoed. The ck blood emerging from his instantly healed.
......
Lucas''s expression turned ugly seeing Heinkel''s transformation. The morphing of his figure into a monstrous humanoid was utterly disgusting.
"It seems the summoning failed but he got some power in exchange for the life force. His body is still in the transformation stage and his power is unstable. If we need to get rid of him, we need to hit now."Lucas murmured while supporting Julian whose expression became male.
"Lucas, leave this ce. I will take care of it. I will use the strongest attack in my arsenal."Julian spoke while gasping heavily.
"I can''t leave you in this condition. You may not die but you will surely beatose."
Lucas didn''t doubt Julian''s words. If Julian said she will finish things, that means she can but what will happen to her after she startling her. A chill went down her and turning around, her eyes became sharp.
defeats him?
She may suffer a strong bacsh.
As Julian faced Heinkel, a pair of warm hands touched her back startling her. A chill went down her and turning around, her eyes became sharp.
"Lucas leave, don''t be stubborn and waste time."
"It''s my order so just get out of here," Julian ordered and started condensing her mana while suppressing the pain.
"Your Highness, I can''t."
"Don''t forget, I am your Secreatry.You are the one who forced me onto this position.Since,it''s my job to assist you, I am just doing my job diligently.''''
"Is this the only reason?"Julian''s startled voice echoed.
"Yes!"Lucas spoke firmly, baffling Julian.
Seeing her ugly expression, Lucas felt a loss of words.
"Your Highness, I am helping you. I have a way to alleviate your pain. So, even if I am overstepping my boundary please bear with it."Lucas shouted and poured warm mana inside Julian.
Feeling a warm sensation coursing through her and suppressing the pain, Julian''s eyes widened.
"How?"
"Please focus on dealing with that bastard. I will exin it after we get out of here." Lucas spoke and focused his attention on channelling the mana.
As Lucas sank further and focused on circting his mana, his eyes widened with horror and he stared at Julian''s back as if she was a monster.
Most of her vessels were blocked by strands of ice and mana flowing through her was shing against the ice strands. Her mana channels were quite unstable and she could only use one-third of the mana she had.
"Arghhh!"
Lucas snapped out of his thoughts feeling a numbing pain coursing over his arms. His eyes shed with surprise seeing his hands covered by ayer of ice.
The curse that Saintess spoke about was acting up trying to eat Julian''s mana and freeze her vessel. On top of that, the amount of mana was too much and so vast that mana filled with fire elements that Lucas poured was like pouring a cup of hot water into a vastke.
''Damn! I am an idiot.''
''How can I be so naive thinking that I can cure her with this? For the first time in my life, I overestimated myself too much.''
Lucas''s mind started to run wildly thinking about a solution
''Since I have taken over the barrier, Saintess couldmunicate with other territorial Lords and might have already sent reinforcement. We need to get out here.''
Lucas then stared deeply and decided to knock Julian down and run away but this wasn''t as easy.
''I need to hit her and take her down.''
"Child, it seems you are in a dilemma. So, let me help you a bit."
A sweet melodious voice rang over Lucas''s ears, snapping Lucas out of his thoughts.
Taken surprised, Lucas looked around, searching for the voice and then noticed that the tattoo on his right wrist left by Shiya glew and a woman covered in mes manifested out of thin air.
She wasn''t big and was over half metres in length.Her hair were made of mes and she wore a dress of bright crimson colour.
Although, she looked like a child, her voice was serene and warm like apassionate mother which make Lucas think,''Another loli,''
''Wait!Are all nature spirits like this?''
"What the hell?Who are you?"
Lucas''s heart became weary seeing the spirit''s sudden appearance.
What if she attacked them or had bad ill intentions?
"Don''t worry, just keep going.I am here to help you,"The woman muttered and her palms rested on Lucas''s back.
A fierce fiery aura erupted from Lucas and encased him wholly basking me in warmness.
The ice covering his hands receded and with a jolt, a surge of warm mana poured into Julian''s body giving her a jolt.
Julian felt her body bing light. The fiery mana fought over ice strands blocking the vessel and pain was alleviated to a great extent.
The fiery mana melted the frozen icy strands of mana that quickly started to circte into her vessels providing her instant energy.
She felt light and overwhelmed. It was as if she was brimming with strength and vitality like never before.
Surprise shed over her eyes as she turned towards Lucas.She could see the pain Lucas was suffering as he tried to help her. Even though he was helpless, he still did his best.
He could have just run away but he didn''t. He was just a 2-Star but despite this, he stepped up for her.
Without his appearance, her life might have been in peril today.Thinking about this, a strange unknown feeling welled in her heart.
She felt quiteplicated seeing this however she shook her head to get rid of the unwanted thoughts and focused on the Heinkiel whose attack crashed onto them.
Chapter 147 147:I Am Just Doing My Job[2]
Chapter147 147:I Am Just Doing My Job[2]
"This power. It''s impressive."
A solemn voice echoed through the air.
His body sprints through the air and crosses towards the magic circle. He waves his hands and many eyeballs popped out from the dark shadow casting over the two people.
"It''s over you. Beg mercy."
"Kheikkkk!"
Heinkiel burst intoughter emitting a screeching sound.
"Dream on."
A bluish manifestation appeared over Julian in the shape of a dragon. Finally, at this moment the intense cold of the frostbite that had been condensed in her body started going crazy.
With Lucas supporting her and curing her pain, nothing was holding her back. The shackles that had always weighed upon her were freed momentarily. It''s been a long time since her heart fluttered with warmth and excitement.
Her eyes emitting crimson light turned towards the approaching intruder.
A 3-metre tall muscr demonic human with a bullhead appeared in her eyesight.
He trampled the ice floor with his big feet. He was walking while scattering the mana heavily. The dark wind fluttered around his body.
A mixture of green and ck light emerged from the eyeball that attacked Julian and Lucas.
"Your Highness, leave this to me. Just focus on attacking him"
"Okay!"Julian nodded and focused on preparing for the final blow.
Heinkiel, sensing danger, swung his head.
A gust of wind blew in an instant. As if a pack of wolves rushed in, the strong dark green wind blew and the blizzard blowing in the air was torn apart.
The ice mass was cut off in an instant and advanced towards Julian.
BOOM!
Arge explosion urred, and the wind attack was halted immediately, startling both Heinkiel and Julian.
As the smoke dissipated, their eyes widened seeing countless orbs floating in the air.
"What''s that?"Heinkel asked in disbelief.
Lucas instead of answering controlled the minesweepers to form ayer around them that would explode on the slightest touch.
While keeping some close, Lucas used telekinesis to make them float towards the eyeball that exploded on slight contact.
"Childish!"Heinrich sneered.
A dark green tornado appeared that started pulling the floating minesweepers.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
Dark mes gushed violently as the tornado exploded after engulfing arge amount of bombs. Heinkiel''s body was pushed back by the fierce force created by the explosion of many bombs. Moreover, the bombs were blessed so the light erupting from them had a burning effect on him.
Feeling the intense pain as if Holy Light was directly pouting on him, he quickly stepped back.
"Damn! How can someone bless these things?"He murmured in disbelief.
As the sudden influx of light subsided, an eerie sensation wrapped around his body. Behind the thick dark fog, a thick cold air was flowing out from the darkness.
In the aisle, a blue silver hair woman walked out emittingrge waves of mana around the whole ce. Her eyes looked like a grim reaper that had descended to harvest his life.
The woman slowly raised her head as the cold bloody eyes turned towards the man.
"Was it the power of Evil Spirit Ajkerbern that pierced through my mental defence?"
"Yes?"Heinkiel spoke in confusion unable to understand her question.However, hearing the cold voice, a bad foreboding appeared in his heart making him restless.
His body quivered seeing the bloody gaze that sent a chill down her spine.
"You shouldn''t have done that?"
A chilling ethereal voice echoed that froze the whole atmosphere.
Bluish mana encased Julian.
A fiery roar of a dragon shook the area.
A frigid blizzard raged Heinkiel''s vision turning it grey.
"You can''t defeat me, I have the power of the Heavenly Evil Spirit," Heinkiel screamed with a distorted expression.
A venomous purple wind exploded from his body and hit Julian''s that tried to erode her.
However, Julian''s icy mana acting as a shield protected her.
With a faint murmur, Julian muttered.
[Glory Of Winter.]
"Noooooooo!"
A dazzling blue light spread in all directions.
Abined attack of magic and ice ability drives away all the magic from the vicinity leaving only the elemental ice mana creating an area of hegemony for the caster.
The strongest apex attack of Julian, the Glory of the Winter wafts out of Julian freezing everything in the vicinity.
"I can''t ept this."
"How is this possible? You are just a 6-Star. How do you hold so much power? It is wrong, it''s not possible.You are bitch that stands in our way."
"I will eliminate you and kill you."
Heinkiel tried to counterattack but all his attacks were destroyed with just a simple gesture from Julian.
Heinkiel, giving up on attacking with the spell, decided to bore the frost with his muscr body.
His figure melted the frozen area around him with magical power and he ran towards Julian making the ground tremble.
A dark green tornado wrapped around him as he moved his hand to stab Julian.
"It''s useless."
Julian''s gentle voice reverberated through the air.
The voice sounded gentle but it rang like thunder in Heinkiel''s ears.
After sacrificing so many things and gaining so much power, it was still useless at the end.He couldn''t even touch a single strand of her hair.
This was uneptable. His heart felt crushed as if trampled over by a bulldozer.
In front of Julian, who was at her best now, Heinkiel was just pathetically weak and helpless.
Julian slid her sword toward Heinrich. The magic circle of freezing explosion was implemented on it.
[Rapid Cooling]
In the blink of an eye, Heinrich''s body froze into a crystalline mass.
[Ice Explosion.]
From the magic circle embedded in front of her, a cold magical explosion urred.
A strong gush of ice explosion erupted.
The st of cold violent air shattered Heinkiel and burst his body. His body which had been frozen into ice started to burst apart and with an explosion, his body shattered into countless shards.
BOOOOOOOM!
SWISH!SWISH!SWISH!SWISH!
Strong gales bellowed spreading across the ce and sweeping everything.
Shockwaves radiates across the ce carrying a dense mass of cold air that was cold enough to freeze any 5-Star to death.
"Khummm!''''
Lucas was pushed back by the strong st of cold wind.
He crouched down and stabbed his sword deep into the ground to stop himself from getting blown away by shockwaves.
"It''s so strong," Lucas murmured, feeling his armour weighed down by theyer of frost formed over it.
The freezing coldness made his body numb.
The attack casted by Julian was enough to blow even an 8-Star. Seeing the fierce scene, Lucas concluded that it should be Julian who should take the role of the protagonist.
With so much power, she deserves the role of a female protagonist.
"Damn!Am I gonna freeze to death.It''s so cold."
"Did you forgot me?I am here to help you."
A warm fire enveloped Lucas and covered him from the power of the st.
"Did you know about this event before?"Lucas asked cautiously.
Lucas stared at the warm figure and asked.
"Who are you?"
"I am a High-Level fire spirit, my name is Iternia."
"Did you know about this event before?"Lucas asked cautiously.
"I can''t answer that but all I wanted to do was to repay the favour."
"Repay the favour."Lucas blinked in confusion and then thought that he had helped Shiya so maybe she was talking about that.
Lucas said"You helped Her Highness, not me. How can it be counted as helping me?"
"Helping her is helping you."
"What kind of shit is this?"Lucas screamed, feeling betrayed.
"Sorry, I have to leave. I am running out of energy."
Lucas swallowed his words and decided to focus on the most important thing.
"Can I form a contract with you?"
Iternia took a moment seizing up Lucas and answered.
"No!"
"Your spirit sensitivity is good but your aptitude is bad. Moreover, your level is too low to even contract a low-level spirit."Iternia''s voice faded and the warm fire around Lucas dispersed.
Looking at her fading figure, Lucas felt as if she just gave him emotional damage.
"Wasn''t she too frank?"Lucas mumbled indifferently and looking ahead at the clearing fog, his eyes gleamed with an inexplicable glint.
"Hmm! It''s time to finish things off.I need to strike when the iron is hot.I won''t get any opportunity like this."
.....
Heinkeil''s body after breaking apart turned into a blue powder of crystalline mass and flew away in the air.
The ck mana around the surrounding area dispersed and everything started to calm down.
The snow and ice covered every trace of the battle that happened here.
Julian finally sighed in relief after averting the looming danger.
As she bent down on one knee, feeling exhausted, she heard the sound of footstepsing from the back.
Julian''s brows creased seeing Lucas''s nk expression.
Seeing those eyes, Julian felt a bad premonition.
Lucas squatted down before her and stared deep into her eyes, startling her for a moment.
Her heart beat violently seeing him from so close.
Those golden eyes which were always gentle but now looked quite cold and overbearing.
"Your Highness, may I ask you something?"
"Yes!"
"Did you take such a big risk because you felt I might betray you?"
Julian''s eyes widened upon hearing Lucas''s words.
Seeing her keeping silent, Lucas sighed.
"For you, to entrust so many important things at once aftering here, you wanted to test me. You might have felt something amiss the moment we came here. From the moment I showed reluctance toe here, you doubted me and thought I might be involved in all this mess."
What Lucas hated the most was being threatened and forced.
He denied Saintess Luna''s request but she was adamant about sending him here. There was a hidden meaning underneath her words that she would expose his secrets if he didn''tply.
And how much she knows about him, Lucas didn''t know.
"That!"Julian bites her lips giving an apologising look.
"Have you also thought of me as an enemy?"
"Huh!" Julian stared at Lucas with confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"When you were under the Ajekerbern effect, the first thing you did after seeing me was to attack, which is only possible if you think of me as an enemy?"
When Julian was going to stab herself as Lucas tried to stop her and that time Julian''s eyes shed with animosity.
Just from a nce, Lucas ascertained that this was her thought, not something that had been controlled.
The atmosphere became heavy as soon as Lucas''s words fell.
Julian''s eyes opened wide.
"How...How did you know?"Julian''s voice stuttered a bit.
Lucas just smiled coldly.
It was human psychology. When you are in a moment of despair, you don''t put a pretence anymore. When you are at your lowest, you will look for warmth but you can only open your heart if you have a good impression of that person.
If instead of him, it was Ami or someone Julian was close to, she wouldn''t have thought of attacking first but rather her eyes would show belonging.
Moreover, that spell dug out a person''s true thoughts and insecurities.Since, she had some insecurities against him, it was also shown in her behaviour.
Lucas didn''t know why it hurt more than he expected but he didn''t want to argue with Julian but wanted to tell her to trust him.
Lucas sighed seeing Julian hardened expression.
"From your silence, I think you agree."Lucas smiled.
"You also forced me toe here to test whether I would side with them but once you see me risking my life, you finally believe in me and ask me to leave."
Julian averted her eyes seeing those piercing gazes.
If Julian really came up with a ridiculous excuse now and tried to shift the me, Lucas was sure, he would be disgusted by her because doing one thing and speaking another thing is the work of the bitches and yeah, no one likes bitches.
Lucas, with a resigned look,took out two potions and ced them before her"Your Highness, one is a calming potion and another one is a healing potion."
"This space is protected so no one will disturb you. You can call the spirit of tree. She will take you out once you are ready. Please, take care."
"Excuse me, Your Highness, I will leave first."
Lucas stood up and walked back with a dropped shoulder.
Julian''s heart twisted seeing his lonely back. She extended her hand to call him back and console him but the words choked in her throat.
It was for the first time in her life, she felt that she might have to be too cold to someone who genuinely cared for her and her way of doing things might have pushed him away.
Chapter 148 148:Matter Of Trust
?
"I don''t want to serve her."
"She brings bad luck."
"Yes, I heard she will turn into a psychopath when she grows up. Have you seen those red burning eyes?"
"She looks like a demoness when she bes angry."
"The air around her reeks of blood."
The maids working at her pce whispered and talked about her behind her back. Every time she passed through the hallway, people would flinch and stay away from her.
Everyone avoided her except her sweet loving nanny who always stayed with her and assured her that everything she heard was false, asking her to ignore all this.
As far as Julian can remember, she was the closest person to her.
For the five-year-old Julian, the nanny''s ce was above her parents whom she rarely sees around.
Julian thought that her nanny would always be with her to take care of her. She will be with her irrespective of the situation and never abandon her.
However...
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
"Please save me."
"You should just die. You are a cursed child. Because of you, the children of servants are suffering from fever and my precious child died."
A maid sobbing pitifully pushed Julian into theke wanting to kill her by drowning.
A rumour that she brings misfortune to those around her had been spread everywhere.No, one knew the authenticity of the rumour but one day, the children and servants working there felt sick and out of those one maid who lost her son, pushed Julian intoke in an attempt to kill her and avenge her son.
Julian tried to swim and get out of the pool but she wasn''t able to. She didn''t know how to swim and for her, the little water was too deep.
She wept and begged the maid to save her. She even apologised for hurting someone mistakenly but the bloodthirsty maid didn''t listen to her.
The maids who were around the ce just turned a blind eye to her and even prayed for her to die.
In their opinion, she is just an unfavourable Princess whose death wouldn''t impact them in any way.
Julian thought she would die that day however his Third brother who visited her saw this and rushed forward to save her.
After that, Julian passed out for three days and suffered from a high fever.
On getting up, the first person she looked for was her nanny but contrary to her expectations, she found her missing.
After searching around frantically, she found that she was imprisoned and from her Third brother, she came to know that it was her who spread all the rumours.
"I can''t believe this."
"She can''t do this. She is innocent, you all are framing her."Julian screamed and refuted the ims but no matter how much she refuted, the truth was before her.
The nanny spread rumours so that she can use this opportunity to get closer to Julian by coaxing and supporting her. However, as the rumours went on, they became uncontrolled and way exaggerated.
Since Julian never spoke out nor the nanny reprimanded anyone, it went on.
During that time, her Father and elder brother were busy with matters regarding the war while her mother was away taking care of foreign diplomats so none of them were even aware of this.
ording to the investigation, the reason why everyone fell sick was also due to the nanny. She cut the food budget and purchased cheap expired and rotten food that causes stomach aches.
The maids sometimes take the leftover food home and due to this, their family members feel sick. Unfortunately, the son of the maid had already been suffering from a disease and passed out due to food poisoning.
In order to cover up her fault she tried to shift the attention towards Julian by painting her as a cursed child who brings around misfortune.
Moreover, she and her family had been embezzling funds and filling their chest in the name of Julian''s needs.
This betrayal broke her heart and she cried for days, unable to ovee her grief. Seeing her sorry state, her parents were also guilty as it was also their fault for ignoring her.
In fact, out of the people, the gardener of the ce feeling something amiss, informed the Third Prince guards otherwise that day she might have died for real.
The Emperor and Empress were furious, learning all this and immediately executed the evildoers and imprisoned those who dared to spread rumours washing the entire capital in blood.
After that, her parents tried to repent by mending their rtionship.
But it was toote.
Julian med herself for being too naive. It was her fault for trusting a person naively and from then on,she hardened her head.
Expectations hurt.
Just because of some mere rumours, people isted her and refused to save her. This was ridiculous and unbelievable but that''s how the human heart works.
People don''t spread rumours to warn others, rather they enjoy themselves while speaking about other misfortunes.
In spite of this,she suffered another betrayal from one of her maid who was in cahoots with Silver Knight Empire that tried to pass her information and created an opportunity for Second Prince of Silverknight to force her to agree to the engagement
After that incident, shepletely closed her heart and started hating the people who try to take benefit of her.
She promised herself that until she can make sure that the person is worthy of her trust she wouldn''t ce her trust in that person.
Till now, except for his parents, she only trusts his third brother and Ami.
She didn''t even trust her other two brothers because she knows that people who run for power are often blinded by it and she didn''t want to suffer that stabbing feeling of betrayal, especially from someone belonging to her family.
She believed that her method of testing others was correct, however remembering that pained gaze, her heart wrenched.
Julian felt terrible and sickening.
Those gazes looked as if he had trusted her but she betrayed his trust by testing her.I think you should take a look at
Julian had many tricks under her sleeve and was always prepared for any usible danger. She had a barrier that could shield the attack of 9-Star and high-level golems to defend herself in her helpless state.
She first ryed some information to Lucas and dropped some hints.
If he was a traitor, he would have disclosed Saintess location and passed it to them.
There was also a n to see how he acted when sent to help her.
Everything went on until she sumbed to her inner fear and Lucas found out about all of this.
For her who tests another person, she should act like a person capable of carrying out the trust ced in her.
''I pushed him too much. I let my insecurities blind me. I should have just kept my guard around him instead of testing him in such a drastic way that almost put his life in danger.''
It wouldn''t matter if this was a small issue but the situation was quite precarious that he might have lost his life.
It may not look like a big thing from her side but the person who was tested might feel hurt and helplessly think that he can gain the other party''s trust only by risking his life.
From the vision, she saw that when she lost everything, the guy who looked like an older version of Lucas stayed with her.
If it was really Lucas,then she might have made a mistake.
Moreover, Lucas was the first person who eased her pain and showed her a way to relieve her pain.
''I should apologise.''
"Your Highness, I think you should also take part in the blessing ceremony."
Julian snapped out of her thought, and looked at the Priest who asked her to partake with others.
"I shouldn''t. It''s a reward for them and as for me, I have already gone through many."Julian refused politely and veered her gaze towards the tform where 10 individuals climbed up.
Walking up, Lucas felt a pair of eyes from behind. On turning around, his eyes met with Julian who was staring at him with an indiscernible expression.
Lucas averted his gaze immediately, feeling a bit ufortable.
''Haaa!''
It was just an act. An act to force Julian to trust her easily. In fact, she didn''t do anything wrong.
Lucas wanted her unconditional trust where she would stand with him even if the world mes him as who knows when someone acts against him and frames him.
Since Julian was in her weakest state, Lucas decided to strike the nail and make her feel that he didn''t like it.
In this way, Julian would start trusting her more.
However, things became way more serious than he imagined.
Which superior doesn''t mistrust his subordinate loyalty? And ifpared, he was way worse as he forced his people to sign a mana contract so that they couldn''t betray him.
But he failed to note that people who have problems trusting others, can do everything once they trust the person as they fear losing that person''s trust.
And in a way, Julian''s orders helped him to stay alive and get out safely. If he was a traitor, then it would be another matter but he wasn''t.
He understands that, still he wasn''t able to sway this ufortable feeling stabbing his heart.
He didn''t know the reason but the moment he saw Julian about tomit self-harm, something inside him cracked.
It was an odd feeling. He felt really angry.
Angry at her, for stupidly acting as bait to test him.Anything bad might have happened if he didn''t have that Cross.
Lucas sighed at his predicament.
''Either I am a great actor that had been too immersed in the roley of acting hurt or staying with Julian, had already started affecting me.''
Lucas''s thoughts didn''t linger as they were asked to kneel before Luna to receive the blessing who stood before them, joining her hands and closing her eyes.
After a brief silence, Luna opened her lips.
A warm melodious voice emerged from her lips and a sweet melodious song rang in everyone''s ears.
A gentle beam from the weary eyes,
Piercing the dark valley unfolds its radiant wings.
The stone falling from the gnawed wall of life bes rubble of yesterday paving the way for the glorious tomorrow made on your beliefs.
At the end of this never-ending sunlight.
Blessed are the ones who will sprout in the bitter winter night.
May the sun, lit the path you take and honour you so that you don''t wither when it sets.
"Immanuel!"
A warm fuzzy bright light emerged from Luna''s body. A golden halo appeared over the head and the luminous wave spread around covering the entire prayer hall.
Sonorous chimes of angelic melody whispered in everyone''s ears as if suggesting that heaven was witnessing the ceremony.
When the light receded, a small orb of Golden light hovered above everyone''s head. Rotating in the circr path for a few moments, it burst and then entered into their body.
"This ends the blessing ceremony. May peace be with all of you as you forge your way, leaving a mark in the History of the world."
"Amen!''''
Chapter 149 149:Dark Churchs Plight
?
A man covered in blood entered a darkne while gasping heavily.
Entering a small building, he gasped heavily and spoke hurriedly"I have been chased by some unknown people."
"What''s going on? Why are you so frightened?Who are they?"
"I don''t know who they are but they chased me as if I had a huge bounty on my head . I was able to escape with great difficulty."
"Did they find out about our identity?"
"Definitely not¡"
BOOM!
Before he could finish his centre, the entire roof of the building was blown away and a heavy armour man appeared in their vision.
"So, this is where measly bugs of Dark Church were hiding."
The people in it screamed and tried to escape but at the very next moment, a huge force struck them and their vision turned ck.
This wasn''t the only ce where things like this happened, many secret hideouts of the Dark Church had been destroyed by Imperial Knights.
Even inquisitors of the Church joined the fracas and started butchering ck Wizards and others who had epted the religion.
It was a bloodbath as the Imperial Knight and Church Inquisitor went on a rampage showing the consequences of touching The Saintess and Princess.
Members of ck forces run around frantically wondering what happened and how they were exposed. None of them were ck wizards and many even held important positions.
Even some Priests, Pdin and Bishops were members of the Dark Church.
All of them were killed mercilessly and their heads were hung for people to set an example.
The members of the Dark Church from other Empiresid low and went underground to hide. All of them believed that there was a traitor in their ranks and it infuriated them to death.
Generally it was them who nted traitors but this time things were opposite making them dumbfounded.
It waster revealed that all this information came from the Saintess so many thought that the traitor was Saintess people.
While members of the Dark Church were hitting their heads looking for the traitor, the actual preparator was enjoying his days leisurely
....
A feeling of nirvana passed through the body. It was such a pleasant feeling that can''t be described in a few words.
Lucas''s mind jolted awake out of the euphoria and as he squinted his eyes around the ce, he saw a subtle glow emitting from his body.
The rm clock rang, waking up Lucas from his stupor.
He felt rejuvenated as if every cell of his body was brimming with energy.
"Until I use the blessing, it will slowly and steadily nourish my body until the power is emptied."
Sitting up, Lucas ced his hand on his heart while looking at the ring given to him by the Saintess.
It was a gift from Saintess in exchange for information about the secret hideouts of Dark Church which he knew about.
The ring strengthens one mental barrier and negates the mental attack preventing the person from being trapped in an illusion.
However, it had another ability. The greatest one that could change an entire scale of the battle.
Life substitution.
It will substitute your life if you get a dying hit. With this, he can be said to have another life with him.
Holding the ring, a scene from a few days ago yed in his mind.
....
"What is this?"
Lucas asked worriedly, as he saw a bright light erupting near his heart. Simr to a blessing, a mass of condensed energy moved towards his heart and melted in his heart.
On ncing around, Lucas was astonished to see none of others were going through this. Out of them, only Lucas was blessed with another orb of energy that was glowing on his chest. If not for the Saintess light encasing everything, everyone could have noticed this oddity.
While everyone left, Lucas asked Saintess about this.
Reverberated, to her old yful self, she gave him a wicked smile and whispered into his ears.
"This is something that wille in handy very soon."
"Very soon, what do you mean? Am I going to be caught in trouble again?"Lucas asked with a gobsmacked face but then realising something he stared at her coldly.
"Saintess, please don''t tell me I am going to get in trouble because of your schemes."
"Hey, how can you say such hurtful words? This kinddy just helped you and you are now using me. How ungrateful?"Luna pouted and puffed her cheeks like a kid.
Lucas felt annoyed but suppressing his anger, he tried to get some hints however he failed.
Seeing her crooked, Lucas was damn sure that this woman would get him into trouble soon.
...¡
RING!RING!RING!
Lucas''s mind jolted awake by the ringtone. Looking for his phone, he frowned at seeing the caller.
The moment Lucas picked up the call, a loud voice filled with panic and fear erupted from it.
[Lucas, are you alright? Are you hurt? Did something happen to you? Quickly tell me if there is an emergency.]
Lucas''s head throbbed trying to process the words spoken in quick session.
"Father, I am alright. What can happen to me?"Lucas asked confusedly.
[Didn''t you go to the Parish of Damita where ck Wizards attacked to kidnap the Saintess? Son, you must have been caught in this unfortunate event.]
"Wait! How did you know that?" Lucas hearted in horror.
There was no way this news would be made public. It hadn''t been a week since the event and since many big fishes are involved here, the news would stain the reputation of the Church as well as Horizon.
[I heard somewhere. Let''s talk about thatter. Yours...]I think you should take a look at
"From whom did you hear about this? Tell me."Lucas cut off his speech.
[From one of my friends. Moreover, Dark Church destruction is all over the news which began after you visited that ce so it''s easy to infer the event behind the scene.]
"I didn''t know you had such observational skills."Lucas''s eyes shed with surprise.
[ Stop cutting my speech and listen here. I hadn''t told this news to your mother otherwise you know what will happen. That''s why I am saying, take a holiday ande here if possible, you can also get yourself expelled if you want.No need to study in that shit ce that can''t protect their students. Pathetic idiots who can''t even protect the life of students.]
Lucas stared at his phone for a moment with an astonished gaze, as his father hurled curses at Horizon.
''Home, I also want to go home but I am not ready.''
Unbeknownst to him, a gentle smile appeared on his face upon hearing his father''s worried tone.
''It seems my lifetime of luck was taken away for getting parents like you. Thinking about you all, really makes me feel lucky.''
...
In a wide space.
A man with tired eyes covered by speck walked across the majestic hallway guarded by knights while sighing heavily.
His hair was dishevelled and his clothes were in disarray. He seemed to be dressed poorly and unfit for walking across the ce.
But none of the guards guarding the ce mocked him as he passed through them rather all of them bowed their heads.
Standing before the magnificent door engraved with gold and embedded with diamonds, he clicked his tongue in displeasure.
''This damned guy didn''t even leave the door while stealing things. Just which shithead gave him the crown.''
Looking at shiny armour knights, he spoke coldly"I wanted to request an immediate audience with His Majesty."
"And for your kind information, requesting is just a formality, even if he doesn''t want to, he has to grant me an audience otherwise I will leave my job."
"His Majesty is already waiting for you."The Knights spoke in a panicked tone and opened the door.
Entering inside, he stared at the man sitting upright on the majestic Throne.
He was the 106 Emperor of Cyprus, Alexander Von Stan.
Even at the age of 50, his face was devoid of any wrinkles and his snow-white air with silver strands looked as young as a teen.
He is someone who had been created straight from the tales of valour and chivalry. His noble gentle and upright demeanour had won the hearts of many and a single blow of his sword had the power to shift the tide of the battlefield.
The current Emperor gave the impression of a strong and dignified Emperor making others bow their heads with respect and reverence, however...
"Tsk!"
"Every time I see that rotten face here something bad always happens. Tell me Beluga, do youck money? Do you want me to increase your sry?"
"No!"Beluga refuted coldly.
"If you have money, stop dressing like someone who had suffered heartbreak and had no one to rely on. You look like a beggar."
"Isn''t this true? Yourziness is breaking my heart. Where will I get time to maintain myself when my majestic superior is throwing work after work at me?"Beluga grumbled with hateful eyes.
"Ahem...Cough!"
"Stop using me? You know I am busy nowadays."
"Busy fooling around, "Beluga corrected.
After hearing about the ck wizards'' attack and receiving information about the Secret Cults hiding there, they had to discuss things with the Holy State before carrying out the attack.
The discussion should have been carried out by this guy but hell no. Dumping everything on him, this guy went straight to theirirs and started ughtering even before they could take any action.
Wasn''t this overkill for the easy mode boss to be beaten by the Max-levelled hero of nightmare mode?
Anyhow, he knew this was going to happen.
If someone just touches a single hair of Julian, the next day he would be destroyed and news about a bandit raiding the ce would spread.
Beluga didn''t know from where he got the courage to do this kind of shit.
Can someone believe that a noble house with 300 years of history and thousands of strong-armed forces was destroyed by a bandit?
Thinking about the recent report, he can only pray for the person''s well-being.
"Beluga, things are changing so fast. The time is drawing quite near. We need to stay on guard and increase the number of capable individuals. Beluga did you confirm the source of information? Who is the person who gave us the location of this group?"Alexander''s expression turned solemn.
His yful smile disappeared and a cold look appeared.
"That''s why I came here as quickly as possible in fear of this guy being raided by you."
"Huh!"Alexander frowned a bit.
"After researching around, we found that the source of this information came from the secretary Highness Julian had taken in."
"How did you know?"Alexander asked sternly.
''''The Saintess herself confirmed but I had to swear an oath that this matter can only be between me, you and the Empress.''''
"Good¡Good. Wait, you said Julian''s Secretary."
"Oh my god, Julian had finally taken a secretary. Thank god, she finally found someone to share her burden. Maybe Julian and her secretary can be good friends.So, who is she?Which house does she belong to?It doesn''t matter if she is amoner as long as Julian likes her."
"Ahem¡Cough.."Beluga coughed violently, cutting Alexander.
"Your Highness, Th¡That¡Highness Juliam secretary is a boy."
"Oh! A boy, goo¡"
"Nani?"
Alexander''s eyes glowed and a dense murderous intent erupted from his body dyeing the entire Throne room in red.
''Fuck, I have to stop him before someone does.''''Beluga screamed.
Chapter 150 150:Sending A Warning
Swoosh!
Strong gales bellowed across the ce and a heavy pressure descended upon the people who were kneeling on the ground.
A deathly chill permeated in the air followed by a hush silence. For an instant, everyone forgot to take a breath for fear of provoking the person ring at them.
Swallowing their saliva, they tried to raise their chin but the heavy pressure struck their body as if asking them, who allowed them to look up.
They could only swallow their grievances and bear the pain.
A few metres away from them, a woman rested her elbows on the armrest of the chair and her cheek slid over her palm.
When looked from afar, one might think that the woman was sitting casually with a rxing posture.
However¡
Crossing one knee over another, her presence asserted an unfathomable dominance. Her blood-red eyes were gleaming bloodily and a thick smell of blood covered the entire ce radiating from her body.
The frozen air seemed to be dyed with blood and even the water inside the transparent receptacles looked as red as blood.
"So many things had happened and no one even bothered to inform me about this."
"Good...Good."
"Just because I have been taking care of the home, it seems you have already forgotten about me."
"It seems everyone had taken the role y too seriously."
"Nice!"
A slight smile crept over her lips.
The smile looked gentle and as pure as a maiden but the moment a person''s eye fell on it, one could see a blood-curdling smile appearing over a bloodied face sending shivers down the spine.
The smile was so precarious and horrific that it gave onlookers a feeling of approaching demise as if a sickle of death had been pressed against their neck.
Mustering all his courage, a man tried to appease her"Mam, it''s just a misunderstanding. We were going to inform you soon."
"You dare to spout excuses in front of me."
Her sharp chilling voice crackled like mighty bellows of thunder.
"Arghhhhh!''''
A dense blood aura covered the man and his body rose in the air surrounded by crimson air. Like pincers of crab, he felt a tightening grip over his throat choking him down.
"So, when will that soone? After something happens to him."
CRACK!CRACK!CRACK
The cacophony of breaking bones echoed and the man''s body quivered in pain with white fizzy foam trickling from his lips.
"Have mercy!"
"Mam, have mercy."
"We apologise."
"Mam, forgive us for our ignorance."
The people kneeling around,begged while mming their heads against the floor nonstop.
"Hmmm!"
The woman waved her head and the man''s limp body crashed onto the ground with a lifeless look.
No one dared stare at him and kept their head down. All they could do was pray silently for that guy as it was his fault for speaking out of turn.
Staring at the morbid figures kneeling on the floor, she asked.
"Do you know why you are alive?"
The people kneeling on the floor started to shudder and crawl back while bowing their heads down further.
"Tsk!"
Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she said sternly"You all are lucky. If he was hurt, I swear there won''t be anything left for you to put in the grave."
"As per orders, don''t forget my position. Don''t you dare hide things from me now? I don''t care about worldly affairs but as long as it has got something to do with my son, inform me immediately."
"And about that guy, it seems he had forgotten his position."A cruel smile hung on her lips seeing which, the hair on everyone''s body stood up in fear.
''Sorry, master. Please forgive us for our ipetence but you can only me yourself for poking the tigress tail. We will make sure to enact a grand grave for you.''
Everyone had already burnt incense on their master''s name while praying for his safe journey.
"By the way, I want you to warn someone."
"Who?"The people raised their heads with slight anticipation shing in their eyes.
Their mistress was angry with them so they wouldn''t leave such a chance to appease her.
"Send a message to that Lazy iceman."
Words choked on their throat as soon as they heard the person''s name. Their jaws dropped wide and their eyes widened with fear.
"With this event, he might already know about my son. Tell him, if he dares to touch a single hair of my son, I swear in the name of heaven I will beat him until he is half dead and then I will burn down the entire capital, and dragging him down on the streets, I will show him the destruction of hisnd, for which he is solely responsible."
Her bloody aura burst forth and the entire building shook violently as if an earthquake had hit thend.
''Hup!''
''Hup!''
''Hup!''
They didn''t want to ept her orders but they had no choice. If they have to choose between the iceman and her, they would choose her, even closing their eyes.
Everyone gasped heavily in horror and fear imagining the scenario as it wasn''t a simple deration however since she had said that she is capable enough to do this.
No, she is even capable enough to burn down the entire Empire if you get on the wrong side.
After all, she is the Crimson Demoness, The Witch Of Cmity.
..........
SCRATCH!SCRATCH!SCRATCH!
Like a machine, Lucas went through the documents piled up one after another without sparing any nce at the atmosphere.
Due to their absence, a huge amount of work had piled up which they had to finish this month.
It was already mid-September and the Tournament was going to take ce by the end of October so they needed to finish this misceneous task and start preparing for the tournament.
Lucas''s eyes were already bleak thinking about the hard days that were ahead. On top of that, he needs to take a few days off to get special training from Sir Harris.
''Rest is temporary. Grinding for the future is eternal.'' Lucas grumbled inwardly.
Julian for some reason was unable to concentrate on her work. Her expression faltered as she saw Lucas''s dead serious expression.
Things were a bit awkward between them recently and they hadn''t had a proper conversation with each other.I think you should take a look at
She knew that she was just a dense block of ice who did not know much but even after this, she knows that she feels peace when she converse with Lucas.
These talks didn''t feel anything significant before but only when everything was silent, she misses those talks and jokes with Lucas who sometimes tried to lift her mood.
Seeing him engrossed in his work, she remembered Miss Ami''s words.
''When people are angry, they try to divert their attention by getting involved in their work.''
''Is he angry till now?''Julian made a bitter expression.
For the past few days, she had tried to apologise but she found it hard.
It was unbelievably hard for her who had never bowed down her head.
Taking a deep breath, Julian made a resolute expression.
"Lucas!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Lucas immediately sprang into action and stood upright hearing Julian''s orders.
"What is yourmand?"
Julian felt a bit hurt hearing Lucas''s cold tone which felt as if he was drawing a line between them.
"Lucas, actually I wanted to ap...apo..."
CLANG!
"Julian, Vice-Principal had sent this file and asked you to take a look and pass the bill as quickly as possible."
Before Julian could finish her words, Ami barged in with a thick bundle of papers seeing which Lucas''s soul escaped from his body.
''That foxy old man is now dumping work after work on us whilezing around.''
Ami hadn''t even entered when she felt a chill down her spine.
Her heart shivered, seeing Julian''s cold expression. The temperature around her falls by the margins.
Ami, who had been with Julian since she was 7, knew that she was pissed off.
And the reason might be because she intervened in an important conversation.
Ami put down the papers on the side and bowed her head.
"Sorry, I willeter."
Ami stopped and turned around, she gave Julian a wink and spoke softly"Julian, you can do it."
Julian just ignored her and stared at Lucas" So, where was I?"
Lucas tilted his head in confusion"You were speaking something."
"Yeah, I remember now."
"Lucas!"
"Yes."
Taking a deep breath, Julian spoke loudly"I apologise for my behaviour."
A deathly silence lingered in the air.
Lucas''s body froze, and his jaw dropped wide. For a moment, he even wondered if she was talking to someone else.
"What did you say?"Lucas''s voice shuddered.
Julian red at Lucas.
"I don''t like to repeat myself."
"No, I got that but how, why. I mean, you didn''t need to do that."
Seeing Lucas refuting to acknowledge her apology, Julian nodded her head thinking something.
"I understand. You want me to prove myself with my actions. I got it."
"Wait! When did I say that?"
"Don''t worry I got it. From now on, I will trust you fully and you will see that through my actions."Julian spoke as if she understood Lucas''s action.
''Even if you can''t believe this now, you will soon.''
The world around Lucas spun around.
''I am happy with the result but why do I feel she is misunderstanding something?''
RING!RING!RING!RING!RING!
Lucas, amid the awkward situation, suddenly found a way to get out.
"Your Highness, I need to go out."
"Okay."Julian nodded, however, thinking for a moment, she spoke softly.
"Lucas, remember one thing. Except for my family, you are the only man who is alive after touching me."
''Father may find trouble with him, so I should ask him to prepare in case of emergency.''Julian thought inwardly.
Lucas who was stepping out suddenly halted as Julian''s words echoed like thunder.
His heart thumped wildly like a beating drum and his back was drenched in sweat.
''What did she mean by that? Is she asking me to protect her.No she is asking me to be faithful to her and don''t betray her trust. Also, she hates men so might be asking me to keep those assholes away from her.''
''Hmm!I see.I got it.''
Lucas turned back and locking her gaze onto Julian, he spoke with a resolute expression.
"Your Highness, I swear on my life that I would never betray you and I will try my best, no,I will make sure none would even get a chance toe close to you."
"What?"
Lucas then gave a sincere bow,ran away leaving Julian with a bewildered expression.
"What did he mean by that?''
"Is this his deration of¡"
Wild thoughts spun around her head.
Julian''s eyes widened with shock and her heart started to beat crazily for some reason.
"I feel strange."
"May it''s because today is a bit hot."
If Julian saw her face, she would be shocked to see her ear robes turning red and her expression bing flustered.
Chapr 151 151:I Hope You Will Like The Surprise, My Disciplete
Chapr151 151:I Hope You Will Like The Surprise, My Disciplete
Sitting on the couch, Charles cleared his throat and forced himself to not cover his eyes while cursing inwardly.
''This damned guy is just too dazzling.''
Wearing a white rolled-sleeved T-shirt with unbuttoned top buttons, exposing a well-defined muscr chest along with a series of abs, the man took a puff of cigar while slumping down on his seat covered by ayer of mist.
Though his face looked haggard and tired, the sharpness behind those eyes can''t be hidden and it pierce through theyer of mist.
After a few seconds of Charles staring at him nkly, the man appearing on the virtual screen grinned.
"Uh, Charles? Did you want something?"
Charles flinched and covered his eyes.
"Can''t you wear your clothes properly? Why are you showing off your skin so much?"
Charles really wanted to hit this guy.
He was the Duke, a person who stands above others and should keep a dignified appearance but he always dresses like a hoodlum.
Charles had even heard the rumours of his grandpa thinking of adopting an orphan to pass the title instead of this guy. Fortunately, his father was a master swordsman otherwise he would have been kicked out.
"It''s called manliness, my son. Manliness is not something that can be hidden by a mere piece of fibre."
Seeing Charles frowning, Duke Kai, his esteemed father clicked his tongue.
"Why do you frown so much as if you stepped on some kind of shit? From whom did you inherit that cold lifeless shitty rotten gaze? Just look at my face, every time I smile, spring blooms inside a girl''s heart."
"Dad, please stop it."Charles requested with a serious gaze. For a moment, Charles felt that this guy called him ugly in severalnguages.
"That look, that look is exactly the reason you are single till now."Kai took a puff of the cigar and then blew the air gracefully as if he was practising a piece of art.
"When I was your age, the academy became a tourist ce for girls just because of my presence. Girls from all over the world lined outside the Academy just for a mere nce of mine. That old foxy Josh bastard seeing the opportunity opened a business and allowed the girls to have a look at my godly face in exchange for five copper coins."
Charles facepalmed and wanted to hit him hard.
If there is a world record for being a narcissist then his father would be at the top.
"My mother is blind for marrying someone like you."
"Blind, yeah you are right. She became blind after seeing my face and crying pitifully, she begged me to marry her. She even threatened me with her death..."
BANG!
A loud explosion urred and within the blink of an eye, The table on which Kai put his legs copsed.
something hit Kai and he crashed onto the ground.
The table on which Kai put his legs copsed.
Ayer of dust covered Charles''s screen and as the smoke disappeared, a woman with green hair fluttering in the air appeared stepping over Kai.
"Kaiiii, do you think I will not kill you? Do you want to die?"
"Do you dare?"
"Sorry, forgive me my beloved Senorita. I was just teaching Charles about manl¡. argh."
A crunching sound echoed.
"What did you say? Just wait! I will deal with youter. Hey, take him out."
A group of people came and lifted him, and ran back hurriedly in fear of the crisis that was about toe.
"Kheum...I...wAs just...joKin, "Kai screamed in fear but his lips were closed by the gag. The servants weren''t unfazed as it was just a daily routine for them.
"And you?"
Charles''s body flinched seeing her mother staring at him with a deep venomous gaze.
"Why did your rank fall?"
A sense of dreariness washed over him as soon as he heard his mom''s icy voice.
"I am sorry. It''s my fault."Charles bowed his head, feeling ashamed.
Unlike his carefree father, his mother was strict, way stricter than others. His education started early and his mother repeatedly warned him not to taint their reputation.
The previous mistake that hemitted during the Dungeon Test almost made Kia tear him apart.
Seeing Charles''s apologetic look, Kia''s expression softened a bit but it was reced quickly as soon as it appeared.
"Charles, listen to me."
"Yes, mother."Charles lifted his pale expression.
"Listen, Charles, I know I am being too much of a nuisance but I am doing all of this for you. Falling in rank is a grave matter however it''s alright if it''s not your mistake. If you arezing around and doing nothing, I would punish you but if your rank is falling because others are better than you, then it is alright. Just work hard and take care of your health and yeah don''t do shady things behind us. This is my final warning."
Charles stared at his mother''s stern expression and blinked his eyes.
Even though his mother''s face was stern, Charles could see a small smile hung over her lips and her eyes for some reason were filled with warmth and love.
"Don''t worry Mom, I assure you.No more shady things. I promise you, I will be a better human, you can be proud of."
Kia''s eyes widened and for a moment she looked around if the sun rose from the West this time.
''Is this my son or is someone impersonating him?''
"Charles, are you alright?''''She asked with concern.
"Mom, I am fine. By the way, what happened to the Dark Church that we attacked? Did you find something?"
"Don''t ask, your father and I had a headache dealing with them. There are 12 hideouts of these mongrels in our estate and these guys have sacrificed tons of lives. We also found a ce where a live sacrificial ritual was going on where a hundredmons were going to be sacrificed."
"It''s way worse than imagined," Charles muttered in disbelief.
"Hmm! By the way, Charles, we have received a request for patents from your friend. We will be entitled to 10% of the profit. I had looked over it. The proposal is good but unbefitting our position. We should receive 40% of the shares as it is gonna operate in our name. However, since you are the future heir and this guy is your friend. I will leave the decision to you."
Charles frowned hearing his mother''s voice. While his fatherzes around, it''s his mother who takes care of the estate.
And his mother is a fierce businessman who always squeezes profits as much as possible.
"Mother, leave it. I am doing this to repay the favour he has shown me. It''s better to show goodwill."
"Favour¡what favour did he show?"Kia asked in surprise as she didn''t know anything about this.
Charles''s lips curled upwards and he spoke with a chuckle.
"It is a favour equal to owning my life.''''
........
Lucas stretched a bit as he walked towards the gymnasium. Today was the beginning of his real hardcore training session with Sir Harris.
While strolling ahead, he couldn''t help but think about his talk with Julian three days ago. The icy cold mask that she had worn had started to melt a bit and her expression had be more soft and gentle.
Those eyes which were always scrutinising him and keeping tabs on his moves, were now conveying warmth and genuine care.
The change and progress in their rtionship over thest few days were too much for him to digest.
Though he was fascinated before, there wasn''t any odd emotion but now every time she draws near him, those gazes and her sweet fragrance permeating the air around him are making him crazy. His heart would thump wildly now and then when he was with her.
Unless one is gay, there was no way your heart can remain steady.
"I am gonna die if things go further down thene. Just focus on your goals Lucas, your goals. The difference in our status is quite huge," Lucas pped his cheek to shake away those unnecessary thoughts and walked into the gymnasium.
....
Inside the gymnasium, Harris stood alone in a ring waiting for Lucas.
Lucas felt the solemn atmosphere that gave him a bad premonition.
"You are here," Harris asked.
"Yes, let''s begin the training."
"Before that, I want to ask you. Do you really want to do this?"
"Yes," Lucas answered without any hesitation.
"In that case harden your heart and mind because my training is too harsh for weak ones as you may die."
"I got it," Lucas answered nonchntly.
How hard can it be? At worst, he will end up with a few broken bones or limbs but all of them can be cured quite easily. There would be no life life-threatening situation.
''He is just exaggerating. He wouldn''t cross the limit in the academy otherwise he would be reprimanded.''
Lucas felt pretty rxed and excited thinking about it, however, the moment he saw Harris''s expression his heart beat with panic.
"So, are you ready?"
Lucas''s expression changed instantly as he looked at Harris''s smile getting wider and wider.
The sudden shift from the initial nk expression to the wide smile gave him deja vu.
"I am ready, I¡I guess?"Lucas murmured.
"Good!"Harris nodded and gave a dubious smile.
As soon as his words faded, Harris''s image vanished before Lucas''s eyes and even before Lucas could react, his mind became nk with a strong influx of pain. His vision became fuzzy as he lost consciousness due to being hit in the head.
Seeing Lucas knocked out on the floor, Harris gave a crooked smile.
"I hope you like this surprise, my disciples."
"These few days. It''s gonna be fun.
Chapter 152 152:Training Session
Chapter152 152:Training Session
It hurts.
It''s painful.
''Damn! What is this pain?''
A gaudy and murky dream world filled with murmurs shattered instantly. The asleep Lucas felt an abnormal throbbing pain in his head as if someoneshed his head with a hammer again and again.
In his stupor, Lucas opened his eyes and stared around through his dark blurry vision wondering where he was while caressing his head.
"Ouch!"
Lucas shrieked in pain touching a big bump over his forehead that appeared out of nowhere.
Throbbing pain inundated Lucas, slowly umting his inner strengths. After a few breaths, Lucas finally broke out of his strange reverie.
Soft winds brushed past him and as his vision picked the images of the surrounding, Lucas first stared at it in disbelief and then stood on his feet, he wailed in panic and horror.
"What the hell? Where am I?"
He stumbled and almost fell to the ground.
"This throbbing pain and headache¡It''s simr to when I first came to this world."
"Don''t tell me, I have transmigrated once again."Lucas''s expression became as pale as a sheet of paper.
ncing around, Lucas''s eyes fall on the tall canopy of trees reaching for the sky. With the lush vibrant green leaves and hard woody bark of canopies, the forest was dyed umber brown that seemed reeked of ages.
The sound of crunching grasses and the snapping of rotting branches reverberated as Lucas moved his feet. Theposite organic smell of decaying dead twigs rose in the air like a wave apanying the dense humid atmosphere after the rain that gave one the expression of gloominess.
"System¡System¡Are you there?"Lucas spoke, gasping heavily.
Fortunately, a familiar blue screen appeared otherwise he might have had a heart attack and entered the cycle of reincarnation.
Heaving in relief, Lucas subconsciously twirled his finger only to find his storage ring missing. He jolted in shock and as he searched around, he saw he had been robbed of most of his things.
He carried a hidden knife near his knees and a voice recorder hidden in his shirt button but all of them were missing. The thief even took his shoe and left him barefooted.
There were two bracelets on his wrist and a cuff on his ankles which he tried hard to get rid of but he wasn''t able to.
It was made of hard metal and weighed a bit making him ufortable.
"What''s going on here? I was with Sir Harris a moment ago and now I am here?"
Lucas felt like going insane after finding himself in an unknown situation out of nowhere. Lucas gasped heavily and took a breath to calm his tensed nerve and decided to find out his situation and the ce he had been thrown.
On looking around, his eyes fell on a blood-red slender object standing upright, just a few steps away from him.
"A stick?''''
The thing piqued Lucas''s curiosity and as Lucas walked near it, he saw small parchment pasted on it.
Lucas pulled it out and read the contents.
[Yo mate, I hope you didn''t lose your mind just because I dumped you into an unknown situation. If you can''t survive this ordeal, you aren''t fit for me to teach you my techniques.]
"Are you kidding me?"Lucas roared violently but suppressed his anger after reading thest sentence.
"Personal techniques," Lucas''s eyes lit up and he skidded down the paper further.
[First thing, this is a sword, not a stick.]
Lucas blinked his eyes in disbelief, wondering how this guy knew his thoughts.
''Can he even predict my thoughts?''Lucas back shivered in fright.
[Currently, you are stranded in a forest and don''t worry too much. You won''t meet any beast above 3-Star. Your mana is locked by the bracelet so you can only rely on your physical body to survive here.]
Lucas''s eyes became nk and the world around him spun.
"These are mana restraining bracelets,"Lucas screamed in horror. His mind was too preupied to notice the restrain of mana.
His face became as pale as a sheet of paper.
Restraining mana wouldn''t affect physical effects like speed, strength and stamina. However, the recovery and regeneration would be greatly reduced. On top of that, he can''t use mana to increase his strength, or speed or coat his sword to sharpen it.
With a deadpan expression, Lucas looked at thest instruction.
[Survive and cross the forest and then trek up the mountain. You will find me at the top. We will start training only after you reach here.]
"Wait! Is this it?"
"What about food, weapons or spare clothes?"
"What is this? A web series of Man in Wildin a fantasy world."
Lucas held his throbbing head, unable to think of anything. He looked at the back of the parchment for any other instructions but there was none.
He didn''t know where he was nor did he know when he would get out. So, what about the sses? If we remain absent for too many days, disciplinary action would be taken.
"I knew this guy was psycho? But this is too much."
"No, maybe he is watching from the shadows and will appear if my life is in danger."
Lucas, biting his teeth, looked around while trying to rememberall the survival skills he had learnt from tv shows.
Food, water and shelter.
Finding food and shelter wouldn''t be a problem in the forest, however, finding fresh water is a deep headache. He didn''t even have a container to boil and had to arrange something.
''I wish I had a knife.''
As he squinted his eyes at the reddish sword, he sighed looking at its stick-like appearance.
artifact?"
"This is the only thing Sir Harris had given me. Is this some graded artifact?"
Lucas extended his hand and grabbed the hilt.
"Ohh!"
A current coursed through his body followed by a numbing pain that made him scream in pain.
Lucas pulled out his hand and saw a small cut over his thumb.
"Is it so sharp that it cuts my thumb?"
Lucas''s eyes shed with astonishment. He ran his finger across the de carefully but he found it extremely blunt.
"Huhh!''''
"It''s so blunt so how did I get the cut? Maybe there is a sharp edge at the handle."
He was too saddened to think anymore and decided to walk ahead and stop wasting his timeining.
..........
On walking further, Lucas entered the dense canopy forest.
A tree here and a tree there. This was also a tree and that was also a tree.
Anywhere he went, all he could see was a thick long tree covering the sky that made it hard for him to discern the direction.
Standing before a tree, Lucas swung his sword with all his might.
QUANG!
After shing against the tree, Lucas''s hand trembled and the sword flew away like a rocket.
"It''s surprisingly hard," Lucas murmured with disbelief. There was arge dent at the spot where the sword hit. The strike crushed the hardwood of the tree.
Lucas blinked his eyes for a moment and then turned his gaze to search for the sword which had flown away.
Before Lucas could take a few steps, a ferocious sound pierced his ears.
Hearing this, he suddenly turned his head.
"Kreungg!"
"Krenng!"
"Squirrels! They are so cute."Lucas was fascinated with the sight of lovely squirrels squirming their way towards him.
The squirrels running towards Lucas lunged at him. Not feeling any threat, Lucas just stood there staring at their cute puppy gaze while thinking about their cuteness.
However, at the very next second, he was proved wrong.
The squirrels jumped on him and crashed onto his gut.
One gave a headbutt while others gave a shoulder tackle.
Lucas who opened his lips tough imagining the ticklish feeling suddenly roared as his body flew back with great momentum.
It was as if a mad bull hit him and the impact was so strong that Lucas rolled onto the ground several times and stopped only after hitting a tree.
Pain invaded his whole body and his consciousness turned blurry.
"What fuck? Are squirrels so violent in this world?"Lucas cursed in pain.
"Wait."
It was only now that he realised his mistake.There is nothing ordinary in this world. Even a small house fly may prove fatal to your life.
Moreover, since his mana was locked, he couldn''t feel their level and had mistaken them as normal cute beings.
The squirrel with a puppy look came straight for his life but Lucas wasn''t going to fall for their tricks once again.
Jumping up, he stepped sideways and yanked the tail of one of the squirrels, he mmed it on the ground brutally and stomped on it brutally.
BANG!
The ground damped and the squirrel''s body burst with blood.
[You have killed a peak 1-Star. You have received 1900 experience points.]
"It was a 1-Star squirrel."
"Nice. ''''Lucas''s eyes glowed and as he turned those eyes shone with greed towards the remaining squirrels, their whole body shivered in fright.
They thought that this was a normal human without any strength but who knew this guy is a menace?
"My cute little squirrel, where are you going? Come to me."
"Tonight, I will have a delicious roasted squirrel. So, thanks for the meal in advance."
Chapter 151 151:I Hope You Will Like The Surprise, My Disciple
?
Sitting on the couch, Charles cleared his throat and forced himself to not cover his eyes while cursing inwardly.
''This damned guy is just too dazzling.''
Wearing a white rolled-sleeved T-shirt with unbuttoned top buttons, exposing a well-defined muscr chest along with a series of abs, the man took a puff of cigar while slumping down on his seat covered by ayer of mist.
Though his face looked haggard and tired, the sharpness behind those eyes can''t be hidden and it pierce through theyer of mist.
After a few seconds of Charles staring at him nkly, the man appearing on the virtual screen grinned.
"Uh, Charles? Did you want something?"
Charles flinched and covered his eyes.
"Can''t you wear your clothes properly? Why are you showing off your skin so much?"
Charles really wanted to hit this guy.
He was the Duke, a person who stands above others and should keep a dignified appearance but he always dresses like a hoodlum.
Charles had even heard the rumours of his grandpa thinking of adopting an orphan to pass the title instead of this guy. Fortunately, his father was a master swordsman otherwise he would have been kicked out.
"It''s called manliness, my son. Manliness is not something that can be hidden by a mere piece of fibre."
Seeing Charles frowning, Duke Kai, his esteemed father clicked his tongue.
"Why do you frown so much as if you stepped on some kind of shit? From whom did you inherit that cold lifeless shitty rotten gaze? Just look at my face, every time I smile, spring blooms inside a girl''s heart."
"Dad, please stop it."Charles requested with a serious gaze. For a moment, Charles felt that this guy called him ugly in severalnguages.
"That look, that look is exactly the reason you are single till now."Kai took a puff of the cigar and then blew the air gracefully as if he was practising a piece of art.
"When I was your age, the academy became a tourist ce for girls just because of my presence. Girls from all over the world lined outside the Academy just for a mere nce of mine. That old foxy Josh bastard seeing the opportunity opened a business and allowed the girls to have a look at my godly face in exchange for five copper coins."
Charles facepalmed and wanted to hit him hard.
If there is a world record for being a narcissist then his father would be at the top.
"My mother is blind for marrying someone like you."
"Blind, yeah you are right. She became blind after seeing my face and crying pitifully, she begged me to marry her. She even threatened me with her death..."
BANG!
A loud explosion urred and within the blink of an eye, something hit Kai and he crashed onto the ground.
The table on which Kai put his legs copsed.
Ayer of dust covered Charles''s screen and as the smoke disappeared, a woman with green hair fluttering in the air appeared stepping over Kai.
"Kaiiii, do you think I will not kill you? Do you want to die?"
"Do you dare?"
"Sorry, forgive me my beloved Senorita. I was just teaching Charles about manl¡. argh."
A crunching sound echoed.
"What did you say? Just wait! I will deal with youter. Hey, take him out."
A group of people came and lifted him, and ran back hurriedly in fear of the crisis that was about toe.
"Kheum...I...wAs just...joKin, "Kai screamed in fear but his lips were closed by the gag. The servants weren''t unfazed as it was just a daily routine for them.
"And you?"
Charles''s body flinched seeing her mother staring at him with a deep venomous gaze.
"Why did your rank fall?"
A sense of dreariness washed over him as soon as he heard his mom''s icy voice.
"I am sorry. It''s my fault."Charles bowed his head, feeling ashamed.
Unlike his carefree father, his mother was strict, way stricter than others. His education started early and his mother repeatedly warned him not to taint their reputation.
The previous mistake that hemitted during the Dungeon Test almost made Kia tear him apart.
Seeing Charles''s apologetic look, Kia''s expression softened a bit but it was reced quickly as soon as it appeared.
"Charles, listen to me."
"Yes, mother."Charles lifted his pale expression.
"Listen, Charles, I know I am being too much of a nuisance but I am doing all of this for you. Falling in rank is a grave matter however it''s alright if it''s not your mistake. If you arezing around and doing nothing, I would punish you but if your rank is falling because others are better than you, then it is alright. Just work hard and take care of your health and yeah don''t do shady things behind us. This is my final warning."
Charles stared at his mother''s stern expression and blinked his eyes.
Even though his mother''s face was stern, Charles could see a small smile hung over her lips and her eyes for some reason were filled with warmth and love.
"Don''t worry Mom, I assure you.No more shady things. I promise you, I will be a better human, you can be proud of."
Kia''s eyes widened and for a moment she looked around if the sun rose from the West this time.
''Is this my son or is someone impersonating him?''
"Charles, are you alright?''''She asked with concern.
"Mom, I am fine. By the way, what happened to the Dark Church that we attacked? Did you find something?"
"Don''t ask, your father and I had a headache dealing with them. There are 12 hideouts of these mongrels in our estate and these guys have sacrificed tons of lives. We also found a ce where a live sacrificial ritual was going on where a hundredmons were going to be sacrificed."
"It''s way worse than imagined," Charles muttered in disbelief.
"Hmm! By the way, Charles, we have received a request for patents from your friend. We will be entitled to 10% of the profit. I had looked over it. The proposal is good but unbefitting our position. We should receive 40% of the shares as it is gonna operate in our name. However, since you are the future heir and this guy is your friend. I will leave the decision to you."
Charles frowned hearing his mother''s voice. While his fatherzes around, it''s his mother who takes care of the estate.
And his mother is a fierce businessman who always squeezes profits as much as possible.
"Mother, leave it. I am doing this to repay the favour he has shown me. It''s better to show goodwill."
"Favour¡what favour did he show?"Kia asked in surprise as she didn''t know anything about this.
Charles''s lips curled upwards and he spoke with a chuckle.
"It is a favour equal to owning my life.''''
........
Lucas stretched a bit as he walked towards the gymnasium. Today was the beginning of his real hardcore training session with Sir Harris.
While strolling ahead, he couldn''t help but think about his talk with Julian three days ago. The icy cold mask that she had worn had started to melt a bit and her expression had be more soft and gentle.
Those eyes which were always scrutinising him and keeping tabs on his moves, were now conveying warmth and genuine care.
The change and progress in their rtionship over thest few days were too much for him to digest.
Though he was fascinated before, there wasn''t any odd emotion but now every time she draws near him, those gazes and her sweet fragrance permeating the air around him are making him crazy. His heart would thump wildly now and then when he was with her.
Unless one is gay, there was no way your heart can remain steady.
"I am gonna die if things go further down thene. Just focus on your goals Lucas, your goals. The difference in our status is quite huge," Lucas pped his cheek to shake away those unnecessary thoughts and walked into the gymnasium.
....
Inside the gymnasium, Harris stood alone in a ring waiting for Lucas.
Lucas felt the solemn atmosphere that gave him a bad premonition.
"You are here," Harris asked.
"Yes, let''s begin the training."
"Before that, I want to ask you. Do you really want to do this?"
"Yes," Lucas answered without any hesitation.
"In that case harden your heart and mind because my training is too harsh for weak ones as you may die."
"I got it," Lucas answered nonchntly.
How hard can it be? At worst, he will end up with a few broken bones or limbs but all of them can be cured quite easily. There would be no life life-threatening situation.
''He is just exaggerating. He wouldn''t cross the limit in the academy otherwise he would be reprimanded.''
Lucas felt pretty rxed and excited thinking about it, however, the moment he saw Harris''s expression his heart beat with panic.
"So, are you ready?"
Lucas''s expression changed instantly as he looked at Harris''s smile getting wider and wider.
The sudden shift from the initial nk expression to the wide smile gave him deja vu.
"I am ready, I¡I guess?"Lucas murmured.
"Good!"Harris nodded and gave a dubious smile.
As soon as his words faded, Harris''s image vanished before Lucas''s eyes and even before Lucas could react, his mind became nk with a strong influx of pain. His vision became fuzzy as he lost consciousness due to being hit in the head.
Seeing Lucas knocked out on the floor, Harris gave a crooked smile.
"I hope you like this surprise, my disciples."
"These few days. It''s gonna be fun.
Chapter 153 153:Training Session[2]
?
Lucas frowned as he pressed down on his throbbing stomach. The pungent smell of blood and rotten meat left on his body assaulted his nostrils.
Leaning against the tree, Lucas looked around.
It was daytime a few hours ago but now it was dark. Fortunately, Lucas climbed up on a tree and noted the sense of direction. A few miles away, one can see a greenish mountain range covered in dark clouds.
The forest was not only inhabited by poisonous insects but also dangerous beasts and monsters.
While hunting in the dungeon, one had to always be prepared beforehand.
There were insect repellents, sprays that mask your body odour, and a liquid that moistens your eyes and keeps them in good condition.
But he had nothing here.
''Sir Harris didn''t even leave a healing potion.''Lucas sighed as he managed to get up with his throbbing body.
"Woooof!"
Lucas''s body instantly stiffened noticing a wild hungry wolf who had been searching for food.
The moment its eyes fell on Lucas, the wolf rushed at him like an arrow to which Lucas immediately raised the stick.
"KANG!"
The wolf''s fangs bit the sword stick and a crunching sound echoed. Lucas used this opportunity to m his knees against his jaw.
A crackling sound echoed due to the strong impact and its grip immediately loosened. Lucas pulled up the sword stick and used it like a club to bash it over the wolf''s head.
BANG!
The wolf''s eyes became teary due to the pain and its skull was fractured but this wasn''t enough to pin it down. It lunged forward to take a nib of Lucas and bite him to death but at the very next moment, it knew it was a mistake.
Lucas had already made a rough guess about its strength. So, instead of retreating, Lucas extended his hand and held both ends of the jaw and, spinning his body, mmed it upside down with a strong force.
BANG!
The ground rustled as the wolf struck the dirt and before it could struggle, a sh of viciousness shed over Lucas''s eyes and exerting all his strength, he tore open its jaw.
"AWOOOOOOO!"
A painful shriek wailed across the forest but Lucas didn''t show mercy and killed it.
[You have killed a peak 2-Star. You have gained 4900 experience points.]
Lucas gasped heavily and nodded in satisfaction. The only thing that he can be happy about was seeing experience points.
At least he can buy a potion from the system to save his life from a deadly situation.
Lucas stared at the corpse for a moment and then looked at the squirrel meat stuffed in the pocket.
"A wolf would taste better, wouldn''t it?"
Lucas tried to peel off the skin with that so-called sword s it was too blunt. He then searched for a sharp object, but nothing came into his view.
Pondering for a moment, certain ideas struck Lucas.
He tried to summon an ice spike and dig into the wolf''s skin, however...
"Haa, isn''t my mana just restricted. My body should have mana in it but I can''t even use skills or use spells."Lucas shouted and kicked the ground in bitter frustration.
Small shards and chips of stores erupted from it, seeing which a certain idea struck Lucas.
"Thank god! Finally, I found something sharp."
Lucas searched around and shed two stones to form a cutting edge. Though it was still rough, it was still usable.
ted, Lucas immediately pulled it creating scratch marks over the skin and tore off the upperyer applying force with his bare hands.
Blood gushed out and a disgusting scene reflected in his eyesight that gave him the urge to vomit but nothing came out. Maybe because there was nothing in his stomach to get out.
Lucas then used stones to sh them against one another to make sparks and liting the firewood, grilled the meat of the wolf.
"I don''t think I can sleep today. Who knows what may appear if I close my eyes even for a moment?"
Although he didn''t encounter any life-threatening situations, he was exhausted mentally and physically.
His body felt heavier than before and he was always out of breath with little movement.
"I can''t believe I am so helpless without mana. If one day this world lost mana wouldn''t I be useless?"
"If any life threatening situation urs,Sir Harris will not let me die, will he?"Lucas asked but there was no one to reply to him.
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
...
The bright light smeared the world with a golden lustre as if the sun was getting ready to hide behind the horizon. The sky and thick trees mixed into various shades of golden and red giving the world a beautiful contrast.
Away from any human settlement, the scene was quite captivating for an avid lover of nature to resist still there was no joy in his heart.
Lucas had hardly taken any rest due to the danger around.
Hunting and walking were the only things Lucas did.He managed to squeeze out some water from the soaked humid soil using his cloth that he boiled in a bowl made of leaf by hanging it over the fire for a few minutes.
And yeah,it tasted like shit.
You don''t need poison, just make the noble children drink this one shot and they will be shot.
Sighing,Lucas carried on his survival quest gritting his teeth.
CRUNCH!CRUNCH!CRUNCH!
While looking at the beautiful scenario with a gloomy expression, Lucas munched over small pieces of meat that left a bitter aftertaste. A little salt could do the magic but there wasn''t any.
On his way, he had seen many fruits but it wasmon sense for humans to not eat anything that one wasn''t sure of.
The shirt he had worn yesterday was now made into a rag that carried meat. Thick climbers had been torn and wrapped around his body for future use.
His appearance was enough to make anyone think of him as a wild man.
"I am sure there was a skill tomunicate with beasts. I should look for it after I go back."
Coming out of the dense forest, Lucas''s eyes becameplicated.
"Looking at the height of the mountain and its oval shape at the top, it looked like a dormant volcano."
There seemed to be a few other hills beside it but Lucas wasn''t able to get a good view as his sight had been blocked by this huge body.
"Fortunately, I had made rope with the climbers and lianas. I hope it will help in case I fall."
For the very first moment in his life, Lucas had the urge to bow down on his knees and worship Bear Grylls.
There still were a few hours of walking before he reached the foot of the mountain so he just moved forward without grumbling.
...
Now the forest was fully enveloped in the gentle embrace of a pearl-luminescent light.
Even with the aid of a bright moonlit sky, the visibility was still low.
"Wait! Now that I think about it, I haven''t seen the sun,moon or any star. I thought they were hidden deeply but the sky is clear so why didn''t I spot the sun? It''s only possible in the case of a dungeon."
Suddenly Lucas''s eyes lit with a vague conclusion.
"Am I in the dungeon?"
As Lucas immersed in thinking about the possibility, his steps abruptly halted.
"Something is here?"
Lucas''s back was drenched in sweat and his senses screamed frantically.
"Which monster is it?"Turning around towards the back, Lucas hurried his way with hushed steps.
"A snake."
A hissing sound echoed and Lucas spotted the sight of a snake coiling around a rabbit.
Crouching behind the tree, Lucas snooped at the scene.
"This is weird."
"It doesn''t look strong so why did I feel danger?"
While Lucas stood there alert, the snake that was engulfing the rabbit while spinning around on the ground was suddenly blown away.
As soon as the snakended, it immediately took a defensive stance in a crawling form.
The snake was instantly alerted and swaying its body, it jumped in the air but something struck him and impaled him.
Lucas''s heart screamed in danger.
As the snake died, a pitch-dark shadow appeared out of nowhere. It stared at the snake with its yellow eyes and ws.
Lucas gulped seeing the shadow cat.No, it was a shadow leopard who is an expert in hiding.
''Damn!'' Lucas cursing his luck, turned around and ran back into the forest as fast as possible.
"Good¡Good."
"My shitty bad luck is waiting for this time. I thought I had gotten rid of my bad luck but nah this shit is on my tail again."
It didn''t matter if it was a 1-Star or 2-Star. They belong to a family of ck cats. They are one of the most fatal beasts in the dungeon who can hide themselves perfectly under the veil of darkness.
Many hunters and warriors die encountering them.They are assassins of the wild.No Matter how invincible one is, there will always be a moment of carelessness that may cost your life.
This beast can kill people way above their realms.
And to his bad luck, he had encountered that damn thing and that also at night making it harder to notice it.
Lucas immediately started climbing hastily. The climbing wasn''t too difficult as the mountain wasn''t too erect rather it had a gradual slope.
After a few moments of climbing, Lucas felt a presence from behind that made him curse his luck.
He could feel it.
Something was staring at him and wanted to attack. He could feel the murderous intention.
Without pondering further, Lucas pulled out the sword.
It was then a rustling sound echoed across the ce. Lucas''s ear perked up and his body became tense.
Even before he could think, his body reacted on its own and stomping the ground, he jumped towards the left to avoid it.
Chapter 154 154:Training Session[3]
?
On the bank of the river, many bodiesy on the ground covered in a white nket.
Many priests prayed for them and started the ceremony.
Luna stood at the side with a nk expression. Though her face was expressionless, there was deep sorrow in her eyes.
At that time, an old man with a long white beard standing beside her spoke in a consoling tone.
"Little girl, your mood seems to be quite down."
His voice was filled with warmth and vitality that was quite unusual for his gaze.
The old man nced around, raising his brows seeing which the people retreated giving them some space.
"Immanuel!Holy Father." The Priest bowing their head greeted him and walked away.
"Grandpa, why do people who can see other''s futures can''t foresee their own?'''' Luna asked with a bitter voice staring at the dead bodies.
The old man caressed his beard and stared at the dead bodies.
All of them were the people who died during the battle waged against the Dark Church.
"It''s thews of nature that bind us, little girl. We can see others'' futures but can''t foresee ours. And even if you can see the future, how much can you change it? In the end, what is destined to happen will always happen until Heaven intervenes."
"Why?" Luna''s grieved words echoed in the ce.
"Why do most of the futures we foresee that of destruction and carnage? And when ites to people who can stop this destruction, we can only see prophecies, not the actual scene."
"Everything is Heaven''s will, my girl. The future of destruction we see is a message asking us to be prepared, whereas the prophecies are not fixed."The old man shook his head and spoke with a sigh while walking forward and staring at the deep blue sky.
"Nature is unkind. It treats everyone differently. Some are dear to heaven and are carp born to leap the dragon gate to be dragons but before that, they are weak and have to go through the harsh cruelty of the world. Sadly, 99% of them die and wither before they can leap."
Luna''s expression distorted and her eyes became cold.
"It''s unfair. Heaven never listens to people call for help and salvage their plight but the moment it''s in trouble, it will create filth of evil to be a stepping stone of the son of heaven that will be used by it as a pawn. This had been going on since the beginning of creation so for how long will people suffer this injustice? What about these innocent people who die because of this ploy?"
"The evil and good are all the beings born of nature that fight together to keep the bnce so that they can''t threaten heaven."
The old man''s brows creased as he stared at Luna with a sombre expression.
''Today, she seems to be quite agitated.''
If anyone heard her saying this, she would be reprimanded and used ofmitting hearsay, but she didn''t care about this and was unrestrained before him because she had grown under his care.
There was no blood rtion between them but to him, she was like his lovely granddaughter.
"I don''t know Luna. I don''t know. People revere him, but I who stood at the epitome of the Holy State had my hands filled with the blood of countless innocents."
"To destroy that bigger evil, we are just some lesser evil." The man murmured with regret and then looked at the sky.
"Still what can we do? After all, can there be a man who can even go against heaven and win at the end." The old man smiled bitterly, however, Luna''s next words shook his entire soul.
"There is."
" There is someone, Grandpa."
The old man''s eyes widened and he stared at Luna''s face, stered with arge grin seeing that his back was drenched in cold.
"Luna¡ just what did you see?"
A stuttering voice filled with shock and disbelief echoed.
........
The sudden situation of panic almost made his heart skip a beat. Adrenaline coursed through his body. His heart pounded intensely against his chest, his muscles contracted, his veins bulged and his pupils erged to get a better view of his surroundings.
His tired body was suddenly brimming with power and all of his senses were on alert mode.
The first thing that came into Lucas''s mind was to escape but with poor visibility dampening his movement, he was now on a slope. The vegetation covering the rocky soil was like bushes and roots entangled with one another making it difficult to run freely.
Lucas tried to put up the stance while noticing the leaves. A strong wind was blowing making the leaves sway, but still Lucas tried to pick up any change in noise.
As Lucas walked back hurriedly, Lucas''s eyes caught the sight of a distorting shadow as if it was alive.
Lucas''s body flinched and with a lightning-fast movement, Lucas swung his sword.
Swish!
But his sword scratches through the empty air.
"Where are you?" Lucas mumbled with a panicked expression and swung his sword around him while spinning in a circle.
SPLAT!
It was then something sshed like a whip and struck Lucas''s wrist.
"Arghh!"
Lucas let out a painful groan and the grip of his left hand loosened due to the momentary pain.
Turning around, Lucas''s golden eyes met with a yellow pair of beastly eyes. Seeing them, his throat became dry and his breathing ceased.
Due to the darkness, the only thing Lucas saw was yellow eyes on dark visages. It had ck fur that didn''t shine under the moonlight as if it sucked all the light.
Like an arrow, it lunged at him.
Lucas was momentarily taken back by its swiftness, but still, Lucas was unfazed as he had undergone this type of situation countless times.
However, this time Lucasmitted a grave mistake that might cost his life.
"Shit!"
Lucas''s eyes shed with horror due to sudden realisation. Every time Lucas encounters a strong opponent, he engages in a game of hit and run.
Using sh steps and shadow steps, Lucas had always managed to dodge the fatal strikes and then strike back. However since he can''t use mana, he couldn''t use that. Since Lucas used this move countless times, it has been ingrained in his instinct and his body can react subconsciously every time he encounters it.
As if a switch had been turned off, Lucas''s body stood rigid for a moment. Lucas attempted to dodge sideways but it was toote.
The beast was already on him and might tear off a part of his body if he didn''t do something.
"Damn!"
At thest moment, Lucas''s body moved.
The ragged cloth and thick ropes wrapped over his shoulder carrying meat were yanked back as fast as lightning and he raised his left arm covered with the ragged cloth as protection.
"Ahhhh!"
Lucas gritted his teeth to suppress the pain as the wolf''s sharp fangs dug into his arms through the clothes and met it as if it would crush his arm. Sharp teeth dig into the skin and blood sttered.
A scream came out of the indescribable terrible pain. At the same time, his vision turned ck due to the sudden influx of pain.
The shadow leopard red at him as if it would never let him go.
"Leave me, shithead!"
Lucas gripped the hilt of the sword with his right hand tightly and mmed it on its head repeatedly.
BANG!BANG!BANG!
Both of them engaged in a battle of tenacity and persistence.
Lucas didn''t have any intention of dying. When ites to holding his life, there were very few that could hold up to his will to survive.
"Grrrrrrrr!"
The shadow leopard tried to bite Lucas''s neck as he fell but Lucas blocked it with his left arm but it only increased the pain.
Lucas sacrificed his left arm and taking a moment to calm down, he thrust the pointy end of the blunt sword right into the eye of the shadow leopard.
Unpleasant sensations were transmitted through his hands. But the rush of adrenaline pushed away all the pain and made him more resilient.
Kwang!Kwang!
Screaming in pain, it stepped back when its eye was stabbed and burst by Lucas''s thrust.
Lucas held his bloody arm and supported it. The bones were crushed and five holes were dug into the arm and his left arm was almost dislocated in the rug and drag battle.
Blood gushed out from it and Lucas wasn''t able to feel his left arm.
"Even if it''s detached or crushed, as long as I can keep it, I will not lose my arm," Lucas assured himself trying to calm his uneasiness.
Only Saintess and a very handful of people can grow missing limbs so if he loses his left arm for now, it was as good as gone.
Lucas raised his chin and noticed the shadow leopard wailing in pain while scratching its face over and over again.
"No...I can''t."
Lucas wasn''t confident enough to kill it.
"Let''s use this opportunity to run."
Stumbling on his steps, Lucas decided to flee.
Running around madly, Lucas halted his steps and his eyes widened seeing a cliff.
"What the?"
Lucas''s heart almost moved up to his throat, seeing deep darkness with nond below the protruding rock.
His hand condition wasn''t good, so he decided to give up on climbing and ran around, but he hadn''t imagined that running around would make hime across this cliff.
Lucas turned around and was about to dash but the fatigue of the entire day was catching up to him.
And to make it worse, the bushes started to sway.
RUSTLE!RUSTLE!RUSTLE!
Before moving further, he heard the rustling sound of bushes.
Squinting his eyes, he tried to look for the beast that was chasing after him.
As the blood-stained shadow leopard appeared, Lucas''s expression hardened.
CLUNG!
Hearing the voice, Lucas looked behind and saw that he was standing over the edge of the cliff.
"Damn, I am gonna die like this."
Lucas''s expression turned grave and his blood boiled fiercely with anger.
"I can''t die like this."
"It''s too early for me to die."
Lucas bent down while staring at the beast and took a chunk of stones with his right hand. If only his sword wasn''t blunt, he could have tried to fight back.
He pushed the sword into his belt to keep it there for now.
"Come on. You want some? thene and get some."
Lucas didn''t know if it understood his words or felt offended. But as soon as his words fell, baring its fangs, it charged straight at him.
Lucas ran forward while gasping heavily.
As the image of the shadow leopard reflected in his eyes, Lucas squatted down and slid down across the ground letting the beast pass over him.
Startled by the sudden change in scenario, the shadow leopard tried to halt his body to stop itself from falling and managed to stop his momentum across the edge of the cliff.
However, as soon as it turned around, it saw a stone mmed against its face making it lose its bnce.
GRRRRRR
Letting out a fearful shriek, its body lunged down.
Seeing the scene, Lucas heaved a sigh in relief.
"Thank god!"
"I should have used stones from the beginning instead of this sword of betrayal."Lucas cursed his fate and walked towards the edge to get a look.
"That pitiful cat must be regretting but it deserves it. Who asked it to look for me."Lucas scoffed.
Lucas hardly took a look when a loud growl echoed and a shadow shed before him. The protruding tform copsed out of nowhere much to his surprise.
The shadow leopard used its tail to get a hold of the protruding rock from below and when it fell it used its ws to jump up which broke the tform.
On jumping up it was startled seeing the human.
Lucas''s eyes widened and arranging his body, he tilted his body to hold on to something while giving a kick.
BANG!
The kick connected straight at its chest and sent it flying but to Lucas''s horror, as it fell, it wrapped its tail around Lucas''s feet and pulled him down.
"Holy shit!"
Lucas cursed as he was pulled down from the edge.
Chapter 155 155:Mediocre Talent
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DRIP!DRIP!DRIP!
The sound of water sshing over the ground resonated slowly.
The crunching sound was followed by the asional creaking sound of insects.
CRICK!CRICK!CRICK!
A long slimy bug wriggled across the person''s face and was about to prick but the person woke up in time.
CRUNCH!
Opening his mouth, he directly took a bite and spat it on the floor.
"Yuck! It''s disgusting."
His expression was distorted.
The wriggling movement woke him up and the first thing Lucas saw after opening his eyes was darkness.
Everything was dark and blurry. He couldn''t tell how much time had passed and where he was. His limbs felt numb and seemed to be devoid of sensation.
There was no warmth in his body and it was frigid with an icy sensation.
Thest thing he remembered was hitting the tail of the beast to get rid of it. After which, he unwrapped the root ropes he made and after kicking the beast down, he threw the loop hoping for it to stick on some rock or a tree growing at the edge of the cliff.
The beast tried to bite him again during the fall but Lucas shoved the sword into its throat after which his vision became nk.
"Am I dead? Is this afterlife?"A hoarse voice emerged from his lips.
After a few moments, his blurry vision receded giving him a sight of his surroundings. Darkness was still present due to the night time but he could identify the scene around him.
"Wait! Is something wrong with my vision? Why is everything looking upside down?"
Lucas''s mind took a moment to process his thoughts.
With a great difficulty, Lucas shook his head and found himself hanging upside down. On raising his face upwards, he saw a knot over his ankle and the extended rope stuck over a branch on the tree and supported him. He was now hanging in mid-air, a few feet above the ground.
Lucas tried to move his hand, but a painful groan escaped from his lips.
On seeing the condition of his left arm, he was startled for a moment. The holes over the arm had been closed and the torn gash had clot over it.
The difort persisted due to the itching sensation and dislocation of the socket from the shoulder de.
"How is this possible? Am I hanging here for days?"
"No, this might be the effect of the blessing. Since the energy persists in me, it is increasing my healing speed."
"How can I forget this?"
While for lower realms, blessings can aid in breakthrough,the people of higher realms use them for safety purposes.
Blessing can quickly heal your wound and can even grow back your limb. Until your head was cut, you cane back alive from fatal injuries until it is exhausted.
Lucas then took note of his condition.
There were scratch marks on his back and the flesh over his right shoulder was torn. All of this was done by the beast but it had almost healed leaving scar marks.
Fortunately, it was dead.
[You have killed an early 4-Star. You have gained 50000 experience points.]
Lucas heaved in relief seeing the notification.He could see a dark body drenched in blood few metres away from him.
Taking a few moments to catch up his strength, Lucas pulled his tired body to unwrap the loop across his feet.
Swoosh!
Though Lucas fell on his feet, he wasn''t able to keep his bnce and his face mmed against the ground.
"Cough...Cough..."
Feeling exhaustion washing over him, Lucas felt that his end was near.
"Sir Harris, you should have at least given me some time to prepare my will."
........
On top of the hill, beside a small wooden cottage, a man sat over a log with a t top.
Warming himself in fire, he barbequed a piece of meat while humming softly.
Looking at the thick fog and greeny scenery hidden behind it, he mumbled softly.
"It seems he is here."
On raising his chin, he caught the sight of the boy walking up while supporting himself with the long staff-like branch.
He had a wounded shoulder and a fatigued appearance with blood-drenched over his body. His eyes were dark, sunken with big dark spots.
From afar, one might mistake this person for a zombie.
Getting up, he immediately ran towards him.
"Lucas."
Crouching his tired body, as soon as Lucas''s eyes fell on Sir Harris sittingfortably and enjoying barbeque, Lucas wanted to curse at him but as the person was an elder, his teacher he suppressed his urge.
"Lucas, how are you?"
"Are you alright?"
Seeing Harris''s worried expression, Lucas''s heart softened a bit.
''It seems at least he cares for me.''
"I am alright Sir Harris. Just a bit tired."
"Seeing your appearance, I really can''t believe this," Harris murmured in a surprised tone and started to walk in a circle around Lucas and observed his condition.
Lucas felt confused hearing his words.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, I just thought you would lose one or two limbs at best or die somewhere along the way at worst,'''' Harris said with a saddened expression as if his expectations had been betrayed.
Hearing his words, Lucas coughed blood and almost copsed on the ground.
''Fuck you. This guy is a fucking psychopath."
......
Lucas didn''t know for how long he had passed out but on waking up, for the first time in his life, he felt as if he was in heaven.
His body had been crying and begging for rest but Lucas didn''t dare to take a rest for fear of encountering another fierce beast and hurriedly trekked the hill.
"Do you feel better?"
Lucas rubbed his eyes and saw Harris sitting beside him holding a coffee on a wooden stool while he was lying over the straw and hatchets which felt morefortable and warm than bed for some reason.
"Hmm!" Lucas nodded.
"So, did you learn something?''''Harris asked casually but it caused a big ripple over Lucas''s face.
Lucas''s stomach grumbled for food but he suppressed his desire.
"Sir Harris, it seems I am nothing without mana."Lucas gave a bitter smile.
"That''smon. Most of the show stars of today are useless without mana. Anything other than that."Harris spoke nonchntly.
"It seems, I had picked up too many bad habits during my recent fights. I am running and fleeing too much to the point that my body has be ustomed to it."
"Lucas."
Harris cut Lucas sharply and spoke in a rigid tone.
"Your swordsmanship has deteriorated."
"Huh!" Lucas''s eyes shed in shock upon hearing his words.
"What do you mean? I...I have always followed your words."
"Don''t worry it had nothing to do with your temperament or training," Harris assured Lucas.
After calming down, he started to exin.
"Listen, Lucas, you might have already felt this but let me tell you the truth. You don''t have a talent in swordsmanship."
Lucas''s breathing halted for a moment.
"You don''t have talent in any weapon art nor do you have a good aptitude for magic. In the end, you are just a bit better than mediocre, however, you have patience and persistence which others don''t have and after breaking to 2-Star, your talent can be said to have improved from mediocre to average surprisingly.''''
"You were doing well Lucas."
As Lucas stared at him confusedly, Harris exined further with a darkened face.
"But for some reason, you have grown beyond what you can handle. It should have taken a year or less for you to advance to the intermediate level but you became one in such a short time that you aren''t ready. It''s like a child that started running without learning to walk and knowing about the sense of direction."
"Your sudden growth messed up your foundation and the bad habits you picked up, had started to destroy you from the inside."
Lucas noted Harris''s words carefully.
"So, what am I going to do now?"
Harris stood up with a smile.
"Isn''t that obvious? We are gonna fight."
"Fight until I beat the shit out of those habits you picked up."
"Every time, you make a wasted moment. I will beat you to death. I have fed you a healing potion and now you have recovered to the peak but in this training, no matter how much you cry and beg, you aren''t allowed to use your potion to heal."
"Is this a training or a torture?"Lucas asked with a bitter smile.
"My training is synonymous to torture? It''s up to you whether to train you or leave."Harris answered sternly.
"No, I will train with you but before that where the hell are we? What about the sses?"
"Didn''t I write about this on the parchment?"
"No, you didn''t."Lucas red at Harris who scratched his head.
"Sorry, I forgot. We are in a B-rank dungeon. The rights of this belong to one of my friends. All monsters above 3-Star had been killed. You are just unfortunate toe across a beast who made a breakthrough that day."
"For some reason, I am not surprised," Lucas spoke indifferently.
"As for the sses, I applied for 10-15 days'' leave on your behalf.5 days here is equal to two days on the outside, so we have 35 days to set everything."
"So, are you ready?"Harris asked.
"Yes!"Lucas nodded in excitement.
After a light meal, both of them walked outside.
Harris asked Lucas to use that red sword.
"Sir Harris, why do you give me this stick?"
"It''s a sword, Lucas. Don''t disrespect a sword. And believe me, this is one of the greatest swords of this world."
"Yeah, yeah. I believe you."Lucas scoffed.
If Dwarves heard this, they would dieughing and would piss on it.
"Sir, Harris, where are your weapons?"Lucas asked, seeing Harris empty-handed.
"It''s here, "Harris, speaking casually, pulled out a toothpick stuffed in his mouth, seeing which Lucas shouted.
"Are you kidding me?"
However, before his words fell, something went past him and a deafening roar sounded.
BOOM!
On turning his head, Lucas gasped in shock seeing a huge boulder behind him crushed into pieces and as dust dissipated, Lucas spotted a toothpick stuck over a piece.
''I am gonna die.''
''Damn, this guy might kill me for real.''
Chapter 156 156:Twin Dragon Club
?
I hope I don''t get killed for trespassing."
"Oh god, why did I step into this shit." Melvin cursed himself wondering why the hell had he listened to that bastard.
After escaping, he decided to y around and didn''t want to follow that guy''s instructions. But after a few days of mirth and joy, he could feel a shadow cast over his heart that was drowning him in bitterness.
From the moment he awakened his talents, he wanted to be a great puppet master and make a new way for those who couldn''t use spirit as puppets.
For this, he needs support and backing. The ck Wizards support was quite good however he was reluctant. He wasn''t willing to band together with that group of maniacs.
He wanted to leave his name in the history of great people, not in the record of criminals. So, even if he couldn''t believe that guy''s words, he still had faint hope.
Maybe¡ just maybe he can get his wish fulfilled if he follows his instruction.
Thinking about his words, he reached Willer''s ce in Hines town as instructed by Lucas.
There was a detached house with a big garden. The road outside the hollowed metal gates allowed four carriers to pass through at once. Streetmps lined the sides of the road.
The ck metal gate was closely appressed to the dark rot wall, forming a checker with flickeringmps over it. It was intriguing as darkness and light coexisted.
Watching along the pathway nketed by the rays of the moon, Melvin stared at Willer''s ce through the ajar metal Gates.
Facing the main entrance was a cemented road that led straight to the two-floored bungalow, Melvin pushing the metal gates stepped in.
"Huuhhut!"
"Kyaaaak!"
Melvin screamed in panic hearing a piercing howl. Upon turning around, he saw an owl squealing at him. Bats started to fly around emitting a screeching voice making his heart shudder.
"What is this ce? Another syndicate for ck wizards?"
As soon as he reached the house, Melvin shivered on peering around.
He felt that in the garden, somewhere on thewn, on the roof, and behind the swing something was staring at him with an inexplicable gaze.
There was no one around here, but Melvin felt as if he was on a crowded street.
Tolerating the chilly feeling and acting as if not noticing the preparator despite being followed and observed, Melvin reached out and knocked on the door.
"Who are you? Why have youe here?" A seemingly ethereal voice came from inside the ce.
Melvin''s back tingled, feeling the chilly wind blowing around him.
Gulping his saliva, he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a badge with trembling hands.
"I¡ I want to enter the Puppet Club of Twin-Headed Dragons to meet Sir Crest. Here is the token."
The door was pushed open and an obscure figure covered in ck haze appeared.
Melvin''s heart thumped wildly wondering if this was a ghost.
"Give me the badge for a moment."
"H..Here!"
Taking the badge, the obscure figure pointed at it and poured his mana. The badge glowed and a twin dragon image appeared in the empty air.
"It''s authentic. You cane in." The man muttered, extending him the badge.
"By the way, what would''ve happened to me if this was fake?"
The obscure veil covering the figure disappeared and a man nearing 40 appeared in his vision.
"I am Gunn Heath."
"As per your question, just look outside."
Melvin, following Gunn''s gaze, stared behind.
The space before his eyes distorted and countless dark grotesque figures appeared roaming in the ce seeing which Melvin''s heart jumped out in fear.
He opened his lips to speak but words got struck over his chest seeing the horrible figures wriggling outside.
''What the hell is this?!! This looks like a den of a ghost!! Oh my god!''
Melvin clutched his chest tightly.
"If this was a fake, you wouldn''t have walked out of here. Death is imminent for those who try to barge into Twin Dragon Society."Gunn spoke calmly but it was this calmness that scared the shit out of Melvin.
"Okay!"
"By the way, I don''t know anything about this secret society. It was someone who referred me here."
"This is a gathering for groups who just look out for each other. asionally when members find someone with great potential, they send them here. You can also learn some useful skills. We have many clubs that will allow you to pique your interest."Gunn winked at Melvin.
"Come in, gentlemen. Since you are going to be part of us. Let''s have a pleasant chat."
As Gunn led Melvin inside, Melvin turned his head to watch the horrendous scene behind him and almost cried.
''I shouldn''t havee here. I don''t belong here.''
.....
It had been two days since Harris started pounding Lucas mercilessly.
Training continuously, and crying out in pain, Lucas didn''t even know when the days went.
In between the fights, Harris would preach stories of ancient times to broaden his horizon and garner his interest.
The first step was to use mana efficiently.
The second step was to use aura by coating it over the body or your weapon.
On advancing to the advanced weapon level, the aura starts to condense and you can slowly start using ki.
Once you perfect the use of ki you will step into the level of Mastery and above it stands the level of Perfection.
The realm where you can be one with your weapon.
"In ancient times, the power levels were divided into these five levels but with the improved techniques and standards, it was ssified broadly into Star Cultivation."
"There have been records of people who couldn''t use mana. However, with different techniques and methods, they have managed to use aura and sword ki. Some even reached perfection in swords and are said to have the prowess to cut an entire continent with a casual flick."
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
Gales emerged as Lucas''s sword struck Harris who just stood leisurely swaying his hand to and fro holding the toothpick.
Each time Lucas''s sword collides, he would be pushed back by a few steps.
What annoyed Lucas to death, was the bored and carefree expressions of Harris.
The only time he was allowed to rest was when his body, unable to bear any longer copsed, for a few moments or an hour at best.
There was no time to sleep or to eat. All they were doing was going over each other''s throats.
His eye had be bloody due to being devoid of sleep and it looked as if they would pop out at any time and shootsers at Harris.
On Day five things became more intense.
"Lucas, stopzing like a girl," Harris yelled and whipped his hand.
"Please Sir Harris let me have a moment of re¡ ahhhhhhh!'''' Lucas shrieked loudly as Harris stepped over his knees and stomped on his legs.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Lucas''s horrendous cries echoed but Harris just kept pressing him down with a nk expression as if he was not interested.
"Stop¡Stop it¡I may die."
Harris bent down and lifted Lucas, grabbing his neck.
Lucas felt suffocation and tried to get out of his grip but Sir Harris tightened his hold further.
"Stop bitching around." A cold voice echoed.
Lucas''s body shivered on hearing Harris''s words.
His eyes quivered seeing his darkened bloody gazes without any shed of empathy.
"It seems you are misunderstanding something."
"I don''t care whether you live and die."
"If you can''t handle this much pain and start begging like a coward, you are not worth my effort."
Lucas''s breathing stopped on hearing this. He felt his heart being crushed into pieces by his sentence.
''What do you mean by that?''
''Are you saying I am not worth the effort of being taught by you?''
''Am I really useless and a pathetic piece of shit?''
''I¡I..''
Lucas''s eyes became numb and his mind became messy hearing Harris''s words.
"Your pathetic self disgusts me." Harris without any mercy kicked Lucas''s gut and threw him away like a rag doll.
Lucas''s bloodied body rolled on the ground and as it stopped, Lucas''s eyes became nk.
Harris gave Lucas a deep look and turned around to walk back but just as he took a step, his body shivered.
A dazzling reddish light shed that shot at Harris and brushed past his cheek leaving a small cut.
His eyes widened with disbelief seeing the scene and Harris immediately attacked.
Lucas''s body, which was lying on the ground, got up instantly in a robotic motion as if a switch had been pressed.
"This isn''t over."
"I¡I will prove you wrong."
Lucas''s eyes were immediately drawn by the sudden sneak attack.
A fierce reddish-golden aura unfolded and condensed over his sword. Without looking at it, Lucas shed his sword drawing a huge fiery arc of sword light
CLING!
The entire ce resonated with the shing sound of hard steel following a small st sweeping away dust debris.
The day hung high, the air was cool and providedfort as the soft cool breeze passed over his body.
Hours passed by as Lucas bore the full brunt of Harris''s attack. Lucas used every ounce of strength unleashing an unrelenting barrage of sword attacks wishing to at least touch Harris''s body.
However, everything was for nought.
With effortless movement, Harris destroyed everything with a slight swing of his toothpick.
It was annoying and humiliating to the point that Lucas felt his mind clouded by an unbearable rage.
Finally, a roar like that of an awakened dragon bellowed across the mountain.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
The ground under Lucas''s feet cracked. Dense energy like a flood bursting out from a dam filled Lucas''s veins.
The mana inside his body pulsated fiercely. His face swelled and thick veins bulged over his body. A reddish mass of energy encased him.
Mana swirled around him.
Harris frowned, seeing the oddity in Lucas''s body as if something was changing in Lucas but then his eyes gleamed with excitement.
''Finally, it is here. The moment I have been waiting for.''
The ground beneath his feet shook with each step he took. With a step, Lucas''s image vanished and appeared straight before Harris.
Crimson lightning flickered over his sword as he shed at Harris with all his might.
Harris''s expression turned serious. Throwing away his toothpick, he pulled his de and shed at Lucas.
For an instant, the time seemed to stop flowing while the world watched theme to a standstill seeing the sh but the peace didn''tst long enough.
Following the sh, the grounds started to shake and tiny cracks formed on the ground which started to erge while rocks and debris started to blow away.
Then a huge circrised mass of air gathered with both fighters at the centre which emitted a huge rumbling sound.
BOOOOOOOM!
The sphere of condensed energy exploded and soon the entire ce was illuminated.
When the light subsided, like a rag doll, Lucas crashed onto the ground andnded a few metres back.
Gasping heavily, Lucas coughed blood and clutched his chest to suppress the pain.
"I lost."Lucas murmured with a saddened voice.
"No, you win."
As Lucas'' surprised gaze fell on Harris, he raised his sword.
"You forced me to use a weapon and honestly, thest attack was quite unbelievable."
"It''s time."Harris then closed his eyes and stared up at the sky.
"It''s time for me to pass my mantle."
"Lucas, I am satisfied with you."
Lucas raised his brows and then chuckled.
"I know Sir Harris. If you weren''t, you wouldn''t have brought me here. I know your previous words were a lie."
"However, damn it hurts. Your gaze was too cold."
Harris scratched his cheek feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry, it just happened in the flow.''''
"Hahahaha!" Lucasughed out loud.
"One day you might kill me in the flow."
"But,I am sure you wouldn''t," Lucas reassured himself but stopped seeing Harris''s weird expression.
"You wouldn''t?"
A hush silence prevailed.
Chapter 157 157:His Absence
?
"I am satisfied with the oue of the pounding session...I meant this fighting session."Harris coughed a bit.
With a dead face filled with tiredness, Lucas stared at Harris''s evil grin.
Harris''s blood-red hair swaying in the air made him look like a cruel demon.
"What''s next?"
"As I said, I am gonna teach you my techniques, however before that, I need to curb your wild habits," Harris said, rubbing his chin.
If left alone, this guy fights wildly trading wounds with wounds. If the enemy wasn''t an experienced person, he would be shocked to death and Lucas would use this opportunity to deal with a fatal strike.
Though Harris didn''t approve of such methods, this was quite useful when one didn''t have any way out.
"So, what are you going to teach me?"
"First, you need to stabilise your chances. We will begin with a repetitive set of strikes. You will attack me with a thousand shes, then a thousand cuts, parry and this will move on until we get rid of all your wasted movements."
"After that, you will punch, kick and practise martial arts that will make your body more flexible."
"Until you master all the basic moves to perfection, we will not move further."
"But, isn''t this too boring," Lucas grumbled with a deadpan expression.
Harris''s expression turned cold.
"Lucas, you are underestimating things too much. A simple sh practised millions of times is more fatal than a Grade 5 sword art. On advancing further, a swordsman doesn''t practiseplicated sword art, rather a swordsman tries to use all hisprehension to epass everything into a simple art."
Lucas closed his eyes hearing Harris''s sword.
The way of the swords was quite mystical and profound. Every time he hears Harris word''s, he feels like a tiny leaf carried away by the tide of the ocean.
"Sir Harris, what level are you?"Lucas asked curiously.
"I am a Sword Master."
Lucas frowned hearing his words.
''Isn''t he at 6-Star? How did he reach the swordmaster?''
ording to the information, Cyprus had one person who had reached the Perfection stage of Swordsmanship.
The Chief Imperial Instructor. He is the leader of the Imperial Knights and stays behind the scenes.
Aside from him, Ralph had two while Silver Knight had one.
All of them are called Sword Sage.
As Lucas stood up, Harris pulled out something from his storage ring.
"What is this?"
"These are weight cuffs."
"You want me to practice wearing weight bracelets," Lucas asked with surprise.
"Yeah, any problem," Harris asked, tilting his head.
"No problem. It''s good."Lucas just nodded his head trying to control the tears leaking from his eyes.
.......
"I am so bored."
"There are no friends, no girls, no chicks, no woman, no girlfriend, no wi.."
BANG!
"Ouch!"
"Now, what kind of shit are you spouting? Just say you want to hang out with girls."Frederick shouted while punching Parth''s head.
"You don''t understand. All of these are different forms of the breed called woman. Just like males can be alpha, beta, sigma, and giga.Girls can also be..."
Frederick, unable to handle it anymore, stuffed a paper into Parth''s mouth, shutting his lips.
Roan sighed and whispered into Frederick''s ears.
"Frederick, although this guy speaks like this, I had hardly seen him flirting with any girl."
Frederick gave Roan a deep stare with a surprised look.
"Now that you said this, I also feel this is quite weird."
Roan rubbing his chin, muttered, "Maybe he had a problem down there, that''s why he always indulges in the fantasy of girls to satisfy his inner desire."
"Really?"Frederick''s eyes widened with shock.
"Shut up!"
"I don''t have that problem, "Parth screamed, spitting the paper.
"By the way, where is Lucas? He had been absent for 8 days. Where did he go?"
Frederick and Roan shrugged their shoulders.
They were also trying to contact Lucas but they weren''t able to.
"He didn''t even leave a message behind. Is he in trouble?"Roan mumbled with a panicked expression.
Knowing Lucas''s meticulousness, he couldn''t disappear without informing them.
"Yesterday, I asked Senior Julian about it. Since he works there, his disappearance might have caused trouble so the President might look into it."Frederick concluded.
"Let''s wait a bit and then ask her about him, "Roan spoke.
"Yes, we will do that. By the way, I am going to take leave for a few days."Frederick said, startling Parth and Roan.
"What!"
"Why?"
Parth and Roan screamed.
"I have some work outside," Frederick spoke with a cold expression.
.......
In The President''s Office.
The temperature inside the ce was quite cold as if a storm was blowing.
Ami frowned seeing blizzards blowing around the ce. The workload of the Student Council was quite high so Ami decided to assist Julian.
"Julian, your emotional fluctuation is affecting the room."Ami retorted.
Julian keeping mum gave her a deep stare.
"Did you miss him too much?"
"I don''t understand your question, Miss Ami."
"I am talking about Lucas."
"He is a good workforce. He works efficiently and solves budget-rted issues quite efficiently. So not having him here is quite unfortunate so naturally, I feel burdened."
"Are you missing this because he is quite useful too or because of you.."
"Miss Ami!"
Julian''s sharp voice cut Ami''s words.
"First thing, he isn''t my tool. Secondly, I know what you are implying but please don''t. I don''t know about all those things but this is my problem to solve. I want to think about this slowly."
Though Ami was reprimanded, a wide grin appeared across her lips as she saw Julian''s inner turmoil.
''Things like feelings aren''t easy to solve but this is a good thing for Your Highness.''
"By the way did you know where he went?"Julian asked sharply.
Although she didn''t show it, she was too worried about this. Except for the information that Harris had taken Lucas somewhere, she didn''t know anything about his absence
Ami just shook her head thinking about the scene a few days ago.
The Vice-Principal called her in panic and informed her about Harris''s letter, in which he wrote that Lucas had been kidnapped and he was going to get him back.
''Damn, I want to kill this guy. Just who is he kidding? I am sure that he is the one who kidnapped Lucas and came up with such an absurd reason.''
Ami suppressed her anger and spoke calmly, "He is alright Julian."
"Julian, I wanted to ask you this before but I refrained till now."
"Yourplexion looks better. When you were checkedst time by Imperial Physicians, they said it was going to get worse but something had changed, hasn''t it."
Julian just gave a brief nod and pondered about sometimes deciding to speak everything starting from Luna''s words to the battle she fought supported by Lucas.
The more Ami heard the more Ami''s expression became worse. By the end, beads of sweat formed over the forehead.
This matter was moreplicated than she thought.
''How did this guy know this much and he even knew how to treat and alleviate her pain?'' Ami''s eyes shone in disbelief.
The number of people who know about Julian''s health is less than 10 so it didn''t make sense. This much was enough to get that boy killed.
"Did Saintess Luna do something about this or did she say something?"
Julian closed her, imagining the scene and spoke what Luna said to her.
In aeons of time, existed a twisted couple that healed each other''s wounds.
A promise that was made once had been kept without any regret.
Flowers will die, and the sun will set.
But even if there is life after another life, the heart will never forget.
"Isn''t this too cringe?"Ami spoke with a confused expression.
''Why are these lines giving me romantic drama vibes?''
"Now, that I think. Everything about Senior Luna is cringe."Julian mumbled rubbing her chin.
"She would be offended if she heard your words."Ami chuckled.
........
Day 16th on the southern mountain range.
CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!
"Stop jumping back like a coward."
"Be a man. Grow some balls."
BANG!BANG!BANGBANG!
Lucas suppressed the inner demon that was whispering in him to show his middle finger to Harris.
When Harris said he would practise blocking and parrying, Lucas assumed that Harris would attack him with his sword and Lucas would block him.
But, Harris''s attack went way above his expectations.
He wasn''t blocking the sword but the bullets spewed upon him by his own gun that he stole from the rings beforeing here.
At first, Lucas''s body reacted out of his will and he made a run as soon as the sound of bullets firing erupted. This was a subconscious reaction.
Although his body was capable enough to deflect it from a distance, the notion of bullets being deadly had been etched deep inside his heart from his previous world.
Only a sick psychopath would be daring enough to stand still when someone is firing a bullet. Since it had been engraved in his heart from childhood it was difficult for him to change the habit.
Lucas had hardly managed to step up when Harris reduced the firing distance of 50 metres to 25 metres and now he was firing from 10 metres away.
"This is some great stuff to y," Harris said with a devilish smile and started instructing Lucas.
"Your right foot is a bit off. Press your right calf harder. Raise your shoulders higher."
"Tsk, your bnce is awkward. At least, dodge like a man. Stop dancing like a girl."
"The footwork is a man''s pride but you made it look like a woman''s banquet dance."
"Tsk! I am ashamed of being your teacher."
Unlike others, he wouldn''t yell while giving instructions however his subtle words stab sharper than scolding.
"Hey, you are being too defensive. When you block, you should try to immobilise the enemy weapon."
Training like this wasn''t hard once you get used to it but what made it worse was a thousand sets of pushups, squats, punching and kicking at night after training.
......
Day 22nd...
Tak! Tak!Tak!
Today, he practised parrying.
Lucas''s swordsmanship had be sharper and sharper.
Durability, a warrior should have durability and an unyielding mind to fight for a long time without a potion.
Potions aren''t something that you can use as you please. Sometimes you may be trapped in ce and run out of potions. Though Lucas was an exception, Harris didn''t know that.
If you rug and tear your body, again and again, your recovery ability will naturally increase.
With the presence of a blessing, it was the best time for Lucas''s body to adapt to this as simple scratches and cuts as they were healed in a minute and his body can recover half of his stamina with an hour''s rest Harris abused this condition to point that Lucas thought he should have to make a breakthrough instead for asking to this maniac to train him.
Harris also taught Lucas a power nap technique, in which with a sleep of 15 min, you can fill 10-20% of your exhausted mana from zero even though you are injured or on the verge of death.
Parrying consecutively was quite harder. Sometimes, the opponent hits you with great strength, throwing you into disarray.
The weight of the sh takes a toll on the wrist and if your wrist isn''t strong enough, it may break or the ligaments may be stretched.
So, the wrist should be highly flexible enough for swordsmanship along with the body.
"Trace the flow. Anyone, who can go along the flow of nature, is quite hard to deal with."
"Don''t just force mindlessly, go along the flow."
"I don''t understand a shit," Lucasined.
"When your weapon is deflected by a sh don''t stop it forcefully. Let it go and use the momentum to spin your body or rotate the direction of force and strike it back. Use the opponent''s momentum to generate a greater momentum."
......
Day 24th was the worst day of training.
Not only was he not given food, but Lucas had sparred with Harris for almost half a day continuously without a moment of rest
Getting beaten one-sided was extremely frustrating as no matter what he did, all of this we''re child''s y in Harris''s eyes.
Amidst the spar, Harris failed to control his strength and hit Lucas hard, throwing him down the mountain.
Fortunately, Lucas was able to pick himself up but he suffered some grave injury.
3 broken ribs, torn shoulder, a cracked head and a broken leg that almost made him disabled.
Fortunately, this time Harris shows mercy and allows him to use a healing potion.
"Huh!"
"Where am I?"
"Who am I?"
Lucas muttered as the world around him spun.
SLAP!
A p woke Lucas from his stupor.
As Lucas''s fuzzy vision became clear, he saw Harris squatting before him with a sinister expression that gave him a chill.
"Stop daydreaming. Don''t think I will have mercy on you just because I injured you. Did you think you can use this opportunity toze?"
"Hmph!"
''Damn, so that''s why he gave me a potion. It would take an hour to heal naturally but this guy couldn''t tolerate seeing me rest.''
"Get up, I am going to teach something important."
Chapter 158 158:New Sword Art
?
Inside a dark narrow space.
Levitating atop an open palm was a luminous orb of dark light that pulsated oddly. Thick malevolent energy radiated from the ball of light.
"Bead Of Destruction."
A small quiver escaped from his lips, as two dark grey eyes stared in the direction orb.
The bead was made by sacrificing countless souls. It was a key to his rise. Once taken, his strength would reach an unimaginable level.
Closing his eyes to conceal his excitement, the man softly brought his hand towards his mouth and tried to consume the ball.
However, before he could consume it.
Rumble!Rumble!Rumble!
A surge of majestic energy sprouted out from the ceiling with a loud st.
Swish!Swish!Swish!
Lightning shes appeared in a zig-zag manner and a figure covered in lightning appeared.
The figure appeared behind the man and before the man could react, a thick undting mass of energy spread over.
CLING!
"Ahhhhhhh!"
A startled terrified voice pierced the air.
A surge of majestic energy began to spread, extending around the area where he was struck.
"Impossible!"
"Who are you!"
"Kheumm!"
The man vomited blood and his voice quivered upon seeing a man covered with a ck mask lodging his spear into his chest.
He then stared at the tip of the spear sprouting out from the front and tried to move.
"W...Where are the guards?" He spoke in a pained voice.
"Dead."
A cold voice echoed from the other side.
"Haa."
Opening his mouth, turbid air began to escape from his mouth.
"It''s not over."
The man murmured, suppressing his pain and then tried to engulf the orb, but a sh appeared and his wrist flung into the air.
"Nooooo! My years of hard work!" The man screamed.
Despite the pain of the spear lodged over his back, he jumped towards the orb but he was pinned down on the ground.
"Aaahhhhhh!"
"Do you feel pain?"
A mocking voice resounded from the back that gave him chills.
The man''s body froze and he stared at the enemy with a hateful gaze.
"You surely feel pain, huh!"
"Now think about the pain of the thousands of innocentmon people you have killed and extracted their souls to make this thing."
"You disgusting devil wizard, Ikasa."
The lightning covering the person''s body disappeared and the sight of a blue-haired man with a beastly pair of eyes reflected in the man''s eyes.
"Frost? You are from the Frosts. I don''t have any enmity with you so why?" He asked in a bewildered tone.
"You don''t but I have."
"Now, die!"
BOOM!
The tip of his spear glowed and with a thunderous noise, the entire area in front of him exploded into pieces.
As the dust dissipated, Frederick gasped in relief witnessing the death of this guy with his hand.
"Finally, I can breathe in relief."
"This man won''t cause any cmity in the future."
[What are you going to do with the orb containing souls?]
Frederick walked towards the dark mass floating over the ground.
As Frederick extended his hand, a scream echoed over his ears.
[Frederick, don''t consume it .The power you will gain isn''t worth it.]
From the moment Frederick had made a forced breakthrough, things had been quite hectic as he had looked around for ways to increase his strength as quickly as possible. If not for Saintess''s blessing, he would have suffered a hidden injury and now taking the orb might cause irreversible damage and as its subordinates, it didn''t want to see his master take a wrong step.
"Did you think of me as an idiot?" Frederick red at his spear.
"Only an insane person would consume this. This thing might boost one''s strength but it will shorten your lifespan and you won''t remain human anymore."
[So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to hand it over to the Church to purify it.]
"No. The Church should be going through an internal crisis right now. The Saintess had already started cleaning, still we can''t trust the lower rank Priest as who knows how many might be in cahoots with dark forces."
[Then what?]
A yful grin appeared across Frederick''s face.
Frederick bit his thumb and drew a circle from the blood oozing out from his finger.
"Let''s make a deal with him."
[Deal? Do you want to make a deal with the King Of Hell? Are you insane?]
"Don''t worry. Compared to those Evil Gods, this guy is quite cute."
[Bullshit. Out of all those insane existence, you called him cute. If he hears that, he will do everything to descend here and teach you a lesson.]
[Frederick stop this!]
The spear screamed in his head but Frederick turned a blind eye to his bbering.
[I knew it. It''s all because of that Parth''s influence. That guy is a menace, even I who have lived through countless eras can''t handle that guy''s bullshit. He has the unfathomable power to corrode a person. Frederick, you are done for by that guy.]
Frederick blinked his eyes in confusion and stared at his spear-spouting bullshit.
''Sure enough, this guy is affected by Parth more than me.''
Finishing the blood circle, Frederick ced the orb at the centre and began his chant of the forbidden spell.
"King of Hell, let''s make a deal."
.....
When Lucas opened his eyes, he found himself lying in the cosy thatched bed made of straws.
"Are you alright now?"
Lucas rubbed his groggy eyes and stared at Harris who took a few puffs of his cigar and then blew the air at him.
"Ha!"
Lucas gasped feeling slight difort all over his body. His muscles had been sore and exhausted since day five but he carried on regardless.
Sometimes, he cried while other times he burst out in anger but no matter what Harris didn''t show him any pity.
For the past few days, he had even forgotten how time shed by and how many days had been since the torture session began.
Lucas stared at his tattered clothes soaked in blood and asked "Why didn''t you change my clothes?"
"Did you think of me as your nurse? When I was on the battlefield, we kept wearing the same clothes for a month. Water and food were a blessing for us."
Lucas'' words choked on his throat seeing those dark gazes.
"You said you are going to teach me a weapon art. When are you going to do that?"
"Today!"
Harris''s answer startled Lucas.
"Really?!" Lucas'' eyes gleamed with joy.
"However, before that I want you to take some rest. You passed out yesterday so in this gap of one day, your body might have recovered from the fatigue however this is it. Once you start learning the technique, you can''t rest, you can''t sleep. You may also lose control over your emotions, that''s why you need to be in an optimal state and adjust your mind."
Lucas stared at Harris''s solemn expression and nodded his head.
"So, all I have to do is rest?" Lucas asked with scepticism.
"No!"
"I want you to meditate and empty your head. At the same time keep on channelling your mana and fill yourself with vigour." Harris spoke, waving his hand.
"Empty my mind." A frown appeared on Lucas''s face.
"That''s more difficult than training."
"It is but a warrior needs to empty his mind and need to have a nk state of mind before the battle. Just try your best and rx, for the time being."
Taking a deep breath, Lucas stood up and struggled to keep his bnce. He did some minor stretches and started meditating.
Harris observed Lucas.
Previously, Lucas had the golden aura encasing him but with time, one can see a tint of reddish aura covering the golden aura from outside, seeing that a smile appeared on Harris''s face.
''He is finally ready.''
.....
Lucas swung his sword while taking steps in a rhythmical pattern that was taught by Harris.
After doing some light exercise, Lucas turned towards Harris.
"What are you going to be teaching me? A part of your sword art or a lesser version?" Lucas asked curiously.
"Lucas!"
Harris''s sudden roar startled Lucas.
"This technique is my foundation. It''s proof of my identity. In this entire continent, except for me, those who knew this art can be counted on one hand."
Lucas''s heart started to boil hearing this.
"Lucas, today I am going to impart the art that wielded throughout my year. The name of the art is Abyssal Asura Sword Art consisting of 5 Movements."
"But most people know it as Asura Wrath:5 Stance.''''
Lucas''s expression faltered for a moment.
''Why did it sound like something that came out from a chunniboy?''
''Still, it sounds familiar. Where did I hear this? Maybe it''s because of the word Asura.''
Lucas shook his head andplimented "That''s a cool name but it sounds quite absurd.''''
"It is what it is. I didn''t give the name."
''I see, at least this guy doesn''t have 8th-grade syndrome.''
"This art can be performed with any weapon as long as you master it. You can also make it your own and then develop a suitable version of it." Harris exined.
"Which grade is it?"
Harris gave Lucas a scroll made of beast''s skin.
"The art doesn''t have a Grade and depends on the user''s skills. If you master it, you can even destroy a Grade 5 sword art quite easily. The true essence of this art is to wield your emotions."
At the moment Harris''s red hair fluttered and a reddish enshine covered him giving Lucas a mystical feeling.
Harris drew his sword and took a stance. An overbearing aura akin to that of a person that dominates the entire world appeared from Harris.
"It consists of 5 movements," Harris spoke and executed a sh that didn''t carry any momentum but Lucas''s heart trembled as he could feel the entire world seem to be vibrating.
Pressure as if a mountain was put upon Lucas weighed him down. His bnce faltered and he fell onto the ground but even after this,his eyes were locked onto those surreal mesmerising moments.
It was elegant and at the same time, it was quite destructive to the point that it stirs the heart.
"Swordsmanship reflects the suppressed desire of the inner you and would be an outlet to make the world feel your feelings."
"In each move, you can convert your anger, resentment, grievances, pain, suffering, sadness and all those fleeting emotions weighing in your heart into your strength."
"Look carefully as each sh is a deration of your wrath and fight against the injustices you have suffered."
"Whether it''s against humans or the whole world, once my sword moves, anyone who stands against me should be prepared to bear my Wrath."
Swoosh!
Finishing the sword moves, as soon as Harris put down the sword, under Lucas and every living being''s astonishing gaze, the sky above them started to rip apart.
What the hell?Is he really a 6-Star?''
''This guy is pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger.''
Chapter 159 159:A Different Breed Of Monster
?
TAP!TAP!TAP
A wrinkled-faced man, having few strands of white hair covering his face in a cloak, walked towards the figure staring down the mountain with a solemn gaze.
"What are you doing here, Harris? Are you still torturing him?"
"Can you even imagine what I am going through because of your reckless behavior?!" The man shouted angrily.
Harris'' eyes shone with astonishment when he saw the familiar figure.
"I didn''t think you would crawl out from the shell and appear here."
"It''s because I didn''t have any choice. My life is in peril. Believe me, I may die any moment from now." The man spoke with a horrified expression.
"I see, so you came here to hide. I thought you came here to observe him." Harris spoke, rubbing his chin.
"That''s also a part of it. How is he doing?"
"Do you want me to be brutally honest?"
"Hmm!" The obscure figure nodded.
"He is average. I know it is unbelievable but astonishingly, he''s just ordinary whenpared to you."
The figure''s eyes turned down with a saddened expression.
"That''s what I thought initially, however, I was proved wrongpletely." Harris said with a bitter smile before continuing.
"Heaven is never fair. It treats people partially. I thought that the heavens had taken everything away from him but it seems that it still showed some leniency."
"What do you mean?" The figure eximed in shock.
"He didn''t have raw talent but he had good perception. I always thought that his sixth sense is beyond ordinary, however, that''s not the only thing." Harris''s eyes turned serious.
"Instinct¡ His instincts are on a wholepletely different level and it''s beyond inhumane. This is weird. His body can react to any situation by sensing danger. Even if he passes out, his body can react to extreme situations."
"How is that possible?! You are speaking as if he is someone who has gone through countless battles." The wrinkled man eximed in shock.
"That''s what I don''t know. His body reacts as if it had a muscle memory of countless fights he had gone through and it onlyes to y when he needs to react to the precarious situation. At present, I can only say that this is a miracle."
"I am also finding it hard to restrain myself from pushing him too much and breaking him down. An ordinary guy with immense potential is the best vessel to contain the wrath. I wish I could make him more desperate."
The man''s expression turned ugly upon hearing Harris''s words.
"You mean¡"
Harris didn''t care about the man''s bewildered expression and spoke indifferently.
"Whether a person is a monster or genius. Everyone suffers setbacks. Some grow stronger after they fall while some wither. But no matter what, people lose control of their emotions when pushed beyond what they are capable of. " Harris paused a little and stared at the sky before continuing.
"People make rash decisions when they go out of control. However, this is where we are different. We don''t lose ourselves in anger, we don''t turn crazy after suffering grievances, rather we be calmer and more rational. Emotions fuel us and enrich us. We are just a different league of monsters, that don''t go crazy losing our reason, instead we harness emotion to be stronger." Harris''s breathing became rough, his expression became weird and his face flushed with excitement giving the man the creeps.
"If I can break him down, I am sure this world will witness the birth of another asura."
"You are dreaming too much Harris. She will kill you before you do that!"The man screamed.
Cold water poured over Harris upon hearing that.
"I don''t fear her." Harris said nonchntly, shrugging his shoulders.
The man squinted his eyes at Harris and raised his brows.
"Your legs are telling something else."
Although Harris stood straight,the man could see his legs turning jelly and wobbling.
"Haa...It seems that even the Red Death can''t ovee the trauma of confronting her." The man sneered mocking Harris.
Hearing this, Harris couldn''t help but shiver on remembering the scene of that woman who not only pulled out his intestine but also used his intestine to whip his ass and tear his hands to p him with them.
It was then a loud cling echoed across the foot of the mountain.
"It''s beginning."
.......
Lucas didn''t know if Harris could control the beasts here but the moment Harris threw him into the forest to train, he found himself surrounded by the horde of beasts.
It was as if the entire forest had identified him as their enemy.
"Liarrrrrr!"
Lucas screamed in horror, finding himself surrounded by a horde of 4-Star beasts.
"Argh!"
Lucas groaned as a shadow panther scratched his back. He hardly bnced himself when he felt a piercing pain over his shoulder.
Turning around, he saw a wriggling bug digging its cusp into him.
At that time, with a loud bang a huge wolf mmed its huge body against him sending him flying across the ce.
Rolling in pain, Lucas coughed blood and fell stumbling across his feet.
''Am I this weak even after so much match training?''
''Why am I so pathetic?''
''I can''t even deal with a group of beasts ganging up on me so what am I going to do if I am surrounded by those assholes in the tournament?''
''I can''t lose. I had enough beating.''
Lucas''s heart thumped wildly.
A growl echoed and Lucas''s eyes blinked, catching the sight of a wide opened jaw of a panther jumping at him. It wanted to bite and tear his neck.
''Kill it.''
''Destroy it.''
A heavy terrifying voice echoed in his ears.
Lucas''s eyes widened and time slowed down.
Just as the beast was a few inches away from him, a terrifying pressure emerged from him.
At that time, a certain thought came into his mind.
''All of them feel weak.''
''Weak..''
Lucas waved his hand, whipping it like lightning.
BANG!
The jaw of a shadow leopard roaring at him was crushed with a bang.
The entire head of the beast was sted away making blood and grey matter from the brain spew around.
One on the left, two from the right, and three from the back.
Lucas''s hands moved, and the dagger shot like thunder. With a puck, he split the head of the one rushing at him, then turned around and shot two daggers at once that lodged straight into the skull of the animal that wasing from the right.
To the three beastsing from the back, Lucas stretched his arm, grabbed the blood-red sword and pushed his front foot onto the ground.
A thump echoed radiating shock waves across the ce.
Lucas drew out his de like lightning. A de coated in a fiery golden-red aura shot forward.
The space trembled and reddish golden w-like marks scratched the air. The reddish-golden aura raised the temperature of the ce and as the three shadow panthers passed through the w marks, their body strayed for a moment after which with a loud whimper, their bodies split into two halves.
[You have killed a 4-Star. You have experienced 45000 experience points.]
[You have killed a 4-Star. You have experienced 45000 experience points.]
[You have killed a 4-Star. You have experienced 40000 experience points.]
[You have killed a 4-Star. You have experienced 45000 experience points.]
[You have killed a 4-Star. You have experienced 47000 experience points.]
[You have.....]
Lucas''s ear perked up hearing arge inflow of experience points but he was too focused to scream in happiness.
His eyes turned towards the group, making them shiver in fear.
"Come here, you stupid beast."
"I am quite annoyed."
"Let me take my anger out on you. I will butcher you today."
BANG!
Lucas, body darted ahead leaving behind after images.
Every time Lucas swung his sword, an explosion erupted without fail. The overloaded mana condensed on his sword, exploded scattering blood and meat everywhere.
Countless crimson arcs scratching the air lit the ce. The swings were clean and sharp carrying an exploding might that hammered the enemy with rapid strong strokes.
It can either turn into a sharp stroke that slices through the enemy or be packed with power that detonates, sending the enemy flying.
What''s surprising was that this stick de was so dull and blunt that it couldn''t even cut through butter. However, the moment mana ovepped it, the de became sharp enough to slice a giant tree.
It amplified your power and channelized your aura to cut through sharply.
Every time he kills, Lucas feels a blood-red energy-sipping inside it. Lucas didn''t know what it was but this was a quite miraculous feeling.
Loud wails and shrieks of the beast echoed throughout the ce. The ground shook, the trees vibrated, and dust dissipated as the fight went on.
.....
As Harris reached the ce, what reflected him was a gruesome sight of one side''s massacre
"Oh my!" Harris gasped seeing the gruesome sight of corpses littered across the ce.
The blood of the corpses was still warm and the head of the beast that was killed seemed to be frozen with fear.
Seeing this, one could infer that person didn''t fight, he butchered everything on sight.
The corpses were dismantled and hacked into countless pieces as if the person was letting out his untold agony.
Some were cut while some were pulverised into meat paste with raw punches and kicks.
As Harris walked through the ce avoiding stepping on the blood and meat, he finally saw Lucas leaning across the tree and staring up with cold dead gazes.
"Sir Harris, can we get out of here."
"I miss ice cream and choctes."
Hearing Lucas''s words, Harris almost fell back on his butt.
''It seems, too much training has affected him.''
Walking towards him, Harris pulled out a candy.
"I know you have a sweet tooth. Here take this, I will treat you well after we get out."
"Umm!"
Lucas nodded while relishing the chocte.
''It''s over. This damned hell of training is finally over.''
"By the way, next time finish them in one strike. Don''t make these poor guys suffer." Harris advised
"Okay, I will blow up their entire body in one hit so that these pitiful guys don''t feel pain."
The man who stayed on the mountain coughed violently seeing their interaction.
"It''s over. This guy has just created another psychopath."
Chapter 160 160:Mana Devour
?
Drops of water sshed over his body clearing the dirt and stains stuck all over him. The feeling of warm water brushing over him soothed his inner soul.
It felt alive and refreshing.
While soaking himself, Lucas noted down the improvements disyed on his statutes screen.
===============
[Status][Shop][Locked]
Name: Lucas Bright
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Golden
Realm: 3-Star+
Combat Ability: D
Strength: 4-Star-
Agility: 4-Star
Stamina: 4-Star
Perception: 4-Star-
Magic Power: 3-Star+
Stat points: 2
Exp: 1,378,500
[Professions]
Swordsmanship level: Intermediate
Marksmanship level:Beginner
Dagger Throw:Beginner
[Skills]
Fireball, sh Step
Ice Spikes, Shadow Steps
[ Arts]
Drifting Sword Art
Abyssal Asura Sword Art
[Bloodline Ability]: Telekinesis
=======================
"This Abyssal Asura Art doesn''t have a rank or is too high a grade for the system to evaluate. Moreover, hunting those 4-Star beasts surely loaded me with exp."
"My magical energy is a bit lowpared to others. Let''s add one to magical energy and one to strength."
During the training period of 48 days, hisbat ability had reached mid-D rank and he was at the peak of 3-Star. The training should have taken ce for 35 days but Harris didn''t let him until he was satisfied and his ruthless had pushed his stamina stat to mid of 4-Star.
His breakthrough till here was heaven-defying. With the blessing, he had enough to break through to mid-3-Star but Harris beat the shit out of him while pushing him to the brink of death many times, pushing him to make another breakthrough.
Lucas would still shiver thinking about the brutal days. He would train and pass out on the top of the mountain while fighting with Harris but every time he woke up, he would find himself in the forest surrounded by beasts.
"That guy is a menace."
"I think it''s not that he hasn''t epted a disciple, but rather that no one was able toe out alive from his training. However, he might have lowered the difficulty because I am a student of Horizon."
Lucas didn''t know the location of the dungeon and Harris kept this secret from him so when he exited, he was taken by shock.
The B-rank dungeon was maintained in the Horizon and there were several more. Originally, it was a D-rank dungeon, but due to being maintained for more than a hundred years, the ce inside had grown to that of a B-rank one.
And him getting a leave to train in the dungeon with a time difference was a reward for getting first ce provided by Horizon but Lucas knew this wasn''t the reason, rather it was because of Harris bargaining his way.
"Let''s first take a look at the shop."
[Shop]
Mana Devour:1,000,000
Helps the user to devour mana from the surroundings and condensed it to enhance the power of an attack.
Note:This is a growth-type skill that grows with user rank. Currently, it''s a D-rank skill
Lucas''s jaw dropped wide and his eyes widened with shock.
"A million experience points."
Lucas had thought of buying a tinum bloodline but he stopped seeing this skill. A skill that helps devour mana from the surroundings and a growth skill on top of that. This was magical.
Moreover, his rank cap at golden bloodline is at 7-star and tinum will only make it 8-star so for now it didn''t matter.
"Growth skills are quite rare and this is heaven-defying. I can attack my enemy even if I run out of mana."
"Let''s buy this skill first."
Lucas clicked on the buy button and a mystical feeling enveloped him. His body twitched and his head throbbed with a familiar pain but Lucas was quite used to it now.
Lucas then clicked on the items tab and his eyes lit up.
[Item]
[Power up pill]:200,000
Increase your realm by a major realm for an hour.
Side effect: The user would im a weakened state for two days and unable to use mana during those two days.
"Oh my god!A realm increase pill without any consequence."Lucas eximed in joy.
There are pills, medicines and techniques for the sudden increase in strength but all of them have fatal side effects and people became weakened permanently but this one doesn''t have that effect.
"Buy it, I have to buy it."
"I haven''t seen those idiots for too long. Who knows what kind of mess they might have
caused?" Lucas sighed and took a towel.
"I hope Parth hadn''t created any trouble for me.''''
......
Searching around, Lucas first looked for Roan to get a gist of what had happened during his absence.
Asking around, Lucas found Roan in the Magic Lab researching his new spell or something.
Without knocking on the door, Lucas opened it.
A subtle clink echoed that was followed by a loud st.
SCREECH!
A white light shed before Lucas''s eye, whitening his vision along with a sharp noise of scratching a metal that hurt his ears.
"What is this?''''
Lucas stumbled as his bnce faltered due to his vision bing white.
"Lucas, what are you doing here?!" Roan''s panicked voice echoed.
"Don''t move. Just stay still. Its effect will wear out after a moment."
True to Roan''s words, his blurry and fuzzy vision resided after a few seconds allowing Lucas to gasp in relief.
Lucas supported himself by leaning against the table.
"Did your experiment go wrong? What was this explosion?"
Seeing Lucas'' piercing gaze, Roan averted his eyes while murmuring.
"I am working on a new project. It''s the creation of a sound barrier. A magic circle would be drawn on a piece of paper. Once the user pours mana and tears the paper, a sound barrier could be created in a specific area."
Lucas''s eyes gleamed hearing Roman expressions.
''This thing has great uses.''
"Have you seeded?"
"Nah!" Roan clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"It''s quite tricky to draw it on paper. I was on the verge ofpleting it but I was startled by your entrance and made a mistake resulting in this explosion." Roan grumbled, shaking his redhead.
Lucas'' lips twitched seeing him pouting.
His appearance and eyes were a sharp contrast to Sir Harris'' bloody eyes.
"Don''t pin your ipetence on me."
"Hmph!" Roan snorted and then gazed at Lucas.
"By the way, where the hell did you go? Oh, now that I see it, you look different."
"Different? How do I look different?"Lucas asked with a hint of excitement.
Roan rubbed his chin pondering for a moment.
"You looked a bit sharp and you have also be strong. All in all, I think you look wild like those who live in the jungle."
Lucas choked and coughed violently hearing Roan words.
''Bastard!''
Suppressing his desire to resort to violence, Lucas gave a benevolent smile.
"Roan, we haven''t trained for so long. Why don''t we have a spar."
Roan''s back was drenched in cold sweat seeing Lucas'' smile.
Wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead, Roan ran his mind thinking of a countermeasure.
"Oh, Lucas. I forgot to tell you. The results havee out."
"Results?!"
Lucas''s heart stirred upon hearing the word ''results''.
"Did I pass?" Lucas'' voice cracked.
Instead of answering, Roan casts a mysterious smile.
......
[Lucas Bright]
Theory Rank:1342
Mission Grade:S
Lucas then looked at Roan''s result.
[Roan Weasel]
Theory Rank:398
Mission Grade:S
[Parth Simmons]
Theory Rank:1657
Mission Grade:S
[Charles Warren]
Theory Rank:2
Mission Grade S
[Frederick Frost]
Theory Rank:3
Mission Grade:S
[Rose Seyfried]
Theory Rank:1
Mission Grade:A
As in the original, Rose took the first rank in the Theory exam.
Lucas then stared at the board looking at their mission and rubbed his eyes.
"Hey, Roan, am I dreaming? Isn''t the highest grade for the mission A+? Why am I seeing S?"
"I don''t know. We aren''t the only ones. Ezekiel and Charles had also got S."
Lucas didn''t care about them, he was just worried about him.
''I had made sure to hide the tracks and we didn''t report the abnormality to the school authority.''
"That''s because our mission wasn''t graded by the school."
Lucas and Roan turned around to see Frederick walking toward them.
"Did something happen?" Lucas asked Fredeick who was also seizing Lucas.
''Damn, did this guy take an elixir? How did he jump to this stage?!'' Frederick screamed inwardly feeling a suffocation from Lucas but he kept his calm.
"Yes, arge-scale attack on the Dark Church has taken ce. And though we have erased the tracks, The Imperial Guards could''ve guessed the things happening behind the scenes."
Lucas frowned upon hearing this.
Seeing Lucas''s expression has turned ugly, Frederick whispered. "Don''t worry, my father intervened in this matter and change the contents of our mission. He has also made sure to erase everything rted to Dark Forces in Hubris. Additionally, the Vice-Principal decided to promote a few tough mission grades to S rank so we don''t attract too much attention."
Lucas breathed in relief.
''This guy surely knows a lot. Though this event happened early, I am sure this guy must have taken part in the hunting of these dogs.''
''Damn, now that I think about it, it should have happened after the tournament but it was shifted quite early. Frederick might have gained some things in the hunt.''
"Hasn''t the school sent the result to your smartphone?"Frederick asked curiously.
"I was trapped. Someone kidnapped me and tortured me."Lucas answered.
""I see, you were training with Sir Harris. It seems you''ve gone through hell." Frederick and Roan concluded at the same time.
"Worse than you can imagine," Lucas answered with dead deste eyes that had given up on living.
Frederick and Roan were startled by those gazes.
Smiling bitterly, Frederick patted Lucas acting as a motivational speaker and praised him for keeping up.
"Lucas, actually I looked for you because there is something urgent. This for you." Frederick spoke, handing a letter to Lucas.
Lucas took the envelope indifferently but as soon as he read the contents, his body screamed.
"What....?"
"What''s in there?" Roan asked curiously, and taking a look screamed in shock.
"An official invitation from Duke Frost."
Lucas looked at Frederick with a pleading gaze.
"Sorry, Lucas it seems my Father wants to discuss some things with you.''''
''Why.... Why is my life so miserable?''
Lucas shook his head trying to control his tears from leaking out.
Chapter 161 161:Visiting Frost Household
?
"Hey, Rose you have be so much stronger after getting the blessing, it seems I can''t catch up to you in this life."A saddened voice emerged from her lips as a beautiful face frowned with a pitiful look making the onlooker heartbroken.
"It''s your fault for not working hard," Rose spoke with a chuckle.
"Hmm! I am working very hard. It''s just you didn''t see it. You are naturally gifted in every aspect."Helena''s yellow eyes looked down at Rose''s chest and then she looked at her.
"Even this area is way bigger than mine."
"Stop your weird thoughts."Rose hit her head, making her pout.
Rose and Helena who were walking through the corridor while teasing one another suddenly stopped seeing a boy appearing before them.
Rose and Helena''s bodies became stiff seeing the boy''s shy expression.
Before Helena could speak something, the boy kneeled and extended his rose towards Helena.
"Deardy, will you be my valentine?"
A hush silence prevailed for a moment and Helena''s eyes wished for a moment.
Rose, sensing the gravity of the matter, decided to stand aside and let her friend handle the matter.
The student walking around stopped to watch the show.
"Did he just propose to her in front of everyone?"
"Is he an idiot?"
"What do you mean by an idiot? It''s just his gut way bigger than that."A boy spoke, apuding for his fellow mate.
"I didn''t think he would keep his word and ept the dare."
"Helena ept it."
"Helena don''t reject him."
The few girls giggled and started cheering for Helena.
Helena took a deep breath after hearing the murmur and asked"Who are you?"
CRACK!
No one knew where but all of them could feel something cracking.
The boy who had just been stabbed spoke with a smile"Deardy, my name is Sam. I am from ss A-7."
"So?" Helena tilted her head.
ck lines appeared over the boy''s head.
"So,dy, please ept this."
Helena raising her brows gave him a deep look and under everyone''s astonishing gaze picked up the rose however before the boy could rejoice she threw it down and stepped over it.
"ept your head. I don''t even know you and you want me to ept your proposal. Are you itching for a beating?"Helena screamed and stomped the rose.
"Lady, don''t be angry, we can slowly cultivate your feeling," Sam said with a pitiful gaze.
"Scram!"Helena''s eyes glowed coldly.
"Are you going orshould I beat the shit out of you."
"No, I am leaving."Sam stood up and ran away in fear.
Helena then turned towards everyone who just lowered their gaze and walked on their way.
"Can''t you reject him a bit gently?"Rose spoke with a sigh.
"These people don''t give up like that.''''Helena snorted.
"You are quite fortunate in this aspect."
"Huh?" Rose tilted her head in confusion.
"Your charm is greater than mine, that''s why I never received any confession," Rose said with a smile.
"That''s your delusion. You haven''t received a confession because thest time someone spoke about this, your Prince Charming, beat the hell out of that guy and dered that he will fight to the death if anyone dares to have thoughts about you."
"What?" Rose''s eyes shone with disbelief hearing this and the image of Frederick appeared in her eyes after which she blushed a bit.
''''That guy! I will teach him a lesson after he returns.''''
"You will teach him a lesson or reward him.''''Helena teased.
....
Lucas snapped his finger and tapped on the windowpane with a hint of anxiousness.
"Lucas."
"Hmm!"
"I know, I am being a hassle but don''t do this in front of Father. Just sit there calmly and speak about your opinion and yeah, please stop making that look as if you are going to war."
Lucas narrowed his eyes and stared at Frederick for a moment.
"Frederick, if Parth holds a hearty conversation with Duke, what would happen?''''
Frederick gulped his saliva. His body shivered just imagining the scenario.
Parth would surely be kicked out or thrown out of the mansion.
"Your expression says it all."
"Come on, you are not Parth. And my Father isn''t that strict. Maybe he is a little."
"Hahhahaha!"
A chuckle echoed from the front.
"Young Master, I didn''t think you would fear the Lord after putting up a front against him a few years ago.''''An old man sitting at the front spoke.
"I am his son. At least, I have to pretend to be afraid otherwise he would lose his face."
Looking at their interaction, Lucas sighed.
It hadn''t been days since he returned when the sudden invitation letter struck like thunder.
Duke Frank invited him for an official meeting.
The product that Lucas is gonna sell might be a hotmodity and help him to secure a market, but it can''t run for a longer period due topetition.
The moment the nobles realise the potential of the shield orb and advanced guns, they would try their best to destroy his business by copying things.
Though it was something that James had invented with hard work, it can be reverse-engineered with enough manpower.
Frederick had gone through this but he had the backing to avert those nobles but he didn''t have any.
So, to gain a footing, Lucas applied for a patent. However, the process of patenting was quite different here.
For a patent, five nobles had to acknowledge the product. That''s why most merchants showcase their products and gain their support.
With Charles''s help, Lucas got Warren''s house approvals along with four houses under them. Now once he and Frost''s house support nothing can stop his business unless they wanted to offend Warren and Frost''s household.
Unlike Charles who is an heir, Frederick couldn''t decide things arbitrarily as he isn''t an heir so the decisions had to be taken by Duke Frost.
That''s what the meeting is gonna be about. Duke Frost wanted to talk with him before giving his approval.
However, this wasn''t the most troublesome thing as today was an important day.
"Frederick, can you stop the car for a bit? I need to prepare something here?"
"What do you want to prepare?"Frederick asked in confusion.
"I can''t go empty-handed. I need to prepare a gift for Duke."Lucas muttered and then turned towards the old man.
"Sorry for the inconvenience Sir."
The old man was Frost Household Butler so it would be good if he acted as humbly as possible.
"It''s okay," Munich spoke with a smile.
"Park at the side."
As soon as Lucas stepped down, he made a run to the corner.
"I have to barge my way into another situation."
On 2nd October, Frederick would visit his mother and Duke Frost who visited the Capital due to some work and on his way, he was going to encounter a stranger who would prove crucial to the uing event.
There was nothing mention of the timing of the event except for this ce.
"We departed quite early so I don''t know if that guy is already here."
The person would have crashed into Frederick''s car in the current spot but the moment Lucas noted that this event wasn''t happening and they were gonna get out of the street, Lucas immediately stopped them.
"It''s troublesome. Can I find that person in these vast crowded streets?"
"I wish I could skip this part but the chain linking to one another might copse," Lucas said with a sigh and started observing everything.
He wasn''t an expert nor did he have any divine sense that could keep an eye on the entire ce. Standing there wasn''t a feasible option as he might miss the person, so he can only run around in search hoping that he either found that guy or that guy finds Frederick.
"Let''s begin with the narrow street. The person would first try to hide himself as much as possible."
As Lucas ran around frantically, after searching around Lucas''s ear perked up hearing amotion. A street hawker stepped forward iming a person was a thief.
The parties wrestled and triggered a response, causing great chaos.
Lucas was far from the hustle and suddenly saw a haggard dark clothes figure bending down and dashing towards them.
Lucas turned towards the crowd and was stunned to see the peeps whom the crowd was ganging up.
"A 5-Star and 4-Star.This is it."
This person might be chasing him.
Without wasting a moment, Lucas activated sh steps and elerated towards the dark-clothed man.
Either shoving or dodging, he escaped frantically towards the end of the street.
"What are you doing?"
"You bastard."
People screamed as Lucas shed against some but he didn''t have time to mind them.
Lucas was sure that the person would panic and mistake him as Omen so it was best to just knock him out.
[Shadow Steps]
Lucas jumped into the shadows and mmed his elbow at the man''s head and knocked him down.
The people aside who saw this screamed in panic.
Lucas stared at them coldly and exined"This guy is a thief. A heinous criminal. I am just doing my duty to keep the streets safe of sound."
"Be careful and be alert."
After spouting bullshit, Lucas picked up the man and ran away hurriedly without giving the people an opportunity to investigate further.
....
Frederick rolled his sleeves and stared at the watch.
"Why is he taking so long?"Frederick frowned.
"There is amotion across the street, maybe he was caught in the traffic," Munich spoke.
"Oh, he is..."Munich''s words caught short seeing Lucas running frantically as if his life was in danger.
"Lucas..."
Before Frederick could finish his words, the door of the car was flung open and Lucas threw a person''s body.
"Frederick, this guy is chased by those omen who attacked the academy. Those members of Omen are looking for him. We need to get out of hereand alert the public security.''''Lucas spoke hurriedly while gasping heavily.
Frederick frowned upon hearing Lucas''s words and his eyes became sharp.
"Munich!''''
"Young Master, leave this to me."
Munich bowed his head and walked out of the car.
His image flickered and vanished from the ce.
''Thank God, it worked. I just hope he can catch a few members of Omen so that I can rest assured.''
Chapter 162 162:A Talk With Duke
?
The long ck limousine stopped in front of the huge mansion.
"It''s much grander than I expected," Lucas murmured in disbelief seeing the huge castle-like building past the iron gates.
A huge gardeny between the house and the gates that would take half an hour for ordinary people to cover it by walking.
Lucas felt jealous of Frederick, after all, who wouldn''t want such a grand ce like this Capital?
Therge gate with Frost crest slowly opened and while the guards opened it, a few knights patrolling the area greeted them.
Lucas stared at the people giving Frederick utmost respect. Their eyes were filled with admiration and respect.
However, Lucas didn''t feel anything good about them because who knows how many of them ridiculed, mocked and harassed Frederick when he was young making his life a living nightmare.
Now that he had shown his worth and talent, all of them changed their views but would they have done this if Frederick hadn''t changed?
No, they wouldn''t.
The higher society was a ce filled with shallow and hypocritical people that smooch on you until you stop giving them benefits.
"Wee to my humble abode," Frederick spoke with a grin.
''If this is humble then what isn''t humble ording to you?''
Lucas'' lips twitched but he didn''t nitpick.
It wouldn''t be good to argue in front of so many people.
"Let''s go."
Frederick waved his hand and walked in the front while Lucas closely followed Frederick with a straight and upright look under the piercing gaze of servants that was filled with intrigue, confusion, and curiosity.
Some were scrutinising him wondering where this guy came from but Lucas just walked unfazed.
Entering inside, Lucas saw a huge lineup of maids bowing their heads and at the centre stood a ck-haireddy.
Frederick''s eyes moistened seeing this.
"Mother."
Ariana smiling gently, extended her hands and weed Frederick as he walked steadily into his mother''s warm embrace.
Lucas'' heart strung a bit seeing their interaction and at the moment, he wished for his mother''s soft gentle touch filled with love and warmth.
After embracing her child for a moment, Ariana felt sce as she caressed Frederick''s hair.
When the two separated, Ariana entered and shifted towards Lucas.
"Wee to the Frost Household."
"I hope you had a pleasant journey, Lucas. Thanks for taking care of my unruly son.''''
"Yes, Mam. There were no difficulties on the way."
"I hope my son didn''t trouble you," Ariana spoke sweetly and pinched Frederick''s cheek.
"My stop it. This is embarrassing."Frederick protested.
"Oh my, you are now finding your mom embarrassing how rude."Ariana is sad a few tears making a pitiful expression.
Frederick sighed and let her mother do what she want making Ariana smile gleefully.
"Frederick is a bit naive, stiff in handling things properly. He also had a habit of messing things up and destroying the atmosphere."
Lucas''s lips twitched hearing Ariana dissing Frederick.
''Madam your son is the goddamn protagonist and you are stepping over him.''Lucasughed inwardly watching Frederick despairing face.
At the same time, his heart felt hollow watching thier interaction. His mother is also quite sweet and always worries about her.
For a moment, he wanted to abandon everything and run away to his mother''s warm embrace.
"Learn from Lucas. He is so mature."Ariana chided Frederick who already felt the world spinning around.
"Madam, Frederick is the star of the Academy. You dont need to worry about him. He had properly inherited your beautiful face."
"Sheesh! Stop teasing this olddy."
Lucas bowed gently and decided to use his sharpened skills to butter her up but stopped when a servant walked in and whispered something into Ariana making her frown.
"I see."
"Lucas, The Duke is inviting you to the study room. It seems an urgent situation has arisen so Duke wanted to finish the meeting quickly." Ariana spoke with a smile.
"I understand Madam," Lucas spoke.
''It seems Duke had caught the fish of Omen.''
A sly smile appeared underneath his face that didn''t go unnoticed by Frederick''s eyes.
''He is cooking something. I''m damned sure this guy is cooking something.'' Frederick wiped out the beads of sweat forming over his forehead.
After staying with Lucas, Frederick knew very well how frightening this guy was.
He would rather offend the Demon King than this guy, who would first make you lessen your guard, break your mental barrier and stab you when you least prepared for the situation.
"Sir Lucas, please follow me."
A man with a face filled with wrinkles spoke politely.
"Okay!"
.....
In the huge room, except for the sound of breathing, everything else ceased for a moment.
"Since you asked for Frost House approval, you should know the weight The Frost approval carries."
A man with a navy bluish eye spoke with a solemn expression.
"Yes, My Lord!" Lucas spoke softly, however his brows creased rmed by the frightening pressure weighing upon him as if a mountain had been ced over him.
Frank Frost, the current Duke of Frost Household stared at Lucas menacingly.
"It''s good that you know."His lips curled and as locking his gaze on Lucas, he spoke sternly."So let me give you my opinion."
"I don''t like it."
Lucas''s eyes widened upon hearing his words but he made sure to manage his facial expression.
On discussing things with people of higher ranks, one should learn to stay unfazed instead of screaming why, what, please.
"May I know the reason?"
"It''s because this business is too subpar. The mechanic orb shield is good however that''s it. Normal people can afford it but it''s useless. It can''t save their life in case they encounter danger for real. Guns aren''t effective either and themon man had no training in marksmanship. Moreover, it may sell well at first but the market will saturate soon. It''s not as if everymon man needs this every day. Those who buy it will just keep it as decoration."
Lucas nodded his head as Frank''s thoughts were justifiable. Even if the price of these things is affordable it is not as if everyone needs this. And the market for these things is quite narrow for now.
Even if you wear normal 5-Star armour for protection there a 5-Star beast attack may tear it down in the worst case or damage it if the person is lucky.
And the main point was thatmon people rarely face danger unless they step into a ce they shouldn''t have.
However...
"If that is your concern, then there is nothing to worry about." Lucas cast a smile filled with confidence that startled Frank.
"Exin! "Hemanded sharply.
"My Lord, have you ever thought of a scenario where every unawakened life will be in danger? A scenario where awakened ones would be too busy to even protect themselves."
Frank''s eyes narrowed listening to Lucas'' words.
What Lucas said wasn''t a possibility but the future that was going to happen within one and a half years.
The Demons had been preparing for this for thousands of years. A continent spell of mass scale, that gonna lift the entire Demon realm and strike the world.
The Demon World was originally part of this world that formed a huge barren Northern Continent and when it emerges, it will collide with the North borders of many Empires including Cyprus creatingrge-scale tectonic movements and earthquakes disrupting everything.
The Demonkins would submit themselves to the Demons willingly and then a bloody war will begin that will bring the era of chaos.
"This is just your wishful thinking."
"Whether it''s just wishful thinking or a definitive future, My Lord you should know better than anyone else." Lucas, boosted by his confidence, spoke straight with an overbearing tone making Frank''s expression solemn.
"Anything can happen anytime. What I am doing is preparing some cards in case of disaster. My current guns can kill a 4-Star in sneak attacks and my Mechanical Orb Shields are as strong as 3-Star armour. This is just the first batch. There will be further improvements. An unawakened with the ability to defend and attack at 4-Star rank is enough to survive in this case. Moreover, these things aren''t made for fighting but for the survival of themon man in a worse scenario."
Frank closed his eyes for a moment and then gave a bitter smile seeing Lucas'' confidence about the uing situation.
"It seems I have underestimated you. You are quite far-sighted."
"And what about that fly you brought along."
"My Lord, that fly had its use."
"Your Honour should know it better and let me say this once again, all of this is just a coincidence however this coincidence may save the lives of many."
Frank''s lips twitched seeing Lucas smile. For some reason, his eyes looked quite sinister.
''I wouldn''t be here if I believed in all of this coincidence. This reason had already gone out of style a hundred years ago.''
Frank unfolded his legs and picked up his pen.
"I am satisfied with your answer. It seems you are going to create some huge waves in the future and I will be happy to be part of it."
Lucas smiled happily and after a few conversions, he gave a bow and was led out by his servant.
However, when Lucas stepped out his expression changed.
''Was he testing me?''
''Maybe I made the wrong move talking about the future scenario, however it would be good if he thinks of me as useful.''
...
Seeing Lucas disappearing, Frank sighed.
When Frederieck came up with the proposal, he thought that the person had taken advantage of his friendship and fooled him. So, he decided to check up on the boy''s background.
In fact, he was really surprised. His academic profile was excellent. However, the real person is way beyond impressive.
Frank can feel the sharpness in those gentle-looking eyes that were ready to cut his enemies at any moment.
Still, he wasn''t that much interested in him before and was forced to call him here. However, his opinion of the boy had changed.
That boy''s temperament is quite refined.
He may look like a nervous anxious boy who fears everything but all of this is a ploy that hides his true self.
''Moreover those golden eyes, I am sure he is his son.''
''Like father, like son.''
Frank turned his head and spoke."What do you think?''''
The space was distorted and at the corner of the room, a man with a cigar sat on the chair with an ugly expression as if he had stepped on some shit.
"I don''t like him."
Frank frowned hearing his words.
"Why?"
"That bastard. I am 100...no, I am 1000% damn sure that this boy will steal something precious of mine. And that thing is priceless and more precious than my life."
Frank blinked his eyes in confusion, making a weird expression.
"Keep him under observation."
"I am Duke, not your shadow guard."
"Just do as I say. Keep an eye on him at all times. If you invade his personal space and search-"
"That isn''t spying, rather stalking. Are you high? Are you smoking cigars or smoking weeds?"
''This guy just want to protect him but his face is too thich to admit it.''
Cough¡Coug.
The man coughed hearing Frank''s words.
"It seems, you need some mental treatment. I should inform Her Highness about this. You''re smoking some drugs again, it would be better if she knew about you fooling around here and being high after taking a cigar."
"What? Nooo!"
"Don''t tell her, please!!"
The man''s scream echoed but Frank, turning an blind eye, made a call to the Empress.
Chapter 163 163:Owing A Favor
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The air smelled fresh, clean and carried by the gentle breeze that had the smell of dew. The grass was wet and was beginning to turn brown.
The ground was covered in a nket of colourful leaves that had fallen from the trees like snow.
Soft silky pink leaves danced around and slowly fell on bluish-white hair serving as decoration and enhancing the beauty of that silky hair.
Under the fair autumn breeze, Julian stared at the garden with an uncanny expression. For some reason, she felt lost and everything around her felt tedious.
Lost in thought, she even failed to perceive the gentle sound of footsteps that were drawing near.
A maid coughed a bit and tried to awaken Julian from her thoughts.
"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness!"
"Huh!" Julian''s mind jolted awake and blinking her crimson bloody eyes, she stared at the maid bowing her head in disbelief.
Her expression returned to normal as she adjusted her mood within a moment.
''It seems I was too lost at the moment.''
''''Speak!'''' Julian''s colour voice echoed.
"Your Highness, Lucas returned yesterday however he had taken a leave and had gone to the Frost Household.''''
The maid who ryed the information suddenly felt the atmosphere turning cold and her back tingled with ominousness.
Despite that, she didn''t dare to raise her head in fear.
"Hmm! You can go back."
The maid nodded and quickly left the ce.
The trees around the ce started shrinking and ayer of mist appeared around the ce Julian sat.
"Good...Good...I don''t even have time to take a nap due to workload and you are roaming around instead of helping me."
Julian didn''t know why but her mood turned sour the moment she heard about Lucas'' absence again.
''If you returned yesterday why didn''t you visit me first and ask about my well-being?''
"Hmph! Let hime, I will surely teach him a lesson this time."Julian snorted.
....
"Thanks for saving me. I will remember your grace throughout my life." A golden-haired man bowed his head, filled with reverence and admiration.
"It''s not me, it''s him who saved you," Frederick gave a perfunctory response.
The man turned his head towards Lucas. His eyes brightened and he almost shed tears of joy.
"Thank you, really thank you. I thought I would die and if they caught me again, they would have surely killed me but youe as the ray of light."The man then stood up.
"Let me introduce myself again, I am Alphonso Leonhart. The heir of the Leonhart n and we will try our best to repay our favor."
Lucas and Frederick stared at each other giving a bitter smile.
''Isn''t this guy exaggerating things a bit too much? He is speaking as if I risked my life to save him, however, this isn''t also bad.''
Ancient noble families havingrge branching descendants often referred to themselves as ns.
Though Leonhart holds the title of Marquise, their power rivals a Duke. Their bloodline ability was known as Golden Mane, in which their body bulges and they became a hybrid of a lion and human like a beast man.
Except for the three Dukes, Cyprus had the title of Grand Duke however the family lost its presence many years ago. Leonhart was a vassal of the Grand Duke of Cyprus that became free after the Grand Duke''s demise and this Grand Duke''s position had been left vacant till now.
"I didn''t save you out of profit. I just saw a few people chasing after you and after running after them, I found them to be from Omen, so I just brought you here." Lucas spoke softly.
"No, it''s exactly because you brought me here, I can breathe in relief. I wouldn''t be safe in any other ce. If not for his Lord''s grace, who knows what would have happened to me?" Alphonso''s whole body shivered in fright thinking about his bleak and deste days.
"In this case, you owe me a favor. So be prepared to get dragged into the mess."
"Okay!" Alphonso spoke with a smile.
"Even if you ask me to visit hell, I will go with you."
Though the atmosphere was quite joyful and Frederick might think this as some gentle words, only Lucas knew that he had caught another guy in the.
Poor Alphonse, if only he knew about the jobs Lucas was gonna make him perform, he would have never agreed to this.
"How did they catch you?" Frederick asked curiously.
"Traitor...There was a traitor among our ranks that poisoned us and then a group attacked us. Being poisoned, the guards were defeated and I was kidnapped by them."
"Why did they kidnap you?"Lucas asked.
Alphonso fidgeted his finger and spoke warily.
"I have found an artifact in one of the ruins. I was on my way to the Capital for an appraisal and after I was kidnapped they took it away."
Lucas sighed deeply hearing this.
The artifact was a kind of space that restricted the ce, hindering people from moving oring out within the area.
''It''s a great item to trap the enemy but there weren''t enough details so I didn''t know much about it.'' Lucas thought inwardly.
"Mr. Alphonso, it seems you are quite tired so I think it''s better if you take some rest. So, please excuse us." Frederick and Lucas excused themselves and left.
As they walked out, Lucas''s expression changed.
"Frederick, it seems we are going to have another attack."
"I can see that much." Frederick smiled bitterly
"This tournament, I am sure those rats are going to make trouble."
"Who do you think their target is?"
Lucas paused for a moment and gave Frederick a deep stare.
"I don''t know."
Even though he knows, it''s better if he didn''t butt in unnecessarily. The real tournament will take ce in a Labyrinth safe from outside interference. It didn''t matter what mess those people make outside.
Their goal was mostly to massacre the citizens, kill a few nobles and lead public sentiment to cause chaos and make people go against the Royal Family.
This tournament was just a part of their long ns. Still, they should prepare thoroughly and after going through so much he would be an idiot if he trusts the original plot.
"We should be careful of those maniacs. I have a bad feeling about this." Frederick spoke as his body shivered for a moment.
"I hope everything turned out well." Lucas who just spoke suddenly sneezed and his back tingled for a moment.
"It seems someone is scolding you." Frederick teased Lucas.
"Stop being superstitious."
....
It was a ce shrouded with dark mist.
Trees with sprawling limbs guarded by darkness blotted out the rays of the sun. Their bark was mottled and splotched as if bubbled dark charcoal had been frozen on the surface. Clumpybs of wet mass dangled from boughs and branches.
When one looked carefully, one could see slight wriggling movements underneath the ground. The ck and brown thorns wrapped around the forest were almost like teeth waiting to tear you down and shred you into pieces.
Dozens of men pierced through the dark haze and dwelled deeper. On getting to the centre of the forest, they saw hundreds of dark-robed people standing in an orderly manner bowing their heads respectfully.
A dark skin man with rotten skin as if he was a corpse left for years with a humpback, stood before them receiving their worship.
Supporting himself with a stick, he walked to and fro.
"Never...Never..ever in my life, have I been forced into this kind of situation." The man''s sharp chilly voice echoed.
As he raised his chin, many who saw him for the first time shivered in fright seeing the hollow sockets.
There were no eyes and instead of that a green me burned in his sockets. The old man looked like abination of a lich and a zombie.
No one knew what he truly was nor did they know how old this person was.
His identity was also a mystery. However, what was more terrifying than this was that he was one of the Supreme elders of the Dark Church.
Except for him, there were guardians headed by the Pope Of the Dark Church whom no one had ever seen.
"I don''t know how those people learnt about our hideouts but we can''t swallow this. We have to strike back."
At that time, another man bowing his head asked respectfully.
"What are your orders, Lord?"
"We are going to move forward with our ns."
"Guardian Spirit. We need to extract the Guardian Spirits and tame them. Till now, we didn''t manage to find any Guardian Spirits as they haven''t chosen their liege but now we had information about a person who had shown signs of awakening their Guardian Spirit."
"Who is it, Elder?"
"Please tell us, we will do our best to capture it."
"Hmm!"
"Have a look."
The old man struck his staff on the ground and a blurry image of two people fighting one another appeared in between the fight, a faint manifestation of the dragon appeared and disappeared instantly.
"This is it. Go and capture the spirit. If possible, convert this woman into an undead. They should know the repercussions of hitting us.
A crooked evil smile appeared on his face.
Chapter 164 164:Before The Tournament
?
Everything was pretty much simr except for the atmosphere bing more vibrant and lively. Students were brimming with energy and were working extra hard to show off in the Tournament.
Lucas'' absence of 20 days didn''t have any major impact. Some were filled with curiosity while some were just indifferent to it but finding Harris''s absence naturally drew some suspicion but it was said that Harris had gone for some work and as for Lucas, he had taken a leave for personal reasons to visit home.
However, for Ezekiel and a few others who were looking forward to finding Lucas and causing him trouble, it was a period of restlessness.
Ezekiel tried to look for Lucas through his channel but everything was for naught. Let alone him, even Lucas''s friends couldn''t find him.
The moment Lucas'' arrival reached Ezekiel''s ears, he puffed his chest and looked for Lucas to issue the challenge and dere his sovereignty promising to crush him in the Tournament, but his words struck seeing Lucas'' sharp piercing gaze.
The boy who looked frail, was now giving an aura of someone way stronger than him.
Ezekiel was at the peak of 3-Star and with the help of blessing, he broke through to early 4-Star. He was quite close to making another breakthrough but he wasn''t able to so he had to burn his energy to make a breakthrough before the Tournament but seeing Lucas at the peak of 3-Star, he screamed inwardly wondering if Lucas had taken any potion cause in no way a person can a jump almost a whole realm in 20 days.
Frederick''s breakthrough was already a shock for him and now Lucas'' advancement left him in bewilderment.
Finding all this suspicious, he just issued a small verbal challenge, thinking about the scene of crushing Lucas.
But after his retreat, many rumours found their way into Horizon.
"Have you heard about Frederick and Lucas'' rise in strength?"
"Huh! What''s the problem with this? All of this was the effect of the blessing." A student spoke with confusion.
"You are just a dimwit. How can a blessing help to advance so quickly? If this was possible, why didn''t the strength of the others rise rapidly as well?"
"Yeah, now that I think about it, That foul blood is quite close to the filth blood and only the two of them have increased their strength in this way."
"There is only one possibility. Either they have taken a miraculous potion or used some kind of drug to gain sudden strength to perform well in the tournament."
"Yes, that''s it!"
The students of noble lineage who were discussing this suddenly felt enlightened as if they had cracked a huge mystery.
No one knew who started this first or who was behind all of this, but the rumours started to spread like wildfires.
While many criticized Lucas and Frederick, some even tried to pry into this and asked for the source.
Lucas who was pretty much nonchnt was suddenly carrying a ck pot of taking drugs.
''Damn, which bastard started all of this.''
''I will skin that guy alive if he is caught by my hands.''
Huffing and puffing in anger, Lucas swallowed his words and asked Julian to pacify it, however rather than helping him, Julian gave him the cold shoulder.
On top of that, the moment he entered the office he was bombarded with work that took a whole week of sleepless nights to finish. He was ordered to sleep in the office and visit his room only for minor things.
As he was forced to busy himself to work, the rumours started to calm down and he found that Julian had acted but this didn''t quell his anger so Lucas wrote down the names of the bastards who were enjoying themselves and promised to tear them down in the tournament.
.....
Meanwhile,rge-scale preparation for the uing Tournament wasing to an end and things were quite hectic.
For Lucas, this was the most troublesome and busiest period as he had to apany Julian to oversee all the things.
For a note, there was a Vice-President who should also oversee all these things but for Issac, it would be demeaning for him to work. In his opinion, all this should be the work of servants, not a noble like him.
Moreover, since Julian finds him disgusting, she thought that it was better to work alone than discuss with Issac who would try to stir things up.
''Which bastard made him Vice-President? Because of that asshole, I don''t even have time to eat properly.''
"Can you stop cursing Issac?"
A soft voice rang in Lucas'' ears startling him.
"How did you know?"
"It looks as if you are gonna murder someone."Julian chuckled, startling Lucas.
Lucas'' expression eased a little seeing Julianugh.
''I think working like this is also not that bad.''
Julian, whose voice had always sounded cold and distant, had been quite warm and melodious recently. Unlike that nk icy expression, Lucas could see various emotions reflecting on her face.
After he came from leave, he was subjugated to Julian''s frosty expression but under repeated attempts, Lucas finally managed to calm her down.
Instead of ice, she feels like a warm sun radiating sunshine but it''s only when she is with him.
It didn''t mean Julian had changed. Rather she acted like her true self and was a bit unrestrained around Lucas. After all, at the end of the day, as a human being, she is bound to crave for freedom and enjoyment but she has suppressed all her desires until now.
Walking around the grand stadium, Lucas stared at the bright sky shaded with a reddish-orangeyer cast by the setting sun.
The entire stadium was empty except for the two.
Enjoying the soft breeze ruffling his hair, Lucas felt a sense of peace like never before. This was truly the first time he felt peace.
And he knew it wasn''t because of the beautiful sunset but the majestic beauty beside him.
Lucas stared at her deeply and as Julian met Lucas'' unchanging gaze, her expression softened.
She didn''t avert her eyes nor did she shy away. On the contrary, she is also searching for the answer to her recent behaviours and actions.
At that time, she saw Lucas opening his lips and a sense of anticipation welled in her heart.
"Your Highness, how is preparation going on your end?"
Julian''s smile cracked a bit and anger shed over her face but it disappeared as soon as it appeared.
Lucas could only smile bitterly inside.
He wanted to speak some beautiful lines but he felt cringed thinking about this.
''Let''s just leave it to the future.''
Knowing what Lucas meant, Julian stared at the sunset and answered."We have restricted the ess this time. The Tournament was like a festival and also a source of ie for Horizon."
Lucas nodded as he saw the butterflies flying around her.
Stalls of various things andpanies would be set up in Horizons and a part of the profit would be taken by it. The stadium can hold 200,000 people and tickets would start from 500R and reach up to 50000. The VIP rooms cost 100,000.
So naturally, Horizon earns a lot within this period.
"But since there is a huge threat looming over us this time, we decided to block themon people. Only nobles will be allowed."Julian answered indifferently.
"I see. Then, you are going to monitor the nobles and see their stances."Lucas asked.
"Yes. The nobles have their forces and can surely protect themselves but themoner would be at risk so we will just allow the TV channels and news to live broadcast the event. It can make up for their loss. As per your question, don''t worry even if the time is not in your hand, we have made sufficient time. We might not stop the casualties however we may severely minimize the threat." Julian answered and gave a summary.
Lucas sighed hearing her words. Lucas naturally knew all of this as he had been managing things however some things are beyond control.
They can keep an eye on the personnel inside Horizon but what about the ones plotting outside? How many nobles had joined the fray till now, even Lucas didn''t know.
He didn''t want to take the risk of exposing the noble only to find that they didn''t have made any contact with Omen till now which was supposed to take ce in future.
This was supposed to be a happy event for parents to gather and watch their student progress. Thinking about this he felt saddened a bit that his parents would be here while many other parents being nobles would cheer for thier children.
''This is distressing."Lucas suppressed his bitterness and cheered himself.
As Lucas and Julian walked slowly and steadily, admiring the beautiful sunset, Julian''s smartphone rang.
Seeing the caller id, Julian''s expression changed.
"Vice Principal Josh!"
"What? How can you do this now?"Julian''s voice became frigid hearing Josh''s words.
''What the hell happened now?'' Lucas frowned as he had a bad premonition about it.
Julian then turned to Lucas after cutting the call.
"There are some additional students who are going to take part in the tournament."
"Who?" Lucas asked curiously.
"The ones who were kidnapped by Omen during Field Tests.''''
''''What???"
...
In the Leader''s dorm.
Ezekiel stared at the boy who sat before him with a profound expression.
"How did you change so much? Where were you now?"
The boy''s demeanor had taken a drastic change since thest time he had seen him. Before he showcased a haughty and arrogant look, but now he looked quite gentle and down to earth making him confused.
"I have been recuperating and getting treated by psychiatrists." The boy answered with a nk expression making Ezekiel frown.
''That''s ridiculous.'' Ezekiel wanted to curse as even for him this was unbelievable.
The matter of students who were rescued from Omen''s clutches was left undecided and put on hold.
Were they now part of the current Academy session or were they expelled? It was still a matter of debut
However, taking pity on them, all of them were permitted to participate in the tournament as many noble houses pleaded for them but putting them directly in the middle when they haven''t taken exams and another event was quite odd.
"David, what did you experience there?"
"Nothing much, I was just tied to the chair and tortured every day until I was rescued," David spoke with a calm expression.
''How is he so calm about this? He speaks as if he isn''t affected by this at all.''
"Are you alright?" Ezekiel asked with a vague concern.
"I am totally fine."
"Listen, I don''t how were you doing now or what do n to do by appearing at this moment but since our house had good rtions and I was asked to take care of you, so just stay put in your ce and don''t cause any trouble otherwise you know the consequence." Ezekiel warned him coldly.
"Yes, sir!" David nodded and after some chat, he walked out.
As soon as he walked out, his eyes became hollow as if devoid of any emotion.
Thinking about Ezekiel''s warning, David sneered.
"How naive."
Chapter 165 165:First Ordeal
?
[18 October]
The morning dawned slowly announcing the beginning of the tournament that was going to be filled with bloodshed.
Countless individuals will rise basking in glory while countless would be thrown out or crumble under pressure.
Some will rise, and some will fall.
Those who managed to showcase their talent, will not only earn appreciation but will also pave the way for their bright future. The nobles watching the contest would mark the students performing well and will offer them jobs after they graduate.
Formoners and fallen aristocrats, who dreamed of gaining honour and wealth, this was a perfect opportunity.
With hopeful eyes filled with excitement, students gathered onto the ground under numerous gazes.
The stadium seats were drafted over by the metallic tent to form a box-like pattern for nobles. Servants carrying various kinds of refreshments walked to and fro keeping up with the nobles'' wishes.
For nobles, today was like a national holiday where they would just sit back and enjoy the show.
However, for some whose children were participating, things were a bit tense.
Unlike other times, Vice-Principal Josh''s expression was especially solemn and stern, befitting his status that startled everyone.
Lucas stared at the sea of students standing around with excited faces.
Everyone has grown in recent times.
Rose, Charles, Humphrey, Monica, Ezekiel,Stephanie, Tiffany and others who had received blessings had reached mid-4-Star while others who were at the peak of 3-Star managed to step over the wall.
Roan after so much hard work had managed to reach 2-Star. Seeing his arduous journey Lucas felt pained as his condition would be quite simr in the absence of a bloodline upgrade potion.
As per Parth, he had reached mid-3-Star because of which, his courage to spout bullshit had now reached another level.
"Hey, is this old man high? I have never seen him so serious." Parth''s voice echoed in the crowds drawing everyone''s attention.
Frederick, Lucas, Charles and Roan, who stood nearby, stepped back as fast as possible, shifting their eyes indicating that they don''t know this guy.
Looking around, Parth noticed everyone''s uneasy expression and tried to prove his point.
"Come on man, just look at this guy''s serious expression. How can that ugly rotten expression of his change so much?"
"It seems he had been beaten by his wife or his lover." Parth mocked with a crooked smile.
At that time, Josh''s magnified voice echoed.
"Thank you for taking some time and participating as the audience to look at the future generations who are going to be the pirs of society."
Josh''s words were followed by loud apuse.
Josh paused for a moment and continued.
"The tournament will ur in the same format as earlier. However, this time things are a bit different. In the third stage, 3rd year seniors will act as supervisors in case there is any trouble popping out of somehere. And in the case of 3rd-year matches, Instructors will supervise them."
"Now, as you know the Tournament will be held in the Tower present thebyrinth that is underneath the Horizon, all of you are advised to practise extra caution. This ce is truly mysterious beyond a person''smon sense."
Hearing Josh''s words, the lively atmosphere quietened down and a hush silence prevailed that satisfied Josh.
"As per the stages of the Tournament. It is divided into three rounds. 4000 individuals entering the ce will go through the maze. The first 1000 individuals who were able to get out of the maze will be transferred to the second stage. The second stage is a ce that will issue a suitable scenario for you to ovee. As long as you manage to finish the scenario , you will reach the upper floor where you can take a rest. After this, everyone that survives in the second stage will engage in a battle Royal in thest round and thest one Standing is the winner. Points would be awarded by the Tower for your performance in each stage which will determine the rank of those who had fallen."
Amotion broke out among students as they asked about the Second stage
Josh raised his head to clear the doubts.
"The scenario issued will be based on what you are capable of. I have heard people getting tasks to get over their mental trauma or even kill the 1-Star beast. However.."
Josh''s voice became stern."Remember one thing, the percentage of people getting through the second stage is less than 3%. There has been a time when less than 50 students entered thest round so don''t becent and arrogant." Josh caressed his long beard and advised the students.
"I wish you sess in your endeavor and may you emerge victorious. Now, please follow the teacher. Don''t walk around or you will be done for."
Josh then adjusted his specks and spoke with a grin."And yeah, for those who think I am high and got beaten, I will show you true beating after the tournament."
"Damn!"
"Shit!"
"This guy will disappear."
Parth who was in the sea of those who were mocking Josh was suddenly drenched in sweat.
Everyone stared at him in pity.
"Don''t worry Parth, we will build a good grave."
"I will burn incense for you every day."
"I will pray for your soul so you can die peacefully.
"Shut up!" Parth screamed and started chasing after them.
........
Entering a portal, all of the students walked out only to see ayer of mist cover the vastnd before them.
The most bifurcated forming a pathway leading to a humongous structure.
"It''s no joke."
A tired voice came out from Helena''s mouth.
Not only she, everyone who saw the scene stared in disbelief at the miraculous scene.
Since Labyrinth was under the Horizon, they thought all they would see was a ce like an ancient ruin, but contrary to their expectation, they felt as if they were in a mini world.
And now in front of them, stood a tower that soared to the top of the clouds and had no end in sight.
A tower boasting a magnificence that was not enough to describe in few words.
This is the ce where the tournament will be held.
"Everyone seems to be brimming with energy." Humphrey muttered, staring at people gathered around the ce.
"The conditions seem to be quite different. Out of 4000 only a countable few can reach thest stage." Monica muttered with an inexplicable feeling and then stared at Safrina who had been keeping silent from the moment she returned.
She was formerly ranked 8 and had a great prospect but that kidnapping incident had left a huge shadow in her heart.
Now, no one knows whether she has improved or not.
"Cheer up Safrina, you will do well."
"Umm!" Safrina just gave a brief nod.
"Hey, pals, has there ever been a situation where no one entered thest round?"
A sharp hoarse voice echoed in the vicinity drawing everyone''s attention.
Humphrey''s lips twitched seeing the guy.
''Sure enough, this guy''s thoughts are always wild.''
"Can''t you stop embarrassing us, Parth?" Charles clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Just bear with him for the moment." Roan pleaded on their behalf and then added."After all, he will be getting his ass kicked in the tournament."
Everyone clicked their tongue hearing Roan''s first sentence but his next words choked them.
''This guy is bing quite brutal nowadays.'' Lucas muttered inwardly and then looked at the Tower.
The three stages would take ce on three floors of the tower. The Tower was a gift bestowed to humankind by Gods to train people and get stronger to stop Demon King''s advent.
"Look, who is there with Ezekiel?"
"Now that you spoke, Safrina is also here."
"Hey, isn''t that David Art who came after a long recovery."
The discussion drew everyone''s attention.
Lucas frowned seeing David following Ezekiel.
Safrina, who was with Humphrey and Monica, broke out and walked towards Ezekiel.
Seeing their gazes, Lucas felt a bad premonition.
Ezekiel walked towards Lucas with a haughty smile.
"Are you afraid?"
Lucas didn''t answer and just observed the two behind Ezekiel.
Safrina and David''s eyes were colourless as if there was no soul in their body.
"Hey, answer me. Wait! You can''t even reach the third round so what is the use of asking you?"
"You talk too much." Lucas'' eyes became sharp.
It was at that time, the huge stone gate that firmly blocked the entrance of the Tower began to slide afterwards.
"Arghhh!"
"What the hell?"
"What''s this?"
A strong suction force simr to a ck hole emerged pulling everyone into it. Soon everyone''s body glowed and encased with a light, they shot towards the entrance and disappeared from everyone''s view.
....
As soon as you enter the tower, darkness obscures your view.
The sudden influx of darkness was frightening for some as they found themselves helpless.
After getting dumped, Lucas stared at the huge walls that were revealed through the lifting darkness.
''Has the attack outside been started?''
Contrary to others who were worried about the Tournament, Lucas was quite worried about the situation outside as only God knows what will happen.
Will it follow the original plot?
If it deviates, how much of the change will affect this event?
He didn''t know the answer.
Fortunately, the changes of the future hadn''t affected the scene inside the tower.
Thinking about the scenes described in the novel, a crescent arc was drawn over Lucas''s lips.
[You have entered the Tower Of Miracle]
A robotic woman''s voice echoed in Lucas''s ears.
[You are the 789th contender]
It was the ordeal helper. An existence that acts as a medium to issuemands and helps people to focus on oveing the ordeal required to go up to the next floor.
It is simr to AI that oversees the tower and it also disys the important events happening in the Tower.
In fact, the moment you perform well you are going to be exposed and even if you stay hidden, the second stage will know your prowess as it would scan you to assign the Trial. Fortunately, the second stage would be known only by the Ordeal helper.
[There are trials on each floor to ovee, and each time you ovee those trials, you will be rewarded with different points ording to your performance and contribution.]
It was done to ensure a winner in case none managed to ovee the ordeal and reach the third floor.
[The first ordeal on the first floor is the maze of mystery. Try to break through as fast as possible to get a high score and reach the next floor.]
".....''''
After hearing the simplistic exnation, Lucas stared at the huge maze in front of him.
The ordeal wasn''t difficult as it was the first trial.
Just deal with monsters in between and get through the maze, that''s it.
Yeah, if you die, you will be thrown out.
"Frederick will find a shortcut and break through the maze first. Rose, Helena and Parth are going to follow him and then their party will get the highest score."
Lucas knew about it but he had no intention of taking that route.
"There is a much faster and simpler way than that."
With those words, Lucas reached out his hand and grabbed the blood-red sword which suddenly quivered for some reason.
"You seem to be excited." Lucas grinned, seeing the stick-like appearance that makes one underestimate it.
Holding it tightly, Lucas twisted his wrist slightly.
[Mana Devour]
SCREECH!
At that moment, the darkness surrounding the ce started to fade and be reced by a crimson glow. The energy around the ce started to get sucked in and began to swirl on the sword.
The de trembled due to repeatedpressions and amplifications.
Feeling the trembling reach its peak, Lucas pulled the blood sword and sliced the empty air.
At the same time, a dark reddish line oveps the ce.
In fact, there was no such thing as a faster path than the Frederick shortcut in this maze.
However¡
"If you don''t have it, just create it."
Lucas'' eyes curved with a dangerous glint.
The Tower that seemed to have sensed his ominous intention screamed in his ears.
[Please refrain from inappropriate behaviors!]
[Please refrain from inappropriate behaviors!]
A series of mechanical voices struck his ears.
However, it was toote.
The moment Lucas'' sword touched the wall, a reddish protruding light touched the wall and a single sh emerged from his tip, ripping apart the wall in front of him.
Chapter 166 166:First Ordeal[2]
From the moment Lucas enrolled in the academy, he had already been preparing for the tournament.
If you want to survive in this world, strength isn''t the only priority. From ages, there have been many strong people but all of them have fallen into dust.
On top of strength, you need connections and support. And this tournament would be a stepping stone to gain support.
There was no restriction on the artifact and potions in the Tower. You are allowed to take what you want however whether you can use it or not is another matter.
Potions can be carried but the moment you take it, you will be disqualified. Simrly, you can bring what you want but the Tower will restrict its usage if it is deemed dangerous, however, you can stretch and use the loopholes.
In the book, fights had asionally broken out here and the small passage along walls being cracked and broken was written in the background.
With a bit of research, Lucas found out that the durability of walls was set ording to the participating ground which means the walls should be as strong as D-rank materials that can be broken by 4-Star warriors.
If it didn''t work, he could just blow up the whole thing with his bomb.
After all, there was nothing in the world that a pair of explosives couldn''t solve.
If your explosives didn''t work that doesn''t mean they are useless, rather they justck firepower and Lucas'' Current bombs were capable enough to hurt a 4-Star.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
[Please refrain from inappropriate behavior]
The sound of spirit was suppressed by the banging of sound exploding one after another.
Mazes were troublesome to get though. It didn''t require strength but intelligence along with a little amount of luck.
"Not bad!"
Lucas muttered, noticing the passage of destruction left behind.
"Even though the ordeal is shouting inside my head, there is no rule that says you can''t break the wall."
"I don''t know if it''s enough to get the first ce in this round but it''s enough for me to pass with flying colours."
"Let''s go!"
Cheering himself, Lucas swung his sword btedly ignoring the ordeal that was screaming for him to stop.
However, it didn''t refrain him that it means his stance was approachable.
Others were hitting their head on the wall trying to find a way and were suddenly startled by a loud booming voice.
It was then they saw the maze wall that was smashed in a straight line with arge thick smoke hovering around.
...¡..
"Damn! Where am I?"
Sheldon murmured while looking around.
Everything around him looked the same, the walls, the path and the ceiling covered in the darkness gave him a sense of misdirection.
"Did I walk from here to there? From which side did Ie from?'''' Sheldon suddenly felt the world spinning around him and was startled by a loud st.
BOOM!
A small portion of the wall was blown away forming a small gap and through the smoke, a pair of beastly golden eyes shone.
"Who are you?!" Sheldon''s voice echoed seeing a man walking out.
"Lucassss!"Sheldon''s eyes widened with disbelief and he raised his shield to defend.
"Oh Hello!" Lucas greeted him and walked towards the wall indifferently.
"What? How?" Sheldon''s jaw dropped wide, seeing many holes in a straight line.
"Is this even legal?"Sheldon blinked his eyes.
''He is ignoring me. I think I should follow him.''
Sheldon''s eyes lit up and just as he was about to speak, Lucas suddenly turned towards him.
"You are Ezekiel''s servant, aren''t you?" Lucas, who was about to strike the wall again, turned his body abruptly and shed in his direction.
"Huh! What did you say, filthy bastard?"
BOOM!
Sheldon raised his shield but the force of the attack sted him away.
Sheldon spun his body andnded on its feet.
A look of horror shed in his eyes as he looked at his trembling hand.
Simr to Lucas, he was at the peak of 3-Star but the gap between them was wide apart.
TAP! TAP!TAP!TAP!TAP!
An ominous sound rang in his ears frightening him as he looked ahead, his body froze.
With a maniac smile, Lucas walked slowly raising his sword that was glowing with a blood-red colour carrying a tremendous energy.
A gust blew and the air-carrying mana swirled around Lucas making his momentum grow wildly.
The ground beneath him cracked and a mass of magical energy expanded over his sword.
"How did you be so strong? I can''t believe this! It hadn''t been two months since the ss fight."
Run¡
That was the first thought that came into Sheldon''s mind.
That attack¡He can''t defend against the attack even if he puts everything on the line.
Just as he turned back and was about to run his body froze seeing many small orbs floating in the air.
"How are the orbs flying?"
Sheldon felt his worldview shattered seeing the densework of orbs.
Sheldon could already guess what that was.
The moment he touches them, they are gonna explode.
"Sheldon, there is no escape for you."
A chill spread across his body and all of his hair stood up in fear as he turned back to look at Lucas, who gave a weird smile, he knew he was done for.
"Before you die, let me ask you one thing. Did Ezekiel have any hand in those weird rumours?"
"I.. don''t¡have a hand.."
"You don''t need to answer."Lucas cut Sheldon''s words and his lips curled upwards.
"Cause it doesn''t matter."
With that, Lucas''s body flickered and appeared before Sheldon, he swung his sword carrying a great amount of power that lit the whole area in blood red light.
"See how good a friend I am. I kicked you out so that you can meet your parents early."
"Noooooooo!"
Swish!
Sheldon screamed and used his bloodline power to harden his body, seeing which Lucas used telekinesis tounch the orbs floating around towards Sheldon.
The orbs glowed opon touching the encasedyer covering Ezekiel and blowing his defence into tatters, destroying his upper skin after which Lucas gave the final blow.
BOOOOM!
Dust and debris swept everything while darkness blinded Ezekiel''s vision.
....
Kirruukkk!
Eeeekkkk!
Khukkk!!!
A shrill screeching sound of pain reverberated.
Golden rake trolls are said to be strongest among the trolls who form a systematic formation and rush towards the rose-haired woman.
CRANG!CRANG!
A man ran towards the trolls, holding the spear in his hand.
The moment, trolls rushed right in front of him in an instant, wielding their weapons, the spear in the man''s hand was drawn horizontally.
But the scene that followed was quite shocking.
A white-silver sh was drawn in the air that formed a trajectory in front of the man and ripped apart all the golden ws that were rushing in at once.
Perhaps, that wasn''t enough because the sh that ripped apart the trolls went towards the wall and shred it apart.
The front formation of the trolls was in disarray and the right nk that tried to get back at him met with a shower of arrows exploding over them throwing them away after which a blonde-haired woman cut through the remaining ones.
Meanwhile, the left nk was searching around frantically for the preparator that was assassinating them as swiftly as lightning striking them in horror.
The squad that broke through the monster formation, reached the end of the maze in an instant.
"It seems, we are the first one to reach the end." Parth''s image flickered and as he appeared, he screamed in joy.
"Yes, we are the fastest. It''s all because of you, Fredeeick." Helena praised Frederick.
Rose also nodded at words and walked towards the end swiftly while pondering about the second trail that they were going to face.
Frederick, who was satisfied with the progress, hurried his way.
''It seems, we are the only ones who found the hidden passage. The hidden passage may be a shortcut but it was riddled with strong strange monsters. Fortunately, we managed to ovee this.''
Of course, there was no need to think so much as this option is the best.
The points that are given here hold great significance as in future, the points can be exchanged for rewards. Generally, the Tower will give a reward after clearing the stage but its function has been altered for the tournament.
"You arete."
Frederick, who was lost in his thoughts about the function of the tower, suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets, seeing a man sitting on the raised tform with a devilish grin.
"Lu...Lucas...." Frederick''s voice quivered in disbelief.
"Yo, see you on the other floor." Lucas gently waved his hand as he heard a series of chimes and his image flickered.
Parth, Helena and Rose who caught up to him, seeing the translucent figure, their eyes were dyed with shock.
"Was that Lucas?" Rose voiced in astonishment. She never thought Lucas to be someone to use force to solve things as from her point of view, he is like a strategist so it was really unbelievable.
Parth stared around and then saw a straight line of destruction with broken walls over the surface.
Helena''s jaw dropped wide seeing the destroyed walls.
"See, I have told you. That guy is a menace. There is no one better than him when ites to destruction." Parth grumbled.
Frederick''s words struck his throat but he had no way to refute it.
"Yeah!"
He just gave a simple nod.
[You have passed the first ordeal.]
[Please move onto the tform to start the second ordeal.]
"Let''s not waste time." Frederick walked up to the stage.
Chapter 167 167:First Ordeal[3]
?
"He overcame the maze by breaking the walls," Josh murmured in disbelief.
Herman, who stood beside him, stared at the screen with a bbergasted look.
"Vice-Principal, is this even legal?"Herman asked with a stuttering voice.
"Damn! How can I know this? I am sure many might have thought about this previously but gave up after thinking that they might be disqualified."Josh assessed and then rubbed his chin.
"Moreover, even if they wanted to do this they wouldn''t."
"Huh! Why?"Herman tilted his head in confusion.
"Tsk! You are still wet behind the ears. You don''t even know such a simple thing, idiot"Josh clicked his tongue in annoyance seeing Herman''s confused look, and started to exin.
"First thing, breaking through walls of a maze would only help if the way to get out is on the other end but this tactic fails if the way to get out is in the center."
"Second thing, a maze may be of various shapes so this tactic is only good if the maze is in the shape of a circle. This maze is a huge circle and 4000 participants are put at the periphery like tiny dots at the outer area of the circle. Many passages confuse the sense of directions leading one to another and only if you start breaking from the beginning, you will follow the line of radius to reach the center."
Herman''s eyes widened and his back was drenched in sweat hearing this if you didn''t start breaking from the beginning, and start breaking after walking into thenes then instead of getting to the centre, you may end up towards the other side.
"Does that mean he knew all this and took advantage? That means someone might have leaked the information."Herman concluded.
BAAM!
Josh pped Herman on his head.
"Idiot! Do you mean I leaked this? Did you forget, only The Principal and Emperor know about the things in the Tower? It''s because that old cow had gone somewhere to graze, I was allowed to know all this."Josh shouted at Herman who just lowered his head.
"And did you see the peculiarity in his sword art? He seems to be absorbing mana and gathering at his sword which is lessening his mana expenditure. And about his sword, I don''t know the grade but it is exceptionally hard. On top of that, he is also using those damned explosives. For God''s sake, from where did this guy get this kind of bizarre idea."
"If there was anyone else, he would be exhausted before reaching the end."
Though Josh grumbled, there was a faint smile on his lips.
"However, now that this method has been seen, isn''t this stage bing quite easy, "Herman spoke with a sigh.
"Yeah, we have to change the first trial next year." Josh rubbed his forehead.
"Another headache ising our way. Since the second trial cannot be seen. Ask everyone to be on guard. Those assholes may pounce on us at any moment. y clips of the first trial. Take out the clips of children of the noble present here and send that video for them to watch."
"Meanwhile, ask the guards to be careful and don''t let any person with an unclear identity roam around.
"Okay, I will act immediately. "Herman nodded.
Josh''s eyes glowed as he turned his attention toward the other screen disying a few noteworthy individuals.
...
Witnessing the stupified scene, a hugemotion broke out in the stadium.
The people witnessing the scene happening inside the screen screamed in shock.
"What the hell?"
"Is that even legal?"
"It''s cheating."
"No, my money. I bet that this guy wouldn''te in the top 100."
"Me too.."
Betting was a normal urrence and each year nobles bet on the student to make some money. Though it was for fun, sometimes things be serious.
Lucas also took part in gambling with Julian''s help however instead of betting on himself this time he bet on Fredericking second on the first trial.
Lucas''s odds were quite high however if he bet on his name, things may be suspicious so he put the pot on Frederick.
Naturally, nobles were dissatisfied seeing an unknown name betting 30 Million R and getting 120 million.
The somber atmosphere leads to an outburst among them.
"Damn, why didn''t I think of this when I was there."
"I don''t like this. His mindset is not proper. I refuse to agree that he is normal. He may turn out to be a huge threat to society with such a destructive mindset."
"Yeah, I agree with you. Last time he blew up the scene and this type he destroyed the wall. This type of mindset is detrimental to society."
The noble''s voices became louder and louder and the discussion went on to the point that it was absurd and unbearable.
From the moment Lucas broke the third wall, all the focus was shifted to him. As they watched him dismantle everything on his way to the end, a fire of jealousy and envy arose in their heart.
If this was done by any other person besides him who belongs to a noble background, it was still eptable but seeing amoner clearing the hurdle in such a simple way that they hadn''t even thought about it was like rubbing salt in their wounds.
It was uneptable for them and secondly, most of their children already had a grievance about him as he took the first position in the Inter ss Battle.
"Silence!"
A cold piercing sound echoed from the magnificent VIP room situated at the top of the stadium.
The seat and positions of the nobles were designated ording to their ranks. Since the Emperor was absent the highest presence was that of a Duke.
And knowing the person reprimanding them, they just bowed their heads.
"Stop creatingmotion and being a nuisance."
"The method that we saw isn''t forbidden, otherwise the trial would have disqualified him."
"TSK!
"You all, who passed out from Horizons, don''t even know such a simple thing. Shame on you."
"Don''t me others for your ipetence."
A hush silence prevailed after the voice ceased and the noble''s expression flustered with embarrassment.
In the VIP lounge, Frank who just voiced out his opinions sneered at the fools creating trouble just for the kid.
"Useless, ipetent idiots."
"Pal, calm down."
"Take this! Have a puff and get a buff."
Frank stared at the Rosewood cigar and then stared at Duke Kai sitting leisurely while handing him a cigar.
"No, thanks. It''s more suitable for a hoodlum like you."
"Hoodlum...If I am a hoodlum, then what is he?"Kai spoke with a grin pointing at the white-haired man covered in dark robes surrounded by ayer of haze, however, he wasn''t smoking.
Frank''s lips twitched as he saw a dozen incense on the ground.
Instead of cigars, this guy takes a puff of mint incense smoke and blows it out.
''Duke Holmes and Duke White are lucky that they aren''t friendly with them.''
''Why do I have to stick with these smoking addicts?
"Are you twopeting with one another blowing cigars?"
"Your Highness, please mind your image. Everyone knows you are absent. If they now find you like this, what face will be left."Frank pleaded.
"Face, just what face are you talking about? Because of you, my wives hit me and warned me to give a divorce if I smoke cigars again."Kevin, who hid his face with a cloak sneered.
Frank for a moment wanted to hit him. Just because he was forbidden to smoke cigars, he is smoking incense.
"I wish he was here," Frank spoke with a sigh thinking about the man who can confront the Emperor''s head-on.
At that time, a hoarse voice drew everyone''s attention.
Opening a door, making a faint sound, a wrinkled-faced man wearing a dark robe emerged.
The entire atmosphere turned solemn seeing the man and everyone got up from their seats.
"You..."Kai choked and coughed violently seeing the man''s wrinkled face.
Frank and Kevin''s eyes popped out with a startled look.
Kevin shook his bewildered expression and walked towards him with a grin.
"So, you finally gave up on hiding in a shell."
"I don''t have a choice."The wrinkled man spoke coldly.
"Come here! I have something to discuss with you."Kevin immediately jolted up from his seat.
Frank could see a spark flying around the room as the two stood facing each other.
''Thank god! I just thought about him and he appeared here.'' Frank smiled, shaking his head.
"I hope things turned out well."
...
Lucas was suddenly transported to the dark floating ce. He didn''t panic as it was the precursor of the second.
The ordeal helper would scan you for a moment and would take a look at your memories. If you have certain trauma or other disabilities, it would create a scenario to ovee your trauma or create a scenario from scratch.
Frederick got the event of his childhood bullying days when he was weak and his task was to subdue the servants and gather everyone''s respect. The task wasn''t too difficult however Frederick would have to do this at the age of 5 instead of 9, when he started showing his talent.
Parth trauma was way brutal and for god sake, no human would want to go through that. After he was kidnapped, by a member of some dark forces, he was tortured until he broke, devoid of life until his grandfather saved him.
The only reason he was sane was because of a cute blonde girl beside his room who had such a high status that people didn''t dare to be too rough with her.
Parth task was to get out of the ce alive.
Rose''s task was to win a shootingpetition.
Charles''s task was quite easy. That was to win in The Dungeon Trial of this year without using shady tricks.
And about Ezekiel and others, Lucas didn''t remember or might have skipped that part.
Thinking about this, his heartbeat faster thinking about what task he would get.
At that, the mechanical voice resounded.
[Scanning participant body.]
[Scanningpletely.]
[Scanning for participant memories..]
[Looking for distorting scenes...]
[....]
[Error]
[Unable to scan due to external interference.
"What?"Lucas screamed in panic, seeing the space turning red and a screeching noise echoed in his ear drums.
[Error.]
[Unable to scan participant memories.]
[A third party is interfering¡.]
"What''s going on?"
Lucas, who had a bewildered look, thought for a moment.
''Is the system interfering?''
[Looking for another solution.]
[Abnormal mental strength is found.]
[Strong mentality of the host is resisting the scan.]
"Wait! What is going on? Strong mentality?"
"What''s that?"
[The trial difficulty is changing ording to the host''s mental strength.]
[The trial difficulty level is upgraded.]
[The trial difficulty level is upgraded.]
"No, what the fuck..Stop!"
"Stop! Don''t do this."Lucas screamed in panic.
[You have met the condition of the secret trail.][
[Processing the scenario]
[The uncleared scenario ''Resisting The Path of Destruction.'' is selected.]
"What do you mean by I cleared?"
"Nooooooooo!"
"Damnnnnnn!"
Turning a blind eye to Lucas''s screams, a bright lightpletely different from the previous darkness covers the whole body.
Chapter 168 168:Second Ordeal[2]
?
Inside a huge castle that was floating at the centre of the world.
A man sat on a Throne before which many people lined up in an orderly manner.
"So, you guys are here."
A hint of reminiscent shed across the man''s lips staring at the group of people lined up before him.
Among the people standing in front of him and looking at him, a man with long grey hair opened his lips.
There was a little disbelief in his voice.
"Well then! Are you sure about this?"
To such a question, the blue-haired man sitting on the Throne answered in a solemn tone.
"Hmm! I am sure."
"We are going to die if we keep going on like this."
His voice was hoarse and filled with pain as he stared at the group of attendants around the ce.
Everyone was conscious of his gaze and frowned seeing the weird expression on his face.
"Prepare everything. Take out all the artifacts we have that can be used to defend.No need to save anything. Spend everything. Keeping our life is more important than death. Give priorities to live substitution artifacts."
Loud murmurs echoed across the ce and soon everyone dispersed after hearing the man''smand.
Beams of light shot out from the castle and people moved across the world upon receiving themands.
After that, the grey-haired man walked forward and asked,"What happened to you, Frederick?"
"You are too tense. I have never seen you like this."
"We will talk about thatter, Aeon."
Frederick smiled bitterly and massaging his forehead stared at the screen.
[Survive The Palm Strike of God]
[Time until The Palm Strike-33:45]
Frederick stared at Aeon, one of his trustful aids and asked him to have some rest.
"Don''t put that rotten expression. Rose would be saddened if she saw-¡Sorry, I misspoke."Aeon covered his lips and lowered his head with a guilty look
Frederick''s expression turned ugly and he closed his eyes with a saddness
"If only, she was here."
Aeon didn''t speak further. In fact, he regretted saying Rose''s name. It was his habit to tease Frederick about Rose but now it''s just a painful memory.
As the grey-haired man retreated, Frederick picked up his spear and wiping it gently murmured, with a sombre voice.
''''What are the chances of surviving that strike?"
[Less than 10%]
Frederick stared at his spear and grumbled.
"You used to boast so much but you couldn''t even do anything before it."
[Stop ming me. A weapon relies on its master to shine. It''s not me rather you who wasn''t able to use my full power. You were just too tired to use your full strengthst time.]
"Hmm! If possible let''s just drag this battle and save as much energy as possible. And if not, it''s better to retreat then and thene backter."
Frederick threw his spear aside and walking towards balcony, put his hands on the railstared at the deep sky filled with countless stars.
"If you wanted me to give me a trial of future events, why didn''t you give me a trial to save her or them?Why did you give me this scene?"
"In this way, I could have met with her and let go of my regrets."
Except for him, none of his academy friends managed to survive.
"I didn''t know I would feel this but I am already missing Parth''s bullshit."
.......
As if someone grabbed his head and pulled him upwards, Lucas'' mind began to shift somewhere.
Amidst the twisting ck space and endlessly flickering energy, a newnd immediately formed around him.
At a certain moment, Lucas'' vision became clear.
At the same time.
KWANG!KWANG!KWANG!KWANG!
As if he hade out of the water, sounds from around the ce started to pour into Lucas'' ears at once.
"Stop it somehow! Stop it."
QUANG!
"You bastard!"
"I will fucking kill you all."
"Don''t let them breach the wall."
"Arghhhhh!"
"No!"
The screams that burst out of endless waves of people resonated in his ears, cries of humans and non-humans along with countless explosions reverberated.
The scene that was unfolding before him was hell.
AHHHHHHHHHHH!
A wave of monsters filled the entire horizon in the distance crashing towards the ce endlessly.
And to his misfortune, they weren''t simple monsters but the demonkin followed by many demons dyeing the entire ce in red with their killing intent.
Before him stood thousands of Knights and soldiers fighting a fierce war with the Demons blocking through the narrow canyon.
And behind him was a vige and barrack where people were slowly evacuating the ce. He could see the endless sorrow and pain in the people''s faces as they pulled the dead and the wounded with them.
Upon leaning forward, he saw a soldier''s head getting chewed, limbs getting torn off and protruding intestines and organs dyeing the floor red.
Despite this, the soldiers, filled with fighting spirit, didn''t retreat even for an inch and were desperately blocking the rushing waves.
At that time, chimes began again.
[You have entered ''The Valley Of Death.'']
[You have inhabited the body of Cadoc Frostshalde.]
[During this ordeal you can use the skills and abilities of doc Frostsbalde along with your own skillspatible with the level.]
[The Demon King army headed by ck Dragon Asuka, one of the top executives of the Demon King side is leading his army to the cannon. The fall of this ce will allow him to march into the central continent and will put the lives of 8 million people in jeopardy.]
[Defend the ce until reinforcements arrive and stop their advent.]
[Failure condition]
*Death before reinforcement arrives.
*The Demon army will break through the walls.
........
Suddenly countless pieces of information surged into Lucas'' head.
Descend of Apocalypse On Death Valley.
This was the name of the Tragedy given to this event that took ce during the World Destroying War.
Out of four heavenly generals of Demon, Dragon of Doom sends his troops to attack and take over this ce while Human allies are engaging in war with other Demon generals.
Humanity didn''t notice the attack so they weren''t able to respond. doc, who was guarding this ce at the same time met the enemy with 15,000 troops.
Being outnumbered, despite giving his all doc couldn''t stop the ck dragon Asuka and was annihted along with all his troops. After the ce was breached, the demons went into a frenzy and scattered across the ce making it difficult for reinforcements to track them down.
This was one of the worst defeats of the human kind that resulted in huge casualties.
''This should be the highest level of difficulty ording to the ordeal.''
Seeing the grotesque sight, instead of cowering in fear, a crescent arc carved over Lucas'' face.
Maybe it was because the experience of doc Frostde had merged with him or for other reasons, he didn''t feel out of ce.
"Status screen" Lucas murmured.
[Status][Shop(Locked)]
Name: doc Frostde(Lucas Bright)
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Diamond
Realm: 8-Star+
Combat Ability: S
Strength: 8-Star+
Agility: 8-Star+
Stamina: 8-Star+
Perception: 8-Star-
Magic Power: 8-Star
Stat points:
Exp:None
[Professions]
Swordsmanship level: Advanced[Half-Master]
[Skills]
[Locked]
Fireball, sh Step
[Locked]
Ice Spikes, Shadow Steps
Mana Devour
[ Arts]
Drifting Sword Art
12 Movements of Frostde Sworsmaship
Abyssal Asura Sword Art
[Bloodline Ability]:
(Telekinesis)
Refraction
Note:Shop is disabled and lower-ranked skills can''t be used.
......¡.
Looking at the changes in the system, Lucas was unable to contain his smile.
His blood boiled with excitement feeling the dense rich magical energy following through his body.
The current body had the power of both Cadoc and Lucas with their bloodied abilities.
During the training, Harris had repeatedly preached to him about the battlefield and its harsh condition.
"Every time I get something from the system or someone else I am put in a situation where the things I have got are required."
Lucas had dismissed this thought before but the coincidence had ovepped too much that made him think as if he was some kind of pawn of a certain someone.
"I don''t like it."
Lucas'' eyes glowed fiercely while running around.
The Knight''s eyes were immediately dyed with doubt as he saw Lucas suddenly running lightly on his spot swaying his hands and feet and doing a simple exercise as if trying to adapt to an awkward body.
Lucas was enveloped in a mystical feeling. The first few movements were quite stiff and he wasn''t able to control the force behind his movements. Every time he moved, he could feel intense energy radiating from him.
"doc...Sir?"
"What are you doing?"
"Are you going to leave? Are we retreating?" The man''s voice turned bitter for a moment, hearing a calm tone.
"Yeah!''''
Contrary to the tone, the expression of the lieutenant contorted with bewilderment seeing the weird expression of his superior.
"Are you sure you want to leave this ce?"
Lucas just kept smiling and without answering the Lieutenant Knight''s words, Lucas slowly pulled the sword upwards.
[Mana Devour]
That moment...
Swoosh!
All the surrounding atmosphere churned, burning white as if it were incandescent, and all the mana began to be sucked in towards the sword.
QUAKE!
The space tightened and the earth vibrated.
The sword, which absorbed the pure power of mana burst, unable to withstand the impact and began to shake as if asking for mercy.
The skills of his original body were imprinted in his soul.
Therefore, although the magnitude of that power may have changed depending on the body of the higher realm, there was no problem in using it.
If so, what would happen if Mana Devour was used along with Abyssal Asura swordsmanship with a being who reached the peak of 8-Star and attained a pseudo-master realm in sword level?
Now it was time to find the answer.
It didn''t matter if he lost or dies. Going through this special trial and fight in a body of 8-Star was an experience that wasn''t something he could gain again.
''So, let''s just dismantle everything.''
Like a drop of red paint.
A Crimson aura began to spread across the entire de, which had been glowing white.
The sword over his head vibrated more strongly as if screaming and the surrounding space that couldn''t withstand the force started crumbling.
Grasping his sword tighter, Lucas stared at what was at the far end of the waves of destruction.
A ck dragon watched over the battlefield scattering its far-flung power and overwhelming presence beyond imagination.
Lucas'' lips curled upward and the madness started to cloud his eyes.
The reason why Harris harassed Lucas was to make his emotion reach extreme to learn the sword art that converts the user''s extreme emotions and bursts with an imaginable power.
[Abyssal Asura 1st Form]:Madness
"ck Dragon Asuka."
"You, who is watching over the path of doom, will be blocked by the wall of madness of humanity that wants to protect people."
A loud imposing voice pieced through the battlefield lifting the morale of soldiers.
Arge pir of red colour packed with magical energy created a surge that shot out towards the sky from Lucas'' de.
Trying to hit the head of the opposing army which is in the middle of 9-Star along with a huge army with just 8-Star. If this isn''t madness then what is it?
"Soldiers, today let us show them our mad resolution."
An imposing cloud voice came out from Lucas'' mouth who stared at the ck dragon with cold eyes.
SCREECH!
The moment Lucas'' sword which had finally achieved theplete crimson colour of blood dyeing the entire ce in red, was lowered.
The wave of monsters and demons that covered the world started to split into two as a huge pir of dazzlingly bright crimson light started descending upon them making their visions nk and wreaking havoc on their hearts.
Chapter 169 169:Second Ordeal[3]
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The deathly stillness of the night was asionally broken down by the creaking sound of insects and rustling of leaves.
Through the dense dark forest filled with innumerable dangers, a girl with a haggard look dragged her wounded body carrying over an unconscious boy whose hands were wrapped around her neck.
Taking each step lightly, the little girl put down the boy after finding a small hollow space near the trunk of two ovepped trees.
Heaving deeply, she sniffed for an odd smell of beasts and then squinted her eyes to look for any sign of beast nearby.
Seeing no usible dangers, she tore a portion of her skirt from her knees and made small masses of clothes with which she cleaned the wound she tied around the boy''s grievous wounds to prevent infection.
A small ray of moonlight shone over the face, and the boy who had a pained expression suddenly wriggled and murmured.
"R...Rose..."
As is searching for her presence, the boy swung her hand.
"Frederick, I am here."
Rose answered and then held the hands extended towards her.
Frederick and Rose''s fingers intertwined and as if finding relief due to the presence, Frederick''s expression turned normal and his breathing stabilised.
Seeing the scene, a beautiful smile bloomed over Rose''s cold face.
"This might be the first andst time I can see you in such a vulnerable state so I should use this opportunity to imprint this in my memory."
With a yful smile, Rose extended her other hand and caressed Frederick''s face thinking that it was quite cute.
This event had always been unforgettable for Rose.
After bing friends with Frederick, both of them often went sightseeing but unfortunately, this time they were attacked by an assassin from her distant rtives who wanted to get rid of her.
She didn''t have any brother to inherit the title so as long as she died, her distant rtives could inherit the title.
Frederick didn''t have any guards during this time and Rose just bought a few who were unable to fend off the deadly assassin.
During the fight, the horses pulling the carriage went into a frenzy and took a long turn on a narrow road over a hignd, their carriage overturned.
The coachman acted quickly and managed to save them but he died in the fall as he was a normal person.
Though they lived, she and Frederick were badly injured. While venturing into the unknown forest, a snake attacked and the 8-year-old Frederick tried to protect her but he was bitten by the snake and was poisoned after which she carried Frederick searching for help.
But after a day or two, she copsed due to exhaustion and thought both of them would die. However, when she woke up, she saw Frederick carrying her, was astonished cause Frederick was poisoned and was in a bad state before she became unconscious. However, when she opened her eyes, Frederick looked fit and fine.
"Now, that I think, you changed entirely after this event."Rose stared at Frederick with a loving gaze, feeling the closeness.
Frederick was a bit timid and afraid during childhood but after this event, his entire personality changed. He became bold, brave and straightforward.
His talent for fighting also surpassed everyone''s imagination. She always thought that this was due to encountering a deadly situation but at the same time, she felt there was something more.
She looked at her quest to get out of her while saving Frederick and felt quite happy for getting such a trial.
"There is no need to hurry. I should just spend time with you and make some memories."Rose tucked her hair behind her ear and with a sweet smile, bent down and kissed Frederick''s forehead.
Though a noble like Rose had many friends she didn''t like to interact with people because people often hide their motives and true thoughts. That''s why she always had that cold, unapproachable aura.
These superficial emotions, fake tteries, greetings and useless talks in fake friendship disgust her. Out of all the girls, it was only Helena who was able to get close to her due to her straight-speaking personality.
What she craves for was real people who don''t put on masks and take advantage of others.
Except for Helena, the only one to whom she could open her heart to was this big block of wood who though had feelings for her but never speaks aloud.
Though she didn''t look like, she was obsessed with Frederick and wanted to spend her life with him.
And who will not love a guy, who would jump with you in the face of danger?
Frederick had been like this whether it was in the past when he was weak or in the present when he had grown stronger.
Rose puckered her lips and then kissed Frederick''s cheeks. She wanted to kiss his lips but felt that it was wrong to do this without Frederick''s consent.
Moreover, kissing there would be her first kiss so she should wait and make it worthwhile instead of taking advantage of him.
"I should make a move after the tournament otherwise if I leave things to this guy, I have to spend my life unmarried."
If Lucas knew about Rose engaged in pursuing her sweet time and Frederick was facing a god strike, he would have gone mad wondering why the hell this couple trail is so different from the plot.
...
A heavy stillness flowed through the battlefield.
The silence wasmon to both the human and demons who just stood rooted in the ce.
The ce where the gaze of all living beings in a deathly atmosphere was fixed was the path created in the middle of the army of demons that stretched beyond the canyon to the horizon.
As if a hero in a legend splits the sea, the path was created with just a single sh.
The creatures who were in their path vanished into nothingness as if they never existed.
If not for the small rift with dried blood serving as the witness, they would have thought that this was just an illusion.
On that road.
TAP! TAP!TAP!
doc Frostde, no, Lucas who made the path began to walk slowly.
Lucas''s pace gradually elerated and resonated with the lost voice emanating from the countless people from behind who shrieked in disbelief.
With such steps, the new image of Lucas that had be brightened soon turned into a single stream of wind.
KRNGG!KRNG!KRNG!
Only then did the surrounding demonic spiritse to their senses and start roaring as if they had gone out of their minds just by witnessing the human and rushed towards Lucas who was running towards them.
Demonic monsters, each with a force equal to that of an elite knight approached Lucas in an instant and they were about to pounce on Lucas''s body when a steppletely different from before unfolded from Lucas''s right foot.
Swish!
An enormous wave of light started from that single step and engulfed in all directions, ripping apart all the demonic monsters without any mercy.
A huge arc was created and the leftover lower body started to fall on the ground with a thud.
At that moment a gap appeared, and Lucas immediately pushed his body into that space.
The soldiers and knights behind him who were gawking at the sight of their general marching into the battlefield alone were now filled with valour.
They took the opportunity to break through the demons and started pushing back making their formation falter as they pierced their army forming an arrow-shaped formation with Lucas taking the role of head.
Lucas didn''t know anything aboutmanding and his orders may have a negative effect so leaving to that Lieutenant Knight, he decides to do his best and fight to his heart''s content to gain experience and broaden his horizon.
Most of the demonic soldiers are untrained and fight with their instinct so if you are a trained person or graduated from Horizon, you can take on many demons at once if you can get through their killing intent.
Besides Lucas, the lieutenant was the second strongest man in their troop and was in the realm of the peak of 7-Star. Beside him, there were 300 7-Star warriors in their army.
As per the other side, though Lucas didn''t know the exact number of forces, he could feel that though the other party had many 8-Star, they can''tpare to him.
Except for ck Dragon, only if they ganged upon him, they can be of some threat.
However, with bloodline ability and weird skills, Lucas was like a slippery fish that was difficult to get caught. Moreover, his swordsmanship was quite deadly and was especially useful in destroying a huge fray.
There was no coordination among the troops on the Demon side and themander wasn''t even interested at all so if he shook things and gained momentum, he could easily tilt the scale which is better than standing and defending walls passively.
"Stop that guy!"
"Kill him!"
"Kill him."
"Don''t let him dwell inside further."
"Use some brain, you shithead."
Along with shouts of demons filled with hatred and anger, a new wave of demonic monsters filled the rest of space and rushed towards Lucas.
But the waves didn''t reach Lucas, the Knights swords split apart all the enemies.
"Protect Sir doc."
"Kill these filthy creatures"
Lucas smiled and decided to try something.
His fingers twirled and his body ascended upwards. His hair fluttered and a smile hung on his lips.
He raised his hand in the sky and his eyes gleamed.
He clenched his fist which was followed byrge-scale movements in the surroundings.
Before anyone could react, the portion top of the canyon on both sides within a length of 100 Metres exploded and arge mass of debris slid down and piled upon them.
Shrills of agony and scream erupted from the other side of the Demons as they ran frantically to protect themselves from getting dumped by rubbles.
Demons who were feeling the world was turned upside down soon found out that the horror was yet to be over.
KRUNG!KRUNG!KRUNG!CRUNG
The weapons of both sides that had been on the ground suddenly rose into the sky.
Mana swirled around them and all swords glowed up.
Lucas then swung his hand and then rushed forward.
Following his notion, thousands of des poured out from the sky that cut through the waves.
As Lucas rampaged, his killing intent increased and the sky that was dyed with blood burst out.
Each of Lucas''s swings was now followed by many swords that sted the enemies.
It was then the sky was dyed ck a huge shadow fell over the ground.
It wasn''t because of the miasma spewed out from demons but rather a huge body as big as a hill that stood in front of him.
It was a mountain demon who belongs to a Sloth family whozes around most of the time but once they move, they are quite terrifying to deal with due to theirrge size.
With a cry so loud that it almost caused an earthquake, a huge bulky stone among the debris created by Lucas was lifted and was thrown towards Lucas.
Seeing the huge mass, Lucas raised his fist pointing at the iing boulder. Mana swirled over his finger and his eyes locked onto the boulder.
"Split apart!"Lucas shouted and clenched his fist tightly.
BOOM!
The descending stone was split into pieces and countless mini rocks shot around.
Ayer of dust covered his vision that was swept away by a huge hand.
The atmosphere of the huge hand descending was akin to the falling of a meteorite. It was enough to destroy a small city without leaving a trace.
And at the moment, when such a hand was about to crush Lucas''s whole body.
A scratching sound was heard.
Compared to the sound that created a quake across the ce and emanated a huge pressure, the sound was so weak that it was almost negligible.
However, the sight that was created by sound can''t be called negligible. Because the palm that was descending down was split vertically but this wasn''t the end.
A solid thin line that started from the mountain demon palms went up to the shoulder.
As if he didn''t understand what had happened, the Mountain demon stared at his hand falling down with a stupid look and then let out a hoarse stupid groan scratching everyone''s eardrum.
On darting his eyes, he found the man missing and before he could search for it something went past his body and after that he was split wide from the top of its head to the toes with the sound of a metal cutter grinding a stone.
Simr to the sound of hundred bombs exploding all at once, the body of the Mountain Demon crashed to the floor with a loud roar.
Without a single hesitation, Lucas proceeded through the wreckage of Mountain Demon.
"Attack him with curses."
"Weaken him first. He is too strong."
Under themand of high-ranking demons who were silent at the moment at the unusual sight, thousands of demonic curses in ck dots shot at Lucas.
Even with the power of a dragon, the curses of such arge scale were enough to rip apart but Lucas didn''t dodge them nor did he strike him.
Rather heughed and sneering at them, he activated doc Frostde bloodline ability.
[Refraction]
Chapter 170 170:Second Ordeal[4]
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"Protect the General!!"
"Magician cast shield!"
"Protect Sir doc no matter what!"
"Damn, the curses are too strong!!"
"Sir doc, evade!!!"
"Sir, please evade!!"
Desperate cries of panic echoed across the ce. The soldiers'' expression on the human side became pale seeing ck dots of many curses hurling their way towards them.
Their side didn''t have a priest to negate the effect, so if the curses hit then the little bit of momentum which they have gained would soon be wiped out.
"No need!"
Amidst the desperate cries, a cold voice resonated across the ce.
"Gather and stand behind me."
Ordering his troops to group behind him, Lucas activated the bloodline ability.
doc Frostde''s bloodline ability was a defensive ability that can reflect all types of non-physical attacks that poured over him whether it was spells or non-physical curses as long as the barrier of refraction didn''t break.
While reflecting on the non-physical attack, the body has to bear the force of repulsion created by the attacks.
A greenish light arose from doc''s body ording to Lucas'' will and covering his whole body in an instant, it started to form an invisible wall before him.
At first, Lucas wanted to use telekinesis to push the attacks away but he wasn''t able to. Unlike doc''s bloodline ability which Lucas had full experience with, he stillcks in using telekinesis.
He had practiced controlling tiny objects and crushing soft things so he was able to do that on the magnified scale but when it came to controlling non-physical attacks, he didn''t have any experience.
Everyone''s eyes glued on the figure bracing himself to take the attacks head-on.
Curses and attacks pouring on him bounced off with the loud sound.
The knights gasped in shock seeing the invincible figure of a person that stood unfazed by the sea of attacks unfurled at him.
Swish!
Lucas'' new image runs right in front of the Demon magician who took a step forward and shouted out curses.
Using the power of Refraction to deflect the attacks, Lucas pointed the tip of his sword at them that began to emit a creepy light and sound.
"Stop it..."
"Damn it...Bastards, stop him!"
The Demon magician panicked seeing the human closing in and quickly spread out dozens of shields to protect themselves however it was toote.
QUANG!
Lucas'' sword, which stood out in a straight line as if a Knight was charging, tore all the barriers in one breath and pierced through the bodies of demon magicians behind them.
A shock exploded from reflecting curses and destroyed all the monsters and demons in the vicinity leaving a huge mass of burnt ravagednds.
Lucas moved so fast that smoke burst out muchter than that and filled the entire battlefield.
Lucas advanced without even paying attention to the demon magician corps and destroyed it in such an instant that the demonic forces were unable to stop Lucas'' steps even for a single moment.
An overwhelming fear epassed the entire ce because of witnessing an overwhelming sight.
Lucas'' golden eyes had turned entirely red and his face looked more like a demon than the demon itself and an intense murderous intent overflowed from his body.
Even Lucas was startled for a moment. He found that every time he killed, his body was devouring the killing intent that fuelled his attack making it stronger.
The reason Abyssal Aura sword art is also known as the wrath of Asura is cause it intensifies a person''s emotions and uses those emotions to make the swordsmanship stronger and sharper but now it feels like there is an additional mystery to this sword art.
Even though he was calm before, he was a bit nervous but now he felt like floating over the sky.
It felt peaceful.
No, he hasn''t gone mad to call the battlefield a peaceful ce rather his heartfelt peace as if this was the most enjoyable moment of his life.
He didn''t know if he was going mad or if this was the effect of the 1st Form called Madness of Abyssal Aura sword art.
''It feels as if this is where I truly belong.''
"It''s fun."
"I am enjoying this ce."
Lucasughed at his own odd emotions that struck fear in the demons'' eyes as they saw himughing like a maniac while killing their kin.
For the first time in their lives, the emotion of fear had surfaced in the eyes of the monsters who had only known about blood and ughter.
As a result, the narrowed road began to open again.
"Ahh!"
"Unbelievable."
The knights and soldiers including the lieutenants from the back were watching the scene in enchantment.
What the hell was going on?
An unbelievably unusual sight was unfolding in their eyes.
The demonic army that was so terrifying was now withdrawn by just a single person, it was shocking.
Soon after.
BAM! BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!
The footsteps of people who were looking at the broad back slowly began to move along the path that Lucas had made with an unspoken will.
Lucas gave instructions, without saying anything.
Without saying a word, the broad back that without saying anything smashed all the waves of demons blocking their way seemed to be whispering to them.
To raise their weapons.
To follow his lead.
And to trust him.
Something different...
There was something different. The current doc Frostde was different from the usual except for the appearance.
doc Frostde was one of the geniuses but he always liked to take a defensive stance and persisted in war. He wasn''t an excellent general but he had enough skills to hold a fort today and this unusual aggressiveness was blood-curdling but it didn''t matter.
Because the figure that was walking before them was the figure of one the strongest knights they have ever seen.
"General doc hid too deeply."
"He is amazing!"
"Create a path for Sir doc!!"
"Make sure to not pull him back!!"
"Don''t dare to be a burden for him!''''
Finally, along with a loud cry from the mouth of the soldiers and general, the army of humans with eyes stained with passion and thrill began to support and fight in earnestness.
All of them had one thought in mind.
''It''s okay if we get lost in darkness since there is a star that will guide us with its brightest shine.''
Seeing this, Lucas chuckled.
"This is not a bad start."
"I might not be a good leader but at least I can arouse their dying feelings."
"I don''t think I will ever forget this."
"Still, this isn''t enough."
From the beginning, this ordeal was a battle that could never be won if it was sustained in the canyon.
Just as there is a path of life within the dead, to gather time for reinforcement it was necessary to strike the enemy formation and disrupt them.
In the first ce, the troops with Knights and Heavy infantry ced were suitable for breakthrough not for defence.
Of course, for that to happen, the existence of an unshakable central point was essential but now Lucas not only fully utilized doc''s power, but his power had almost grown to the peak and coupled with the steady mind and experience of doc, Lucas was able to fulfil this role.
That was enough.
Causesting a little longer was the core of the battle.
The quest wasn''t about winning but to survive and keeping these bastards here until reinforcements arrive.
That was what Lucas was aiming for. And once the reinforcement arrives, he could start dealing with ck Dragon in earnestness, who still seemed to be nonchnt to changes as for Dragon everything is simr to an ant.
And Lucas was looking forward to dealing with it.
This body of 8-Star gave him the feeling of invincibility. In addition to that, it was a body that he can only use once and then he loses it so there was no problem even if he overused it to his heart''s content.
''I can draw out more power. Even if the vessel breaks and the body tear apart, I want to be full and fight to the best of my ability.''
Lucas''s movements be faster and faster. Coupled with the rush of adrenaline that was pumped into blood, Lucas''s swung his sword crazily neglecting the scratches and bruises inflicted upon him.
Pieces of meat and dismembered limbs flew around and blood soaked the ground.
Lucas'' gaze shone with madness as he ripped apart the high-ranking demons from his left, all the way to his right at the same time, and then turned around suddenly towards the ck dragon who looked down on the battlefield at the end of the demonic wave.
Their eyes met immediately as if the other side was also looking at him.
As if threatening the ck dragon Asuka, a deeper crimson aura burst out from Lucas'' body and began to encroach on the surrounding area.
''That''s...''
Asuka''s eyes were full of doubts for a moment.
It wasn''t because Lucas was advancing, tearing his army made up of elites like pieces of paper rather than soldiers.
"That power.."
The crimson glow that was circting docFrostde was something familiar that gave him a sense of restlessness.
It was a power simr to what he had seen before.
Something that pushes demons into dreariness.
Something that shakes them in fear.
A power that he couldn''t figure out why he felt so familiar to.
Alien and sinister, yet something that arouses the deepest fear as if this power was a nightmare for him.
The eyes of ck Dragon Asuka who remembered something expanded to the point that they couldn''t grow any longer.
"Who are you?"
Chapter 171 171:Second Ordeal[5]
?
In front of a huge ck temple in the middle of a desert, loud cries of pain and shrieks reverberated.
"The left formation is copsing! We need to send troops over there!"
"I am on my way."
KWANG!KWANG!KWANG!KWANG!
"Why are these guys so strong?"
"Once we break down the front row, we will push forward."
More than a million people gathered there consisting of the remaining warriors of the world fighting against Demons and ck armour knights pouring out of the temple.
The level of force with which the warriors tried to enter the temple was very high but the power of the guardians defending the temple was also strong.
At the back, a man with bluish armour stood there with a solemn expression.
Besides him, three heavenly generals of his observed the battle.
The man peeked at his threerades with a nostalgic expression.
"I don''t know what you are thinking.''''A green-haired elf with a cold arrogant expression spoke nonchntly.
"You gambled everything and moved the entire army here without caring about the repercussions.''
The Demon Temple was the ce connected to thr Demon Castle. Frederick ordered every soldier to breach the ce.
The idea was to get to the Demon King in one go, it looked like a good idea but it wasn''t.
Because they left the entire world unguarded. That means, there was no one to defend against the Demons who might already be rampaging and ughtering the innocents.
Even if they kill the Demon King, that doesn''t mean they win the war as even without the Demon King, the Demons would be morewless.
"He wants to smash everything. I like it."
Beside green haired elf, a bald head dwarf with a huge bulky body cracked his knuckles. Unlike others, this dwarf was anything but a Dwarf due to hisrge body with menacing bulging muscles.
"Brad, stop using your head that is filled with muscles."
"What did you say? Let me crack your head and see how many brain cells you have." Brad roared, making his bulging muscles tremble.
"And Elena, stopped bickering."
"Hmph!" Elena snorted and flicked her hair back ignoring everyone.
A few steps away from them, a long grey-haired man with a snow white face holding a magic staff sitting on a boulder reprimanded.
"Aeon, shut off or I will beat the crap out of you." Elena spoke, raising her hand over which a small orb of magic energy appeared.
"You can try it with me first." Bradughed and hit his fist with an excited smile, sending a powerful shockwave.
Frederick sighed seeing them bickering and raised his hand to calm the team who seemed to be quite dissatisfied with his decision.
"Let''s stop, we need..."
A thin line appeared over the sky that started erging.
"As expected, it was happening even before we reached the Demon King." Frederick sighed and rubbed his shoulders seeing the countdown striking zero.
He knew that the scene was modified otherwise if he had to take down The Demon King and then face the attack, it might take many years.
"Oh my god!"Elena screamed in shock. Her pair of green eyes almost contracted into a small dot seeing the line appearing over the sky.
Aeon and Brad''s expressions hardened, seeing the scene.
"It''s really happening. I thought this was a joke." Aeon muttered with a stern expression and got up from his seat.
"Don''t panic, I think we have prepared well enough." Frederick assured them and stared at the huge crack in the sky.
He then looked at the ring that could give him an extra life. This was a personal item that Luna took with her grave.
This ring was quite dear to Luna so Frederick rejected it as he had never thought he would require an extra lifeline however he was proved wrong.
He suppressed his guilt of digging Luna''s grave and made sure to hide the ring so that God wouldn''t notice this otherwise his n would fail.
"Aeon!" Frederick''s agitated voice echoed as he pulled out his Doom Piercer and took his stance pointing at the sky.
"I know!" Aeon screamed as his staff glowed and magical energy burst out from it, sweeping everything.
Mystical magical words resounded and Aeon''s pupil changed its shape and two grey draconic wings sprouted from his back.
Thousands of magic circles ovepped in the area.
Elena and Brad released their aura making the world tremble.
Then they looked back at Frederick and gave him a smile to encourage him.
"Don''t worry things will surely be different this time." Brad gave a thumbs up.
"Just do what you are good at. Don''t let the past hold you back and say hello to Rose, Parth and Luna in the future." Elena smiled and winked at Frederick.
"You owe me greatly this time."Aeon stared at his teammates with a smug smile, and then a blinding light burst out illuminating everything.
"Goodbye!"The three of them muttered before their image disappeared.
......
On the Third floor of the tower, a blinding sh erupted and with a flicker, Frederick''s image appeared.
As he stepped in, he copsed onto the ground drenched in sweat.
"It''s horrible!" Frederick mumbled, holding his trembling hand.
His blue eyes shook with fear thinking about the scene he had gone through just a moment ago.
"I think my trial is the hardest, however." Frederick shook his head.
If not for the life-substituting ring and mass-scale teleportation to another ne at the cost of his friends'' life force, he would have failed the test.
Aeon was a dragon who had a thousand years of lifespan but despite that, it fell short toplete the magic which led to many people willing to sacrifice their lives.
And even though they teleported, the force of the strike still bore them which almost killed the remnants.
Frederick rubbed his red eyes and took a deep breath to stop himself from drowning in sadness.
"They are alive. They aren''t dead."
"Doom, except for their image, quickly seal the image of thest scene. Though the scene was entirely different, things may go differently if the Demon King manages to peek into them."
[It''s done. You can ess tiny bits as long as you want.]
"Hmm!''
Thinking about the images disappearing, his eyes became more resolute than before.
''I need to find them sooner. And for that, I need to get stronger to begin my venture.''
As Fredericky on the soft cozy grass for an unknown amount of time, three pairs of heads of various colours appeared in his vision.
"Huh?! You all have already finished the test?" Frederick sprang up on his feet and stared at the three in surprise.
"It was easy." Parth murmured and whistled, feeling bored.
"I just had to get out of a ce. For me to sneak out and sneak in, is the easiest thing." Parth spoke with a smug expression and then stared at Charles.
"I got the quest to ovee a scenario of hunting a person." Charles replied calmly while folding his hands and then turned his head to avert the curious gazes lest they knew he lied.
Charles then stared at Frederick''s pale expression and asked"What did you encounter?"
"Just to get over some typical bullies nothing much."Frederick waved his hand with a nonchnt look.
A hush silence lingered for a moment as many felt that Frederick lied.
Parth, to break the silence, kicked Roan.
"Ouch!" Raon groaned and jumped back.
"What the..."
"So, what did you encounter? I thought you wouldn''t make it till here."Parth spoke with a smile while wrapping his hand around Roan''s neck, which was shrinking back.
Roan red at Parth as if he was going to bite him to death and answered with a reluctant voice while swaying his body with nervousness.
"To hunt dogs."
"What?"
Frederick, Parth and Charles asked with a loud voice filled with shock.
"I...I was afraid of street dogs as they used to chase after me when I got out of home. I got the quest to ovee my fear by crossing the road filled with dogs and hunt them if they attack me."
"Uuu!It was so difficult."Roan covered his face feeling embarrassed.
Pfft!
Parth almost puked blood hearing this.
"What kind of shit is this?"
"It''s unfair. I am raising this issue. I am going to strike and protest that shitty Josh. This is unfair." Parth screamed, holding his chest as if he was feeling the deep pain of betrayal.
Frederick and Charles staggered on their feet and stared at each other unable to find words to speak while Roan cowered with a flustered expression under their gaze.
Frederick clenched his fist and his blue eyes looked up.
''Heavens, why are you so unfair to me?''
''Tower, this is cheating.''
''My trial was easy. There is no need to feel jealous of him.'' Charles patted his chest and closed his eyes to console himself.
Only he knew how he managed to defeat Frederick. He sacrificed one of his hands to surprise Frederick''s team and take the chance to kill them.
"So, you all are already here."
At that moment, an arrogant voice emerged from the back.
"Herees the shithead." Parth grumbled with a distorted expression.
"Since you are here, he should also be here." Ezekiel asked with a sinister expression.
His dark eyes seemed to be spewing venom with just a peek.
Fortunately, Ezekiel hade alone without a group of those annoying flies.
"Who?" Frederick asked, raising his brows.
"You know who I am talking about."Ezekiel''s tone pressed on Frederick.
Parth pushed Frederick aside making him stumble and stepped in.
"What the..?"Frederick stopped seeing Parth''s serious expression.
Charles shook his head and decided to step back. If it was someone else, he would have helped, however...
It would be better if this guy gets beaten and cries asking for help.
Parth stood calmly under Ezkiel''s heated gaze and his lips curled upwards with an annoying smile.
The heated atmosphere drew the other attention nearby.
"Hey, Ezekiel tell me."
"Why are you so obsessed with him?" Parth brows creased and he rubbed his chin.
Then he snapped and opened his mouth wide.
"I get it now!" Parth pped andughed.
"You are a masochist that swings both ways."
Pfffftttt!
Silence lingered for a moment that was broken by loud hystericalughter.
"I will kill you." Ezekiel screamed in anger and lunged at Parth but before he could teach him a lesson, a mass of ice wall appeared in between the two.
Ezekiel and Parth stepped back with startled expressions wondering who intervened.
Just then, a cold ethereal voice echoed in the vicinity that gave them chills down their spine, freezing the whole atmosphere.
"No fighting until the Trial Start."
"You have got some valuable time so instead of setting your mindset and getting ready, you are already wasting time and quarreling?"
As everyone turned their gaze, they saw the students of the council club lead by a mesmerizing cold beauty walking forward gracefully.
"Let''s see who wants to create trouble in my presence."
......
Lucas'' heart thumped wildly, feeling the excruciating bone-crushing pain weighing down upon him.
The moment those eyes fell on him, Lucas knew that he didn''t stand a chance.No matter what, the gap between 8-Star and 9-Star was too vast to jump in.
He would have a chance if this was human but to his misfortune, this is a dragon who is said to be invincible even if you were in the same realm so how could he defeat it?
Before attacking, he naturally had some consideration. ording to a Dragon''s behavior, he shouldn''t have intervened in the battle.
They are haughty, arrogant and prideful so it would stain their pride if they fight people beneath them so unless a 9-Star expert appeared, Asuka shouldn''t make a move.
''My shit luck is too op. It even forced a Dragon to make a move on me.'' Lucas chuckled with a calm smile but his heart was anything but calm.
''There must be something that this dragon noticed in me that made him feel threatened. What''s that?'' Lucas tried to unravel the mystery but he hadn''t time to ponder.
As mighty pressure enveloped not only him but the entire grand canyon.
"Ant, you dare to look into my eyes andugh in my presence."
Asuaka roared, activating the Dragon''s fear and overwhelming everything with dreariness and horror.
Even Lucas who was running forward suddenly felt his leg frozen like a statue and his body copsed with an intense shiver that made his vision nk.
Chapter 172 172:Second Ordeal[6]
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Whether it was the army of Demons or the soldiers or knights on the human side, everyone was mounted with horrifying pressure that almost made them kneel.
The coverage of such an attack was terrifying to the point that Asuka almost suppressed the entire battlefield with a mere nce.
The momentum that Lucas had built crumbled and human hearts were filled with despair. A physiological burden weighed upon everyone.
Asuka let out a fierce roar making the space around him vibrate and stopped for a moment seeing a figure crawling his way.
The human that was exerted with the greatest pressure was slowly dragging his tired body towards him.
His back was bent and his hand falling down the waist held the leg and hit them to unfreeze them.
In a ce, where everything had fallen into silence, that man''s hoarse voice apanied by a loud gasp of breath echoed.
"You are strong."
Lucas closed his eyes, taking a deep, heavy breath.
A Dragon Fear was more of a physiological pressure than physical. It was an attack that aimed to destroy you mentally and make you crumble.
To resist such an attack, you not only need an ample amount of experience but you also need a strong mental strength, willpower and a strong soul.
Otherwise many who ignored and dared to look into Dragon''s eyes wereatose for the rest of their life, however¡.
He was sure that he wasn''t going to be one among them.
"Your Dragon Fear almost made me give up."
"However, before that person, this is nothing."
"Before that dense murderous aura as if thousands of vicious bloodied eyes peeking into your soul, it''s just a joke."
A mocking smile appeared on Lucas''s lips infuriating Asuka.
Even though it was great, Lucas was damn sure that the despair he felt when standing before Sir Harris can''t bepared to this guy.
If this guy is a huge wall that is hard to ovee then Sir Harris is an entire mountain that makes you give up even before you can start climbing.
''Sir Harris would have scoffed at him andughed out holding his stomach.''
Resisting Dragon Fear was quite difficult. Lucas could feel his soul escaping and running away in fear but he held on.
No, he needs to hold on even if his body and mind were begging him to run away.
''I can''t run. If I run away from fear, there will always be a demon inside my heart.''
Lucas clenched his trembling fist and hit his knees which refused to step up.
"This would be great training for my mental strength."
"Fool, you dare tough in the face of danger."An arrogant voice echoed across the canyon sending tremors.
"Be gone!"
"Be gone from my sight.''''
"Let your existence be submerged under the mountain of corpses."
With a cold deration that sent a chill down the spine, ck Dragon Asuka, whose eyes were filled with hatred, suddenly opened his mouth.
In the huge cavity of the mouth, the elements and mana that make up the world were sucked in the form of light and a huge grey sphere of condensed mass appeared.
DUM!DUM!DUM!DUM!DUM!DUM!
The Earth and sky vibrated, unable to withstand the power of breath, and began to scream.
If the attack was released, even a part of the Demon Army would suffer enormous damage but it didn''t matter to Asuka as most of them were insects in his eyes.
Even if his army is wiped out as long as the man named doc who gives him a dangerous feeling is dead, it was worth it.
"doc Frostde, bear the attack that destroyed a quarter of Elves Forest."
"Bear my wrath and be erased from this world."
"These are my final words of respect to you."
Finally, with words like making a deration, The Breath of Destruction, the strongest attack of Asuka, was released to the world to purge everything in the path.
.........
[Lucas POV]
I can''t win.
My body is trembling just by looking at it.
This physiological fear is too much to ovee all of a sudden.
Damn!
There is no chance.
My heart is beating loudly.
What can I do?
What can I do to ovee this?
I closed my eyes and started thinking about training.
Despair wasn''t something new for me. It''s like a friend that often visits me and I am already familiar with it.
How can I stop my fear and ovee this?
At that moment, a sudden thought appeared in my mind.
But why do I fear?
What is the reason for my fear?
Is it death?
Wait! Am I mistaking something?
I am not dying here so why do I need to fear?
This is just a trial.
So what if I fail.
I just need to do my best.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes.
I see it now.
My heart is beating not out of fear but of excitement.
I can do this. I can''t give up. It''s just a mere ball of fire. What more can it do?
It was then a smile appeared on my lips and my whole body started to rx thinking about Harris''s words.
When you encounter danger, you can''t ovee it and your heart starts to despair.
Justugh¡.
Justugh it off and say.
"You might be good enough to make me fear but you aren''t good enough to make me retreat."
...¡
This Breath of Destruction which started from Asuka''s mouth tears the world apart and shoots straight at Lucas.
A blow with a far-reaching effect that even a person who can reincarnate again and again will shiver thinking about this.
Firepower equal to that of a mini nuclear st was contained in it.
''I can''t stop it.''
It was a thought that popped into Lucas''s mind, the moment he saw it.
doc bloodline ability Refraction would be blown away in front of this.
After entering doc Frostde''s body, his power had risen to the point that it made him feel invincible but the power fell from the breath giving a feeling of helplessness and despair.
"I can''t avoid it either."
From the moment it was fired, the result of defeat struck Lucas''s mind.
A blow that interfered with thews of the world itself.
However,
''I can tweak and interfere with the result a bit.''
Harris''s words rang in his mind.
''Avoiding and defending is not the only way. Sometimes, you need to take on the attack and change its flow.''
"Let''s try this."
With that thought, Lucas''s eyes began to light up coldly as he began to run over a diagonal line stepping into the air using telekinesis.
At the same time, he pulled out his sword and held it with both his hands raised behind the right shoulder to the maximum.
As if the surrounding world itself was sucked in, the space narrowed around the pulled Lucas sword and all energy began to condense.
The de vibrated as if it would break at any moment.
Foreign blood-red mana quickly descended around the sword on which Devour had been applied.
At that moment, when cohesion and vibration finally reached the maximum, Lucas''s sword was lowered diagonally towards the breath of destruction that was approaching right in front of him
Swish!
A dark red line was drawn over the nk surface tearing the entire space
There was no need to cut off the entire breath that came over him. It was enough to cut off a portion of it and minimise the damage.
Lucas felt his body burnt by the intense burning light but he didn''t give up and pushed forward while keeping the refraction barrier.
The space itself containing the Dragon Breath was distorted and warped along a huge friction me that covered the sky in an instant.
The cut portion of the breath was thrown directly into the middle of the Demon army.
A st due to the collision continued along the scream spit out by the Demons.
That moment,
The whole field of vision was dyed with white
A world full of glow silenced everything as if a sound too loud couldn''t be heard.
When the sight slowly returned, the knights and soldiers opened their mouths with nk faces at the sight that followed.
A huge crater with an unpredictable end to it, and an army of demons that was about one-third of it had disappeared from the face of the earth as if an attack of God hit the ce.
"You!"
Looking at the figure of Lucas, who suddenly reached right in front of him, Asuka spits out a cry full of anger.
He poured out all his might and unleashed his power but not only he couldn''t even kill the target but he also sacrificed his army which hurt his pride.
Lucas then tilted his head staring straight at Dragon''s widened eyes andughed wildly.
"For a dragon, who is known as a collection of wisdom, aren''t you a bit stupid to kill your army?"
"I mean, are you a dragon or just a lizard?"
Chapter 173 173:Reinforcement
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Seeing a grand ball of bazooka descending upon them, the soldiers and knights who were already on their knees started to quiver in despair.
Countless emotions of sadness and agony filled their hearts.
Some have their sweethearts waiting for them, some have their parents, children, and wife looking at the road of their return.
All of them wanted to return in full glory but the moment they entered here, they knew this ce was going to be their doom.
The little bit of hope that bloomed in their heart seeing their General lead was crushed again noticing the huge fireball that lit the whole sky.
From the moment The Dragon opened its jaw, they knew they were done.
The overwhelming power was too much for the General to take down.
"We are done."
"There is no path ahead of us."
"If there is a next life, I wish I can be under someone like Sir doc."
"Even if we die, let''s die bravely."
"Don''t lose your hope, soldiers. Our sacrifice wouldn''t be in vain. When we fall, there will be someone to hold our fall."
"Our death wouldn''t be meaningless."
The soldiers cheered bracing themselves.
At that time, a soldier''s shout drew everyone''s attention.
"Look at that!"
Everyone''s attention was drawn to the back of the person who rushed forward instead of retreating.
Horror and shock dyed their vision.
"Sir doc."
"General!"
The soldier and knight''s eyes became moist seeing the brave back of the man bracing through the dense energy.
"Hail General doc!''''
"Hail General doc!"
"Sir, you can do it!!"
Although there was no hope, still they cheered for the person who earned their utmost respect.
At the next moment, a part of the bazooka was cut which instead of falling on them, hit the demon army on the other side and the figure taking a giant leap appeared directly in front of Dragon.
...¡...
In front of the huge dragon with a body of over 20 meters in height and around 50 meters in length, Lucas stood unfazed by his sharp stares.
Lucas'' face, which beamed brightly as he faced the ck Dragon, began to take on apletely red colour like blood.
Seeing a mask of blood appearing over the human, Asuka who shuddered at the familiar yet horrifying auraing from him, roared to suppress his fear and a few thousand mes mixed with his breath shot at Lucas.
The attacks were countless times weaker than before. Rather than quality, it focused on quantity that blocked Lucas'' path of dodging.
"I have been trying and practicing my telekinesis power in this ce. It had been polished a bit. This battle would surely furnish my knowledge."
Lucas walked through the barrage of mes and flicked his wrists casually to change the direction of the mes with the use of telekic power and for those which he couldn''t avoid, Lucas cut them down.
A few hours ago, he wasn''t able to do it but now he can, which was a bit astonishing.
A denseyer of man-enveloped me and its trajectory deviated, startling Asuka and making him wonder if his aim was off.
Seeing Lucas cutting down the pouring mes easily, Asuka''s eyes twitched and as he blinked his eyes, a new image of Lucas cutting the space between the two appeared right in front of him.
At the same time, Lucas'' sword contained an extremely concentrated crimson aura that was shot towards Dragon heads.
In response, Asuka created a magical barrier in front of him.
With an ensuing sh, the space was ripped apart and due to the aftermath of the collision, the parts of the canyon started cracking and falling.
[Heat Burst]
Attacks containing a mass of condensed heat energy poured towards Lucas.
Swoosh!Swoosh!
Lucas, who was slowly getting used to his new body, waved his hand creating an encroachment of Mana Devour that swallowed up the whole attack and unfolded in a more improved form that was thrown at Asuka.
BOOOM!
The attacks burst before Asuka, creating a fiery cloud before it.
Lucas, who dug into the gap that was created by that, threw his sword towards the Dragon''s eye.
At the same time, the cked space around it was twisted by mana as it shot like a missile towards it.
Even though the sword carried the might to kill an 8-Star in an instant, Asuka managed to block the sword by creating a hundredyers of protection condensed in a small area in front of the pupil.
The extent of its control was terrifying.
"If only this body was at Master or could use a full sword qi, I might have pierced it.''''
After managing to block the attack, Asuka immediately scattered the power and began to encroach on the space upied by Lucas.
The dragon knew very well how important it is to make space around him for the battle to allow its huge body to attack with maximum force.
At the same time, countless condensed masses of mana that were created in the surrounding atmosphere melted, forming arge number of magic circles in the air that shot spells at Lucas to crush him.
BAAM!BAAM!
Lucas broke through the shackles by moving around leaving afterimages and punching in the air, shooting a devastating mass ofpressed pressure which on touching the spell digs into it and explodes it.
A terrifying battle of attrition began between the two.
No one knew how many times they attacked each other like that.
Lucas used the small body to its advantage, going in a circle and not giving the Dragon a chance tond a hit properly.
At the same time, he harassed Asuka by throwing rocks and boulders at him. However, all of them were useless as most of them couldn''t even scratch Asuka.
''This guy.''
A strange look appeared in the eyes of Asuka who was receiving Lucas'' sword.
The crimson energy used by the knight in front of him for some reason struck his heart.
''That crimson energy was the power of that being who had driven everyone into the corner.''
However...
''Still weak.''
''No, to be precise it wasn''tplete. Something is missing in the foreign powers which makes it hard to identify.''
The never-ending despair and suffocating pressure that he had felt when he faced it in the past was iparable to this.
But the moment the eyes of the human looked at him, strangely it made him ufortable.
If Dragon Breath was used repeatedly, this human death was set in stone but in doing this he may wipe out his troops.
This might leave a dark stain on its name.
It was quite risky for Lucas to provoke Dragon pride to make The Dragon consider thousands of times before it could unleash its breath unless it wanted to kill his army.
Fortunately, the bet paid off.
''He must have suffered internally when he reflected the breath I had shot a while ago.''
''Yeah, there is no way you will be safe after taking my breath. Yeah, that''s it. This is the thing that''s giving me an ufortable feeling.''
The joy in his eyes brightens seeing wounds piling up on Lucas'' body.
"How about giving up?''''
A loud heavy voice escaped from Asuka.
"As you know the difference between you and me is clear. Besides, your body is on the verge of destruction."
The dragon''s eyes curved and he smiled.
"Your defeat has been decided. If you give up, I will kill you painlessly and spread a few good words on your name for the valour you have shown here."
BAAM!BAAM!
The sound of attacks pouring on Lucas didn''t stop, rather they intensified.
"I know!"
At that time, Lucas''s eyes which were facing the apocalyptic dragon''s eyes began to bend into a crescent shape and a satisfied expression appeared over his face.
Lucas was fully aware of it.
He knew he couldn''t defeat the ck Dragon alone and that he was not in a normal state of his body.
He is moving by swallowing the blood that ising up to his throat but that doesn''t change anything.
Because the result had been decided.
"But do you think you will win this battle?" Lucas burst intoughter.
Because he is here.
"What?"
The ck Dragon, who felt an ominous sensation from Lucas''sughter, asked with a questionable voice.
"Your opponent was never me from the beginning."
It was the moment when Lucas, who had a deeper smile, responded with a cold voice, everything fell into silence.
No light, no sound.
And there was no foreshadowing.
The huge body of ck Dragon Asuka collided with something that was shed from the sky at an oblique angle, bounced off, crashing onto the ground.
Soon after a shockwave bursts out btedly.
A lightening fiercer than heavenly tribtion began to burn down the fallen body of the dragon.
BOOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
Amidst the fierce mes and the scream of a Dragon, an existence walked out slowly.
A man who spread his overwhelming presence in all directions while wearing a Vestige armour that was shining with lightning flickers all over his body.
Lucas didn''t know him but he gave him a familiar feeling as if he knew him quite well
As if meeting an old friend, Lucas murmured, staring at the armoured man.
"You came sooner than I thought."
It was then loud cries and cheers erupted for the man who was imed as the strongest existence of the current Era.
Chapter 174 174:Reinforcement[2]
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The man who was hailed as the Hero and strongest of the current era turned around.
The Hero''s and Lucas''s eyes met each other.
Unlike the lightning armour that covered his whole body, his eyes reflected from the helmet were quite calm and tranquil.
"Fortunately, it''s not toote."
It was then a low voice emerged from the Hero''s mouth who had been looking at Lucas in doc Frostde for a while.
"Annihte all the evil demon forces!!"
With a gigantic shout that echoed across the sky, countless human forces appeared at the end of the canyon that began to rush towards the Demon.
It was the reinforcement led by the Hero following which arge-scale battle took ce.
KWANG!KWANG!KWANG!
"These bastards."
"I will tear you apart!!"
Asuka let out a painful scream from Hero''s unleashed blow and rose to his feet with a cry of hatred and anger.
"Let''s finish this first."
With those words, The Hero turned his head towards the ck dragon again and grabbed his spear strongly.
Lightning ovepped it and a bluish me converging on the spear began to melt the surroundings.
"I will kill you."
Feeling that the situation hadpletely turned unfavourable, magical energypletely different from before flowed out from his body as if it was trying to pour everything from the beginning.
The majestic dragon''s body swelled and its body size increased.
The world seemed to be trembling as tyrannical breath swept everything around the space.
It then summoned tens of thousands of magical circles and started firing.
As those bullets were about to reach Lucas and Hero, lightning intertwined with mes hotter than ever erupted and began to swallow the bullets.
....
While an impending sh began, on the other side, the world turned grey and time stopped for a moment.
[You have cleared the special quest.]
[You have cleared the quest that no one has managed to clear till now.]
[The Participant is given the option to quit now or see it through to the end.]
"Huh!"
Lucas''s eyes shone with surprise.
Taking a moment to ponder it asked,"What would happen if I continue?"
[Participants will witness a special ending.]
"Only this." Lucas''s lips twitched as he thought that he would get some additional points.
"Do you think this is a game that I want to stay to the bitter end to see the special ending?"
[....]
Seeing no answer, Lucss clicked his tongue.
Lucas sighed and answered "I want to stick here for now. Let''s see that special ending."
"By the way, who is this hero? And his proficiency in using mes and lightning is quite good. Did he have a dual ability? I should fork out some information if I could stay towards the end."
Lucas then closed his eyes and started preparing. His eyes were reced with an icy coldness.
Previously the Dragon only used three-fifths of its power to fight him and greatly undermined him
''''It''s time to repay that bastard.''''
"Moreover, it feels like ying a VR game."
"Hahaha! This is too much fun."
Since The main quest is over, let''s just destroy this body.
Though Abyssal Asura Art and Wrath of Asura are considered the same and intertwined. There was a thin line between the two.
While Abyssal Asura Art represents your sword, Wrath of Asura represents your emotion and state of mind.
Sometimes, even if you hadn''t managed topare the sessive forms, you can use Wrath of Asura and particr emotions of that form to burst with explosive power.
ording to Sir Harris, only when you reach the level of Mastery can you unlock the 3rd form of this sword art but emotions are different.
You just need a body that can bear that force.
"Let me be cruel to this body until it breaks apart."
"Lucas, let there be cruelty."
"Hahaha!"
With eyes filled with madness, Lucas stood up.
[Abyssal Asura Art]
[Wrath Of Asura 2nd Form]: Cruelty
....
The Hero, who was blocking the attack suddenly felt a chills and on looking back, his eyes stirred sensing a dense killing intent materialized over doc.
As their eyes met, as if they had made a promise and understood each other''s intentions in a split second, their image disappeared at the same time towards the ck Dragon.
Swords and Spear strikes followed immediately.
In response, ck Dragon spread out hundreds of shields before but this time it didn''t work.
The attack came from both sides and the power that applied to their attacks waspletely on a different scale from what it was before that astonished ck Dragon Asuka.
The sword and spear warped in terrifying power advanced, breaking all the shields at once and leaving huge scars on the dragon''s body.
"Ughhh!"
"You ants...Disgusting ants.."
"You dare hurt me."
"Argh!"
A screeching roar strong enough to burst eardrums echoed.
The ck Dragon vomited out a painful scream at the explosion of blood, mes and lightning and saw manyrge scars and gashes forming over his body.
''That guy is not in good shape. Let''s finish him off first."
ck Dragon Asuka, who made a cold judgement created thousands of magical spears and threw them at Lucas.
Just as all the spears were about to shoot at Lucas.
"You turned your back at me."
BOOM!
As if a meteorite had fallen, The Hero spear shot back at the dragon.
Even after instinctively defending, the huge body of the Dragon that wasrger than a hill leaned forward as if it were toppled forward by the impact of a huge mountain weighing upon him.
The new form of Lucas disappeared in a momentary gap created as a result and immediately rushed forward towards the Dragon.
[Mana Devour]
[Telekinesis]
[Drifting Sword]
[Wrath Of Asura 3rd form]:Brutality
The mana around the ce swirled around Lucas and Mana Devour was amplified by using telekinesis to pull the mana in the entire ce.
The entire mana of the region was condensed over Lucas''s de and many white lines of flow appeared in Lucas''s vision as he used a Drifting sword andbined it with Asura Art.
Tracing a white line converging over the Dragon''s body, Lucas used everything in that attack.
Swoosh!
Over the dragon''s body, a line was drawn that seemed to descend from Horizon cutting the scales on its chest.
With a terrifying shockwave that burst out, the giant body of the ck Dragon leaned backwards again as if bouncing off like a ball.
Before the dragon could get out of the shock and correct his posture, a piercing spear assaulted him.
The Hero''s spear which was fired once again pierced through the hard scales and mmed straight through his chest.
Entering easily through the cut portion left by Lucas, it pierced the heart.
"Arghhhhhh.....Arghhhhh....."
Dark red heavy blood burst out and spurted like a mountain dyeing the Hero''s armour.
A mist of mana erupted as the Dragon''s blood touched his armour and with a strong suction force, the blood was absorbed into it.
With an endless scream from Asuka''s mouth, a fatality wound begins to form on the dragon''s body causing irreparable damage.
In an instant, the scale of victory leaned to their side while the majestic dragon had lost all its majesty and started squirming like a dying worm.
The crazy connection between the two humans was ridiculously amazing but the reason for the victory was an overwhelming force of the Hero that can shoot the entire dragon away in a hit.
Hero''s spear, which shattered thest dragon power pulled out the Dragon''s heart embedded on his spear.
"How can I die like this?"
"Noooooooo! I can''t be killed!"
Blood surged out from his jaw and his eyes till the end were filled with disbelief.
It was a very vain ending that was different from the mighty appearance of the Dragon.
The Hero who looked at the Dragon''s copsed body turned its gaze toward Lucas as if trying to encourage him that he endured well.
But the words that soon came out of his mouth were far from encouraging.
"Who are you?"
His eyes exposed through the lightning were burning brightly as if prating the essence of Lucas in doc''s body.
After a moment of silence, anguid voice echoed.
"A friend."
BANG!
The armour and sword burst into pieces exposing the bloodied body inside it.
Lucas vomited blood and copsed onto the floor with rupture veins.
The Hero''s eyes widened and as soon as he took off his helmet, Lucas burst intoughter seeing long bluish hair cascading down the shoulders.
"I had a feeling about that."
"How can it be someone else other than you?"
"There is only one person throughout history who can take the seat of the strongest and use the spear as a symbolic weapon."
"Frederick Frost."
"What do you mean?" The adult Frederick asked cautiously.
His expression distorted and he raised his spear feeling a bad premonition.
"Don''t worry I am gonna die now. I don''t have any other intention."
"So, this is the future where you will be a Hero and be the savior of humanity."
"Your strength is surely amazing." Lucas appreciated Frederick and at the same time, felt amused seeing Frederick''s confused expression.
''So, this was the special ending. An event that happened in the future.''
"You aren''t doc Frostde. That guy is full of arrogance and refuses to ept my superiority but your eyes are quitenguid and calm."
Lucasughed inwardly.
Yes, he was quite calm for an unknown reason. Maybe it is because of doc''s life experience and mature temperament so though he was shocked by the contents, he was able to control his emotion even though his heart was shaking in bafflement while wondering how much of this scenario is real and how much of it is fake.
"Yeah, I am not him." Lucas shook his head and bent on his knee, asking a question that weighed his heart.
"Do you know someone named Lucas?"
Frederick''s brows creased for a moment and his eyes widened weirdly and mncholy reflected over his face while his body seemed to shudder for a moment.
At the same time, a chime rang in Lucas'' mind.
[You have ovee the ordeal of ''History of destruction.'']
[Additional points will be given for witnessing the special ending.]
The whole world was blurring as the ordeal voice rang in his ears however Frederick''s words still echoed.
"Lucas, how can I not remember him?"
"He was someone that was beyond a friend to me and understood my heart, s he died during the starting of second year of Academy."
"I see. Then take care."
Anguid yet seemingly trembling voice escaped from Lucas''s trembling lips who was smiling at Fredericks''s odd look.
"What?"
"Who are you? At least tell me that?"
"Why are you giving me a familiar feeling as we know each other and why is your sword art simr to Daemons?"
The moment Frederick expressed his doubts and asked a serious question, his figure started to blur out.
[The ordeal ends]
With the subsequent voice, the entire battlefield was dyed in Darkness.
Chapter 175 175:Chaotic Situation
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While things on second Trial was about to over,the outside was already filled with buzz.
"When will the battle royal start?"A man spoke with a sigh.
"Who knows?"
"If not for those greedy bastards in the past taking advantage of the second trial to note and use the personal information to harm many students, we could have watched it now."
The other nobles'' rolled their eyes as everyone knew how dirty the water was.
"This generation is a lot worse than the previous ones. In my time, we would have already fought halfway through the Battle Royal but this hasn''t even started."
"If only the second trial was broadcasted, people wouldn''t go crazy."
"Yeah, the second trial is the most important stage. It is like a precursor to selecting the winner."
"Who do you think will win this time?"
"It would be my daughter." Marquise Seyfried spoke haughtily.
"Did you forget Frederick and Charles?" Someone muttered from behind.
"Frederick!"The surrounding noble sneered upon hearing his name.
"That foul blood will never win. There is Charles and then there is my son Ezekiel."Duke Holmes spoke proudly.
"My son is one of the strongest contenders worthy to be number one. If not for that treacherousmoner pulling tricks to defeat my boy unfairly, his ss would be won. He will surely show his prowess and create a superb impression."Duke Holmes boasted while caressing his mustache.
''Hmm! Let''s see how many more years you can put on the air.'' Other nobles snickered behind his back.
Duke Holmes is the weakest of all the Duke and even though their status seemed high it was just a hollow title that they are running on thest leg. Their foundation and roots aren''t stable and they are a bunch of greedy and corrupt officials under him.
Their main bloodlines had been lost for ages and their current bloodline ability isn''t impressive enough.
If not for the ancestor Duke Holmes getting a mandatory hereditary title that can''t be revoked until theymitted an offence simr to treason, their title would have been revoked ages ago.
"Okay, let''s start betting. Due to a filthymoner souring my mood, I haven''t had a chance to enjoy it so let''s have some fun."
"This time Themittee made the correct choice. Thesemoners are filths. Everywhere they go, they would spread their filth. By this time, they would be howling and shouting wildly creating arge-scale disturbance. While our children are fighting by putting their honour on the line, they would be enjoying themselves here."
No one knew how the topic diverted to the point thatmoners were getting cursed, however, the servants and guards who heard this had an ugly expression.
These groups of people just don''t seemoners as human and were talking without care as if they are Gods andmoners were born to worship them.
They were fuming with anger seeing the sneers that were subtly directed at them.
While the noble discussed among themselves casually over a ss of wine, a loud shout interrupted their conversation.
"You all will die!"
"You all will pay for your heinous crime!"
A man with bloodshot eyes ran around cursing at the noble. The man wore the butler attire and seemed to be a servant of a noble.
"Which house does this guy belong to? People now can''t even handle their servants."
The nobles mocked and clicked their tongues in annoyance.
"You all whomitted crimes of killing the innocents, god will punish you!"
"He will be your judge!!"
At that time, several guards caught up to the man who was running around crazily.
"Just what are you saying?"
"What happened to you?"
The guards struggled to apprehend the guy who was throwing his hands and feet.
"Hahahahahahahahaahhaha!"
"You all are dead!!"
The man suddenly gave in and his body swelled up like a pig startling the onlooker.
"What?"
Before the guards could examine him, the man''s body had swollen like a pig''s burst and exploded creating arge shockwave and plunging his surroundings into the sea of mes and chaos.
....
"Leo, I didn''t think you would appear here." Kai muttered in surprise while handing over a cigar to the ck-cloaked man.
Leo extended his hand to take it out of instinct but stopped thinking about a cruel scene.
"Sorry, I can''t." Leo shook his head.
Seeing his reaction, Frank gave Kai and Kevin a nce asking them to learn from him.
"It seems, your wife is keeping a tight leash on you. Come on, be a man. Stop being silly." Kevin spoke, raising his chin and giving a haughty look.
"Why don''t you go and say that to my wife?"
Kevin choked and coughed loudly to the point that he almost fell off his seat.
''Sorry, this daddy has more years to live.''
"Let''s get serious, why are you here?" Kevin asked with a solemn expression.
"I want to see them."
The atmosphere inside is frozen.
"Are you talking about the attacker?" Frank asked with a heavy voice.
"Yes, I will observe from the back and see if those people who stole everything from me are with Omen." Leo clenched his fist tightly and his eyes became cold with a murderous intent.
Looking at his deste expression, all of them pitied him.
His demise was heartbreaking.
He was one of the mightiest of the Cyprus Kingdom and had nobility just below the King and had a wife that could go on a killing spree with a slight grievance.
He was the real winner in life however everything changed when his wife was 8 months pregnant and a group of people appeared out of nowhere and attacked him and took away his power.
Kevin standing up patted him and said,"Lessen your worries for now. Your kid is doing quite well.''''
''So well that I want to kill him.'' Kevin suppressed his anger and spoke with a smile.
"We will try to hide him as much as possible."
"Tha..."
BOOM!
Before Kevin could finish his sentence a loud st urred, shaking the whole stadium.
The whole box shook and when looking outside, they saw a sea of mes emitting a cloud of dark smoke.
"What the hell?!" Kevin screamed at the top of his lungs, making the whole space tremble.
Kevin took a step, followed by Kai and Frank.
Their images flickered and as they appeared outside they saw the space filled with chaos.
Kevin immediately contacted the guards and shouted.
"What is going on?"
"Sir, it seems we have greatly underestimated the opponent. Though we have tightened our security and caught many carrying bombs, it seems all of those were a deflection."
"The explosion that urred now was caused by a human who blew himself up."
Kevin''s eyes turn sharp hearing this and a sense of weariness shed in his eye and at that time, another explosion resounded in the vicinity.
The people in the stadiums screamed in horror. While nobles managed to protect themselves the guards and nobles'' servants were unable to do so.
"You never expected this, didn''t you?"
"Hahaha!"
"You are going to watch these people die in misery."
"Hahaha!"
A group of maniacs appeared that started dancing around. What surprised Kevin and the others the most was that there were many nobles among the group of a protest that burnt their life force to blow themselves.
"Enough!"
Kevin roared followed by an outburst of tremendous pressure making the entire stadium freeze.
.....
Far away from Horizon.
A grey-haired man wearing ck gogglesy on the recliner chair over the rooftop and stared at the sky.
"You aren''t worried about the things happening in Horizon. They have changed their ns and have taken strict measures. Are you sure we don''t have a traitor?"
A sweet seductive voice emerged from the lips of the woman who tucked her raven hair and sipped on the juice of coconut.
The man put down his ck lens and stared at her cherry-luscious lips. She had a perfect enchanting hourss figure with a voluptuous body and curves which could make any man her ve with just a mere ss.
"My dear Lisa."
"Yes, Dear Azrail."
"You should know better than anyone that traitors are thest thing we worry about." Azrail answered with a smile.
"Hmm! Your brainwashing abilities are bing useless. You couldn''t find the person who leaked our information." Lisa pouted and was about toy back on her chair when Azrail''s next words startled her.
"There is no leaker this time."
"Huhh?!"Her body sprang forward making her two huge assets jiggle.
"How do you know that?"
Azrail with a smiling face got up and walked towards the railing of the roof.
Looking ahead, he pressed his index figure on his head.
"There is a guy who seems to be calcting our steps. At the Dungeon Trial, the security was less tight because they didn''t believe in him fully but this time they did. He must have told them about our n to use bombs and many of our men with bombs were caught. Still, it didn''t affect us much as we simply ordered humans to act as bombs at thest moment."
Azrail rubbed his chin and concluded,"He or she must be amoner or someone of low status who had climbed up using our raiding information because if that person is noble, things during the invasion wouldn''t have gone that way and our people couldn''t have entered inside."
"Can we find him out?" Lisa''s purple eyes burned with fire and she licked her lips.
"If such a person turned out to be a man, I can suck his essence."
Azrail folded his arms and assumed a thinking stance and replied after a moment.
"It''s easy. Since the major forces had made a move, I am sure this person is someone who is either in contact with Dukes or the Royal families or their children. If we track the things like their interactions with other people whom they have trusted in a short exchange, we can easily narrow down the person.''''
"Then let''s do that. I want to see that guy or girl."
"Why bother?"
Azrail''s next words made Lisa frown.
Azrail burst intoughter seeing Lisa darken her gaze.
"We have been unbridled for too long. Since we are evil, there is bound to be someone who would enforce justice and oppose us. Till now, we have never faced a worthy opponent and now there is someone who is trying to get back on us."
"So, let''s just y freely. Whether this someone is just a firefly or a sun, we will know soon enough."
"Isn''t it bad to let them grow? Look, they almost thwarted our arrangement and we had to change ns at thest second and lose the people who had great positions in the noble houses. What if he turned out to be stronger and killed us? " Lisa pouted with a wronged look and beckoned Azrail to give her somefort.
Azrail moved closer and bent down, cupping her cheeks while his emotionless grey eyes stared deep into her misty purple gazes.
"So what if we lose? So what if we win? At the end of the day, we are just doing our job to wreak havoc and spread evil. It doesn''t matter if we die. Maybe death is a blessing for us."
"Still,..."
"Stop pretending Lisa. You are thest person in this world who is afraid to die." Azrail lips moved closer to her ear and then he murmured.
"It''s not like we will lose that easily."
"That guy thinks he knows me...Knows us.."
"But he doesn''t know that even I don''t know myself."
Followed by thatnguid voice, the sound of erratic breathing echoed.
--------------------
Please read the announcement .
Chapter 176 176:Chaotic Situation[2]
A few people amongst the crowd swell like a big balloons and a cloud of dark smoke surrounded them making their aura surge. Soon expanding into a huge mass, all of them started to explode, startling the noble people on the seats.
Kevin''s expression chilled witnessing the crimson mist engulfing the nearby people.
"Frank!"
A low chilling voice emerged from Kevin''s lips and his white pupils glowed as he spoke in a stern voice
Frank''s body moved leaving behind images. With him at the centre, tremendous magic power poured out from his body covering the entire stadium.
A bluish mana erupted and encased Kevin.
[Time Dtion]
The moment he used his bloodline ability, the world around him started to slow down to the point that it looked as if everything had ceased to move.
Behind Frank, a blizzard raged over, turning the weather chilly and covering the sky with dark clouds.
With Frank covering Kevin with his power, everything started to slow down in his eyes.
With a snap of his finger, Kevin condensed the fiery crimson explosion
A whitish mass of icy magical energy hovered above Kevin and from that mass, countless masses of ice chains shot out towards different directions.
The swollen ball-like people were caught in the chain and pulled out like junk. A look of bafflement shone on their face seeing their body getting dragged down but unable to do anything.
They could feel their body moving towards the sky but it was too fast for their senses to make a reaction.
Kevin stared at the 59 people with a cold gaze that wanted to hack these traitors to several pieces.
"Henry, deal with them."
As soon as Kevin''s words fell, a faint hoarse voice akin to an ancient monster echoed in the stadium making the swollen 59 people shudder in fear.
[Engulf]
Tentacles of darkness sprouting out from the ground, wrapped the people into the cloak of darkness and pulled them down into a shadowy area, where they disappeared out of thin air as if they never existed.
The time returned to normal, and the people who were screaming suddenly stood there in dismay seeing no explosion urring around them.
With a wave of Kevin''s hand, the fire spreading subsided and the damage was negated.
The nobles and the people borough along them had hardly taken an air of relief when a dense pressure weighed on their shoulders.
Many unable to bear the mighty pressure copsed onto the ground while many were knocked uncious directly.
"What is going on now?!"
"Damn, I shouldn''t havee here!"
"I knew something was wrong!"
Screams of grievance and panic erupted from the nobles as they felt their life hanging below a sword.
"How rude of you? You resolved that so easily. At least take pity on our effort and give us some face.''''
A sweet angelic voice of a girl echoed in the air that gave the impression that everything was over.
However, they knew this wasn''t over because as soon as things calmed down, a huge shadow was cast over the stadium.
Kevin raised his chin and saw a huge body of a dark scaly bird appear above them carrying three people on its back.
On it was a huge bulky burly man standing there with a calm demeanor. Beside him stood a frail thin young man wearing specs that exuded a mysterious air and in between the two...
"A kid.."Kai, who was watching the show quietly, suddenly spat the cigar seeing a small girl of 130 feet that looked to be around 13 years old wearing a princess dress and holding a pink umbre.
Kia blinking his eyes in confusion drove away the smoke around him and spoke in disbelief.
"Kid, what are you doing here, don''t you have school to go to? Quickly leave. Your parents might be dead worried about you."
"Damn it, I was about to say the same thing. You stole my line!" Kevin hit his thigh shouting angrily.
Pffttt!
Not only Frank but even the two men on the other side almost coughed blood.
"Are you all an idiot? How can you take her as a small girl? She is just a midget and is a legal loli." Frank screamed.
The small girl who had a sweet smile felt like she got stabbed in her heart once again causing her to stamp her feet angrily.
"How dare you all bully me?"
"Don''t you know that you shouldn''t judge a book by its cover? Are you the Dukes or hooligans?"
"I am Shana. One of the board members of Omen.I am gonna kill that guy."
As she screamed while throwing her umbre, a white snowy round face with blonde hair appeared in their eyes but what startled them was many pairs of stitches over her face as if her face had been stitched.
Just a look from her was enough to stir their hearts in fear.
If previously many had thought her as cute, now they wanted to run away. Even Kai''s heart was in turmoil seeing her.
"I will kill you."
"Shana, calm down, they didn''t mean it. Don''t act like a child for real.''''Andreas, the burly man spoke and consoled her.
"They are right about that. ording to my hypothesis, they mistook you as a child because of your childish outfit."Zod, the frail and thin man muttered.
"Shut up, first I will deal with Duke Kai and turn him into my puppet."
As soon as her words fell, a terrifying pressure emerged from her and after a moment, a coffin appeared and someone finally walked out from it.
Seeing this, everyone''s lips twitched, seemingly a bit scared and disgusted by this thing, especially the girls who were looking at this.
Because what came out was neither a human nor a monster.
It was a scarecrow covered in the skin of the monster but the most special feature was its exposed eyeball that was stitched over the straw face looking terrifying to the extreme followed by a mechanical beak that emitted a shrill ear-splitting sound.
It wasn''t an ordinary puppet. Rather , it was a 9-Star puppet that was enough to give a sense of dreariness.
"Girl, I must say. Your taste is quite weird. Instead of ying with dolls, you are ying with scary puppets. Haa! Kid nowadays," Kai spoke with a baffled look.
Shana''s face heated up in anger.
"Scarecrows, hack this asshole into pieces. I want to use this guy as my puppet."
BOOM!
Letting out a sonic st, the scarecrow dashed towards Kai holding its scythe.
"Let''s take it outside."
As their figures disappeared, Kevin stared at Andreas.
"Do you also want to do the same?"
"Yes, I came here to exchange some blows. As you know, fights at our level are mostly undecided unless you want to destroy a part of the Empire."Andreas spoke with a smile.
"I also want to challenge Duke Frank to test my theories. I have heard so much about the time abilities of Frost and wanted to try out their attacks personally."Zod nudged his speck and spoke with a schrly vibe.
Frank stared at him with a solemn expression. As per the known information, this guy quite mysterious and was quite tricky to deal with.
With a small nod, the six figures disappeared into the sky.
Back in the VIP room, a man named Leo stared at the sky with an inexplicable gaze.
"These guys. They are still messing around at this age."Leo clicked his tongue in disbelief.
"Somethings never change."A hoarse somber voice echoed.
A mass of shadow wriggled from which an old man wearing a dark vest appeared. Following him, the image of a man dressed in full armour from head to toe flickered in the room who bowed before Leo.
"Lord Heney, how is your ghost n doing Brian, it seems you fit in your new role."
"Chief Leonard, it feels nice to see you again."Brian kneeled before Leonard to greet him.
"Hey, don''t do this. I have already retired. You are the current Chief of Imperial Knights so you can''t stain the prestige of Knights."Leonard spoke with a smile and then turned around to give Henry the Leader of Ghost n a simple nod.
"Kid Leo, you have aged a lot," Henry spoke with a small smile.
"It''s the twist of time. I am just a mere fish in this mass ocean of fate."Leonard shook his head with a bitter smile.
The entire room turned silent for a moment as a look of reminiscent shed over Leonard''s face.
"Don''t say this, My Lord. I, Brian, am just a mere servant of the Lord. If you hadn''t ordered me to stop looking for you and serve as the next Chief of Imperial Knights, I would have been serving you."
"Let''s stop this now. You all need to be on alert. They have drawn out the enemies and some would surely take this chance to eat...Wait!"Leonard''s expression distorted as sudden realization hit him.
There naturally needs to be amand centre that would sort out things behind their back.
Brian and Henry were good at taking care of the mess, however¡
Noticing Henry and Brian''s flustered expression, Leonard felt deja vu.
"Kevin, you son of bitch. You want me to see things here while you y around."Leonard roared and kicked his feet making the floor crack.
"It seems someone had informed him about that visit."
Just as Leonard wasmenting and talking a bit, the screen in the stadium shed and the image focused.
A boy with dense ck hair and golden eyes appeared emitting a blood-red aura.
The battle began immediately and another boy holding a dual sword rushed toward him only to get pushed back after the first sh.
"This boy¡He looks familiar as if I have seen him somewhere."
Brian coughed and whispered softly.
"Chief, that''s your son."
Leonard''s eyes popped out of their socket and his jaw dropped to the ground.
"Holyshit!"
"What the fuck?!! He looks like a mini Vanessa!"
Hearing Leonard''s bewildered scream, Henry and Brian gave him a sympathetic look.
......
Please read the announcement in Axiry Chapter about the leave.
Chapter 177 177:Third Ordeal
Chapter 177 Chapter 177:Third Ordeal
Inside The Tower.
Standing on a small peak, Julian nced ahead with a solemn expression.
Till now, 103 students had managed to reach the Third floor and Julian was sure that things were on thest round.
She clenched her fist to suppress nervousness for an unknown reason.
''Where is he?''
''Did he got eliminated?''
Julian frowned thinking about this but she shook her head.
''I should believe in him. He wouldn''t fall for cheap tricks of the Tower.''
Julian''s uneasy heart rxed a bit.
"Arghh!"
Julian''s mind was jolted awake by a scream.
"What happened?"She asked curiously.
"Nothing, it''s just your expression, it''s quite weird, President."An orange-haired girl spoke with a pale expression as if she had seen a ghost.
Julian turned towards Lara, The Head of the Law Enfoncer Department and tilted her head in confusion.
"Why are you making a face like that?"
Lara took a step back and ced her hand over her chest and patted to calm herself.
"This is the first time I have seen the President''s worried expression. If I hadn''t seen it, I would have never imagined that our cold icy President could make such an expression."Lara murmured while running her mind to sneak a few pics of Julian, however her life was dearer.
She can''t risk her life just for some meagre pic.
"It seems our President is thinking about someone."
A cold arrogant voice heard from behind.
Julian and Lara nced at the whitish albino boy with orange fiery eyes as if he was going to burn the world.
Julian raised her chin and her eyes became cold.
"So, what if I am thinking about someone? Do I need your permission?"
"When did I say that? I am just interested in that fellow."Issac spoke with an ted smile and walking towards Julian, gave a gentle blow.
"May I have the honour to know about that person?"Issac muttered, flicking his hair and putting his hands inside his pockets.
The air seemed to freeze suddenly and Lara''s back tingled with goosebumps seeing two invisible pairs of hot and cold air shing one another.
Issac''s fire elemental bloodline seemed to be churning and shing against Julian''s cold ripples creating ayer of mist.
''That guy is burning in jealousy.''Lara closed her lips.
Everyone in the noble circle knew that Issac had been pursuing Julian since childhood but Julian had never given any damn about any boy let alone Issac or any Prince of some other Empire but a few months ago, she took a secretary who was a boy.
This naturally caused a heated discussion and many even nned to harm him and inquire about him but all of them were struck by Julian.
She ruthlessly stepped over their intention and warned that if anyone dared to have ns about dealing with Lucas, she wouldn''t hesitate to kill and specifically dered that she would strike Isaac first if Lucas was hurt.
Things had calmed down since then.
However, she knew that this protection was temporary and everyone was just waiting for a chance of Julian''s absence.
Just as Julian and Issac confronted one another with a piercing gaze, a loud cry snapped them out.
"I don''t want to be here. I am the Head?of the Financial Department nor any Fighting Department so why do I have to guard this ce."
Under everyone''s gaze, a pink-haired boy cried pitifully.
"Mogan, you stop pretending? You are a 6-Star warrior but you look like a small feminine boy that is bullied."
"That...Still, it''s bad."Mogan''s words stuttered and swayed his body to disy his feminine charm and averted his face with a shy expression.
Disgusted by such a sight, Issac turned his gaze.
"Poormbs....Lazing around not knowing about the cruel future awaiting upon them."
A grumbling voice falls on everyone''s ears.
Beside Lara sitting on a small boulder, a green-eyed boy had a deadpan expression as if he had lost everything in his life and kept muttering with lost eyes.
"Since you are going to die, why dont you just kill yourself instead of wasting time and interfering with sleep."
"Brother Ian, what are you talking about?"Mogan spoke, waving her head and took gentle steps towards Ian.
"I am warning you. Don''te here. I am into the same gender. Smelling that female perfume and seeing your face covered in foundation, is giving me insomnia."Ian cursed and shook his hand to shoo away Mogan.
"Wuuuu.....Wuu.....Wu...Brother Ian scolded me."
"Brother Ian is cured."Mogan cried, swaying his hips and covering his eyes.
Julian massaged her forehead seeing Mogan character. If not for his being good at handling and managing financial reports and keeping track of people who disce the fund, who knows what would be his future.
For such a guy, as a human being, she can only pray for his well-being.
"Stop this melodramatic farce. Mogan, be a man. And Ian, stop using your venomous tongue. This year the students are quite good. Can''t you see the 100 students on the floor which is much morepared to previous years."Lara intervened and hit Ian''s head.
Ian clicked his tongue and then stared at the students pitifully.
"Lara, it seems you have a memory problem. Don''t know what happens, if qualifying students reach the mark above 100."
As soon as he spoke, the atmosphere turned sombre.
"They have to take on the boss monster," Ian murmured, caressing his head where Lara hit him again for mocking her.
"They will ovee this, "Julian said, turning her gaze.
"In your dreams," Issac snickered and folded his arms behind his back while giving a noble look.
"The only reason we manage to ovee that is because of my fire element and Julian''s ice elemental bloodline power. Our coordination was immacte, don''t you think Julian."Issac smiled showing his white teeth that were enough to make any girl lose her senses.
Julian ring at him sharply, turned around and answered sharply.
"It''s useless to argue with idiots who think the world is a mirror that only reflects them."
Staring at Julian''s graceful back, he clenched his fist tightly while keeping his smiling face.
Seeing that face, Lara massaged her forehead as if only God knows what this guy is thinking.
.....
"When will this start? I am tired of waiting."Helena grumbled and flipped her legs soaking in the greatke water at one end of the floor.
"Instead ofining, why don''t you imitate others."Rose cut her sharply while shooting her emptied bow to familiarise herself.
"You should watch and learn from Monica, "Tiffany spoke while juggling five hatchets.
"Monica..."Tilting her head in confusion, Helena looked around and finally saw Monica, her jaw dropped wide.
"Did she draw all that?"Helena screamed in disbelief seeing many ttened rocks cut from the boulder engraved with manyyers of magic circles.
"What use is doing all this? Since we have time to rx we should rx..."
Before she could finish her sentence, an air shot from Rose hit her, throwing her into the water.
"Rose!"Helena roared angrily while fapping her hands in theke to get up to the shore.
...
"Tsk!"
"I can''t believe I gave such an opportunity to Lucas."
"Damn!"Parth cursed sorrowfully, thinking about Lucas working with Julian.
He had seen Julian only two times however that one look of her was enough to stun him.
Thinking about Lucas sitting in the same room and breathing the same air as Julian, Parth''s heart explodes in jealousy.
"Damn!Damn!Damn!"
Pitiful Parth with nothing to vent on kicked the hard ground.
"Huh! What did he mean?"Charles asked, pointing at Parth''s weird action.
"Nothing, he just wanted to mess with Lucas but got his ass kicked."Roan waved his head.
"Why the hell are youmenting on me getting beaten?"Parth red at Roan.
"Did you not know?"Roan''s voice squirmed, thinking about the pranks yed by Parth recently.
"Enough guys, calm down."Frederick raised his head to stop them bickering.
"Are you guys always like this?"Helena''s voice disrupted their words.
Parth raised her brows, staring at Helena in half wet clothes and remembering the scenario that transverse a moment ago, he sneered, "At least, we are not like you girls who behave as sisters in the open while stabbing each other back in secret."
As soon as his words fell, Frederick, Charles and Roan made a hell of a run to avoid getting hit.
"You..."
"What did you say?"
Many disgruntled voices filled with anger started to erupt one after another as Parth''s words were heard by the girls around.
"That''s why you are still single."
"And he will also die as a single dog."
"Since we stab each other, you better not propose or marry any girl in future."
"Tsk¡Do you think any girl will like that face that looks like a thief."
"He talks too much."Tiffany who stood at the back muttered non-chantilly while giving Charles a deep stare who made an innocent look signifying that he didn''t have anything to do with this.
"Humphrey, stay away from this guy," Monica hit her small staff on Humphrey while warning him.
''I am not even his friend.''Humphrey grumbled inwardly while carrying the rocks used by Monica to study spells.
Parth wanted to use his sharpened words to butcher everyone but he was cut in the middle by Ordeal''s helper voice.
Swoosh!
With a flicker, a person teleported to the third floor after which a robotic chime echoed.
[Thest participants had entered the third stage.]
[The qualifying participant''s number had gone beyond 100 and the hidden requirements are triggered.]
[A hidden scenario is added to the Third Ordeal.]
[A special scene will be released after 15 minutes after the start of the Battle Battle Royal.]
[Changing the surroundings.]
[Positioning the participants.]
[Commencing Third Ordeal Battle Royal in 10 seconds.]
Everyone frowned on hearing this as the Battle Royal started the moment thest person entered.
Frederick''s eyes popped out of the socket seeing the person.
"Holyshit!Isn''t that Lucas?"Parth and others gasped heavily seeing the familiar back.
"What''s with that look?"Roan shouted, seeing Lucas''s dead eyes, looking as if he had seen a ghost.
Soon, the ground trembled and the students started getting pulled out by an invisible force.
Except for 3rd Year students, who were acting as supervisors, everyone present there underwent a mystical feeling.
Their body became lighter as they were carried by the force without any way to resist. They have been thinking about ways thisst stage would ur and some had even nned to find hiding spots to hide and persist till the end but it seems they had underestimated the Tower too much as it picked them and put them before another participant signifying that you can''t hide.
[5...4...3...2...1...]
[Begin]
Ezekiel''s eyes lit up after he got ced in a new position.
"It seems, even the heavens are on my side. Today, no one''s gonna stop me from killing you."
"Heheheheh!"
Letting out an eerie smile seeing the familiar back, Ezekiel darted towards the figure.
......
"I am not feeling well."
"My head is bing nk."
Currently, Lucas''s mood was at its worst.
Unfamiliar questions to unasked questions had always haunted him. The Trial had messed up his mind putting him in inner turmoil.
''I don''t know if the death that Frederick spoke about is of mine or that of the real Lucas.''
Frederick had no prior meeting with Lucas in the original book, and even when he fought in the war, he had his own team that partake in a mission and Lucas wasn''t in it.
For him to know Lucas and speak with a saddened expression, only means he knew him quite well, which can only be exined if he was talking about the current timeline and it was his own death that was foreshadowed.
Being an artifact made by God, The Tower of Miracles had the power to cast future scenarios for better preparation so there is no doubt of it being faked unless someone interfere.
"I should have asked him about how I died."
Lucas, who was lost in his thoughts, was snapped out of his thoughts by a menacing roaring from behind.
Turning abruptly, he swung his sword as if it had been ingrained in his instinct which was followed by arge ripple creating a small shock.
Chapter 178 178:Third Ordeal[2]
Chapter 178 Chapter 178:Third Ordeal[2]
Two figures panted heavily, after exchanging several blows in quick session.
"It''s interesting."A soft pleasant voice arose.
"It surely is."
Frederick answered with a bitter smile seeing Rose''s haggard appearance.
Though he looked calm, he was inwardly cursing the Tower for making him fight against Rose out of all participants.
Even though there was no makeup on Rose''s face and her hair was disarrayed, it didn''t lessen her beauty, rather it gave one a refreshing and pleasant feeling.
Rose''s chest heaved up and down as she took a deep breath. Her dishevelled hair fluttered and danced elegantly in the wind.
Rose stared at Frederick with a resolute expression.
The person that stood before her can be said to be the most important person in her life other than her family that had shared many joys and woes since childhood.
Rose beamed remembering the scene where they met with each other. It was a banquet where she was bullied by other girls who were jealous of her.
For that age, the confrontation was quite childish and didn''t have much significance, however that small moment of security where Frederick, despite being hurled with all kinds of curses and mockery, stood beside her melted her heart for some reason.
Unlike today, Frederick of that time was quite naive. Though he was quite weak in terms of physical aspects, mentally he was way stronger than others.
Rose''s interest in Frederick began with curiosity wanting to know how this weak boy was able to face the world that ridiculed him and wanted him dead. Even a random servant at the time was able to treat him badly.
As her interest deepened and she started getting closer to him, Rose promised herself to protect Frederick. Though many people questioned her and advised her to stay away from Frederick, she didn''t care and her father instead of reprimanding her encouraged her to do what she felt was right.
However, the weak boy that raised the feeling of pity with a single nce, had now grown up so fast that even she couldn''t catch up to him.
She had been always watching Frederick from behind.
From having no friend to speak to, to having a friend that could do anything for him, he hade a long way.
His friends were also a bunch of an oddball. Every time she met that group of weirdos she couldn''t help butugh at their interactions as each of them was going over the throats of another.
Even Charles, who had deep enmity with Frederick had resolved his grievance and became a pir of support for Frederick.
But she knows that at the centre of all changes wasn''t Frederick, but rather a very mysterious individual who always gave her a sense of deja vu.
Lucas, who met Frederick at the academy, was the one who brought many changes in Frederick. Every time Rose stares at him, she could feel that Lucas knew Frederick like the back of his hand as if they have known each other for ages.
It was quite weird seeing their interactions that looked as if they had known each other for ages. This weirdness had always forced her to keep a guard around him.
She hade across him many times, but every time she tried to interact with him, she felt goosebumps from him for some reason as those seemingly innocent gazes seemed to pierce deep inside her soul.
Rose shook her head and kept on firing arrows.
Frederick spun his spear at high speed to deflect the arrows and using his footwork danced around to dodge and deflect the arrows skilfully.
Tack!Tack!Tack!Tack!
Seeing her arrows getting disrupted easily, Rose put down her bow startling Frederick.
"Frederick!"
"Yeah!"
"Be serious."
BOOM!
Almost instantly, a pir of greenish incandescent arrow was shot.
An arrow fired with full force took Frederick by surprise, and even though he managed to deflect it, he was dragged away for a few steps.
Frederick choked up seeing Rose''s fierce look.
Rose could see the hesitation in Frederick''s expression to fight her and couldn''t help but feel sweet inside.
''If I have to get stronger, I have to do this.''
''I need to fight as if I am facing death otherwise I would never be able to grow. I want to stand and fight alongside him, not walk following his footsteps."
A gust of wind emerged from Rose creating a shockwave.
Rose''s hair stood up against gravity and her figure slowly emerged from the ground. The arrow loaded on her bow glowed with a greenish-bright light as if arge amount of magical energy poured out on it.
Rose took a high stand as her figure floated in the sky with the use of wind maniption.
"Frederick, stop pitying me and fight me with everything you have got as if I am your arch-nemesis."
Frederick tilted his head and lowered his spear.
If it was any other time, Frederick would take up his time to admire Rose''s figure.
The hair stuck in her face along with her warrior pose in the sky coupled with her temperament gave her an unearthly look which made his heartbeat hastened but he knew it wasn''t time to lose himself in those emotions.
Frederick took a deep breath to calm his emotion. And as he opened his eyes lightning started to crackle that emerged from his body like snakes that wanted to devour everything on sight.
A hint of weariness shed in Rose''s eyes.
A storm emerged around her and high-speed wind des rotated like des of a motor shot towards Frederick.
Frederick raised his spear covered in lightning and with a step, his body turned into a ray of light and shot towards Rose.
"Rose since you want to prove yourself, then prove yourself ande at me with everything you have got!"
Frederick roared which was followed by a loud piercing st.
BOOM!
......
A few metres away from the spot where Frederick and Rose fought, stood two individuals giving each other weird looks.
There was an awkward atmosphere between the two and unlike others, they didn''t engage in fighting after they met, rather each of them stared at one another wearily.
''She looks so cute for some reason.''
"I think we can change our opponent. Though we are ced like this, there is no rule that says we have to fight. We can move and look for other individuals."Tiffany spoke in a feminine tone and tucked her purple hair behind her ears disying her feminine charm.
In front of him, Charles stood with a nk expression. He didn''t know why but he always felt a bit strange when facing her.
Charles had interacted with Tiffany in banquets though it was limited to small greetings as there was no topic for them to move on.
However, despite this small interaction, Tiffany had always given him an odd ufortable feeling.
Her temperament and behavior always gave him a weary feeling.
Charles suppressed this odd feeling and spoke with a gentle voice.
"We haven''t interacted much in the past. Since there is an opportunity, we should spar for warm up-"
Charles''s words stuck in the middle and his eyeball almost popped out of the socket, seeing an object hurtling towards him with great speed.
Channelling his strength, he kicked his right foot and propelled his body to the side.
SWISH!
An axe reflecting the rays of sunshine while spinning around crazily went past Charles giving him a shudder.
BOOM!
The axe upon touching the ground exploded creating a crater behind him.
"What...?" Charles''s jaw dropped wide on the ground seeing many axes hurling their way towards him.
''I take it back, she isn''t cute at all.''
''Damn! Is she a psycho? Who shoots in the middle of the talk.''
"Why did you attack me out of nowhere?!!" Charles screamed while running around the ce to avoid the axe crashing here and there creating mini sts.
Tiffany paused a bit and her purple eyes showed a hint of confusion.
"Huh!! Didn''t you say to fight? So I am fighting."
"I was just talking about the scenario.''''
"I see."Tiffany put down her axe and waited for Charles to finish the talk.
"I have always pondered about your house bloodline ability."Taking a deep breath, Charles spoke casually to engage in a conversation with her and failed to notice Tiffany''s subtle change in expression.
"By the way, where do you store so many axes? Last time at the Church, I remembered you took out more than a hundred axes. I am sure, you didn''t store them in a storage ring as you raised your hand and an axe appeared."
"Th...That..."Tiffany stuttered and a trace of panic appeared over her face.
Thinking that Tiffany was feeling shy, Charles continued.
Ignoring her weirdness, Charles who was observing the battles happening around the floor, suddenly stood petrified.
His jaw dropped wide and his shocked gaze lingered on Tiffany as sudden realization hit him.
Tiffany''s family was said to be logistic specialists and during the war, they were in charge of transporting things. There hadn''t been a single moment when they failed in transporting things even though they were attacked countless times.
"Taking things out of thin air does your ability have something to do with dimensional storage..."
Swish!Swish!Swish!
Dozens of axes splitting the air hurled with frightening might towards Charles as his vision was covered with axes.
Charles waved his hand, creating a wall of rock that was bombarded with axes.
"Why...Why...?!"
Tiffany''s angry roar echoed as she stomped the ground with sheer frustration.
"Why did you have to run your mind so much? Can''t you simply fight with me? Because of you, I have lost my element of surprise"
Tiffany looked down with a dazed expression while contemting over something serious.
"It seems I have no other option but to Kill."
Charles nudged out his head with a baffled look.
"Kill...whom do you want to kill?"
"You...I will kill you so that my secret won''t be discovered."Tiffany shouted, raising two huge bulky axes in both arms.
Charles shuddered seeing those hollow lifeless gazes.
''What...Kill...Just for such a reason.''
''Since when did talking about bloodline ability be taboo?''
"Is this even something that you need to hide?"
"Yes, I need to as others mightugh at such pathetic ability."
"Damn! She should be in a mental asylum, not here. From which angle did this ability look pathetic?" Charles unsheathed his sword to defend against the abuse of many axes raining down on him.
.....
"Charles had Tiffany, Rose had Frederick, Monica had Humphrey, even Roan''s opponent is a girl and I..."
Parth''s dreary eyes scanned the fatso, huffing and puffing before him.
With a surge of anger bursting out from his chest, Parth shouted.
"Damn you, Tower of Bitches!!"
"Can''t you at least give me a girl with whom I can have serious discussions about life? It would be okay if you gave me an ugly girl but you...gave me a pig."
"Who are you calling a pig, you bastard?!"
"I am calling you, do you have a problem?!"Parth screamed and pouncing on the pig, he started butchering it¡he meant butchering him.
....
Lucas with a hollow gaze stared at Ezekiel standing behind the cloud of smoke.
As he became aware of his situation, his pupils moved and he felt wronged.
The Tower would start when thest one would enter, which means those who appear before can rest while those who appearter would have less time to rx.
Unfortunately, he was thest one.
His heart was still messed up and he was feeling air-headed as the previous trial had strained him mentally.
So, his mood has been really bad recently.
First Tower gave him an uncleared quest and now that he had cleared it, there were no rewards for him, instead the next trial started after he came.
Lucas felt cheated.
"Stop day-dilling bastard."
"What happened? Are you scared? Do you want to call your mommy?"Ezekiel''s sword flickered and his sword shot two fiery masses of energy.
Under the intense pressure, the ground was obliterated and chunks of rocks flew around as the de energy made its way but much to Ezekiel''s horror, Lucas instead of retreating stepped forward while twisting his body narrowly to dodge the attack with a casual stroll.
Lucas'' distorted expression became nk and his lips curled into a crescent shape.
Seeing Ezekiel''s angry expression, Lucas pulled out another sword as if to taunt Ezekiel.
"I am in a really bad mood now."
"You have been finding fault with me for a long time. "
A golden aura enveloped Lucas that was followed by a blood-crimson aura that stirred the calm wind.
"If today, I don''t butcher you and cut you into pieces, I will change my name."
Chapter 179 179:Third Ordeal[3]
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A certain memory shed before Lucas''s eyes.
"You are a weird guy. Weirdest among all the people I know."
"Huh! Thanks! But what did I do?"
"This isn''t praise."
"Instead of having the typical talent in weapons like other people have, you have a knack for weird things."
"Now what do you mean?"Lucas spoke in a heavy voice while panting heavily.
Harris squinted his eyes at Lucas whoy on the floor with a rough breathing.
"When ites to mastering things, youck but you can learn enough skills quickly to be at a usable level that can be used during the fight and you have a knack for copying."
"I don''t."Lucas refuted.
"No, you do. You try to imitate others when you fall short."
After hearing his words, Lucas remembered his early days when he didn''t know anything and tried to copy other moves.
"With careful observation, you can copy the martial arts imperfectly. Subconsciously, you have already used most of the moves I showcased to you."
.........
"Bastard, are you mocking me?"
Ezekiel''s angry howl pierced through the vicinity. His face became red with anger seeing Lucas taking out another sword and provoking him with his dual wielding.
"What made you think you are special just because you mastered dual wielding?"Lucas tilted his head with a sinister smile.
"How naive! Even someone unskilled like me can also do that."
"Shut up!"
With a roar, Ezekiel stomped the ground propelling himself towards Lucas.
Ezekiel''s figure burst forth with a sudden eleration in the next instant.
To Ezekiel''s call, instead of retreating Lucas stepped forward and smoothly turned around to generate momentum he swung his swords ruthlessly.
BOOM!
CLANG!
On the first strike, both sides felt that the opponent was out of the ordinary.
After a few minutes of struggle, everyone could see that Lucas was losing ground.
Under Ezekiel''s relentless attack that showed no sign of ending, Lucas was getting pushed back.
Ezekiel''s de was on Lucas like tides of the sea surging and crashing onto shore one after another without a pause.
Ground trembled and small air sts creating ripples surged outward.
Tossed back by the collision, Lucas pressed his feet on the ground firmer than before and then nudged forward a little using sh steps to increase his speed and generate more momentum and met Ezekiel''s dual des making a wide crimson arc.
QWANG!
This time the impact of shock waves transverse more towards Ezekiel making him frown as piercing pain went through his arms as if his sword had met cold hard steel.
Lucas gained a footing and started pushing forward however his expression wasn''t good as he could asionally strike back but not often as the speed of Ezekiel''s sword swing was faster than his.
Ezekiel roared and fought back.
The next moment, under Lucas''s astonishing eyes, Ezekiel shone with a fiery enshrine and burst out on shing against his sword.
[me Ignis]
BOOM!
"What the¡"
Lucas jolted in shock as a breath of hot air assaulted his body and letting out a disgruntled voice, Lucas''s body flung into the air.
Gnashing his teeth, Lucas pulled his strength and performed a somersault in mid-air seeing Ezekiel rushing forward to strike him, the moment hended.
Turning his body into a suitable stance, he made use of gravitational momentum and put more mana over his sword making it glow crimson.
The crimson aura converged into the fiery elemental aura and started condensing over the tip. The mes engulfing the des crackled radiating crimson lightning.
The lightning crackled more vigorously and leaving out a crimson trail, as Lucas''s figure descended, he raised both of his des vertically prepared to strike down Ezekiel.
Ezekiel saw the shadow erging and took a turn to gather momentum and swinging his sword with all his might, his sword shes against Lucas''s de.
The energy of opposite sides collided creating a small bubble of contrasting energy that at first was squeezed to the maximum and then expanded throwing away the swords pushing against one another with a terrifying energy.
BOOM!
An explosion roared through the ce and a bright sh of light flickered attracting the attention of many.
The onlookers around them were suddenly startled by the sonic explosion. Seeing cracks on the ground and clouds of dust due to the fight, they shuddered seeing the intensity of the battle.
As they turned towards their opponent, they had a tacit understanding and decided to stop fighting and watch the other fight as when the winner between Lucas and Ezekiel would be decided, it would be them who would be the next fish on the chopping board so it was better to conserve their strength and gang up on the winner.
As a result of the aftermath of the collision, the ground under Ezekiel was pulverized by the impact and turned into dust due force of the outburst weighing down on him.
Ezekiel''s inner organ shook under the immense pressure and he lost his footing and almost got buried inside the cracks underneath his feet
Lucas''s condition was also not good. Since he had no footing, he was shot back, fortunately at thest moment, he twisted his arms changing the direction of force so he was shot horizontally instead of vertically into the air.
The impact of deflecting such an attack sent tremors of pain jolting up through his arms leaving his arms trembling and shaking.
Even though a terrible pain ached in his arm, instead of grimacing, Lucasughed out loud.
"You are surely good."
"I can feel adrenaline starting to rush in my blood."
"This violent feeling pulsating in my chest is what makes me feel alive."
"Come on, Ezekiel entertain me more."
Coughing the dust particles that sneaked in his windpipe, Ezekiel shook through the dust cloud with a distorted expression.
"You think this is funny, you bastard."
Ezekiel twisted his torso and with a sh appeared right before Lucss.
BANG!
A thunderous boom echoed as Lucas deflected Ezekiel''s sword.
"This isn''t but seeing your face bing green in anger is sure interesting."
Ezekiel nudged his shoulder and stabbed.
"Damn you!"
Lucas swung his sword vertically with one hand to deflect and swung the other de.
Ezekiel reacted quickly, and stepping aside, shed his other de in a reverse grip, he parried it and revolving his de in the left arm with fluid movements stabbed straight at Lucas''s face.
With the month of rigorous training, Lucas reacted instantly and tucking down his head, jumped to a safe distance.
Lucas''s dominant hand movements were fast, smooth and precise but things were a bit awkward on his left hand as he wasn''t able to execute his thoughts well and move the sword in his left arm as freely as his right arm.
Unlike Ezekiel who could use both his hands for offence and defence, Lucas uses one hand to attack while the other hand to defend in most cases.
However, this difort was momentary as Lucas knew that with more practice, this would go away.
His goal wasn''t to show off but rather to piss Ezekiel to the core for pestering him and make him understand that he can kick his ass with half-baked dual wielding.
That was his n but he would switch back to normal swordsmanship and be serious if he can''t hold his own.
CLANG!CLANG!CLANG
Both sides attacked each other. In addition, Lucas used every kind of skill to pry the sword into Ezekiel''s defence but Ezekiel would slyly dodge the attack.
"Look carefully, this is the difference between the two of us. You dare to show that rough skill in front of me."Ezekiel roared violently and swung his sword like a whip loaded with aura.
BOOM!
Arge crevice formed on the ground as his sword struck but Lucas rolled around, increasing the distance between the two and making Ezekiel frown.
Ezekiel immediately lowered his body and ran towards Lucas.
[ Haste]
[Holming Fire Style:me Ignition]
Ezekiel used a movement skill that increased his speed by a minor realm as he dashed towards Lucas leaving a gust of wind while both of his swords became red hot making a crackling noise.
[sh Steps]
[Mana Devour]
[Abyssal Asura Art 1st Form:Madness]
Lucas also followed the notion and activating his skills at once, his image flickered.
Lucas''s sudden gain in speed startled Ezekiel as Lucas seemed to be faster than him.
In an instant, both of them appeared before each other.
The moment Lucas''s foot touched the ground, his ankle almost turned 90¡ã creating a tremor on the ground. All the power focused on his body shifted to his right leg and his momentum was delivered to his forward stroke.
The air seemed to freeze at the collision.
The time slowed down and under Ezekiel''s astonishing gaze, the mana poured over his sword and started getting sucked over and assimting over the other side.
Soon, a starlight shed amidst the vast expanse of dusty clouds.
In the very next moment, that starlight created due to an immensely concentrated energy burst open and obscured the vision.
BOOOM!
The ground beneath them shook and ripped apart creating minute tremors making the ground tremble as the surface of waves and formed cracks over the surface.
This was followed by a violent surge of wind and with a sonic st, two figures were pushed back.
While drag marks appeared under Lucas''s feet, Ezekiel''s figure was sted away for many metres like a rag doll.
As his body rolled on the ground and came to a standstill, Ezekiel coughed blood with a bewildered expression.
Spatting the blood choked in his throat, he wiped his lips and for the very first moment in his life gave Lucas a hint of admiration.
The moment his des touched Lucas, a burst of magical energy exploded and the wave of explosion was pushed toward his side. He tried to repel the attack but Lucas used more force than him. He also felt that Lucas''s control over mana and aura was a step higher than his.
The admiration that came into his heartsted only for a few seconds which was then reced by seething anger due to humiliating defeat by a mere filthy bloodmoner.
"Damn!"
Ezekiel coughed again and got up on his feet.
After this sh, Ezekiel was sure about one thing, Lucas''s realm may be lower but his strength and speed wereparable to his and his attack was much more explosive than he could handle.
"Just because you managed to bring me down, doesn''t mean you win. You are just a small fry."
Ezekiel''s eyes shone with madness. His heart was bleeding with fury and he wanted to wash away this humiliation no matter what.
"I am gonna kill you...."
BOOOM!
A thunderous bang drew everyone''s attention and interrupted their fight.
"It seems you are lucky today."Lucas mocked and stared at the scene with a solemn expression as he guessed the origin of the st.
Lucas was surprised for a moment as he was too absorbed to hear the previous announcement.
''It seems we have reached more than a hundred participants in which a scenario of a boss monster attacking everyone would take ce to lower the number.''Lucas muttered remembering the contents however it didn''t happen in the original one as the number was struck at 98.
But with him and Roan appearing here, and the deviation of the plot, it seems someone else also managed to get here and the number went past 100.
''Damn, it didn''t mean my words backfire. My previous words about changing isn''t valid as our fightwas interredby an external force.''
A loud st shook the entire area.
Theke at the other end exploded and a cold icy gale bellowed creating terrifying winds that were enough to blow everyone.
Seeing a surge of icy-cold mana surging towards him, Lucas squatted and stabbed his sword into the ground activating Mana Devour.
Ezekiel who was staring nkly was hit by the shock wave and was blown away along with others who stood gawking at the scene instead of taking measures.
The st was soon followed by a cacophony ofgrievous and gruel screams of pain.
Chapter 180 180:Hidden Scenario
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[A new content has been implemented.]
[The hidden scenario unfolded.]
[The difficulty is raised.]
[Group up and defeat the Remnant of Evil Ice Witch.]
As soon as the ordeal helper''s voice ended, immense shock and frustration shed over everyone''s expression as they faced mighty icy gales that made them shiver in cold.
Being hit out of nowhere, they screamed in anger.
"What the hell?"
"Now what kind of shit is this?"
"I thought the hidden scenario was something to do with the battle royal but this isn''t fair."
"A boss monster."
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"If it''s too strong, aren''t we all getting eliminated today?"
With a chilling st, everyone''s vision was obscured by ayer of mist hovering around the ce.
Soon, a scratching howl resonated, shaking theyer of cold mist.
Everyone gulped their saliva as the voice of the howling rang in their ears following which theke portion of the ce exploded forming a shallow cavity from which a woman''s body made of ice from head to toe emerged.
Inside the woman''spletely transparent chest, an unpleasant ck mass of condensed energy trembled forming a heart shape and started to beat violently.
"Remnants of the Evil Ice Witch.''''
Frederick''s eyes looking at the woman fluttered violently.
Rose with a staggering gait got back onto her feet and stared at the figure with a weary gaze.
"I can''t feel its strength," Rose murmured with a frown.
"It''s a boss monster with power hidden by the Tower," Frederick answered with a messy, suffocating feeling.
''Why are things so different?''
Frederick sucked in cold air to calm himself.
Though confused by Frederick''s answer, Rose didn''t let her thoughts wander and concentrated on the new enemy.
At that time, the Evil Ice which fully awakens let out a loud cry.
A howl that was quite closer to the monster than that of a human thundered across the ce.
Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish!
A ghastly chill erupted submerging everything in a frozenyer of ice.
"Holy shit!"
"Let''s group up."
"Wizards start with cold defence."
"I have been trying to set barriers but it''s so strong that the spell isn''t working."
"Damn, just what is the level of its strength? Is the Tower kidding us by dragging a max-level boss monster to deal with low-level warriors?"
"Shit¡We are going to die."
Loud shrieks and grumbles echoed everywhere.
The students defended against the cold with a bewildered expression at the rapidly decreasing temperature of the ce.
Small cubes of ice formed around the Ice Witch that started taking the shape of transparent Ice golems and started assaulting them.
In the span of a few moments, everyone engaged inbat with the Ice Golems.
Rose kept on firing arrow after arrow destroying the Ice golems while Frederick maintained an endless rhythm of spear swings.
While Charles thwarted the golem with huge rocky boulders, Tiffany smashed the golem''s head by throwing axes, one after the other.
Axel with Steel Fist knocked them down smashing them directly with his body.
As if they werepeting with one another for the number of kills, leaving behind a gust of wind Ezekiel and Lucas jumped on a group of Ice Golem as a wolf charging over the flock of sheep.
Ezekiel me Ignis sliced through the golems as if a hot knife cutting through the butter.
KANG!KANG!KANG!KANG!KANG!
Soon, the golem that was humanoid shaped started to get bigger.
Lucas put down his other sword and got serious after seeing a humongous Ice Golem. He threw a few fireballs but G''s rank skill was ineffective in dealing with Ice Golems.
It didn''t even put a dent in it.
On observing around, his eyes fall on Raon rolling on the ground and facing trouble to get over the horde. Lucas was about to move when he saw Parth''s zig-zag movements cutting through Golem''s head surrounding Roan but much to his surprise, the Golem kept on moving after their head was sliced.
Lucas sensing danger from behind, rumpled down letting an arm pass over the ce his head was previously, and then reversing his sword grip, he spun around slicing the golem with an upward stroke.
The Ice golem split apart however to Lucas''s surprise, the narrow gap that formed was soon joined with and attacked Lucas again.
BOOM!
A huge palm descended and struck the ground.
"Tsk!" Lucas jumped back, clicking his tongue.
''This bigger one is a bit difficult to deal with.''
''It can move as long as a part of its whole body is intact. Should I blow it up with a grenade? No, I don''t know if it can do this.''
''Moreover, if this small minion can regenerate, I am damn sure that this witch can also regenerate.''
''There was just a tiny bit of content about it which was written in dialogue form between Julian and Issac who managed to overpower them with their bloodline ability making it quite helpless.''
''We can''t go on like this, we need information. Strong boss monsters had a definitive pattern. We need to find the pattern to deal with.''
Unfortunately, much to his surprise, no one seemed to be focusing on Ice Witch.
Even Frederick had forgotten about observing boss monsters due to keeping his eyes on Rose.
Lucas wanted to curse but gave away at the end to understand Frederick''s current emotions.
''Haaa!At least he had a girl to protect, unlike some single dogs like us.''
Grumbling inwardly, Lucas flicked his sword.
Mana swirled around the sword tip of the red sword letting out a gleeful shriek.
Pressing his feet harder on the ground, Lucas tilted his body and propelled his body.
The world around Lucas blurred.
The surroundings changed.
Appearing right before the huge bulky Ice Golem, Lucas stabbed straight into Ice Golem Chest.
From the point where the tip of the sword touched the icy chest of the golem, an incandescent flicker lit up the ce.
A destructive force crackled.
BOOOM!
The body of the icy golem was sted into tatters with a loud explosion ringing like thunder.
After this, the many outbursts shook the ce as if grenades were set off like fireworks.
At that moment, a tremendous surge of mana revolved around Ice Witch and more Ice golems were produced from that forming a huge horde.
However before they could make their way, Monica stood in their path followed by many wizards who supported her.
[me Tide]
Gurgle.....
A huge sea of mes rose from the ce Monica stood and surging forward crashed over the Ice Golems melting them.
Perhaps it wasn''t enough or seeing its n foiled, the remnant began to suck in cold air inside the ce as if preparing for something.
The Ice Golem immediately melted and vanished into the cold air as if they never existed.
It was then, everyone felt a shiver down their spine.
"Stop it!"
"Damn, no matter what stop it."
A sense of crisis surged inside everyone.
Instinct...At that moment everyone instinctively felt that it was dangerous.
"Rose back me up."
With a loud shout, Frederick''s image began to rush towards the remnants with a firm expression.
The other students also started rushing in after Frederick with firm expressions to take down the boss monster because they knew the person who killed this monster would get great points.
And those points may help them to rank higher even if they lose or get eliminatedter.
In mid-away when their eyes met, everyone had a tacit understanding.
Swish!
Charles appeared in front of the remnant in an instant after riding on surf made of rocks and inserted his sword towards the heart of the remnant.
But¡
Charles''s body bounced back by an Ice st which was made by a gentle wave of the hand of Ice Witch as if caught an insect.
An arrow sweeping out everything in its path struck Ice Witch but it bounced off as if it was just a piece of paper.
Axel, Tiffany, David, Parth and many 3-Stars who were near, struck the Ice witch but all of them were blown away by a strong gust of freezing wind.
Though they were blown away easily, they managed to cover the killing strike.
A bluish rapier appeared from behind and Humphrey swung the rapier straight towards the neck.
The light in Humphrey''s eyes disappeared when his spear connected.
"What??"
He was bbergasted.
Why?
Because his rapier struck with almost full power left only a small scratch on the neck and couldn''t dig further.
The Ice Witch''s sharp hand pierced Humphrey''s stomach and shook her hand lightly.
Soon after, the remnant shakes her hand lightly, sending Humphry flying back with spurting blood and crashing onto the frozen surface.
The image of an immobilised and motionless Humphrey made one think that he was dead but there was no room to look at him like at.
In the meantime, the cold air was constantly sucked into remnants.
In the meantime, Axel appeared right next to her and mmed a huge boulder with a mad dash along with his body.
It was a blow that cannot be overlooked as a direct hit would destroy you into tatters even if you are in 5-Star due to toughness and use of Steel body.
The Ice Witch defended by transforming a portion of the frost power it collected after which the surface of the frozenke soared upwards with a roar of dozens of bombs that exploded all at once.
From the beginning, Frederick knew that there was a boss attack iing so he was preparing to disrupt it at the end moment that might backfire on it.
"Now!"
With his deration, the archers and magic shot towards it while Frederick amassing a great amount of magical power threw his spear toward the attack.
A huge shockwave spread throughout the cebined with the aftermath that urred earlier.
To some extent this time, the remnant of Ice Witch ttered and retreated, nevertheless, it was still condensing the cold air.
"Damn it!"
"Don''t tell me this wasn''t it?"
"Stop it!"
The students shuddered in fear realising that this wasn''t its ultimate attack.
It was the moment when the remnant of Ice Witch who looked emotionless at desperately rushing students was finally about to unleash the condensed cold attack.
A spear that pierced everything in its path unfolded.
The spear tip appeared over Ice Witch without warning and pierced the centre of the condensed cold.
As if it wasn''t enough, the spear moved in a smooth curve trying to smash the core where the power was gathering.
The Ice Witch''s body raised both hands to block Frederick''s attack but it was also for naught and a lightning st urred.
A veil of fog covered.
"It''s over."
"We did it."
"Frederick ki...."
Just as they were about to rejoice, the temperature of the ce dropped by margins after which everyone''s field of view was filled was turned white.
Chapter 181 181:Hidden Scenario[2]
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The ck and brown thorns wrapped around the forest looked almost like teeth waiting to tear any living being drawing near.
Sharp shadows, darker than the deepest forest shrink about just out of sight while unseen dark spooky creatures with hollow bodies move branches, after seeing which one may swear that it was a ce filled with ghosts and nefarious creatures.
The trees seem to close in, choking out the light and letting the fog roll around like the breath of a wriggling organism carrying countless maggots and dark small insect spirits.
The mist was greenish yellow at the periphery of the forest while at the centralmost part, it was as red as a blood mist with acidic properties that can erode your skin.
In the middle, the blood smog swirled like a hurricane around an altar made of decaying dark wood oveid with the huge robust hard skeleton of some behemoth creature. In each of its four corners, the projection of horns up to 10 metres rose to the sky.
The altar was hollow in the middle with a central pit that burned with greenish mes.
In the mes, one could see the sight of countless humans, monsters, and beasts getting burned.
In that small mystical space, thousands of beings were stuffed to death by dark magic for refinement.
Though the entire ce was shrouded with silence, on the other side of the invisible wall formed by four horns enacted at the corner of the square shaped altar.
Unbearable depraved howls of agony, and despair that etched one heart with nightmare reverberated inside the invisible wall that soon ceased.
In front of the altar, stood an old man with a humped back watching calmly with an indifferent expression.
Behind him, stood 100 people with wrinkled skin, odd-toed fit and gruesome faces that looked far from being human.
Seeing the living things stuffed in the ce soon burnt leaving behind a small greenish essence, the old man extended his head.
The small orb levitated up and came over his palm emitting a dark nefarious energy.
Looking at it with a calm expression, he murmured, turning towards the 100 dark-robed clothes.
"The sacrifice is ready."
"All we need to do is to wait."
"Wait for the portal to connect to the other side and then catch the ripened fruit."
The old man''s shrunk dried lip curled upwards thinking about the glorious uing events.
He will be the first one to collect the piece of the puzzle and make a grand contribution that would allow him to climb higher.
"Don''t worry Lord with a hundred men and ns carried out by the pawns, this time there will be no failure."
"Yes Lord, this time you can finally fulfil your dream to raise your level and gain resources."
"After this mission, I may finally ascend beyond the limit imposed by the world."The old man''s hollow eyes burned with greenish mes.
"Hahhahahah!"
A cry of madness erupted from him.
.....
Frederick, seeing his spear tip stopping just an inch away from shattering the core, shook his head in incredulity. If this was Doom Piercer, it would have surely dug a hole in her chest and shattered the core but The Tower will disqualify him if he does that.
Since he had an ample amount of spear, Frederick let it go and immediately retreated noticing the weirdness in the Ice Witch.
The students who were fighting close to Ice Witch retreated backwards however it was toote.
A bright light illuminated the whole space, seeing which many couldn''t help but gasp in fear.
"Pour everything out now."
Monica shouted trying to neutralize the blow released by Ice Witch.
In response to the cry of Monica, the range of participants including wizards poured out the prepared attacks on the remnants.
QUANG!QUANG!QUANG!
Flowed by the outburst of spells, warriors also contributed by adding momentum to the wizard''s attack.
[zing Inferno Strike]
[Art Style 9 Cuts]
[Sand Art.]
[me Ignition]
Led by Ezekiel whose dual swords glowed brightly like a hot iron rod, others flowed his suit and shed from the distance towards the Ice witch shooting their sword arts.
Many arcs ofpressed magical energy emerged from the sword and shot toward the Ice Witch cutting through the swirling wind.
A blow that everyone decorated, making a concentrated offence sh against the Ice Witch.
In an instant, the temperature of the cavity dropped below the freezing point and the cold aura soared making everyone''s field of view filled with bright light.
The radiant right reached towards the sky scattering dense cold mana in the vicinity and making everyone grit their teeth in a shiver.
"What is this power?"
"Isn''t this overkill? We are just mere weaklings in front of this?"
"Even ourbined attacks were fend off?"
The united force of attack created a strong st that shook the entire ce.
Apressed mass of air exploded creating a ripple exploding with a thunder boom.
No matter how strong the monster was, it was impossible to survive such an attack.
But their expectations were crushed.
The remnants of Ice Witch that emerged from the loud howl in an explosion slowly dissipated and crumbled into liquid.
The moment the body of the remnant broke down, people reacted but before they could gasp in relief, another ice figure appeared.
A magical wave of pure mana that started from a howling remnant began to spread throughout the cavity.
"You can''t touch that wave."
No one knew who shouted but it alerted them to brace for the impact.
The students quickly defended the waves approaching them and heard someone shout but it was toote.
The force of the wave crashed onto everyone with a pulverising pressure and spread around the arena like a shockwave.
The ground along with the air seemed to be frozen and shards of concentrated ice shot around like bullets.
Charles enacted a huge sturdy wall followed by manyyers that burst on contact with icy waves behind which many took shelter.
Frederick, who was left in the open, summoned all his strength and struck his spear on the ground to create an aura field that repels the invading chill.
Rose flew into the sky to avoid the wave creating many hurricanes of wind that absorbed the impact.
Monica stood before the injured Humphrey and protected him, making Humphrey shed tears of joy.
If not for the situation, he would have jumped in joy.
While many magicians cast barriers enacted by Ice walls.
Roan, who was quiet at the back, used a barrier spell while hiding behind a rock and he was stillpletely sted away byrge gales.
Falling onto the ground, he cuddled up creating a small firewall around him.
It was then, his eyes that turned back were suddenly dyed in shock and confusion.
At the other end of the floor, Lucas sat on a boulder folding his legs leisurely and watched the show with an indifferent expression.
Most of the power in the wave dissipated a lot when it reached the other hand and dissipated as Lucas waved his hand.
Meanwhile, others who were at the forefront and bore most of the impact weren''t as lucky as Roan.
Those who tried to block by swinging their weapons with brute force were overwhelmed and enveloped.
They werepletely frozen like a statue.
Soon after,
KWANG!KWANG!
The students who were frozen like a statue were crushed and crumbled into pieces.
"Ahhhhh....."
"Holy Shit!"
"Damn!"
The students who managed to remain looked at them and let out a gloomy voice with a bewildered look.
The crystal particles of dead students teleported out giving a state of shock as now only one-third of the students who entered were left.
A single attack one-third of the people here.
Wouldn''t that mean, another two attacks and all of them will sweep away?
"Shit!"
"Damnnn!"
"Fuck..."
The previous attack was just over but the Ice Witch had already started gathering cold energy once again.
To prevent another attack, all the students poured their attacks. The attacks were swept by the second wave that exploded several times faster than the previous ones though it was a bit weaker.
At the same time, the bodies of the students who touched the wave immediately froze and began to crumble.
"What the hell?"
The Ice Witch seemed to have grown used to their attack and was now maintaining a distance, the moment you get closer to her she detonates the attacks no matter how much energy she is collected.
As if the initial dominance was just an illusion of despair, fear lingered in the eyes of people who were left behind.
It was the same even for Frederick.
''I can''t think of a way to win. If I use Doom Piercer and unleash everything into one attack, I may manage to kill it but I can''t due to Tower restriction.''
''Should I use Time Dtion to get closer.''
Frederick bit his lip, weighing the pros and cons because if he used Time Dtion, cause if didn''t manage tond a solid hit, he would be in trouble.
He had already been weakened severely due to cold sts and Time Dtion would take a severe toll on him.
If they keep going like this, they will definitely be wiped out.
"Wait! Am I forgetting something?"
A sudden realization struck him out of nowhere as his heart felt something was missing.
Something crucial that can change the whole tide of the battle with mere presence.
Frederick''s eyes shone with disbelief at the image of the figure who always managed to find a way in such a situation.
"Where the hell is Lucas?"Frederick screamed.
His scream echoed in other ears who also looked for the same.
For a moment, a deadly silence lingered in the moment.
Except for cold blowing winds and the sound of gasping heavily, all noises ceased to exist.
Question marks appeared over everyone''s expression and they looked around for the person who seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
''''Did he get eliminated.''''
Parth muttered with an astonished expression because as far as he knew that guy was thest person to get eliminated.
He was simply a zombie.
An unkible roach.
The more you hit him, and the more you push him down, the faster he will get up stronger than before.
It was simply impossible for such a guy to get killed without anyone noticing.
Before they could look around, the Ice Witch let out another howl creating a wave of ice mass prepared to take them down making them swallow their saliva in anxiety.
Frederick falling into pinch witnessing the massive influx of mana, finally decided to use Time Dtion to strike down the wave.
While everyone felt inching emotion of despair getting near, a shadowy figure passed beside everyone keeping an eye on the cold wave with emotionlessly.
Chapter 182 182:Testing Water
?
In a small cottage.
CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!CLICK
Every clicking sound was followed by the dreary feeling of a life-threatening crisis.
Except for the clicking sound of buttons and the buzzing sound of changing channels, there wasn''t any noise in the vicinity.
With bodies bathed in cold sweat pouring from their backs like a waterfall, the people who stood in the vicinity even forgot to take a breath in fear of offending the woman sitting on the sofa leisurely.
However, contrary to thezy posture of the body, the expression on the red-haired woman was anything butzy.
Staring at the TV that was showing no signal, the woman nced at the watch.
"It''s been five hours.."
"Mdy, it''s more than that.."
A man added but by the end of the speech, he suddenly realized what he had done.
His back felt chilly as many deadly stares locked onto him as if they wanted to drill a hole in his body.
The red-haired woman turned her fiery eyes at the group of servants standing at the back while bowing their heads, then she stared at the pile of broken mobiles beside her.
These phones belonged to the servants and were in perfect condition two hours ago but after checking everyone''s phones, and seeing no connection, she directly crushed all of them.
Anyone with a nce could tell that she was like a volcano that could blow up at any moment.
"Le, did you call the City Lord?"
A woman with magenta-coloured hair with a panicked expression stepped out among the crowd and spoke hurriedly as if her life was on the line.
"Yes My Lady, I have asked him about this."
"He said due to a problem, the Town isn''t able to perceive mana signals so the TV and smartphoneworks of the entire Town are down."
"Now what kind of bullshit is this? Why today? Out of all days, why did it happen today?"
The woman spoke with a deadpan expression while leaning back on the sofa.
"I¡I don''t know My Lady."
At the end of the speech, Le swallowed her saliva while praying for God''s mercy.
This was the biggest crisis of her lifetime as just now she lied.
How can she say that Master had asked them to jam the mana signal of the entire city so that Lady couldn''t watch the live telecast of the Tournament?
All of them refused this at first but the Lord pleaded with them that this was a situation of huge crisis that may shake the stability of the entire nation.
His words naturally confused them as to how watching a live telecast led to the national crisis.
Nevertheless, after thinking for a moment, she realized just how big this natural crisis was. After all, the young Lord would be having a match and naturally be fighting against many.
All the news of the young master''s well-being undergoes a round of filtering before being delivered to the Lady.
If the Lady saw the Young Lord getting stabbed, beaten or hit by an enemy, then no one was sure if that noble house would continue to exist the following day.
Moreover, as per the Lord, The Omen was going to attack the ce so who knows what her reaction would be?
Thinking all this, beads of sweat formed over her forehead.
"Le.."
"Ye...Yes,Ma....Mada...Mdy."Le for a moment stuttered in her manner to address her.
"Bring me that specialmunicator."
Le wanted to refuse but she didn''t have any guts so unwillingly, she went back and pulled out a ck walkie-talkie-like smartphone, handing it to Her Lady.
The woman taking the phone, called a number.
RING!RING!.....
The call was disconnected after a few rings.
"Tsk!"
"Useless men!"
She dialed another number again.
RING...RING...RING...RING....
"Hello!"
"Ileana! Why isn''t Kevin picking up the call?"
A cold voice emerged from the woman''s lips.
"..."
Silence prevailed on the other side.
"Rude!"
"You dare to call Her Highness and His Highness by name?"
"Who do you think you are?"
"Vanessa...I am Vanessa Bright"
The sound from the other side ceased for a moment as the person who received the call felt that the name was a bit familiar.
"Now give her that damn phone and yeah, tell Your Empress that if she dont want to die or turn a widow at this age, quickly receive this call."
The woman who received the call on the other side suddenly felt a chill down her spine.
"Amy, who is this.."
A sweet pleasant sound emerged from the other side of the call.
"Someone named Vanessa."
"What?!"
A scream echoed as soon as the person spoke.
The loud sound of shaking echoed followed by the ragged breathing of a woman.
"Vanessa! Is it you?"
"How have you been?"
"What''s going on with the tournament?" Vanessa cut Ileana''s words in the middle.
Vanessa''s question made Ileana choke for a moment.
"To...Tournament...It is going well. Why did you ask?"
"I am asking how my son is doing in the Tournament and yeah, is that idiotic husband of mine gone there?"
"That¡"
"And.."
"Think again before lying. I am just an hour away from reaching the Capital."
It was then that Ileana, the Empress of Cyprus, weed one of the biggest crises of her life.
.......
RUMBLE!RUMBLE!
In a ce far away from the capital,devoid of any human settlement.
Loud st started to shake the world due to the torrential energy pouring out from two individuals facing one another.
The ground trembled, and the trees swayed, getting uprooted after being hit by terrifying shockwaves.
A Sonic boom urred followed by the sound of thunder ringing in the ears sonorously.
Amid the devastating bellows of the world, two figures shed leaving behind images.
Seeing the figure managing to dodge all his attacks, Frank got serious.
Frank eyes glowed with a bluish glint, and the world around him started to slow down.
The shaking of the ground, the fluttering of leaves, the quaking of birds, everything around him slowed down greatly except for him.
Raising his sword, Frank with gentle steps appeared before the big sses guy and swung his sword aiming straight at the person''s neck, however before his sword could touch the neck, Frank noticed something that gave him a great surprise.
Through the slowed time, Frank saw the person''s pupils behind the sses move and a crescent arc drew over his face.
The tip of the sword brushed past the person''s neck leaving a small scratch that wasn''t even life-threatening.
As Frank''s image passed through the guy, time returned to normal but Frank''s expression was quite solemn and turning back, he stared at the man''s unfazed expression.
The man caressed the cut over the neck and licking the blood, gave Frank a wink.
"It''s been a while since I got a scratch."
"As I thought, you don''t interfere with thews."
"What do you mean?"Frank raised his brows with a cold expression while raising his sword.
He attacked again using Time Dtion without giving Zod an air of relief but this time, the guy dodged the attack and came outpletely unscathed, surprising Frank.
"Your bloodline ability doesn''t slow down time. Rather it creates an area where the people of your choice have increased sensory input that increases the influx of information tremendously while allowing you to slowly assimte them in your mind and then move with a speed unnoticeable to the naked eye."He spoke pointing at Frank with a provocative smile.
"As for why it is called Time Dtion, it is just to mislead, isn''t it?"
Seeing Frank''s distorting expression, Zod pulled down his sses and wiped the dust on it, giving Frank a casual smile.
Frank''s brows creased seeing the man''s closed eyes.
"You must be wondering, how did I managed to dodge the attack at thest moment in your zone, isn''t it?"
He then lifted his hand and pointed at the stiff-looking Frank.
"It''s easy, cause once you decide the set of movements, you can''t change the trajectory. It means once you initiate the attack, you have to follow that path and can''t change the direction of your attack. If you initiate a path to move in a straight line before you cast your ability, you have to move in a straight line."
"As per how I knew all this, it''s just that I am an observant."The man then bowed his head and spoke respectfully.
"Observer of nature, an observer of the beautiful creations of the world. This calm, serene yet chaotic world filled with mysteries at every step of life drew my attention."
"People who know me call me Zod, The Observer and this Zod is greeting The Northern Duke, Sir Frank."
"So, you are the rumoured one whom no one ever managed toy a hit on," Frank asked, putting down his sword.
"It''s a lie. How can there be someone that invincible? Didn''t you wound me just now?"
"You took that willingly."Frank shook his head.
"Still, I got hit. Moreover, I was quite frail in my childhood. I was pretty much beaten up in my earlier days so to protect myself from getting beaten, I always try to dodge the attack."
"Initially I failed butter I heard about Frost''s abilities that slowed down time by interfering with thews of the world and this piqued my interest. I knew that the key lies here so I tried to research onws."
"To understand the world, I studied physicsws with momentum, inertia and quantum. Then I started reading biology of the human body, the mystery of chemicals and the history of the world. I researched a lot toe up with a solution to never get beaten."
Zod paced to and fro like a teacher exining to his students.
"That''s when I found a way. That is to observe the way of the world, the way of the flow. "He then pointed at his closed eyes.
Frank listened carefully and found this babble quite interesting, but still tilted his head to the other side, seemingly a bit impatient to know the conclusion of the matter.
"You talk too much. In short, you observe everyone''s movements and trace their flow in the world when initiated."Frank then turned his gaze back to Zod.
"Yes, you are right about that."
Zod with a mysterious smile opened his eyes showing his multi-coloured pupils.
"This...."
Frank''s chest heaved up and down as he gasped the cold air heavily.
"I can see your perfectly carved muscles. Your trained armed shoulder and forearm muscles. I can tell which part of your body you put your effort into when training."
Zod ced his ss which made his eyes normal and pointed at them, he exined.
"I can see through everything and peer deep into the world flow and calcte the end of all motion with my all-seeing eyes called Virgus. This is the power I awakened."
"I can tell that you don''t have the power to interfere withws. It is really disappointing."
"My day is ruined. Just for your knowledge, there are no petty tricks for you that could be missed by these eyes."
Zod''s words became louder and more pitiful, feeling a bit lost as he expected more.
Frank, who was listening with interest, suddenly felt a chill down his spine seeing those weird stares simr to a pervert looking at a girl.
Zod who shook his head in sorrow was suddenly interrupted by arge voice from afar.
"Damn! That''s interesting. I want something like that!"Kai''s surprised voice echoed from afar.
"Thanks for the praise." Zod spoke, a bit bewildered.
"Damn you sunflower boy, you dare turn your attention away from me."Shana''s furious voice echoed.
"I am everything but a sunflower boy."Kai refused and engaged with the scarecrow that was hunting for his life.
Zod returned his attention to Frank and said,"I can see the minor movements in your muscles and predict your movements. Since you set your action before you begin your ability, I can react before you move. In a way, you can''t defeat me."
"Hahahahahaha!"
Frank who quite a moment ago burst intoughter cracking his cool indifferent expression.
"This excitement."
"It''s been so long since someone demeaned me."
"Hahahahha!"
A hint of madness shone in the eyes of Frank whose expression suddenly turned wild, scaring Zod.
Chapter 183 183:Testing Water[2]
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BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
A punch that broke through the sky radiated around creating a powerful shockwave.
Dust swept, the ground trembled and the trees exploded into a mass of sawdust opon being hit.
Kevin blocking the punch of Andreas with manyyers of ice, smiled and stretched out his hand in front of him.
Mana swirled like a hurricane around Kevin. The air froze and contracted to maximum and then with a sudden jolt, it expanded crazily forming a loud st.
Andreas raised his fist that shone with a golden luster and threw a punch straight at the powerful sting at him.
BOOOM!
A huge screen of dust formed in his vision and before he could reach it, a hand covered in ice struck him.
BANG!
A ripple of air burst forth apanying the sound of thunder booms scratching one''s ears.
"The number of people who dare to take my punch head on can only be counted with one hand."Andreas spun his body in the air andnded on his feet staring at theyer of ice over his frozen hand.
"Let''s see if you can take on my full power."
Andreas'' body shone with a golden sh and his whole body became enveloped with a golden austere as if the person''s skin had suddenly turned into gold.
Andreaspressed his knees and clenched his fist gathering a huge amount of power.
Compressing his body to the maximum, Andreas released all his momentum at once and shot towards Kevin leaving a huge cavity.
BOOM!
Kevin''s eyes shone with astonishment and he quickly raised his fist.
BANG!
Kevin''s silhouette was hit hard and he flung through the sky for a distance. Turning his body, he bnced himself in mid-air but before he could stabilize his body, Andreas appeared above his head and punched him again.
BANG!
BOOOOOM!
Leaving behind a trail, Kevin''s body tearing through the air shot downward and crashed onto the ground making an earth shattering explosion.
A huge mushroom shaped cloud above the horizon swaying the debris.
The smoke from the explosion hadn''t even resided when a fiercely strong aura shook the entire ce blowing away the mushroom cloud and then with a stomp that sent a tremor across the vast in, Kevin''s image blurred and appearing right before Andreas, Kevin stabbed his fist.
Andreas also threw his fist making the space jolt.
The time seemed to slow down as the devastating attacks reached each other at an unprecedented speed.
Finally, when the two fists shed, an ear-splitting explosion bellowed in the sky like the thundering boom representing the wrath of heaven.
A crackling sound as if the air sky had been split apart like shattered ss resonated throughout the sky followed by strong shockwaves that sent high st wind.
Due to the impact, Andreas and Kevin''s images blurred as both of them were blown away by the aftermath, getting shot back like aet.
When things calmed down, a huge crater of a kilometre deep and arge rift extending for a few kilometres formed.
The entire mass of vegetation was blown away by the shockwave leaving behind a bare patch ofnd.
Emerging from a pile of rocks, Kevin shook his attire and spoke with a sullen expression.
"I don''t understand your goals. Why are you biting on us every time we hold an important event? As an Emperor, I am not even able to get a holiday because I have to take care of your shits and handle the aftermath."
"I dont give a damn about your goals. Can you please y somewhere else?"
"I am a human being at the end. Man, I need holidays."
Andreas, who pulled himself up from a rift, almost lost his footing and fell back into it.
Getting up, Andreas stared at Kevin with his jaw wide open upon hearing Kevin''s cold words. He had thought about many cool dialogues to speak about when the enemy asked.
Who are you?
What are you?
What is your goal?
However, seeing Kevin talking about holidays, he didn''t have words to refute.
"You are running your mouth even at this moment. Shouldn''t you be worried about your people there?"Andreas teased, raising his fist and punching immediately.
Kevin''s figure blurred letting the shockwave pass through the ce he stood, creating a mayhem of destruction.
Swish!
Kevin swung his hand, freezing his entire hand to make it hard and covered it with manyyers of ice making his fist strong enough to contain Andreas'' blow.
"That''s a weird way to use your Ice power."
"You haven''t answered my question."
With a clicking sound, the ground copsed and various after images shed with one another trading punches with one another in rapid sequence.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
"We just want to mess up. As you know we are just a group of misfits abandoned by the world. Since we are abandoned, we just wanted the world to repent for creating us."Andreas replied, taking the blow head-on with his chest, which sent him crashing down to the ground.
However there was no scratch over his golden body and he counter-attacked instantly.
Kevin''s body was flung into the air and a powerful ring reverberated around dispensing the sky.
"What happened to you in the past?''''Kevin held Andreas'' fist in his palms which almost made his hands numb but ignoring it, he looked straight into Andreas''s eyes.
"Past..."Andreas lost focus for a moment and then his face became dark.
"I don''t like to talk about it.'''' Andreas'' whole body shone, his muscles bulged bing harder and pressing his fist, he generated a shockwave that pushed away Kevin.
"Do your Empireck fighters because of which you have to fight here," Andreas asked with a confused expression.
"Nah, I was just boredzing around. There is nothing funny going around so I came here to have some fun."
"You are here for fun?"Andreas'' eyes shone with disbelief as he pressed his fist against Kevin to push him back when he heardughter.
Kevin shook his hand and just as he prepared to go on offence, his body froze on hearing loud cacklingughter that sent him chills.
"Shit!"Kevin''s eyes turned seriously, startling Andreas.
Andreas concentrated his aura to strike again but something obstructed him.
"Youuuuu....."His eyes shone with disbelief.
As he channelized his aura, he found the remnants of Kevin''s aura that sneaked inside his body were turning his blood cold and making it frozen.
"You were really ying with me," Andreas asked with a dangerous glint and shook his whole body like a maniac.
Previously he felt that Kevin was joking when he said he hade here to have fun but now he felt an excruciating pain in his body due to his freezing blood, he knew this guy''s power control over his bloodline ability had reached the peak.
Not only can he freeze himself hard to a terrifying extent without any bacsh, but he can even freeze the enemy after pouring his mana into their body.
"What did you think? Just because I talked to you normally, did you think of me as your friend?"Kevin shrugged his shoulders and turned his gaze.
"I nned to converse with you and understand you people, but it seems things aren''t going to happen like this."
Dense cold energy poured over Andreas trying to freeze him to death and a bad premonition welled up in his heart seeing those serious icy eyes sending a chill down his spine.
.....
Meanwhile, on the other side, disgruntled voices squirmed one after another.
Kai swayed his body to and fro dodging the scythe strikes. Unlike the other two, his expression was quite leisurely.
Large cracks cut through the ce leaving huge crevices on the ground.
Since both parties weren''t willing to turn this battle into a full-fledged war, things were quite restrained. Otherwise, if a 9-Star puppet master took out all the puppets, then things would be really worse.
"Stop avoiding. Fight like a man if you dare unless you aren''t!" Shana shouted and stumped her feet with a pout making her look cute but those who had thought of her as cute weren''t able to see the next day.
"Dare...Why don''t I dare? Just ask my wife about my skills in bed and you will know whether I am a real man or not.''''Kai chuckled and flicked his hair with a suave look.
"Kill that asshole. Cut him into pieces."Shana raised her palm and flicked her fingers several times.
The Scarecrow let out a terrifying shriek.
Seeing things getting serious, Kai closed his eyes, twisted his body and swung his sword coating it with apressedyer of rocks.
CLANG!
A powerful ring of air pressure spread through the ce dispersing the air and sweeping away the dust and debris.
CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!CRACK
What followed after that was the sound of something cracking and Kai didn''t even need to raise his head to see what was happening.
However, Shana''s face became as pale as a sheet of paper.
The huge scythe in the scarecrow''s hands started crumbling into pieces.
"You...."
Shana''s angry voice resonated. Throwing away the umbre, she pulled her two golden hair piggy ponytails in anger.
"I will ki..."Shana swallowed her words seeing the situation of the other two changing.
Andreas was in bad shape while Zod seemed in a pinch.
At that time, Kai also noticed the oddughter and cursed.
"Am I hallucinating? How can I hear Frankugh?"
Kai turned his gaze whichnded on Frank far away from them and screamed in shock.
"Holy shit!"
"You managed to make this ice-faced bastardugh."
"Fucking hell!''''
"This is unbelievable."
Chapter 184 184:Testing Water[3]
?
Fending off against the scarecrow, Kai with a bewildered expression fell into deep contemtion after hearing Frank''s bizarreughter echoing across the vast ce.
Amidst the thundering explosion, the sound of hisugh was quite clear showing the intensity of hisugh and the suppressed emotions behind it.
Belonging to the same generation, all of them had gone through countless hardships. Due to being popr both in society and the military, they have earned quite several nicknames.
They were a team that was quite famous during their prime.
Kevin was known for being an entric King who was more popr than his title Ice Emperor.
As a man standing on the epitome of handsomeness all due to his mother''s genes, Kai was called The Killer of Hearts, The King of Charm, and The Sculptor Of God.
Yeah, same may nitpick and call him the King of Narcissists behind his back but he dont give a damn.
He knew they were just jealous of their wives getting charmed by him with just a smile.
But what could they do except to me god?
Even with his odd brown hair and purple eyesbination, he was a killer man.
While Kevin was known for his tricky ways of using Ice ability and for being a salted fish, he was known for his handsome face, killing thedies with his charm.
No matter how much he aged, one couldn''t even find a ripple of age over his face. Even now, he looks like a 2020-year-old lively boy.
However, when ites to Frank, he was the weirdest of their bunch.
One shouldn''t judge his calm demeanor from the outside, this guy was outright crazy from the inside.
Due to keeping a stoic face, and a cold face on which they haven''t seen a singleugh.
He was called The Man Who Never Laughs.
Frank had always been calm and collected no matter the situation, no one had ever seen him lose his senses or show any emotions on that cold frozen face.
Few might have seen his anger or smile but no one had heard hisugh except them.
It''s not that he doesn''t smile; rather, no one had seen himughing in public. He always maintained a dignified expression and there was never a stain on his moral conduct.
Even when he married Aria since people couldn''t target him, they could only target Aria as everyone knew the situation is ought to be perilous otherwise things wouldn''t have developed into that step.
However, those who were close to Frank only knew that there was a wild side to him.
Naturally, they have seen himugh when they were younger but as they grew Frank started losing that liveliness.
Instead of taking a step back, Frank took on the challenge and fought with many but in the end, he was saddened not finding a worthy opponent who could arouse that feeling of excitement.
It was all due to his power.
His bloodline power was too overpowered making all his fights quite easy to win.
Due to his strike rates, he was also called The Man Who''s Attack Never Miss.
Once he drew his sword seriously, no one had ever managed to dodge his sword strike.
Whether it was Sword Saint or the hidden powerhouse, none of them were able to fend off his attack.
Naturally, Frank can''t kill them but if he makes a move it''s a sure hit.
He can fight without using bloodline power but without using full strength to fight and purposefully giving the enemy an edge wasn''t enough to satisfy his craving.
Only when you can dodge his strike, will he show his real power and can fight to his full potential.
The reason for Frank''s bored expression was that he had never got the chance to use his bloodline ability to the fullest. He knew that once he activated his powers, winning was just a small matter.
His ability was so defying that when it came to one on one fights, he was invincible. After all, what can a person do when another person maniptes time and kills you even before you can react?
Kai shook his head and focused on his battle.
The Scarecrow after seeing its scythe being dismantled stared at the broken pieces of the weapon on the ground and then at its empty hands with a loss.
Its head dropped down and the pair of fleshy eyes stitched over its face shrunk with a saddened look.
Kai for a moment stepping back rubbed his eyes a few times in bewilderment while wondering if this was a dream.
''What the hell am I seeing?''
''What''s with that loom?''
''Wait, how can a scarecrow even if it''s a puppet make such an expression?''
"Hey, girl, what''s the matter with that doll of yours? Why is it making such a face?"
"What? Are you surprised just by this? Did you think of me as an ordinary puppeteer?"
Shana folded her arms over her chest and raised her chin towards the sky giving a heroic pose.
"Don''t you darepare me with those ordinary puppeteers!"
"I am the best of the best."
"I am the Queen Of Puppets."
"Each of my creations is very much alive."
"Stop telling lies, you brat. Bragging makes the noise grow longer."Kai who was teasing her suddenly saw something ominous that almost made him puke.
A mass of wriggling flesh appeared over the scarecrow''s arms and extended outward for long gnarly ws.
Letting a terrific shriek simr to the cawing sound of a crow, it scratched the air in front of it.
Kai''s eyes narrow and his image blurred.
BOOM!
Three scratch marks tore the air, hitting the spot Kai stood.
Arge crowd mark appeared over the group clearing the dirt.
Swoosh!
The Scarecrow, seemingly angered by the loss of its weapon, swung its ws frenziedly like a maniac.
It seemed to have broken out of Shana''s control much to Kai''s surprise.
Even Shana had an astonished look but itsted only for a moment and was reced with a cuteugh.
White marks started stretching from Scarecrow''s hands drawing over the ce.
SCREECH!SCREECH!SCREECH!
A void was created in an instant and everything that stood in the scratch mark was cut into pieces.
Seeing it destroying everything, Kai took a solid step.
Gripping his sword tightly, Kai gripped his sword tightly and enveloped it with a rockyyer and hardened it to the maximum limit.
Arching his body backwards, summoning every ounce of his strength, he whipped his hand forward propelling his sword that shot into the air creating an air ripple that exploded with a sonic boom.
BOOM!
The barrier of sound broke, and the air shattered like ss in its path creating a topping shockwave across the ce as his weapon-like hurtled forward with a might of artillery disrupting the whole ce.
"Dodge it!! "Shana screamed hurriedly while moving her fingers tomand.
The Scarecrow turned around in time but before it could do anything, the sword pierced its chest creating a huge hole.
The Scarecrow''s body jolted across the ground due to the momentum that dragged it over a hundred meters.
But as soon as it stopped, many small crow puppets emerged from its chest and shot at Kai like a beam of light.
Sensing danger, Kai waved his hand shooting small sharp rocks that smashed the crows into pieces while the Scarecrow tried to stitch its chest.
At that time, Shana spoke hurriedly.
Kai who was defending with a nk expression snapped out of his thought.
"Sorry, I have to leave now. I will kill you next time."Shana waved and collected the puppet hurriedly.
"Hey girl, wait for me! I still haven''t yed enough! I have yet to use my bloodline ability!!"Kai screamed and followed her.
"Girl, didn''t your parents teach you manners that it''s bad to leave in the middle of a fight?"
"Shut the hell up bastard."
Kai taunted her but his words struck in the middle of his tongue as the space in front of it cracked, forming a void from a huge palm with an astonishing speed.
BANNG
Tearing the air, Kai''s figure flew across the sky, crashing against the trees on the ground. Breaking multiple trees, his body slid against the ground and tore through the ground leaving a trail of crevice while smashing the tree trunk into wood pulp.
A hugeyer of dust prevailed from which Kai''s coughing sound echoed.
Cough...Cough....
"This girl''s temper is too wild. That huge behemoth might be her trump card."
This girl had also piqued his interest greatly.
Puppeteer was quite a troublesome field and not many could reach the end of the path of Puppet Mastery.
Handling puppets put a huge strain on the soul.
People who are stubborn to follow this path often end up in the grave due to being unable to handle mental strain.
Others who managed to stay alive lost their sanity.
A higher-realm puppeteer can control thousands or more than ten thousand puppets of the low realm but as they grow, they are unable to handle the puppet of the same stage.
So, the highest-known realm a puppeteer can control is at 7-Star.
If you try to go beyond that, it will either cost your sanity or your life.
But this little girl of short stature was able to control a 9-Star puppet without any repercussions. Even though he saw it himself, he was shocked out of his wits at first when he saw this.
Seeing those stitched around her whole body shows signs of an experiment and Scarecrow puppet that had a hint of spirituality, he knew that things weren''t simple in the background.
If not for her other two partners'' lives in danger, she mightn''t have pulled out that puppet that could even break through the void.
''This girl is the real threat, not the other two. Damn, you two chose an easy opponent and gave me this fierce tigress.''
''I am afraid that I will get hurt badly if I forcefully drag her down but as Duke, I can''t lose my face.''
"Little Loli came here. Let this daddy y with you a bit more."Kai shouted and chased after her.
He was curious about Frank''s fight so he decided to pretend to be chasing her.
.....
"Hahahahahhah!"
Frankughed wildly after Zod addressed him as untouchable just because he dodged a few attacks of his.
"What are youughing at?"Zod spoke with a distorted expression.
The aura of a 9-Star exploded crushing the ground and making the whole ce tremble.
"I amughing at your naivety."Frank sneered and pulled out his sword from the sheath with a sh.
And at the very next second, the world crashed onto Zod destroying his beliefs.
Chapter 185 185:Testing Water[4]
?
Zod eyes contracted to the maximum shining with multiple colours at once.
All the hairs on his body stood erect perceiving changes in the flow of the world that was catered around Frank.
Zod reacted quickly, but before he moved his body, the entire world seemed to crash down on him.
A mighty pressureparable to the whole world smashed over his shoulder making his body arch in cold sweat and his heart skipped a beat.
SWISH!
The flow of breeze came to a standstill.
The ticking of time froze.
All the movements of the world ceased for a moment.
It was then, a twinkle glinted across the horizon.
A sh of the incandescent pir of light shooting towards the sky blinded Zod''s vision.
A terrifying beam of sword light that extended from the ground towards heaven erupted from Frank''s sword.
Anything that it touched, was obliterated into nothingness.
A flicker went past him.
And blood spurted out like a fountain.
As time returned to normal, Zod''s eyes erged and his body tensed up seeing a cut over his chest.
"What?"
Zod turned around frantically and saw Frank taking leisurely steps behind him.
His eyes widened upon seeing a huge fissure running towards the far-end vicinity behind Frank.
A deathly silence lingered for a moment.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The very next second, the world erupted with a loud exploding sound as if a volcano had erupted sending tremors.
The clouds swaying in the sky were split apart and the ground on which they stood trembled.
An earthquake shook the vast ins.
Zod staggered on his feet and lost his footing due to which the wound burst and the blood sprayed.
"Even if the world is stopped, you still manage to see my movements. You are still good but far behind him."
"Who¡Cough¡"Zod coughed in pain.
"Out of several opponents that I have faced, there has been only one person¡" Frank raised his finger pointing at the sky, a hint of reminiscent sadness shed over his face.
"Only one whom I and others have never managed to touch. "
"There is only one person who has the right to hold the undisputable title of Untouchable."
"Many don''t know about it because all those who tried to kill him weren''t left to tell his tale."
"Do you know who it is?"
Frank turned around with a majestic smile that piqued Zod''s curiosity.
"Wh...Who...is he?"
"The Golden Lion," Frank murmured slowly, thinking about the face of the ck-haired hair golden eyed man that walked across the battlefield acting as a shield for the army to follow behind.
"No matter how much you attack, no matter how much you st him with punches, sh him with a sword or blow him with spells. Like an unbreakable fortress, he kept on marching."Frank closed his lip at the end sinking into those vague memories.
"He was my archrival, more than that he was a good friend. "
''s, fate yed a cruel trick on him, crippling his entire foundation.''
Frank didn''t speak thest sentence.
Silence reigned for a moment.
As soon as Frank word''s fell, Zod''s body shivered uncontrobly because if you didn''t know this name despite being a high realm warrior, you should just shut yourself in your home.
The man who was known as Invincible Iron Fortress was one of the legends of the past generation.
The real person who was truly untouchable. Not only does he have a superior defence made by a surroundingyer of magical energy, but he can also crush mountains by clenching his fist and crush you into dust by mming a whole mountain on you.
He was also The Head of the Imperial Knights of Cyprus who terrorized the othernds however the man suddenly disappeared out of nowhere and no one was able to trace him after that.
"By the way, on top of all-seeing eyes Vigrus, you also had the power to increase your speed. However, this doesn''t seem to be your ability, rather it''s acquired."
"You can even conclude that. How did you know?"
Zod eyes glowed faintly and Frank''s danger level in his heart was raised to another degree.
The person was more terrifying than he thought initially.
Zod, maintaining his calm demeanour, wiped the blood that was flowing out from his chest.
Yellow lightning sparks gushed forth from his body devouring the whole surrounding.
Frank''s lips curled upward with a menacing smile upon seeing Zod preparing to take his blow again.
"Boy, you think you know about my power but you are making a grave mistake," Frank muttered unsheathing his sword again.
Zod knew another attack wasing, so he channelized his strength. His body flickering with a blur, the body seemed to move around Frank with a speed impossible to see with the naked eye.
The air shattered like ss as his speed transcended over the barrier of sound and reached Mach 3 disrupting the entirendscape.
A surge of winds concentrated around Zod and turned into a huge hurricane around Frank.
"How naive!"
Frank smiled and moved the strands of hair covering his face exposing his eyes that had entirely turned navy blue.
"Boy, it''s useless."
It was then that the world around Frank turned blue.
Swoosh!
CLICK!
Blood spurted again and a hand flew back with great speed and crashed back onto the dirt creating a huge pit.
Zod was startled for a moment. Even before the feeling of pain could be transmitted to the brain, he was hit again by a fist.
BANG!
A huge fissure formed on the ground.
Before he understood his situation, Zod found himself flying in the air and the ground on which he stood became distant.
Zod was unable to understand what happened, and spinning his body in the air, locked his gaze onto Frank who just stood quietly on the ground, he extended his remaining arm to attack.
A beam of light containing a mass of destructive energy shot dowards but before it could reach Frank, the world stopped again followed by a subtle clicking sound.
CLICK!
Arge fissure formed in the sky and a gigantic cut appeared over the cloud splitting it apart followed by showers of lightning.
The beam of light was split and destroyed while Zod''s whole body burst with blood with arge cut that almost killed his life.
However, at thest moment, Zod felt a tingling sensation and something warped around his body.
With a flick of her finger, Shana pulled the thread and red at him.
"That''s why I told you not to show off, nerdy specks."
"Foolish bastard."Shana''s cute grumbling sound echoed.
Suspended in the air, Zod turned his head towards Frank with a confused expression.
"It''s not Time Dtion."
"Time Dtion is just a pseudo ability."
As soon as those words fell, Zod along with Shana''s expression became pale.
"Then, what is your real ability?" Zod''s voice trembled and he coughed blood, feeling a searing pain all over his body.
"Do you know why we are called Frost?"
Both Shana and Zod''s brows creased.
"It''s because we can form a domain and freeze time for real by drawing out the blessing given to us by the Gods. The title is just a bit ambiguous to hide the truth and many mistake it thinking that our ancestors had ice ability."
''It''s real.'' Zod''s body quivered and his eyes became dead.
He had always thought that this was a lie as how can there be a person who can stop time?
But reality proved otherwise.
His pride in being someone untouchable was crushed and shattered into dust.
In a fit of shock, Zod puked blood.
Shana waved her hands casually, and many stitches appeared over the cuts on Zod''s body, stopping the organs from falling while picking up the cut hand of Zod.
"Wow, that Loli is also a surgeon."Kai appeared behind Frank and rubbed his chin giving Shana a surprised stare that made her shudder.
"Shut up, pervert." Shana extended her making a grappling motion and Andreas'' body shot towards them.
Staring at the people with an incredulous gaze, a naughty smile formed on her face.
"Since you are considered the winner of this first sh, we should apologize for disturbing you and beg your pardon."
Andreas stood up on the huge flying Phoenix puppet of Shana and spoke with his trembling lips,
"We are not the real preparators behind this. We just came here to suppress our boredom. So, I hope you take care of those real ones."
"Hey, what do you mean by that?!"
Kevin appeared on the spot and screamed with cold eyes feeling a bad premonition.
Staring down at him without any fear, Shana asked, raising her umbre.
"What is the current rank of that tower?"
"Huhh?!"
Question marks appeared over Frank, Kai and Kevin''s faces.
"It should be at Legendary rank for now."
Kai answered indifferently but his back tingled at the next second, noticing Kevin and Frank''s murderous gaze.
"Who the fuck asked you to tell that?"
Kai averted his gaze and whistled as if he hadn''t heard his question.
Shana''s eerieugh, different from the cute voice, echoed, sending chills down everyone''s spine.
"It seems you are done this time."
"We are just support. The real actors are yet to take the stage."
Shana waved her hand and the three figures disappeared.
With these parting words, the three images of the beasts disappeared in a blur.
As soon their image disappeared, Frank copsed on the ground.
"Frank, you son of bitch, what have you done?!"Kai screamed in panic and held him.
Kevin appeared and supported Frank"Was it necessary?"
Kevin felt a bit conflicted seeing Frank''s pale expression.
The Time Frost ability of Frost House is truly a miracle that can turn the tide of battle.
However every second they stop time, they will lose 6 months of their lifespan. The bacsh might seem quite severe but the results were more than worth it as it didn''t matter if the opponent was stronger or at a higher rank than you, Once activated if you want to kill, it will be a kill. Moroever, you didn''t even need to stop time for a whole second. Stopping for a mili seconds and making a hit is enough to take down your enemy. In the previous fight, Frank''s total use of Time Frost might not have reached even half a second considering the high speed of a 9-Star warrior who can move breaking the barrier of sound.
Due to its fatal effect, they created a pseudo-ability named Time Dtion and only a countable few knew about this bacsh of the Time Frost ability.
"These three people''s strengths can''t be underestimated. If we pushed them to the edge, only God knows if we could win." Kevin muttered.
"The other two aren''t a problem but this small girl is horrific. I fear she had an army of high-level puppets."Kai spoke sombrely.
He may look like a person with a low IQ that fools around but he isn''t.
Kai could sense that under that cute expression, Shana was boiling with bloodthirst wanting to kill him when he called her Loli and short yet he kept on calling that to test her bottom line.
"As a puppeteer even if you managed to ovee the strain on the soul while managing the puppet, there haven''t been any 9-Star or 8-Star puppets cause they aren''t materials to hold onto that level."Kai murmured faintly.
"There has been a missing link to refine puppets beyond 7-Star. It''s not only material but also a certain technique."
As per what they knew, in the second Era, many evil sorcery and ways to ovee the limitations were present but all records had been erased by Gods considering it as a taboo and threat to the world''s peace.
"However, it seems Omen had found a solution to that."
Kevin''s brows creased as he turned towards Kai,"Did you find something?"
Kevin shrugged his shoulders.
"I only know that those puppets seem to have their own emotions and there is a fleshy part in them. As per materials, I don''t know."
"Haah¡It was good that I managed to control my urge and didn''t kill him. These are just three of the whole group and there are many more whom we do not have any prior information about."Frank spoke, taking out a potion from his ring.
"Let''s hurry back and see what''s going on," Kevin said and was about to turn back when his entire body froze.
Kai''s leisurely expression suddenly distorted and his eyes trembled violently.
Frank''s steps of taking the potion halted and all the hair on his body erected with fear.
"What the hell¡."Kai wasn''t able to finish his words as his heart beat with palpitations.
Their heartbeat wildly, pulse raced and legs quivered.
TREMOR!TREMOR!TREMOR!
Fear¡.
It wasn''t only them, rather all the world seemed to be trembling with fear.
A feeling that was transferred to every living being by the world itself as if to convey its current feeling of ominous stirring itself.
At that very instant, the entire world seemed to be shaking in fear as if an ancient existence had woken up from slumber threatening the very order of the world.
Chapter 186 186:Taking The Lead
Chapter 186 Chapter 186:Taking The Lead
"Tsk, these useless pieces of shit."
Sitting over a rock and folding his leg, Issac cursed watching the one-sided assault.
"I don''t want to agree but what Issac said is right.''''Ian rubbed his ck circled tired eyes and let out a soft yawn.
"Since you can''t defeat the boss monster, just surrender. Why waste time and interfere with my sleep? Just finish this as soon as possible."
"Why do you always chatter about sleeping?"Lara reprimanded.
"If you had to do all the annoying tasks and spend a sleepless night getting called by Vice-Principals and instructors and then take care of hooligans jumping around, you would have already gone mad."
"Or do you want to interchange departments?"
For the very first time, Ian''s eyes twinkled with sparkling light.
Lara wiped the beads of cold sweat that formed over her forehead.
Getting called out at midnight will not affect my face.
Hell no!!
"See, that''s why I am saying this. The first year should just surrender, go home and sleep."
Mogan swayed his hips and ced his finger on his cheek, speaking sweetly.
"Brother Ian and Brother Issac, you shouldn''t demean the first years like that. Our ss won easily because we had the opposing power to that spirit."
"Shut up! Did we ask for your opinion?"Both Ian and Issac shouted, making Mogan step back with a teary expression.
"Stop it guys!"Lara stepped forward to intervene.
"Wu¡Wu¡..Wu.Sister Lara."
"The first years aren''t that bad." Lara spoke while calming Mogan who wiped his tears.
Thinking about Issac''s words, she pitied the first year students.
Getting targeted by an ancient remnant of Ice Spirit was really bad luck.
From the stories Lara heard, defeating it was too difficult. The reason for it to appear if the participant count reached 100 was due to a myth that the grade of students reaching 100 in this round would y an important role in the future and this trial is the precursor of the future event to see how would they react when their hope is crushed, they are morally killed and face against an enemy that they can''t defeat by normal means.
However.....
The Ice Spirit met its worst match throughout its history during their time.
If it was alive, it could cry and sob in agony with the way it was beaten brutally.
They didn''t even need the whole ss.
Julian by herself can beat the shit out of this spirit if she went into full aggro without caring about the consequences as she just had to snatch the control of Ice power with her ability.
Using a great amount of mana, Julian can directly control the Ice Spirit''s body and destroy its core due to her Ice ability.
In the case of Issac, he needs to overpower it with his firepower which is a bit difficult but still he can give it a run for its life.
However, if you think Julian and Issac are the only monsters the Third Year has, then you are wrong.
There are many monsters in that group. Though they started out ordinary, each of them turned into a menace. Each President of a Club was a foe to contend with.
Ian, who was considered as Dead Eye Ian, was known for his agility and ruthlessness. When they were in their first year, if one didn''t have a strong family background, one couldn''t even lift his head and walk freely inside the academy.
But under Julian''s leadership and Ian''s terror things started changing. The bullying had lessened a bit and now it only happens in the background unlike before when you can see senior bullying junior in the open field.
Lara, thinking for a moment, turned towards Mogan who ttered Issac and Ian by trying to be cute which sent a chill down their spine.
Honestly, his actions were quite disgusting and one may wonder how this guy managed to stay alive.
As people would surely went for a kill thinking that he was an easy target to bully.
But when ites to Mogan.
She can only say that this guy is beyond a monster.
No, even that term feels inferior when used on him.
He may look like a sissy girl but once he fights, you can only pray that you aren''t crushed into dead meat.
Thinking for a moment, Lara asked,"What do you think this year''s studentsck?
"In everything. There is no one worth paying attention to." Isaac replied arrogantly.
"Firepower, their attacks aren''t strong enough to pierce its defences."Mogan suggested.
"Theyck team y. Their coordination is quite off. Except for a handful, everyone seems to be doing their own thing instead of cooperating with one another," Ian muttered, clicking his tongue, and seeing them rushing to get the first strike like fools.
"Idiots! You can only get points if you defeat it."
"Except Frederick, Rose, Morgana, Charles, I don''t think others are holding that well," Laramented though she was a bit embarrassed as she knew many juniors in the first year.
"Frederick, that filthy blood. He is just a piece of shit. Look for that Ezekiel guy, he will surely steal the prey. Though he is below subpar in my eyes at least he is better than that dirty blood. " Issac sneered.
"That Charles and Frederick look top-notch." Mogan spoke, wiping his drool.
Ian rubbed his chin for a few moments. He had spotted a few hidden gems but out of all of them, he saw 1one guy who had great potential.
"Keep an eye on that Parth. His skills are quite honest. Except him, there is another one."Ian didn''t state that person''s name but just stared at Julian who was watching the fight with a serious expression.
"Hey, Julian, say something. Stop standing like a statue!"Lara shouted.
"Theyck a strategist.No more than that theyck a leader." Julian answered.
"That''s correct. I still remember how you and I led these groups of mongrels to win. That was the best moment of the year."Issac cast a cheeky smile and started pressing his thoughts.
"I regret joining sides with you."Julian cut him off.
"You will regret it more if you keep going on like that and support a punny fellow who is hiding behind in fear."Issac''s tone became cold and his eyes were a bit threatening on noticing Julian''s gaze lingering on a certain person.
"Hmm! His win in the Battle Royal was a fluke. He is just living under your shade. At least Frederick''s blood is half dirty, however, this guy is pure filth. How long can you protect him?"Ian smiled sinisterly
"Do you think I fear your threat?"Julian''s cold aura erupted, freezing the entire atmosphere.
Issac''s hair stood up and his white hair became orange as his body erupted with me.
"Guys, keep it down."
"Sister Julian, Brother Issac calm down."
Ian ignored them and dazed off closing his eyes.
It''s their regr routine. There is nothing to be surprised about.
Julian and Issac took back their aura.
Julian snorted and kept on looking ahead.
In her eyes, there was only one person.
Who seemed to be sitting leisurely and muttering to himself.
''What the hell is this guy doing here in the back.''
''This man! He is the weirdest of the bunch.''
As soon as her thought fell, under her and others'' surprised eyes, the boy suddenly stood up and stretched his back with a yawn, disappearing right before their eyes.
.....
Death!
It was the word that popped out into everyone''s eyes as they looked at the Ice Witch.
Frederick, imagining the consequences of letting the Ice Witch cast such an attack, immediately used his bloodline power.
His veins bulged and lightning flickered from his body.
Channelling his strength to his legs, Frederick stomped the ground forming a crack and propelled his body towards the Ice Witch to intervene with the attack.
The world in his vision turning blue and slowed down.
Frederick didn''t use Time Dtion for long for fear of exhausting his mana and with a sh charged at the Ice Witch and stabbed with his spear.
The Ice Witch let out a startled sound seeing Frederick appearing before it in an instant.
BOOOM!
A fierce shock wave burst and Frederick''s hands trembled feeling a repealing force. The Ice Witch at thest moment extended its hand to form manyyers of ice to protect itself that blocked Frederick''s spear.
Frederick''s body stiffened as his spear got stuck in iceyers.
"Shit!"
Frederick knew what wasing, and immediately turned to leave.
Spells were bombarded over the Ice Witch to allow Frederick to escape.
However, at that moment the cold wave that had finally reached its maximum along with the deepening despair in Frederick''s eyes drove all the participants into the door of death.
The cold radiated with a chilling st dispensing everything on sight.
At that, a figure flickered out from shadow right before everyone eyes and a cold voice echoed suppressing everything.
"Devour!"
Before the st could hit everyone, a pir of light drew everyone''s attention.
The Frozen cavity suddenly turned bright red reflecting rays of blood coloured light painting the vicinity in blood.
Frederick''s eyes shone in cautiousness, seeing Lucas appearing before him.
"Be careful..."
Frederick, who was about to spit out warning words, stood still without being able to mutter anything seeing Lucas'' movements.
The cold st before everyone''s eyes was sucked in and condensed over Lucas''s sword which was burning brightly.
After devouring a part of the cold mana, Lucas pushed forward and shed, colliding with the cold air.
BOOOOM!
A huge amount of water vapour that clouded the entire cavity emitted a huge st radiating all around.
The power of sh directly tore the remaining cold wave.
A crimson flicker illuminated the surroundings and a shockwave rippled across Lucas.
The bright red sword sh exploded like a bomb consuming the mana of the cold attack of Ice remnants and drawing a straight line, shot to the ce where the remnants of Ice Witch was present.
Chapter 187 187:Taking The Lead[2]
Chapter 187 Chapter 187:Taking The Lead[2]
Under everyone''s bewildered eyes, the screen of cold waves that was enough to wipe them down was torn apart.
Everyone''s eyes widened with horror making them wonder if they were seeing an illusion.
"What kind of power is this?!"Parth, who noticed this scene, almost pulled out his hair.
Not only Parth, but everyone''s eyes were painted with shock and horror.
Ezekiel, who witnessed the strength of the attack, felt a chill down their spine because the attack of that caliber was enough to tear him down into mittens.
Only Lucas knew that it was the magic of Mana Devour that could eat up the enemy''s magical energy and turn it against them.
Frederick sucked in cold air watching Lucas'' unyielding back.
"What the hell were you doing till now if you had such power?!"Frederick shouted while supporting his frozen body with his spear.
"I was observing your stupid actions."
Lucas''s lips curled up as he saw Frederick''s frantic expression.
"If our actions were stupid why were you watching and wasting time?"Frederick mocked, while staring at Lucas'' face which made him feel weird.
For some reason, Lucas'' face looked more mature than before, like a person who had been through many dangerous situations.
The calmness that he exuded along with a temperament, struck his throat.
There was a strange calmness hiding the strong intent behind it like a still duck who is swinging its toes frantically in water.
Lucas raised his brows scanning Frederick from head to toe.
After this round, Lucas was clear about one thing.
Frederick might be a guy who can lead to victory, and be a strong backbone of a team but when ites to strategies, and making ns, hecks a lot.
That part of this must''ve been handed over to his subordinates.
"If I didn''t observe your stupid actions, I wouldn''t have known its weakness or pattern."Lucas chuckled.
"Weakness?Did you find somethi-"
Lucas interrupted Frederick in the middle and said.
"Watch this."
Leaving Frederick astonished, Lucas stepped forward towards the remnant.
Lucas gathered all the mana and stretched out his fist towards the remnants.
During the trial where he used the battlefield as a practice arena, he learnt that he could use mana devour even without a weapon.
For that, you just need to use a part of the body to attack while assuming that this is a weapon made of your body.
It''s all about imagination.
The Ice Witch created dozens ofyers of mana in front of it just like when it blocked the attack of Frederick.
Thus, ayer of ice wall that was hard to break was formed.
However¡.
[Mana Devour]
[Asura''s Fist]
Theyer of mana was stirred and sucked in towards Lucas frantically.
A denseyer of mana condensed over Lucas''s hand formingyers overyers and shined brightly.
Over his clenched fist, Lucas directly condensed a fireball that grewrger upon absorbing mana.
Lucas''s fist covered with a vortex of me, smashed the ice wall in an instant as if tearing through a piece of paper wall to hit the remnant''s body.
Theyer of ice wall exploded into tatters and the me over his fist engulfed the wholeyer sting it into water vapour and tearing it down.
Melting and dismantling the wall, Lucas''s fist moved towards the Ice Witch''s chest and noticed a slight wriggling movement.
BANG!
A shock wave rippled.
The remnant body was quite hard. Though Lucas''s attack didn''t create a dent or rupture, its body disappeared and appeared to be stuck to the hardened wall at the end of the floor with a loud bang.
The Ice Witch shrieked with a bted roar after which a red line started from the ce where Lucas''s sword was drawn to the ce where the remnant was stuck over the wall.
BOOM!
The body remnants began to crack and crumble and in the aftermath, it spread out another st throughout the cavity with a terrifying shock transmitted from it.
Before the remnants could heal its body, Lucas, who gathered along the red line, struck with his sword creating another explosion.
After that Lucas immediately jumped back and using shadow steps retreated towards the group.
"I am still not 100% sure, however.."
"Since this is a boss type of monster designed by the Tower, it follows a set of movements like a game."
"What?"
"Really?"
Lucas, staring at everyone''s expression, began answering.
"Its attack pattern is an ice type of intermediate attack followed by a boss attack of that loud chilling st wave of tsunami and its body is always sucking the cold air."
"We know that much!"A boy shouted.
"Tell us something different!!" Ezekiel shouted.
Lucas nodded and exined.
"Every time it attacked us with that cold st, its body would soften and be easier to destroy. Once we destroy the body, the new model will be weaker; however , by absorbing the cold mana, it will harden and grow stronger. If we manage to deal damage during this period, it will heal itself."
This event didn''t take ce inside the book so he didn''t have any prior information about this monster however he knows that boss monsters in trials are trickier to deal with.
He had alreadye far away from his initial poor self and his horizon and insight had broadened. Moreover, undergoing that trial and having the experience of 8-Star his mentality had stabilized and matured a lot.
Lucas paused for a bit.
"Now, here is the pinch."
"To kill it, we need to pierce its chest and destroy the core which is not possible when it softens as its body crumbles easily while safeguarding the core. During the softening phase, it can move its core to another ce if we attack the chest."
"So we need to kill it when its body hardens before the full-power ice st."
"Frederick and I will take the lead. All of your focus is on diverting its attention. Before it casts the final attack, someone needs to step up and hold it down so that it won''t retreat or escape."
At that moment, a hoarse voice broke the reverie.
"Why do I have to listen to your shit? What if you are wrong?"
An angry shout drew everyone''s attention.
"I.." Lucas looked back to answer but his speech was cut in the middle.
"I don''t take orders from you."A boy named Razor roared.
"You are just a fuckingm¡."
Before Razor could finish his sentence, a shadow flickered behind.
Swish!
Lucas, who stood at the front, disappeared, startling everyone.
A red line was drawn and a faint breeze blew past Razor.
THUD!
With a low sound, a hand dropped on the floor drawing everyone''s attention, and it was only then everyone''s eyes noticed Lucas''s figure standing behind Razor who grimaced and rolled on the ground in pain holding his empty shoulder.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
"Kykkkk!"
A painful shriek echoed.
Razor''s knees buckled up and he fell to the ground.
"I don''t like people who bark unreasonably."
"You son of a bit-"
Words struck Razor''s mouth, as a sword was ced over his neck followed by a cold deration.
"Choose whether you want to die by my sword or get killed by the monster."
"You can do what you want.."
"However¡"
Lucas didn''t speak further but¡
A smile hung over Lucas''s lips that made everyone shudder.
Razor gritting his teeth, red at Lucas who as if getting the answer raised his sword to deliver the finishing blow.
"Lucas, leave him. Just ignore that guy for now."Charles intervened, which made the student''s noble faction sigh in relief.
Lucas shook his hand and meeting Charles''s deep gazes, he could not help but smile inwardly understanding the meaning behind those hazel.
''Don''t kill him. It will cause troubleter. Just use him as a shield or cannon fodder.''
Lucas wanted to make a statement and seeing everyone''s expression, he knew it was done.
Even Ezekiel kept his lips shut as if it had been glued.
"I will follow you this time. But only this time."Ezekiel snorted.
Others nodded their heads followed by Ezekiel''s deration.
"But what about thest hit then?" Ezekiel asked, drawing everyone''s attention.
"Anyone who thinks they are capable enough to pierce through its defence and deliver thest strike cane forward."
As soon as Lucas''s words fell, everyone averted his gaze
"Ezekiel, do you think you can do that?"Lucas pressed on Ezekiel who turned his head to avoid meeting Lucas'' gaze.
"Let me remind you one thing. We can only get points and get into rank if we can kill this shit. So if anyone has the strength to overpower it or take it down, follow us as you please."Lucas spoke coldly, folding his hands as if to mean,you are free to do as you please.
"See, you don''t have the guts to do the job yourself but have a mouth toin with. Even with my explosive ability, I am not confident enough to destroy the core. One needs delicate control with great strength."
"So, what should we do?"
"We can''t give up as if it''s nothing."
"Damn it!"
Comints erupted one after another.
"Just stop messing things up and listen. Most of you will get the chance to attack it. So, it depends on your ability if you can finish this."
With this, Lucas formted a n. that undergoes a series of rectifications as Lucas isn''t confident in being a good strategist.
Even though many were still thinking of stealing the prey, Lucas just sneered inwardly cause none had the skill to deal the final blow except Frederick.
Rose can y that part but since she is an archer and the distance is a bit great, the possibility is quite low and if he take the shot,he may blew up the entire body and it will form a new body dragging things to square one.
So, in the end , no matter how they fight, Frederick will be the one to end it. As per him, he just needs to provide enough support to get good points.
It was then a piercing scream echoed interrupting the meeting, and another blue body appeared that sucked in cold air.
"18 seconds."
"Huhh!"Frederick gasped in surprise.
"It takes 18 seconds to form a new body after its body turns soft or destroyed."
"Let''s go!"Lucas'' loud voice reverberated which made Frederick follow his lead quickly.
"Why can''t we hit it when it is soft?"Frederick said as he moved swiftly towards the Ice Witch.
"As its body turns soft, it is like a liquid that can disce the core position; however, when it is hardened and solidifies, it can''t," Lucas muttered, raising his fist.
Mana was sucked in as red and blue lines shed toward the Ice Witch.
Lucas and Frederick glided along the line drawn towards the Ice Witch and raised their weapons, seeing which the Ice Witch hastily unfolded a defensive barrier.
Before striking, Lucas''s loud voice echoed in Frederick''s ears.
"Don''t condense your energy to strike at the centre. Let your lightning flicker, condense and disperse the ice wall after which your spear tip will melt it. Melting manyyers of ice is easier than destroying it by force."
Following Lucas''s advice, Frederick charged his entire spear preparing for a hit while Lucas paced up alongside Frederick and struck against the barrier of ice casted by the Ice Witch.
Chapter 188 188:Taking The Lead[3]
Chapter 188 Chapter 188:Taking The Lead[3]
Two divergent beams separated and smashed over the icy wall.
Frederick''s spear covered with a denseyer of lightning flickered with dense bluish mes.
The barrier under the barrage of lightning mes shattered and Frederick with his spear attacked, melting the remaining ice barrier.
Lucas''s fist passing through it smashed the Ice Witch''s left shoulder at once while Frederick aimed straight towards the chest.
Frederick''s spear was just inches away from the core when a painful hollow scream emerged from Ice Witch''s mouth and it counter-attacked by creating hundreds of spears of ice around her.
Just as the moment when all the spears with enough power to destroy a 5-Star were about to pierce Lucas''s and Frederick''s whole bodies, Lucas grasped Frederick''s shoulder and the two figures disappeared into the shadows
Ayer of mist was created from the ice spear striking the front. Through the mist, various images emerged shooting the veil of mist.
"zing Strike!"
"Rapid Inferno."
"Moonlight sh."
"Bifurcation."
Ezekiel''s dual swords glowed with mes while a vortex of fire rotated over Humphrey''s de.
Following them, a group of people jumped to attack at once.
Last time, all of their attacks were blocked and neutralised but now that they know that fire attacks were the weakness of this remnant, they were sure of striking a hit.
The remnant extended its first upwards to defend.
From its fist, a huge barrier manifested that shed against the strikes pouring over it.
TUAAANG!
Due to the force of the blow, the two arms of the Ice Witch blocking the front were bounced off to both sides revealing the chest.
A shadow flickered before it and Parth''s image appeared right before the Witch startling it.
Parth dagger wrapped in the darkness that had the power of negation moved straight towards the core.
The Ice Witch''s eyes shook and before the point of contact, it exploded itself once again with an ice st but a wall of rock created by Charles appeared that contained the explosion giving time for Parth, Ezekiel, Humphrey and others to retreat to a safe distance.
"Damn it!"
"I was this close, "Parth shouted and stomped his legs in anger.
"If it had a physical body instead of being a spirit, I swear I would have hacked it into pieces."
Ezekiel and Humprehy''s expressions also turned worse.
"Tsk! Useless," Ezekiel grumbled, giving Parth a deep stare.
Though Ezekiel wanted to go for thest skill, he knew he wasn''t capable and he may die unnecessarily so it was better to give this chance to others while saving energy and letting others waste their power.
"Stop wasting time and move away."Frederick''s hurried voice echoed.
The group immediately fled aside leaving away for others to attack.
Behind them, arge pir of me rose up in the sky.
Dark red mes gathered around the cavity. Within the time brought by them, the Mages formed a group and casted a joint spell.
Lucas stared at the mana consumed and knew that the effect was going to be worthwhile which may keep the Ice Witch''s focus at bay.
Though Monica wasn''t an archmage candidate, her attainment in Magic was quite high.
''Now that I think, it might be because of that bastard Humphrey diverting her attention, she couldn''t show her potential.''
Monica was the centre of the group while Roan, much to everyone''s surprise, managed to doplex calctions quite easily to join the spell into one.
''Roan had a great talent. If only he could be a bit brave and daring.Even if he can''t throw spells, at least he can make spells theoretically and sell them to others.''Lucas assesses Roan who was working together with the other mages.
The dark red mes thatbined under the effective spell of everyone were once again shot towards the enemy, forming the shape of a winged bird.
The Ice Witch''s cries of bewilderment at the astonishing sight instantly created a huge fog cold enough to cover the entire floor waving his hands.
A breathtaking fire taking the shape of a huge me bird jumped into the mist.
BOOM!
BOOM!
"Oh, my God what a sight."
"Wow! That''s awesome."
"What is that...."
Some who had fallen onto the ground let out a voice that seemed to be full of belief witnessing such an amazing spell.
The contrasting pair of white and red light reflecting over the horizon created a sight of pure bliss.
Fierce coercion urred from both sides trying to devour one another.
The surface of the frozenke cracks and bursts with countless pieces of ice rising upward with the power of freezing while the bird of mes descends over it.
The attack continued to sh in an explosion that erupted as the twopletely different forces collided with one another creating several sonic sts.
BOOOM!BOOM!BOOM
The appearance of minor cracks splintered over the icy figure of Ice Witch due to heat waves hitting her.
It was true that they were at a disadvantage but everyone could feel that the gap was narrowing.
The string of cold air seeminglying back to life fought with a huge me bird created by a huge dense me.
The mages who were pouring their mana over the spells started getting exhausted.
At that time¡
Swish!
An arrow fired by Rose pierced through the veil and struck the Ice Witch making the hole.
BOOM!
The Ice Witch managed to move at thest moment to avoid the fatal strike but the left side was blown away.
A terrifying howling sound came from Ice Witch.
"Now is our chance."
It tried to strengthen its attack and st everyone but at thest moment, many pairs of hands pinned it.
Shadows shed around the Ice Witch and held them.
Axel with his steel body, Charles''s hands covered with Rocks, Parth with hands covered in darkness held it binding it to ce.
Taking the opportunity for Ice Witch to focus on the me bird, all of them sneaked in and held it.
Its movements halted and Frederick''s spear engulfed with lightning pierced the heart of the remnant fixed by Charles, Axel and Parth.
Lightening converged and rotated over the spear tip producing a high temperature that melted the front part and then struck the heart.
After which as soon as it found itself getting pushed back, it summoned the cold mana and its body started shrinking back giving strength to the defence which wasn''t a good situation for them who wanted to finish this battle quickly.
However, Frederick gritting his teeth and fighting against the frostbite in his hand, pushed the spear deeper and cracked the core.
Even though it was a remnant, the breaking of the heart and then the core was a fatal blow.
Dozens of mana particles condensed in the heart of the broken core spread throughout the body and the body of the remnants began to crumble and power inside the core started running amok.
Kiaaaahhhhh!
The remnant who had uttered a scream shook the body and exploded with an enormous shockwave shaking the whole ce.
Those who were holding the Ice Witch were thrown out without being able to withstand such a resolution that shook their entire core.
The me bird burst out and disappeared in the high-speed freezing wind as the mages being exhausted were unable to maintain it.
Frederick''s body stood rooted in a ce frozen by the st with his hands stuck like glue on the spear shaft.
With no power to control, it seems the core self-detonated and as Frederick stood frozen with his spear embedded inside the crumbling body of Ice Witch, he cursed.
"Damn, Lucas. I shouldn''t have believed you."
"Fuck, I am gonna be killed because of you."
Frederick cursed Lucas and all his ancestors.
He always felt weird wondering why Lucas was reluctant to deal with thest blow.
But now he felt that the reason why Lucas didn''t deal the finishing blow was because the person who shattered the core would die.
Seeing Frederick''s worsening condition, the nobles who wanted the kill points, heaved in relief that it wasn''t them who dealt the killing blow.
The chilling st was too strong and Frederick''s body due to the high concentration of cold became paralyzed for a moment and the chill from the broken core, traversing through the spear invaded his body even before he could react.
He thought he would die, along with many others as the mana gathered in Ice Witch was going berserk.
However...
Swoosh!
In a brief moment, Lucas appeared nearby Frederick and kicked Frederick, sending him flying for a distance.
Lucas then extended his fist grabbed his blood sword and pointed upwards activating Mana Devour.
With a shrill cry, the cold mana sted explosively and wrapped around Lucas''s sword.
All the cold air that had been fighting around was sucked into Lucas''s sword.
"That..."
The group of participants who saw this felt an ominous sensation seeing the mana getting sucked in as if Lucas didn''t manage to control it carefully, it was gonna explode killing all of them.
Finally, the agglomeration of such cold air reached its maximum.
Lucas groaned in pain feeling his numbing hands. His hands started freezing and his veins bulge due to the influx of blood trying to warm his arms.
Letting out a roar, Lucas directed the dense mana towards the top and shot it towards the sky.
An incandescent pir of white light shot up with a flicker.
A wave rises from the condensed cold air and spreads throughout the cavity followed by a brief silence.
BOOOOOOOM!
A huge wave of cold air derived from the remnant exploded into the air covering the entire field vision after which a denseyer of mist erupted and snowfall carried along by a blizzard started to fall from the sky.
After the wave of energy passed, Lucas directly slumped onto the ground with frozen hands and legs.A severe numbing pain coursed through his body making him feel that he will break with slightest movement.
[You have cleared the hidden scenario.]
[Additional points would be given for your contribution.]
[Ranking is calcted based on your contribution.]
[Battle Royal will resume in....]
[Battle¡]
[.£¤^%&#&#&#&#]
[...]
The voice of the ordeal helper cracked in the middle, startling everyone.
As everyone wondered what happened, a horrifying scream from a girl drew their attention.
"Arghhhbhhhhhhh!"
On looking at the source of the sound, goosebumps ran through their skin, seeing the sight of a familiar bloodied girl with a hollow torn chest holding a bloody chalice.
Chapter 189 189:Seed Of Distrust
Chapter 189 Chapter 189:Seed Of Distrust
Inside the stadium, everything was chaotic, absurd and crazy.
The effect of the purge hadn''t subsided while several people were apprehended by elite knights, plunging the ce into deep silence.
However, this was just the peace before the huge storm.
Everyone was petrified while many servants and guards were shivering after undergoing the aftermath of the incident.
Though the casualties were low ording to them, still 200 people lost their lives.
But that''s not the main thing.
Most of the nobles'' expressions were green with anger thinking about the events that had transpired recently. Their servants ran crazily trying to detonate themselves, had now nted a seed of suspicion and engraved a deep fear in their hearts, making them unable to stop themselves from suspecting the few people around them.
''Are there more spies?''
''How many of my people are spies here?''
''What information did they pass?''
Those thoughts were ringing repeatedly in their minds.
Few nobles, who were able topose themselves, started to talk about the matter.
"I can''t believe this. Those bastards had nted spies among us and on theirmand, they evenmitted suicide as if this was just a simple matter."
A noble wiped out his cold sweat.
"Something is wrong. Aren''t the spies valuable? And it would take a great effort to train and transnt them so why were they ordered to kill themselves?"
"I am also wondering about that. Isn''t this a waste of the other side''s effort?"
"Those filthymoners. We should never have mercy on them"
"Bastards."
"Shut up! I have been restraining myself for so long and didn''t want to worsen my mood but now things are going over the top. Why the hell are you always mingmoners?"Marquis Seyfried mmed his palm on the railing and shouted, making the nobles'' lips close.
"Even if themoner had some situations where they were forced to do this or for some other reason, then what about the nobles?"Duke Holmes spoke while raising his fist to calm everyone.
Though he was cursing those dirty filths inwardly, he didn''t lose his sense of reason in a fit of anger. There is more than what meets the eye and the Duke who has seen many things believed that the things were quite serious in the background.
No matter how much they demean themoners, in the end, the society was built over their efforts.
Though it may not look significant, if thesemoners push hard into the corner they will bite back fiercely causing irreparable damage.
Thinking about it carefully, he concluded that this event may cause a rift betweenmoners and nobles.
"We shouldn''t me themoner this time as not only many barons were among the fray there were even two Viscounts."Duke Holmes raised his chin and stared at the VIP room where other Dukes were present before and then turned towards the nobles around.
His eyes shed with a hint of weariness and caution wondering if someone might take this opportunity to blow up and kill them, so he secretly prepared himself for every possible situation.
Not only him but everyone had a seed of distrust nted inside them after this incident.
Who knows if the person standing beside them was a traitor that might blow up at any moment?
While things were getting worse, their expressions were drawn over the battle on the screen.
Even though they looked at it, they still maintained guard while preparing to activate the safety devices upon feeling the slightest fluctuations in mana.
The screen yed and the battle turned into a full-scale onught.
"Damn, thatmoner bastard survived till now when one-third of the participants had already been eliminated."
"Tsk...Tsk..."
"Did he just assume the position of the leader?"
"No, this can''t be. How can he be a leader? Maybe they are talking about something else."
"No matter what, thismoner''s strength is quite good. First, he pushed Ezekiel singlehandedly and then managed to pierce the Ice Witch''s defence."
The more they saw, the more shocked they were.
In the beginning, they kept on cursing him but now seeing the way things turned out, they dumped their previous belief and started thinking about ways to recruit him.
''A person like this will be a good dog and might be quite useful for me in future.''
The same thought rang in everyone''s mind.
"They even managed to take down that menace Ice Witch. I can''t believe they managed to do that."
"You need to either overpower it or find its weakness. That is if someone managed to see through the attack pattern."
"I remember that assault. My year was unlucky to fight against it. Those cold sts kill without any mercy."
Soon the Ice Witch was taken down and Battle Royal was going to be resumed.
"Hmm! My son survived."Duke Holmes patted his chest and then burst intoughter.
"Hahahaha!"
Duke Holmes observed the contestants'' situation and was sure that all of them were exhausted. Those who took part in thest strike were frozen and needed time to recover meanwhile his son''s condition was quite goodpared to the others.
"My son will win this tournament. He is going to make me pro...."Duke Holmes''s words struck his chest.
While everyone was nonchntly discussing the events, Duke Holmes witnessed a scene that made his face pale.
"Sonnnnnnnnn!"
On the screen, he caught the sight of his son getting pierced through the chest.
Duke Holme''s scream drew everyone''s attention.
Most of the people present in the arena rose on their seats seeing the scene of David Art stabbing Ezekiel from the back.
But soon their focus changed to another scene.
Though David stabbing Ezekiel was shocking, that wasn''t what surprised them and many even ignored that scene as their eyes were stuck on a certain bloodied girl which almost blew their minds into tatters.
Their eyes stained with disbelief stared at Sabrina who tore her chest open and took out a bloody chalice.
Their mouths were hung open and they stood petrified in spots with their eyes glued onto the screen and before they could understand the situation, the disy screen was cut off letting the nobles spit curses one after another.
"What the fuck is going on there?"
.......
"Fuck¡Fuck¡.''''
"Damn you son of a bitch!''
BOOM!
The entire underground jolted in shock sending tremors simr to the onught of an earthquake.
The ground cracked and a fist ruptured through the wall destroying several rooms in quick session and turning everything into dust.
The table and all the furniture in the room were smashed into dust by Josh''s mighty aura and were swept away by the wind erupting from their body.
Josh screamed angrily and stomped the ground, making the entire ground sink.
"I knew it."
"I fucking told them...I fucking told those sons of bitches.."
"But those shitheads didn''t listen to me!!"
When the noble families of those kidnapped children came for re-admission, Josh refused them straightly.
He had an ample amount of experience and just with a nce could see that something was wrong with those children. Their hollow sunken eyes devoid of any emotions didn''t look humane at all.
Moreover, admitting them directly into the Tournament wasn''t a good thing from his perspective.
So, he asked them to go through recuperation ande backter. He wanted to dy their entry as much as possible and if possible make them enroll once again with a special quota.
However, those fucking assholes took the matter to the assembly creating big trouble.
The Emperor agreed with him and asked them to rehabilitate a bit more but who knew that the Bastard Holmes and Duke White would use the veto power given to the Duke during the founding of the Empire and interfere with the situation?
Only God knows what sort of benefit the noble house offered the Dukes to use their veto power.
Veto power can directly interfere with the Emperor''s decision. To prevent further misuses, it was decided that a person could use veto power once during their reign of Dukedom.
With no way to stop the event, he could only prepare for the worst.
And Josh kept a strict eye on these students and even scanned them but he had underestimated their ruthlessness.
"How¡Just how can you guard against people like them? Such methods. Using such a despicable method."
"Is there even a way to prevent these people whose minds are 24 hours a day for a whole year filled with thoughts of creating chaos?"
cing a legendary-grade artifact in the body at a ce where the mana was concentrated the most by surgery to bypass the security check was something he nor anyone had ever expected.
The mana stored in the heart ovepped with the artifact that passed through a mana detection.
And since that chalice was made of blood with some other materials that weren''t metal, it even passed through the metal detector.
All of this made him pull his hair in frustration.
''''This is certainly the work of that organization.''''
''Only those groups of psychos could do that.''
The more he thought of this, the more his expression worsened.
Herman just stood there with a pale expression as if he had seen one of the worst scenes in all his lifetimes, and opened his lips.
His mind for a moment froze and his memory short circuited, unable to process the events that happened within a span of a moment.
"Vice-Principal, what...just what the hell happened that cut off our ess to the tower?"Herman''s lips trembled as he pointed at the nk screen feeling that a tragedy might take ce.
Chapter 190 190:Seed Of Distrust[2]
?
"I don''t understand."
"Why was the video cut off all of a sudden?"
"It is as if the Tower lost control over its own floor."
"Something locked the entire floor turning it into a restricted zone."
"What?"Herman screamed in bewilderment.
"Is that even possible? The Tower of Miracles in itself is a high-grade artifact so how can it be interfered with by others?"
"You might not know but beyond 9-Star or SS rank, there are Legendary-grade artifacts and beyond thates Divine grade. This knowledge is restricted so many might not know it but the Tower Of Miracles is a Divine Grade or used to be but after most of its functions were restricted and erased by a God, it dropped down to Legendary Grade after which it was handed over to humans by Gods."Josh paused for a moment and stared at the screen.
Adjusting the angle, Josh yed back the video.
The screen reyed the scene where Safrina dug her nails into the chest and tore her skin apart, broke her ribs after which a bloody chalice near her heart appeared that sucked her life and then formed a huge invisible barrier evading the whole floor turning into a restricted ce which can''t be essed from outside.
Josh pointed at it and his eyes glowed with an inexplicable expression.
"That chalice...I am afraid that is a Legendary-grade artifact and as far I remember this is the same thing that was excavated from the ruins of Hera by house Leonhart and was stolen from them the previous month."
"And that girl, I fear she is either brainwashed or hypnotised to behave as a lifeless puppet as there isn''t a single change in her expression as she tore her chest."
"Now, what should we do? Is there a way to break this space?"Herman asked hurriedly.
"I don''t know about this much but as per the records this Blood Chalice is a deadly artifact that kills the one who uses it. The area might be restricted but it doesn''t restrict the ones from inside toing out using escape magic talismans or portals created by special means."
Josh summoned his staff and spoke sombrely"I will try to break the third floor with the Tower ess and Ordeal Helper. Meanwhile, apprehend those 23 students who had been admitted before the tournament and are eliminated now. There is no need to show mercy, kill them if you notice any abnormality."
"And then send a notice to Chief Brian to take care of these children''s noble families and imprison their houses."
Seeing Herman''s receding back, Josh closed his eyes and started sensing the flow of the world
Under the peaceful and tranquil flow of the world, there was subtle chaos and panic.
To those who were at 9-Star or can feel or see through the world can sense the underlying crisis that the world is going through currently.
It seems to be scared.
For some reason, it seems to be afraid of something or someone.
The certain someone that can breakws and mess up the order.
"Just who is this person that can make the world fear?"
"Does this feeling correspond to the current situation?"
"Was this an indication of the thing going inside the Tower? But from a broad perspective, the problem in the Tower is just a minor thing."
Taking a moment to ponder the severity of the situation, Josh''s image disappeared leaving a blur.
....
Inside the Tower Of Miracles.
The time seems to have ceased.
The shock was evident on everyone''s faces.
None of them knew when David sneaked in and stabbed Ezekiel from behind; however, Ezekiel''s situation waspletely ignored and overlooked.
David betraying Ezekiel was one of the least things they expected however they weren''t focused on that rather they shuddered seeing Safrina''s ruthless behavior.
She had been too low-key.
From the beginning of the tournament, her presence was so frail that it was barely discernible.
Though she was ranked in the top 10 before, after her disappearance, no one bothered to keep tabs on her.
If one didn''t see her, they wouldn''t even remember that there was a girl named Safrina who had shined splendidly before.
Seeing Safrina''s wounded look, Monica at the side closed her wide lips with her palm and staggered on her steps.
Her orange eyes almost became nk and her heart almost jumped out of her mouth.
While Humphrey supported her, his face wasn''t that good. His heart was quite messed up now.
Safrina was one of Monica''s closest friends since childhood. Though she had lost contact with her still she had to try to reach out to her during the days of istion and felt that she was turning normal from her depressed lonely self.
However, the reality was too harsh and too cruel.
They couldn''t understand just what came into her mind to do this.
"Safrina why are you doing this?"Monica shouted at Safrina with trembling lips while stepping forward but Safrina turning a blind eye towards her, shouted in a monotonic voice.
"If you dare toe near me, I will explode myself and take everyone around me with me."
The students near Safrina backed away with pale expressions while Safrina with a blooded hollow expression just stood there staring at everyone with a lifeless gaze making them shudder in fear.
Monica''s body froze and she stood stiffly with her vision bing nk hearing Safrina''s deration.
The bloody chalice pulsated with an influx of energy and the blood from Safrina started getting sucked in.
Amidst the panic, all of them stared at Safrina with a confused expression wondering what the hell is this all about.
Did she want tomit suicide?
Didn''t she know that you won''t be killed if you die?
So what is her objective or is it a protest against her house who forced her to enter?
Seeing everyone focusing on Safrina instead of him, Ezekiel''s heart burned in fury.
"David!"Ezekiel roared while coughing blood that drew everyone''s attention
He looked at the wide swording out from the chest after piercing his heart and turned his head towards David.
"Traitor, is this how you repay my house''s favour?"
"You dare to sneak attack on me."
"Son of a bit...Gurgle!"
Ezekiel''s words stopped as blood gurgled over his throat and his eyes widened as he turned his head and saw the faint sneer on David''s face.
"Hehehehe! Did you think you are quite special Sir Ezekiel? You think you held my reins."
"You blind yourself in fantasy too much."
David leaned forward and whispered in David''s ears.
"Asshole¡.."Ezekiel screamed while trying to struggle and break free but he felt the strength slowly leaving out of his body.
"Don''t try to take the high ground. We have given you enough. Let me correct you."Davidughed and then changed his voice.
"You misunderstood Ezekiel. It was never a favour from the beginning, rather it''s an exchange."
"Damn you! David, I swear I am gonna kill you after I get out. I will wipe out your whole family."
"Hahahahhaahhaahahh!''
David ced his hands over his eyes andughed like a maniac as if he heard a great joke.
The entire crowd just stood there bewildered wondering whether they should interfere or just watch the drama as if even none of this was making any sense, it didn''t involve any of them.
More than that, many were secretly ridiculing Ezekiel for being a fool and helping David to get back.
Some were in support it Ezekiel whispered"Should we help?"
"Shut up and stay here.It not good to mess tpsychoysco guy."
"You want to wipe my family. It''s a pity."
"Huhh ¡ what do you mean?"Ezekiel screamed with his dimming vision.
"You can if only you can get out."
"But let me tell you something interesting."
"You...Can''t get out of here, Ezekiel."
"What...What do cough..."Ezekiel felt his vision turning dark but he gritted his teeth to remain conscious however he felt a shiver down his spine and all of his hair stood up in fright.
David then raised his chin and eyed the solemn expression on his fellow participants who were watching the scene.
"No one...No one can get out of here ''cause you are gonna die as this ce is sealed.''''
As soon as his words fell, a short silence prevailed that was broken by a scream.
"What?!"
"Is this a joke?!"
"Stop uttering rubbish!!"
The remaining students shouted with faint trembling voices as for some reason, the current David looked quite frightening.
What replied to them wasn''t David but the loud shrieking out from Ezekiel.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
A tearing pain as if something was being snatched away from him assaulted him letting him scream in pain.
And it was then.
Under everyone''s astonishing eyes, the sword stuck in Ezekiel''s chest glowed as if being sucked in, and Ezekiel''s skin shrank.
His skin dried up, moulted and soon became lifeless.
David then turned towards Safrina who stood there like a puppet and shouted.
"Begin!"
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
Safrina''s body exploded with a burst and before anyone could react, six students among the crowd who were watching the show quietly suddenly stabbed the people standing beside him and all their power was sucked in followed by an offset of bloody explosion.
Before anyone could understand anything, Davidughed and tore his shirt disying countless blood tattoos that appeared suddenly and made a few hands sign.
The blood mist formed due to the st was suddenly sucked in and moved towards David and the tattoos over his body flickered.
Frederick''s eyes widened, noticing symbols over David''s body and running forward, he screamed.
"Kill him! Don''t let himplete the ritual!!"
Many reacted and dashed towards David but it was toote.
"Heavenly Spirit Rakshaa, please take these offerings and help me form the Nether portal."
David pressed his palm over the ground creating arge explosion that pushed away those who tried to get close.
A mist of blood condensed that was sucked from the people who exploded at them and soon a bloody portal appeared.
An ominous chilling sensation permeated the air with the appearance of a blood portal.
The aura of death shed over everyone and a deadly aura encased the whole ce. A coldnguid voice came from the other side of the portal that carried a terrifying and menacing might that made one''s heart skip a beat.
"Kids, May Ie in?"
Speaking in a hoarse voice, a humped-back man stepped out.
Chapter 191 191:Prelude Of Chaos
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With a high-pitched, blood-curdling sound, the students'' legs buckled up and they copsed onto the ground seeing a dark-haired old man stepping out of the portal.
Following him was a mysterious veiled humpy old man, several people emerged through the portal with dark sunken skin, and hollow ominous eyes that gave one nightmares.
Taking the lead, the hunched old man smiled and raised his chin showcasing his dark brittle skin that was wriggling over a hollow bony face and sharp greenish-burning fire burning in the socket of the eyes.
It was such a disgusting face that if seen once, one may not be able to eat or sleep for days.
The humans who entered alone looked like a pair of dead men as if they were on the verge of dying.
Their huge number was enough to scare the shit out of everyone.
Those sickly rotten fish-like faces of people standing behind the old man scanned everyone exuding an air of mystery and unsettling aura.
"I quit!"
"I don''t want to fight any more."
"I gave up!!"
"Take me¡Take me out
"Tower take me out..!"
Shrill cries echoed one after as they decided to give up.
Like every other trial, your body would be teleported out once you quit but seeing that this wasn''t happening, many started pulling out their hairs while some lost their mind.
"Why can''t I get out?"
"Please take me out!"
"Please¡..!!"
"Mommmmm!I want to go out!"
"Stop screaming, none of you can get out of here."Davidughed loudly.
Hearing his words, a sense of dreariness as if they were trapped in a never-ending nightmare washed upon them.
Some lost their consciousness and fell to the ground while some wet their pants.
"I don''t want to die."
"Noooooo!I don''t want to die!!"
"David, I am your good friend. I always helped you before."
"David, do you remember me? My house had a good rtionship with yours?"
"David, please spare me. I will even lick your shoes."
"Davi¡"
"Fuck off!" David shouted with a gruesome smile while feeling satisfaction inside his heart seeing them begging him.
Ignoring them, he turned towards the old man.
"My Lord Calvin, I finished my task."David bowed his head before the old man with arge grin.
"Child, I am impressed with your talent. You will surely be a great person."The old man named Calvin let out a hollow shrillugh.
"You can take your leave now."
David shook his head and then turned at his ssmates who gasped in fear and swallowed their saliva.
"I want to watch the show, Lord. Please grant my wish to stay with my ssmates till their deaths. I want them to cry and wriggle under my heart. I want to see their sanity crushed into pieces until nothing of them is left behind.
"Hahaha! I like your courage, however, you need to go."
"This isn''t a ce for you to y around."
"Things are gonna be too chaotic."He shouted and waved at his staff, conjuring a blood-red barrier surrounding David to allow him to pass through the portal.
"But¡"
"I said leave before the portal closed, otherwise don''t me me if something happens to youter. Things will be too troublesome and I can''t babysit you."Calvin''s voice became cold.
"I let you go against the n once and allowed you to kill Ezekiel which is already enough to bring us troubleter so I won''t take any more disobedience."Calvin released his aura pressurizing David and almost making him bend on his knees.
"I apologise for my misconduct. Please forgive."
"Hmm!Now leave."Calvin snorted.
David giving a bow stepped back and nced around with a violent expression.
''I have been waiting for this time for so long.''
''You all who made fun of me and looked down upon me will finally go through what I have gone through.''
''That sense of oppression, trepidation and the fear of your life in the hands of others.''
''s, I can''t watch this.''
Sneering at them, David walked into the portal.
Few students who saw this felt that this was theirst straw to stay alive.
"We will meet again¡"
"Soon¡Very soon.."
Turning fanatic and clouded by a sense of fear they had lost their very reason, they didn''t even waste a moment in thinking if this was correct or not and directly rushed forward.
Seeing this, the old man waved his hand.
Swish!
Something passed through their legs and as they ran frantically towards the portal, they fell onto the ground and lost their legs.
Those who watched them knew this was the dumbest decision but who could reason with madmen and psychos?
Calvin then turned his gaze towards the frozen students who shivered on meeting those hollow sockets.
"I hope I didn''t disturb you."
"However, it doesn''t matter as all of you are going to die here unless you give me what I came fo..."
A bestial glint of madness shone in his eyes sensing a murderous gleam, and with swift movements, he raised his staff.
ClANG!
A huge bluish white emitting a pale oceanic hue shot and moured over the old man.
Huge crevices appeared with a burst of a snowstorm that erupted sweeping everything with ayer of mist.
"This¡Isn''t this what I came for?"The old man snickered with a smile and waved his hand.
Swish!
Julian felt a condensing pressure and her body shot back in the air.
Two pairs of icy white wings appeared over her back that obstructed the flight. She then turned her body in mid-air andnded on the ground with a cold bitter expression.
Her crimson bloody eyes shone erupting a thick plunging murderous glint, startling the students around her.
Her eyes scanning around finally fell on frozen Lucas squatting far away, seeing which a sense of relief washed over her.
Her gaze then turned toward injured Frederick''s stiff appearance who was standing quite near to the ce shended.
"Frederick, gather everyone and take them to the safety area on the other side. There is an emergency door in there which can be essed by a privileged pass of ours."
"I don''t know if the door can still help us to get out but the safety zone still, it can surely protect you all from them. I and others will cover you while you gather the students around."
Julian whispered in a tone that could only be heard by Frederick.
Frederick was awakened by Julian''s cold voice. Staring at her with a shocked expression for a moment, he gave her a slight nod.
Julian then turned her gaze towards the group of men. Stomping the ground to create a sonic explosion, she moved leaving behind many afterimages.
Meanwhile, a sea of mes suddenly emerged from behind them.
The group of people moving ahead with slow but eerie steps suddenly turned back towards a huge sea of mes.
"Go deal with that and the rest of you create the sacrificial altar and start the ritual."
"Except for killing, you can do anything you want."
"Yes, Sir Calvin."
The ck-skinned people of 6-Star rank bowed their heads to obey and left behind streaks of light galloping across the sea of mes.
Meanwhile, Calvin cast a yful smile.
CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!
He stretched his hands over which a wriggling mass of flesh converged forming ayer. Letting out a cracking sound, his humpy back suddenly straightened up.
With a symphony of cracking and reforming bones echoed Calvin''s small height of 4 feet changed to 6 feet.
The old shivering man from before was nowhere to be found. In his ce, stood a tall muscr ck scaly man with a dark visage that of a monster.
He flicked his staff a little. A small pointy de emerged at the lower of the staff elongated which he swung forward.
CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!
As the swords moured against one another, rifts appeared on the grassynd mass beneath their feet while the area around their sh instantly pulverised the surroundings.
Each of them created fierce storms and was strong enough to decimate buildings.
The result of shockwaves toppled many who fell onto their feet due to the whole ce shaking around.
Soon, a cold st of waves expanded crazily creating a blizzard that was soon dispersed by a beam of condensed fire shooting up into the sky and illuminating the whole sky above them.
Chapter 192 192:Prelude Of Chaos[2]
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"Run to the safety area."Frederick didn''t scream it openly but everyone could understand that you can live as long as you can reach there.
Rose, Helena, Monica and Humphrey reacted swiftly and without needing to say anything, and made their way.
Following them, others screamed frantically while running away as fast as possible.
"Run!"
"Run!"
"Godd¡..Why is this happening to me?"
The remaining students ran for their lives under the waves of the aftermath of fights assaulting them.
Charles, who was about to run, saw Tiffany standing there with a dazed expression.
Sensing a mass of destructive energy, Charles''s eyes narrowed slightly. Forming a whip made out of rocks, he shot it towards Tiffany and pulled her towards him after which the ground at the ce was pulverized and obliterated.
Tiffany''s body shuddered and she was startled as she flew towards Charles who caught her swiftly.
"What are you standing there for? Let''s run."Charles shouted seeing Tiffany''s colourless expression.
"I...I..sprained my ankle previously."Tiffany spoke in a small voice lowering her head with a blush.
Charles squinted her eyes and noticed a huge swollen bulge over her ankle that was even noticeable through her shoes.
It didn''t seem like a simple sprain.
"Okay."
"Huh!"
Under Tiffany''s bewildered haze, Charles lifted her and holding her in his arms, he sprang into action.
Parth and Axel who saw this scene looked beside them and question marks appeared over their heads.
"Wasn''t this guy standing beside us? When the hell did he go there?"Parth screamed and added.
"I am also thinking the same."Axel tilted his head in confusion.
"Did he just choose hoes over bros?''''
''Hey, don''t say that. Tiffany is a good girl. Don''t demean girls like that."Axel reprimanded, folding his arms.
"Huhh!!That¡"Parth felt weird being scolded by Axel.
"How did you know that?"
"Instinct¡Instinct of a man."
''Don''t people say he is dumb? However, why am I feeling that this guy is more of a man of culture than I am?''
BOOM!
A loud crackling sound echoed like fireworks.
"By the way bro, shouldn''t we run?"Parth asked.
"Yes, we should."Axel nodded his head with an understanding look.
"Then why aren''t we running?"
"Tha¡"Axel stuttered a bit and then answered while scratching his cheek.
"That''s a good question."
''''Let''s run." Axel said.
"Wait! We need to take Lucas."Parth stopped his feet and turned towards Lucas who was still squatting down with a frozen atmosphere.
...¡..
Lucas, who still sat squatting at the ce where they killed the Ice Witch, just watched the series of events that transpired with a nk expression.
He looked indifferent but his clenched fist was trembling slightly and his eyes were shaking.
The moment Safrina tore her chest, Lucas immediately wanted to scream that he quit.
He knew trouble was in the way.
He wanted to escape this ce.
But he couldn''t open his lip due to his body having frozen and was in the state of frostbite as cold mana had invaded his body when he used Mana Devour and froze him.
For a few moments, he couldn''t even feel his body. In such a paralyzed state, he feared that even a small splinter might kill him by rupturing his neck.
Moreover, the recent events had shocked him to his core.
The plot¡.the plot deviated way too much.
Till now, many events deviated from their original but all of that which happened didn''t deviate much from the original until they interfered to pull up the events.
The orphan incident happened because they delved deeper instead of retreating and the Church scenario urred because they visited it earlier. If they hadn''t interfered thoroughly, it wouldn''t have gone astray to that extent.
However, this time what happened was something unbelievable.
Those damned people entered The Tower.
No matter how many scenarios he envisioned, he did not expect that.
Bypassing the Tower of Miracles isn''t as easy as it sounds. The nning done behind the scenes and the minds put together to execute all this was too terrifying that it chilled his heart.
The outside of the Tower would have already been attacked and filled with chaos. When Frederick and others would leave the Tower after winning, they would be greeted by a group of people thirsting for their lives.
In the plot, Duke Frank, Duke Kai and the Emperor did not appear in the Tournament.
The Emperor was supposed to join during the Third Year event of the Tournament so without their power, it was very hard to segregate themon people and group of offenders leading to arge-scale massacre.
But now, the presence of those Powerhouses would foil the Omen''s n.
Thinking about the events happening before him, Lucas was sure...no he was damned sure that the n of Omen had been revised and it was them who pulled these people of Dark Church and these weren''t just any normal people but the upper echelon of Dark Church.
That blood Chalice was supposed to be used in the Second Year and was the same artifact stolen from Alphonso and needed a sacrifice to get activated but it is used now and the bloody tattoos with thousands of red symbols on David were drawn from an SS rank artifact that takes sacrifice to conjure a ritual to form a portal connecting to the ce the artifact is ced.
With the chalice creating a whole independent ce to put a restriction on the Tower, you can use artifacts of higher level as you wish and now if you die, you die for real.
The lowest level of the people that enter here was at 6-Star and that man named Calvin, Lucas couldn''t feel his level but as per he knew he was a Deacon or Elder though he was fodder that was supposed die under Church''s relentless pursuit lead by Luna and Frederick during the Third Year at the Church of Damita.
However, Lucas didn''t know the reason for his appearance here.
Unlike Omen, The Dark Church doesn''t carry out meaningless ughter or attack just for fun. They always have a clear goal and insight.
Their goal to attack Luna was to use her as a sacrifice but unknowingly they found that Luna had an Angel of Light as their guardian beast.
''What did they want here?''
''Did theye for Julian''s unawakened Guardian Dragon or Frederick Thunder Loach? And how did they know that they had guardian spirits.''
''Maybe they knew it from the remnant of Julian''s mana during The Church incident where her Dragon spirit awakened for a moment.''
Upon connecting one dot to another and the way things unfolded, Lucas felt the enormous pressure of a shadow that hung behind him and yed them within their palm.
''The n...The entire n for this incident had been revised. Since we acted early Omen must havee up with counter ns and they even pulled the Dark Church into the y but Omen doesn''t have....''
A sudden memory of a grey hairy man appeared in his head apanied by a head-splitting headache.
Lucas'' back was drenched in cold and the cold words of a person resounded in his ear.
A blurry shadow invisible to anyone seemed to materialize around Lucas and bending down started to whisper in his ears.
"Azrail?"
[I don''t partake in anything but I am behind everything.]
[I create puppets of chaos for the world to ponder.]
[Letting the good people watch the wonder.]
[I set the stage for others to y.]
[I pull out the fake mask of sanity and give them a chance of freedom, letting them unhinged by this world''s fake chain of morality.]
Chapter 193 193:Prelude Of Chaos[3]
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"Lucas, do you want to die? Stop dozing off in the midst of this crisis."
Parth''s fierce yelling brought Lucas to reality.
"Lucas, we need to run."
"Parth, should I punch his face?" Axel muttered, cracking his knuckles.
"Nooo!" Lucas let out a fierce shriek seeing Axel inching towards him with a clenched fist raised prepared to hit him.
Getting up on his feet, Lucas stared at the sight of destruction around him.
The in grassy ins covered with the upperyer of ice were now full of cracks and crevices.
Some students were running, and some were on their knees with eyes widened and ragged breathing. Some were crawling towards the other end while some were rolling and convulsing in pain.
Amidst the fierce bombing sound and shockwaves jerking the body pain, all of them were mustering their strength to move away.
"Roa...Where is Roan?"
Lucas'' heart tightened with unease.
He nced around frantically wondering where Roan was as he was weakest among them and unlike others his chances of getting killed were maximum.
"Fuck Lucas. Have you gone insane? Stop thinking about Roan. That asshole is already running towards the safe zone."
"Already?" Lucas asked in a baffled tone.
*After he took part in that bird-designing spell, his mana was exhausted and he was knocked out, the moment hell broke out, he was already running towards the back.
Parth scowled and then nudged Lucas while wondering if something felt odd about Lucas.
Lucas''s mood eased up and his heart calmed down however inside he was cursing that guy.
''That bastard ran away alone. Is his sense of danger more overpowered than mine?"
"Lucas is dozing again." Axel spoke, raising his finger to touch Lucas''s face.
"I am not."Lucas flicked Axel with a re and turned towards Parth.
"Where are we going?"
"To the other side, the ce where Third Year Seniors were watching us."
Parth pointed and sped up his steps, followed by Lucas and Axel.
''That ce...There was supposed to be a barrier that was quite difficult to break and only people with special passes could enter. If we can enter there we can survive.''
The Chalice can form a restrictednd and snatch control of thend from the Tower but it can''t modify the preexisting things in thend, like a person who through q force or shady means can snatch away the property of and but they can''t disce or modify the internal topography of the ce.
Since the barrier was already present, it couldn''t disce it.
As long as a person enters the ce, he can be safe from this ughter.
However...
Can they enter?
Will these bastards allow them to even reach the ce?
To this question, the sixth sense of Lucas was saying no.
"Those seniors are engaging with those people. We just need to sneak in easily."Parth spoke, noticing Lucas'' gaze.
"It''s easier said than done."
Lucas answered solely by noticing a separate group of ck men who were forming a circle and drawing something.
''They are nning something.''
Lucas'' steps halted in his tracks as he suddenly realized something.
"Shit! They are preparing for a summoning ritual. We need to disrupt it."
"Why do we need to do it?"Axel asked in confusion.
"Because summoning ritual needs life essence and where do you think all these life essences wille from?" Lucas asked with a hint of dreariness.
Axel rubbed his head looking around while running the muscle cells in the brain to their full potential but he was unable to conclude anything and he asked.
"From where?"
"It''s us you fucking gori!" Parth shouted, frustrated by Axel''s stupidity.
"Can''t you even think that?"
Lucas facemed.
ording to their usual way of doing things, these people sacrifice the people around them.
However, most of the students here are important, so sacrificing them to provoke the entire Empire seems too much.
They might have prepared sacrifices from before but what if he is wrong again?
What if, this guy ns to kill them and that''s why he asked his men not to kill them?
"So now what?" Axel spoke with a frown.
"Parth and Axel, go and call that Frederick bastard. What the hell is he doing at the front? As a protago...I mean a proper gentleman should stay back and have our backs."
"Go and call that fucker"
Though Lucas voiced his words calmly, he was cursing Frederick inside.
''Who the fuck made you the protagonist?! Shouldn''t this group of people look for you instead of others and instead of fighting these guys, you''re running ahead?''
''This world should have been blind to make you the protagonist instead of Julian.''
"Hmm! You are right. Since we are going to die, we should drag more people around us."Axel murmured, folding his hands.
Parth, halting in his steps, rotated his gaze from Lucas to Axel.
''Am I dreaming? Why the hell are these two so rxed when we have a death sword hanging on our heads?!''
If only Parth knew that Lucas had a magical amulet that could protect him from an 8-Star attack, he might have vomited blood.
As per Axel, he was a bit dumb to understand the crisis.
"I will observe things from the sidelines. At the front, there is a fight going on between the senior and ck men. We shouldn''t rush there."
"I have good escape techniques so all of you go now and call Frederick. Meanwhile, I will keep tabs on this and think of a way, if I can."
Lucas turned and took a different route.
''The situation is already bad. My cmity ma is even stronger than a protagonist and at this moment, If I stay close to him, only God knows what will happen.''
If these Dark Churches knew that Frederick also had a guardian spirit then they might turn all their attention to him.
''Stay away, I have to stay away from him for now.''
As Lucas moved closer slowly, he saw the fight getting fiercer as the Top dogs of 3rd year were engaging in seriousbat.
...¡
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
"Filths of the world, you dare to run amok without knowing the subject."
Issac, who appeared with a red me warped over his fist, struck the enemy''s head using all his strength as if it was the end.
The person who was struck sank deep into the ground and continued to dig downwards due to the impact of the hit.
Then Issac''s body flicked dodging a sharp strike of tomahawk thrown towards him with a bursting momentum.
Appearing over a safe distance, he stretched his arms and clenched his fist.
All the mana around him swirled and seemed to be sucked into his hand.
mes amplified and a starlight flickered.
The surrounding space vibrated burning like mes and the temperature of the area rose by several margins.
"Let''s see if you can keep going after I smash this on your face."
A wide grin formed over Issac''s face as the red me continued to agglomerate in his fist which was clenched even more strongly.
Taking a bigger step forward, Issac''s fist holding the mes shot forward smashing the waves of power of the opposite side.
With a flicker illuminating the entire vicinity, a zing pir of me from Issac''s first horizontally carried a concentrated mass like a me bazooka that instantly annihted and obliterated anything that stood in its path.
The raging fiery pirs with the might of volcanic eruptions hit several of the ck figures who attempted to protect themselves using barriers but all this was for nought.
BOOM!
When the light subsided, a huge hollow rift in everyone''s eyes with the rock emitting fiery hot mes.
The ck warrior who was caught was vaporized and vanished into a mass of nothingness.
Those who managed to protect themselves stared at this in disbelief and raised the danger level of the boy in their minds.
"Are you a maniac?! There were 1st years in your attack range!!"
Lara''s fierce roar disrupting Issac''s hearing.
Issac saw them ring at him with a deadly stare but he just shrugged his shoulders showing that he didn''t give a damn.
"Useless people should die."
"Don''t worry, I have them."
Azy voice echoed and Ian''s image carrying four people over his shoulder appeared.
Staring at the huge rift, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"It''s good to have bloodline ability. I wish I had some ability, probably something that can help me have a nicefortable sleep."
"Shut up! Stop talking about sleep in this situation and take them to a safe distance."
Lara shouting, pulled out a small hammer from her storage space and leapt ahead towards the ck man.
"Got it." Ian yawned, takingrge big strides.
Before going back, he gave Issac a menacing look,"Issac, if by chance you killed someone and their parents dared to disturb my sleep, I am warning you, I will not let you sleep until you are out of the academy."
Then leaving a flicker, Ian''s images moved as fast as lightning carrying the dead weights.
Meanwhile, though theirrades were wiped out of existence, there wasn''t any sign of fear or hesitation in their eyes.
Rather seeing the woman darting towards them holding a small pinkish hammer, they burst intoughter.
"Little girl, what''s this?"
"Did you bring this toy hammer to fight me?"
"Girl, go away and y house games. Don''t waste our time."
"What did you say?" Lara''s eyes became cold and she swung her small hammer.
The man was mocking Lara just standing on his spot puffing his chest to get hit.
[Erge]
However, hisughter didn''t linger for long as just before the hammer struck his body, it erged into a gigantic mass and crashed onto him sending him flying with cracked bones.
[Shrink]
Under everyone''s astonishing eyes, the hammer shrunk again and then erging as huge as a big boulder, smashed the ground sending shockwaves that pushed them away.
The sight of a small daintydy smashing everything on sight with a huge hammer sent chills down the spine of many.
Lara''s bloodline ability can make any non-living object expand and shrink to a certain limit, amplifying the momentum of the attack.
Many people even considered this a godly ability if not for its limitation of not being effective on living objects or things that originate from them like food, grains, and materials from monsters.
"Hey, you came again."
The man''s heart chilled and he tried to run away, but his back was wrecked by a hammer sending him flying.
A little bit from afar, others swallowed their saliva seeing the man burning down everything while another girl sent them flying.
Then their gaze fell on a pink hair weirdo boy who was standing there swaying his hips while twirling his fingers with nervousness.
"Is this a boy or a girl?"
"A boy?"
"Tsk¡what a sissy bastard. Come let''s torture this guy."
Letting out an eerieughter, they ran towards the girly boy thinking about the pleasant scene of torture however little did they know about the cruel fate that awaited them.
Chapter 194 194:A Series Of Misfortune
?
With a sneer, a man with hollow eyes appeared right before Mogan startling him and making him step back.
Laughing at the naive boy in his heart, he extended his fist to grab him.
However, in an instant, the hollow man who was pouncing on Mogan suddenly felt his vision bing dark.
''Why did it be dark all of a sudden?''
The man wondered for a moment.
Unfortunately, before he could find the answer, a huge palm emerging out of nowhere mmed him onto the ground.
BOOM!
Ayer of dust rose along with fierce coercion sweeping away the dust and debris.
The ground crackled forming arge pit inside which the man was crushed into meat paste by the swat of the palm.
As theyer dissipated, an image of a humongous humanoid creature appeared terrorizing them.
Mogan body swelled up.
Leaving the stretched pants, his upper clothes tore up exuding his bulky muscles. His arms bulged as thick as a log and his pinkish hair stood up erect and his pupils became nk.
A dense pressure radiating from him and just a nce from his ck eyes was enough to make you feel goosebumps.
A fierce breath filled with manliness exuded from him startling the enemies wondering how this sissy pants turned into a World BodyBuilding Champion in an instant.
"What kind of weird bloodline do people have nowadays?"
Let alone the enemies, the students who were on the run were so shocked by Mogan''s transformation, that they halted on their steps for a moment as their legs became petrified.
Mogan mmed his chest creating a small ripple and pointed his thumb at the enemies.
"You all. Come at me together, I am gonna crush all of you into pieces."
Letting a hoarse manly voice, Mogan rubbed his huge broad palms.
"Shut up, you are still sissy pants.''''
Two enemies after getting out of their bewilderment joined the fray.
Soon after that a sh of light with a deafening roar creating sonic booms shot at Mogan.
Seeing the wave of pulsating energy moving straight toward his heart, a sneer appeared on his lips.
Leaving behind a devastated cracked ground, Mogan leapt into the air, jumping straight towards the attack.
Extending both his arms towards the other side, he brought them together to make a p.
CLAP!
A concentrated mass of pressure created by the p collided with the sh of lightning.
BOOM!
The ground cracked forming a rift and the magical energy in lightning was dissipated and thwarted like smoke sending tremors of shockwaves.
The power of shockwaves sent back the enemies hurtling backwards and crashing onto the ground like rag dolls.
Letting out a groan, they tried to get up on their feet but the moment they raised their chin, their eyes met with the nk white eyes of a huge bulky man blocking the light.
Even before they could react, they saw a huge fist hurling their way making their vision be blurry.
BOOOOOOOM!
...
Calvin who was ying with Julian suddenly saw the dimming number of the men he brought and clicked his tongue.
"Tsk! Useless!"
"Each one of them is useless."
CLANG!
Julian''s eyes shed as suddenly a ck smoke hovered around Calvin shrouding him in a sea of mystery.
Julian, feeling an unusual burst of energy from the attack, raised her ck greatsword to defend but as soon as the burst of energy struck, her figure bounced back like aet.
Sending Julian''s eyes, Calvin turned back with an annoyed expression.
"Cannon fodders will always be cannon fodders."
He turned around at the 80 people who were carving a magical circle of blood for the ritual.
If he sends them, they can naturally take care of these kids but it may end up with these kids dying if they fail to control themselves.
Initially, he nned to kill all of the students but he was ordered by headquarters to restrain from killing them as all of them are noble heirs of major families.
As they still can''t afford to have a frontal war with an Empire.
They allowed that boy to kill the son of the Duke because that boy took a huge risk for them and managed toplete the task sessfully.
As for this girl, she was going to end upatose for the rest of her life and this may also divert the attention of the Royals in searching for a cure for her which might buy some time for them.
"Arise my fellow mates and cast your deadly skills."
As soon as his words ceased a dark green mist emerged from his body after which many ghouls appeared surrounding him.
Then he raised his staff and chanted.
A huge arcana magic circle covered the sky bursting out into a radiant greenish light.
"Illusion Aracana."
A greenish wave of light illuminated the whole ce engulfing everyone into its shine.
"You all take on the ones who manage to get out from the illusion. Dont kill them. You can y with them as long as you like."
Calvin ordered the ghoul who screamed excitedly as if they were going to have a feast.
GRRR!
SRRRE!
SCRREE!
The ghouls let out piercing howls as if they were filled with happiness for getting the freedom to y.
His gaze then turned towards Julian who was gasping heavily.
"Come on, girl. Fight me with everything you have got as this might be thest fight of your life."
Julian raising her chin stared into the man''s hollow eyes and scoffed.
"Last fight?!"
"Certainly not."
Julian snorted and dived forward with great momentum.
....
Cough....Cough....
Humphrey coughed to snap Monica''s thoughts who blushed for a moment.
Averting her gaze with a shy expression, Monica shook her head.
"Hey, what do you mean by that?"
Humphrey who was enjoying the moment of his own because of being supported and helped by Monica to walk to the safe zone suddenly felt sour seeing Monica staring at Mogan intently.
Seeing Humphrey''s piercing gaze, Monica calming down turned her face towards Humphrey.
At that time, a greenish light blinded her vision.
The moment her vision became normal, she gasped in shock and pushed away the skeleton figure that had an arm around her neck.
"Kyaaaaaaaak!"
"Who are you? Where is Humphrey?"
Monica shouted with a pale expression seeing the skeleton getting up.
"Monica it''s me, Humphrey."
"Why did you push me down? Is it me, Humphrey!!"
The skeleton opened its jaw to emit words in Humphrey''s voice making Monica panic.
Meanwhile, Humphrey, who was pushed by Monica, stood there rooted with a dark expression.
"Don''te near me. You disgust me."
"I don''t like you. In fact, I hate you."
"Monica...what are you saying?"
Humphrey''s face turned ashen and his heartfelt stabs and Monica''s words started ringing in his ears.
He took a step forward but stopped seeing Monica preparing a spell to hit him.
Soon his vision was covered with a huge magical circle encasing his whole vision.
...
"It''s my fault."
"I am an idiot."
"I should have quit instead of dreaming of getting a good rank and being delusional that I have grown up."
Drops of tears oozed out from his eyes thinking about his pathetic situation. His heart was gripping tightly by fear and he felt as if he was just few inches away from death.
Roan who was crawling down and wriggling slowly towards the safe zone in fear of being hit by a shock wave suddenly felt his surroundings changing and everything became dark.
A white light shed and many people appeared crowding with him at the center and started mocking him.
"You are useless."
"You are just surviving by hugging other''s thighs."
"You are dead weight."
"Baggage that can be thrown away at any moment."
"Dead weight...No, I am not a dead weight!"Roan refuted immediately but everyone just sneered andughed at him.
"You are an idiot."
"You are a mere bottom feeder. You can never climb up the ranks. You are weak and rely on others. You take advantage of your friendship to get safety. Heck, you aren''t even worthy enough for us to even spit on you."
"Shut...Shut up!!"
Kneeling, Roan closed his ears and started screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Why are you looking down instead of looking at us? Isn''t it because you are just sub-par and don''t deserve to be friends with them? Soon you are going toy in the dust and stay behind."
"No...I will not!"Roan screamed with a trembling voice. His body quivered and even though he tried to cut his hearing, words were still pouring into his ears.
"I can move forward. If Lucas can get stronger, I can too!"
"Hahahahah!"
"Hahahaha!"
A burst ofughter rang all around.
"Stop being delusional."
"You are not Lucas. Soon, very soon the same people who stay close to you will discard you and try to stay further and further away from you."
"And then like this, you will just be a poor, lonely pathetic soul with no one to look after you. Even your own family would be disgusted at you."
"Stop...Please stop..."
Drops of tears started to slide against his cheek.
He knew he was living in vanity.
He knew it was useless for him to get stronger, unlike others who could move forward faster than him and get stronger.
"Roan....leave...."
"There is still time...Get away from them."
"Don''t delude yourself further."
A loud voice rang all around Roan and unable to bear it, Roan hugged his body and cuddled, unable to find the strength to refute the voices ringing in his head.
Chapter 195 195:A Series Of Misfortune[2]
Chapter 195 Chapter 195:A Series Of Misfortune[2]
"What should I do?"
"Should I get myself involved in this madness?''''Frederick squinted his eyes, staring at the ck-robbed figures blocked by the four seniors.
These four people were able to block 20 6-Star by themselves. One has to acknowledge their strength but there is always a chance of a mishap.
Few students had already crossed the threshold barrier to the safe zone. Frederick, who stood there, had to act as doorman for them.
As Frederick fell into deep contemtion, he heard a shout of his name from afar.
"Frederick, those bastards are doing a ritual. We need to disrupt that."
Frederick raised his chin and saw Parth shouting while crawling out from a small rift pulled by Axel.
"Ritual....What Ritual...Where?"Frederick almost jumped on his feet and asked with a solemn voice.
The Dark Church by themselves are already a headache but they are feared more because of the forbidden rituals for calling Evil God and spirit by sacrificing lives.
Frederick panicked and turned his gaze.
Smoke and dust covered his vision, making it difficult for him to get a clear glimpse.
"It''s there."Parth pointed his hand while coughing out the dust and smoke.
Frederick strolled forward and reached near Parth to stare around.
After a moment, his gazended on a group forming a circle.
"Fuck...These bastards."
"Lucas is already nning to do something," Axel eximed.
"Okay, I will try to help. Meanwhile, here take this token and help everyone to get inside.
Frederick muttered darting forward but he had hardly taken a few steps when a blinding green sh covered his vision which was followed by loudughter and sneers aimed at him.
"Filthy blood."
"Son of a whore."
"His mother is a slut who seduced a Duke."
"Let me tell you, he will surely be a yboy cheating bastard when he grows up."
"What a disgusting creature. If I was Duke, I would have strangled him at his birth instead of letting him live and stain the name of my family."
"He will surely sink the name of Frost."
"Dirty¡Dirty¡.Totally dirty and vile creature."
Frederick, who stood there stiffly, after hearing those words, the memories that were buried deep inside his mind, exploded piercing through the dark veil with a grunted angry voice.
"These bastards!"
...
"You are weak."
"You can''t defeat me."
"Your petty tricks won''t work on me."
"A loser will forever be a loser."
"No matter how much you try, you can never defeat me."
A hoarse cold yet familiar voice echoed in his ear.
"Fr...Frederick.."
Charles'' feet which were running towards the safe zone suddenly came to stand still, bing petrified all of sudden.
Thest thing he remembered was a green smoke covering his vision.
His body froze and his pupils contracted.
The world around him became blurred and pitch-dark.
Gentle steps resounded and from the pitch ck darkness, several images appeared in his sight.
Charles frowned seeing many Fredericks walking around him and started whispering loudly.
"What happens to your pride?"
"Weren''t you being too haughty before? Now you are not much different from a licking dog."
"A mere dog."
"Your parents should be ashamed of giving birth to someone like you."
"You are a big stain on Warren''s family."
"You are a stain that destroys the honour of nobility."
"In the end, you are the same as me. Just filthy blood that stains the very essence of nobility."
Mocking sounds rang one after another in his ear.
''Am I really a stain?''
''Yes, what happened to me?''
''How did I fell so low?''
''These disgusting ants dare to bark by staring into my eyes.''
''I should kill these insects.''
Charles''s mind started clouding and his lips curled up with a sinister smile simr to his old viinous days.
Charles looked down and saw a female Frederick in his arms who was sneering at him.
"You are nothing in front of me."
His first reaction was to throw away Frederick in his arms who kept taunting but his action froze in the middle.
The cloudiness in his eyes started to disappear as the figure of the purple-haired girl shed in his vision.
With his breathing hastening, his chest rose up and down with a bizarre ufortable feeling.
''Wasn''t I carrying Tiffany?''
Gaining back his sanity, Charles roared with anger, being fed up with this bullshit.
"Shut up!"
"Do you think you can trick me with a few words?"
As if stirred by something, the blurry space disappears and Charles, due to his clear-headedness, manages to ovee the illusion.
Seeing everything returning to normal, Charles heaved in relief and looked down at Tiffany in his arms only to be bewildered out of his wits.
The stoic-looking Tiffany in his arms was nowhere to be seen.
"Please....don''t tell everyone about this...Please keep it a secret."
"People willugh at my bloodline powers."
Seeing the frail and shivering girls with teary eyes, Charles''s heart stirred and melted for a moment but hearing her words and guessing the illusion she was going through, Charles''s lips twitched.
"Isn''t this girl mentality too weak?"
"What''s the problem if others know your bloodline ability? Many don''t even have that."
Charles decided to leave her for now and wake her up inside the safe zone so that he can have a pleasant talk with her.
Charles upon ncing around was stupefied seeing someone jumping like monkeys, some crying and some shivering in fear while rolling on the floor.
Meanwhile, a group of ghouls were slowly approaching them, seeing which his eyes were almost popping out of their sockets.
"Shit!"
Charles screamed and just as he took a step, another illusion hit him leaving him speechless.
"Now what the fuck is this?"
Charles shouted seeing his parents'' faces this time.
...
Far away from the group performing a ritual, emerging behind a big rock, Lucas slid his head to observe them.
"I am almost 200 metres away from them."
Murmuring faintly, Lucas pulled out the ring given by Luna and wore the locket given to him by the Vice President.
With extra life and a locket to save him from the attacks, Lucas was quite confident of his survival.
If he can''t get out of here alive, then no one could because he might be one of the countable few people in this world who has extra life in his hands.
"I can put my hopes on Frederick. I need to do something. Julian is enough to halt Calvin. If that old man tries to kill her the safety magic and protector golems would activate. So the biggest risk is this magical circle. Only God knows who they are going to summon. Even if an evil spirit clone descends then except me everyone is done for."
Just because he had an extra life, it didn''t mean he could just throw it away.
If possible he wanted to try to hit first instead of waiting for the situation to be dire.
Lucas was waiting for them to start the ritual and in the middle of the chant just when they would offer a sacrifice, he would throw the bombs in his arsenal to disrupt the magical circle.
That would also cause them to suffer a bacsh and the magic circle may explode, killing them, and preventing a worse-case scenario.
The next thing he needed to do was to take that Blood Chalice that was floating in the middle near that man named Calvin.
"The cksmith who made must be a suicidal psychopath with a weird fetish."
It was an evil artifact that kills the owner itself so he wasn''t an idiot to touch it. As it is in its activated state.
So, to transfer the ownership and free this restricted space, you just need to beat someone until half dead and make that guy touch it.
After that, kill the person and the artifact will enter into a deactivated state and lose its blood colour, bing safe for normal touch.
"Okay, I will hide here and find a suitable opportunity. I will throw the bombs and smoke screen from afar and then run away."
"Once that geezer''s attention is drawn, I will think of a way tomunicate with Julian about Chalice or ry this information to someone."
Lucas who formted the n and watched to and fro before the act, suddenly closed his eyes due to the influx of bright light.
"What the hell happened now?"
On opening his eyes again, he found himself in the dark empty space.
''An illusion.''
''Has the illusion already started?''
Darkness.
It''s the only thing Lucas could think of seeing the dark space.
His first thought was to step out by using the ring gifted to him by Luna but on a second note he remembered that ring would directly pull him out once the illusion started affecting him.
Until then, he needs to keep calm.
Illusion often targets the weakness of mentality and the inner fear you have.
Once it resurfaces a person might find it hard to suppress that fear.
As Lucas walked further into the dark, the space slowly started disrupting and turning bloody.
It was then everything became hazy and crimson.
He slowly found himself sinking into a pool of blood.
His body, which was stranded in blood, suddenly heard a loud sob that made his hair stand up.
"You are not my son.''''
"Mom!"
A scream full of panic erupted from his lips subconsciously.
Then as if a haze had been lifted, a figure of crimson-haired woman holding onto a bloodied disfigured person appeared in his vision.
"You killed him."
"What?"
A drowning sense of uneasiness weighed upon Lucas clutching his heart tightly.
It was then, that the woman who looked like his mother lifted her chin with a face soaked in blood tears that burst out from her eyes.
"You killed my precious son."
"You are a sinner."
"You deceived me, them and everyone in the world. Wearing the mask of my son, you yed with us without feeling a single regret!"
Following her voice, a wrinkled man with a simr face to his father appears.
"Why did you kill my son?"
"No, I didn''t."
Lucas''s words struck his chest as everything his mother said stabbed his heart like an arrow.
"You did. You killed my precious child and took over his face pretending to be him. You took advantage of our love for him."
"Not only snatch his ce, you took everything that belonged to my son."
"His power, his friends, his glory and his love."
"All of this you have now belonged to my son.''''
The woman''s roar sends tremors inside Lucas''s body making his mind and vision blur.
"You are not the Lucas I know. You are an imposter!!"
It was then Julian''s icy cold voice resounded who stared at him coldly giving him a disgusted look.
"You are not my friend. You are someone else. Where is Lucas?"
Following that voice, Roan, Parth, Frederick and many other familiar faces started cornering him and pointing fingers at him.
That heart-tearing-wrenching sound of the woman who not only had a simr face to the mother of his past life but also had the same voice and demeanor made him feel guilty.
...¡..
My mind was almost blown away by the countless mes and swears pouring inside my ears.
At that moment, I could feel my sinking deeper into my guilt.
The questions that I had never asked myself or that I have suppressed deep inside my heart started to resurface.
What happened to the original Lucas?
Did I really kill him?
So, what happened to his soul?
Did I steal his face?
What if this whole thing is fake?
As I looked down, I was surprised to see the face reflected in the blood pool.
The face had an expression of shock, pain, guilt, anger, and loneliness with tears oozing out from its eyes.
I..I never knew that I could make such an expression that looked as if I had lost everything.
There is an emptiness that makes me feel that I don''t belong to this world no matter how much I deceive myself.
At the end of the day, I am an otherworldly individual and one day all the things I have might disappear and this identity of Lucas that I have worked hard to ept may be taken away.
Everything that I hold dear in my heart might be snatched away from me forcefully, leaving behind the powerless and helpless ordinary boy named Roy who could neither resist the impending death nor avert the cruel fate that mighty ahead.
Chapter 196 196:A Series Of Misfortune[3]
Chapter 196 Chapter 196:A Series Of Misfortune[3]
Lucas who was deeply submerged in his unending fleeting emotions of self doubt was forced to wake by a hot warm energy enveloping him.
Soon the horrific scenario was torn away by a white light anding to his senses, Lucas caught sight of the glowing ring in the forefinger of his right hand.
His back was drenched in a cold sweat thinking about the scenario he had just done through now.
He thought he could wake up from it easily but he was drowned in the sinking feeling of uneasiness which let him uncover his biggest fear.
"My mental strength. Is it too weak?"
"Other transmigrators'' mentality is so strong and even if they are affected their system wakes them up, but in the case of mine¡"
Lucas sighed inwardly.
If he hadn''t this ring, only God knows what would have happened.
If you were caught in such a scene, getting out is easier said than done until you can ovee that knot.
The only thing that could affect him now was the thought that everything he had worked hard for would one day disappear and waking up, he may find himself in a white bed in a hospital after that train ident.
This feeling of your efforts being discarded as futile really stings the heart.
KRRRRRRRR!
SCRRRRRRR!
Brutal howls simr to that of bestial roar came up from behind him.
Lucas turned around to see a huge number of undeads making their way and also caught sight of frozen students caught up in the illusion and going through a scene that affected their minds.
"Frederick seems to be better. The illusion seems to be cast over three steps. So, he will be out soon."
"These undeads seem to be guarding us instead of fighting as if wanting to prevent us from going further down thene. What are they going..."
Upon turning his head, a scene that struck deep in his heart reflected in his vision.
His throat became dry and a chill ran down the depth of his spine.
In his sight, a colossal skeleton''s hands thrust out from the ground.
The edges of the hands had sharp tips which encased many hands. At the top of it, a silhouette of a woman came into his view.
Her bloody-stained lips were trembling and her body was convulsing with agony. Her abdomen had a bloody cut and both her shoulders had been pierced with a sharp bone.
Despite this, she gritted her teeth, freezing the huge skeleton structure and hitting it, breaking it into a small ice mass.
As soon as the impaled skeleton structure was broken, she crashed onto the ground with a thud.
The image of the cold and prideful Goddess that people admired was nowhere to be seen, rather a disheveled lonely woman fighting for everyone''s safety and giving her all in a pitiful state wasid bare in front of his eyes.
As if the whole scene was just a lie, Lucas closed his eyes and turned around ignoring his screaming heart and trembling body.
"I should move to the safe zone. It''s dangerous."
Lucas had hardly taken a step when a headache severest of allpared to the previous time assaulted him making his vision blurry.
"Ahhhhh!"
He let out a disgruntled voice due to a sudden influx of pain making his vision flurry and made him clutch his head while feeling like several detonating bombs seemed to be exploding one after another in his mind.
"It hurts."
"What is wrong with me?"
His head seemed light and his thoughts were running wild.
There seemed to be many bugs crawling around the top of his head, and his stomach was churning.
Suddenly, Lucas''s whole body burst out with a terrifying aura.
Taking a step that cracked the ground, turning around his body contrary to his will, he shot towards the horde of undead bravely with a stoic expression while screaming inwardly.
''What fuck?! Why am I going there?!''
''What is going on?!''
''Who is controlling my body?!''
''Ahhhhhhh!''
His voice of doubts was suppressed forcefully by the strong emotion of anger.
His mind screamed saying this was a mistake.
A mistake that is going to cost his life but his heart was beating wild and shut everything as if signaling that he will regret it for the rest of his life if he doesn''t make a move.
The feeling of losing something precious started to cloud his mind.
His heart seemed to wrench in pain as if someone was tearing through his heart.
"I have lost once, there isn''t gonna be a second time."
A sentence unknown to him emerged from his lips.
The undead ghouls noticed a person charging towards them and let out an eerieughter that frightened one''s heart.
Lucas'' pupil concentrated and everything around ceased except for the undead.
The ghouls closed in with a blurring speed.
Lucas'' eyes couldn''t follow the huge amount of undead surrounding him but he didn''t need to follow it anyway as he could sense the attacksing at him.
Instantly, Lucas spun around raising his sword to deflect the iing blow.
The ghouls'' perilous ws inched closer to Lucas''s neck, biting into his flesh and in an instant, several ws dug into Lucas''s body making many blood holes.
SQSSSH!
However, much to the ghoul''s surprise, they witnessed that the thing they killed was an afterimage.
They turned their heads to look but it was toote.
A red solid line was drawn over the horizon illuminating the ce.
Swish!
The time ceased for a moment along with the ghouls'' movement which became stiff as statute. An instantter, the ghouls let out a shriek, and then the upper halves of the ghouls targeting Lucas were abruptly split apart.
Blood mes erupted from the cut part and swallowed the ghouls without giving them a chance to get back.
Meanwhile, Lucas had already passed through them.
Lucas stretched out his hand.
The air above Lucas started to condense.
The faint mist started to aggregate and soon a ray of ice spikes started to appear.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
Carried by gravity, the ice spike with increased momentum crashed into the frenzy of ghouls sting them away.
The ghouls who were at the front were impaled by sharp shards of ice that tore down their bodies.
Unfortunately, this wasn''t enough to drag them down unless they were attacked with blessed weapons or holy attack, one couldn''t contain them.
Lucas can only injure them to slow them and deal with them personally with his weapon.
Like a frock of wolves jumping on prey, the undead jumped on Lucas trying to dominate Lucas and pin him down.
The air was heavy with a stench of decay and the faint moans of grievance of ghouls echoed.
From the wriggling shadows emerged a huge horde of restless ghouls,their rotting flesh hanging loose from emaciated frames, eyes gleaming with malevolent hunger, broken jaws and wide-opened mouths letting out a rotten breath of resentment.
They closed in on Lucas with the nails of their fingers stretched wide glistening the rays of light.
BANG!
SCRATCH!
With a step, the ground underneath Lucas cracked. A crimson ray of light flickered as Lucas drew his gleaming de, disying countless timeless scratch marks in the air tearing everything apart the moment it was touched.
Unfazed by the brutality of getting ughtered, the ghouls lunged forward, their eerie chorus of hides and growls filled the ce drawing attention.
"Stand aside!"
A scream erupted from his lips.
In a breathtaking disy of skill, Lucas spun around and shed harder.
His de cut through countless times.
Each swing formed a step of the dance of death, a deadly waltz that left a trail of severed limbs and decaying corpses.
Limbs and heads rolled across the ce.
SLASH!SLASH!SLASH!
As if being possessed by a maniac, Lucas'' relentless swing became faster and harder.
A crimson aura resembling that of blood surged from Lucas''s body and exploded creating fierce gales.
His ck hair seemed to be tainted with crimson colour, and his pupil dted with a red glint surrounding the golden pupil.
His blood seemed to be boiling and his body seemed to be filled with vitality and so much strength that seemed to be surging with power.
A miraculous effect as if something inside him simr to the Berserker bloodline seemed to influence him.
Seeing a huge crowd blocking him, he gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. The crimson aura surging from his body condensed around his sword.
As if a switch had been pressed, Mana Devour activated and it was devouring the mana around the vicinity.
The intense coagtion and condensation to the point that lightning flickers started to emerge from it.
With a solid step, he arched and twisted his body. All the muscles of his body contracted to the maximum. Summoning every ounce of strength as if this were his final attack that may decide life and death, Lucas snapped his hands jerking them like a whip, propelling the sword forward.
The moment the sword left his hand, a bursting sound as if something split apart echoed.
BOOM!
The sound barrier seemed to be shaken like shattered ss and a shock wave overturned thend sweeping the dust and the sword containing a burst of magical energy hurled forward like artillery.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
The sword left a path of destruction clearing away the trail of ghouls that stood forward.
The ghouls standing on the path were obliterated and decimated into nothingness.
Lucas paced forward through the clear trail but just as he moved out, all of his hair stood up and from the corner of his eyes, he noticed a sharp beam of light hurling towards him
Lucas reacted instantly and twisted his foot, to draw his body aside. He had hardly moved aside when the beam pierced through his left chest leaving a gaping hole.
"Gawkk!"
Coughing blood, Lucas'' body shot back sliding against the ground and making his vision dark for a split second.
The beam passing through his body struck behind creating a small explosion.
The dust and pieces of pebbles rose and hit Lucas Pilling over it.
Chapter 197 197:Death Is Just A Step Away
?
Julian who was shing against the man was suddenly taken by surprise when after a rebound, the man summoned a huge skeleton hand that broke through her defence and managed to impale her, dealing a grievous fate.
In her wounded state, her attention was drawn to a smallmotion. Her eyes gazed at a group of hordes blocking certain someone.
"Don''t worry about that guy. Unluckily he will die. It would be good if he didn''t interfere or he was noble."
"s, he isn''t a noble so he will die."Calvin rubbed his chin with a cruel gruelling smile forming over his dried lips.
Since they had killed three to four nobles, another few wouldn''t make a difference until they were descendants of higher authority nobles.
As per themoners, it didn''t matter if they lived or died.
Julian''s eyes shone coldly hearing Calvin''s words. Her heart became agitated and a trace of impatience shone over her eyes.
A deep feeling of worry weighed over her.
However, itsted only for a moment as deep trust in him resurfaced.
"He might be thest person who might die. Knowing his meticulousness, I wouldn''t be surprised if he came back to life the very next day after he died."
"All I need to do is take you down and all of this will be over."
"You seem to trust him too much," Calvin muttered nonchntly.
"I am just stating a fact," Julian answered, remembering the precious ring Luna gave to Lucas that she had always kept beside her.
"Your defeat is already decided by fate."Calvinughed hearing her naive words.
Unresigned to fate, Julian summoned an icy mana exploding and freezing surroundings.
The icy st exploded from her body freezing the sharp skeleton''s spines and stabbing her body into a crystalline mass.
The frozen skeleton''s spines withered and broke with a crackling sound after being frozen. The broken pieces of sharp skeleton turned into a white powder, getting blown into the air.
Calvin stared at the bloodied pale figure of Julian on the ground.
With scratches and wounds all over her body along with two deep bloody holes, any ordinary person would have screamed and sumbed to pain.
For a Princess who was generally known as a flower of the Empire, her pain tolerance was so high that even Calvin was taken by surprise.
Throughout the battle, she had been pushed, beaten, thrown and impaled countless times to the point that her body had be battered and many bones had been cracked.
However, till now, he hadn''t heard a single disgruntled voice of pain as if the wounds of agony didn''t affect her.
Even as an enemy, he had to admire this girl and respect her for such perseverance.
Seeing her getting back on her feet with staggering steps.
"Still it''s a pity."
"Why struggle?"
"Why resist?"
"You are no match for me?"
"Surrender yourself to faith."
A hoarse crude voice fell in Julian''s ears making her body tremble.
Her body was trembling with pain and her mind was screaming to run away.
Closing her eyes, she muttered to him, and to herself as if answering her own dilemma.
"I can''t."
"Why?"
Calvin asked with a confused expression, raising his staff to see what tricks the little girl had.
Opening her beautiful crimson eyes with a resolute expression, Julian in a valent heroic tone spoke in a feeble yet firm resolute voice.
"Because I am the President of the Student Council."
"I am their head, their representative."
"If I will run away from the battlefield then what image would I have left? Even if I am not The President, I am the Princess."
Swish!
Mana started dancing around her as if adorning her firm will.
She took a step.
A pir of incandescent light of icy mana erupted from her body. An unparalleled wave of energy exploded from her body sending shockwaves and waves of chilling frost crashing everywhere like tides of ocean.
She stomped the ground to make it vibrate, and ayer of ice spread from her feet. Following her notion, many pirs of ice started to emerge surrounding her.
An icy storm emerged from her and it blew around like a fierce snowstorm, the surrounding temperature fell by a huge margin.
Her hair fluttered violently against gravity.
The mana around her started to condense on her bathing her with a bright oceanic hue.
Her entire body started being covered with ice while her hair fluttered and grew longer with a bluish haze.
She tossed her long hair towards her back while icy armour covered her body with several spikes on her shoulder de.
The huge ck sword glowed in her hand and quivered due to the influx of mana forming ayer of ice over it.
"That''s interesting," Calvin muttered, squinting his eyes with interest.
He could feel a humongous amount of mana that had been stored in her body bursting out all of a sudden as if a dam guarding a reservoir had been broken. The seemingly simple yet ethereal mana that was circting in an orderly manner despite chaotic blockage in its path piqued his interest.
Just because he looks like a geezer rolling in sewage currently, one shouldn''t underestimate him. He was one of the highly talented magicians who finally have up before the ticking bomb of old age and switched to the dark mage.
Even after this, he could discern the huge block of frozen mana inside the girl.
"Can you even handle that much power? You will die at this rate. There is a limit to everything. Your body will burst out if you keep releasing that much mana."
Calvinmented in a concerned tone. This time he wasn''t faking his concern as things were bing dangerous at this point.
He raised his guard to prevent any tragedy as if the girl died, all of their ns would be for naught. He twirled his finger over the huge skull formed on the staff enacting a fivefoldyer of mana in response to the mana gathering near her.
"It doesn''t matter."
Julian cut him off coldly.
Various runes inscribed over her sword began spinning emitting a threatening glow that even startled Calvin.
Emitting a white-bluish light, the huge ck sword turned into a bluish-icy spear with a condensed mass of magical energy at the tip.
Positioning herself in a throwing stance, she arched her body to the maximum.
"Being a Princess, I should act like one and stand at the forefront of danger instead of running away like a coward."
[Piercing Winter]
The moment those words were spoken, the runes on the spear erupted with a bright light as sheunched the spear.
All this happened in the span of a millisecond.
The spear in Julian''s hand disappeared in Calvin''s line of sight and before he or the world realized it, a shining spear in a menacing bluish aura wrapped by killing intent was already heading towards him.
"Sir Calvin!"The group of minions'' voices filled with shock were heard.
Calvin didn''t have time to respond as he waspletely stunned. At the end of the day, he was a mage and was confident in his skill but the speed of attack bewildered him. In less than a blink of an eye, he caught the sight of the tip of the spear appearing right over his hollow eyes.
Upon touching the barrier crafted by him, it froze the mana particles of the barrier, shattering it into pieces.
As the spear pierced his skull, all he felt was reminiscent of the feeling that he had forgotten long ago as he shed his mortal shell.
It was something that he thought he would never encounter again in this life.
But reality had proved otherwise.
The spear went through Calvin''s head causing it to vanish from existence. In the very next moment, the reactions to what Julian had just done began to ur.
The world was silent, unable to react at the speed the things transversed.
Several dying booming sounds were heard and the ground in front of them was split apart.
At the very next instant, an explosion urred and in the trail of the spear, a huge ice hill formed out of nowhere creating a gust of icy blizzard and changing the entire biome of the region.
The spear passing through Calvin, shot straight towards the group of people who were forming the ritual.
Julian was keeping an eye out for it and was waiting for a chance but she was blocked by Calvin.
Now after taking down Calvin, the spear dashed towards the group of people.
"Protect the ritual!"
"Don''t let it interfere!!"
Screaming in panic, a few people who were standing on the guard bombarded the spear but it slowed down only by a bit.
Unable to decrease its momentum, steeling their hearts, the group of maniacs jumped in front of it and exploded themselves to stop it.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM
Soon a chain of ear-splitting explosions urred forming a cloud of mes.
Meanwhile, with a huge hole over Calvin''s head, he just stood uprooted in his position with a frozen body.
Julian didn''t miss the opening.
She gripped her fist tightly and a terrifying surge of power erupted from her fist making mana swirl around it like a hurricane that sent out violent shockwaves in the air.
Looking at the frozen enemy, Julian''s eyes shone with a murderous glint as she punched forward making the space tear apart due to reaction force.
[Touch Of Winter]
Following her suit, a surge of white light erupted from her body and a burst of mana condensed in the air forming a crystal-shaped fist mark that shot forward following the force of the punch.
A wave of magical power surged around, condensing in the form of a white beam of light. The beam of light drummed through the air frantically creating circles of shockwaves upon shockwaves making their way tearing through the air.
That single punch reverberated the whole space around it and broke the barrier of sound as if tearing the void itself.
The atmosphere froze and the beam passed through an intense chilling st radiating all around.
Calvin''s expression inside the frozen mass of ice distorted.
A violent beam of light condensed into a crystal fist tore apart the icy hills in the path.
The beam of light engulfed him wholly and sted off the ice sculpture with a massive sonic boom resonating in the vicinity.
Following the st, the broken shards of ice were immediately dissipated into a snow mist.
Julian''s chest heaved up and down feeling out of breath.
Overcame by tiredness, she squatted on one knee.
Even though the opponent was killed, there was no joy in her expression rather than that, a vague aftertaste lingered on her lips.
An ominous sensation welled up and then her eyes trembled as a familiar voice rang in her ears.
"Girl, it''s not over yet."
"In terms of strength, I might not be better than 8-Star, however there is no guarantee that even a 9-Star can kill me."
Chapter 198 198:Death Is Just A Step Away[2]
?
Julian''s face became as pale as a sheet of paper and her heart started beating frantically.
For a moment, she felt as if the whole world was crashing down on her.
The previous attack was already her limit. With Lucas'' treatment method and asional heat infusion, she managed to suppress the Frost Curse and drew out her power without any bacsh.
However, if she pushes herself any more then she will be frozen to death.
Upon hearing the voice, she looked around for the source.
It was then her eyes caught the sight of small ck dust particles that were wriggling like worms which started to converge at a point.
Julian felt disgusted at the nauseous scene and knew that the old man wasing back alive.
She raised her hand to attack but her hand trembled with pain and her body refused to listen to hermand.
Gritting her teeth, and enduring the pain, she forced herself to attack through the searing pain. However, at that instant, startling her, the staff of the old man shot out and hit her.
Julian''s frozen body was unable to react and she was sted off the ground for a few metres.
She spurted blood and her left hand dislocated.
Rolling on the ground in pain for a few metres, she lifted her head with a panicked expression.
Gritting her teeth, she drew the mana in her left hand.
A bulb emerged from the wriggling mass of flesh, a mouth-like structure formed near its chest.
DUM!DUM!DUM!
Many sharp shreds of ice pir pierced that wriggling mass but contrary to her expectation, it passed through that bulb like a liquid and like a mass of condensed fiber, The wriggling mass jumped back and a screechful voice erupted from it.
"Girl, you are just 50 yearste. If it was before you might have killed for me sure."The half fleshy Calvin chuckled.
From the bulb, two stick-like masses erupted that formed a hand and a worm-like structure bifurcated to form legs.
"What...What are you?"Julian asked with a startled voice and noticed a small ball-like structure rolling towards Calvin.
"Sometimes, even I wonder what I am."Calvin''s body bent down and picked up the ball which turned out to be the cracked skull.
Seeing a huge hole in the left side, he clicked his tongue.
"I was running out of life so I used various forbidden means to extend my life but all of them failed. However, as I was on my deathbed, I finally managed to increase my lifespan."
"Do you want to know the method?"
A sinister crooked voice echoed in Julian''s ears and stirred her heart with horror.
"That is to cast my mortal shell, abandon my powers and fuse with a ghoul."Calvin put the skull back on the neck and a fleshy neck joined the pivot.
"The process was painful, the agony was too much and longsting but the results were quite satisfactory. Even the effect of holy light that damaged ghoul had lessened greatly due to the merging of human and ghoul."
Julian swallowed her saliva.
''How can I kill him if he is an undead ghoul.''
For the very first moment of her life, despair shone in her eyes as she was unable to think of a solution.
Her mind started running looking for various solutions but there was none.
There was no prior information in her mind nor did she remember hearing about such existence.
BOOM!
Julian''s mind was frozen by a bizarre scenario, suddenly became dizzy, feeling excruciating pain.
It was as if a bomb struck her head out of nowhere unbeknownst to her.
Countless crimson starlight and grey-coloured filled the sky. Several magic circles unfolded in the air one after another.
"Hehehehehehe!"
At that time a chillingughter echoed and Calvin''s lips parted wide apart with a deadly smile.
"Girl, the ytime is over."
"It''s time for the main scenario."
A huge pir of blood magic soared and many people circling it started to bow down and hit their heads.
The magic pir scattered and an eerie red light immerged,seeing that a simr scene like this appeared in her mind.
"This¡."
Julian bit her lip as her body shivered with a feeling as if thousands of bugs were crawling on her body.
She summoned every ounce of her strength to disrupt the ritual but a huge palm strike crashed over her and smashed her into a pit.
"I don''t have time to y with you any more."
"The end is near so stop resisting."Calvin snorted and stared at the pir with a hint of excitement.
''Finally, I can witness the descent of a God-level being. This life of struggle hasn''t been in vain."
"We seek the blessing of the Heavenly Spirit Abacharu."
"We wee the descent of the Evil Heavenly Spirit Abacharu."
The dark-robed figures circled around and started praying and greeting at the red pir.
The colourful lights of the sky began to be eaten by huge tentacles with bugs at the end of each of them.
The eerie dark mana silenced the atmosphere. A heavy pressure struck everyone making them realize the depth of the dark abyss that filled the entire sky.
Many small red eyes floating in the sky converged on a single point.
It was then that the huge sky was split apart with a red menacing pupil.
As soon as Julian saw the pupil, her survival instinct kicked in. The body protection over her body immediately shot up.
A high-level Golem shot out from Julian''s ring sensing a life-threatening situation and stood before her protecting her from the heavy pressure burdening her.
Then Julian shifted her gaze with a pale expression, she saw the pupil descending down and a huge flowery bud appeared in her and others'' vision.
The flower didn''t have leaves but tentacles wriggling and swirling around like worms.
At the centre of it, the huge eerie red and ck eye was embedded which gave an evesting memory of the nightmare that destroys one''s mind.
The tentacles were as dark as darkness itself and that pupil could suck the soul out of a person with a mere nce.
Calvin and his group felt goosebumps all over their body.
Their body froze with the feeling of countless tentacles wriggling on their bodies and sucking the very essence of their soul.
Even though they had dealt with nefarious beings and had seen many things that could give them nightmares, this was something beyond that.
Just to summon him, they had sacrificed countless beings of several hundred thousands.
"For what pathetic reason, have you disturbed me."
A majestic chilling voice was heard that shook the whole axis of the ce.
Calvin fell onto his knee and hit his head.
"We greet Heavenly General Of Evil Lord."
"We wee The Heavenly General of Evil Lord."
"Hmmm!"
A hoarse sombre ancient voice carrying a majestic strength simr to a God echoed.
It was then its huge pupil turned towards Julian.
Even before Julian could do anything, the escape talisman in her body activated and her figure glowed.
Just as her body was about to be pulled out by escape magic, the whole space around her was locked and the menacing pupil gaze shifted towards Julian making her body tremble as if it would burst into pieces.
Chapter 199 199:Death Is Just A Step Away[3]
Chapter 199 Chapter 199:Death Is Just A Step Away[3]
The Evil Heavenly Spirit Abacharu, a spirit that was second inmand under Evil God Mephisto who has four Heavenly Spirits as its generals.
They were beings who were born in primordial times and consumed the negative emotions of the world to reach their current level.
While Gods rely on people''s faith and goodwill, the Evil spirits rely on people''s ill feelings.
They were the opposite of Gods and could grant terrifying power in exchange for souls and sacrifices.
Even though Abacharu hadn''t descended in its original body, its power was utterly terrifying, making one shiver in horror with the thought of contending against it.
The students of both 3rd year and 1st year who were trapped in illusion suddenly broke out of reverie but what they experienced aftering out was not something someone of their age should go through.
The presence of Abacharu put forth great pressure on their minds tearing them apart. It was such a wrenching pain that almost everyone passed out unable to handle the mental coercion.
It was unknown whether they would be right when they woke up or lost their sanity.
Julian to whom the ancient being''s gaze was locked on was already making her feel despair like never before.
DEATH!
She could feel the hand of death caressing her back. The emotions of panic ran amok and the pain exerted on her mind was so great that her eyes became teary and let out a painful groan, she wriggled on the floor holding her head.
The pupil''s gaze then turned towards the group. The pressure exerted on the group and people rted to them subsided instantly.
"For what reason did you disturb me?"
"Heavenly Lord."
At that time, Calvin''s back was already drenched in cold sweat.
For some reason, Calvin felt that if he displeased the spirit he may be killed.
"Heavenly Lord, this girl has an ancient Guardian Spirit. Please extract the Guardian Spirit and separate it for us."
The huge pupil flickered with a strange glint.
Hearing Calvin''s words, Abacharu''s eye lingered over Julian for a few moments.
"What about the others?"
"Let them live."
Understanding the others, Abacharu referring to Calvin answered instantly without any panic even though a colossal pupil was flickering over his head emitting a pressure that hard to fathom.
If just a clone having almost 10% power had such terrifying then how terrifying must be the real body?
A deep silence prevailed for a moment.
After a moment of silence, a sentence filled with regret and a sigh much to everyone''s surprise emerged.
"What a pity."
Calvin''s brows creased along with others who raised their head to look at the pupil with a befuddled expression.
"Son Of Heaven."
"Daughter Of Heaven."
"A title so grand that was never justified."
Julian whose pain had subsided, stared at the spirit with a hateful expression filled with anger.
Her body was trembling beyond her control making it harder for her to even breathe properly.
She bit her lips to not let herself sumb to fear and summoned her courage trying to act befitting her status.
"What do you mean?"
Though Julian asked with curiosity, she was mainly trying to buy time to figure out a way to escape.
A sigh of pity escaped from the huge creature seeing Julian''s resolute expression.
"Though an Emperor who always spoon-feeds and drowns his children with love in childhood, the very same Emperor starts guarding against them thinking that they may usurp his throne."
"You, one of the noblest of all being born under heaven, quite dear to it but at the same time, it guards against the likes of you in fear of getting usurped."
"That curse...."
Julian''s eyes narrowed.
"Your curse is the limiter that heaven put on you."
"Being a spirit born from the sentiment of resentment, I can feel your anger towards heaven. How many times have you hid from others to shed tears? How many times have you felt like it''s better to give up on living? How many times have you wanted to raise your head against injustice, I can feel it all."
"That''s why I pity you."
"Do you think I need your pity?"
A trace of coldness along with fury shed in Julian''s eyes as she turned to get up a little but fell.
The effect of adrenaline managed to suppress her fear but her battered broken body refused to obey hermand.
"My Lord, please take away the guardian spirit quickly lest something happen."Calvin bowed his head and pleaded cause if a person died, the guardian spirit would return to its world waiting for a suitable sessor to be born again.
"Hmmm!"
With a solemn voice, the whole body of Abacharu stood horizontally casting a huge shadow on the ground.
Blood red barriers sprouted from the ground confining the space around them to minimize the chances of the guardian spirit''s escape.
The pupil covered the sky and many tentacles shot at Julian.
The Two golems guarding her sensing crisis, shot towards the tentacles descending on Julian.
The golems could even take on a blow against a 9-Star. Though they had great durability, theycked dexterity and fine movements.
Many tentacles shot and wrapped around the golem locking their movements. While trapping them, the tentacles turned into whips that shed them.
Amidst that, a tentacle with a pointed end pierced through the cores of the golems destroying their source of energy.
Losing power, on getting hit by the tentacles, they were shot on the ground with a loud bang.
A shock rummaged through the ces shaking everything out of the ce. The cores of the golems crumbled instantly and the mana contained in them jolted towards the atmosphere like a spurting fountain.
A mouth opened up at the end of the tentacles, and the mana released from the SS rank core was devoured making Julian baffled for a moment.
Her mind was starting to be clouded by various emotions.
The escape talisman was blocked by Abacharu by closing the space and the golems, which were thest line of defence, were crushed without any resistance.
Many pairs of dark tentacles shot towards her. Her body shone and a barrier formed from one of her rings which was activated around her.
However, Julian''s crystal blood eyes contracted and all the hair in her body stood erect seeing the tentacles passing through the barrier as if it was invisible.
"Get out!"
Julian roared coldly and the mana in her body exploded, freezing the tentacles that broke down into fine crystals.
But then, from the broken part, dark tentacles started to grow and seeing that, she crumbled to the ground.
She looked at many tentaclesing at her and being powerless to even move back a step, Julian closed her eyes imagining the horrible scenario that was going to happen.
A certain memory of her father shed in her eyes.
She remembered how she refused all the gifts when her father gave them to her and told him arrogantly that there would never be a situation where she would need the help of these things.
Looking back and thinking about her caring family, a crystal clear drop of liquid slid down to her cheek.
Julian who braced for the impact suddenly felt something amiss and opened her eyes.
"Ahhhh!''''
A scream erupted from her seeing thousands of tentacles around her with small holes at the tip.
They looked like a wriggling pair of worms which was disgusting and horrific to watch.
The tentacles didn''t move close towards Julian rather staying away, and started sucking something.
Julian who was befuddled by the action suddenly felt a bursting pain inside.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
She didn''t know the origin of the pain but she could feel something inside her was tearing apart.
No, it was as if her existence was shredded and torn into pieces of many.
Her scream of agony resonated inside the blood-red barrier.
Thousands of tentacles hovered in the air surrounding Julian pulling something.
The veins all over Julian''s body bulge and under the snow-white skim the vessel carrying the blood pulsated.
"Arghhhhhhhhh!"
Groaning in pain, she pped her hands and feet unable to contain the excruciating pain tearing her down. Drops of tears oozing out from her eyes shined like crystals falling onto the ground like dew.
White mana surged around her body forming a hurricane.
A chilling st emerged one after another.
Calvin who just stood quietly swallowed his saliva.
Pulling out a guardian spirit was quite difficult and on top of power, you need delicate control and means to tear it away from the natal soul of a person.
Guardian spirits are as strong as King Level Spirit and might not even be worse whenpared to Abacharu in their original form.
However, due to some reason like a threat or survival crisis, they form a contract with beings that would inherit their power and form a symbiotic rtionship by residing in them.
Many types of beings chosen by the guardian spirit were unable to awaken them and they passed to the next generation. If for some reason the person dies, they go back to their origin in the Spirit realm and wait for a suitable host to be born.
If something happens here, the girl will die and the Guardian Spirit of that girl will disappear for many years.
"It''s here."
Calvin spoke in a hoarse voice with a gleeful expression.
At that time, a roarrge enough to create earthquakes and split apart the sky bellowed across the horizon.
ROAAAARRRRR!
The ck robe men who stood behind Calvin fell to their knees holding their ears from which blood started to pour out due to the bursting of their eardrum.
Screams emerged from their lips as they rolled in pain unable to tolerate such a loud menacing sound.
From Julian, the body of a huge bluish-white figure materialized that roared angrily.
Its body was covered with crystalline scales that reflected the light and looked like a beautifully carved sculpture of God.
"Guardian Spirit, Ice Dragon Hilsa."
Calvin almost muttered seeing the majestic-looking dragon.
"Give up, Hilsa."
"The time of your death hase."
Abacharu''s majestic voice echoed and from the tentacles, thousands of blood chains shot out and wrapped around Ice Dragon Hilsa.
ROAR!ROARR!ROAR!
"You could have lived longer if you had awakened in her body. s, you met me today."
The materialized figure of the Ice Dragon was slowly torn apart from Julian''s body and was slowly pulled out.
Just as it was about to be pulled out from Julian''s body, a tremor shook the ground throwing everything into disarray.
CRUNG!
At that, a tearing sound resonated across the whole ce.
Abacharu''s movement halted and his huge pupil suddenly tilted towards the source of sound.
He didn''t perceive any movements because he was focused on extracting the spirit but now that he noticed, if he had a face there would be a big frown over it.
Following him, everyone present there looked around and heard the sound of violent malevolent screams.
Calvin''s eyes suddenly dyed with shock and astonishment seeing the familiar figure that was intercepted from approaching just a few minutes ago.
''How can it be that boy? Wasn''t he dying?
A bad premonition welled up inside the heart.
GRRRGGGG!
SCRRRR!
The huge blood-red barrier was torn apart and from that gap, the ghouls started pouring in as if running away from something dangerous, something precarious that overwhelmed the deep root of resentment inside them.
Behind the crowd of ghouls, the sound of loud steps that stifled one''s ears echoed.
"What a disgusting piece of shit this is."
"How the hell are you alive, you flowery monster shit. If I were in your ce, I would have killed myself."
A mocking voice resonated across the ce startling everyone.
Holding a ripped-off head dripping with blood, a boy with long dark hair walked in taking long strides.
The boy looked ordinary at best however the scene of this ordinary guy scaring the shit out of ghouls wasn''t something ordinary in any sense.
Abacharu''s huge pupil locked into the boy as he screamed.
"You dare mock me, one of the greatest evil spirits of all time?!"
"It seems you are mistaking the ugliest evil spirit of all time with the greatest."
"Kid, do you even know who I am."
"I am a being on par with Gods."
A menacing roar shook the ce and Abacharu''s huge pupil dted, emanating a huge threatening aura.
"Hahahahahaahha!"
Contrary to Abacharu''s expectation of witnessing the scene of the boy rolling down in pain, the boy startedughing holding his stomach as if he heard a very funny joke.
"Wha¡"
Abacharu who was about to speak again suddenly swallowed his words as an immense killing intent exploded from the boy''s body dyeing the whole ce red.
"Kiekekkeekkeekek!"
An eerie smile that scratched the depths of one soul making one tremble emerged from the boy''s lips as his body jolted with a maniacugh.
"God¡.."
With cold yet arrogantughter, a loud deration erupted from him.
"God, Angel, Demon, Devil, Spirits, they are all the same."
"Cause at the end, all of them just blew out together."
Chapter 200 200:Awakening
Chapter 200 Chapter 200:Awakening
A few minutes before the descent of the Evil Heavenly Spirit.
[Lucas POV]
"Aaaaahhhh!"
''Damn! It hurts. It burns like hell.''
''Ahhhh!''
Letting out a groan and coughing blood, I copsed onto the ground with a hole in the left side of my chest.
If not for my body reacting at the veryst moment, the small sharp beam of attack would have pierced through my chest and dug a hole right into my heart.
Though I might not have died still it would hurt.
I could feel sharp splinters from broken ribs and pieces of flesh getting stuck in my lungs, choking when I breathed.
I opened my lips to gasp the air and inhale it slowly to maintain my consciousness that was getting eroded by pain.
The attack came out of nowhere and suddenly threw me into disarray, however, it seems that this attack allowed me to regain control of my body.
Fuck¡
Just what the fuck happened with my body.
That feeling of being yourself but not you.
Getting your body controlled by a force and unable to resist such a thing, is a mad sickening feeling that no one wants to go through.
Even though it was just for a moment, the sense of trepidation was beyond words.
''Just which asshole controlled my body.''
My anger erupted and was way out of control as if all the hormone levels in my body had reached a peak.
''I will kill that guy and hack him into a thousand pieces, I dry his meat with salt and grind it into pieces, I will scatter it over the ins for birds and others to eat.''
''By the way, who the hell sneak attacks me?''
Shady bastard.
Though I was bbering non-stop for what seemed like an hour, hardly a few seconds had passed since I fell down
Since the protective amulet didn''t activate, that means it wasn''t a life-threatening attack.
Still, I may die for real and waste one precious life if I keepying here on the floor with a gaping hole.
I should get up quickly.
I used my left hand to press the wounds to stop the blood loss and took out a potion from the storage ring.
As I tried to take the potion with my coarse body and burning pain pressing against my chest, a shadow flickered beside him.
THUD!
BANG!
Something mmed against my wrist and a crackling sound of snapping of bones cracked along with a sudden influx of pain assaulting my brain.
"Ahhhh!"
Gritting my teeth to suppress the groan emerging from the pain, I squeezed my eyes only to see a darkened scarred figure pressing his foot on my fist.
The small vial of potion was broken in my palm and the sharp shards of ss had prated my skin. The finger and knuckle bone seemed to be crushed.
Blood started to flow down from my palms drenching the ground.
The scarred man let out an evil smile and looked down with a hint of surprise and a hint of yfulness.
"You broke out of the three-fold illusion. That''s rare."He asked curiously while stopping from pressing his soles further.
"Believe me that''s rare."
I don''t know why but I felt that this guy''s curiosity might be the reason for my death anniversary.
Instead of sumbing to his menacing re, I snickered.
"So, are you here to congratte me? In that case, why don''t youpensate me with a potion? You can give more than one."
"It''s not as if I mind," I answeredughing crazily while nning to detonate a bomb if things became worse.
"Hahahahaha!"The man burst intoughter.
"What a crazy guy?"
"You will be a fine addition to my undead. It seems I struck gold."
"You want to turn me undead.''''
My eyes shed with weariness.
This guy, isn''t he being too much?
Damn, I will st the bomb the moment hees closer.
"For making me an undead, you need to kill me first but can you even kill me."
"Do you even have the .."
BANG!
The man kicked my face and stomped on it.
An agonising crushing pain spread through my face.
"Shut up! You talk too much."
With a violent roar, the man raised his fist.
ck lightning coagted over his hands and at this time, his dark scaly eyes shone with a sh of happiness thinking about the prospect of gaining a toy.
Condensing a mass of dense magical energy, he shot down his fist towards my heart with murderous intent.
CRUNG!
His fist stooped just a few inches away from my chest, unable to move further as if an invisible barrier had appeared between the fist and my chest.
BOOM!
"Ahhhh!"
The man''s body was jolted back with the same force he tried to hit me.
The protective amulet also had a repulsive function that deflected a portion of the attack by the enemy.
Just having a protective amulet is useless.
As in the case of the enemy was quite close to me and was stopped by the barrier, can''t he just stand in and wait for the barrier to disappear and he can strike me again and again until the amulet loses its power?
Even if I run, the enemy might keep chasing me. I realised this fact a bitte and then asked for a Vice-President Lee of Hunter association for another one who exchanged the previous one with the current one.
Seeing the man rolling on the ground, I knew this was my chance.
I moved my hand, took out another potion and but a mental pain seemed to overwhelm him, my vision became nk.
Yes, it became nk due to an excruciating pressure on my mind as if someone ced a huge weight on my head.
"What the hell happened now?"
Using all my umted knowledge of my previous life to curse with everything I have, I gritted my teeth and raised my chin a bit to drop the potion straight into my lips.
However, as soon as my face was lifted a bit.
I felt goosebumps.
My whole body shook as if my whole existence was going to tear apart.
Whether it was due to my bad luck or a mistake on my part, just when I raised my face, my eyes saw a huge pupil descending down the sky.
My vision was distorted and torn apart and everything turned ck as if returning to nothingness.
In deathly stillness, a cacophony of shrill steps of a man stepping over some kind of liquid crackled.
"It seems that''s the furthest you can go by yourself."
"Still it is better than previous times of getting killed even before reaching the academy or getting killed bymitting suicide due to peer pressure."
Just then, a series of thoughts screamed through my head with an increasing intensity , that for a moment tore apart the veil of sanity.
Through my remaining consciousness, I tried to voice my thoughts and recover but my senses burst when I saw a familiar face simr to mine right before my eyes.
With a blood-red smile hanging over his lips, he caressed my face.
"Even though your ipetence level is a bit too high, it''s still better than the other version so for now leave everything to me and enjoy the sweetest slumber of abyss."
''Who¡are..?"
"Me¡.hahahhahah!''''
"What a question to ask oneself."
"I am you."
''The best version of you."
"The greatest you of all time."
As soon as the majestic cold tone faded, my mind was blown apart and a string of invisible messages shed across my retina as I sumbed to deep darkness.
[Host consciousness is shing against another.]
[Forcefully repelling the other one.]
[Error]
[Unable to repel.]
[Consciousness is overridden.]
[Host consciousness is overtaken by the other host.]
Chapter 201 201:Awakening[2]
Chapter 201 Chapter 201:Awakening[2]
"Ahhhh!"
The scared man groaned in pain falling into the ground. He looked at the remains of the left hand with a scream and agony.
The attack was reflected and the mana condensed over his hands, flocked back into his body bursting portions of his fist.
"Damn it! I am gonna kill you!"
His scream stopped momentarily, seeing a huge monstrous flower-like body descending down from the sky.
Fear struck his heart and he immediately bowed his head not daring to look up as there was always a taboo that¡
Never look at a God-level figure without their permission otherwise it wouldn''t end with a simple death.
There were even cases of people losing their minds and bing odd, vile, monstrous, creatures.
Like a statue, he bowed his head and kept kneeling.
After a span of a few moments, The Heavenly Spirit Abacharu dictated a crimson barrier.
This barrier wasn''t protection for him rather it was enacted to protect them from the mental coercion of a God.
"Good, I will kill that guy now."
"At first I wanted to make you a simple, trusty undead but now that you have provoked me, it will not end as simply as that, bastard. I''ll torture your soul till eternity, that is, only if you are still sane after undergoing the fierce coercion of Lord Abacharu."
"Hehheheeh!"
Letting out a crooked smile, he turned around only to find nothing.
"Where did he go?"
"Did he run away using the opportunity where I kneeled? No, this can''t be. How can kids survive such a strong mental coercion?"
He felt something amiss, and as he looked around he was startled to see the ghouls who were guarding around were slowly shrinking in fear as if they had spotted something terrifying.
GRRRRRR!
KRRRRR!
"Just wh....."
The man''s words struck over his throat and his body froze entirely like a statue.
Before he could finish his speech, a sense of crisis washed upon him out of nowhere.
An eerie ominous feeling shook his very existence as if thousands of bugs were crawling under his skin giving him goosebumps.
At that instant, a gentle caring hand touched his head and caressed his hair.
However, it was anything but gentle.
The inside of his body jolted as if an electrifying current passed through his body upon getting touched.
"Do you have life insurance?"
A cold.....very coldnguid voice that seemed to freeze the soul reached his ears.
Due to his stiff body, he only managed to move his eyeballs. Just as itnded on the person beside him.
All his senses screamed.
No, it wasn''t screaming rather it was crying for mercy. His whole existence seemed to be terrorised seeing the person.
Countless questions of shock and disbelief shed before his eyes.
It was the same boy that he wanted to kill a moment ago but now this boy was anything but a mere boy.
His facial features have be more refined and distinct. His face looked mature and had undergone vicissitudes of loss and agony.
He had long ck hair with reddish strands and for some reason, his eyes were closed but even though it was closed, he could feel the sharpness inside that could hack him into pieces any moment now.
His eyes bulged and were on the verge of popping out of their sockets.
From the corner of his eyes, he noticed a scene that he had never thought he would witness.
The ghouls...The ghouls were trembling with a mottled opened jaw expression and soon, the ghouls started running as if their lives were on the line.
"From your expression, I can see that there is none."
"Tsk...Tsk...Do you even think about family, wife or children."
"Wait a moment! How did I forget?"
A hint of realisation shed over the boy''s face.
"For women, you are just a no-man that should be avoided."
The scared man felt his heart stabbed and ughtered by a single sentence.
The man tried to open his lips to beg but his lips didn''t move.
"Now...Now, no need to thank me."
"For this free ticket to hell."
The moment his words echoed, a severe pain rippled him apart.
Holding the man''s hair, the boy pulled it out and tore his head from the neck creating a blood fountain.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!''''
"What a sonorous and pleasant scream, I like it."
It was then he felt a gaze.
A bloody smile crept over his lips.
"It seems I need to give someone a small warning for always messing things up."
Turning his head with a crackle He ced his hands on his chest, which inside of it, a warm energy was pulsating.
"Hmmmm!"
"It seems that this time there will be no bitch praising the Majesty of a Bigger Bitch."
A smile curled up sensing a faint energy left hidden in his heart by Luna.
"Girl...It seems you have made your choice."
Pressing his palms over his chest, he twisted it.
"If not for the blessing this would be an instant death, however..."
"Kekkekekekekek!"
With an eerieughter, he chanted.
"Overload!"
The mana flowing from his hand put pressure on his heart and the core inside it burst along with his heart.
Countless veins bulged over his chest spreading throughout his blood and mana started to run havoc in it.
BADUMP!
BADUMP!
Followed by a loud sound of heartbeat as loud as an explosion, the world started to lose its colour as soon it was shrouded by a nket of crimson veil.
.......
The descent of such a figure put a huge pressure on the ce that many pass out unable to bear it.
It wasn''t only a physical pressure but also a mental strain.
"What the hell is going on in there."
Gasping and heaving while supporting himself, Frederick screamed.
He was trapped in an illusion for a moment. And as he came out of it, ghouls started pounding on him.
Even before he could deal with them properly, he was forced upon his lenses due to a fierce mental strain.
As he raised his chin, countless voices started to pour into his head.
"Don''t look at it."
"Never look at God directly. Especially the evil spirit unless the other party allows it."
All of them were the voices of spirits residing in this ce. Due to his high spirit affinity gained by the blessing of Thunder Loach, the spirits couldmunicate with him.
When that thing descended, Frederick mistakenly took a nce and his body was petrified.
Thousands of ovepping images distorting his vision shook his mind and made him pass out for a few moments.
"What the hell is going on? What is that spirit doing in here?"
A spirit that was almost equal to a God.
One needs to pay a heavy price for such a summon.
Ten thousand- no, a hundred thousand life sacrifices.
Frederick shook his head to get out of his mentally confused state and stared at the people lying around.
At that time his eye caught sight of a ck figure who burst out like a balloon startling him.
Even before he could understand what was going on, he saw a figure standing back on his feet.
''Is it Luc...''
The figure with long hair extended his hand forward and then made a grappling motion.
Following that, the mana around the ce started dancing crazily around him creating a huge stir.
With a grappling motion, the figure then motioned his hand trying to tear something apart.
As soon as his action waspleted, a loud sound of space tearing apart resonated.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A huge rift tore apart the ground from the ce the figure stood and extended from his foot, the rift led to a blood wall that was soon shattered like ss.
"What?!!"
[Whattt?!]
Along with Frederick''s bewildered scream, the sound of Doom Piecer gasping in shock also resonated in his mind.
"What is that?!"
[How can I know? I am not omnipotent nor can I see the future.]
"My senses are screaming to ru¡"
His words struck in the throat as the head of that familiar figure turned 180¡ã, scaring the shit out of him.
"Kyakkkk!"
Frederick felt his mouth jump out of his throat seeing such an inhumane scene.
The rotated head started murmuring
Though it was too far, surprisingly Frederick could hear the voice that stabbed the depth of his heart.
"Whether it was past, present or future, a trash will always be a piece of trash."
"You were then, you are now and you will always be useless and ipetent."
At that moment a thunderous voice rang in his ear bursting his ear drum.
His vision exploded with thousands of blood-red hands and monstrous eyes locked onto him.
Blood tears leaked from his eyes as he fell on the ground like a lifeless corpse.
Chapter 202 202:Who Are You?
?
Inside the stadium, there was arge-scale uproar as all the nobles were surrounded by Imperial knights as if all of them were criminals.
"What the hell does the closing of the Tower have to do with us? Do you think we have that much power?"
"We are here to just watch, so what kind of treatment is this?"
"Are you not taking our status in the eye?"
Some nobles tried to push them away but as if stered on the ground, the Knight formation didn''t give them a leeway. Rather they pulled out their swords and prepared to fight back.
"Please don''t make things difficult for us. We have got orders. If anyone here dares to create trouble, they will be killed without any mercy."
"You dare!!!!"
"We are nobles, not some puny roadside criminal you bastard."
Their aura burst forth but it was counter-attacked by thousands of Knights.
Angry roars sauntered vibrating across the ce. The opposite forces shed creating arge ripple and cracks started to form in the structure of the stadium.
"Duke Holmes, please say something. You are the noblest person here so please ask the knights to withdraw."
Duke Holmes''s expression was already at its worst. His face looked as if he stepped on some shit.
He didn''t know what was happening inside the Tower but seeing Ezekiel getting stabbed, he knew that Ezekiel would surely lose and his rank may fall after he came out.
His son who should be ranked 1 might not even be ranked 10 now.
He clenched his fist to the point that his nail dug deep inside his skin.
''Those Arts..I will fucking kill them.No, I will exterminate their whole family after this. You dare to use us and turn your back away from me.''
''Disgusting pieces of shit.''
Duke Holmes whose thoughts were running wild was suddenly woken up from his thoughts on hearing a sudden outburst and people gazing at him.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he raised his hands.
"All of you please calm down."
"Things are already quite messy. Let''s not add fuel to the fire. The Knights guarding here is rather a good thing for our safety."
"All of you, have some patience and take a seat. Things will soon be over and the picture will be cleared."
The nobles could only mour gritting their teeth and swallowing their anger.
At that time, their senses perked up.
Galloping across the city, three of the lightsnded in the stadium before them.
The light faded, and the image of Two Dukes and Emperor appeared in everyone''s vision.
Witnessing the Emperor appearing himself, their first reaction was toin to the Emperor about this injustice served to them.
But all of them were forced to swallow their saliva seeing those dark hollow gazes of the Emperor that could suck their soul.
Don''t think that you can step on him and do as you please because The Emperor iszy and entric.
Once he bes serious, you will witness one of the deadliest foes that is hard to guard against.
"What is happening here?"
A small yet ethereal voice that seemed to make the world freeze echoed across the stadium.
Kevin''s white hair started floating and a murderous intent erupted from him.
"Brian!"
With a thud, Brian''s figure covered in armour shed before him.
"Your Highness!"
"What''s going on?"
"The...The tower is closed."Brian''s voice trembled in the middle as the situation was quite severe.
Much more severe than they initially expected.
As expected, Kevin''s expression froze like a thousand-year block of ice.
Everyone breathing stagnated for a moment seeing that face.
Thest time such an expression appeared on his face, every living being within a radius of 100km was frozen to dust.
"Did you talk with Sir Josh?"Kai intervened, seeing the situation getting out of hand.
"He is trying his best, he wasn''t able to interfere. We are now inquiring about the students who were eliminated recently at the end of a boss fight."
Kevin closed his eyes for a moment.
The image of his daughter who was there for a safety check appeared in his eyes.
His heart started to burn in fury and the ground underneath his feet started cracking.
Taking a breath to think, he opened his lips.
"Destroy it."
The atmosphere became somber for a moment as everyone felt that they heard something wrong.
"...What?"Frank''s eyes dted and his hands trembled.
"I said break the Tower. If there is no Tower, all the spaces inside it would disappear and those who are trapped inside wille out."
"Fuck, are you out of your mind?!! "Kai screamed.
"That is a Godly artifact gifted to us by God, not your usual Tower where couples climb to take selfies."
Frank and others who heard this, almost lost their footing and red at Kai, scolding him inwardly.
Kevin turned his head and his eyes locked on Kai giving him goosebumps.
"Do you think this is a joke? My daughter is there and so is your son. Do you want to stand here and do nothing and then cry if something happens to them?"
"And are you ignoring the sign of the world trembling? The flow is telling us to kill something. What if that thing is inside the Tower and might be killing our children?!"
Kevin roared, his voice carrying wrath sweeping everything with a strong chill gale¡
Since a while ago, the world has been subtly telling them to interfere and kill it.
Though it''s still unknown who it is or what it is, the world is warning them that this thing or person is dangerous.
"I have a n."Frank stepped forward.ppp
"Contact the Holy State immediately. Maybe they can do something or ask God for help. If the Saintess and Pope directly interfere they might have an audience with the God who can give us a direction."
Kevin''s eyes shone and he immediately ordered the personnel to contact the Holy Church but just then.
"No need!"
An old ancient voice echoed and a beam of light shot down from the sky.
The bright light enveloped Kevin startling him but he became calm as he knew the owner of the voice.
The Holy Lord Pope used his magic to send a signal from the Holy State directly
A warm pleasant voice echoed in his ears.
[Just stay put and wait. Everything will calm down. Don''t interfere. It is themand of the Goddess. Ignore the world''s calls.]
[I repeat don''t try to have second thoughts.]
"Why? What''s going on? Who is this guy the world is warning us about?"
The voice paused for a moment before speaking.
[He is mortal who transcended the very malevolence of the world.]
[ A mortal whose existence transcended the very existence of this world.]
[A being who doesn''t kill just your life but your dreams, your ambitions and your very existence in all timelines.]
[A mortal who isn''t crowned yet revered Sovereign of all.]
[He who destroys order and seeks chaos is here.]
[The Sovereign is here.]
The moment his voice fell, the blue crystal clear sky turned to blood red for a split second.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the world was shrouded by crimson veil.
...........
Inside the Tower, a deep silence lingered that was broken by a vicious roar.
"You dare interfere."
Suddenly with an earth-shaking roar, the monstrous pupil burned with fiery rage and grotesque tentacles shot along with anger reverberating like thunder tearing across the sky as he unleashed a torrent of powerful sts carried by tentacles.
The humongous tentacles were aimed at the boy who stood there with a loud grin on his face without cowering back.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
A thunderous voice echoed as the tentacles crashed into the ground creating arge-scale devastation sweeping throughout the ce.
A wave of dust swept everything clouding everyone''s vision that was blown away by Abacharu''s violent roar.
Calvin and his men who were unprepared for all this were blown away like rag dolls.
"My Lord, please calm down."
"Don''t waste your breath on such pathetic insects."Calvin pleaded trying to appease Abacharu as the ego of Supreme beings were quite big.
As the cloud of dust dissipated, a trail ofrge-scale devastation and cracked earth surfaced in everyone''s vision.
However, what they noticedter shook them to the core.
Despite such an attack, the group of students who should have died after getting caught in the aftermath were nowhere to be seen.
Instead of scenes of their bodies tattered and ttened into pieces of meat, what they saw were the floating bodies of the students flying away towards the safe zone.
Abacharu who was staring at the scene cautiously suddenly felt a shiver and turned his gaze to notice all the tentacles holding Ice Dragon Hilsa frozen by an unknown force.
SNAP!
A snapping sound echoed and a red line went past the tentacles tearing them apart.
The Guardian Spirit Hilsa as soon as he was freed moved inside Julian''s body and Julian''s figure started falling into the ground.
Before her body could crash into the ground, her body was suspended in the middle of the air.
Soon, an ice Throne appeared out of thin air over which Julian''s body restedfortably.
From behind the Ice Throne, a boy walked as if stepping in the middle air staring at Julian''s with his closed eyes.
"It has been countless years since I saw you."
"I will kill-"
"You dare to interrupt me!"The boy shouted, waving his hand.
Abacharu, who extended his tentacles to attack, suddenly felt a repulsing force and his body crashed into the ground with a loud bang.
BOOM!
As he turned back towards Julian, countless emotions shed on his face.
"In the reminiscence of my past, in the scenes of the future and the glory of the present, you are the one who adds value to my existence, weight to my presence."
Extending his hand, he slid his finger across her face and wiped the faint drops of tears lingering near on her eyes.
His breathing started bing heavier, and his sound of heartbeat started echoing in the vast ce as if beating the drums of war.
His face then abruptly turned towards Abacharu whose body flinched back with an unknown premonition.
"Congrattions."
"For what?"Abacharu asked while condensing his power to drag this guy into a deadly illusion.
"For pissing me off."
"Fool!''''
Following his words, a strange glint shed from Abacharu''s huge pupil.
The entire area was covered with green.
Lucas''s floating figure was suddenly covered with a seperate space, locking him through countless illusions that started to drag him down.
Thousands of eyes appeared around him showing images of vile and depraved creatures targeting him.
"Now, you are going to be trapped in here. I thought of sparing others but after your imprudence, I will kill everyone in this ce."
Hearing his sentence, Lucas couldn''t help but burst intoughter.
"Kekekekekekekeke!"
"You want to kill everyone in my presence, how brave."
"Since you challenged me, let me tell you something. I don''t give a shit who you have killed or what you have done so far but from now on..."
"From this very moment, you can''t touch anyone and you can''t kill anyone, the only thing that is left for you is despair."
"Stop showing off. You didn''t even open your eyes for fear of meeting my pupil and getting destroyed."Abacharu shouted with crookedughter.
"Hehehehehehe!"
But suddenly hisughter stopped as he found that something was amiss.
The boy who should have been screaming in despair stood there with the same nonchnt expression.
Lucas raised his brows and muttered while extending his hands to tap the space before him, "Such guts, even that duckhead Mephisto wet his pants when he stood before me."
CRACKLE!
Large-scale cracks started spreading like cobwebs and soon the space shattered like ss.
"You dare insult my liege!"Abacharu screamed.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Hearing the angered voice, Lucas''s lips curled upwards with an evil smile.
Soon the light of the entire world was cut off, drowning everything in darkness.
"You want to ask me, who am I?''''
"Hahahahahahaha!"
"Come on¡ask me again while looking straight into my eyes."
With that, Lucas finally opened his eyes, after which only one question rang like thunder in Abacharu''s mind.
''Who the hell did I provoke?''
Chapter 203 203:Who Are You?[2]
?
For a moment, everything turned dark.
The rays of light that help one to see suddenly vanished as if a heavenly phenomenon was taking ce.
In that dark ce that struck panic and chaos inside everyone''s heart, two red eyes materialized above the horizon drawing everyone''s attention.
All the voices ceased to exist except the sound of breathing and beating of heart.
BA DUMP!
BA DUMP!
BA DUMP!
Thebined sound of beating hearts from everyone echoed like the drums of war weing someone partaking in this glorious moment of Majesty.
It was then that his eyes opened and everyone''s vision exploded with crimson colour.
Two huge blood-red pupils appeared in space forcing everyone to stare at it. The piercing, malevolent eyes emerging from the darkness that seemed to flow with an otherworldly intensity, radiated an unsettling crimson light
"Kekekekekekekekekekekekekek!"
Apanied by an eerie bloodyughter, the world started to distort.
Crimson darkness descended across the ce disying the scene of a battlefield.
Screams and roars of pain from the corpses lying below echoed.
Like a burst of dam, a flood of blood crashed everywhere.
Amidst the eerie silence of a deste battlefield, there stood a man, an ominous figure, unmoved by the sea of lifeless bodies that surrounded him. His presence was chilling, and his gaze sent shivers down the spines of anyone who dared to look upon him.
The man''s dark, piercing eyes seemed to hold the weight of the world''s sorrows. They were windows to a soul tainted by the horrors of war. His face, etched with scars and weariness, bore the marks of countless battles. His demeanour was stoic, his posture unwavering, as if he had be one with the carnage that stretched before him.
He wore a tattered cloak that billowed in the cold, unforgiving wind, adding an aura of malevolence to his already menacing appearance. Bloodstains adorned his armour, evidence of the violence that he had brought to this grim ce.
As he surveyed the sea of corpses, his lips curled into a cold, emotionless smile. It was a smile that sent a shudder through the hearts of those who witnessed it, as it hinted at the cruelty of darkness in his heart that ran deeper than the blood-soaked earth beneath his feet.
The man''s very presence seemed tomand the attention of all who remained, freezing them in their tracks. In his cold, menacing look, he held the power to make even the bravest souls tremble, a reminder that amid the chaos of bloodthirsty war and the death of millions, he had be something more sinister, someone who had gone beyond the reach of humanity''spassion.
All ghouls around the ce burst out abruptly.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Argh!"
Calvin and his men''s legs buckled up.
A symphony of thuds echoed in quick session.
The ck-robed men screamed due to an agonizing pain from their eyes which were leaking tears of blood.
Even Abacharu''s pupil dted to the point as he along with everyone felt an invisible force tightening around their throats making it difficult to breathe.
Death!
That was the only thing they could think of now as the two chilling eyes became the focal point of their nightmares, drilling deep into their souls and filling them with a primal fear that threatened to consume them wholly.
Countless images from the future versions of him flooded Abacharu memory.
"No, this isn''t possible. How is he here?"
"Do you remember me now?"
A blood-cuddling smile that chills one''s heart was reflected on his pupil.
Abacharu whose whole body had frozen like a statue turned his monstrous body towards the girl sitting on the Throne.
For the very first time after he descended, he pondered carefully and observed the girl.
Then he felt something familiar.
As his gazended on the white-haired girl, the image of a scar-faced girl with a brunt body ovepped in his vision.
In the brisk moment, a bad premonition rose in his heart. He turned his gaze towards Calvin squatting on the floor.
"Hey!"
Calvin was forced awake by the loud voice reverberating in his ears and immediately bowed his head.
"Yes, My Lord."
"Is she a princess?"
"Uh!"
"Yes, she is."
Calvin stared up with a befuddled gaze wondering what Abacharu meant.
"Is her name...."
Unable to remember it correctly, he took a moment.
"Is it Julian?"
Standing surprised, Calvin just bowed his head and nodded.
"Yes it is, but why?"
This small yet audible voice rang like thunder.
Abacharu''s pupil widened as if it was going to burst out as a sudden realization struck him making him scream in disbelief.
"FUUUUUUUUCK!"
A memory, a certain memory that had been buried deep inside his heart and all the celestial creatures resurfaced again.
It wasn''t the figure of God or an Immortal being of Primordial times rather it was that of a distant future.
It was the figure of a man who stood beyond God.
He is The Vanquisher Of Three Realms.
The yer of Gods.
The Harbinger of Chaos and Destruction.
A symbol of fear for God of Death itself that reaps the soul of even Gods.
He looked like an ordinary feeble guy who might be blown away by a mere breath.
However...
Those eyes...
Those damn bloody red eyes...
The moment those eyes appear, even the world can''t stop trembling.
Such a nefarious being that was born carrying the weight of countless chaos.
An exception among millions of timelines that was beyond the world''s prediction.
Feeling the crisis of his existence being wiped out, he screamed trying to appease the person''s anger first.
"Lord.....I am innocent...I do..."
BOOOOOOOM!
A ripple of air exploded in the air.
Like a surge of tide, waves of air crashed everywhere.
A symphony of crackling sses echoed one after another due to the sonic st.
The abyssal body of Abacharu that had managed to stand up was blown apart by an explosion that surpassed even the booming of thunder.
A huge crater appeared out of nowhere forming a huge mushroom-shaped cloud visible to everyone''s eyes, Abacharu''s body appeared stered onto the ground.
The huge pupil ruptured from which a dense slimy liquid burst out but it slowly healed.
Abacharu used his tentacles as an anchoring point to stand but just as he was about to lift his huge body, the sight of a man squatting before him reflected in his eyes.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!"
His body wriggled and pulsated trembling with an unknown emotion that he seemed to have never felt since his birth.
It was a primal emotion of fear that clouded his mind.
He tried to summon his power to counter-attack but at that time he noticed an oddity.
''My power¡.''
Abacharu''s whole body froze as he wasn''t able to draw out his mystical power.
"Did you have fun bullying a weak girl?"
"Believe me. I didn''t mean that. It was just a misunderstanding."Abacharu spoke hurriedly.
"What a reply? Beating someone and then saying in the court that you didn''t mean it?"
"Kekeke!"
He burst into hystericalughter.
"What a good reason. I like your words so believe me when I say this."
Mana started surging and an intense killing intent dyed the world in red as he stood up.
The boy raised his foot while condensing mana under it forming a reddish circle.
"Believe me. I didn''t mean any of this. All of this is a misunderstanding."
"Wait!"
BOOM!
Many bursts of sonic explosion happened one after another like a raging thunder as the abyssal figure of Abacharu was shot back into the sky leaving drops of tears while screaming in his mind.
Chapter 204 204:Entertain Me
Chapter 204 Chapter 204:Entertain Me
''What the hell is going on?''
''My power, why can''t I draw my powers?!''
Thousands of thoughts started spinning inside his mind.
Spirits were fundamentally different from Gods who were born all-powerful from the beginning of time. Contrary to them, every spirit starts as weak and has to gather the energy of nature to grow.
Luckily evil spirits grow quickly because they feed on resentment and evil emotions. After all, in this world how can there be living beings without resentment and emotions of envy, jealousy, and anger?
Spirits also have the advantage of borrowing power from their other self in other timelines in times of need.
So while borrowing the power he tried to search for more urate information about this guy.
At first nce, he couldn''t remember anything nor was there any memory of such a monster existing throughout history since the beginning that could force him to cough up such a reaction.
But it took only a span of a second before countless images of past, present and future flickered inside his mind and then the image of a colossal being that crushed their enemy with absolute strength finally surfaced from his future self.
A guy who destroys everything he finds cumbersome without flinching back and caring about any repercussions.
As he sends messages to many of his future selves to borrow power, he finds a shocking realization that makes all his tentacles stand erect and shiver in fear.
All his future selves were disappearing at a rapid rate. In all possible timelines of the future, his presence was being wiped out of existence one by one.
Abacharu, who was peeking at one of his future selves, suddenly froze as an image of a bloodied person appeared in his vision that gave an evil smile.
"No, how can it be you?! "Abacharu screamed as if struck by a thunder seeing the familiar figure of an adult version of the current boy before him.
"Surprise m**herfucker."
Letting out a terrorized scream, Abacharu''s figure swelled as he was shot up.
...
Moments before¡
Amid a vast deste ce filled with chaos, stood a magnificent grave.
A man with a face filled with scars leaning his back across the grave stared at the vast expansion of starless skies shing with shades of bloody purple with a tired lonely look.
The man''s brows furrowed as a sudden voice rang in his mind interrupting his thoughts.
"Yo bro, can you do me a solid favour and kill those ugly flowers of bitches Abacharus for me?"
"Sure, but what''s the point?"
"He made Julian of this ######### timeline cry."
"....."
A deep silence lingered for a moment but the entire world lost its calmness and started to vibrate as if a cataclysm was going to take ce.
"Fucking hell flower of a bitch. I''m going to enjoy ughtering him more than I ever did while killing another."
"You go and do that bro, meanwhile I am gonna go back to dismantling this ugly shit."
...
Back to present.
Seeing the huge figure of Abacharu blown away by a loud st, everyone who slumped on the ground watched the ttened ground with nk bewildered expressions as if everything of this was a lie.
Calvin who just sat there with lost eyes suddenly shook his head.
"This is a lie."
"It''s just an illusion."
"Yeah, I got it. This is an illusion cast by the Lord to lower this person''s guard."
"Otherwise how can a mortal being frighten one of the Heavenly Generals of the Evil Lord? Those menacing red eyes can never belong to a human. Though I can''t predict his strength or power, there is no way this small greenhorn has surpassed the 9-Star realm under world suppression."
Calvin, who seemed to have concluded a serious misunderstanding as if lying and rejecting the bleak future, suddenly burst intoughter and praised Abacharu for casting such a life-like illusion that even took him by surprise.
Followed by his hystericalughter, the ck-robed men squatting around stared at Calvin with a confused look for a moment wondering if their leader had gone mad.
However, after a moment, following his suit, they startedughing like fools.
Since their boss isughing it would reflect poorly if they don''t tter him and take part in the joke even if they didn''t understand a shit.
Calvin, who wasughing madly, was suddenly cut off by a loud echoing eruption over the sky.
Upon raising his chin, his smile cracked seeing Abacharu''s body colliding against the barrier of the floor making the whole floor tumble.
Like a ripple, a shockwave transversed through the barrier as Abacharu''s body crashed.
Colliding against it, Abacharu''s body bounced back. Before it could even stabilize itself, the boy, floating in the air, made a hand sign.
The air rippled as a shock wave of air collided with a roar and swatted Abacharu like a fly.
BANG!
A crisp cacophony of ps bellowed followed by Lucas waving his head using telekinesis, the condensed mass of air pressure hitting Abacharu again and again.
After a moment, his body stood suspended in mid-air. Thinking that the brutal ps were over, he was about to sigh in relief when he felt himself being pulled down.
"Did you think this is over?"
Abacharu''s body turned limp hearing the cold menacing voice. At the end of the day, he was just a clone that existed by borrowing power from the main body but the death of his many selves had created a bacsh and the power he was getting from his real body was cut off and it went into hibernation for self-preservation as the future self drew borrowed power from past but were killed despite all this.
Naturally, he had many deadly supernatural attacks in his arsenal but all of them vanished with the death of his future selves.
He tried to calm himself and mmed a huge number of tentacles at the boy but as if striking an invisible wall, all of these attacks were blocked by the barrier made by non-physical forces.
"Just what are you?"
"Why do you harness so much power?"Abacharu cried in shock as he saw the tentacles that he bombarded on Lucas start freezing and cracking into fine dust.
CRACKLE!CRACKLE!CRACKLE!
This wasn''t the effect of any spell, but rather something simr to Ice Elemental bloodline power.
"Hehehehehe!"
"Did you like my surprise? I can still hear those sonorous pleas of your future selves begging me to spare their lives ringing in my ears."
"Oh my God, what a heavenly melody that was."
Abacharu''s eyes almost popped out as soon as he heard this but before he could react his body was pulled down with a jolting force. Holding his tentacles, with a loud battle cry Lucas pulled the tentacles and descended with speed leaving behind after images and mming Abacharu''s huge body on the ground.
BOOM!
The ground cracked and Abacharu''s body sprang back with a shrill cry and then shook back, as he was mmed again and again.
Rising on top of it, Lucas pulled the colossal body and spun it in the air, throwing it downwards once again.
A crater hundreds of metres in radius with Abacharu at its centre formed on the ground.
The ground broke into millions of pieces of particles of fine dust turning into powder and flying everywhere from the crater.
Abacharu''s body ttened into t pieces of meat felt as if many mountains mmed on its body at once.
Hovering at the top of it, Lucas''s lips parted, emitting an eerie smile as he saw the corpse-like figure wriggling like a ttened worm.
"Mongrel, stop pretending. I know you still have life in you."
"So y me with me. Entertain me."
"Please stop it¡"Abacharu cried in fear.
"Entertain me more!" Lucas shouted, ignoring the ugly flower monster''s pleas.
"Cry¡.beg for your life. Scream at the top of your lungs."
"Hahahaha!
Abacharu''s body shook as Lucas'' maniac voice resonated in space.
The thought that all of this beating was just a y to entertain this guy made his so-called illusionary heart tremble in fear.
Lucas'' image disappeared and his silhouette appeared above the crater.
He knew all these attacks were not enough to kill it and even if he killed this guy, there wasn''t any meaning in it as this guy could regenerate in the original body and would just suffer a minute loss.
However, Lucas needed to make a statement.
He needed to drill that emotion in Abacharu. That emotion of what was awaiting for messing with her.
If he ever dares to think of revenge, his body should turn limp, his existence should be shaken in fear and the inner demons should scream in his mind to stop and delete those wild thoughts.
Before going back, this guy still had to feel this feeling of fear, helplessness, defeat and inferiority.
At the same, this also serves as a test drive to test this body''s output and resilience to this dormant power until this body breaks down into tatters.
This seemingly meaningless trial to harness and draw out the power of the future was likely to prove quite a crucial junction in the future.
With a blink of an eye, Lucas appeared beside the flower monster and pulled his tentacles.
The flower monster shrieked in fear as Lucas pulled him and started spinning him again making him dizzy.
Lucas rotated like des of motors, forming a mini tornado around him blowing with a horrifying might.
"It seems I overdone a bit. Still, it''s okay."
"Fire in the hole."
He chuckled and threw the monster into the sky like a cannonball that darted across the sky like a missile.
Lucas stared at his legs and spoke.
"These legs of yours might be gone. But pal, there is no need to fear since I am here. Just make a cocktail by sprinkling a few drops of vodka on Sherry wine or rum."
"One sip soothes any pain twice."
Laughing inwardly, he bent down, taking the stance of a racer who positioned his body at the starting line.
Mana fluctuated around his body as his body sucked in the mana greedily like a ck hole.
Dark crimson lightning started flickering from his body and with a stomp, he propelled his himself upwards leaving a deep crater underneath him.
BOOOOOOOM!
A burst of sonic explosions urred in the chain as Lucas'' figure shot up into the sky like a rocket flying towards the Evil spirit.
Abacharu struggled in mid-air to control his body due to excessive force and was startled to see somethinging towards him.
Summoning the remaining of his tattered dignity, he roared angrily trying to cover up his fear while betting everything on this remaining attack after which he would disappear forever.
"I had enough of this!"
His pupil concentrated and mana condensed.
A lightning flickered twinkling in the bluish sky-like ceiling and soon, a dark green pir of concentrated energy carrying a heavenly might shot at Lucas.
Seeing a beam descending at him, instead of retreating back, Lucas just smiled with a nonchnt look.
"Interesting."
...
There might be some thing that might feel confusing but it will be cleared upter.I have already noted theories for that in advance.
Chapter 205 205:Entertain Me[2]
Chapter 205 Chapter 205:Entertain Me[2]
Sneering at the beam of light descending upon him, Lucas pped his hand, and making a grappling motion, tore the empty space before him.
KRIING!
Like the sound of paper being torn apart, the beam of light was split into two as if Lucas just now cut the string.
"What the hell?"
Abacharu screamed in bewilderment witnessing the miraculous sight of his attack torn into two half effortlessly as if it was nothing.
The diverged beam of light hit the other end of the ground and exploded creating fierce shockwaves.
Lucas then waved his hand and struck his palm in the mid-air.
BANG!
The remaining energy of the beam of light was blown away with a flicker as a heavy mass of condensed energy pressed upon the beam deflecting its trajectory.
A crystal-shaped palm mark condensed in the air struck Abacharu''s pupil bursting into a squish liquid.
Agnozied shrieks of pain bellowed across the ce.
"Damn¡.My eyes. It hurts."
Though his pupil started healing at the very next second, the influx of pain paralysed him for a moment.
Lucas''s image then blurred as a huge streak of crimson lightning shed in the sky and he appeared right above Abacharu''s figure.
Abacharu''s huge body curled in pain as he sensed the boy appearing over him and as his gaze met with those ck eyes with a scarlet dot, he knew he was done.
Still, he tried to m his tentacles over the boy standing on him but soon he found that he had lost control of his body.
In his sight, the world had turned ck and many bloody hands appeared out of thin air and started pulling his tentacles towards an ocean of blood.
''An illusion¡''
''I was caught in an illusion¡''
''Impossible.
Casting illusion was his fort and he could destroy the mentality of the opponent with just a nce but for the very first time, someone defeated him in the very attack he mastered.
''Nooooo!''
Ignoring Abacharu''s deathly cries and shivering body, Lucas clenched his fist, interlocked both fists and punched downwards while speaking with a sweet innocent smile contrary to his appearance.
"Hasta Vista."
Immediately after the punch, the world seemed to tremble and shudder.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The flowery body of Abacharu was sent downwards like a rocket shot towards the ground with a speed that broke the barrier of sound.
As his body crashed against the ground, a huge outburst urred like hundreds of bombs had been dropped from a bomber aircraft, and the ground beneath shuddered horribly and a shockwave sent everyone flying like an insect as the wave spread everywhere creating a huge ripple on the ground that split open the entire ground.
There were no shes of light, no emergence of mes still the ground kept on rumbling and started to shake violently.
The chunks of boulders, rocks and all erectnd mass were ttened due to the artificially created earthquake from Lucas punch.
The forces of Dark churches carried by the shockwave were blown away into tatters.
Arge mass of dust, sand and rubbles piled upon them.
The aftermath of the horrifying disaster lingered for a few moments after which many shrill screams and coughing started reverberating.
Cough.....Cough....Cough....Cough...
From the pile of debris, dark robes stained with mud and filths emerged one after another.
The shockwave rebounded against the walls of the floor. Fortunately, Lucas had moved everyone to the barrier otherwise they might have been killed or injured in the aftermath.
Calvin, who moved out from a small crack on the surface, was suddenly startled by the rain of a fishy-smelling liquid.
As he opened his eyes, he was horrified to see many small wriggling pieces of meat crawling on the ground. All of them seemed to be part of Abacharu that had scattered across the ce.
As if searching for something a piece of flesh suddenly touched Calvin and as if finding thest straw, all the ttened pieces of meat shot towards Calvin drowning him in a paste of dark slimy meat
"Ahhhh!"
"What''s going on?"Calvin screamed as he found his conscience slowly eroded.
"Tsk, I forgot I still have to take care of rotten shits," Lucas grumbled.
Soon a new body of Calvin appeared with a huge pupil at the centre and hundreds of tentacles emerging from his back.
As if a symbiote the flesh started to stick and Calvin''s body started undergoing a series of metamorphoses.
"It''s not over. You can''t kill me."
Calvin''s eyes were drawn towards ayer of smoke which slowly dissipated leaving a man stomping a piece of dried meat paste pupil.
The group of men emerging out looked around at the devastating ground and then stared at the man who stood there looking down with a nonchnt expression as if all of this was nothing to him.
Swish!
Before anyone could react, emitting a gleeful screeching sound, a pir of red light struck beside Lucas.
Lucas stared at the red sword that was dancing with joy.
"So you are already here."Lucas pulled the sword and cut his palm, sliding his palm across the red de and letting the sword drench in his blood.
"It''s been a while since I have seen you."
Lucas rubbed his chin assessing the glowing de.
"It seems this time we met early."
"What a wonderful twist?"
SCREECH!
A sound akin to the surface of the metal being scratched emerged from the scarlet de.
Turning around his eyes fell on the remnants.
"I don''t want to kill and interfere much due to thew of causality. For a moment, I thought of sparing you however that dogshit look of yours pissed me too much. Moreover, you have seen too much that doesn''t bode well for me."
"So, shall we begin the ughter?"
"You can''t kill us easily," Calvin shouted, summoning his vain courage.
"You didn''t Kill Lord Abacharu. He merely stopped regenerating for some reason and stopped interfering further, that''s why you managed to defeat him and now he is alive within me."
"You don''t have the power to kill an immort¡."Calvin''s words struck in his throat, seeing a huge shadow rising from the boy''s body.
"That''s true."An amusing smoke surfaced over Lucas''s lips.
"However...."
Darkness started emerging from him and soon his entire body was covered in darkness and many blood-red eyes spread all over his body.
Lucas looked up, specifically at Calvin''s figure wondering where this bastard got its confidence.
"Ohhhh!"
Noticing something, the countless red eyes over his body gleamed as if he saw an amusing specimen.
Lucas stepped into the air and disappeared, reappearing in front of Calvin.
"Do immortals fear death?"
A cold voice fell on Calvin''s ears. He reacted instantly and moved for his staff while with the power of tentacles, thousands of barriers were cast in an instant but his body froze overwhelmed by a sense of crisis.
"Tell me do immortals feel the fear of approaching death?"
"I..."Before Calvin could move his lip, he felt his four limbs severed along with all tentacles and his body shot out.
Standing at the same spot, Lucas raised his fist and made a grappling motion, following which the remaining men of dark forces were suddenly pulled out by an invisible pair of hands.
Chapter 206 206:Entertain Me[3]
?
The remnants of the dark church were pulled forward by a strong force.
After an instant, a coagted mass of humans flew towards the same ce, unable to resist the dragging force.
"What is going on?!"
"Stop it!!"
"Stopppp!"
Some screamed in terror while some scratched the ground looking for a foothold while some turned around and attacked with a bit of hope.
The ce lit up with many trails of light hurtling towards the spot where Lucas stood.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM
Like the detonation of bombs, explosions ur one after another engulfing the ce where Lucas stood with a sea of mes.
Everyone stared at the sight with eyes filled with expectations.
However...
When the sea of mes dispersed, the boy stood rooted in the same spot unmoved giving them an eerie smile.
Soon, a sight that was going to linger in their minds, even after death unfolded before their eyes.
At that moment, Lucas tilted his body to the left slightly and held the sword near his waist with a soft murmur, unknown to whom these words were addressed.
''''Etch this is your mind."
All present out there felt an existential fear from that de.
''It''s dangerous.''
His de was coated with a blood-red aura oozing out from his body as he looked at the group of hordes.
He flexed his leg moving his right foot forward to shift his centre of weight. Maintaining the same position, his figure vanished and he reappeared before the huge mass of dark-robed humans coagted into a mass of balls.
The killing aura around his body vanished instantly leaving them bewildered.
"What?"
"He...Did he run out of power?"
"We are safe..."
Before they could finish their words and rejoice, several red shes appeared in the air forming a mesh-like pattern.
Horizontally, vertically, transversally,terally, on all sides and everything within that space was cut apart.
Everything within sight was cut into thousands of pieces that burst into parts.
Blood and flesh began to rain down across the battlefield.
Standing in the rain of blood and flesh, his eyes turned towards two survivors.
One whom he left alive after cutting all his limbs and another one was the ugly old man.
With a maniacal smile, he walked towards Calvin''s body filled with wriggling worms shivering frantically.
"What happened, are you scared?"
"I...."
Before Calvin could do anything, a dark bloody hand emerged and grabbed him around his neck, stopping him from speaking.
Calvin wanted to cry in despair feeling the pressure. Every time, this guy''s eyes locked on him a pressure of that of a transcended being mounted over him rendering him helpless.
Even though with great difficulty, he managed to snap out of this pressure, by that time this man thoroughly dismantled him.
Leaving the man to fall to the ground, Lucas snapped his fingers.
Calvin''s eyes twisted as he felt a hot feeling gushing into his body and at the next moment, his body exploded.
A slimy mass erupted and drenched the ground from which many fibre-like worms wriggled trying to get back together.
The many pairs of slimy tentacles extended and joined again. Each pair of tentacles was deadly poison and could kill on the slightest touch.
If not for using telekinesis to coat his whole body with ayer of mana, he might have already gone on a trip to the afterlife.
"Old man, what kind of weird fetish do you have?''
"This is utterly disgusting. People try their best to be beautiful, and more handsome but you abandon humanity to choose monstrosity."
"Do you want to win the crown of Mr. Universe for being the ugliest man alive?"
SNAP!SNAP!SNAP!SNAP!
With each snap, Calvin''s body that was getting together burst out once again.
"Stop it."
"You....You can''t kill me.''''
Seeing that the guy failed to kill him again and again, Calvin''s confidence was boosted a bit.
Even though he was speaking courageously his inside was jumping up and down in fear.
''Lord Abacharu, please help me. Protect me from that menace.''
If he was in his previous mortal body, he was sure that he would have already wet his pants.
''I can''t even save myself and you are asking me to save you. The reason I fused with you and gave you my remaining power is because I need to keep part of my deal otherwise I will suffer another bacsh from the worldlyws.''
''You are more than enough to capture but spirit but not in his presence as this guy''s mere existence severs the mystical power so the best option is to run but you idiot, instead of running away you just stood there like a fool. Idiotic more, did you also sell your brain when you cast your mortal shell.''
A nefarious voice rang in Calvin''s words which sounded like a death toll.
''I need to run. I can''t die here. All my sacrifices can''t be in vain.''
"You can never kill me with your crude methods. It''s useless. I am unkible."Calvin shouted while thinking of ways to escape.
"Hmmmm!"
Lucas stopped snapping hearing the man''s words.
"It seems I have to sacrifice my life essence to use that special power."
Till now he had just used amplified powers of telekinesis, with superior power punches and kicks with the help of a blessing that overloaded his circuit which was already detrimental enough.
"Haa...Let''s do this. Hey asshole, see it carefully and learn this. You might lose your life essence a bit but it will be alright when you take another bloodline potion. By the way, I can kill him by other means but I am doing this as I might not have an opportunityter. So see, learn and put this deep inside your heart and mind, Lucas."
''What are you bbering? Have you gone mad?''Calvin asked, thinking of a way to flee using the chance of the boy losing focus.
''This is my chance.''
Calvin muttered conjuring a small portal as fast as possible and was about to escape when a red line cut apart the portal.
"What the bloody hell. He can even cut portals."Calvin''s heart was drowned in despair again.
Babbling to himself under Calvin''s confused eyes, the smile on Lucas''s face immediately distorted.
"Mongrel, your time is up."
From the deep darkness covering his body, something started to sprout and his figure started to deform.
In the dark cloudy figure, a pair of red eyes with sharp fangs reflected in Calvin''s vision.
From that darkness, six pairs of hands emerged from a reddish-blood humanoid body with two wings on its back.
A hush silence prevailed as Calvin''s voice got stuck in his throat feeling the crisis that was even making his soul tingle.
From that body, countless pairs of eyes sprouted out, scrutinizing Calvin with a perilous and devious gaze.
"Can you feel it?"
"The haunting feeling of sickle pressed over your neck that can dissect your head at any moment now.''''
"Keekekeee!"
"So, let''s finish this."
Lucas raised his hand and following his notion, the blood-red man extended his hand up towards the sky.
Dark grey clouds twirled above them with a thunderous boom. From the middle of the cloud, the hands made a grappling motion.
A crimson lightning amassing a great amount of killing intent dyed the whole ce.
"No! Don''t kill me. I might be some help in the future."
"I am even prepared to swear on my honour as your servant."
Calvin screamed in terror trying everything in his arsenal to resist.
"Hahaha!"Lucasughed and then cut Calvin sharply.
"How can a dead person be a servant?"
"Let''s see if you can regenerate if there are no remains of your body. I am gonna wipe your entire soul from existence."
"Bear my wrath and have a taste of my power."
"Crimson Nightmare."
As soon as the two words fell, a loud rumbling like the wrath of the heavens echoed apanied by sounds of shattering sses all across the ce as the crimson lightning hit Calvin illuminating the whole ce.
A scorching heat wave causing the skin to tingle swept through the whole area. The ground left behind was now nothing but cracked arid earth covered in scattered dust.
And in that dust, there was no presence of Calvin or pieces of flesh of Abacharu as if all of them had never existed.
Lucas dusted his hand and then looked up at the artificially bright sky created by the tower.
His gaze went past that and pierced deep into the starry abyss of a sky beyond the luminous clouds locking onto several majestic figures.
His lips crooked upwards with a crooked smile.
"This game of pawns had just begun."
Chapter 207 207:Savour The Death
?
Turning a blind eye to the destruction and mess around him, he waved his hand.
One of the survivors whom Lucas had left alive after cutting his limbs, darted across the ce from where he was lying.
Flying across the sky, his body crashed into the floating blood chalice in the air.
The moment his body touched it, the man''s expression turned ugly as arge amount of mana was sucked in by the blood chalice from him and soon, it lost its red colour, falling onto the ground like a normal chalice used for carrying wine.
The Ice Throne in which Julian''s figure sat, disappeared and floating slowly her figure descended into his arms.
A hint of reluctance, pity, and sadness shed over Lucas''s eyes as she caressed the pale face, drafting the silky snow-white hair sticking to her face.
"I knew it, the moment I saw you, I couldn''t contain my greed."
"I want to trap you in a cage like a canary. Why do you always carry that dazzling unearthly aura of an angel?"
Haunting memories of unending sorrow shed before his eyes.
He clenched his fist tightly and put his forehead over hers with a slight touch.
The bright blessing that was slowly dimming his heart moved upwards and soon lit up over his forehead, then moved out encasing Julian''s body.
At that time, Lucas''s eyes opened abruptly with a startled look and a bitter smile appeared over his face.
"So, you are still conscious in the natal state and have seen everything."
He blinked his eyes in confusion.
Taking a deep breath, he chuckled.
"It''s okay, sooner orter you will remember everything yourself."
"Even if you cut these hands or stitch this tongue, it''s not as if it would affect me."He shrugged his shoulders pitying the original host while caressing her sickly pale face gently.
"Soon, you will remember it."
"And until then, I will make sure."
Something inside him resonated, and the world started trembling.
Many images started materializing around him.
"This time, I will make sure that you fully unfold your gorgeous wings and soar in the sky dazzlingly."
An immense killing intent emerged from his eyes.
Lucas raised his fist and clenched it, following his notion.
The chalice exploded and shattered into pieces.
A humongous crackling sound as if the world was made of ss crackled following which, the crimson light in Lucas''s eyes started to dimmer.
.....
Somewhere in a ce, filled with darkness, a man took small strides seemingly trembling with every step he took.
He was sweating profusely to the point that it soaked his clothes as if he had juste out from bathing.
Walking on something that seemed to lead to an endless abyss, his mind was filled with confusion and fear.
"Where am I?"
"Who am I?"
"Why am I walking nonstop?"
A thousand questions started ringing in his mind continuously like the ticking of a clock hand.
He tried to recall, questioned himself by holding his hand and even punched his head.
But it was to no avail.
Anxiety apanying a deep sense of fear started clenching his heart tightly as he found himself unable to remember anything no matter how hard he tried.
Except for walking on this never-ending trial of darkness, he seemed to have lost all purpose of his life.
Like a hollow likeness puppet that had its keys twisted and left to walk in a set path.
He didn''t know how many hours or days had this been but after an unknown period, in the vast emptiness, a white door shining with light appeared.
As if finding an oasis in the desert, the man hurried his steps and stood before the door, scanning it for a moment before putting his hands on it, he pushed forward.
"Ahhhh!"
The man covered his eyes, the moment he pushed the door, The light from beyond the door erupted, engulfing his whole body and a vast influx of memories started pouring into his head making it throb.
....
Whistle!Whistle!Whistle!
The bright light that dyed his vision returned to normal.
The sound of ringing sirens and bustling of people echoed in his ear.
"Where am I?"
"Huh¡A Train."
Looking at people resting in the passenger seat, he wondered what was going on.
How did he appear on this weird train?
''I was in the tournament and was knocked out by that summon from the Dark Church side. So, did I get caught in his illusion?''
The probability of getting caught in an illusion was quite high as casting illusion was those Evil Spirit''s forte.
At first, he thought that this was the train he had taken before dying but he scanned around and found that this was different.
It was quite modernized, clean and well-maintained. Much better than the rusty, old and dusty local train in which he died.
Trying to search for clues, he attempted to move his body but soon he found that he wasn''t able to.
"What''s going on?"He spoke uneased upon discovering the inability to feel his hands and feet as if his image was just a corporal illusion or blurry figure.
On looking down, he found his figure floating in the air.
CRUNG!
A man carrying his luggage stumbling across the hallway, soon walked past through him as if he never existed since the beginning.
His mind was blown away and he felt like going mad if things kept on going like this.
"I need to see a physiatrist."
It was then his eyes, scrutinizing everything, suddenly fell on a frail, sickly pale boy.
Hiding his face with a cap, he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth due to nervousness.
His expression of uneasiness might make one mistake him as a criminal running away after stealing something precious.
"Isn''t that me?"
Lucas gawked at the familiar lean figure with two huge dark circles.
"No, something feels odd. Is it the real Lucas?"Lucas''s eyes widened at the sudden discovery.
He was just a little far away from the ce, still all of his faint murmurings were audible.
"Mom said people kidnap handsome kids like me. God, please protect me."
"Pfft!"
Lucas choked on hearing the guy''s murmurings.
''Handsome? From which angle did you even look handsome?''
He put that in the back of his mind and listened carefully.
"God, please watch over my life. Please let no one kidnap me. My mother said I am a precious child so what if they kidnap me and sell me for a hefty sum."
"I should hide my face and shouldn''t interact with anyone. Mama said this world is full of evil people. They don''t like good people like me."
Lucas, illusory jaw almost dropped onto the ground as he heard his bbering.
"What....What kind of delusional bastard are you?"
"You are not even good enough for people to spit on you."Lucas cursed and wanted to hit his head in embarrassment after hearing about his body''s previous owner himself.
"I will study hard and be a world-proimed super genius in the academy. My mother said I am one of the best, if not the best.No, I am the best."
"I believe in her words. I might be a very special case. A genius born in a century. I will make my mother proud. We will move into arge mansion, and I will have many servants who will help my mom. I will give Mom a lot of money so that she can livevishly without any worry."
"Damn, I can''t take this anymore." Lucas said.
He was about to curse when the train jolted in a shock.
"No, it can''t be."
Lucas''s words were cut short as the scene changed and his eyes were dyed with mes and debris, as the train crashed onto something.
Loud shrieks of panic were drowned by fierce roars of monsters running rampant and thepartment in which the real Lucas was present was soon crushed and ttened by collision with otherpartments.
Loved ones of people nearby screamed with expressions of helplessness, their faces etched with concern and empathy as monsters started the ughter.
After a few moments, Lucas was finally able to see through the smoke and soon saw the previous lucas.
The person, hunched over, was writhing on the rail track, pierced by many metal roads clenching his fists and knuckles tightly proportional to the intensity of his suffering. His face contorted in anguish, and his eyes were squeezed shut as if trying to escape the pain. Sweat beads lingered on his forehead, and hisbored breathing was punctured by sharp gasps and groans.
His two hands were dangling loose and arge crack extended on his forehead.
Lucas'' figure which just stood suspended in the air was snapped out of his thoughts by a cold voice of unknown origin.
"Are you enjoying the show? Wait a minute, you didn''t savour the intense feeling of death when you died in your previous life."
"So rejoice."
"Just now you have won the lottery ticket to savour this feeling of repeated agony and suffering of death."
"Wait! What?!''''
Lucas screamed with terror and as he tried to look for the source of the sound, the surroundings blurred into insignificance as the focus narrowed to the torment of a deadly enduring.
A pain akin to being pierced by thousands of thorns, and hands being ripped apart forcefully by strong forces caused mayhem in his mind.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
He let out a heart-wrenching cry of despair.
Tears started streaming down his cheeks while his body trembled uncontrobly.
Tremendous pain both physically and mentally, created a heart-wrenching scene, one that reveals the raw vulnerability of human existence as the body gets broken down and the soul gets torn apart by the immense pain of approaching death.
The ce soon echoed with the sounds of cries and muted pleas for relief, creating a haunting and distressing atmosphere.
Chapter 208 208:Savour The Death[2]
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[Lucas POV]
The world distorted and sumbed to darkness once again.
When the blurry darkness subsided, I found myself standing in another familiar ce.
With hollow eyes, I stared up and saw a frail Lucas traversing a rugged muddy terrain of a forest cautiously.
At that time a weird thought came into my mind.
''Is this a different past of some sort? If it is, then why is he taking this path instead of the train like the previous one.''
''Did he know about the misfortune waiting on him?''
''Is he a regressor or can he see the future images like a seer? What is going on?''
My mind waspletely overwhelmed by the influx of questions as I tried to figure out the answers.
There must be a reason behind all the scenes and a clue that might hold great significanceter.
That guy who took over for me must surely be real Lucas and if he is then what does he want?
Was he the one who brought me to this world?
And what ploy was he cooking with him using me as a pawn?
The feeling of being controlled and used irked my nerves for some reason.
As I carefully observed Lucas''s trail, my heart suddenly jolted in shock knowing the path he was taking and whaty ahead of him.
A scene that was too memorable for me to forget.
Lucas, who was trailing cautiously, stood like a block of ice the moment he walked out of the forest.
Coming out of the forest, he was greeted by a huge Direwolf resting on a de who gave an eerie smile staring at a frail boy shivering in fear.
It stood up and took a slow step.
Under my widened eyes, Lucas took a step back corresponding to Direwolf''s steps. Soon, a y of cats and mice ensued.
The y of cat and mice went on.
Lucas, unable to ease his nerves, turned his back and started running in fear.
However, this was the worst mistake he could make.
The moment he took his eyes off it, the Direwolf, like lightning stretched its limbs and chasing Lucas, pounced on him.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Lucas shrieked in pain as the dire wolf''s huge w dug into his back and then tore his flesh apart.
Lucas tried to struggle but opening its sharp fangs, Direwolf lodged its ws in his shoulder followed by a bloody mess.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!''''
The moment Lucas''s body started getting torn apart, the vibrant deadly sensation was suddenly transferred to me, scaring the shits out of me.
I groaned in pain and fell to the ground as my body quivered and jolted like a pping fish that was thrown out of water.
I can feel his flesh getting torn away from bones, sharp nails and fangs piercing inside his body and breaking through his bones.
I can feel the strength of the bite that squeezes all of his organs.
Foam appeared on my lips, my vision started bing cloudy and soon, I lost consciousness again.
....
The world blurred again, the pain subsided and the mental trauma that I suffered vanished as if it never existed.
The moment I opened my lips, another pain coursed through my body.
Unlike before, the sharp pain assaulted me even before I opened my eyes.
Fortunately, this was the level of pain I was used to.
Opening my eyes, I looked down and saw many bruises all over my body along with blue and ck spots.
Raising my head, I found that this was the rooftop of the 1st year.
''Now what''s happening here?''
Just as I wondered what was going on, I heard loud pleas for forgiveness.
"Plea¡.Please¡."
A quivering voice echoed from afar.
"Please forgive me."
"Please let me go."
"Shut up, you son of a bitch."
I turned my head and saw three people kicking someone and it didn''t take long for me to figure out who that someone was since I could feel a deep wrenching pain in my guts as their kicks connected.
I could see several other students standing a bit away and watching with interest.
Some were smoking, shooting out a puff while some were taking a drink while gambling on something.
I knew there was a group of drunkards and gamblers who mostly used this ce but they have never been punished. There might be an instance where they were caught red-handed but they were freed after investigation as the cigarette had medicinal herbs instead of weed or drugs, and the drinks were fruit wine for minors.
However, as I looked at them, I was sure these were groups of addicts and the more I watched them giggling andughing, the more anger rose inside me.
My heart burned with anger and a flurry of mes started to burn my blood watching the scene.
I ran towards the group wanting to save Lucas from the repeated flurry of strikes but as I reached there, my hand passed through them as if I was a ghost.
It was only then, that I realized that I could move freely unlike before when my body was carried by invariable forces.
Sadly, I wasn''t able to touch them otherwise I would have cut these bastards down.
Unable to do anything Ijust swallowed my anger and pain, while taking note of them
"At least, it was still better than the previous times. The pain of getting beaten could never bepared to the pain of death."
However, that didn''t mean I can forgive them.
The three boys who looked to be seniors of 2nd year, kicked Lucas again and again while cursing at him.
"Filthy fuckingmoner, how dare you refuse to lick my shoes to clean them."
"Hey, idiot, don''t you know it''s because of your good luck that you were given a chance to lick Sir Flyod''s shoes? We were giving you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you."
The boot licker standing beside Flyod raised his burly legs and mmed it into the boy''s guts as he sank into a gut-wrenching pain, his whole body was filled with scratches and bruises.
"Ahhhh!"
"Ahhhh!"
The screams stopped for a moment.
Lucas'' whole body was just a rag of bones, there was no hint of fat or muscles in his body and his skin seemed to be merged with his bone. He looked more like a skeleton zombie than a human.
"Wait, did he pass out? Get him up, I didn''t have my fill?''''
"Tsk... seriously. Themoners nowadays don''t have guts like those of the past who retaliated at the slightest grievance and it was so much more enjoyable to crush their minds and turn them into ves. This filth can''t even take a few kicks, how frustrating."
Floyd with a sneer looked at his sidekicks with a meaningful gaze.
"Boss, don''t worry about him. It''s this guy who is useless. Can''t even take some measly beating. He doesn''t know how lucky he is for him to be beaten by you."
"Yeah, his stamina is too poor. No girl is gonna like him. Boss, we are not at fault for all this."
"Do I need to look for a new target? What trash gets done in just a few days of beating?"Floyd spoke, flickering his soft shiny blonde hair.
"Hey, wake him up."
"Yes Boss."
The two sidekicks spoke monotonously and one of them took a bottle of water to throw at the fallen boy but was stopped by Floyd.
"You little shit. Do you want to waste water on this piece of trash? Amoner was woken up by a noble sprinkling water on him. If words spread out, our faces are going to burn to ashes. We can''t even show our faces in public!"Floyd screamed at the top of his lungs trying to contain his urge to kick his servant.
"Then boss, how do you want us to wake him up?"
"Just piss on him," Floyd said nonchntly.
"Boss!"
"Boss!"
Both the people screamed with a hint of embarrassment.
"What? The CCTV camera is facing off to the other side. It is not even working so just finish emptying."
"But boss the students..."The duo hesitated a bit.
"Empty it quickly."
"If anyone dares to y hero, I will crush their balls and gauge their eyes out of them!" Floyd shouted looking around at the group of people on the other side who stepped back in fear of hearing his tant provocation.
This guy seemed like he was a bully and a sinister bastard to the core who liked to take joy in others'' suffering.
Though he unts his power, his strength is much weaker and he must be a bottom dweller in his second year his ego is too big to ept this and to fuel his so-called ego, he looks for a weakling 1st-year student without any prominent background and bully them until he is satisfied.
Once satisfied with the current toy, he goes around looking for another toy.
Though his strength was weaker, his family held a great deal of authority. Last time, a bullied person snitched him for which he was punished. He stepped back at the time but after a week it was found that the student''s house was burnt, his parent''s business was ruined and they were forced to beg on the road.
"Such a vicious bastard"
"Stop watching and wake him up."
"Yes..."The two boys nodded with a slight hesitation and unzipped their pants to let the hot water gush out.
Lucas blinked and suddenly woke and yelled as he felt hot water dripping on him but he trembled as he saw a group of people who were standing before him and were looking at him, giving him a menacing look.
They smiled evilly seeing him tremble in fear.
Waking up from his stupor, he raised his trembling hands, joined it, begged for mercy and said, "Lord Flyod, please don''t beat me. I will do everything you say, please leave me alone. I am just amoner who doesn''t value anything so, please...."
Crying frantically, Lucas jumped up to hold Flyod''s legs who stepped back with a disgusted look and kicked him.
BANG!
Floyd forgot to hold back, didn''t control his strength and sent Lucas flying over the rooftop which is the height of three storeys.
"Holyshit!"
"Boss!"The two boys screamed with panicked expressions, seeing the boy falling down the roof, whether he was dead or alive was unknown.
Floyd''s eyes widened with horror as he knew that if the boy died, things might get worse.
"Let''s run away."
Floyd muttered and ran away leaving his two sidekicks alone unaware of the boy who was looking at them with eyes as dark as a ck hole that could suck the life out of them.
Before I could react, the scene changed before my eyes and I saw Lucas lying on the ground choking up on his blood.
He might have managed to protect his head but in doing so, his hands had snapped out at an odd angle.
His mouth was opened wide but no voice emerged from his lips.
I was startled to see him remaining conscious despite his injuries. I looked around but there was none to help as his broken detached body had fallen at the narrow corner of the garden.
If this was a concrete surface, death was imminent.
Soon, drops of rain poured from the sky, drenching and washing away the blood soaking the ground.
The boy''s eyes soon became moist, unknown to him whether it was a tear shed from an untold grievance or a sprinkle of rain.
As I stood beside him silently, seeing his bleak eyes that were overwhelmed by sadness and loneliness, a small sound of sshing water due to footsteps echoed drawing my attention.
An umbre of ice materialized above startling me and him, whose pupil just rotated like a lifeless person.
A woman filled with valour and coldness, with an expression of detachment, appeared casting her blue crystalline pupils at the broken boy.
Her body paused for a moment with a look of bewilderment and sympathy.
A series of emotions shed over her cold face and a soft warm voice, contrary to the aura of iciness emerged.
"I don''t know how this happened to you nor did I know who did this but I am sure I am partially¡No, it''s my fault."
"It''s my fault for being a useless President who didn''t handle things well and allows scums to run free so please forgive me for not working hard."
My mind blew apart seeing drenched Julian, and my heart started beating faster, going crazy witnessing the sigh, which I might not be able to forget in my entire life.
Creating ripples both over the surface and in the hearts, a beautiful girl with white hair possessing an ethereal charm, walked over. Her hair drenched in rain, was pure as freshly fallen snow framing her face with an otherworldly allure. Her eyes were like sparkling red sapphires, holding a depth of wisdom and mystery.
Exuding an aura of grace she squatted down before Lucas with grace and extended her hand towards him with elegance, captivating all who have the privilege of encountering her.
Tucking her hair behind her ears, she cast a faint smile, bewitching enough to sweep away all the pain and caressed Lucas gently with a warm soft tone, shocking me enough to make me think that the world was going to end tomorrow.
"From now on, I will make sure that no one will harm or bully you for unjust reasons."
Lucas'' eyes which looked bleak suddenly moved as the boy felt that the world was changing and the tears he had been holding back, finally burst out as he spoke in a choking voice.
"Tha¡Thank you, Miss.''''
...¡.
I am not good at writing POVs. Though this chapter was too much of a mess and even unsatisfactory for me, I hope this isn''t unreadable.
Chapter 209 209:Savour The Death[3]
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Scenes shed one after another after that.
He had already given up on thinking about what was happening, as he kept watching the brutal scenes one after another followed by a horrible soul-wrenching pain in each scene that disappeared after a few moments as if it never existed.
What shocked him the most, was that many times the original Lucas died even before he could get to the academy but once he managed to reach there, the scenes would end with Lucas encountering Julian in a severely ragged pathetic state where Julian would take pity on him and take him under her wing.
Most of the time, the original Lucas was bullied quite severely. For a moment, he thought that the original Lucas had a shitty luck to encounter bullies after staying at the bottom rank.
The original Lucas'' previous belief of being a genius waspletely crushed and shattered leading him to drown in an inferiorityplex, and all this led him to develop grievance and anger towards his mother who had fuelled him with false hopes.
Looking at the scenes reying one after another, a certain thought crossed in his mind.
"What about my parents?"
"They should not have ignored¡"Lucas'' words struck in the middle as he thought was just an outsider, leeching another guy''s love.
Shaking his head, to clear the depressing thoughts, he muttered.
"Didn''t they care about him when he was undergoing such an intense humiliation?"
"As far as I know, Mother can tell with a nce if my mood is off or something is wrong with me when I talk so why didn''t she notice..."
Though he thought that it was wrong to me his mother for this, he can sympathize with this guy as when your life is a mess and shit happens, one after another, it was very hard to maintain a clear reason and people tend to direct their anger to someone to release their frustration.
"Still, I find this weird. If this guy ignored Mother, knowing her, I would not be surprised if she appeared in front of the academy gate to take him back the very next day."
Before Lucas could finish his words as if responding to his doubt and question, the ck space distorted again.
When everything returned to normal, his body stiffened witnessing a scene ofrge-scale devastation.
Large cracks scattered throughout the violent sky from which a sea of dark creatures gushed out like a torrent.
Grounds started to tremble as screams started to echo which were drowned out by the frightening explosions echoing one after another sting everything.
Beyond scorching mes was the acrid nauseating smell of smoke of burnt corpses, and a huge mass of darkness whirling around a certain ce.
As his gaze fell there, he found the ce quite familiar as if he knew this like the back of his hand.
This time he didn''t find the original Lucas anywhere and much to his surprise, unlike the previous times he could feel the sensation of touch as the soles of his feet pressed onto the ground.
The loud ringing sound echoed in his ears, and the hot wind of scorching heat blew over his face, giving a burning sensation. Sweat trickled down his face and his breathing started to be heavier and heavier.
He could feel all his senses in this realistic crafted scene that seemed to convey the deep warning of an untold danger that had always been hanging over his head.
Brushing his clothes, he leapt over cracks walking towards densely coagted dark cloudy space.
There wasn''t a single living being around him.
All that was present was a corpse with eyes filled with unwillingness lying over the broken debris staring up with an expression filled with deep shock and disbelief.
"It looks like a scene of cataclysm. A dungeon breakout wouldn''t cause a devastation of this scale which can affect the earth and the sky."
"It looks more like a description of the world after the Demon Continent resurfaced."
As he walked in closer an inexplicable feeling grew inside his heart.
After a walk of five minutes, as he reached near the area his eyes widened and all his senses became rmed.
From afar it looked like a ck vortex of a typhoon spinning around that extended towards the sky but upon getting closer, he found that this wasn''t a cyclone. Rather thousands of vile ck creatures circled emitting a screeching and buzzing sound.
It was then he came to a sudden realization.
On his way here, none of the humans were alive so where was the screaming from?
The sound of screaming was ringing all around, emerging from this ce.
Arge-scale explosion erupted in front of Lucas'' eyes and a crimson cloud of mes burst out like a shockwave sweeping away dark creatures whose body was burnt into nothingness.
When theyer of me disappeared, the sight of a bloodied woman standing alone over a horde of corpses appeared.
No, she wasn''t alone as beside hery an immobile figure with a humped back.
"It can''t b-"His words choked seeing the familiar figures.
"No!"
"Father....Mother."
A scream emerged from his lips.
His heart jolted in pain as if someone stabbed straight into his heart. An inexplicable pain coursed through his body like someone who bombarded his head with a hammer.
"Mo...ther..."
His words were cut short when the sky above their head was blown away and a thousand of dark-cloaked shadowy figures appeared over the sky.
The sky seemed to tremble and crackle with their appearance.
Thousands of creatures veiled the sky like clouds of smoke. As they slowly descended, Lucas'' eyes caught the sight of a horrifying creature that looked like it outside of this world.
Each had a huge humanoid body of grotesque fusion of various dark nightmarish elements with twister burly limbs and a sinister presence. And the creature had six vile wings that were tattered and bat-like with leathery dark skin and jagged edges.
Its eyes were burning with malevolence and its mouth was filled with rows of sharp serrated teeth. The creature was filled with an aura of darkness and despair making it a truly terrifying sight to behold.
His mother Vanessa with dark dead eyes looked up like a lifeless puppet.
"Except for your death, Vanessa. You might have a chance if worldlyws didn''t suppress and block you from advancing."
A dark creature with a huge eye over its chest spoke assuming themand.
"Mother!"
Lucas screamed and jumped ahead but his figure froze at the ce.
''Fuck....Fuckk...what is going on?! Why are they targeting her? Who the hell are they?''
Even if she might not be his real mother, he had already epted her as his mother and the affection he had for his parents wasn''t false.
So even if this was an illusion, his heart wrenched seeing those lifeless gazes of his mother that were always filled with life and vitality during their video calls.
The sky was suddenly illuminated by a bright light and a huge glowing sphere like a meteorite descended.
"Mother dont stand there....Take father and run!!"
His eyes oozed with heart-wrenching tears but none of his words reached his mother''s ears who just stood there as if she had given up on living.
And just like that, the huge sphere of light mmed on the ground dyeing everything in white.
The world returned to nothing again but this time Lucas fell to the ground with eyes filled with tears.
"Why did this happen?!"
"Why?!!"
"Just why?!"
His roars resonated in the dark space but he knew this was useless as there was no one to answer him.
That''s what he thought, however¡
"It seems I overestimated your mental capacity too much."
Lucas abruptly turned around and saw a face familiar to Lucas but a bit older sitting on a bloodied throne made of corpses.
In front of that guy, there was a huge television that was ying someone''s scenes.
Lucas'' eyes widened seeing this as on screen, his pathetic self screaming was ying again and again.
"What was this?"
"Do you like this space?"The other person''s voice echoed in his ear.
As if having a hypnotic effect that could mess up one thought, it messed up Lucas''s mind and his inner thoughts emerged from his lips much to his surprise.The trauma and panic that he had felt suddenly vanished as if this never existed for a moment.
"So this ce is cool and all, but what''s the purpose of that television?"
"I am just watching a drama that''s not good in any sense. You can assume this as watching Naruto with different endings...So ignore that now. Anyway-"
"You even know Naruto.Lets leave it aside.This screen seriously it kills the vibes of this ce. You should-"Lucas almost closed his lips as his thoughts went astray and he was led away by this guy''s question.
The television disappeared and the other guy stared at him venomously.
"There, gone, happy?!"
Lucas hit his head and pped his cheeks, to break out from this reverie and staring at him hatefully, he screamed.
"Why did you see all this to me?! Are you a psychopath who takes joy in others'' suffering or are you taking revenge because I upied your body, Sir Original Lucas no¡. Future Lucas of a shitty future, so you tortured me with those painful feelings?" Lucas spoke while inferring that this guy might be from the future.
"Hehehehehehe!"
Instead of answering, he startedughing like a madman which irked Lucas.
"Did you like it? This feeling of death.The repeated thrill of the agony and despair."
Future Lucas asked with a small smile while resting his chin over his palm.
"No, I don''t. Who the hell would like that?!"Lucas screamed.
"Well, I also didn''t like all this but sadly I had to go through all this shit and unfortunately, you too have to go through all this.."
Unable to tolerate that sinister goofy smile of this guy, Lucas cursed.
"Fuck you."
"Fuck you too."
".....''
Chapter 210 210:Emotional Outburst
Chapter 210 210:Emotional Outburst
Lucas took a deep and heavy breath staring solemnly at the familiar face that gave him a sense of oppression.
The person''s demonic ck sclera with crimson eyes seems to pierce deep inside his soul, making him feel naked in front of him.
"So, you are the Original Lucas or it''s proper to say, you are the future version of Lucas."
"Affirmative."
The man sitting on the Throne folding his legs gave a small nod with a nk expression.
The scenes of him ying around in his body and his words reverberated in his mind.
"Then, are you a regressor or are you in a time loop and you brought me here to break that loop?"
Lucas asked, standing up on his trembling feet.
"Interesting. I like your thought process but that''s also one of your biggest faults. Youplicate simple things by overthinking while overlooking the important things that led to your disaster."
"Stop kidding and answer me!" Lucas shouted angrily.
"Negative. I am neither a regressor nor am I in a time loop. However, there is a regressor out there and there is also a transmigrator. And for your kind information, I didn''t appear here to save your sorry pathetic beaten ass."
"Can you first tell me your identity? It''s so confusing?"
A brief silence prevailed for a moment.
The man unfolded his legs and, getting down, walked towards Lucas.
"I am a miracle."
"Out of countless twisting futures filled with death and destruction, I am one of the exceptions evolved unwanted by the world."
"I am the Future Lucas. A future, where I, a future self of yours, managed to survive even when the world went to shit."
Lucas took a deep breath to calm down and process the information.
Though the party''s intentions didn''t look hostile still he needed to figure out the person''s motive. After all, he can''t blindly trust this guy just because he imed himself to be the future Lucas.
Moreover, his words conveyed another thing.
The future of this world is certainly doomed.
Future Lucas, as if sensing Lucas'' thoughts, grinned.
"It''s good that you have a certain sense of weariness and you didn''t believe my words like an idiot. Because if you don''t meet my standards and find that you are utterly stupid, I might kill you for real."
"However, I am not lying."
Sitting over a Throne made of corpses, he extended his hand and snapped his fingers.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, countless white lines appeared in the space startling Lucas and soon everything around them was filled with white lines.
"What is this?"Lucas asked curiously.
Future Lucas pped, drawing Lucas'' attention and pointing in a certain direction, he said,"Look at that."
Lucas turned his head and saw a huge white mass revolving around from which a white strong string appeared.
"This sphere represents the origin of the world and the string represents the beginning of time of this universe. Now look at the other side."
Lucas, following his notion, turned around and saw a gigantic ck circle that gave him the feeling of countless despair.
"This is a ck sphere representing the end. And all these countless lines in between this, this is the world''s flow. That represents several different timelines."
Lucas gasped a sigh seeing countless threat-like lines twisting and twirling all around.
A single thread extended from the sphere representing the beginning which started bifurcating and dividing into many. However, on reaching the end, all of the strings joined again to form a single line.
"What the hell is going on? Why are there so many?"
"Stop being shocked at every tiny thing."Future Lucas chuckled, seeing Lucas'' eyes which were as curious as a small child who had stepped out of the house for the very first time.
"Each line depicts a possibility. A certain change that may or may not have a great impact rather separates itself from the original timeline and forms a new one."
Lucas was too engrossed to hear Future Lucas'' words. At that time, his brows furrowed as he saw that at the far end of the lines. Feeling weird enough, he looked to the other side and saw another line where all these lines were converging and wondered, if they had already split, how they joined.
Noticing his doubt, Future Lucas spoke.
"Singrity."
"Everything begins from a single point and starts to diversify. There should be one timeline but an anomaly appeared due to an outside interference which messed up the flow and order of the world."
"Until now, this world had never managed to get a happy ending. The lines converged because the world is destroyed and no one is alive resulting in the same ending in every timeline. It is like the process of R.H.S. equal to L.H.S. when you solve a math equation."
"Me, who has managed to ovee the crisis and is now managing the crisis of the future."
Seeing Future Lucas staring at him with a stern expression, Lucas already got a hint of what the man was conveying.
This guy had an easygoing uncaring attitude but when he was serious, he was worse than the devil and now his eyes were quite serious.
"You are taking care of future timelines and you want me to take care of the present."
"Jackpot. You got the right answer. You won a lottery ticket by answering correctly that saved you from getting beaten by me."Futureughed and hit Lucas back causing him to stumble which irked Lucas.
"But...why the hell do I have to take care of all this shit. And what about Frederick? What the fuck is he doing as a protagonist. Moreover, how can I believe you? What if all this is bullshit? Also, are you the one who wrote the book?"
"Wait, does that mean you are the one who is behind that ident that killed me and brought me to this world?"Lucas''s voice became rough thinking about this death.
The train went off-track out of nowhere. Just before that, the old man sitting beside him got out, giving him a weird smile as if he knew what was going to transpire.
"You bastard, not only you killed me. You killed several innocents!!"
Lucas burst out screaming at him and his face became red as he huffed and puffed in anger.
Future Lucas yawned not taking Lucas'' outburst seriously.For him it was like small child throwing a tantrum.
"Shut up! Stop behaving like a monkey. Can''t you talk like a civilized person like me?"
"Just from which angle do you look civilised? Do you think I don''t know how you danced like a monkey while killing that enemy? And that goofy ass smile? Aren''t you a tiny bit embarrassed byughing like that? It is just a ..."
BANG!
A loud bang resonated and Lucas found the world spinning around.
"Assholes who use violence when they can''t defend themselves." Lucas shouted, holding his swollen face.
"Technically, you are calling yourself an asshole so you are scolding yourself."
"And don''t talk about that trash Frederick. He is a useless and pathetic piece of shit. And about the book, I hadn''t written it though I might know the writer but I can''t tell you for now."Future Lucas grinned with an unslighty smile.
"Who is it? Tell me who wrote that book and whether you are the person behind my death.Seeing that look, I am sure you had hand in it."
Future Lucas rolled his eyes up and down and sneered,"What? Did you think of me as your servant who will reply to everything you asked?"
Lucas bit his lips with a scowl and massaged his forehead to calm himself from getting pissed by this guy.
"Then why the hell are you here messing with me? Do you think all of this is a joke?"
"Are you having fun toying with me?Do you have sadistic nature that enjoys watching others suffering.Did you have your fair share of fun and enjoyed your sadistic tendencies by watching me groveling in pain so if you have that''s enough."
The more he spoke, the more Lucas became agitated.
From the moment Lucas appeared in this world, he had always been in a vulnerable position.
He had gone through many sleepless nights, many days of grieving and reminiscing, many hours of self-doubt and many hours to cheer himself to walk further despite the death road waiting ahead of him.
He may look like a calm, cool and level-headed boy but he knew he wasn''t. He knew better than anyone that he wasn''t that.
He was just a simple college-attending boy of 20 years beforeing here who hadn''t even stepped into society to suffer the cruelty of society nor did he have ample experience that could help him to survive.
There were times he yearned for a break, yearned for enjoyable moments to visit an outing with family or friends or waste days ying games or watching TV or reading novels but he couldn''t. He had to kill all his desires and grit his teeth to train regrly to sharpen himself.
But despite all their effort, there would always be something that he either overlooked or something happened that was beyond what he could handle.
There was a limit to the mental strain that he could handle in the world surrounded by many people but he had none whom he could call a proper friend with whom he could share his worries.
But now that he had found someone who knew who he was, his inner turmoil suppressed in his heart burst with all this uncanny feeling.
"Why do I have to take care of this world mess? Why me?"
"Let''s talk about Julian.From glimpse it seems, you had a thing for her and she might also have a thing for you but that''s not me. And the parents, they aren''t even my own. I can''t even handle my safety, so how can I save myself from death?"
"Why the hell do I have to act as the righteous guy to shoulder all this burden instead of throwing it all away?"
"And you who killed me. You snatched away my real parents who might be in bad condition while mourning for me. You took them away from me."
"So why don''t I kill your Julian and parents to have my revenge? Wouldn''t that level us now?!!"Lucas shouted trying to force a smile that startled Future Lucas for a moment
A deadly silence prevailed for a moment that was broken by Future Lucas'' screechingughter.
"Keke!"
Future Lucas walked forward and touching Lucas'' chin, he spoke softly.
"Pal, you talk too much."
"I¡"
BOOM!
A crimson light shed in the space.
Before Lucas could answer, his head burst out like a popping watermelon.
Chapter 211 211:Emotional Outburst[2]
Chapter 211 211:Emotional Outburst[2]
A deep silence lingered after Lucas'' angry roar followed Lucas'' headless body falling onto the ground with a thud.
In the next instant, a bright light shed and Lucas'' figure materialized with his head intact as hey down with his chest rising up and down.
Unlike before, he didn''t roar or speak anything for a few moments, maintaining a state of extreme shock.
The atmosphere that had be somber was broken by a hystericalughter from Lucas.
"Hahahahahaah!"
"I got it. At the end of the day, you are just a failure. You may preach you are the greatest or strongest version of me but in the end, you still fail, right?" Lucas raised his head slightly, staring deep into those ck abysmal eyes.
"I know it feels weird for a guy like me who screams for life and fears death, but currently at this moment when I am facing you, I don''t seem to fear you that much. After all, just how much worse can it be?" Lucas chuckled andughed as if he had lost his mind.
"You have already made me suffer the pain of death countless times so how worse can it be to die a few more times."
Future Lucas blinked his eyes multiple times and then walking ahead, stood right before Lucas.
"Hey bro, did you watch too many videos of Alpha, Sigma and Gigachad that inspired you too much but in the wrong direction?"
"Do you think you have grown balls of steel just because you managed to survive till now?!"Future Lucas shouted, pulling up Lucas like a rag doll, putting his finger on Lucas'' chest.
"You are still in the mood to joke?"Lucas red sharply, noticing this guy was beginning to joke around again.
"Fuck, do you think I am joking?"
His voice became hoarse carrying a bit of murderous intent. The surrounding temperature fell and Lucas'' back tingled as goose bumps crawled down his spine.
"If you have guts, tell me¡"
"Tell me that you have no feelings for the parents of this world."
"Tell me that you don''t have any feelings or any emotional attachment with the friends you have made and people you have known within your stay."
"Just fucking tell me that you don''t care. That you are just a stoic, cynical emotionless cold-faced bastard without any attachment that can do what he wants and go down to any length."
Lucas opened his lips and his body froze as he thought about all the people around him.
Certainly, he didn''t have attachments to the point that he could sacrifice his life but that doesn''t mean all of this was fake.
It would be a lie, a very silly lie if he said that he had no feelings for them.
"What happened? Is your tongue bitten?"
"You can''t, can you?"Future Lucas sneered and pushing Lucas, turned around.
"You can lie to yourself but not to me, ''cause I am someone that knows you very well. Even though you are different from me, I know the full extent of your capabilities and your limits."
"Listen to me you piece of shit. You are Lucas, real Lucas."
"No, I am not."Lucas refuted, wondering what this guy meant.
"Yes, you are. You were Roy before but now you are Lucas. This also stands true to me. It seems you harbour a deep misconception about your identity."
"See, you are Lucas in a way. You are just different from me or other Lucas because you remember the experience of past life and memories that hadpletely shifted your personality. The only difference between you and us is that you remember the past life whereas we don''t. And about your death, you..about our death, were supposed to die at the age of 20. I have no hand in it. After Roy died at 20, he was reborn in this world as Lucas."Future Lucas then pointed at Lucas'' face and spoke coldly.
"And you think, you have suffered so much that you are crying and bitching around every day like ''oh my god why am I so unlucky, why doesn''t good lucke to me, why I am so poor, why am imoner'' etc bulshit..."
Future Lucas, moving back, folded his legs and sat down on the Throne while resting his chin on his palms and ncing at Lucas'' befuddled expression.
"I didn''t have a system nor did I ever take a bloodline potion that increased my grade. I didn''t have a teacher to teach me, a friend to guide me and adults to help me when I was at your age. I had to learn and survive all of this by myself despite being brutally abused and curses hurled at me every day by those sons of bitches kicking my ass and humiliating me every day."
"Now that I remember, damn bro if those assholes were alive, I would fucking skin them and lock them in a room filled with those God and Spirits'' shit."Future Lucas spat with a distorted expression.
"You areining because of all of this little shit but have you ever felt the pain of an inferiorityplex? Have you ever felt that pain that you can''t grow stronger and pass a small barrier no matter what you do while others can easily pass through it?''''
"Have you felt the emotion of seeing yourrades in war stand beside you taking a drink today, just to die every next day. Have you felt the emotions of being unable to see your parents once again and unable to find them no matter how much you look for them as if they disappeared out of thin air?"
"You think you are lonely, that you are alone¡.. Hahahaha!What a joke"Future Lucasughed but his expression turned sharp and vicious as thousands of eyes sprouted from his body giving Lucas a deep fright.
"Boy, you don''t know real loneliness. The agony that it brings, the despair that it strikes in your heart. Having no friends, parents or love is true loneliness my foot."
"Real loneliness is when you are alive but no one else is. You have no one to talk to, no one to entertain you. Trapped in the same ce for uncountable years where there is no concept of day and night. There is no TV, no mobile, and no food or drinks to lift your mood. Just you alone for all eternity sitting in ce thinking how meaningless your life is."
The more he spoke the more agitated he became startling Lucas.
At that time, Lucas saw the tired eyes of a lone warrior who survived a catastrophe and became thest renaming one.
"And do you know what''s worse than that?"
"It''s when the person whom you love from the bottom of your heart dying slowly with each passing day but you are unable to do anything until the day she couldn''t bear to see you suffer andmitted suicide so that she wouldn''t be a burden on you."
"I still remembered the day when I cried so much prayed to those Goddess and hit my head asking them for mercy and forgive me if I had to suffer any crime by mistakenly.For every time, I was inflicted upon misfortune I prayed to them but those bitches, they never give a damn to me or any other person''s suffering rather they enjoy using us grovelling under their feet."
"When others wake up from sleep their nightmare ends but when I wake up, my nightmare begins. We aren''t the same. Just because I said I am the strongest doesn''t mean you can think I had it pretty easy without knowing the things I had gone through."
"Now tell me, have you gone through something like this that gave you a fucking right to scream at me?"
"Who the hell are you to judge me?"
BOOM!
Future Lucas mmed the armrest of the throne sending a shock wave sweeping Lucas who fell on the floor with a dazed expression as Future Lucas''s loud words rang again and again.
"The main reason I am conversing with a muddlehead like you is to warn you. Don''t think everything will follow the route that you expected. Your presence and your interference can change the whole structure of the plot and change a person''s fate but there is always a cause and an effect."
"Every choice of yours has consequences which may either lead to victory or doom. Changing fate requires sacrifices. When you save one, someone else has to bear the consequences."
Hearing all this, a question escaped from Lucas'' lips as if he knew about this but remembered just now.
"What did you lose to gain this much power?'''' Lucas asked, raising his chin at Future Lucas, whose figure was slowly disappearing.
Future Lucas sighed and looked up with conflicting emotion.
"I lost..."
"I lost nothing less than everything to gain this power. So if you don''t want to gain power at the cost of everything ...."
His figure soon turned transparent and vanished.
"Did this menace leave?" Lucas muttered, heaving in relief and cursing him but at the next second a loud bang echoed and a horn emerged from the back of Lucas''s head.
Rubbing his head, Lucas stared at his other self squatting beside him.
''How did I be such an asshole? This guy is just a different breed of asshole.''
Lucas cursed seeing this guy pulling a prank.
"Stop cursing me in your head. That fucker Parth had surely affected you with his trash talk virus."
Lucas kept his lips shut and tried to deviate from the topic to avoid more beating. It seems Parth''s title of being King of Trash Talking reigned in all timelines.
"So tell me, how many times have you manipted and interfered till now?"
"Not much, it''s not easy to jump into the past. Jumping into the sidelines of other timelines of the same dates as mine is way easier than jumping back and forth. What I am now is just a fragment of Future Lucas''s consciousness stored in the system. All of those emotions belong solely to you but they got amplified because of my presence in the system. Though I pulled some strings since you always acted on your wishes."
"System...what is this system and what is it especially for? It doesn''t have any special features that give it an edge over others."Lucas asked curiously while still not believing that this guy didn''t control him.
"Bro, can you stop deluding in fantasy?" Future Lucas massaged his forehead hearing his other self''s naive thoughts.
"Did you think you were going to get stats up just by sitting on the sofa? Or do you want the system to issue tasks like drinking liters of water and get a stat point?"
"This system is an artifact that is made by me and there is nothing omnipotent in it. Anyone who has the power to control the worldlyws or is the strongest in this world can make a system which is just an integration of worldlyws but if a person is stronger than them, he or she can just force it out from the host."
"Wait...That means I am in danger!" Lucas screamed in shock and stomped the ground in anger.
"And you are telling me this now?"
"Shut up. I am the strongest in this world so who would have the guts to do this? And no one even knows that you have a system. Nowing back to the question. The greatest help for you now is the bloodline potion without which your level would be stuck at 4-Star for years until thews are broken down. And don''t ask me when this is going to happen. And remember one thing, bloodline potion function isn''t limited to upgrading bloodline grade only."Future Lucas pped his hand and started to exin.
"Besides this, there is another thing which is going to prove very¡very crucial in the future and that is the main function of this so-called system. But you need to uncover all of this by yourself, that''s why I didn''t put an AI or spirit in it."
"Bu-¡Okay, got it." Lucas wanted to ask more but swallowed his saliva seeing those menacing eyes. It was a weird feeling but he felt that he would be killed if he asked more about this.
"By the way, why do you hate Goddesses so much to the point that you''re calling them bitches?"Lucas asked trying to divert his topic while wondering why this guy hate Goddesses and Gods so much as they were pretty amiable in the novel.
The world became tranquil for a moment which was burst by Future Lucas'' suddenughter.
''Hehehe!''
Future Lucas stood up and covered his face.
"That''s a good question. A very good question."
His voice started turning chill and his hair started standing up defying gravity.
"Lucas, remember one thing. If worsees to worse you can even trust a member of Omen but never...never trust those bitches."
"The worst thing and the stupidest decision of my life and every living being in this world is to put trust in them and hope for salvation."
He turned to Lucas and pressed him with his crimson twinkles amid hollow dark eyes.
"There is no salvation in this damned world. Not until those bitches are present who abandoned us as worst possible stab after manipting us for ages."
Chapter 212 212:Perpetrator?
Chapter 212 212:Perpetrator?
Lucas swallowed his saliva while pondering for a moment.
Although his other self didn''t say much he inferred some things through a roundabout way after hearing his words.
''It seems that God abandoned humanity and all other species for some reason.''
"So you are advising me to stay away from them. I noted that. And I am not sure if this is the case but isn''t Frederick a chosen warrior by the Goddess so should I be careful of him?"
"Hmmm!" Future Lucas rubbed his chin.
"I don''t think so. They could have manipted things like they always do but I killed the shit out of them many times and enforced tons of restrictions on them so they shouldn''t be able to do that. Moreover, they couldn''t derive predictions from the future as in most timelines they are dead."
"Though they can''t interfere directly they can do so subtly. For example your bad luck."
Lucas'' expression distorted and his voice became louder.
"What did you say?"
"I am talking about that ck pot which you carry around. Due to remembering your previous lives, the world had already taken you as an outsider and tried to kill you in any usible situation. There is also a part of the world that wants you to save and use it as a chess piece in the final war. Without the world''s help, the Goddess might have already buried you alive."
Lucas'' Breathing stagnated for a moment.
"So, do they know everything about us?"
"Nah, they don''t."
"They had lessened their guards a lot. The reason is except for me all Lucases are just useless pieces of shit and failures. If not for the special circumstances around me, I wouldn''t have be what I am now. There were many times when I tried tomit suicide just because of some weird ass bullied me. Even I used to be a pathetic piece of trash."
"Aren''t you ashamed to curse yourself?"
"It''s okay, trash is trash. Lie can''t be the truth. You can''t sugarcoat your words and address a useless stone as priceless ornament just because you want to."Future Lucas waved his hand.
"You are not on their radar for now and they wouldn''t be guarding against you. And once the Demon Continent arises, they will be busy taking care of their shits and trying to save themselves so just focus on your growth for now."
"Okay, it''s time to go now."
Future Lucas'' image started to disappear and the world started to crumble apart.
"Wait! I still have questions!"
"Shut up! Do you want me to spoon-feed you everything? Try to use the brain that you are born with. Don''t just rely on others to answer your queries. " Future Lucas reprimanded.
Lucas, who just stood there recalling one of his life''s most absurd and weirdest conversation, suddenly held his head due to an influx of new memories.
"Think of this as a gift tomemorate our first meeting. If life ever permits we will meet once again."
"Oh, I forgot to mention. Your system might go through some changes. My appearance had used a part of its divinity so your system might cut some things in the future."
"What the..''''
Before Lucas could curse, a crackling sound thundered in the vast space which started shattering once again.
Lucas'' consciousness sank and he opened his eyes, he found Julian in his arms while many pieces of messy memories shed in his mind making his expression dark.
.....
Among the group of students lying around like a corpse, the eyelids of some started flickering as the weight exerted on their minds vanished.
The third-year students were the first ones to wake up.
Issac, who was rubbing his eyes, suddenly froze, finding himself lying over a cushion of grass.
His hands froze and his eyes bulged at the image of him being knocked out while dealing with a ck robbed man.
"What the hell happened here?!" Issac screamed immediately, springing up on his feet but he stumbled due to a massive pain hammering in his head.
"Thest thing I remember was watching a huge flower-shaped monster appearing out of nowhere and targeting Julian." Ian said while staring at the others'' drowsy appearances.
''Damn, it hurts like shit." Ian cursed, pressing his forehead.
Lara and Mogan who also woke up with them were sitting with dazed confused expressions.
Issac massaging his forehead, turned his gaze.
His jaw opened wide and his pupil dted, witnessing pieces of flesh scattered all around along withrge pits and craters.
However, his eyes, ignoring the sight of mass destruction, locked onto a man and a woman, witnessing which his heart burst out and his vision dyed with shock.
Seeing the unconscious. Julian lying in the hands of a mere filthy ant, jealousy clouded his vision.
"Lowlife, how dare you touch the Princess?! Taking advantage of her when she is unconscious!!"
A roar amplified by mana echoed all around jolting many out of their dazed state.
Ian''s senses were alerted when he saw Isaac''s murderous glint and he immediately tried to stop him.
"How dare...I will kill you!!"Issac roared like a madman.
His body burst with a cloud of me, forcing Ian to retreat.
With a jet explosion, Issac''s entire body was ignited with mes as he shot towards Lucas and Julian leaving behind a trail of me.
BOOM!
"Get the hell away from her!!"
Issac screamed at the top of his lungs and raised his fist to fire a shot of me. But before he could do that, Lucas, whose eyes were ncing at Julian, turned abruptly with a snap, peering straight into his eyes.
Issac''s vision distorted and turned bloody. For a moment, he felt as if the whole world came crashing down on him.
Losing control over his whole body, due to blurry vision he crashed on the ground with a loud impact.
BOOM!
His body bounced back and forth, due to thrashing onto the ground as he slid off for many metres.
Cough...Cough....
Coughing blood, Issac stood up with staggering steps and held his head which throbbed more badly than before as if someone was bashing his head with a club.
He raised his chin and shuddered to see a furious gaze and gulped in fear.
''Fear¡.Me?¡I am feeling fear?''
"No, it can''t be. You, a measly piece of shit dare to look into my eyes? I will gouge out our eyes."
Just as Issac took a step forward, a hugemotion ensued behind them as many knights with a profound aura galloped their way towards Julian and Lucas.
Issac suddenly thought of a n and his expression turned sinister.
"Catch that bastard! He is the perpetrator behind all this. He is holding Julian hostage. Apprehend him."
The Knights halted in their steps and were instantly startled seeing a sickly pale Julian in Lucas'' arms.
Their hearts churned with coldness.
"Sir Knights, it might be a misunderstanding. I don''t think he can do that.'''' Ian shouted as he followed behind Issac trying to stop the imprudent action of harming Lucas.
The Knights gave Ian a cold shoulder but Ian didn''t flinch back.
Julian had already asked him to take care of Lucas in case Issac acted unruly. Since he had promised to help Lucas, he couldn''t back down now and in doing so, Julian promised him that she would back him up and give him a greater future.
"Boy, step back. Please allow us to do our duty." Ledger, the Captain of this small team spoke coldly and sauntered towards Lucas with a darkened expression while keeping his guards up.
"Boy, release Her Highness and I will grant you mercy!" Ledger shouted backing up knights.
"Stop wasting time and kill him!"Issac urged with a frustrated expression.
Ledger''s expression distorted as the boy ignored them as if they weren''t present.
He was willing to give this guy a chance to speak but he remained silent oblivious to his question which made Ledger irked by his temper.
The moment Ledger along his squad stepped closer and drew their swords, murderous intent exploded within Lucas dyeing everything in red as he locked his gaze on the ground of knights.
In the very next instant, Ledger''s and the knight''s bodies behind him halted.
Everyone there stood bbergasted feeling the sensation of a red line passing their necks.
A bleak deadly silence enveloped the whole ce with the feeling of bad premonition burning their heart.
Chapter 213 213:Perpetrator?[2]
Chapter 213 213:Perpetrator?[2]
The knights gasped in shock as they found themselves scared shitless, just by the gaze of a teen boy.
Their legs buckled up seeing the intense gaze of the ck-haired boy whose single nce was sending chills down their spines with a warning that they would die if they dared toe closer.
A thick killing intent dyed the entire ce in red.
Swallowing his saliva, a knight tried to step forward thinking that this might be some kind of petty trick by this small boy to scare them.
"Is all of this your doing? Are you a traitor and a member of Omen, holding Princess as hostage?"
"Boy, you are ying with death. Let our Highness go now."
"At the very least you will be gifted with a painless death for touching the jewel of the Empire. Who knows if His Majesty''s mood is good, you will be left alive with a minor punishment of losing two arms and a few organs."
''Just kill this guy.'' Issac who stood at the side clenched his fist tightly to the point that his nail dug deep into his skin.
Following the brave knight''s words, the others woke up from their stupor and bracing themselves, they stepped forward cautiously in case there might be some trapid around.
Seeing the boy holding Princess Julian who knows if they get closer, he harms the Princess and uses her as a hostage to escape.
"You are saying my student is guilty."
"Who do you think you are? Have you asked me?"
The moment a cold voice fell, goosebumps rose from the knight''s back and their body jolted in shock with the premonition of a deadly crisis.
All of them halted in their steps feeling many pairs of blood-red hands strangling their necks.
TAP!RTAP!TAP!TAP!TAP!
With gentle yet ominous steps, a man with blood hair strolled behind them with a nonchnt look as if he was strolling in the garden.
He wore the academy instructor uniform and had an insignia of Horizon which for a moment made them doubt his identity.
No one knew when this person appeared and sneaked in behind them but all of their gut feelings screamed that this person was dangerous.
Ledger''s heart tightened seeing those dark ominous gazes. His eyes stirred, sensing an immense murderous intent that seemed to be oozing out of his eyes.
Seeing the killing intent wrapped around the person, Ledger thought this might be the guy who made them feel that their head would be severed before but since he was sneaking behind they mistook thinking that all this was due to that boy''s gaze.
''Just how many people did he kill to have such a profound aura even though he is clearly at 6-Star?''
Ledger, who was contemting his thoughts, snapped out of it when a knight from his squad stepped forward and sneered at the man.
"Presumptuous, how dare you interfere in the work of the knights? Are you in cahoots with him? A mere 6-Star instructor dares to show off in front of a 7-Star knight."
''Fuck, I the captain hadn''t even spoken so why are you dancing around?!'' Ledger screamed in his mind.
"Seth, stop."
"Exin yourself, traitor!" The Knight named Seth, ignoring his captain''s call, screamed, pulling out his sword.
The silver-armoured Knights behind him, without wasting their breath, pulled out their swords, however...
Their swords hadn''t even left their scabbard when a blood trail of light cut through the air.
The world turned silent for a moment after which the armours of five knights who stood in the front were cut into halves with a bloody cut over their chests.
Seth who stood at the front just stood there in shock and looked down to notice his chest cut open with a deep cut.
Blood spurted out from his chest like a fountain.
With a nonchnt look, the blood-haired man walked past the knights who just stood there frozen, unable to understand just what was happening here.
"I don''t exin. I just cut."
The man walking closer to Lucas drew a line before the knights and said,"Anyone who crosses this line will die today."
"Believe me, I don''t bluff." The man''s blood-red eyes glowed viciously with a crazy smile hanging over his lips.
The atmosphere became a standstill and 10 Knights already started to call back up while nning in their head to stall time for reinforcement to arrive.
Before things could heat up, a loud voice broke the information.
"Harris, stop this."
"Knights, retreat. This guy is not our enemy."
Ami''s figurended beside them and eased the tension. A trace of panic shed in her eyes seeing Lucas holding unconscious Julian.
"Miss Ami, how can you do this?!" Issac, whose body has be stiff due to Harris''s killing intent, shouted seeing Miss Ami taking Lucas'' side.
"Shut up, Issac, it''s not your ce to scream."
"Lucas...."
Ami spoke hoarsely, unable to imagine what transpired here.
When the barrier vanished immediately, the Vice-principal tried to pull everyone out of the Tower but it didn''t work.
Ami wasn''t able to suppress her anxiety so even though she had other orders to take care of, throwing it all aside, she hurried to this ce.
Just as she stepped into the ce, a thick bloody smell assaulted her and she was gobsmacked seeing a massacre with cut meat sttered all around.
Ami suppressed her panicked heart seeing Julian''s pale expression as if she didn''t have any blood left in her body. It seemed frozencking the tiniest warmth a living human body should have.
Lucas just stared at Miss Ami with a murderous gaze as if she were a deadly enemy.
"Lucas, snap out of it. It''s me, Miss Ami. I am not your enemy."Ami muttered, walking closer in slow steps.
The killing intent in his eyes disappeared and his gaze rotated between Ami and a deathly pale Julian.
"Miss Ami...Jul....."His voice choked seeing Julian lying like a withered flower in his arms. His hazy mind which was filled with messy thoughts slowly started to make his mind unstable.
Remembering the cruel fate that awaited Julian and just how much she had sacrificed, Lucas'' heart burnt with suffocation.
At that moment, he wanted to kill.
Kill anyone who dares to harm this benefactor who has always saved him in one way or another.
"It''s okay Lucas, leave her to me. She will be safe with us. I swear on my life."Ami muttered with a weird feeling wondering since when she needed to ask for his permission to take back sickly pale Julian.
She was also feeling ufortable seeing Lucas holding Julian in his arms as this might be a big issue if it is found out to outsiders especially to the Emperor still without knowing the crux of the things, she didn''t want to condemn andter find that this was just a misunderstanding.
Lucas'' killing intent disappeared, and his eyes returned to normal as his mentality slowly started to adjust.
"Hmmm!" Lucas nodded and lifted Julian in his arms with a gentle gesture, handing her to Miss Ami carefully as if there was a priceless treasure in his arms.
"She had suffered some internal injuries. She might be in aatose state for a few days but she is fine. She just needs ample rest."Lucas muttered with a gentle tone.
As Ami took Julian''s figure into her arms, the Knights showed movements.
"Please follow us for investigation-"But before he could even finish his sentence, Harris''s de was already ced over Ledger''s neck.
"You also talk too much." Harris chuckled.
"All of you retreat. No need to investigate."
"But...." Ledger refused to back down as it was his duty to make sure he did not overlook anything otherwise the Emperor would have his head.
"I ask you to investigate things first before arresting someone without proof. I am telling you this not as Instructor of Horizon but as Ami Graceford, the leader of the 3rd Battalion of Knights. As leader of a battalion, I have the highest seniority here so my order is absolute!" Ami shouted, pulling out the Knight badge from her storage ring, startling the Knights.
They have never imagined in their wildest dreams that the leader of the famous 3rd battalion which consists of only women would work as an instructor here.
"Take care of the mess here and check the children''s condition."
"Yes, Ma''am!" The Knights saluted in an orderly manner.
Ami followed by a few servants left with a streak of lightning.
Harris stared at Lucas'' conflicted expression and walked past him patting his shoulder.
"Don''t worry, everything is alright now."
Another pair of footsteps echoed, drawing Lucas'' attention.
Turning his head, he saw Frederick and Parth with messy hair running towards them.
"Bro, are you alright? What''s going on?!" Parth screamed in bewilderment.
"Congrattions, you just survived a massacre" Harris muttered, ncing at the state of the battlefield.
"It seems your friends are here. I need to work so I will take my leave."Harris spoke softly and then pausing for a moment spoke softly again.
"It seems you are in a trance. If possible try to remember this feeling."Harris whispered
and left with a streak of light.
"Lucas, are you alright?" Frederick asked while taking a deep breath as his chest heaved up and down. He seemed to be exhausted.
"Enn!"
"Bro, just what did you drink? You touched The Princess? hell yeah! Since when did you be a man?" Parth spoke trying to cool down things and patted Lucas.
"Aghh!" Parth screamed and flinched back, feeling a thick aura around Lucas coursing like current through his body upon touching Lucas.
"Parth!" Frederick spoke with a surprised expression.
"What''s going-"
Frederick''s words choked in his throat as his gazended on Lucas'' darkened face frightening him.
Parth''s heartbeat crazily sped up seeing Lucas'' dead serious expression.
One shouldn''t go by the face value of easygoing Lucas. He may look like a gentle virtuous man who looked too kind to exist here but once angered, he is like a demon crawling out of the abyss prepared to pull those who harmed him into the abyss.
This was the type of guy for whom the proverb ''never tests a gentleman''s patience'' was made for.
"He will not live for long."
Lucas'' cold words sounded like thunder in Parth and Frederick''s ears.
"Who?"
Both of them with confused expressions turned their faces following Lucas'' line of sight which fell on Issac who was screaming to the knights a bit away from them.
"I am telling you this guy is the one behind all this. Hemitted a felony! He needs to be punished!"
"Obey my order and apprehend him!" Isaac screamed, stomping his ground in anger.
"Sir Issac, you might be an heir but you are Duke''s heir. And even if you were a Duke, we only obey orders from superior knights or someone from the Royal family." Ledger ignored Issac and strolled ahead.
"Damn, you!" Issac screamed and upon turning his gaze, he met a pair of dark hollow eyes devoid of any warmth or empathy.
It was cold, hollow that pierced deep into a person sending a shiver down their spine instilling a deep fear straight in a person''s soul and conveying a clear message which is.
Death..
You are going to die.
What was most terrifying, was that it wasn''t warning, rather it looked as if those eyes were dering a thing that was going to happen.
Issac''s breathing ceased on meeting with those ominous gazes, stirring the very depth of his heart. An ufortable feeling akin to hundreds of nefarious bugs crawling under his skin and transverse through his body making him quiver.
"You¡." Before Issac could react and control his shivering body, a bright light shed across the ce with which, everyone inside the ce was ejected out, which finally brought an end to this terrorizing incident.
....
[End Of Volume 2]
It was really hard for me to write this volume. I always felt severe limitations due to the original that limited my freedom to do things and even had to speed up things.Now, I can finally breathe the air of relief.
Volume 3 will mostly focus on the character development and thier interaction.
Other races and other Empires will be introduced in Volume 3.
Chapter 214 214:Confrontation Among Friends
Chapter 214 214:Confrontation Among Friends
The moment students were out of the Tower, they were immediately sent for a check-up.
Some students were still in an unconscious state and were immediately shifted to the emergency ward in the infirmary.
The entire infirmary was filled withmotion as immediate treatments were carried out on everyone. Everyone was made to go through a check-up, to eliminate the possibility of hidden injuries that might be left behind if not treated properly.
Walking through the fray of crowds, Jenny pushed the students aside. Her noble status helped her to make her way through the crowds frolicking at the door of the infirmary as if there was a good show happening inside.
"Step aside." Jenny pushed her way with brute force and the moment she stepped in, she shouted.
"Student, don''t make noise!'''' A nurse reprimanded her but ignoring her, Jenny ignoring her asked coldly.
"Where is Ezekiel?"
"Ezekiel¡?" A frown appeared on everyone''s face.
Seeing no replies, Jenny frowned.
"Where did he go? Is he alright?"
The entire corridor became silent followed by Jenny''s shouts as they were also taken by surprise seeing such a reaction.
A bad premonition suddenly welled up inside her heart.
"Why isn''t anyone replying? What happened to him?"
"Is¡..h..he badly injured?" Jenny''s voice started to shutter and a trace of panic shed over her face.
Even though she was at 4-Star, she wasn''t able to clear the second trial and wanted to hide in embarrassment but seeing David backstabbing Ezekiel, she hurried her way here to check on Ezekiel.
Getting no answer, she made her way to one of her friends and asked with a threatening tone.
"Tell me the truth, where is Ezekiel?"
"That...That..."The girl named Laura stammered in her speech and averted her gaze.
She knew that Ezekiel and Jenny had recently confessed their love for one another.
In such a situation, she wasn''t able to summon the courage to tell her the truth.
"Laura, tell me."
Laura noticed Jenny''s eyes trembling with uneasiness.
"Laura, please." Jenny lowered her status and bowed her head, shocking Laura who had never thought that she would witness such a sight.
"He...He is dead." Laura replied, closing her eyes.
It was such a brutal kill that not even his ashes were left behind.
Jenny''s eyes erged and her body shivered as Laura''s words exploded like thunder in her ears.
"You are joking, aren''t you?" Jenny''s voice became colder.
"No, Jenny, it''s the truth, you have to ept it. Everyone here has witnessed the scene."
Jenny nced around and found other students giving her a fearful look.
"No...it can''t be. Ezekiel....how can he..." Jenny''s mind became cloudy and she stumbled across her feet.
"Jenny....hold yourself!" Laura shouted and held Jenny whose body quivered.
"Liar, you are all liars. How can someone die in a trial?! Stop lying!!" Jenny screamed.
"It''s true, Jenny. Along with Ezekiel, several others died. You have to ept it even if it is hard." Some muttered seeing Jenny denying the truth.
Sheldon, who heard themotion from outside, immediately rushed in and tried to appease Jenny who was about to explode.
"Jenny, calm down for a moment."
Drops of tears trickled down her face, unable to believe what had just transpired.
Jenny burst into tears as her heart suffocated with mncholy.
Her body fell to the ground, the warmth of life stolen by hearing Ezekiel''s embrace of death.The impact of her limp, lifeless body was synced with the wails of her friends, who were watching closely, hoping for a different oue. Many sprinted over, forgetting the fatigue in their swaying legs from the ongoing battle, desperate to find any remaining flickers of life, but were met with cold silence.
Few others around tried to calm her down but seeing the situation out of hand, Angelo who was supervising things hurried his way immediately and cast a soothing spell that made Jenny sleep.
"Take her to the ward. Her state of mind is not right. Also, contact her parents. These are the things that are beyond what we can handle."
A few meters from the ce where thismotion broke out¡
An orange-haired girl sat down with deste eyes with a pale expression as if she had undergone a nightmare.
"Monica, what happened to you? Why does your expression look so bad?"
Rose and Helena, who just finished the check-up, were about to leave when they saw a dark gloomy aura surrounding Monica as she sat with a pale lifeless expression.
Monica, with a stoic expression, raised her chin to find Helena and Rose ncing at her with worry.
The moment she looked at them like a dam bursting out due to its inability to hold the water, drops of tears started oozing out from her eyes.
"MONICA!"
Helena and Rose were taken by surprise seeing the despair in Monica''s eyes. They stepped forward and hugged her asking what happened.
Monica closed her face with her palms unable to hold back her tears.
"Safrina''s death¡It wouldn''t have happened if I tried to reach out to her. Even if she pushed me away after the kidnapping incident, I should have been there for her instead of turning away from her. I should have tried to hold her if she tried to run away from us. It''s my fault. All of this is my fault. I turned my back on her when she needed a friend the most. It was me who pushed her to the brink of despair." Monica shivered in mncholy.
"And then Humphrey...His situation isn''t optimistic."
"What? Why?" Rose asked in bewilderment.
"Wasn''t he alright?" Helena murmured with a series of broken voices.
"I...I injured him."
"How did this happen?" Rose asked with worry as she wiped the tears from Monica''s eyes.
"When I was caught in an illusion, I attacked him. I don''t know why but that dummy didn''t evade and the spell almost killed him."
Rose and Helena stared at each other with a confused gaze.
"Isn''t it just an injury? Even if you injure him badly, wouldn''t he be alright with a potion or you can ask the priest for help?"
"That isn''t it."Monica cried out, shaking her head.
"They are saying that his mind had been affected for some reason. There might be a soul injury."
"Soul injury¡" Rose murmured in disbelief. "How did your attack lead to a soul injury?" Rose asked wearily.
"Do you remember the thing we saw before we were knocked out? I suppose it had something to do with that."
A painful memory of a colossal bloody monster shed before Rose and Helena''s eyes, remembering which their bodies shivered in fright and their legs buckled up.
Their faces became pale as just a single image of them being terrorized frightened them to that extent.
"That means..." Helena didn''t voice out her thoughts but she got the gist of it.
It seems Humphrey, after getting attacked, has seen that figure who might have attacked Humphrey''s consciousness leading to such a disaster.
"Monica, don''t worry. Let''s hope for the best." Rose tried to assure Monica.
"Yes, don''t lose hope." Helena added.
.....
At a far corner of the infirmary, with a wet white towel wrapped around his head, Lucas'' eyes scanned to and fro with a hollow look while a doctor was checking on him.
His eyes went over the mess that was the result of the Omen and Dark Force joint venture.
Initially, thousands of people who came to watch the tournament should have died while the students would have been safe except for some grieving injuries but now instead of that¡
Fewer people might have died outside while many students died in the Tower. And out of those who managed to survive, their mental condition wasn''t as good as they might have suffered the trauma of witnessing Abacharu.
Roan was also one of them who hadn''t woken up yet.
If Future Lucas hadn''t made a move things might have be way worse however to simply believe he didn''t pull strings behind, he would be an idiot to believe this.
''The second trial. It seems when Tower scanned my soul, Future Lucas must have interfered. That means I have to take Frederick''s words in that scene seriously.'' Lucas murmured clenching his fist as he went through all the things he had witnessed.
Before leaving, Future Lucas gave him memories of some behind-the-scenes moments. The memories were still messy and hard to put together but with time, the memories would be clear.
How much of that was true, he didn''t know and he was still in a dilemma whether to trust the things that transpired.
However, there was one clear memory and it was about Issac which he felt couldn''t be fake cause he could see deep emotions on that bastard''s face when he gave this memory.
Lucas''s heart started burning in rage as he witnessed Issac''s nefarious deeds. It may look as if that guy was madly in love with Julian but in truth, he needed Julian to ovee their bloodline ability weakness. For him, Julian was nothing but a tool and a toy that he needed badly.
In his hunt for conquest, he exceeded the limits of depravity.
''I want to kill him but it''s not the time. I am not that strong nor do I have a backing. On top of that, I need to divert someone''s attention.''
Lucas shivered as soon as he remembered the face of that guy.
Azrail is the mastermind and expert maniptor behind the scenes that made all of this happen. A true psycho among the group of Omen members.
If he cane up with a countermeasure to their countermeasures then he might be already close ro discerning the identity of the informer.
Being a trusted subordinate of Jin, it was sure that Lucas was on his radar. It might take a while before he draws his suspicion on him but he can''t wait for that.
Because once that guy learns about him, he will trap him from all sides without any leeway.
''I am weak. Too weak. I am neither a man with a high IQ nor am I a good strategist or a good maniptor. I failed to differentiate and predict things, but it''s all right. All I need to do is learn and try my best to grow.''.Lucas assured himself.
''First, I need to turn his attention. While doing so, I should also get that key for that thing.''
Thinking things through, Lucas decided to leave Horizon. He needed to go for a hunt now so that he didn''t miss the opportunity.
"Hey, why are standing all of a sudden.''''
Lucas, who was about to get up, was startled to see a man in a white coat drawing blood from his shoulder while on the other side, Angelo was preparing to cast a spell on him.
''It seems I zoned out when they were treating me.''
"Umm¡Why are you drawing my blood?" Lucas asked.
"It''s because you have blood clots all over your body. Your insides are a mess and your bones are filled with cracks. Your heart seemed to be tweaking. Your condition is quite weird and it''s surprising how you are behaving as if nothing happened." Angelo murmured and bathed Lucas in warm light.
Lucas closed his eyes and enjoyed the warm sensation but suddenly he held his gut and choked. Out of nowhere an urge to vomit assaulted him.
"Vomit it out." The doctor beside him put a bucket, in which Lucas puked, unable to hold it in.
Dark red blood with pieces of broken internal organs, emerged from Lucas making him cringe.
''Damn that guy! He made my body a mess as it was unable to handle the power he drew with that overload reverse mana technique.''
"You will be alright. Rest for now." Angelo muttered and then he along with the doctor left to treat other patients under Lucas''s surprised gaze.
It was one of the few moments where Lucas found Angelo not screaming profanities as he treated everyone.
"Hey son of a bitch, stop shouting here and get your ass out of here!" Angelo screamed at a group.
"I take my words back. Some things never change."
Lucas felt his body lighten up and refreshed after emptying things out. He slumped down on the seat and wiped his face with a wet white towel.
TAP!TAP!TAP!TAP
Lucas didn''t look at familiar footsteps rather he just watched them walking toward him coldly.
"Man, just what shit did you eat to dump such a thing. I didn''t know your stomach could hold so much garbage."Parth snickered.
"I am not in a mood to joke."
"Stop joking." Charles reprimanded Parth.
"How is Roan?"Lucas asked.
"Still unconscious." Frederick answered, shaking his head.
Lucas then turned toward Charles,"Is Tiffany alright?"
Charles flinched back a bit and then replied with an embarrassed expression,"She got some minor injury, nothing more."
"Hehe, bro is on his way to steal a girl."Parth hit an elbow nudging Charles.
"What about you? You may look fine but your body was severely damaged." Frederick asked with a frown.
His tone carried a hint of curiosity as if trying to find out about the incident of Lucas''s odd behavior before passing out.
"Hey, Frederick, tell me something." Lucas nudged his body and intertwined his fingers with a solemn expression.
He raised his face and his golden eyes shining like a beast locked onto Frederick''s eyes which started to lose their calmness.
"Tell me Frederick, do you think all of us are your friends?"
Frederick''s expression faltered for a moment.
"Yeah, I do, but what type of question is¡."
"Parth, if your friend is in trouble, what should you do?" Lucas asked, cutting off Frederick''s speech.
Parth scratched his cheek and asked innocently,"Of course, I would help him. Isn''t it obvious?"
"Charles?" Lucas then looked at Charles.
"I will also do the same."
Lucas smiled and then stared at Frederick for a moment.
The brief silence started to hunt them.
"So, Frederick, since you consider us as your friend. Tell me, why didn''t you step up when all of our lives were in danger? "
"Even if you have a trump card you just stay still and act as if you can''t do anything while hiding near the safe zone." Lucas spoke calmly but his voice became colder and each word of his stabbed Frederick, prickling his guilty conscience.
Chapter 215 215:Confrontation Among Friends[2]
Chapter 215 215:Confrontation Among Friends[2]
"Huh?! What do you mean?" Frederick asked, acting confused.
For a moment he wondered if Lucas was joking and was about tough it off, but his words caught up in his throat seeing those cold emotionless gazes burning with fury.
"Lu.."
"Frederick!"
A sharp voice cut his speech.
"You know very well what I meant."
Lucas spoke slowly, emphasizing each word carefully.
Parth and Charlee standing in between them rotated their gaze to and fro with a bewildered expression.
Parth even wondered if Lucas had hit his head or if hugging Princess made him lose his mind.
''Damn, man I also want to lose my mind by hugging a beauty.''
If everyone knew what was going on inside Parth''s mind, he might be killed instantly right now for real.
"Lucas, what are you saying? You are asking why Frederick didn''t save us?" Parth shook his head and decided to interfere.
"Come one man, you are being unreasonable now. Even if Frederick is quite strong among his peers, he isn''t that invincible."
Lucas'' eyes locked onto Parth''s, frightening him.
"Why don''t you ask him whether he is or he isn''t?"
"Tell me, Frederick, you of all had the power to avert the disaster so why didn''t you act? Tell Parth, whether you have a trump card or that I am lying."
"That..." Frederick swallowed his saliva.
At first, he wanted to refute Lucas'' im sharply but something inside his heart got struck seeing Lucas'' expression.
How can he not know this feeling?
A feeling of grief of letting down your friend.
A feeling akin to betraying your friend''s trust and being unable to live up to their expectations even if they always tried to live up to your expectations.
Those eyes seem to pierce his soul.
Charles felt the air getting somber and the surroundings bing a chilly blizzard blowing.
His heart screamed warning him that something bad might happen if he didn''t interfere now.
"Lucas, what''s going on?" Charles asked with a frown.
"Lucas, stop it. You are using Frederick wrongly and tell me how you know that." Parth spoke softly by walking towards Lucas and patting Lucas'' dropped shoulder.
His fingers flinched due to an electrifying sensation and his eyes contracted as he noticed that, a sharp crimson aura which was unnoticed from afar, was slowly coagting over Lucas'' body as if he was prepared to face a deadly crisis.
"Lucas, calm down." Charles raised his hand noticing an anomaly around the mana surrounding Lucas.
Frederick''s eyes also shed with curiosity.
''Wait! How did Lucas know all this? No, did he know this from before and is he talking about the spear but how?''
Thousands of questions rang in his mind.
Someone who knew his secret and became his friend didn''t bode well with him.
Who knows if heter turns out to be a foe?
Even though Frederick attempted to keep hisposure, he felt his heartstrings struck by an unknown feeling.
A deep ufortable silence lingered for a moment that was broken by the loud grasp of Frederick as Lucas just raised his left hand showcasing something.
His eyes widened seeing the familiar ring on Lucas'' finger which almost blew his mind.
"No, it can''t be."
"How do you have this?"
Frederick''s jaw opened wide and his breathing stagnated witnessing this thing. For a moment, he wondered if this was a lie and he was just dreaming.
"Oh! So, you also know this ring." Lucas smirked, causing Parth and Charles to look at the ring carefully.
"What''s with this ring? It looks like an ordinary couple''s ring." Parth interjected while scratching his head as this ring looked too ordinary. There wasn''t even a jewel on top of it.
"Shut up!"
Frederick and Lucas reprimanded Parth at the same time, making him step back.
''What the hell? Why are you in sync now?'' Parth stepped with a sullen expression.
Charles pulled Parth back and red at him to keep quiet.
"What! I was just trying to calm them down."
"More like fanning more mes."Charles snorted.
Lucas turned his gaze towards everyone and then it lingered on Frederick.
ording to the book, only four people knew about the presence of this ring aside from Saintess Luna.
The Sage of Humanity who had gone to hide, The Pope, Julian andstly Frederick.
Julian came to know about this from Luna, while Frederick came to know about this thing from Spear, however, it seems he didn''t know about other extra effects except for giving an extra life.
Frederick had tried to poach the ring from Luna but she was too reluctant to part with it. Frederick had met Luna a few times before the academy, where he tried to get this ring but failed while Luna gave him a hint that he would get what he deserved when a suitable time arrived.
Things might be wary if Frederick found that such a precious thing which he was never able to get was handed to Lucas quite easily so Lucas wanted to use this opportunity to clear that this thing had be useless after all he couldn''t blindly trust the book.
What if anyone other than this knew about this ring and came after him?
He couldn''t blindly assume that.
''I need to make this clear now. And Frederick, forgive me, even if I am going to put you in my shit, it is nothing much for the protagonist, no?''
Lucas smirked,"It seems Saintess Luna had foreseen your ipetence."
"Let me tell you the whole thing."
Themotion in the infirmary ceased for a moment and all the eyes and ears were now locked onto Lucas.
Taking a heavy breath to calm down, Lucas started to narrate the events slowly and steadily,"Last time, when we visited the Church for blessing, everyone should know what happened there. After we saved Ju...Senior Julian from kidnappers of Dark Church,Saintess Luna pulled me aside and gave me this ring saying that it was useful in the future."
"I don''t know what this ring is but I thought of it as another one of the pranks yed by her. Truthfully, I don''t like her at all. She is good at ying with words and had put me in a life-threatening situationst time. However, she forced me to ept this ordinary ring and made me vow to wear this ring without any chance of refusal. I could only swallow my grievance and put up with her as I can''t deny such a mighty figure.''''
"Before that ugly evil spirit descended and knocked everyone, someone from that group almost killed me, no I think I have died there definitely. I felt as if my soul left my body and I was about to move to the afterlife but just then, this ring shed with a bright light that seemed to bring me to life. Or you can, it gave me an extra life but before I could rejoice, I was fucked up as I was possessed by someone. I don''t even know if it''s an Angel or an Evil spirit. My memories are still hazy but after that being taken over my body and channeled his or her power into my body forcefully. All I remember was pain worse than death, like someone tearing and pulling out my nerves one after another."
"Using my body as a medium it destroyed and killed all forces of the Dark Church saving Senior Julian and every one of you. And before leaving, it said that you had power. The power to prevent all this. You had a trump card." Lucas emphasized each word and spoke loudly as if he wanted everyone in this ce to hear the story.
Lucas lied with a stoic expression. It was a well-thought-out lie trying to cover up things as much as possible while dumping the me on Luna and using her as a scapegoat to escape his predicament.
He can even imagine her rotten expression when she learns about this. Even if she is wronged, she can only swallow her grievance as people are going to praise her up to heaven for such a miraculous n.
There were three reasons behind this.
ming Frederick was just a way to open up the chance to narrate the events that happened to get out of trouble and through this he can test Frederick''s stance about being their friend.
Andstly, y a victim role and pay back Luna for putting them through that shit. She knew all this was going to happen. That''s why she put an additional blessing to help Future Lucas and heal his ruptured heart and broken body without which he would be dead.
''It''s time for a triple kill.''
....
There may be a bit of ambiguity and confusion about using the terms of Gods and Goddess. Due to write in a flow, I used the terms that came into my mind while writing which might create a lot of confusion as pointed out by my proofreader. I am also confused in using both the terms.
So, I wanted to rify a thing.
Gods are the general term and here by God I dont refer to a single God but rather a whole group while Goddess that I mostly used refer to Goddess Reba or her group, I mean her particr followers.
From a group of God which includes Goddess, the core of the group or the one who was them is Goddess Reba and her group.
So when I refer to Goddess it refers to Goddess Reba''s group while the term God refers to the whole group.
Artifacts rank after 9-Star or SS rank.
Legendary
Divine
Demigod
God
Chapter 216 216:Confrontation Among Friends[3]
Chapter 216 216:Confrontation Among Friends[3]
A brief silence lingered as Lucas finished his narration. Everyone just stood gobsmacked by the turn of events finding it hard to process.
The silence was soon broken by loud screams and roars.
"What the fuck?!"
"Hey, are you kidding me? Do you think this is a movie and you are the hero who was chosen by the Saintess?"
"I can''t believe thismoner. They are liars and cheap stakes."
Rose and Helena just stood stiff with a frown unable to discern this while Rose gave Frederick an odd look.She knew that he had some.. no, many secrets but did he really have that much power to overturn things?
Contrary to their bewilderment, Monica''s eyes shone with an inexplicable gaze and she clenched her fist thinking that Lucas was the one who saved the day.
"All of you, please stop."A loud voice echoed suppressing everyone.
Angelo''s fierce aura burst forth.
"Everyone, don''t you guys know that you are in the infirmary? if you keep going, I am gonna kick your asses and throw you out." Angelo''s words poured cold water on everyone.
"How can we believe you? What if you lied?"Someone muttered from the back of the crowd.
"Who the fu¡"Aneglo who was about to curse shut his lips seeing the person who spoke and just kept his lips close as if he wasn''t the one who spoke that.
Everyone looked back and saw that it was one of the knights guarding the infirmary in case of any danger.
"Your story sounds too much like fantasy. Though there aren''t too many ambiguities still it''s hard to believe that you are possessed by someone powerful and managed to wipe out all your enemies."The knight asked coldly.
Lucas just smiled upon hearing this.
''Just what, I was waiting for.''
"You can go and ask the Saintess about this ring. This ring was personally given to me by her. You can verify by talking to her and yeah, in case she tries to refute, tell her that I have a video of her giving things to me. I have concrete proof."
At that moment, Lucas thanked his meticulousness for carrying a button camera made by Scotch. Knowing Luna''s yful nature, she recorded the scene where she gave the ring in case she refuted itter.
She in her wildest dream might not have imagined this after all no one is going to waste the seer power to foresee such minute things at the cost of lifespan.
"As for being possessed, I am telling the truth. You can ask this guy standing in front of me. He is the eyewitness." Lucas spoke, pointing at Frederick giving him a shiver.
"What the hell? What do you mean by eye witness?" Frederick freaked out feeling shitty wondering why the hell was Lucas targeting him as if he was his archnemesis.
"I remembered when that mystical being took over my body, he or she snapped my neck back and turned around and said something to Frederick. The pain that came from rotating my head 180¡ã back was too much for me to forget. So ask him, as he is the live eyewitness."
Lucas ignored Frederick and others'' bewildered expressions.
Even though no one is investigating him now, soon things might turn into hell as this incident was too big to cover up. Many nobles'' heirs died and Julian was reduced to such a state.
Even if the scene wasn''t broadcasted, the noble children who survived would surely puke out everything and Issac might use this opportunity to spread rumours and gossip about how he held Julian in his arms and may put the me of what happened on him one after another.
Even if Julian was conscious, she couldn''t cover up things as the nobles fuming with curiosity and anger would not let this go.
The Emperor himself mighte for himter as he touched Julian. That bloody man is an Emperor during the day while a bandit at night.
Whenever boys tried to harm Jin, he would sneak in their to attack them and pin the me on bandits.
Like who the hell is going to believe that a noble house was raided by a bandit? But what can the miserable nobles do without any proof?
So, there is a 110% chance of him being kidnapped if he doesn''t sort things out quickly. So instead of avoiding things, it''s better to step up to pacify things first.
Before peoplee knocking at his door or kidnap him and start torturing him, it''s better to rify things from his end.
It may seem that no one is paying attention to him but he was damn sure many eyes were on him and this conversation will surely reach the Emperor and the nobles.
If he was correct within a few hours, his tale would spread everywhere like world fire.
As per ming Frederick, he was doing this to sort out his fear.
Future Lucas warned him not to believe in the Goddess, so can he believe in Frederick who was going to be a chosen warrior by Goddess?
What if Frederick betrays him and stabs him right in the back at the most crucial time? What if he could be manipted by the Goddess at their will?
Cause Frederick must surely have discerned the identity of the ritual. As long as the ritual can be disrupted, there wasn''t any threat. Though Julian couldn''t kill Calvin, with all the means protecting her Calvin also couldn''t kill Julian.
Frederick, who must have known this instead of going around to destroy the ritual, decided to lurk back in the safe zone. If he had given his all, he could have disrupted the ritual even without using his trump card.
So, what was his true feeling for them?
And most importantly, Lucas wanted to test just how good their friendship is at this point.
However, it wasn''t purely a calcted move as Lucas wondered seriously if Frederick would have acted if either him or Parth were in danger.
He would surely let hell loose if it was Rose but what about them?
If Lucas was in Frederick''s ce, as long as he had the power he would surely interfere but what about Frederick?
So, all the things he did and this friendship between them, is it too shallow?
If being a friend to him was just a meaningless pursuit and a vain dream where the protagonist would help him if he fell in trouble was meaningless, then what is the use of being a friend with such a guy?
Lucas stood up under everyone''s expression and taking a step, stood beside Frederick.
"You acted first and took Rose into the safe zone to hide and stood there as if protecting her. While Senior Julian fought, I sent a signal about the ritual, though you acted as if you were desperate toe near, you hadn''t put all your effort as you discerned that their target was Senior Julian and you would be safe, isn''t it?"
Frederick''s body trembled and he stared at Lucas'' widened eyes, startled at how he inferred things so quickly.
"It''s not that.."
"Stop lying."
"You have the power to avert everything but you just stood still." Lucas'' voice grew heavier.
"You thought Senior Julian had things to protect herself so why do you have to care but what about the others?"
"Roan is unconscious with his mental state unknown, Humphrey seemed to suffer a shock and many people lost their minds due to Abacharu''s descent."
"And in all of this, I was the one who had to go through this shit being a primary suspect even though I am a victim. My body was messed up and due to too much power, my body was tattered. I was used by Saintess Luna who might have used me just to save Senior Julian!" Lucas started screaming as if he wanted everyone to hear this.
"Just look at this bucket. It is filled with blood and chips from my broken internal organs. My heart almost burst due to an annoying being drawing so much power. I mean damn it, why do I have to go through all the pain after saving you all, everyone is looking at me as if I am a criminal. This is too much. Just because I am a criminal you all are bullying me too much. Believe me, I am also a victim."
"Do you know how it feels when your body is taken over by someone, powerless to resist and the pain when each fiber of your muscles is broken down to generate power? Damn it." Lucas'' voice choked and his words became hoarse and drops of tears trickled down from his eyes.
''Shit! It seems I acted too much.'' Lucas pretended to rub his eyes to wipe his crocodile tears.
The onlookers gave Lucas a sympathetic gaze. Even Angelo shook his head with pity.
''What a poor boy! He has been used like a piece of chess and is now suffering so much.''
Angelo then looked at the Knights guarding the door who stood there with a guilty looks. They were ordered to keep tabs on the boy but seeing the boy crying, they thought this situation might be too much for a boy to handle.
Parth who stood beside Lucas felt his mind overwhelmed by the info dump.
Charles just stood there quietly observing Lucas though inwardly.
''I don''t know why but after knowing this guy, I feel that this guy is acting. Though, I am not sure as he was genuinely angered before.''
"I need some fresh air." Lucas murmured as leaned forward to whisper "If it was Rose who was in trouble, I am sure you would have rushed ahead to help however in our case¡.."
"Don''t look at me like that." Lucas''s voice became colder as Frederick gave him a scrutinizing gaze.
"I know, I am not kind enough to insert my ass and put my life in danger meaningless but if I have means to help, I always offer help."
Frederick had two trump cards.
One was unlocking the full mode of Doom Piercer which would boost his great strength with a side effect.
The other one was drawing the power of Thunder Loach. Just like future Lucas possessed him, Frederick could either harbour Thunder Loach''s power using himself as a vessel orbine it with the Thunder Loach to possess unearthly strength.
Though each thing had bacsh but before life, does bacsh matter?
Some may have tried to investigate after Lucas spoke about trump cards and even if they found that Frederick''s Spear had an ego, it wasn''t a very big deal as there are several artifacts with ego and the spear was too high-ranked to measure. It was a Demigod rank artifact that could hide its aura
As per having a guardian Spirit, Dark Church would know this soon. As for which of the two would be uncovered the first time, it was up to fate.
And no one is foolish enough to collide head-on to know about Frederick''s trump card in the presence of Duke Frost.
Lucas then walked past Frederick with a nonchnt look.
"I thought we were friends."
''Sorry, Frederick, it''s not my fault that you are a pushover.'' Lucas scoffed inwardly while trying to maintain an indifferent yet saddened look.
"But it seems, it was just a delusional harbour on my part."
Leaving soft words that sounded like thunder, Lucas walked out through the crowd leaving Frederick with a dazed expression.
Chapter 217 217:A Teachers Plight
Chapter 217 217:A Teacher''s Plight
Thevish room was adorned with opulent tapestries.
Shimmering chandeliers made of diamonds hung from the ceiling and shone like a bright sun, casting a warm and resplendent glow throughout the room keeping the temperature warm and cozy. The walls were adorned with tasteful, artwork and richly partnered wallpapers or luxurious tapestries.
At the centre, on a plush, velvet bed, a pale sickly figure slept with manyyers of cult covering her.
At one end, a man with a deep frown and worry sat, staring with deep mncholy eyes.
"My sweet precious doll. My heart is tearing apart seeing you like this.'''' Kevin''s eyes became teary as he saw the pale sickly white Julian lying unconscious. She looked like someone suffering from anemia, someone who had a shortage of blood.
He clenched the sheet tights as his heart raged in furry imagining the scene of the pain her daughter went through.
''I want to kill...I want to wipe everyone who dares toy hands on my precious girl. What kind of vicious heartless bastard dared to do this.''
"Your Majesty!"
Kevin snapped out of his and stared at the girl who was checking on Julian''s condition.
Contrary to the pale and ghostly appearance of the girl whom he had seen before, she looked more like a proper well-groomeddy this time which even startled him as she came here.
She was a gem that he found by chance.
A person who has the highest spiritual sensitivity in the world. However, this also brought many problems and presently they had no solution to cure the side effects of this.
The priest may provide temporary relief by curing insomnia and helping her to sleep but the repeated treatment of blessings became useless once the body was used to it.
''It seems she had found a way to lessen her spirit sensitivity.''
Kevin, seeing Shiya finishing checking up, asked worriedly.
"Shiya, how is it? Is she well? Is there any problem or hidden injury?"
Shiya, after checking Julian using her spirit sense, stood up and bowed her head.
"Your Majesty, there seemed to be signs of soul inju..."
The temperature of the room fell below by several margins and an aura of oppression suffocated Shiya.
Shiya''s back was drenched in sweat. Though she wanted to raise her head to take a look, she did not dare to do that.
"She is alright now. Her soul injury is hearing quickly and she might wake up after a few days of rest. Probably 10 days at best." Shiya exined quickly with a bitter expression.
Kevin inching closer towards Julian, caressed his lovely daughter''s head and asked sharply.
"How is her soul injured?"
Shiya took amoment to exin,"Your Majesty, it seems an external force tried to pull out the spirit in the natal soul."
Kevin''s body flinched back and he gave Shiya a startled look.
"Spirit...Is it that Guardian...Someone wants to snatch the spirit?" Kevin muttered to himself in a discordant voice.
"ording to the description of the children. The Evil spirit with a flower body of tentacles must be the Evil Heavenly Spirit Abacharu that the Dark Church summoned and might have helped the Dark Church to extract the Guardian Spirit."
"Is there any remaining influence of that bastard on my girl?" Kevin asked with deep worry.
"Don''t worry Your Majesty, I have cut off that remaining will that tainted Princess. If possible please ask a priest to cast a purifying spell on her."
"Hmmm!" Kevin nodded and got up from his seat.
He stared at Julian again and locked his gaze on Shiya.
"If this matter is leaked out, you should know the repercussions," Kevin warned Shiya, making her tremble.
"Not a soul will know about this, "Shiya answered, nodding her head politely.
Kevin gave a brief nod and walked out of the ce.
Upon walking out of the room, he was greeted by the sight of Josh and Kai arguing with one another while Ami stood aside bowing her head giving space to these two as they cursed one another.
Noticing Kevin, Ami sneaked in and asked with a troubled expression"Your Majesty, Her Highness."
"She is alright no.."Kevin''s speech was interrupted by Kai''s loud screams.
"It''s all because of your ipetence."
"Godly...Godly artifact...My shit. What kind of lousy Tower is this to the point that any Tom, Harry, Garry cane in and go ording to their wishes?" Kai cursed aloud.
"You are saying it as if this Tower was made by me. What did you think of me? Do you think I''m the watchkeeper of the Tower?" Josh refuted, stabbing his staff on the floor.
"Isn''t this what it means to be Vice-Principal? Is it just a sophisticated word for a person who watches over students." Kai sneered waving his hand.
Kai stepped forward and patted Josh''s shoulder and said,"Listen, old man, just ept your mistake.Remember what you taught us."
"eptance is the first step towards greatness." Kai who spoke with a smug expression suddenly withdrew his hand seeing Josh''s darkened expression.
"Do you know what I regret the most?"
"Not being able to woo a single girl?" Kai added.
Pfft!
Josh and Kai turned their heads and saw Kevin trying to maintain his stoic expression but his twitching lips gave it away.
Ami closed her lips with her palm trying to control her smile and looked around.
''It is good that there are no knights present here currently or all of them might have been killed today.''
Josh gritted his teeth to the point that veins were bulging over his neck.
His gaze interchanged between Kevin and Kai as he shouted,"The biggest regret of my life is epting this position of Vice-Principal after that old guy dumped it and became your teacher."
"I still have nightmares of the days when you four fuckers ate half of my life span."
As Josh spoke, his eyes became teary, remembering the deeds of the four figures.
He was a personal disciple of the Principal who was made Vice-Principal before the age of 40. His first two years went smoothly but after that¡.
Four menaces entered the academy at the same time.
During those academy days, Kevin would skip ss and go around ying missing for days while he would be scolded by thete Emperor.
Josh''s gaze then lingered on Kai as he tried to control himself from pping him.
This bastard would be busy chasing skirts. From girls in his ss to seniors and from teachers to nurses, this guy flirts with all.
He inherited his charm from his mother who was half-demon subus. This guy''s charms spread all around the Empire to the point that many girls would line outside the gate creating chaos andmotions for him to take care of.
If these two weren''t enough, then there was Frank. That shithead was a fighting brute that would open an area and would challenge everyone everyday disrupting sses.
And atst, came that fucker Leonard. At first nce, one may think of him as an obedient, sincere and responsible human who manages to control these three, however¡
That guy was simply a leech. His viciousness was beyond whenpared to these three.
When Frank set up sparring matches, he would set up a gambling table at the side. When Kai started courting girls, he would gamble by asking everyone to gamble on how many girls Kai could woo a day or how many girls from outside woulde to visit Kai. When Kevines back to the academy after strolling, under his guidance people would start gambling on the number of days Kevin would be able to persist before running away again.
Simply, within two years that bastard turned Horizon into a gambling den.
And if this wasn''t enough, he stole things from Horizon and sold them in the ck market. Once, he took an A-rank artifact for personal use but sold it off in a ck market auction for 1.2 billion R.
Unable to curb this, he resigned from his fate and let him do as he pleased on the ount of giving 40% of profit to Horizon. But, in doing so, he took advantage of his name and spread that it was hismand under which he was organizing gambling.
It was only then he knew that he was made a scapegoat by Leonard.
Sniff¡Sniff¡
''Are these things what a student should do? It''s just too much for me to handle all this. It seems that the old man knew of this disaster that was about toe and ran, dumping his shit on me.''
Seeing Josh breaking down with trauma seizures, Kevin reacted immediately.
"Teacher, we were young and ignorant at that time. Don''t hang up on the past. We have be sensible now."
"Old man, stop crying like a girl. We have important matters to handle. We don''t have time to take care of your tantrum." Kai spoke, folding his arms behind his head with a nonchnt look.
"Look, this is the sensibility you spoke of?" Josh chided with a fierce re.
Swoosh!
Kevin, who tried to calm him down, stopped noticing Brian''s presence.
"Report." Kevin asked.
"Your Majesty, we have caught the noble houses as per your order."
Kevin stared at Josh, who gave him a brief nod.
"Make them kneel in the Throne room." Kevin spoke coldly.
"As per your wish." Brian nodded and his image blurred as he vanished out of thin air leaving a gust of air.
"Teacher, take care of Horizon and make sure that the students are safe and sound. It might be difficult for them to cope after such a scene."
"Kai, you and Frank keep an eye on the nobles. Don''t let anyone cause trouble this time and try to keep tabs on Duke White and Duke Holmes."
Kevin, who was about to leave, looked at Ami and ordered,"Surround this ce with Knights. Don''t let a single individual enter here until I return."
"Um¡Your Majesty, what if that boy¡" Ami shut her lips seeing Kevin''s darkened expression.
"Kick hi-" Kevin stopped thinking about the boy.
"Let that guy go after strict checking."
''Maybe, I can know something if I allowed him to stay with Julian, in case he spoke something, finding no one.''
Kevin after rting a few orders left under Kai and Josh''s bewildered gaze.
"Old man, who is this guy he is talking about?" Kai asked with curiosity.
"I dont know."
"Then what the hell do you know? You don''t even know what happens under your eyes. Who the hell made you the Vice-Principal?"
"I am the Vice-Principal, not their bodyguard or parents who had to keep them under tabs."
Ami shook her head, seeing Kai and Josh started quarreling again.
Chapter 218 218:Emperors Fury
Chapter 218 218:Emperor''s Fury
Massive double doors, adorned with intricate carvings and embellished with precious metals swing opened with a resounding crack.
A chilly blizzard blew that made hundreds of people kneeling on the ground shiver in fear.
Everyone inside the room was so focused on thinking about the future scenario that no one present inside the room saw the opening of the door until a tall handsome man walked into the room. But when the sound of his polished golden shoes cked onto the deathly silent room, everyone''s eyes widened.
Strolling into the room, wearing majestic noble attire, and with his hands in one of his packets, Kevin walked in. His deathly aura was hard to miss and the furious look in his eyes was enough to send people shaking in their spots.
They gulped in fear seeing those bleak, dark frosty eyes as if the person was preparing himself for a hunt.
Everyone forgot to breathe, as he passed by them and walked over the red long velvet carpet, then ascended his steps and sat in the plush soft cushions of the Throne.
His eyes darted across the people as he fidgeted his fingers.
His silence tensed their nerves as they saw the Emperor keeping mum.
Beluga bowed his head to greet Kevin and spoke with a nonchnt expression.
"We have managed to apprehend most of the noble families of the students who were kidnapped before."
Kevin turned his head with a snap and his intense gaze lingered on Beluga
"What do you mean by most? That means you didn''t catch everyone."
Seeing Kevin''s anger directed at him, Beluga didn''t flinch back rather he replied bravely.
"I am Prime Minister. A man working behind the scenes, not at the front. It was alreadyte when I was informed of all this and for your kind information, I wasn''t at that ce."
Beluga raised his specks giving a monotonous answer. If others weren''t present, he wouldn''t have held himself from cursing this guy for tossing things and going to y with 9-Stars from Omen anding back to find that shit happened.
The noblesid on the floor and looked at their interaction with a bewildered gaze.
Only a countable few could talk to the Emperor this rudely and remain alive.
Surprisingly, out of all of them, Beluga was the weakest with a mere strength of 5-Star. The presence of this guy had always been a thorn in nobles'' eyes as he didn''te from the aristocracy, rather he was just a fallen noble.
Kevin sighed as he tried to suppress his increasing irritation. His beloved daughter, the apple of his eye, had been reduced to such a state and he stood there pathetically unable to do anything.
When he saw her, he didn''t want to leave but he forced himself to crawl till here. If he wasn''t an Emperor who had to uphold the virtue of this position, he would have burnt all these assholes down...no, he would have cut them into pieces and fed them to worms.
Retracting his gaze from Beluga, his eyes locked onto the nobles kneeling on the ground.
"So, tell me what you have to say."
A cold frosty voice echoed. The words were barely audible but as they escaped from his lips, they bellowed like tempest.
"Your Highness, we were deceived."
"Your Highness, we are innocent."
"Is that all?" Kevin asked, staring at the people bowing down.
Seeing them keeping their mouth, he shook his head.
"Annoying as always."
"Beluga!" Kevin shouted.
Beluga bowed his head and pped his hands.
Following his notion, several knights walked carrying rugged morbid figures of grotesque humans and threw them onto the floor with widened eyes.
The nobles'' eyes widened with fear seeing those disgusting figures.
At first, they looked away while spitting curses at that figure wondering who these pieces of shit but as they looked closer, their hearts jolted in shock and all their hair stood up in the air.
"Wife...."
"My Lady?"
"Uncle....."
"My son¡what happened to you?"
"Husband, save us!"
"Father, please plead mercy for us. We are innocent yet still they tortured us."
"Master, we are innocent. Master, please save us."
The nobles who kneeled felt goosebumps rising all over their bodies. The people who were beaten and tattered turned out to be their rtives, servants and families.
A nobleman unable to restrain his anger screamed pointing at Kevin.
"Emperor, how can you harm innocent people?! This is too much! You are just bullying us with power!"
"You are misuing the authority, Your Majesty."
"Your Majesty, This is too much. How can one swallow such grave injustice¡"
The nobles swallowed their saliva as a cold blizzard blew and those who pointed at Kevin froze into statues enveloped by ayer of ice.
"Bullying¡Grave injustice¡."
"What an exquisite choice of yours to hide your sophistication and hypocrisy with those words."
"When your servants detonated to harm many and your children were killed in the tournament, where the fuck were you?"
"Why didn''t you preach justice to them when they took the lives of other innocent kids?!" Kevin roared angrily.
The nobles shivered and curled up in fear as their gazes interchanged between their bloodied families and then towards The Emperor''s cold, merciless eyes ncing at them as if staring at some dead corpses who were going to be ughtered.
At that time, one of the nobles in fear of being tortured cruelly, stood up and shouted.
"But we didn''t know they would do this! They were just not in the right mind."
BOOM!
The person who tried to speak vanished and his image appeared struck at the wall forming a crack.
"If you knew they weren''t in their right mind then why the hell did you push them to participate in the tournament?" Kevin fumed clenching his fist while trying to suppress his urge to kill.
"His Majesty, we are also wronged. I didn''t have any ns to re-enrol my child. It was Count Art who advised us to do this. He also formted a n. He was also the one who drew Duke White and Duke Holmes to use veto power." Count Hezen pleaded with a frightful tone.
Following his suit, the other nobles hit their head on the floor begging for mercy and recounting the events.
Their stupid behaviour irked Kevin to the core.
"Are you all kidding with me or am I kidding with you?"
"A random person wille to you and ask you to join the rebellion and you will follow suit. Have your minds gone to take a shit?!" Kevin roared, mming his foot on the ground sending a shockwave that swept the people kneeling on the floor.
"Your Majesty, we would never dare. Rebelling and this is a different thing."
"Who the hell said that?"
Kevin walked down from the throne with a thick murderous intent that dyed everything in red.
"Many bombs were detonated, and thousands of people''s lives were in danger. The Tower was breached and students were killed. Is there any difference between rebelling and this? Do you take my authority as some shit?!" Kevin screamed ring at a group of men who shivered in fright.
The servant and family members who were brought were locked in cuffs, thinking that once the misunderstanding was cleared they would be released but hearing the Emperor''s angry speech, their expression became pale.
"Wait!" Kevin stopped for a moment and looked around.
"Where is that misogynistic bastard Hellford Art? Where are the Arts?"
A brief silence lingered and everyone forgot to take a breath feeling an immense suffocation weighing upon them.
Kevin turned his gaze locking onto Beluga who was yawning softly contrary to the tense atmosphere.
Feeling an intense gaze as if someone wanted to drill a hole in him, Beluga squinted his eyes.
"Huh! Is it over?''''
"No, it isn''t. I am asking where Art''s household is."
Hearing the question, Beluga changed his casual stance to that of professional and replied quickly, "Your Majesty, the Arts had escaped."
CREAK!
The whole Throne room shook violently, jolting everyone in shock.
On looking at Kevin, they saw arge crack spreading like cobwebs underneath his feet.
"Beluga!" Kevin spoke slowly as if trying to restrain himself from going on a killing rampage.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Beluga bowed his head showcasing perfect manners.
"Find the Arts. I don''t care how you do it. If required, send the entire Imperial Knights or borrow the others. I want you to find them."
"And how the hell did they escape?"
"Your Majesty, I am not from the shadow group or someone who takes care of the intelligence department." Beluga scowled.
Beluga clicked his tongue inwardly, wanting to curse this guy.
''It''s not as if I knew they were gonna make a mess. Even if I wanted to take a look at them, I don''t have two heads and four hands to take care of so many things while you dump all the work on me and go around to y.''
"Enough!" Kevin raised his hand to stop Beluga''s inner mumbling that could be discerned by seeing his face and looked down at the group of ants.
"Take them!"
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!''''
The group of nobles bowed their heads and raised their chins with exasperated expressions, eyes gleaming in joy thinking that the Emperor had mercy on them.
However, even before they could rejoice, cold water washed over them.
"Take them away and throw them into prison. Until everything is clear, I don''t want any of them to see the rays of light.'''' Kevin ordered, waving his hand and throwing everyone into the abyss of despair.
"NOO!"
"Your Majesty, we are innocent."
"Your Majesty, all of this had nothing to do with me. It was my husband''s n."
"We are not part of any of this. We are innocent."
The nobles and their wives cried as they pinned the me on the other party.
They kept asking for mercy trying to appease Kevin but curled seeing that murderous cold gaze as the Knights pulled them away without any shred of mercy.
''If only that asshole, piece of shit White wasn''t involved in this.''
The whites were the oldest Ducal family whose hands prated every corner of Cyprus. Even most emperors were found to be puppet emperors made by White previously.
If Kevin and his predecessors had not been alerted before, The Whites might have already upied the whole Empire.
And a direct confrontation was bound to split Cyprus. And about Duke Holmes, that idiot fell into their traps and lost his one and only son.
Kevin then looked at Beluga and issued amand,"Try to look for every member thatmunicated with them. Don''t leave a single trace."
"Your Majesty, you are asking us to do something impossible. We can''t possibly find everyone out there as there are thousands of people interacting with each noble household." Belugained.
As Kevin fell into deep thought for a moment a sharp yet barely audible voice fell into their ears.
"Just release their servants and wives. The thief wille and look into them."
"And stop frowning. Since that bastard had already used Veto power, even if you confront him and push him into a corner, he can''t use Veto power to get rid of his sins. You already have the opportunity you aimed for."
Kevin and Beluga''s attention drew towards the tform where they saw a man in a dark cloak, walking out from behind the Throne and sitting on it without any fear.
"Can you at least give me some face since we are in the Throne room?" Kevin grumbled.
"Face, do you think your face is worth a lot?" A sneer echoed in the empty ce.
Lowering his hood, the man reminisced with a saddened expression and said, "The only good thing about this seat is that it''s quitefortable. Otherwise, this ce makes me feel shit remembering those burdensome days when I had to impersonate you and sit here taking care of all your shit."
Hearing this Beluga almost burst into tears, unbeknownst to him whether this was due to seeing the person he admired the most or due to the grievance he had suffered after this man disappeared.
''Finally, someone who understands my pain.''
Chapter 219 219:Reminiscing The Past
Chapter 219 219:Reminiscing The Past
Until the previous Emperor passed away, Kevin never took over the administrative work. For him, The Throne was something that restricted his freedom and was like a shackle.
And to the Emperor''s plight, Kevin was his only child otherwise his father would have kicked him out.
Kevin was unable to take more nagging and made a deal with Leonard who in his absence would impersonate him and handle all the work in exchange for some benefit.
It was Leonard, who was able to find a rough diamond like Beluga and made him the Prime Minister irrespective of external resistance.
Beluga remembered how his happy days soon turned bleak when Kevin finally took reign while Lord Leonard vanished from society.
Thinking about this, his expression changed and he remembered something.
From a group of files, he pulled out a document and smiled at Kevin.
"Your Majesty, please take a look at this." Beluga handed the document to Kevin and as soon as he took it, Beluga bowed down and ran back leaving behind his parting words.
"Please enjoy your sweet time with Leonard."
Kevin looked at the report and saw a name, then appeared before Leonard and passed him the record while conjuring a Throne of Ice.
Leonard with a nonchnt expression took the document and as soon he opened it, his hand trembled as he looked over the medical report. A myriad range of emotions shed over his face.
''How is this possible?''
His expression changed from shock and bewilderment.
After a brief moment, tears leaked out from his eyes.
"Hey, what happened? What kind of shit did you see? Is his medical condition too bad?" Kevin asked with a worried expression only to get reprimanded.
"Shut up!" Leonard growled while passing the files to Kevin. His good mood was washed down thene by this guy''s barking.
Kevin took the medical report and flipped it, taking a serious look at it.
His mind jolted as if struck by thunder and he sprang up on his seat.
"Gold...Golden bloodline...How did this happen?"Kevin''s voice quivered with astonishment.
Raising his chin, he saw his mate sitting silently, closing his eyes and undergoing a deep contemtion.
"I don''t know for sure but I think I got a lead," Leonard answered in a heavy tone as he clenched his fist tightly.
His son should have been born with a golden spoon. He should have been drowned in riches and recognition of the whole world whose status was only second to the Prince or Princess of the Empire.
With two immensely powerful bloodlines backing him, his growth was unlimited and he was bound to grow into a terrifying existence simr to them.
s,
Fate yed a cruel joke on them, destroying all their dreams.
Leonard gritted his teeth, remembering the day when he almost lost everything in front of his eyes.
The day his wife had to break down and bow to spare their son''s life. It was such a humiliation, which was enough for him tomit suicide.
Seeing Leonard, clenching his jaws, Kevin was sure that he was thinking of that event that happened during the War with the Demonkin.
It was a period when everything went to shit even for him.
His father was killed and his mother, who loved his father so much, left the world unable to bear her husband''s absence and his beloved daughter was almost killed.
While war raged on, Vanessa was 8 months pregnant and the period of war with the Demon King was at itsst stage. Things were getting intense so Leonard and they thought it would be much safer for Vanessa to remain in her parent''s house in Ralph.
Carrying a child in a womb for 8 months, there was no way Vanessa could put up a fight in case of trouble so they decided to move her.
Unfortunately, there was a traitor in the group who messed up with the portal coordinates and transferred them to a deste ce filled with a hundred-nine stars.
They weren''t demons or monsters. They were something different, a species that didn''t belong to this world.
Something of nefarious existence.
If alone Leonard might have been enough to take on them and even if he was pushed back, he could have escaped but due to Vanessa, his freedom was restricted and atst, the unimaginable thing finally happened.
Vanessa begged for her child''s life. Fortunately, the other side spared them in exchange for extracting their bloodline.
Taking the bloodline power of others was their primary goal and they didn''t care if Leonard and Vanessa lived as they didn''t take them as a threat after bloodline power was extracted.
Leonard, on losing his bloodline and losing his bloodline power, became weaker.
His rank fell to 3-Star and his body aged up getting filled with wrinkles.
However, when they collected Vanessa''s bloodline, a miracle happened.
It was as if God gave them a chance.
The presence of a child in the womb shielded the mother from bloodline extraction but in doing so the child''s bloodline seemed to be extracted.
The other party wasn''t able to foresee this and extracting her bloodlines caused abnormality. Vanessa was forced to give birth to a premature child due to theplications involved and due to this she wouldn''t be able to give birth to any more children.
This was also the reason Vanessa loved her son more than anything else to the point that she wouldn''t flinch back to go against the world for her son.
Moreover, her child when tested was found to have amon bloodline which always made her feel guilty.
As for those monsters, till now they have never been found out even though Kevin had used all his resources to search both in this world and the Demon world.
Leonard and Vanessa, after this incident went into hiding. even he himself didn''t know where they went until he saw Lucas'' profile.
Later, when he saw Lucas'' profile with a bronze bloodline, he guessed that Leonard had used the bloodline potion that was kept as family heritage.
However, he didn''t know how the bronze bloodline became golden.
"Leo, you have reached 6-Star with your training. This potion surely had a miraculous effect. So, why don''t you also take it?"
Leonard shook his head with a bitter smile"I have thought about that before but I decided to give up. This potion works to upgrade your bloodline by one step. That means someone with no bloodline grade can upgrade his rank to bronze while someone of tinum rank can upgrade it to diamond rank. However, for all this, one needs to have a bloodline while in my case¡"
"I understand. Those bastards stripped you of your entire bloodline." Kevin raised his fist angrily.
"If not for the war, me and the others would have apanied you. It''s all my fault. If I had gone with you. Neither of you would have been reduced to such a state nor the 9-Stars under yourmand would have injured and died." Kevin said, ming himself for his friend''s misfortune.
His friend had always stood with him in sorrow and woe, but he wasn''t there when his friend needed him the most.
"Let''s not delve into the past."
"By the way, didn''t he have a bronze bloodline? How did he go up to golden?" Kevin asked, rubbing his chin.
"Even I don''t know. I fed him with the hope that he might have a bit left of either two bloodlines. It seems my assumption was correct. Those guys were able to extract only one bloodline from him.''''Leonard concluded while feeling extremely grateful.
His son seemed to possess the ability of Telekinesis inherited from him.
The ability to control invisible force.
"Though he possesses such a terrifying power, its capabilities might have surely been reduced due to him awakening it in a golden bloodline." Kevin repented.
"I am satisfied with this. Vanessa wasn''t willing to let hime here. You don''t know how many tricks I have yed. She had even sent guards to watch him 24 hours but I dismissed them. You know how it feels when you are being watched every second. I don''t like it when someone invades my privacy so naturally I wasn''t willing to invade my son''s. And as for the problems in the academy, he needs to solve them on his own."
"I still can''t believe you sent him to the academy."
"I didn''t want to at first but after Vanessa''s insane pampering, his personality was really like a delusional idiot. I feared that if one day we disappeared, he might not be able to survive for a single minute. I was unable to watch this so I sent him here. Even if he was bullied, at least he would stay alive and remember that feeling when he faced the crisis of death. After repeated persuasion, Vanessa finally agreed." Leonard spoke with a sigh.
He knew that Vanessa wanted good for their child but her excessive spoiling was too harmful for their child.
Locking him up in a single town, had a serious disadvantage and if his son stayed weak, with that dumb personality, how could he live one day if they died for some reason?
Even though it was painful, he enrolled him in the academy so he could at least learn the cruelty of the world. He didn''t know whether it was a good choice or a bad one but since his son was enthusiastic about joining the academy, he naturally agreed.
"Vanessa had always been too muc-"
"Your Highness!"
Kevin was cut off by Beluga walking in with a ringing smartphone that he threw straight at Kevin''s face.
"Who is it?"
"Her Highness."
Kevin picked up the call with a sweet smile.
"Hey, Darlin-"
"Shut up, bastard! Your darling had just saved herself after going through hell."
Kevin almost fell from his ice throne hearing his wife''s fierce roar.
He switched off the speaker and talked to her under Leonard''s mocking smile.
"Weren''t you telling me that my wife is too much? What about yours?" Leonard sneered.
Kevin finished the call with a sullen expression.
He stared at the screen and searched for a name in his contact list.
"Hello!"
"Can you prepare apartment.."
"High..It''s about 6 feet 3 inches. Also, prepare a tailor-made suit with golden engravings..."
"Wait! What are you talking about now?" Leonard asked suspiciously.
Kevin covered his phone and answered with a nk expression.
"I called the Smith Cemetery Department."
"Why?"
"Book a grave for you in advance."
"What? Have you lost your mind?"
"No, I haven''t lost my mind. It''s Vanessa who lost her mind."
Leonard''s whole body shivered in fright and his back was drenched in sweat.
''Shit! I forgot about her.''
Thinking for a moment, Kevin went back to the call and muttered with a saddened expression.
"And yeah, also make one for me. It seems, my lifespan is alsoing to an end."
Chapter 220 220:You Arent Alone
Chapter 220 220:You Aren''t Alone
Inside a room with marvelous architecture and a serene atmosphere. The walls were adorned with intricate stained ss windows that filter colourful light into the space, creating a sense of serene tranquillity.
The room was decorated with ornate wooden pews for congregants to sit and pray, and at the centre was an altar adorned with religious symbols. Candles and religious artwork enhance the room''s ambience, fostering a peaceful and spiritual environment for worship and reflection.
At the foot of the altar, ady joined her hands. Her golden hair cascaded down her back in lustrous waves, shimmering like spun gold in the sunlight.
Her golden eyes along with a mesmerizing shade of green, radiates kindness and wisdom. Herplexion was wless, with a soft, rosy blush on her cheeks that gave her a radiant and angelic appearance. She was adorned in flowing, pristine robes, symbolizing purity and grace. Her presence exudes a sense of serenity and divine connection, inspiring awe and reverence into those who were fortunate enough to behold her.
As she immersed herself in her daily prayers, her eyelids flickered hearing loud voices from outside.
A ripple appeared in her heart as she started feeling a bad premonition however she suppressed her curiosity to get the better of her as she did not want to waste her power for such small reasons.
Bowing her head before the Goddess altar, she stood and walked out of the prayer room, taking the path to the central hallway.
And the moment she stepped into the hallway, she jolted in shock seeing hundreds of people stuffed in there.
Noticing Luna''s appearance, the people crowded in there screamed in joy.
"Praise the Saintess!"
"Praise The Saintess for her benevolence."
"Long Live Saintess!"
"Huh?!"
Luna blinked her eyes in confusion and strode to a group of people.
"Please calm down all of you. What is the asion today that all of you havee to seek Goddess'' grace."
"Saintess, we are here to thank you for averting the disaster."
"Saintess, you are so benevolent that you used your power even though it came with a huge bacsh."
The few at the front started shedding tears.
"Dis...What Disaster?" Luna tilted her head in confusion.
As soon as she spoke, the people gathered there started to smile.
"Oh my god! The Saintess is such a kind-hearted person. Even after doing so much, she still wants to keep the fact hidden."
"Wait! It seems there is a misunderstanding. I haven''t even stepped out of Church sincest month."
"You don''t even need to step out. The one chosen by you had already done the work." A group of people shouted and started praising her again.
Luna found her patience tested and wanted to know what the hell was going on.
What did she do now?"
Seeing the huge influx of people, Pdins quickly entered the scene trying to shield Luna.
"Holy Lady, did you seriously not know or are you pretending?"
Deacon Valt who was on duty asked with a frown seeing Luna''s confused gaze.
"Did you give a ring to someone named Lucas?"
"Huh! Yes, I have."
"Even after this, you don''t know about it?" Deacon Valt asked, twirling the holy bead on his finger.
"I seriously do not know anything and I don''t want to use my powers for this silly thing."
Deacon Valt sighed,"It''s about the incident that happened in Cyprus."
After pondering for a moment, he exined the matter to Luna carefully.
''Wait a moment!''
Luna''s eyes glowed as she noticed a change in the flow of the world. She didn''t need to look at what had transpired.
In her vision, Julian''s Guardian Spirit would be extracted and her soul would be gravely injured, making her mind vegetative for the rest of her life.
And many more would lose their mind and turn into idiots.
But now it seems, the worst-case scenario was prevented.
''But what the hell did I do? Wasn''t it the work of that guy?''
However, she finally found out as Deacon Valt spoke everything.
The more Luna heard the darker her expression became.
Did she know about this?
Yes, she foresaw that much.
However, as per what she knows, the only help that she gave was the blessing that she gave him, so how the hell did such a thinge out from the ring and she manipted things from behind?
As a seer, she had to follow certain rules. She can give guidance and help but seers are not allowed to interfere directly.
''Wait, does that mean that he made me a scapegoat?'' Luna''s expression became pale as she remembered the Lucas ominous who screamed that he would have his revenge.
Luna''s chest rose up and down in anger.
''Damn you, Lucas. You better not appear before me or I am gonna kill you.''
Deacon Valt who saw Luna was going mad just shook his head and smiled.
"It seems she got the retribution for ying a prank.''''
"God, please be with her in such a difficult time."
"Amen!"
......
Following the sunset, began the reign of a creature that thrives in darkness.
In the dangerous forest looms with towering, gnarled trees that seem to stretch endlessly towards the sky, their ancient branches forming a dense canopy that blocks out most of the daylight. Thick undergrowth, tangled with thorns and creeping vines, obscures the forest floor, making each step a treacherous journey.
Eerie shadows danced among the twisted trees, creating an unsettling atmosphere that seemed to whisper secrets to those who dare to enter. The air is heavy with a damp, earthy scent, and an eerie silence was asionally broken by the distant caw of a crow or the rustling of unseen creatures.
Sinister, moss-covered rocks and fallen logs dot thendscape, hiding potential dangers or lurking predators. The forest seemed to have a malevolent intelligence of its own, as if it watches and waits for unwary travelers to stumble deeper into its heart, where the darkness bes imprable, and the dangers grow ever more sinister.
And in the midst of this, various scratches tore through the air.
The eerie silence that tensed one''s nerves was finally broken by the howls and shrieks of monsters that were sliced off into pieces.
Amid the screams, stood a figure soaked in blood.
His golden eyes shone like a hungry beast that was prepared to attack anyone on sight.
The ears of the man perked up and the figure that stood silently moved. His hands shed like an extending whip, to catch something.
GRRRRRRRRRR!
An ear-piercing scream echoed as the man''s hands caught two sharp fangs of a dark beast aiming to bite him off.
The beast''s green eyes shone with anger at the sight of a puny human who managed to see through its disguise and it roared violently as if asking the man to let it go otherwise the consequences would be quite dire.
A puddle of saliva shot from its wide-open jaw drenching the human.
The beast swung his paw with sharp nails attempting to tear the human but with gliding movement, his foot side stepped on the ground and his body twisted as he skillfully evaded the attacks with swift reactions.
"Ha¡."
"Why do I have to do this?"
BANG!
Raising his leg, he mmed his knee at the beast''s throat, choking it up.
Then with an indifferent look, his eyes shone and applying strength to his arms, he pulled both jaws towards the opposite direction with his strength.
SCREECH!
A sound akin to the tearing of paper reverberated in the surroundings.
The body of the beast was torn into two halves with brutal strength.
Blood gushed out from the internal organs and dyed him in red.
Sighing heavily, he threw the carcass away.
Pausing a bit, he looked ahead at the figure sitting over a trunk whose red eyes stared at him like a hawk as he munched over the chips making him look as if he was there for a pic.
"Sir, Harris, why don''t you help me?"
"Boy, did you forget, it was you who asked for my help so just carry on."
Lucas cursed inwardly.
He needs to go out today and get a person. And he can''t miss this opportunity as that person carries an artifact that was not only a key to inheritance but it can also help him to control ghouls and undead to some extent.
That person was going to be a big viin in the future and was gonna confront Frederick. Lucas didn''t know about his current status nor was he mentioned in the book but from Future Lucas'' memories, he got to know that this person took ce in the ughter that happened in the tournament originally.
He would be in a secret hideout in Omen which can only be essed at night.
Moreover, that person might prove to be the key to diverting Omen''s attention.
With Horizon being on lockdown and heavily guarded, he can only ask Harris for assistance to help him go out of the academy secretly as even if he can sneak out from the back door, he doesn''t have the guts to traverse through the blood peach forest alone at night in case a strong beast appears.
So, Sir Harris under the pretense of doing his quota of thinning out the beasts, moved out with Lucas as an anomalous identity of helper.
However, as soon as they came out Harris ordered him to kill Beasts so that no one pointed fingers at himter about escaping from work.
It would be easy if Julian was there as he could just use a secret exit, s.
"Sir Harris, I need to go now. It will take too much time." Lucas spoke irritably, running out of patience.
His system was down after meeting his other self and it would take two days to back up so he was not gaining experience points. So, all of this was just a waste of time.
Harris put away the chip packet and stood up.
"Lucas your state of mind isn''t right which might prove fatal. You seem to be annoyed."
"Am I?" Lucas feigned ignorance, turning his head.
"Yeah, you look like a guy who wants to kill someone to appease his frustration."
''''Frustrated? I am frustrated as I am running against time.'''' Lucas replied.
Harris sighed and walked towards Lucas, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"Lucas, your gaze¡It is the gaze of a person who is feeling insecure.."
Lucas'' body flinched back and he subconsciously took a step back but Harris held his shoulder tighter.
"I can see it. There is a deep fear hidden behind that mask. It doesn''t stem from any dangerous situation around you, rather it stems from fear of people getting affected."
Lucas raised his head and stared at Sir Harris who seemed to guess everything at a nce.
Yeah, he was really afraid recently, as if that guy Azrail managed to get in his way, then he was gonna face the worst situation of his life.
He was not strong now nor was he intelligent enough to defeat a guy who was an expert in the maniption of humans.
He knew human emotions like the back of his hand. He can turn friends into foes and foes into friends.
Hell, he can even turn a parent against their children.
What he was worried about now was his family.
As of now, he can''t evenpare with the pinky finger of those viinous guys so he needed to divert their attention by creating an alias and showing himself as a maniac who is seeking revenge against Omen.
However, whether he could do that properly was still a matter of doubt to him.
"From your look, I am sure that what you are afraid of, hadn''t happened."
"Yes! It hasn''t but it will if I don''t do something now."
Harris nodded his head and smiled at him.
"Listen, Lucas, you may feel like there are so many things that you have to do alone with no one to carry your weight." Harris turned around and looked at the sky.
"But in truth, you always have. There will always be someone who will be there to carry your weight. It''s either you haven''t found that person or you haven''t searched enough.''''
"Even the sun had the moon and stars to carry its weight so naturally you should have. If you ever need help just ask. There will always be people around to help you."
Lucas stared at Harris broadly and his heart welled up in happiness calming his uneasiness.
''Yes, how can I walk ahead in this vast world alone? I naturally had people to rely on.''
As Lucas spoke, Julian''s, Roan''s, Parth''s, Charles'', and Frederick''s figures appeared in his eyes.
If worsees to worse, he can just ask one of those people to take in his parents.
He might not be able to face that guy alone but with thebined strength of all, he might surely be out the front.
''I should cut Roan and Frederick in the equation for now.''
Seeing Lucas'' mood calming down, Harris said,"I think you figured something out."
"I did but I still need to go. This is something that only I can do."
"Because this time, it''s personal."
Harris took a moment to seize Lucas and then waved his hand.
"Then get the hell out of my sight. I need to have my dinner."
Lucas nced at Harris, then turned around to leave and ran away quickly while shouting.
"Sir Harris, if it''s possible, will you tell me your life story?"
Harris'' eyes widened and he stared at Lucas with a befuddled gaze but his expression returned to normal.
Staring at the figure''s back disappearing in the darkness, he shook his head reminiscing his past.
"Sister, he is growing too fast."
"I don''t know just how much longer I can keep the truth from him."
Chapter 221 221:Secret Hideout
Chapter 221 221:Secret Hideout
Inside a small apartmentplex, a man with dark tired eyes stared at scattered pieces of chips and micro metal swirling like liquid around it.
"Hush!"
He rubbed his eyes and sighed.
"This barrier is just too hard to ovee, no matter how much I try, I can''t seem to find a way to advance this orb sphere to 5-Star level armour protection."
Up to 4-Star, normal metals blended with ductile metals like harmonium, grey granite and others metals was enough to cut.
But to go beyond that, one needs to have metal that has enough molecr binding force that can resist the inner destruction caused by aura.
Repeated hitting with great strength wasn''t enough to break low-level metals, but it bes difficult when ites to aura that is purely mystical energy.
The aura infused with mana seeps inside the metallic structure due to being a pure form of energy and distorts the atomic structure breaking down the bonds present at an atomic level.
The stronger the atomic bond of a metal is, the harder it bes for the aura to destroy it. This was also the reason, they couldn''t just mould metal into an orb and then restructure it into armour as required without the use of external energy.
"It seems this is it. Unless there is a technical advancement or finding a way to ovee this, our orb shields will forever be stuck at 4-Star."
James, who wasmenting about this project, came to a standstill and heard the doorbell.
"Haaa....Herees the menace." James scowled with frustration.
"Jay, go and open the door."
Not many knew about this ce, so except for ''him'', hardly anyone appeared here.
DUM! DUM!DUM!
The loud sound of footsteps echoed and a boy ran swiftly leaving behind a gust, opened the door and jumped out.
Lucas, who was waiting after clicking the door, suddenly saw the door burst open swiftly and a figure jumped at him, crashing into his stomach.
''Ouch!''
Gritting his teeth to suppress the pain, he raised his hand to caress the hair of the boy.
"Big Brother, you are back. I have not seen you for months. I missed you."
Jay''s voice was a bit hoarse and sniffy.
"I missed you too." Lucas''s expression warmed a bit as he patted Jay''s head softly.
''Now that I think about it, thest time I saw all of them was before going to church. I hadn''t even visited Skies and hunted in the dungeon. So, it wouldn''t be weird if they kicked me out already.''
''Haaaa...It seems I neglected things too much.''
"How are you, Jay? Did James trouble you?"
"Brother, don''t talk about that grumpy old fool. I have rarely seen him smiling.''''Jay then looked up and pondered something, giving a mischievous smile.
"Let me tell you a funny thing. Scotch has arranged a blind date for Uncle James with the identity of a schrly poet working for a press. When Uncle James went on a date, that girl, seeing his deadly expression and his grumpy look, kicked him aside and ran away thinking that he was an old man looking for young girls."
"Jay, shut the hell up!"
James came out with an embarrassed expression and gave Jay a re who hid behind Lucas.
Pfftt!
Lucas controlled his urge tough and then stared at James coldly.
"Is this what are you doing? I don''t have the right to interfere with your personal matters but have you forgotten about Scotch''s ck deeds?"
When Lucas went to deal with Scotch, he caught a glimpse of Scotch chatting to several women at many differentputers which he dismissed thinking that this was a part of the investigation.
Later he found that this guy had many vests. Using many different identities, he was fooling with several women ranging from young girls to rich heiresses.
Lucas still remembered that day when he found that many of them were nobles'' unmarried girls and on top of that, this bastard was also chatting with their mothers.
That guy was just a different breed of yboy.
He was scared out of his wits seeing this and wanted to give that hooligan a sure beating by informing this to Aaron but stopped after Scotch begged him and exined that having contact with gossip-hungry women of upper society was the best way to know the rumours and news.
Instead of admitting his mistake, he boasted proudly that he sacrificed himself for intelligence.
Though this was true, it pricked Lucas'' conscience however as it helped in expanding the intelligenceworks, Lucas could only sigh, give this guy a thumbs up, and apud him for being the greatest scumbag yer in human history after Duke Kai.
Sighing heavily, Lucas walked inside.
"Stop being trash and do things like a man. You are setting a bad example for the kid."
"Kid...." James tilted his head with a vicious re.
"You are saying this is a kid who is almost 15 years old? If this was fifty years ago, he would have already been a father of one or two children."James screamed at Jay who just shrank behind Lucas while striking out his tongue to tease James.
"Huh! Did I miss something? It seems you two have be more friendly." Lucas assesses but shrugs his shoulders.
"Whatever!"
"Jay, it seems you are good now. Soon, you need to start training otherwise you will begging." Lucas, not trying to spoil Jay, overly reprimanded him who just nodded his head brightly.
He didn''t have any experience of being a brother. Moreover, Jay was going to be a good assessor. Though his expertise lies in mechanics he didn''t want his golden bloodline potential to go to waste and be someone like James.
"Stop staring at me with those shrewd eyes!" James shouted, wrapping his arms around his body, feeling a bad premonition.
"James, you are also going to work out. Your face looks exactly like a person who had damaged his kidney by getting sucked dry."
"You...."
Before James could scream, Lucas, ignoring him, spoke indifferently,"Hey, give me your phone."
Walking in, Lucas forcefully snatched James'' phone and called the greatest scumbag.
Lucas then stared at Jay and asked,"Jay, can you bring me a ss of water?"
"Okay..."
As Jay rushed to the kitchen, the call connected soon after.
"Oh! Lucas, it''s you. I thought you had forgotten about us. After all, you seem to have be a hotmodity after your slight appearance in the tournament." Scotch''s gleeful voice echoed from the other side.
"Hotmodity¡?" Lucas'' brows furrowed.
"What! You didn''t know?!'''' Scotch screamed and started to exin.
"Many girls are talking about you. Though I am sure most of them would shoo you away after knowing that you are amoner still some may want to hire you as their bodyguards after you graduate. However, it is not that simple...Hehe."
Lucas'' lips twitched for a moment.
"Get to the point."
"Okay! Listen here Lucas, after your performance you have been put on the target list by many families. I am not talking about being an enemy but rather the one whom they want to make use of. Your family background of being amoner might make you an easy target. They might offer ample money to make you their dog and in the worst case, might hold your family hostage against you."
Lucas'' expression turned grim as he heard Scotch''s serious voice as things might get quite troublesome.
He knew that he might pull aggro towards his family so Scotch hacked into the National server to change his parent''s profile.
He changed the name, photos and family address. On top of that, he raised this issue before Julian who upon epting that his worries were well found, put an additionalyer of security over it making the file restricted.
This twoyer safety was enough to prevent others from reaching his parents. Still, if one searches using all his resources, reaching his family is not impossible.
"Also, as you said. I tried to monitor your city. Sadly, I was not able to as the mana signal is off in your home city for some reason. It seems a mana transducer and receiver are broken but your parents were at home before the beginning of the tournament and no cmity had befallen your town." Scotch spoke seeing Lucas'' worried gaze.
"It''s good then." Lucas sighed in relief and took the ss of water offered by Jay who looked at him like a puppy wagging his tail and hungry for love.
Lucas smiled and patted his head.
"Scotch, the main reason I called is to find someone." Lucas then started to exin.
"Hmm! Do you have any details?"
"Not much. But I am sure he might be within these three locations. in the slum of the outer district ir, Montear and Hemp. There should be an illegal jewellery shop or wine shop. The guy I am looking for mostly wears a hood, he has a ring with a devil''s face in his left hand. That ring is a special one that can''t be replicated."
"And this guy might be in the group."
CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!
As soon as Lucas'' words fell, a clicking sound echoed one after another.
"Contrary to your bad luck, there are CCTV cameras near it. I can look for the person however I am not sure if the CCTV caught the sight of his fingers." Scotch muttered.
"Damn, how did people know I am that unlucky?"
"Did you forget about that card incident?" Scorch chuckled remembering how Lucas lost the coin flip gamble.
"This guy might be in a group wearing dark robes and hoods but this particr guy doesn''t bother to cover his face, he looks quite good and exceptional." Lucas exined, trying to change the topic.
"A perfect candidate for being fresh meat."
Cough...Cough....
Scotch coughed on the other side for a moment.
"Lucas, why are you looking for this guy? Don''t tell me you are taken by a rich..."
"Shut up and do your work, you-" Lucas stopped his curses, noticing Jay standing beside him.
It would be bad if a child heard it and learned curses, no?
Lucas kept being silent while the clicking sound echoed one after another.
"Found it. Oh my God, Lucas, are you sure this guy isn''t noble? His looks are quite exceptional. And about the ring, it was really hard to spot it if not for this guy breaking out from the group to flirt with girls and aunties."
"Stop describing him and send me relevant information." Lucas snickered as to why the hell did he need to bother about a dead guy.
"Send me his location."Lucas then cut off the call.
"James, the things I asked for, are they ready?"
James nodded.
"Follow me."
"Can I go?" Jay asked cutely.
"Yeah!"
Lucas and Jay followed James down the basement.
"This thing can only be opened by your palm or mine." James informed Lucas and pressed his hands on the hand scanner on the wall.
CLICK!
The wall bifurcated and a vault appeared. James typed the code and soon the vault opened.
"How strong is this vault?" Jay who followed Lucas and James asked, while essing the neatly stacked and arranged things curiously.
"Strong enough to handle an impact from a 6-Star." James answered grumpily, giving Jay a vicious re.
"Wow! This ce looks so cool. It''s like a secret treasure vault from a spy movie." Jay spoke excitedly, turning his head around to ignore James'' sharp re.
"It is." Lucas smiled.
On the left side, there were thetest crafted guns made of D-rank metal with E-rank bullets.
The metal parts were crafted by Sir Bentley. Though he grumbled a lot for wasting precious metal on making bullets, but who cares?
As long as you pay the money, you will get your things done.
Each bullet was 1000R and had enough power to drill a hole in a 5-Star if they were careless.
The cartridge can amodate 35 sharp bullets of 3.5mm and the gun has a shooting range of 350 meters.
However, for now they weren''t for sale.
The left side was filled with shbangs, grenades, minesweepers and bombs.
In the middle were round orbs which on click would form armours.
"If you are looking for masks, it''s there."James pointed at the corner where there was an ice cooler.
Lucas opened it and saw a pair of face masks.
One was quite smooth and had patches of scar in it. There were also wigs and bears in it.
They were ordered by him before and were made ording to his instructions. The maker was someone from the ck market found by Reynolds.
"This is gonna be of great help."
Lucas, then looking around, finally spotted a dark box.
"Oh! It''s here."
Without waiting for James'' words, Lucas walked in and opened the box which contained amorphous powdery substances sealed in pouches along with smoke grenades that contained some of it in gas form.
"Finally¡."
"Keke!"
"I can use this¡"
Lucas'' lips widened with a smile tearing out from his lips.
James and Jay who stared at Lucas''s sinister expression from the side shivered in fright.
Jay nudged James to the sleeve a bit and whispered,"Uncle James, why do I feel big bro has changed a bit?"
"He looks more like a crazy person."
James stared at Jay''s innocent expression and cursed,"He was a crazy bast¡boy from the beginning. It was hidden inside him but now it seems he epted his crazy side."
James'' eyes almost became teary remembering the beginning days when this lunatic threatened him with a knife that he would take his kidney away and sell it if he couldn''t achieve satisfactory results.
Chapter 222 222:Secret Hideout[2]
Chapter 222 222:Secret Hideout[2]
The crescent moon hung up dimly lighting the area.
A man shrouded in darkness, covered from head to toe with a thick ck cloak, approached a seemingly ordinary building in a quiet street.
Taking a deep look, he turned through the narrowne behind it that was betweenpact houses filled with trash while flies were swarming over it.
The condition of this slum area was too unbearable. Every gulp of hair had been tainted with the rotten odour of trash piling here and there.
The night was eerily silent, broken only by the distant echoes of a passing train. Soon, the man halted in his steps and stared at the broken logo of the wine bottle.
"Meltow''s Meadow...What a name." He chuckled.
ncing around to ensure he was unseen, he walked into the wine store. His casual demeanor concealed his true intentions.
Walking inside, the store owner, an old stout and friendly-looking guy who was caressing his white beard, watched him with great curiosity.
"Honorable customer, what can I do for you?"
The man pulled down his hood, showcasing a tan scarred face.
"You seem to be quite rough. Do you need some rmendations?" The old man asked.
"No, I know my taste." He answered with a small grin, walked towards the cab racks and perused the rows of fine wines, pretending to examine thebels while covertly observing the shopyout.
''It seems there are no cameras around this ce. Though it wasn''t written, there might be a hidden camera somewhere in there. My disguise is also working perfectly for now.''
Lucas expected things to be troublesome in the future so he already asked Reynolds to procure dozens of masks from the ck market.
These masks were made of real skin blended with a fabric that had a texture simr to skin. It worked quite well for now.
However, it felt a bit stuffy and itchy which was a bit ufortable but he had to bear it to avert the greater danger lurking behind.
He couldn''t afford a single careless mistake when a guy is waiting to step on his tail.
Picking one, he approached the old man at the counter. The old man staring up asked for a specific vintage, knowing it was the code to gain ess to the secret passage of the organization.
"Late 1942." Lucas murmured in a grave tone.
"Well, it was a fine year. The wines made that year were the best." The shop owner smiled, recognising the code nodded knowingly and retrieved the bottle.
When Lucas paid, the old man discreetly slipped a small sealed envelope into Lucas'' hands.
Giving a small nod, Lucas with the wine bottle in his hand made his way to the corner of the store. There, hidden behind a stack of crates, he found a seemingly ordinary wine rack.
However, it was anything but ordinary as one of the bottles held a hiddentch. He ced the newly acquired wine bottle in its designated slot and pushed it a little bit.
A soft creaking sound emerged and from the top of the rack, a hollow portion in the shape of a square appeared. Lucas tearing the envelope took out a ck metal square object and putting it the whole portion, nudged a bit. With a gentle push, the rack was swung open, revealing a dimly lit narrow passage.
Lucas pped his hands to shake the dust and stepped in. The moment he walked inside the passage, his figure disappeared.
The old man at the shop counter who was looking at the scene was startled a bit and rubbed his eyes.
"It seems my eyes have be worse. The man went inside but it looked as if he di-"
Swish!
Before the man could finish his sentence, something went through his chest, giving him a shiver.
The old man was too shocked for a moment to react. After a moment of silence, he opened his lips to scream but a hand emerged from behind him and stuffed his mouth.
Then he was pulled from behind with a small whispering into his ears.
"Isn''t it a pity to die like this? However, you can me yourself for joining this shitty organization."
The man sprang his hands and feet trying to struggle but in the end, being suffocated, he died with his eyes wide open.
Lucas didn''t pull out his sword as it would spray the old man''s blood on the counter.
Pulling out a cloak, he covered the man and put him on the counter with the sword still intact. Then, he set a few bombers behind the counter.
"No one shoulde herete at night. Still, I shouldn''t be careless."
Muttering to himself, Lucas searched around for hidden cameras. Finding none, he walked towards the door and locked it, setting the bombs to detonate if anyone entered the door or pressed the button, but this would happen after a minute so he had to hurry and get inside the passage.
"James had a lot of creativity. And being with Scotch only enhanced in the software department." Lucas chuckled while staring at the smartwatch that can control bombs to his will.
He then took out an orb and clicked the button on it, then pressed it on his chest.
A metallic clicking sound echoed as the orb started to expand and cover Lucas''s whole body slowly engulfing him.
A mechanized armour that looked more like a robotic suit than that of a knight armour appeared. Originally, it should''ve been like a stoic knight''s shiny armour without much difference but Lucas added his touch to it.
A mechanized version of this simr to the Iron Man suit ensures greater flexibilitypared to a heavy armour suit that drags you down. Moreover, normal men don''t have the strength to carry heavy weights.
"If only AI could be developed a bit more. I could use AI and cannons like Iron Man."
Lucas then took out a pill, which he bought from the shop after he reached 3-Star. This pill can increase your power by a realm and with Lucas'' sub stats already reaching mid and peak of 4-Star in some, Lucas sub stats will be over mid of 5-Star. It was a great boost but he''s going to lose the ability to use mana and be weakened greatly once the duration is over.
"I only have an hour."Lucas'' eyes turned cold as he swallowed the pill.
His stomach churned and his body felt hot. His mind became light, and a sense of euphoria washed over him giving him the feeling of invincibility.
"Damn, if it was a doubt before, I am sure now. This is nothing but a weed. A high-level one that might be used by that bastard future version of mine."
"Fucking drug addict.".Cursing him, Lucas made his way into the dark passage.
Stepping inside, he descended on a set of stone stairs, his heart pounding with anticipation. The passage led him deeper underground, where the organization''s inner sanctum awaited, where covert operations and meetings unfolded in the shadows.
However, today the agenda of the meeting has already been set.
.....
In a dimly lit chamber hidden beneath the city''s slums, the members of the secret organization gathered. The room was circr, its walls lined with ancient tapestries that depicted cryptic symbols and historical figures who had once belonged to the ndestine group.
A long, polished wooden table dominated the centre of the room, bathed in the soft glow of candlelight. At the table''s head seat sat a figure cloaked in shadows, the leader of the organization. Their identity remained concealed behind a hooded robe.
Around the table, members sat in ornate, high-backed chairs, each shrouded in secrecy. They wore masks and cloaks, their faces hidden. The air was thick with an air of anticipation and tension.
"Sir Seph, it seems we were sessful this time." A man spoke with a crooked smile.
Following his words, everyone''s attention turned towards a beautifully handsome young man with an angelic expression.
"I think Madam Lina might be quite pleased with you and might even allow you to serve her for a few nights."
Seph''s lips curled upwards wondering about that gorgeous heaven-defying figure that can suck one''s soul with a mere nce.
"I am just a bit luckier than you."
"It''s not about luck, it''s about-face. You know she doesn''t take men with ugly faces. Only those who can get on her grace with good looks can manage to climb on her bed."
"I wish I could taste her heavenly fruit." The person smiled crookedly trying to contain his saliva.
"Enough!" Seph raised his voice.
"We don''t have the right to talk about a member of the central authority. Let''s stop this nonsense, and begin the meeting. We have given them a hard blow this time. The ties between nobles andmoners will get worse after this incident. And the nobles may find it hard to even trust themselves, so we need to act.'''' Seph spoke coldly trying to hide his inner frustration.
Though the ns were quite sessful, he didn''t like the way things were done.
He wanted to be present there. He wanted to ughter, rip their arms, tear their flesh and gouge their eyes.
He wanted to immerse himself in the euphoria of people''s screams drowning the ce. He had been so excited about this incident that he had already slept early because of excitement and anticipation.
However, all his dreams were crushed as ns were changed at thest second.
Moreover, he dislikes this fool who thinks of him as Lina''s dog.
''Just you wait, soon I will tear those smiles off of you all.'' Sephforted himself with a smile while he clenched his fist tightly trying to control his urge to tear these guys apart.
"Yeah, it''s a good chance.''''
"We need to push forward."
"s, we missed a good opportunity to have fun. I wanted to pick a few noble chicks and taste them."
"Me too¡"
"I wanted to kidnap those noble children and ask those haughty guys to be my ves. I would ask them to clean my shoes every day by licking them."
"I was kicked by a noble before. I wanted to kick that guy and crush him under his foot and see what it feels like to kick nobles."
''Damn it, stop all this.'' Seph scratched his knees as his sadistic side started to overwhelm him.
His breathing became ragged as his imagination painted a vivid picturesque of scenes described by his underlings.
"All of you control your perverted desires. Let''s focus on the things we need to do." Seph spoke loudly, smashing his palm against the table.
With a cold reminder, the meeting finally began in earnest as they started to discuss the current scenarios and the things they needed to do.
Creating chaos was their main agenda.
Throughout the meeting, whispers, conversations and murmurs of intrigue filled the chamber. The members of the organization were united by amon purpose, bound by their shared knowledge, and surrounded by the evil aura that started to whisper deeds of evil.
When the meeting became intense, a knock echoed on the door halting the meeting.
Knock...Knock...
"Who came thiste?'''' They spoke at the same time.
"It''s already 2 AM. This guy is an hourte."
"Maybe someone encountered a difficulty," Seph spoke and signaled with his eye to open the door.
A man got up from his seat and walked towards the door.
He pressed on the handprint tform set beside the door and the moment the door opened a piercing bang resounded, startling everyone.
As everyone turned their gaze, they coughed in disbelief, seeing the person''s head who opened the door twisted to the other side with his neck twisted and jaw wide open.
Before they could react, a series of things were thrown out from the door which sted in the air and sprayed white smoke.
Chapter 223 223:Secret Hideout[3]
Chapter 223 223:Secret Hideout[3]
Lucas who had just entered the passage felt a splitting headache. His vision distorted and the world around him changed as a certain memory yed in his mind.
Dark smoke covered the area as the stadium raged with mes around corpses of people scattered all around that were burned in mes and the whole stadium was soaked in blood.
"Aaahhhhh!"
"Argh!"
"Save us!!"
"God, have mercy!"
"Please, spare my life!"
The people screamed in horror as explosions rang all around them.
Knights who enacted a barrier to safeguard the crowd were cut apart by dark-robed intruders
The line of Knights copsed as the fellow knights beside them turned against them stabbing at their backs.
The barrier covering the crowd started to shake as the knights who were maintaining the barrier copsed and faltered as the ground cracked due to exhaustion of power.
The moment the explosion urred, the nobles ran away while 30,000 audiences were left on their own, powerless to defend.
Amongst the pile of corpses, Lucas'' bodyid in blood flowing out of his body that dyed the ground.
He was lying with half of his body burning and barely able to maintain his consciousness.
As he tried to move, emerging from the crowd, a sudden stomp over his shoulder pinned him down.
"Ahhhh!''''
A painful groan emerged from his lips.
On looking up, he saw a handsome fair-skinned man grinning at him.
Before he could understand anything, the man bent down and pulled his hands to rip it apart.
"No¡.Don''t. Please, it hurts."
Tears oozed out from his eyes and his body wriggled imagining the pain.
As he thought he was about to die, he suddenly felt kes of snow falling on him as a sudden figure appeared beside him and sent the man flying with a kick.
...¡.
"Haaaaaa¡."
Lucas'' knees almost gave away due to the terrifying scene.
It was a hundred times worse than he expected. Without the supervision of higher authority, it was chaos and the knights who fought for others were backstabbed by their own friends.
"It seems Future Lucas had a personal beef with this guy."
Lucas clenched his fist which was burning with power. His eyes had be bloodshot and the veins over his arms bulged. His breathing was a bit heavier as his heart started beating crazily pumping more blood, fueled with adrenaline.
His senses were heightened at the moment and the moment his ears caught a subtle clicking sound, he dragged his right leg backward twisting his torso.
Lucas knocked on the door at the end of passage with an evil grin.
"Don''t, he isn''t going to die easily."
When the door opened, a man appeared with a confused expression and before he could understand anything, Lucas punched his face.
The hard metallic gauntlet smashed the person''s cheek with such heavy force that the man didn''t fly away but the force caused his face to rotate, and his neck snapped rotating to the other side breaking the pivot joint.
A swift crackling sound echoed.
Without giving others time to react, Lucas threw a smoke grenade in quick session which following a curve in the air sted off shooting smoke around.
"What the hell?"
Cough....Cough....
The dark smoke coupled with white heavy gas made one choke on their breath once inhaled.
"You want to benefit by causing chaos, huh."
"Today, I will make sure to instill the feeling of chaos inside you."
A killing intent burst forth from Lucas and his eyes became dark.
Lucas kicked the corpse, sending it flying.
The man flying into the wall smashed against a decorative art on the wall.
He raised his gaze looking for experience points but seeing none, he sighed.
"It seems I am not gonna get experience points when this system is going on maintenance."
His helmet acted as a gas mask and had thermal vision enabling him to locate the people in the heavy smoke.
The guy named Seph was at the peak of 5-Star. There were other three at the early 5-Star realm and minions ranged from mid-3-Star to peak 4-Star.
Lucas noted down the enemies while observing their sorry condition.
Inside the room, everything was in chaos as loud coughing and choking voices filled the whole space.
Cough¡Cough.
"My eyes¡Damn it¡My eyes¡"
"Ughh! My eyes and throat are burning."
"I can''t breathe. Someone do something."
"Damn it¡What the hell is in this gas that''s causing such an effect?"
"Someone, open the door. Open the door!"
"Idiot, there isn''t any door here!!"Someone yelled angrily.
"All of you stop breathing and kill the intruder. It''s not as if you are going to die if you can''t breathe for a moment." Seph waved his creating gust to keep away the smoke while using his aura to generate wind waves.
A man covering his nose unsheathed his sword and running towards the door, shed at Lucas furiously wanting to vent his anger and get away from there.
Lucas smirked as he saw the swording towards him.
"You really are a courageous one. Pouncing on a stranger without assessing things."
Swish!
A red glow traced the air in the dark smoke, flying past the man. Following it, a hand flew holding a sword and the man fell to the ground with a small thud.
"Arghhhhhhh!" The man shrieked and rolled onto the ground holding his shoulder, below which everything was missing.
"How....How?" He yelled as his face became pale.
As he tried to stand up, his legs trembled in shock because he was unable to react to the person''s speed.
Even though smoke obscured the vision, he could still locate the person with mana sense so how?
The enemy was at the peak of 3-Star, while he was at the peak of 4-Star but the speed of the boy drawing his sword was almost invisible to his eyes.
The man with the dazed expression was startled to see the smoke shook with a strong gale and in the next second, the person was behind him.
He opened his lips to speak, to scream but he found his vision distorting and his lips touched the dusty humid floor.
Lucas gave a back kick sending the head crashing into the passage he came from.
"All of you aren''t men. Just a little smoke and you have been reduced to such a state."
"Do you think this much smoke is enough to blind us?"
As if trying to show off, a man bracing himself walked towards the smoke grenade.
"Hahahaahha!"
"Watch me!"
A man spoke and opened his lips, then started sucking the smoke covering the whole area.
The smoke nearby lessened forming a vortex due to the suction force.
Lucas was a bit shocked seeing that man and wondered just how much did this guy smoke to have such a lung capacity.
Half of the smoke in the room was inhaled by the man. The other members of Omen were surprised by this person.
As the smoke slowly dissipated, the figure of an unknown person appeared in their eyes, shocking them.
Seph who just sat in his seat leisurely as if nothing happened, suddenly squinted his eyes.
The person wore a metallic gear of some sort unknown to them which looked like a mechanized knight''s armour.
It was ck with red stripes in between and the helmet had an orange ss as an eye patch. It looked cool.
''An interesting toy. It seems, I finally found a prey to enjoy.''
The man who was inhaling the smoke suddenly stopped and screamed, drawing everyone''s attention.
"You....Beast....uuuuu."
He clutched his neck due to the heavy difort. His eyes bulged out from his socket and his skin became dark green with veins bulging out from his body.
Blood started to ooze out from his eyes, ears and nose as his body convulsed.
"Huh, what is happening to him?"
"Hey, are you alright?"
"It is the effect of excessive smoking."
Cough....Cough....
He spewed blood and with trembling legs, he fell onto the ground while pping like a dried fish that finally gave out.
A deep silence lingered for a moment and everyone stared at Lucas with eyes filled with horror.
The man was at an early 5-Star and he died just like that.
Just what the hell was mixed in this smoke? A deep chill crept into their heart thinking about the consequence of inhaling this.
"Don''t worry, it''s not a deadly poison. None of you will die if you breathe a little. It''s just this guy smoked too much weed as per the effect of inhaling the smoke, hehe.."
A creepyugh echoed in their ears.
"Holyshit!"
"Bloody hell!"
CLAP!CLAP!CLAP!CLAP!CLAP!
"You are truly good at ying deadly games, however the end you have forecasted might not be the same," Seph spoke, putting on a gentlemanly smile.
"I wasn''t able to enjoy myself watching people shed themselves apart in tears and agony so it seems God sent me a starter to keep myself upied. I will make sure to enjoy myself while killing you."
"Hahahaha!" Seph startedughing while ordering his man to hold this guy.
"Don''t kill him. Just cut his limbs." Sephmanded.
Lucas drew his sword and took a few steps forward with a provocative smile.
"Hey, dog."
A man ran forward, thrusting his sword towards Lucas who tilted his head to the left allowing the sword to pass through and kick the man in the torso. The man''s body bent due to the strong force of the kick.
Lucas raised his sword and shed swiftly, cutting his head that fell onto the ground.
Lucas stepped and kicked the headless guy aside and stepped on the head, crushing the pitiful guy''s head into minced meat.
The members of Omen flinched back seeing this guy killing by cutting heads and then kicking the head like footballs. They stared at Lucas as if looking at a demon who didn''t even have a shed of mercy even though you are dead.
Lucas turned at Seph, then sneered.
"It seems Lina hadn''t taught her dog how to bark properly."
The temperature of the ce fell by a margin.
A thick vein bulged over Seph''s forehead as he gritted his jaw with immense anger.
"Stop staring at him. All of you just go at him together!!" Seph screamed angrily while pulling a chair to the side to look at the match as if this was a sort of refreshment.
Lucas quickly turned back hurriedly taking his steps. The underground hallway might berge enough for them to fight without restriction but their things here restrict their freedom.
Lucas ran sticking closer to the wall, jumped over a small sofa and extended his hand to catch art works, throwing them behind.
Two men jumped at him and tore apart the paintings, then shed their swords at him but their swords just met an empty space. The moment before their swords could graze past Lucas, his image melts into the shadows astonishing them.
Lucas stepped out from the shadows cast by them on the back. His body shot up, with both of his hands upied by daggers that hacked into their necks with perfect harmony.
He looked back at the iing people and turning around, made a powerful dash toward the men using sh steps and then his image blurred and appeared right before their eyes.
Lucas threw a dagger that was deflected narrowly by the front men but in doing so, Lucas closed in on one of them and shed his front, tearing his chest.
"And why is he so fast?"
The men were frightened seeing the intruder''s speed. They felt that their body movements have be surprisingly slow while their enemy is too fast.
With Lucas'' speed increased by sh steps, the men didn''t have time to draw their weapons, before they could react they were cut apart by a blood-red de with blood spluttering on the ground.
A de grazed past Lucas'' shoulder and managed to scratch his armour. Lucas immediately ducked and performed a roundhouse kick hitting the man''s ankles.
"Arghhhh!"
A groan escaped from the man''s lips, the bones of his knee were crushed into dust and his bnce faltered. Just as he stepped back with a painful expression, a red light shed over his neck and soon his vision was greeted by eternal darkness
Chapter 224 224:Secret Hideout[4]
Chapter 224 224:Secret Hideout[4]
The bloody smell in the room became thicker.
Coupled with leftover smoke, it was quite nauseous restraining one''s own breathing.
Lucas after cutting the man''s head stood for a moment drawing everyone''s attention and then started running towards a corner.
Lucas, who was chased by the group, immediately turned around to swing his sword.
CLANG!
A crisp sound rang in space, two des met and Lucas was pushed back a little. He swung his sword to parry the men''s attacks.
The two men were using a machete which was a short sword. Their movements were sharp, and each of their attacks was directly aimed at Lucas'' neck.
While another one was trying to restrain his movement.
Many behind them wanted to sneak in but were unable to do so.
Expecting this, Lucas moved towards one of the corners that crowded the area and unless the men at the front fell, the ones at the back could only stand there and observe like statues.
CLANG!CLANG!
Lucas'' back tingled and a smirk appeared over his face.
He dodged a man''s attack and kicked his knees making him stumble on his steps.
The man''s bnce faltered and passing Lucas, his machete hit on a wooden shelf.
A man suddenly jumped on Lucas from behind, aiming his sword at Lucas'' back. Noticing his presence, Lucas twisted the soles on his feet while parrying the attack, and sidestepped dodging the blow by a narrow margin.
The man missed Lucas by a mere inch, and his sword stabbed the man whose machete was stuck for a moment.
The other man holding the machete stood bewildered wondering what happened. Lucas closed up on him, giving him a straight punch with his left fist.
The man reacted, thrusting his machete and to his surprise, the armoured man didn''t retract his fist rather he unfurled his hand and held the machete.
Sparks flew and a dent appeared in the metallic gauntlet catching the man with surprise. With a yank, the man''s body was jolted forward and his eyes widened seeing a shining de right before his eyes.
"KYKK!"
The man shrieked loudly following which a sound akin to the cutting of paper echoed as his body was split into two halves by Lucas'' de.
Cutting the upper part in the middle, Lucas kicked the man''s waist and sent it flying as it crashed into the group of men at the back.
"Shit!"
"This guy is taking advantage of the space!"
A few men stepped back after getting hit but it wasn''t enough to force them back.
Someone bracing himself jumped at Lucas but before he could close in, a clicking sound echoed and his jaw opened wide as a grenade appeared right before his eyes and shed illuminating the ce, blinding their vision.
A cold glimmer shed in Lucas'' eyes, and in an instant, Lucas appeared before the man then stabbed him multiple times and kicked him back.
Meanwhile at the back of Lucas, the man who stabbed his teammate was too shocked to react at what was happening on the front.
"Damn you!" The man wielding the machete cursed after getting stabbed. Fortunately, the injury wasn''t too heavy.
However, he was too infuriated for a moment and his eyes shed with viciousness as the other man stepped back with an apologizing look.
With a deadly glint, turning around he sliced the machete at the man who stabbed him and chopped his body mercilessly.
The other man wasn''t able to react and sumbed to the atrocity.
"Useless bastard." He grumbled with a sullen expression.
He felt that he had gained the upper hand but right at the decisive moment, his teammate almost killed him. Since this guy had already stabbed him, who knew if he would be wary of him and kill himter, so there was no need for mercy.
Seeing Lucas'' back wide open, he stepped over the corpses and leapt ahead towards Lucas. But before his de couldnd..
"Did you think you gained an upper hand?" Lucas mocked him while sliding under the deing at his neck.
He put away his sword and took out two daggers, then started juggling them in the air.
"I can see that arrogant expression of yours but let me tell you something, you are nothing but a test dummy for me to test my dual dagger-wielding skills." Lucas muttered then turned around however in doing so he gave others a chance to pounce on him.
That''s what they thought, however¡
"Stop boasting."
"Just get him!"
Just as their de was about to dig into his body, his figure disappeared.
Seeing many men closing up on him, Lucas used a shadow step and appeared a bit away near the table located at the centre, then he kicked two chairs towards the man aiming at him who let out a shriek of pain and almost dropped his weapon.
Then he turned his gaze to the machete man that was trying to cut him, and using sh steps he dashed at him.
Lucas with a sinister smile, bent forward and kicked the man''s torso which the man barely avoided by pulling back his leg, while raising his left hand trying to chop Lucas'' neck.
"Stop copying me. Only I can aim for the neck."
Lucas parried the attack skillfully using the two daggers, and with a slight nudge of his wrist, his dagger slid down the machete de slicing the man''s wrist.
"Aghhh!" The man screamed as his wrist was chopped. Infuriated, he swung his other fist at Lucas but Lucas sidestepped and dug his dagger right into the guy''s neck and then kicked his guts sending him onto the floor.
"Bastard!" Five men surrounded Lucas, looking at him coldly.
"You are screwed."
Anyone ought to panic when surrounded from all sides. Lucas might have also panicked if it was before but after Harris'' pummeling session, the number of things Lucas feared can be counted in a single digit.
"In your dreams." Lucas sneered as he kicked one of them rushing towards him and using the guy''s body as a foothold, he jumped back and somersaulting in mid-airnded on the big table.
Then he ran to the table nimbly while pulling a chair on the way.
On his way, he nced at Seph who sat there with an amused expression without any intention to interfere.
''What a fucker. Except for fulfilling his sadistic desires, he doesn''t care.''
''You think you''re tough enough to take me on?''
''Hehe! You will soon find a surprise.''
Others ran to catch him but Lucas jumped down, threw a chair and kicked another one towards them.
The man ahead swung his sword to cut it but in doing so his whole attention was focused on getting rid of the chair, and he failed to notice a hissing sound.
A knife tearing through the air crashed onto him and pierced his head catching him off guard.
His head burst like a watermelon startling everyone greatly.
The dagger bursting his head appeared right before the guy behind him who tilted his body to dodge as the dagger brushed past his cheek leaving a gaping wound.
Lucas, without looking back, ran towards the side wall. Using his speed, he walked over the wall and then jumped back with a heavy stomp.
His figure shot back like a bullet and he arrived at one of the men''s heads in a sh. Using the force of downward eleration, he flipped the dagger into the form of scissors.
The man raised his sword to block.
CLANG!
With a metallic sound, his dagger broke the sword and pierced through the swordsman''s neck.
The man''s eyes widened in horror as he tilted his head to see a deep cut on the left side of his cheek sliding towards his neck, through which even his bones were visible.
"Aghhh--" Before the man could scream, Luacs chopped the guy''s head indifferently.
"Dammit!" The remaining one screamed in panic, finding it hard to catch the guy who was sneaking around nimbly.
''This ce is good for group fights. With many obstacles in between it''s hard for many to collide against one. With my improved flexibility and amateur parkour skills, I can move around easily a bit.''
Lucas, who was running ahead, stopped abruptly and picked up another chair, spinning his body around and smashing the chair over two nearby guys.
BANG!
"Arghh!''
The two men held their heads and closed their eyes because of sawdust getting into them.
As Lucas stepped forward, their ears perked up with the sound of subtle footsteps.
One of the guys who got smashed in the head panicked and waved his sword instantly into the empty air, and a streak of bluish line shot forward.
Lucas'' pupils shrank as his body tugged down and slid down the floor avoiding the bolt that passed by him and struck a rack decimating it into pieces.
Sliding onto the floor, Lucas reached for the guy giving him a horizontal cut as he passed by him.
After Lucas passed through the man, the man fell to the ground only to find both of his legs missing from the knee.
He was so frightened that no voice came out of his throat but as he suddenly recovered his senses, he shrieked.
Another loud shriek echoed behind Lucas. The other man, scared out of his wits, tried to run but he stumbled to the side of the table and crashed into the ground.
Lucas stared at the leftover who seemed to be trembling.
Knowing that they were the weakest of the bunch, they tried to keep as much distance from him as possible.
Lucas looked at the three who seemed to be slowly advancing towards the door while the one before him seemed to be paralyzed by fear.
At that time, Lucas'' metallic armour was drenched with blood and pieces of flesh.
Two reddish eyes shone through the blood-drenched mask helmet that looked like that of a demon.
Most of the people here were at the 4-Star level. The poison from the smoke bomb might have already affected and slowed them down. Even without the use of pills, Lucas can pummel them easily as they don''t have skills, techniques or foundation. They are just lucky enough to awaken and by joining Omen, they can raise their power at the cost of their lives.
The bottom dwellers of Omen only know how to bully the weaker people. Stealing, killing, kidnapping, raping and enjoying seeing others suffer, are the only things they are good at.
"Please don''t kill me!!'''' The guy screamed, trembling in fear as he wanted to escape. He wanted to leave.
He looked for his leader but much to his surprise, he didn''t find him anywhere.
''Did he escape? Did he run away?''
It was then that his mind copsed, unable to ovee the feeling of despair.
"Spare-" Before he could finish his sentence, the dagger struck his neck.
Seeing the man groveling on the floor for his life, his future self''s words echoed in his mind.
''You need to be a person to invoke the feeling of fear and despair. These people didn''t bat an eye while killing others but only after suffering a cruel fate will they know what fear is.''
Chapter 225 225:Lets Kill Each Other
Chapter 225 225:Let''s Kill Each Other
The three who were inching back towards the door suddenly felt an arm over their neck making them shriek in fear.
"Chill out, boys."
Seph who sneaked behind them out of nowhere stared at the remaining three who were trying to flee.
"Do you want to die fighting him or get killed by me?"
"If you are able to kill him, I promise that you will be showered with riches from the top," Seph smirked in amusement after giving them the options and then pushing them slightly, standing silently as now things were in their hands.
Lucas clicked his tongue looking at a peculiar scene. He knew that this guy was going to kill them whether they won or not. He was just doing this to entertain himself more.
Whether it was due to those memories or something else, he could feel the fright thinking about the whole incident when this guy plunged the stadiums into chaos.
Lucas clearly remembered the scene where this guy ughtered hundreds of people by ripping their limbs apart and after catching a group of people begging for mercy, he promised to spare them if they managed to kill one of their loved ones.
With extreme fear, he clouded everyone''s judgement, turning a son against his mother, a husband against his wife, a mother against her daughter, a daughter against his father and many more.
Not only did this guy divide the human heart pushing them into the well of the abyss, but he also managed to uncover the veil covering the ugly rotten hearts of people that show true beastiality when pushed beyond the limit of despair.
For him, humans were just evolved beasts who should be true to their instinct and do what they desire.
Maybe, this was something that attracted Lina''s heart and wished for the destruction of society with people turning one against another irrespective of the familiar ties.
There was no shred of sorrow or mercy in him, rather the man''s eyes were full of excitement as he looked at Lucas waiting for him to provide more entertainment until his death.
Lucas raised his daggers that glowed with a fiendish crimson aura.
''Sir Harris told me that this can be used with every weapon but I haven''t tried it before.''
Observing the three people inching closer to him with shivering bodies, Lucas took a step and his body blurred.
[Abyssal Asura Art: 1st Form]
Swish!
A long crimson line scratches the air and Lucas'' figure immediately appears behind the three who seem toe to stand still.
After a span of a moment, three heads fell onto the ground followed by loud thoughts and blood erupting like a fountain.
''Now, where did that asshole go.'' Lucas''s eyes scanned around searching for Seph wondering how he was going to y with this guy.
Future Lucas was also the victim of this guy who ripped one of his hands and was about to pull another one but Julian came to rescue him.
''Now that I think about it, Future Lucas was a damsel in distress.''
Unable to find that guy anywhere, a sudden thought shed over his eyes and he raised his head up towards the ceiling.
"Surprise."
''Fuc-''
BANG!
Lucas jumped back as Seph shooting towards the group struck the spot Lucas stood on.
Though Lucas managed to dodge, as he moved back he stumbled upon of the scattered corpses and almost lost his bnce.
"Got you.."
Seph with an insidious smile caught onto Lucas and swung his fist.
Lucas twisted his body to evade but Seph also changed the direction of his punch swiftly and struck his left side.
BOOM!
Lucas'' body was tossed into the air mming against the wall, forming a crack.
The painting and deration lodged onto the wall were scattered into pieces.
His body jolted a bit with a slight pain and on looking down, he saw arge broken dent near his left rib.
Seph looked at one of the men whose legs had been cut off and was still alive. The man stared at Seph begging for mercy but Seph just walked past him, putting his hands on the man''s head and twisting his head.
CRUNG!
The man''s neck was ripped apart brutally.
"Aren''t you too cruel on your men?"
"Trash should be treated like trash." Seph exined with a gleeful smile.
"Trash should be treated like trash¡" Lucas murmured to himself with an understanding look and then chuckled,"Are you talking about yourself?"
Lucas'' eyes moved and he subconsciously raised his arms.
CLANG!BANG!
A metallic sound echoed as his arms shed against a fist carrying brute force. He felt his arms going numb, and his head knocked against the wall while his body almost got stuck in it.
The image of Seph that was a few metres away from him, was now right before him with a menacing re.
Lucas put force on himself and tried to pull out his body. A cracking sound was heard as many cracks appeared all over the walls.
Lucas'' eyes shrank and he tilted to the left where a de appeared, striking the wall. He barely avoided the de as the sharp machete brushed past his cheek cutting through his metallic armour.
Seph with a sinister expression moved his big fist towards him.
BOOM!
The punch missed Lucas who escaped using shadow steps and collided with the walls. Breaking the wall apart, his punch created a huge hole smashing the underground soil behind, a blow that shook the earth with a faint tremor.
A cloud of dirt gushed out from the hole covering him fully with ayer of dust.
Lucas'' eyes shone as he appeared behind the man. He quickly jumped on the man''s back, with his legs wrapped around Seph''s waist tightly clutching onto his lower body while using one hand to lock his arms, he used the other one to wrap his neck.
Seph knew this was a lock and using his experience, he raised his right hand to hit Lucas'' head but Lucas used his legs as anchoring points and pulled down the man while trying to lock his arms.
BANG!
Seph slumped onto the ground as Lucas positioned himself over the top trying to pin him down.
Seph sneered at Lucas'' stupidity as his hands were strong enough to tear him apart with brute force. Seph then raised his left hand and punched back to the ce over his shoulders.
Lucas tilted his head ducking the blow but in doing so, Seph grabbed his shoulder.
CRACK!
The shoulder te of armour was cracked by Seph''s tightened grasp which also caught Lucas'' shoulder tightly. The veins over his right arm bulged terrifyingly.
Before Lucas could react, Seph used all his strength to tug Lucas while rotating his body on the ground.
Lucas who was at the top suddenly jolted as his body was pulled down with a terrifying force. His expression was distorted due to the pain in his left shoulder and his whole body took a mini arc and mmed onto the ground Seph came over his top.
"Aghhhhh!''''
Lucas groaned and tried to react as he felt a tight hold on his right ankle so he used his other foot to kick it but Seph with a tug, pulled Lucas'' body with a vicious re.
As Lucas'' body was pulled up, Seph turned his body and mmed him on the floor.
BOOM!
The floor cracked and the back of his armour almost broke.
"Kid, you haven''t even grown wing and you dare to y with this daddy."
"What did you think? That didn''t know that you put something in those sh bombs? Anyone who inhales the gas would be poisoned and then they will be frightened."
"How¡did you know?"
A fearful voice echoed but Seph turned a deaf ear, pulled the armour man and then swung him around mming him onto the big table that burst around.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
"For people like us, only a handful of things can make us fear. Even if our mentality copsed, we wouldn''t act like this. And let me tell you some interesting things, people at my level had to go through brutal torture of poison so I am fairly immune to poison."
"Hahahaha! What are you thinking now?"
BANG!
mming Lucas'' body at the ground again, Sephughed maniacally seeing the sorry state of his armour.
He sat down and punched the armour mask until it was cracked.
"Let''s see the expression of despair of yours."
CRUNG!
With brute force, he tore the armour apart and saw a scarred face who seemed to have passed out.
The unknown man''s eyes trembled with fear and his body was shivering.
Just as he was about to n his next step of enjoyment, he noticed something.
"A mask¡."
"Oh! Now I am curious.."
"Hehe!"
Seph bent down and pulled down the patched skin near his neck.
The man seemed to wake up and screamed.
"Please don''t pull the mask¡Please spare me!"
An evil grin appeared over Seph''s face, finding the words quite pleasing to his ears.
He drew his face closer and stared sharply.
"What¡..Afraid¡.Can''t even look into my eyes?"
The moment he pulled out the mask, he was startled to see the face of a young man which startled him for a moment, due to which he failed to notice a smirk.
His enemy''s eyes, which were trembling with fear, suddenly became yful.
Lucas opened his eyes and spat while clicking a button on the gauntlets.
Swoosh!
A white powdery smoke shot at Seph.
Following a clicking sound, two smoke drizzles assaulted Seph whose vision was blinded by the white smoke.
Cough¡.Cough¡..Cough¡..
"What¡"
Seph jumped up and tried to shake away the dust but at that time, he felt a sharp pain over his gut.
BOOM!
His figure shot back and toppled over broken debris on the table, then he mmed over a file cab.
COUGH!COUGH!
Coughing a mouth full of blood, Seph screamed as he felt the world spinning around him.
"Dog, what did you do to me?!"
Seph tried to get back up but his legs stumbled for a moment and he supported himself against the wall, staring ahead at the man who walked out leisurely as if this was a child''s y.
From ayer of smoke, a young man with a bloodied face emerged with eyes filled with madness.
CRUNG!
A sharp tearing sound of metal echoed as he tore off the metal tes and threw it down
"The durability of the armour is quite good. It just needs some flexibility adjustments and a shock absorber."
He muttered as his amused eyes fell on Seph.
"Thanks for partaking in the armour testing and as a reward, I will grant you the bitter taste of cruelty."
"Hahahahahahah!"
Lucas'' blood boiled and his eyes shone crazily.
"Let''s unleash madness."
Chapter 226 226:Lets Kill Each Other[2]
Chapter 226 226:Lets Kill Each Other[2]
DRIP!DRIP!DRIP!
Lucas wiped off the blood from his face.
Though the armour was able to survive the assault of weapons, it wasn''t able to survive a round of beatings which bruised him.
Raising his head to look at a bewildered Seph, Lucasughed.
"Hahahahha!"
"Let''s kill each other."
Seph was slightly intimidated by those ferocious battle-hungry gazes, but his arrogance pushed the fear out of his mind.
"Cheap tricks."
"Relying on cheap tricks, will not get you far." Seph snorted and grinned viciously while spitting out the blood from his lips.
"I know." Lucas muttered, walking out of the broken suit and putting his hands behind him.
"Enough cheap tricks now."
"For your kind information, you are nothing but a sandbag for me."
"You are too conceited." Seph channelized his mana to suppress his dizziness.
"I swear, I will make your life a living hell."
Seph''s figure disappeared and appeared right behind Lucas'' towering figure.
He put his hands forward and shed towards Lucas'' nape.
Lucas'' eyes calmly observed the iing sh. There were no ripples over his expression and as he looked at Seph''s hands striking at him till thest second.
Lucas'' eyes concentrated and he used his elbow to side-sweep and deflect Seph hands by hitting him at the wrist.
"Hmmm!'''' Seph''s eyes glowed but he wasn''t done yet, as soon as his right arm was deflected, he pushed his left palm forward aiming to hit Lucas'' throat and destroy his internals but before he could do that.
Lucas did an insanely quick sidestep at thest moment.
"What?" Seph stumbled forward due to momentum as he had never thought of the possibility of Lucas evading his quick palm strike
"Gotcha!"
A sinister blood-curdling smile appeared on Lucas'' face, sending a chill down Seph spine
Clenching his fist, Lucas punched at Seph who tried to adjust his bnce and move out of the way but wind pressure erupted from Lucas'' first and hit his face causing him to stumble backward.
"Damn you!" Seph roared and threw a barrage of destructive fists at Lucas who just blocked his punches putting a defensive stance.
His punches blurred due to the high speed making it hard to notice
SMACK!
SMACK!
"Hehehe! What happened to your confidence, kid?!" Sephughed, hearing the sonorous sound of his attacks striking Lucas'' body.
Seeing Lucas'' body curling up as he raised his arms trying to protect himself from his fast speed punches.
"Are you starting to despair?"
"Is the pain making you afraid?"
"Take this!" Seph closed in to deliver a strong hit and crush this guy but just then...
"Are you done?" Lucas opened his lips with a dark cold look and tilted his body.
[Mana Devour]
"Huh!" For a moment, Seph thought he had misheard him.
The arms covering Lucas'' face moved before he could react.
He saw it...
An image that will be etched deep inside his heart.
A furious crimson aura visage appeared before him, a figure that seemed to be coated in darkness.
First, he saw a crimson twinkling light with a pair of red demonic eyes which made him shiver but it was gone in an instant and everything before him went dark.
''Darkness?''
A question mark appeared over Seph''s face.
No, it wasn''t dark, it was something that covered his line of sight that was right in front of him blocking his vision.
BANG!
An explosive voice reverberated in the space.
Seph felt a fist crashing down over him and touching his face creating a small sonic explosion tearing the barrier of sound.
A sensation akin to something exploded right on his face and coursed through Seph''s body as the condensed mana exploded over his face.
His whole body rotated in the air and spun more than a dozen times before being sted out of the ce.
With the momentum he was punched with, he was shot out through a barrage of furniture like a projectile and with a streak of light his body crashed onto the wall.
The sound of collision rang like thunder that spread like a wave across the whole ce.
The wall was sted off with cracks spreading like cobwebs with Seph bodies piercing through it.
Seph''s body which was stered on the wall convulsed painfully with immense pain. His face burnt and blood gushed out from his nose like a waterfall as his nose along with facial muscles were crushed into dust.
His mind which had be dizzy for a moment was awakened by another burst of pain. His eyes widened when he saw the man pierced his gut with a dagger.
"Aghhhhhhh!" He groaned, feeling the pain of his flesh being torn apart.
Seph clenched his fist to throw a fist but Lucas tilted his head and pped.
SLAP!
Lucas pped with such force that a tooth flew away from Seph''s mouth and he swelled.
Seph''s eyes almost became teary and his vision became dark due to the pain.
Lucas grasped his face, pulled him from the wall and then threw him.
Seph''s body bounced back through the devastating broken debris.
Seph used his aura to protect himself but found out that he was unable to use it.
"How...How is this possible?!" Seph screamed in disbelief seeing the burst of power of Lucas.
"Why are you so strong for a mere 3-Star? And what did you do to me? Why can''t I use my mana?!" The Seph''s head was filled with a series of questions wondering if this was a lie.
A smirk appeared on Lucas'' face as he raised his fist,"It''s not me who is too strong, rather you are too weak."
"Did you only find this out now? The smoke you breathed was mixed with a drug that restricts your mana and makes you dizzy."
"Slowly and steadily, you will lose your strength overtime."
A sharp voice echoed from behind.
The moment those words fell, loud sounds of banging echoed throughout the whole area as dozens of punchesnded on the man within an instant while he was unable to defend himself.
His face was swollen like a pig with blood bursting out from the wounds on his face.
"Cheating¡This is cheating!! You are bullying people too much." Seph roared grievously.
Such heinous means.
Even those who have killed people viciously have never used such a method. He wascent thinking that he was resistant to poison but who had thought of this?
"What is this vicious thing?"Seph asked in fear.
He could feel his whole body shiver and started hallucinating that the person before him was a bloodied demon.
Instead of answering, Lucas pped him again with a wild grin.
''This powder was a modified form of drug used by Dark Church that was foundter.''
It was found by none other than Linda who experimented on the powder brought by Lucas from Luna during the Church incident in exchange for all that bullshit.
Seph cried in his heart, unable to ept such a grievance.
It had always been him who bullied others so when had it been his turn to get bullied like this?
He was stripped of all his power and then got pped on his face.
In fact, how can one bear to p such a heavenly face?
This was too much?
The beating stopped for a moment making Seph heave in relief, however.
BOOM!
Pulling Seph from his thoughts, Lucas punched him sending him crashing over the roof and as he fell onto the ground, Lucas pulled out a giant hammer from his ring making Seph cry in fear.
"Since when do viinsin about unfairness?"
"Cheating?! I am gonna shove this in your ass and destroy that scumbag face of yours. What can you do?"
Taking a baseball stance, Lucas swung the huge hammer that he had prepared anticipating a moment like this.
"NOOOOOOO!"
"Savour the pain," Lucas shouted heartily and smashed the hammer straight at Seph''s face.
BOOM!
Chapter 227 227:Hunter
Chapter 227 227:Hunter
Seph''s face became distorted due to the hammer shing against his face and almost ttening it.
Due to the force of the impact, his body spun in the air and his silhouette shot around bumping against the ground and furniture on the wall spurring blood as he screamed inwardly.
''Who the hell brings out a hammer in the middle of a fight?''
As if answering his question, Lucas'' image shed before him and he raised his hammer over his shoulder with a grin, then he smashed it down towards Seph who stared nkly at it with a horrified expression.
Before he could speak anything, he felt his body getting crushed.
BOOM!
Like a strike of thunder, a loud bang echoed around the ce.
The ground cracked and the entire underground room shook. The table and chairs shook, getting blown away by the loud shock wave.
A small crack appeared on the ground, in which the man''s body was shoved pitifully.
Retracting the hammer, Lucas rubbed his chin praising the craftsman of the hammer inwardly.
"This hammer is good. I like it."
Then he stared at Seph whose body was convulsing and wriggling like a worm, coughing blood.
Due to the strike of the hammer, Seph''s ribs were shattered and he found it difficult to inhale and exhale.
His eyes were filled with disbelief wondering what transpired here.
How can a mighty peak 5-star warrior like him be defeated this easily?
"Stop looking at me like that!" Lucas shouted and raising his foot, stomped over Seph''s bloodied face and then moving downward, he pressed the soles of his foot over Seph''s elbow.
CRACKLE!
A crackling apanied by a horrifying beast shriek erupted from Seph lips as he groaned in pain.
"ARGH!"
"Hey, did you like this? The feeling of pain that is coursing through your body makes your body numb and your heart beating wildly with a wrenching feeling."
Lucas'' cold words echoed in Seph''s ears who gritted his teeth to suppress the pain but he heard another crackling sound and he saw the man stomping over his knees.
"Aghhhhhhh! Stop it...Stop it..."
"Goddamn, it hurts."
"Why...why are you doing this? Why are you targeting me?!" Seph screamed with tears sliding from his eyes due to the pain.
It was always he who inflicted pain on others so since when did he have to bear all this?
His hair stood erect just thinking about this pain
Lucas'' movement halted for a moment and he stared at Seph, blinking his eyes in confusion.
"That''s a good question. I forgot the real reason I came here."
As he spoke this, his mind became a bit of a mess.
''Did I really get immersed in enjoying inflicting pain on others?''
''Since when?''
''Fuck, it''s not me. It''s all because of that guy influencing me.''
''I am a good, innocent, kind-hearted guy.''
Lucas nodded his head with an understanding look after ming Future Lucas who if heard all of this bullshit might cough litres of blood screaming that he was wrongly used.
Lucas then sat on the man''s chest and just as Seph was about to speak, a chunk of ice was shoved into his throat.
"Stop disturbing me for a moment.'''' Lucas then pulled the man''s left arm and stared at the devil''s ring.
A yful smile crept over his lips.
In Seph''s eyes, it looked like the smile of a Devil that was about to y his tricks.
Before Seph could understand what Lucas was going to do, his mind was suddenly jolted with a shock.
"Aaaaaa...Arg....Mmmmmm."
Even though tried to contain his urge to scream he wasn''t unable to. He was in so much pain that the block of ice stuffed in his mouth was crushed into pieces by the bite of his jaw and he coughed violently feeling a lump choked in his throat.
Though his vision turned dark and fuzzy, the ring finger on his left hand was ripped apart.
Lucas ripped the guy''s finger and pulled out the Devil-shaped ring with crimson ruby over it.
"Someone''s waste is someone''s treasure," Lucasmented, staring at the ring.
Lina had an uncountable number of boy toys. Out of them, for those who managed to please her or she took a liking to, she gave them gifts.
This ring was one of those gifts that might have cost a ton but little did she know that this wasn''t something ordinary.
It was a key to entering an inheritance ground of the fallen Lich who was said to be very close to achieving Godhood which was in the Demon Continent.
The stone in the ring starts beeping and leads you to that ce once the Demon continent resurfaces again in the world in two years.
That doesn''t mean that the ring was just a showpiece now. With this ring, one can control a certain number of undead and ghouls.
Lucas was unable to erase the smile on his lips.
"Today is a joyous day." Lucas kept it aside and tried to look for Seph''s smartphone.
He needed to finish the thing he came for first.
After a moment of searching, he finally found the smartphone in one of the guy''s storage rings and opened it using Seph''s thumb.
"I am going to do something crazy."
"Oh, God please give- Wait, the God in this world is totally useless and got killed by Future Lucas. In that case."
"Hey, Future Lucas, please give me strength so that I don''t falter when I spew bullshit."
Taking a moment to adjust his state of mind, Lucas searched for the name and finally dialed it.
He made sure to check his voice by changing it a bit.
RING!RING!RING!
A few ringster, the other side picked up the call and a sultry seductive voice echoed in Lucas'' ears.
"Seph Dear, did you miss me in the middle of this lonely night?"
Lucas'' whole body twitched and shivered in creepiness and he stared at the phone.
''People who try to act quiet and coquettish disgust me too much.''
"Hey slut, did you remember me?''''
"Hehehe!"
A moment of silence lingered for a moment.
"Who are you? Where is Seph?" The voice became cold.
"Oh my...What happened to your voice Lina? Aren''t you happy hearing from an old acquaintance? As for your darling Seph."
A cold light glinted in Lucas'' eyes as he took out a dagger and stabbed straight at Seph in theher region.
Seph''s consciousness was forced awake by a piercing man and seeing his balls stabbed, he screamed again.
"A...Uum....Oooooo..."
His lips opened wide and closed multiple times, unable to let out a voice.
"Can you hear it? I just ended his bloodline. From now on, the world will have less weight to carry."
"Hehehe!"
"Do you think I care if you kill him or not? He is just a ve. I have many." Lina''sposed voice echoed.
"Yes, you have many ves to whore around but let me inform you, Miss Lina, your days are getting numbered. Soon, I will have my revenge."
"Just who the hell are you?" Lina asked in an irritated voice.
"Who am I? You dare to ask who I am after you used me and threw me away."
"Whore, you destroyed me. You killed millions of my precious offspring. You murdered them brutally, you trampled them. You destroyed all the mini-mes, you crazy psycho bitch."
"You, who toyed with me and abandoned me will bear my wrath. Not only you but the entire Omen behind you."
"On my shoulders, I carry the burdens of countless brothers who were abused by you. I am the Whore Hunter."
In the end, Lucas almost bit his fingers as he wasn''t able to bear the cringeness. He felt like dying after speaking so embarrassingly.
''Oh my god, just what kind of things did I have to do now just to survive."
"What the fuck is wrong with your head?!" Lina screamed in shock.
"Shut up, bitch and dont you dare cut the call."
"You think of yourself as a queen but you are nothing but a bitch worse than the prostitute in brothels. I am pretty sure even now you are whoring yourself."
"And let me guess. That someone should be Azrail.."
Hearing no voice, Lucasughed out maniacally.
"See, am I not correct?"
"Hey, bro Azrail. If you are hearing this, good luck, this slut is too difficult to satisfy lest you shall be sucked dry of life."
Azrail who stood quietly on the other side almost coughed blood on hearing such heaven-defying righteous bullshit.
Chapter 228 228:Unwanted Aggro
Chapter 228 228:Unwanted Aggro
In a dark room, a fearsome aura erupted making the space shudder.
The whole building shook and cracks started appearing over the walls.
With a nk expression, her purple misty eyes shed with confusion. A ripple of emotion appeared over her face.
She raised her chin and saw a befuddled expression on the face of a grey-haired guy sitting across from her who also seemed to be shocked hearing the maddening roars from the other side of the phone.
Pfft!
Azrail choked when he heard the term whore hunter.
''I thought I was the craziest guy in the world but this guy''s words humbled me.'' Azrail for the first time in his life was shocked to his core.
He stared at Lina wondering what the hell Lina did with him.
''Maybe she cut his thing ending his entire bloodline.'' Azrail made a rough guess.
It was then that a lunatic voice appeared again.
"If you are thinking, who is interfering with your ns then let me tell you. It''s me."
"All of this is just the beginning of my revenge. Because of you, just because of you, I find it nauseating to be with a woman. Women disgusts me because of the trauma inflicted to me by you. You destroyed my lifetime happiness, Slut because of this I will never forgive you."
"I know all the shit about you and that small syndicate organisation has done till now and all the things you are going to do in future."
"The y of the hunter and the prey had reversed."
"Do you think you are great just because you manage to infiltrate the organization and pass this information? Do you think I care?" Lina spoke coldly.
"You will Slut...You sure will.."
Crack...
The wooden bed cracked as Lina gripped the sidebar.
She wasn''t least interested in all this bullshit. The only reason she picked up the call was because it came from a familiar number and since he was dead there was no need to hear this but Azrail asked her to listen to it as it might prove to be crucial.
Turning her head, she gave Azrail a deep re who just shrugged his shoulders.
"Hehehe! Do you know what I traded for all this information?"
Lina snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a maniac''sughter.
"It''s you, Slut. I asked them to spare you and the reason...Let''s leave that until we meet. It will surely be interesting¡Very interesting."
"Until then, just enjoy your days cause the hunt has begun."
"Just who the fuck are you.."
BEEP!
A deep silence lingered as before Lina could finish her speech the phone was cut.
In fury, Lina crushed the phone into pieces and gritted her teeth, holding the hem of her skirt tightly.
Various emotions shed in her eyes as the words slut and whore rang in her mind bringing a memory buried deep inside her heart.
The word was enough to pierce a dagger into her flesh.
She wasn''t a human.
She was a half-demon.
Her father was an incubus who yed with many women and threw them when he gets bored. Out of all the misfortunate women, her mother became pregnant with that disgusting guy''s seeds.
Her mother who was left alone to feed bwr after giving birth to her, poured all her frustrations over her showering her with countless abuse.
Since she looked a bit like her father, her mother would always hit her and scratch her face; however, due to being a half-demon with a faster healing rate, her face would heal without leaving a scar.
She thought that what could be worse than this however she was proved wrong...
Her very mother, who should have cared for her child like any other mother, instead when Lina grew up, she was sold to a heinous group of bastards.
She just waited for her to grow up and then sold her for a hefty sum.
She wasn''t even an adult when she did this. She was just a small child but due to her face being quite enchanting, the bastards of the gang would eye on her and her mother using this chance sold her and ran away with the money.
She was forcefully taken away and locked in a room.
When she thought that everything was over, someone finally appeared in her world of darkness saving her from the darkness.
Being naive, she developed feelings for the man who helped her to escape. Staying with him, she finally fell in love and tasted the sweetness of the forbidden fruit.
However, their life was not free from worry.
Due to being a devastating beauty, people would get charmed with just a nce which arouses much dissatisfaction among the women who called her slut for seducing others.
She was hurled with curses and stones were thrown at her.
Still, both of them endured and moved from ce to ce until one day people with higher authorities united to hunt them.
They fled as far as possible; however, in the end, they sumbed due to exhaustion.
Her lover was brutally killed before her eyes while those lecherous bastards couldn''t bear to kill her so they took her and sold her as a ve to a brothel and another nightmare began for her.
She could still remember those beastly eyes filled with lust, lips drooling with saliva and dirty hands touching all over her body while being called a slut for seducing them.
It was there, in that den of depravity where she awakened her subus power and learnt a way to get stronger by absorbing men''s essence.
As Lina thought about that her body started shivering.
"Did you remember all that?"
"Yeah¡" Lina muttered with a nk expression staring at the ceiling and shook her head.
All of that was the past and she had taken revenge on them.
It was just in that process she lost something quite precious.
Which was?
Her emotions.
"What do you think of this guy?"
A smile formed on Azrail''s lips on hearing Lina''s questions.
"Interesting! This is the first time I have seen a man who managed to get out of control from your charm."
Remembering the conversation, Azrail covered his mouth to chuckle.
"What did you do with this guy for him to hate you so much?"
Lina''s expression darkened upon hearing Azrail''s words.
"I don''t remember. Are you not afraid that this guy knows many things about us?" Lina asked with a provocative smile.
"Who knows if he is bluffing? What if this entire thing is a bluff?" Azrail rubbed his chin with a serious expression.
"What! He is telling a lie."Lina almost stood up in her seat.
"There is a possibility it can be false after all, the men who were able to survive after doing the deed with you are greatly taken care of so how can this guy not be on your list."
"Maybe, it''s when I was younger and might have taken pity on him."
"That means, this guy must be in his 50s or more than that." Azrail''s brows furrowed for a moment.
"Hmm! Now that I think about it, his voice was a bit rough and chucked. He was also breathing heavily, seemingly out of breath"
Azrail rubbed his chin.
"It''s weird. I find it difficult for a lunatic guy like this to know so many things about us."
"Aren''t you also a lunatic?" Lina sneered.
Azrail blinked his eyes giving Lina a gaze meaning what the hell are you on about woman?
"I am a psychopath, not a lunatic. Both are different things."
Fiddling his finger, Azrail smiled softly.
"For now, I can only conclude that this guy might be an actor who is good at deceiving or a man who went insane after his dignity as a man was trampled on after getting tortured by you. However, I feel very soon we will know about this guy. And it will be he who will appear first out of the shadows."
Lina raising her finger, slid it across her lips with a yful smile.
All the men she had encountered would grovel at her feet with just a smile. Even Azrail who was somehow resistant to her charm due to his mental fortitude might not be able to handle her full disy of charm.
As she thought about the man who managed to get out of her grasp, all her anger was reced by a strange desire for possession.
"What a wild man! It had been a long time since I had tamed someone wild. Life has been too boring nowadays."
A blush appeared over Lina''s face with a unique sense of euphoria.
"Hehehe! Next time we meet, I will make sure to eat you to my heart ''content."
Lina muttered licking her lips seductively, giving Azrail goosebumps seeing madness in Lina''s eyes.
''It seems that guy underestimated Lina''s bitchiness.''
Watching Lina''s expression, Azrail shook his head lighting an incense of man''s name.
On the other hand, Lucas cut the call and suddenly started to shiver, unaware of the aggro he had pulled.
Chapter 229 229:An Oldmans folly
Chapter 229 229:An Oldman''s folly
Just after he cut the call, a slight dizziness assaulted his vision coupled with a terrifying headache followed by a shiver making his body tremble in fright.
"Why am I feeling so cold all of a sudden?
"The symptoms are starting even though the time is not up. This thing is terrifying."
Lucas wiped the beads of sweat and put the phone in the storage ring. He was sure that this thing might be quite useful if itnded in Scotch''s hands.
Fortunately, this was a modern society otherwise he wouldn''t have got such a chance.
Then he took a demon-shaped ring.
It was called the Ring Of Wrath.
Staring at it carefully, he remembered that it was a set item and the other part was going to be auctioned in Ralph after a few months which should fall in time during the Tournament.
He then bit his finger and dropped some blood on the ringer. The ruby-coloured gem over it absorbed the blood and glowed with a faint crimson shimmer.
"Finally, I got a cheat." Lucas tried to contain his excitement and looked down with a hearty smile.
"For my first undead. Seph, I choose you."
Lucas pressed the ring on Seph''s head and used the spell required to activate the thing.
[Undead Creation:Swallow]
Swish!
Lucas'' body jerked as he felt arge amount of mana forcefully pulled away from his body making his expression pale as the amount of mana drained from him was too much to the point that his mana reservoir almost became empty.
"Damn!"
Lucas letting out a shriek took out a mana potion and immediately gulped it but as soon as he chugged it down, the mana that appeared in his body was cut down by half.
Meanwhile, changes took ce in Seph''s body.
His skin mottled, bing rotten and putrid. His eyes became hollow consumed by a greenish aura and all the hair on his body fell off.
From being a man with a country-toppling beauty Seph''s face became that of a rotten piece of meat.
"Truly a befitting ending for a wicked person like you." Lucas sneered and pulled the undead ghoul into the Ring Of Wrath.
The ring operates on two spells. The first one is [Undead Creation:Swallow] which creates an undead and the second spell is [Undead Extraction:Exit] to release or store the undead.
"If I hadn''t taken up the pill, I might have been sucked dry and fell here."
Lucas then nced around the ce. It had traces of the battle and his mana, so if someone investigated through the mana, he might be tracked down.
"After taking care of the blood stains, let''s just bomb the ce."
Arranging things and cing bombs all around, he made his way out to the back door.
Behind one of the shelves, he pushed a brick following which a creaking sound echoed, and the wall beside the shelf bifurcated and another passage appeared.
Lucas stepped in and walked through the dark passage then emerged from the sewage.
ncing around, he saw a metallic stair leading up but the distance between them was filled with trashy fluid of the sewage emitting a foul odour.
"What types of things do I have to do?"
Lamenting about his cruel fate and bracing himself, he swam to reach the stairs and walked up.
Emerging out from an embankment, he saw the beautiful night sky with the moon almost reaching down to the horizon.
The ce was filled with tranquillity and sce.
''I should blow it up now.''
After retreating to a safe distance, he pulled out his smartwatch.
On opening it he saw a message from the Academy.
[We apologize for the inconvenience for the unfortunate ident and our failure to handle it properly. Deciding in favour of students, the Academy is closed off for 5 days for the students to recuperate and calm down.]
"It was three days in the original timelinepared to this time where the casualties were quite low
"Hmm! Maybe because students were affected more."
Swiping it, Lucas opened the app and entered the code that allowed him to control the bomb''s detonation.
Lucas had hardly raised his arm to click on detonate when he felt a soft touch over his shoulder.
"...."
"Ahhhh!"
A subconscious shriek escaped from his lips as he jumped back while drawing his sword but his motion halted seeing an old man.
The old man just had a piece of turban wrapped around his waist reaching down his knees. His upper half was naked.
He had a long white unkempt beard and sunken hollow dark eyes. His skin was ragged, almost touching the bones.
The old man stared at the boy with moist eyes and made a hand sign by bringing his hands close to his mouth.
"Foo...Food."
However, Lucas'' mind ignoring all this was running at high speed with his body in full alert mode.
''How...How did he get close to me without me knowing anything?''
''Is it because he is amon man? No, that shouldn''t be the case.''
Many questions shed in his head and his eyes shed with weariness because if a person could sneak in easily without alerting him then that meant, that person might be able to kill him.
Seeing the boy standing stiffly, the old man spoke with a bitter expression.
"Sir, please have mercy and give me some food. I haven''t eaten for a week."
"Please help me and God''s blessing will be with you."
Seeing an old man acting indignant, Lucas felt conflicted for a moment.
It was then a sudden thought came into his mind and he channeled his mana.
To his horror, he found that he wasn''t able to do it properly.
Lucas''s heart skipped a beat and as he attempted to feel the mana in the surroundings, he found that he wasn''t able to.
''It seems this is the reason I wasn''t able to sense this guy. Still, I can''t let down my guard.''
Pondering over it for a bit, Lucas pulled out a small package of ready-made food he always kept with him and passed it to the old guy.
"Oh my, you are such a thoughtful person Sir." The old man''s eyes beamed and he snatched the package from Lucas and tearing it started gobbling things to quench his hunger.
"By the way, what are you doing herete at night?"
"I came to clean the rats inside the sewage." Lucas answered with a nk expression.
"Ohh!" The old man looked at Lucas from head to toe, drenched in filth.
"You are a hard worker, Sir."
"You had to work tillte at night to clear the mess left behind by others."
Lucas'' brows furrowed feeling that the man was hinting at something but seeing those hungry eyes gobbling the food it was hard to fathom.
''I shouldn''t take things lightly and if possible I should get out of here. ''
''My senses have always been sharp for some reason but they aren''t screaming of danger at the moment however I have a subtle feeling that this old man with half a foot in the coffin isn''t simple.''
He was even prepared to send an emergency signal along with the man''s photo in case he got attacked.
"Okay, then I have to leave." Lucas turned around and ran trying to get away from him as soon as possible.
"Wait! Sir..."
The old man was startled and shouted, "Sir, I will remember this favour and promise to repay you in the future!!"
Seeing the boys disappearing back, the old man kept down the piece of roasted meat and sighed.
The moment Lucas disappeared, a loud explosion struck around the vicinity.
BOOM!
The old man looked around and then with a bitter smile waved his hand.
The energy of the explosion disappeared along with the sound and everything became silent once again.
If Lucas had been there to see this scene, he might have screamed in horror.
"....Nowadays kids are always in a hurry. They don''t have time to take care of their elders."
"However, it was quite an interesting meeting."
The old man''s lips curled upward and soon his appearance changed.
The man took a step and his figure vanished out of thin air.
Like aet, his future hot into the air and appeared in a majestic ce.
His hunched back, straightened up and his frail body bulged with muscles.
Contrary to his previous appearance, the man''s height reached 7 feet and he was adorned with luxurious noble attire.
With a long cascading beard and half-white hair, the man looked in his 60s but if one looks at the pages of history one will find that he was one of the oldest living giants in today''s society.
With a faint smile hanging over his lips, he walked into the room filled with photos and his gaze lingered on a frame where a man with silvery hair wasughing with a golden-eyed grey-haired man.
Then his eyes moved towards another frame where a small boy with ck hair and golden eyes was trying to control the particles of sand.
"It''s been so long. Decades had be centuries, still, I feel as if this was tomorrow."
Then his gaze went back to a white-haired man.
"Mash, your family has given birth to another monster and he is already quite capable."
Thinking about today''s incident, he chuckled.
"It seems, I am going to have another headache taking care of another shit. Teaching Leo already made half of my hair white. I might be old if I teach him under that girl''s eyes."
Chapter 230 230:Hearts Knot
Chapter 230 230:Heart''s Knot
Across the training ground, surrounded by a vast grassywn, a bluish-haired man was practising his spearmanship.
The air across the ce was torn apart.
Bluish scratch marks apanied each swing of spear covered with a bluish haze.
The man swinging the spear was drenched in sweat and seemed to have lost the sense of time, as he kept on swinging and swinging.
He tried to put all his focus so that the messy thoughts wouldn''t begin to haunt him.
The bitter expression of betrayal and words of mockery sounded in his ear again and again.
[I thought we were friends. But it seems, it was just a delusional harbour on my part.]
He felt his heart burst forth as he remembered those words.
Frederick didn''t care that Lucas spoke about his trump cards without knowing about it particrly, even if they pried, it was useless.
Though he was curious about how much Lucas knew about his trump card and wanted to interrogate him madly, he didn''t dare to face those condemning eyes staring at him as a sinner.
He didn''t know how much the foreign entity talked about. If that was an angel, shouldn''t that angel be on his side since he was chosen by the Goddess? So what was its motive to reveal those things?
"This is sick." Frederick spat with a sense of uneasiness.
Thinking about this, a series of questions arose in his heart.
Lucas'' questions stirred his heart, making him restless.
It also made him aware of his prejudice.
Cause as Lucas said he would have acted if Rose was in danger but since she was safe, he tried to stay away as far as possible seeing that there wasn''t any danger as their target was Julian.
This made him question what he thinks of Lucas and others.
What did they mean to him?
Did he care about them or is it just for personal benefits?
Would they step for him if he is ever in danger?
He didn''t know anything. Now that he thought about it, he had never tried to understand them, rather he was always busy with his things thinking that he was the only one who had to bear all the weight.
He didn''t have a great life in the academy previously, and his talents shone in theter stages after Ralph''s tournament attracting countless eyes and stable squads.
Yearster, he was chosen as a Hero to lead the mantle facing the demons and forming a team.
At the beginning of this timeline, he nned to observe and not make hasty decisions. Let everyone grow to a certain stage and then conclude things by the end of the year.
With the world imposing restrictions on them, if they push people of lower bloodlines around too much who can''t bear the pressure, it might lead them to death.
He acknowledges his failure of not being a good leader but with ample experience, he was good at observing people and marking them.
However, out of all, there is this guy who always struck the cords of his heart like an immovable stone whose thoughts were always hard to fathom.
Unbeknownst to him, a smile formed over his lips as he remembered about their first meeting.
"At first, he tried to run away from me as if I was a menace. At first, I thought he wanted to avoid me but after staying with him a bit, I knew that this guy just found my presence bothersome."
Except for him, he was the only guy who sacrificed his sleep to trainte at night.
On his first observation, Frederick was bewildered seeing such a rookie guy who didn''t even have a correct sword posture making him wonder how the heck this guy got enrolled.
Yes, at first he was just curious about a guy who could enter the academy without even knowing how to hold a sword properly, making him wonder if he had a great hidden background and entered through the backdoor.
But his thought process changed as he observed him more.
From being unable to hold a sword properly, to being able to fight fluently, it didn''t even take many days.
Contrary to his expectations, the guy wasn''t a genius; rather , he worked hard and always kept note of his mistakes.
Frederick had already marked this guy as an oddity. And that''s also the reason he sticks with this guy.
He always feels that he has a great number of secrets hidden beneath him which he badly wants to uncover.
At the time when he saw that ring, he felt a string in his chest and wanted to snatch away such a precious treasure.
Frederick''s mind almost blew out when he heard that the ring had been used as Lucas might have died.
Lucas had always been humble, respected others'' wishes , treated others kindly and always liked to stay away from troublesome people.
"But once you anger him...."A cold voice rang in Frederick''s ears.
"Yeah, his personality changes quite quickly. As if a monster who had been caged waiting to be released devouring everything with sharp insanity and brutality."
Frederick, who kept swinging his spear, suddenly halted his movement.
"What happened?"
Frederick took a heavy breath feeling a bit tired and took a heavy breath.
"He isn''t a guy who picks faults with others. It seems there is something...something which I missed which seemed to prick him."
Frederick, who was brooding over aplicated feeling and a sense of crisis, swung his spear to the left.
BOOM!
An explosion shook the ce, with a sword arc cutting through the ground for a few metres.
Frederick retreated with a startled look as he saw a familiar figure emerging out from the smoke.
"Tsk...People are too blind to call you a genius. If this was a war, you would have already died."
"It is not a war that''s why I let down my guard Brother Han."
Through the smoke, a tall man with long bluish hair and sharp-features walked out with a mocking expression.
"Do you know what we say at the border? Dead don''t make excuses."
Frederick ignored his mocks and asked, "Why aren''t you at the border?"
"I am on vacation." Han shrugged his shoulders.
Coming closer, Han pulled out an old rustic wine bottle which startled Frederick.
"Did you steal another one from Father''s Rack?"
"What do you mean by steal? I just borrowed it." Han ignored his brother''s re, took two chalices and poured wine, and handed one to Frederick while taking a sip from the other one.
Frederick clicked his tongue but still followed his suit as it was a rare opportunity to drink such fine wine and asked,"So, why are you here?"
Walking closer to Frederick, Han flicked Frederick.
"Do I need your permission to be here?" Han mocked, irritating Frederick.
As the two drank, Han could see Frederick feeling a bit tipsy. Though his capacity was good, still he fell short of him.
As they got a bit drunk, Han spoke with a serious expression.
"Frederick, Second Mother is worried about you. You have been behaving weirdly for the past few days."
"It''s my personal problem, why do you care?"
"Personal problem, are you a girl? Are you having your periods?" Han sneered, making Frederick choke.
"Shut up."
"You won''t understand even if I say this. It''s about friends."
"Friends, huh?.. Then it''s about the mess in the tournament," Han took a sip while pondering over the recent things and asked,"So, you are troubled with Lucas putting his shit on you.''''
"You can say so." Frederick said indifferently, taking a sip and trying to shake his worry.
"I don''t think there''s anything wrong with that. I would have also done the same if I were in his position as per the circumstances. If you have the power to save but still hold back when your friend''s life is in danger, one is bound to be dissatisfied."
"But-"
"I am not saying what he did was the right thing." Han cut Frederick with amanding tone.
"In every situation, there are many usible ways but it''s difficult to choose a perfect solution. You might be right in yours but that doesn''t mean he isn''t. Moreover, you don''t have the right to use him as he acted and saved you all in exchange for god knows what kind of bacsh he might have suffered."
"An angel or monster descending into a mortal body is never a pleasant experience, nobody would want to be their vessel."
Frederick put down his cup and took a deep breath.
"Even though I don''t want to me him, there is a knot in my heart because I feel that we are still close yet so far."
"That''s because some of your secrets are exposed while you don''t know much about Lucas'', right?" Han spoke scartiscally taking a sip.
Frederick blinked his eyes and stared at Han with a profound look while contemting his life.
He had always been hailed as the brightest light while others basked in the shadow casted by his brilliance. Because of this, there had been much discontent and dissatisfaction among his peers. Though he had solved them, he didn''t know that feeling of being in the shadows.
However, after this tournament, he can feel it.
That feeling of getting overshadowed. If Lucas hadn''t acted, the thing with the Boss Monster might have gone worse.
He was also the one who noticed the ritual and abnormalities. In the end, it was also he who finished things and saved Julian.
He was also one to whom Luna had given a ring voluntarily which really made him feel ufortable as in the past, Luna didn''t even let anyone touch it.
While all this was happening, where the hell was he?
Standing at the back, watching while being in a dilemma whether to act or not to take the risk of exposing some of his secrets.
Looking at his brother''s back, Frederick felt a warm feeling.
Though he was a nuisance, he had always been there for him. Even when he was mocked during childhood, his brother never made things difficult for him.
Instead ofmanding servants to stop harassing him or support him from the front, his brother would put potions in his food and support him from the back wanting him to fight back and earn the respect of others with his effort creating a longsting effect.
"So, what do you think about friends? One who doesn''t have any secrets in between."
Han turns towards Frederick with a smile.
"Everyone has some secrets. Even your lover or wife or even your parents might have some secrets. As long as the secret doesn''t impact one''s rtionship or something that had a major effect on one''s life, there is no problem in having a secret."
"And about being a friend, it''s simply a person whom you can trust with all your heart. One whom you have faith in the situation of deepest despair and can partake in your joys and fortune."
"So, the question is how much do you trust your friend?" Han cast a provocative smile.
Frederick didn''t reply but the knot in his heart finally started to unwind.
''Trust....huh....It seems, I had never trusted others enough and had been covered by my vain sense of pride.''
"It seems, you got the answer." Han stood up facing the beautiful sunset and spoke with a reminiscent expression.
"Talk with him and sort out your feelings. Don''t miss this opportunity for self-realization cause once you lose this opportunity and don''t sort out things, you might regret it for the rest of your life cause this cruel world won''t give you a chance to make up for your regrets."
Two days went by in the blink of an eye.
While most of the students were rxing and calming themselves from the horrific incident, in the Vice President''s Suite of the Student Council a deep solemn atmosphere prevailed making the people attending it shiver in fright.
A man with a heavy expression rotated the paperweight over the table, staring at people in front of him solemnly.
The temperature of the room seemed to be rising to the point that everyone who stood before them started to sweat profusely and felt difficult to breathe.
All of them bowed their heads, unable to meet the sharpened gaze of a young man spewing mes at them from his eyes.
"Hmmm!"
"So, you are saying that even though you monitored him for so long, he hadn''t stepped out of his room since he entered."
"...."
Not getting any reply, a deep sigh escaped from his lips.
A brief silence lingered that was broken by a loud angry roar.
"Now, what kind of fucking bullshit is this?"
Chapter 231 231:Suprise
Chapter 231 231:Suprise
Apanied by the deafening roar, a wave of hot mana struck everyone making them flinch back in fear.
Seeing the situation getting out of hand, everyone tried to calm the tense situation.
"Sir, Issac, calm down."
"Please calm down, Sir."
"Anger isn''t good for your health."
Issac, who was handling all the responsibilities in the absence of the President, screamed at the people who bowed their heads.
The people standing before him were Professors and Instructors under his wing. All of them had a great influence over the Horizon and came from significant well-defined backgrounds.
All of them were already Issac''s men and followed his order resolutely without disobeying because of the authority Issac had outside the campus.
"Sir Issac, it may be because Lucas is seriously injured and may have fallen unconscious. We also tried to look for him but Harris intercepted us."
They have been monitoring the room trying to find an opportunity to salvage his situation but it was of no avail.
Issac''s expression was distorted, remembering that red-haired guy with an unusual aura.
''That fucker...I have never liked him from the beginning. He always stays aloof so why the hell is he actively taking part in all these things now?''
"Are rumours about that dog being epted as Harris'' personal disciple true?"
"Nothing is certain, Sir."
BOOM!
The paperweight stone rotating under Issac''s hands suddenly shattered into pieces and a fiery aura erupted assaulting everyone.
"You aren''t sure if he is in his room. You aren''t sure whether he is Harris'' disciple, you can''t even bring his background data and find his parents so what the hell do you know?!" Issac roared, getting up on his feet and pointing at a group of sullen men.
"You don''t know anything so what is the use in keeping you and giving you benefit? If you can''t even do the simple job of handling a mere filthymoner then what you will do when I ask you to deal with someone powerful."
"All you know is eat, sleep and spend moneyvishly."
"Use...Useless...each one of you is a useless piece of shit. All of you are trash."
Issac''s white face became red as he kept on cursing.
The academy granted leave for everyone after the terrible incident so most of the people left and even if some had their homes far away, at least they had gone out to get some fresh air.
Issac instead of visiting White Castle in the Capital, stayed here preparing to deal with that bastard in case he stepped out; however, that bastard seemed to be holed inside his room.
Since he can''t deal with that bastard, he decides to deal with his family but it led to a dead end. He wasn''t able to find his family as per the national data.
"I will give you a chance. Do any of you have a way to deal with him or any information that can be useful?"Issac asked sternly.
Beads of sweat formed over the group of professors.
Today, all of them were terrified to the core.
Because they have never seen Issac getting angry like this. He was shrewd and insidious and always kept his emotions in check but something happened in the tournament that infuriated him extremely.
As everyone shrank back in fear, at that time a Second Year Professor named Kelly walked forward.
"Sir Issac, there is a little news about that guy named Lucas. He seemed to be in cooperation with a Third Year student named Linda. She is an alchemist and from the information we have, she is working on multiple potions. Maybe she is trying to develop a potion of their own. However, I assure you that Lucas is cooperating with her as seen from his visits to her."
"Huh!"
Issac''s eyes shed with a cold glint.
"Tell me everything you know."
Kelly nodded and exined everything he knew about this.
"Hmm! I see. An indigenous potion that isn''t currently found in the market."
Issac sitting back in his seat, tapped the table a couple of times.
"Did she often use the Academy Laboratory?"
"No, she only uses it for testing." Kelly replied.
"Moreover, I have got some news that this potion will soon be sold in the market. Campaigns had already started and procurement of resources had already begun."
"Good work. It seems not everyone is ipetent." Issac praised Kelly thinking that this guy could be used well.
With a little bit of information, he had already investigated in the background without him having to give others.
This is the type of person he needs.
After a brief moment, a yful smile emerged from Issac''s lips and his eyes shone with amusement.
"Even if she used it once, that''s enough."
"I have got an idea. You can retreat now."
"It might be troublesome to deal with inhuman means under Julian''s eyes but what about legal action? With Julian and Josh''s absence, who will support you?"
"I can''t kill you but that doesn''t mean I can''t bite a piece of your flesh."
Issac''s restless heart finally calmed down.
Seeing the disappearing back of the group, Issac stared at the ceiling with murderous eyes.
"Four more years..."
"That''s the amount of time you have mongrel."
"Once it''s over...."
"Hehe!"
.......
Unaware of the sinister n getting cooked around, Lucas after finishing his job falls asleep for three days inside James'' house.
After sleeping like a log for three days without any intervention, Lucas woke up with a slight ache due to staying in bed for a long time.
Fresh turbid air entered his system as he woke up. Yawningzily, he stretched his hands and rubbed his hazy eyes.
He felt as if he had woken up from a long peaceful slumber making him feel quite refreshed.
Except for slight aches, he was feeling as energetic as a horse.
The moment he opened his eyes, the virtual screen of the system appeared before his eyes with a series of text.
"So the maintenance is over, let''s see what changes it has undergone." Lucas crossed his fingers bracing for any bad news as he was informed by Future Lucas about imposing certain restrictions to save the power.
[System Maintenance has beenpleted.]
[New modifications have been implemented.]
[Congrattions, the host has gained new skills and previous skills have been upgraded.]
[The limit in the rank of your skills is removed, converting it to growth-type skills. Now each of your skills will be as strong as your corresponding rank and its rank will increase as you grow up in strength.]
[Fireball has evolved into Fire st.]
[Fire st: Allows the user to create a ball of fire with the size being ording to the user''s wish. The strength and destruction of the fireball cast depends on the amount of mana used by the user.]
[Ice Spikes had evolved into ciar Strikes]
[cier Spikes: Allows the user to create ice spikes from his mana. The number of spikes depends on the user''s mana. The user can manipte the shape of the ice spikes by spending his mana.]
[Shadow steps have became growth skills and its rank would be synonymous to your realm.]
[You have gained Pseudo Ice Maniption.]
[Pseudo Ice Maniption: You can now summon objects of ice of desirable shape and size ording to your wish and will.
Note: You can''t manipte the preformed objects and once shot, you can''t change their trajectory or speed.]
"Woah! Awesome!'''' Lucas screamed in joy and was taken by surprise as he scrolled down.
"There are more."
[You have gained the skill Lightning Eruption.]
[Lightning Eruption: This allows the user to st his opponents with lightning strikes. At a higher level, the user can summon lightning from the sky and can strike the opponent using the lightning borrowed from a thunderstorm.]
[You have gained the skill Insight.]
[Insight: Allows you to observe a person''s identity and stats.]
[Due to excess expenditure of the System''s Divine energy, the skills tabs would close until the system detects you''re fit for a certain skill.]
[The items tab would be restricted.]
[Note:Don''t worry host, you can still buy the previous things shown in the shop under the items tab. New items wouldn''t be added until the system recovers its energy.]
[Dimensional ne is unlocked.]
[Dimensional ne: A space that exists as an independent realm in the system. Unlike other dimensional spaces living beings can enter and exit from here. It exists in another ne and its size increases as the user rank increases.]
[The user can store living objects after reaching 6-Star.]
Lucas'' whole body froze with drops of sweat forming over his head.
Raising his hand he pinch himself.
"This is real...For real."
"What the fuck?"
Lucas jumped off his bed with joy but soon cold water poured over him.
[A total of 2,300,000 experience points had been deducted from the stored exp.]
"Fuck!" Lucas cursed seeing 2.3 million experience points.
He had saved around 1 million exp and decided to wait to make it reach 2 million and buy a diamond bloodline potion.
With the kills in the tournament, arge number of exp had been umted but the system decided to gobble it up.
Caressing his wounded soul, Lucas suppressed the pain and decided to focus on the benefits to soothe his pain.
"It''s okay. It doesn''t matter."
"A whole Dimensional ne that allows me to store living things which also grows in size."
"Doesn''t that mean that if I can tame monsters and beasts, then I can stuff them there?"
Tamers can only tame monsters but if you are a Summoner along with a Tamer you can summon a huge horde of monsters but still, the mana restricts you from summoning.
Higher realm monsters would consume higher mana and it''s not possible to summon a horde of high-level monsters.
But with this, he doesn''t even need to waste mana to summon.
"Let''s observe this ce first."
From the information he had received, his consciousness could move into the Dimensional ne and in the future he might be able to move his whole body into the ne and use this ce to hide or recuperate.
Swoosh!
Soon his vision distorted, and he appeared in a nk ce devoid of light.
"This looks creepy. Could I light it up?"
The moment his words fell, the entire world lit up.
"Hmmm! Perhaps, I can change this ce with my thoughts."
Lucas closed his eyes, pondering for a moment.
Soon, a bluish oceanic sky appeared above him and green grass beneath his feet.
All of this was a spiritual manifestation of his thoughts. He can create flowers and nts but they are just like a virtual representation.
Upon walking around and observing, Lucas made a rough guess of the amount of space which amounted to 500 sq ft.
Inspecting it to his satisfaction, Lucas exited the space.
On emerging out from the space, a sinister smile formed over his lips.
"I didn''t want to take a risk and take part in that suicidal event but now not only can I screw Omen once again, I can also get that artifact to control the monsters and beasts."
"Keke! Things are getting interesting."
As Lucas turned his head, his face was reflected in the mirror.
Witnessing a creepy smile that looked like that of a madman gave him goosebumps.
"Holyshit! I have been influenced by Future Lucas."
Chapter 232 232:Lets Get Down To Business
Chapter 232 232:Lets Get Down To Business
Calming his excited nerves, Lucas looked at the mirror and activated Insight.
Lucas was taken by surprise seeing his eyes glowing in the mirror.
His vision blurred and a series of text appeared over his vision.
===============
Name: Lucas Bright
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Golden
Realm: 4-Star-
Combat Ability: D+
Strength: 4-Star
Agility: 4-Star+
Stamina: 4-Star+
Perception: 4-Star
Magic Power: 4-Star-
===============
"I broke through? When?" Lucas then rubbed his hair with a confused expression.
"It feels like Christmas with good news popping out here and there."
Lucas took a moment to analyse his stats and then opening the system screen, put his stat points into Magic Power and Strength.
As he closed the system interface, he noticed his golden eyes glowing.
"Will my eyes glow every time, I use keen sight? Isn''t it troublesome?" Lucas clicked his tongue.
Fortunately, he had golden pupils which shone most of the time.
"If I don''t cover it, I might be in trouble. Who knows if people start calling me a pervert? I need to use my aura to hide this."
Thinking for a moment, Lucas took a breath and after freshening up, dressed himself, and walked down calling Jay and James.
"Big Brother, what is it?" Jay jumped with anticipation.
"What kind of shit are you nning now?" James grumbled with a sullen expression.
Lucas just stood on his spot and nced at Jay and James.
===============
Name: Jay
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Golden
Realm: None
Combat Ability: None
Strength: < 1-Star
Agility:< 1-Star
Stamina:<1-Star
Perception: <1-Star.
Magic Power: None
Name: James Gosling
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Bronze
Realm: 1-Star+
Combat Ability: <1-Star
Strength: <1-Star
Agility: <1-Star
Stamina: <<1-Star
Perception: <1-Star.
Magic Power: None
===============
''Fuck!''
Lucas'' eyes twitched seeing James'' stats.
''Oh my God, this guy''s strength and agility have degraded. To such an extent. And his stamina is even less than that of amon man.''
Seeing this, Lucas remembered mocking James that he couldn''t find a girlfriend because he couldn''t evenst for few seconds.
James was at the peak of 1-Star but due to years ofzing and working by staying at a ce, his stamina had fallen below early 1-Star. Almost equal to Jay who hadn''t even awakened.
''Wouldn''t he die early due to such an unhealthy lifestyle, I can''t let this happen, he still has ample things to fork out from his brain.''
Facing Lucas'' scrutinizing gaze James'' whole body shivered in fright.
"What are you cooking now?" James asked, taking a few steps back.
"Hey, stop gawking at us."
Cough.....
"I just want you to apany me."
"To where?"
James and Jay asked at the same time.
Lucas walked past them with a smile.
"To Skies."
"It had been a long time since I met them."
....
Two hourster...
"Oh my sweet cutie Lucas, you have grown so much. Big Sis is so proud of you."
The moment Lucas arrived at Skies Morgana pulled Lucas into her arms and started stretching his cheek.
"Wow! Your muscles have developed quite well. It seems the fruits are quite ripe." Morgana spoke mischievously while licking her lips.
Lucas almost wanted to retort back wanting to say why don''t we try but he gave up at the end.
"Big Sis Morgana, can you stop teasing me like this? Aaron''s heart might be broken."
"Hmmm! Don''t talk about this bald brown donkey who knows nothing about romance. You are much better than him." Morgana snorted.
Pfft!
Aaron who was taking a sip of coffee spurted it out giving Lucas a bewildered look.
''Fuck, Lucas why are you pulling me into seizing fire?''
Morgana who was checking over on Lucas turned to Jay startling him.
"Oh my cutie pie, you are still here. Come and hug this beautiful Sister."
"Brother Lucas, save me." Jay ran towards Lucas to use him as a shield but Lucas jumped aside betraying Jay''s hope.
After molesting Lucas, she jumped over Jay and started molesting him who tried to get out of Morgana''s ws however failing miserably he could only allow his cheeks to be pulled by Morgana''s pincers.
"Hmmmmm!"
The joyful atmosphere was interrupted by a grumbling cough.
"Tsk! Do you have a problem seeing others happy?"
Aaron nced at Morgana from the side who took away Jay and left the room.
The entire atmosphere became solemn.
Lucas stared at the rotten expression of Reynold spewing mes at Lucas.
Reynold put down his specks which showed his hollow sunken eye and along with his haggard ck hair, it made him look like a guy suffering from malnutrition.
"Let''s get down to business."Lucas muttered.
"So, you finally remembered that you have a business group to attend and you are the Boss of the group."
"Hey, don''t be harsh. He had things to do in the Academy." Aaron pleaded for Lucas'' sake while signalling Lucas to keep quiet and that he would handle this matter.
Lucas under Reynold''s gaze, took a seat and shrugged his shoulders.
"It''s not as if I am free like you. I need to work to get stronger, unlike certain someone." Lucas chuckled.
Reynold stared at Lucas sharply trying to intimidate him but found that unlike before where Lucas would flinch back, this time Lucas was staring straight into his eyes with a heart-chilling smile that frightened him.
"You have surely grown up." Reynold raised his brows.
"Still, I fall short whenpared to you, Reynold.You really hide yourself too deeply." Lucas rebuked Reynold, making him frown.
At that time, Lucas used his Insight skills.
===============
Name: Reynolds
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade:None
Realm: None
Combat Ability: D
Strength: 4-Star-
Agility: 3-Star-
Stamina: 4-Star
Perception: 4-Star
Magic Power: None
===============
Though Lucas still maintained the smile, he was shocked inside.
''What the hell is this?''
Many question marks appeared over his forehead seeing Reynold who he thought to be a normal man turn out to be a 4-Star warrior but what startled him the most was the absence of magical power which meant that Reynolds couldn''t use mana.
Due to the absence of mana, unless Reynold fights it is difficult to know his strength.
''This is fucking absurd. Is he a mutant or an experimented human who ran away from ab?''
Though Lucas wanted to ask about this, he refrained from doing so now in order not to touch Reynold''s sore spot.
Aaron who stood at the side saw the tension rising to the point where he could see invisible sparks flickering in the air.
"Both of you calm down. Why do you two always quarrel when you meet?"
Reynold and Lucas stared at Aaron for a moment intensely making him panic.
"I need to do this so that he can develop some sense of what he is dealing with. He can''t use the excuse of being too young or being in an academy to avert his work. In history, some Kings had to govern the state at the age of 12 or 13." Reynold answered sharply.
"Brother Aaron, it''s a test by Reynold to know how much I have grown in terms of charisma. There is nothing serious." Lucas answered while observing Aaron with Insight.
===============
Name: Aaron Befort
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Silver
Realm: 6-Star+
Combat Ability: B
Strength: 7-Star-
Agility: 5-Star-
Stamina: 6-Star+
Perception: 6-Star-
Magic Power: 6-Star-
===============
Lucas'' eyes brightened noticing Aaron''s stat.
Even with the silver bloodline reaching the peak of 6-Star and on the verge of breaking through to 7-Star was a testament to the amount of effort Aaron had put in and the arduous journey he ventured.
If not for the Silver bloodline, Aaron might have already reached 7-Star.
Seeing those stats, Lucas'' mind started running formting a new n.
Lucas then spoke with a sigh,"Can we begin?"
"Yeah, take a look at this." Reynold pulled out a folder and handed it to Lucas who started to read it carefully.
A brief silence lingered for a moment as Lucas went through the document carefully observing each page with utmost concentration.
After 10 minutes Lucas sessfully skimmed through the pages.
"1-Star at 2k, 2-Star at 5k, 3-Star 20k, 4-Star at 50k.The price is goodpared to the 4-Star metallic armour sold at 500k. Just do one thing, cut one 1R from each and make the price end at 9 like 1999, 4999 etc."
"Hmmm! That''s a good choice." Reynold nodded with satisfaction as he knew that this price had a psychological effect.
"So, at present, we have managed to open 14 shops out of which 4 are in the capital."
Putting it down, Lucas asked,"Do you think it''s enough?"
"More than enough for now." Reynold answered and started to exin,"First thing, we need to see people''s reactions to it and since we are a bit short on budget and want to avert nobles'' attention during the first few months, we hadn''t advertised it over TV or made ads."
"We have opened our store across 5 territories including Capital Ivane, along with Frost and Warren territory. Though we aren''t going to face any resistance, the other greedy nobles on hearing this wouldn''t let this matter go easily. Hungry hyenas are more difficult to deal with." Lucas briefed.
"I agree. Now, moving on to the next thing. Thepany would be operating under the name Salus. Skies would have 10% of the share with Reynolds acting as the CEO and Brother Aaron as the president. Skies will be responsible for handling security and procuring staff."
Lucas, who still had 70% of Salus''s share, didn''t think 10% was much and with a Mana contract in y, all of them are already in his hands.
Reynold and Aaron had invested in this which saved him around a few millions as buyingnd and building stores in Capital costs a lot.
There is also a use in which the moment they n to harm him, they will suffer retribution.
Simrly, Lucas couldn''t do anything to harm them.
Aaron on hearing about being the President gave a wry smile.
"You two put me into that position to act as your dummy."
"The other branch is God''s Elixir which is responsible for potions at a price 20% lower than the market." Lucas tapped his finger pondering for a moment.
Unlike Salus, which can easily attract people due to its low-efficiency price, God''s Elixir needed something to bolster its sales.
God''s Elixir''s main selling point is the Calming potion made by Linda along with the degraded version of Super Sensory Potions which was bound to be a hot sale.
Moreover, the potions from the system had 100% puritypared to the market where the top alchemists can refine potions with up to 70% efficiency. For now, Linda is at 55% but she will be better.
Creating a potion of higher efficiency might be a problem but lowering it isn''t.
"We need a boost in this department. I have got treasure during my visit to Church.'''' Lucas with a sinister smile took out 5 potions.
"These 5 Intermediate Healing Potions have 75-80/% efficiency. Sell it in an auction house for us to gain momentum."
"What?''''
Reynolds and Aaron jumped out of their seats with a bbergasted look as Lucas'' words struck like thunder in their ears.
Chapter 233 233:Lets Get Down To Buisness[2]
Chapter 233 233:Let''s Get Down To Buisness[2]
"Did you get these potions from the Church?"Aaron asked in bewilderment.
"Yes, it was personally handed to me by Luna. I even had a photo." Lucas answered, trying to control his smile.
During the crisis of the church, when Luna got out of the chest, Lucas offered a potion to her to which she refused but with the camera fit in his button recording it, he can just edit the picture a bit with Luna and use it as a proof if he got asked by the auction house.
Seeing their surprised look, Lucas started to exin.
Moreover, Luna had the power to increase a potion''s efficiency.
During the connotations phase of the potion, the effects of the material are either wasted due to the refinement or its full medicinal value being exerted.
Connotation technique, fire temperature and refinement process had been improved over the generations but it still fell short.
Luna can use her blessing power to stimte the ingredients during the process to release all their medicinal effects.
"It feels like a dream." Aaron rubbed his bald head while Reynold nced at Lucas with an inexplicable gaze and asked.
"Why do I feel that you had a personal beef with the Saintess?"
"There is none. She is just like a Senior sister to me." Lucas shrugged his shoulders thinking that he might be going overboard.
"Okay, let''s cut to the chase. Since we still haven''t formed an alchemist team we will limit the sales of the potions. First, let''s get rid of the current batch and then hire a team."
Lucas remembered a few names who were going to be part of Linda''s workshop in the future.
''I have to handle things for her until she graduates. Since she will be working for me, I can at least set the stage for her.''
"I will give you a list of people. Ask Scotch to look for them and hire them. They are trustworthy as long as you can make them sign a contract and help them out of their misery. Also, ask Scotch to create a website for Salus and God Elixir." Lucas ordered.
"We''ll take care of the hiring part as per the website, I have already asked him to do that and it''s already done." Reynold replied and as he was about to speak further, his phone rang.
"I need to go now. I think we discussed everything we needed to."
"Hmm!"
Aaron sighed in relief and wiped his sweat.
''Thank God, it''s over. I thought my mind would be fried if they kept on talking business. I am ayman for god''s sake.''
After Reynold moved out to attend the call, Lucas stretched his back a little and then stared at Aaron sternly.
"Huh!" Aaron caressed his face.
"Is there something on my face?"
Lucas shook his head while taking out two cards.
"Brother Aaron, I am entrusting you to do something important." Lucas ced two cards on the table.
Aaron stared at a ck bank card and another white card of national identity.
"This card contains a million and this is an identity. I want you to register it for a mercenary group."
Question marks appeared over Aaron''s head wondering what was going on.
"You n to create your mercenary group. Do you want to move out of Skies now?"
"Yes and No."Lucas folded his legs and tapped on the table.
Aaron squinted his eyes seeing an aura of nobility around Lucas like that of noble heirs.
''He...He had grown a lot. Previously, he looked quite frail and like someone who needed other''s protection but now he can bepared to other geniuses both in aura and strength.''
Aaron didn''t know why but he felt proud in his heart.
"Brother Aaron, you should know what kind of mess happened in the Tournament. In a way, I was in the centre of the storm which is going to greatly restrict my freedom in the future so I wanted to create a diversion."
Aaron rubbed his chin with a faint realization.
"You want to disguise yourself. So, that''s why you bought so many masks."
"Yeah, and secondly I want to hire you in my team."
"You want to hire me huh? But that''s not gonna be cheap." Aaron gave me Lucas a yful smile.
"Don''t worry. I will pay you well."Lucas pointed at the ck card.
"So, what''s the job?"Aaron asked seriously.
As much as he knew Lucas, he was sure that he was cooking something that might be dangerous.
Lucas unfolded his legs and bent a bit.
"Northeast. The mission will be in the Northeast in Winter. I have got some inside information, something crucial is gonna happen there. If possible we can also take Sister Morgana but all of us must be in disguise."
Aaron asked Lucas for more information but Lucas just shook his head refusing to reveal anything.
Discussing a few important things, Lucas got up to leave.
"Oh! I forgot about one thing. Brother Aaron, I want you to start training Jay to awaken. I don''t want him to waste any more time so please guide him. Also, strengthen James if possible."
"Just leave that to me. I am gonna grow him into a fine ass man. And as per James, leave him to me!" Aaron shouted resolutely beating his chest which instead of assuring Lucas made him worry so for further assurance, Lucas also asked Morgana to supervise them.
Lucas after winding things on his end, finally returned to Horizon through the forest path.
At the back gate, with Scotch''s help, Lucas moved the camera focus away from him and entered safely.
Passing through the garden, he was about to go back to his dorm when he saw the sad lonely deste back of a person that had gone through countless sorrows.
The image of the person sighing again and again startled him.
"Isn''t that Axel? Why does he look so sad?"
Lucas was startled by the sight because Axel was simr to a block of wood and generally didn''t show much emotions.
Lucas had hardly seen him angry, sad orugh. His expression had always been nk.
On walking closer, Lucas activated [Insight].
===============
Name:Axel Steel.
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Golden
Realm: 3-Star
Combat Ability: E+
Strength: 4-Star-
Agility: 3-Star-
Stamina: 4-Star-
Perception: 3-Star
Magic Power: 3-Star-
===============
"So, Axel had a golden bloodline. I thought he had tinum."
Except for students with Diamond or tinum bloodlines who are very much highlighted, other bloodlines were rarely talked about.
There is a school form with the data and rank of students but with so many students, one would hardly take the pain of looking at superficial data which had been way outdated.
"Moreover his strength and stamina is quite high. If he works on his speed a bit, bringing it closer to his strength, he would be more terrifying."
ording to Harris, the disparity between strength and agility shouldn''t be too much otherwise the body bnce would be messed up.
"I should take a look. Maybe, I can rope him into my squad, who knows?''''
Taking a moment to decide, Lucas finally made his decision, and walked towards Axel.
......
"Hush!"
Staring at the vast starry sky, Axel sighed heavily.
His shoulders were dropped and a dark gloomy aura surrounded his visage.
He didn''t know how many times he had sighed in the span of a few moments.
"Life is not a bed of roses. Is this what depression feels like?"
At that time, Axel felt a tight hold on his shoulder de that startled him for a moment
On turning his head, he saw a pair of golden eyes staring at him with curiosity.
Though shocked for a moment, Axelposed himself and his expression turned normal with the sad gloomy face turning nk as fast as lightning.
However, this subtle change in his expression didn''t go unnoticed in Lucas'' eyes.
"Axel, why are you so sad?'''' Lucas said overbearingly.
"S...Sad?...I am not sad. I was just enjoying the peaceful time here." Axel''s voice stuttered.
Lucas raised his brows, sat across Axel on the bench and looked across the beautiful orchids with leaves scattering around creating a beautiful sight of autumn.
"I don''t know what is going on but sad and difficult times are just like the withered leaves of trees. The old leaves give way for new ones to sprout in full glory. Like them, once we pass through this difficult phase, what awaits us is a future of our glory."
It may sound like bullshit but Lucas always holds this firm belief.
He knew whaty in front of him was a huge ocean of suffering and a future filled with chaos and war but whaty after that was eternal peace.
A ce that he dreams to make a reality.
Axel''s eyes trembled a bit for a moment and he sighed deeply with mncholy.
"You surprised me today. I never thought Axel, the block of steel that was said to have low EQ, showed this expression. If others see you now, they would be startled as well." Lucas chuckled.
"You don''t have to hit my weak spot. I know people think I have a low IQ and EQ. I might be a little bit slow to catch things but in the end, I am also a human after all." Axel answered bluntly, shedding the pretense.
Lucas nced at Axel''s stern look and fell into deep thought.
Axel wasn''t a major side character. His presence can be said to be only to bring someedic scenes in the y.
Just like others, there were not many background details about him and the only memorable scene about him was during the war, where he fought against many demons to stop them from crossing the border alone and probably died.
Lucas used the word probably because his death wasn''t mentioned so who knows if he survived and yed a critical roleter.
"So, have you been pretending to be a muscle headed fool?"
Axel''s lips twitched.
"I never pretended to be a fool. I just try to mask my expression to show that my worries don''t show up on my face. Since many had gone home I thought no one was going toe to the garden but who knew you were still here." Axel rubbed his forehead.
"Most of themoners'' homes are quite far away. We can''t leave ande back during this 5-day holiday, can we?" Lucas spoke and asked further.
"So, Axel, what is the thing troubling you? Is it the tournament or something else? And why haven''t you gone home?"
"Tournament is one of the reasons." Axel answered and then ncing at Lucas, he gave a bitter smile.
"However, the main problem lies with my family. I don''t think I have something to call home to enjoy as it seems my family is soon gonna fall apart."
Chapter 234 234:Axel’s Trouble
Chapter 234 Chapter 234:Axel''s Trouble
No one wants to expose the ugliness inside one''s home to the outside. However, with the way things were happening, Axel knew that the once mighty Steele Family was on the verge of bing a fallen noble.
Very soon, all of the ugliness of his home would be broadcasted throughout the world bringing countless mockeries and gossip.
So, at this point, it didn''t matter as everyone was going to know about it so speaking inside his heart might lighten his heart.
Coincidentally, Lucas was the perfect guy to talk with. Though like others, Lucas often makes fun of him as a dumbhead; he treats him quite well and even values his opinion.
ncing with bewildered expressions, Axel started to narrate the events slowly.
"I had a brother."
This simple sentence was enough for Lucas to understand the underlying meaning.
"My father is like a scumbag and my mother was helpless in this matter."
"Like others, our family bloodline is starting to degrade. After giving birth to me, she gave birth to my brother who had a tinum bloodline."
"It was a joyous event, however, sadly he died a few days after his birth." Axel intertwined his fingers tightly and shuddered when he remembered that day.
"The reason?" Lucas asked curiously.
""It was an illness with blocked arteries," is what they said to me but there was also some kind of gic defects aside from that. After that, my mother was unable to give birth anymore for some reason. So, my father used this chance to go y around."
"Are there no elders in your family or from your mother''s side?" Lucas asked.
"There are but they couldn''t stop him because of his pursuit to give birth to someone of a higher bloodline. However, my mother knew this was just a lie as my father often found women who might be beautiful but either had low bloodline or no bloodline."
"My father dumped all the work on my mother''s head and due to the immense workload my mother started to copse. While my mother was working day and night, my father was enjoying himself endlessly and soon started bringing girls to the house one after another."
At that time, Lucas saw a cold glint shing in Axel''s eyes. The anger and murderous intent of those eyes made his back drenched in sweat.
"Did he have more children?" Lucas asked.
"Not that I am aware of."
Lucas gulped his saliva and was about to say that your father might be infertile but managed to stop himself at the end lest he may start a war.
Axel, unable to perceive a change in Lucas'' expression, spoke again.
"Finally, my mother copsed and she became mentally sick and med me that it was because of me being a failure that my father didn''t love her anymore. Slowly, she started developing hate for me."
"Axel, did your mother treat you well before?" Lucas asked cautiously.
"Yes, my mother was quite a lovelydy with a cheerful personality but started turning into a vindictive and depressed person after my father cheated on her. Every time she sees me, she thinks that I am a beast just like father whom she hates to the core."
"And it all started with an argument where my father hit my mother and said that he is doing all of this because I am a failure, unable to do anything. And this tournament broke thest straw. He had given me an ultimatum to be in the top 10 but with all the shit happening, do you think I can be in the top 10."
Lucas kept his mouth shut for a moment.
"To make it worse, with my mother bing ill and hating the family, and father whoring around, the business on our side started going into loss and we might be dered bankrupt. Soon, very soon our Noble family is going to copse and as you know all those debts and shit will be piled on me."
Lucas didn''t expect things to be so troublesome. Though he didn''t know about internal matters, he knew that Steel was a mighty noble family and their fall created some chaos.
"I don''t know what to do. It hadn''t even been a year since I stayed away from home and this happened. That is the reason I pretend to be a fool because by doing this people wouldn''te close to me and I don''t have to think of ways to conceal the trouble in my family in case they visit or inquire about it."
"I see." Lucas mumbled softly.
Nobles at the upper level, don''t miss the opportunity to make connections. If Axel mingles well with others, their families wouldn''t leave this chance to connect with Steel. And once they learn of the trouble brewing in the Steel family, they would leave no chance and swallow the Steels but in the worst case, many might have already known this and started to act.
The Steele family isn''t an aristocrat with a business background rather they have a strong power of soldiers but Axel''s father was pathetic and weak and was at 6-Star.
Instead of focusing on developing soldiers, he wanted to flourish his business which led to its weakening.
The book only mentioned this much but who knew deep inside it was such a mess?
"Do you still have feelings for your father?"
"No, I don''t give a shit about him. If he wasn''t my father, I would have wanted to beat him into a pulp." Axel spoke angrily.
Lucas raised his head and patted Axel''s shoulder.
"That simplifies things to a certain degree."
"Huh?" Axel''s brows creased.
"Is your mother''s family strong and is their rtionship good?"Lucas asked, patting him.
"My mother''s family are Viscount and their rtionship isn''t that good. My grandfather and mother objected to the marriage but my mother being a lovesick escaped to marry my father. They persuaded herter toe back but my mother fell into the trap and broke their rtionship. Things have been estranged since then."
"That means they don''t know about her condition."
"In a way, yes! My mother mostly cooped up. up in a room with a trusted servant taking care of her. "Axel nodded.
Lucas massaged his forehead wondering if his suggestion will be too drastic.
"Do one thing. Meet your grandpa and ry everything and tell them how much your mother regrets it for not listening to her. The first thing is your mother needs treatment by a psychologist as soon as possible and since your father isn''t treating her that means he either doesn''t care or wants your mother to be sick so that he can drown in debauchery. There also may be chances that the woman your father hooked up with might have put drugs in your mother''s food and tried to harm her so that they can take her position."
Axel''s jaw dropped for a moment as he thought that this made sense.
Depression and physiological issues should be easier to treat at the beginning. Moreover, that greedy woman might do something like this.
"How did I not think this?"
''Because you are still naive.'' Lucas'' lips twitched.
Axel clenched his fist tightly.
"That scum..."
"And about your family going into debt. The best way is to take over the management since your father is useless and start selling some of the riches to pay it off but Axel you can''t dump school to inherit the family."
Axel''s eyes widened. He was also in a dilemma about this.
The people who are still loyal ask him to inherit the family as soon as possible so that Steel doesn''t get reduced to dust.
"Remember this Axel. The might of the family of Steel is the people, not the property or money. It''s you who symbolises Steel, not wealth. If you think you are confident enough to keep up with others after you jump out of the academy then there is no problem however if you fall behind in strength by tending time on business it will be a matter of time before Steel copses without a strong support."
"So, what should I do?" Axel asked helplessly.
"You can sell things to make up for the debt and wait to make future contributions in a war to raise the nobility or¡"
Lucas cast a yful smile that made Axel shudder.
"You need an expert Professional Financial Manager who handles the business well. And if your mother gets divorced and gets half of the property, much of your workload will be reduced."
"I will keep your suggestions in mind. I need to discuss with the others and my grandparents a bit to see if they are willing to help." Axel then stood up and bowed his head.
"Thanks, Lucas. Though I don''t know if your suggestion will help, it will help to lighten my heart."
"No worries." Lucas then pulled out a card and ced it in Axel''s palms.
"If you want to help, just join this group."
Axel took a card that had the name Salus on it.
"If you want an Expert Financial Manager, this guy might be the one." Lucas pointed at Reynold''s name with a faint expectation as to who knows if he can get a piece of pie from the Steels.
"I will keep that in mind." Axel took the card but halted in his steps confusing Lucas.
"I remembered something. Lucas, do you know about Roan''s situation?"
The moment this question fell, Lucas'' heart jolted with a bad premonition.
"D¡Don''t tell me, his soul is also affected."
Chapter 235 235:Roans Agony
Chapter 235 235:Roan''s Agony
"Hey, don''t curse that poor guy. His condition isn''t that worse.'''' Axel spoke, trying to calm Lucas.
"Thank God!" Lucas heaved in relief but the next second, Axel''s words poured cold water on him again.
"I heard that his arm had been broken and he went to the infirmary but despite this, I saw his left arm wrapped in bandages and his condition looked worse. I tried to ask him about this but he ran away ignoring me."
A deep frown appeared across Lucas''s face.
"Is he being bullied?" Lucas asked.
"I asked around a bit but I am not sure," Axel answered hurriedly, feeling the temperature of the ce dropping by a few margins.
"I will take a look then. Thanks for informing me." Lucas patted Axel''s shoulder and walked away hurriedly looking for Roan.
''I hope the worst hasn''t happened.''
Lucas thought while calming himself.
¡......
Inside the room, Raon sat motionless with a depressed look staring at a torn shoe with moist eyes.
His body was battered and filled with bruises and he held his broken aching hand thinking about all the mess.
"I shouldn''t have be greedy."
"People like me who belong to the bottom of society shouldn''t dream too much."
Drops of tears leaked across his face as his father''s words echoed in his mind.
He thought that he would never be bullied again but his hope was crushed brutally.
The advice of his father started ringing in his head.
[Son, don''t let yourself get tricked by others and have grand ambitions. Everyone has a destiny and ours is to grovel at the bottom trying our hardest to lead a better life. Changing one''s destiny isn''t a matter of a few words but requires effort and sacrifices. When one gains one thing, one is bound to lose them. That''s why poormoners always try to live conservatively trying to protect what they have.]
[If possible, I don''t want you to go into a hell hole. But since you are so adamant and fixated about this, then go and witness the society with your own eyes.]
Roan closed his murky eyes and in the deep darkness, he reyed the events of the past.
His worldview shattered when the ce that he thought was the temple of learning was nothing but a ce like ouws.
But when he was saved from bullying and started living a worry-free life, he thought that he could ovee the walls with his effort.
Along with them, he would shine and make a name after all who in the world didn''t want to leave his or her name in history?
Though he behaved detached, inwardly he craved for respect, strength and power. Being with them, he always felt that he was dragging them down and that in the future, he might be everyone''s weak point.
.c¦Ïm So, he tried...he tried very hard.
He trained his body, he trained his mind. He did everything he could but his realm seemed to be struck and hit a wall, unable to break it down.
Still, he thought it was okay until they appeared.
Roan''s whole body quivered remembering their chilling gazes.
Roan after waking up, as soon as he stepped out of the infirmary was carried by three people. Without giving him any reason they started beating him and then broke his right arm and warned him that they would break it again if he dared to visit the infirmary to heal or use a healing potion.
At first, he didn''t take it to heart and looked for others but to his horror none of his friends were present.
It was for the second time, Roan had felt despair and nerve-wrecking fear. Concealing himself, he went inside the infirmary to get treated thinking that fate and those people wouldn''t be so cruel.
However, he was proved wrong again.
They found him and broke his healed hand again, stomping over it mercilessly.
He could still hear the curses ringing in his ears.
This incident made him aware once again of just how weak he is.
It was a reality check that made him understand that in the end, one needs to stand up for himself because you can''t hide under other shadows and expect to always be protected by them.
Roan slumped down and held his head.
"God, was it wrong to depend on others?"
"Should weaklings like us have no right to dream?!!" Roan shouted.
RING!RING!RING
BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!
Roan ignored the doorbell but at the next second the sound of the door getting smashed rang again.
Roan got up and saw a figure by opening the grills on stile, and closed it immediately.
"Lucas, can you give me some space? I need some peace."
"I can''t Roan. I heard something happened, are you okay?" Lucas asked anxiously from the other side.
A brief silence lingered for a moment.
"Roan!¡Roan!!¡"Lucas shouted on hearing no reply.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything''s fine, it''s just that I want some peace," Roan said, biting his lips.
"Just leave now, Lucas and I don''t want to stay in the group any more."
"What? Why?"Lucas asked in bewilderment.
Roan paused a bit remembering the bullies'' harsh words as they kicked him onto the floor.
[They can protect you now but what about in future? It''s not as if they are your nanny or security guard, hovering around 24 hours.]
[Stop dreaming. You can never fit among them. Did you think you could be carp leaping over Dragon Gate just by mingling with nobles who are at the top? Stop being a fool, you pathetic piece of shit. A loser will always be a loser.
"Everyone has crossed 3-Starwhile I am still stuck at early 2-Star. I am now feeling ashamed to stay in your group. I know I am dragging you all down, that''s why it''s enough now. I don''t want to be aburden on you. If this goes on I will be the team''s weak point just like the orphanage incident." Roan spoke as drops of tears slid down his cheek.
Lucas heard Roan''s outbreak and was now sure that the worst thing had happened. The bullies had affected his psychology and red his inferiorityplex.
"Roan. don''t be like that. You know that the reason all of them were able to advance so quickly was due to having a higher bloodline. If you had a higher bloodline, I am sure you could also break through to 3-Star by now." Lucas spoke trying tofort him but it backfired on him.
"Higher grade bloodline? Don''t you also have a bronze grade bloodline and you still managed to reach the 3-Star rank while I am stuck in 2-Star even though I had a silver rank bloodline." Roan spoke in a saddened voice.
Lucas frowned on hearing Roan''s words.
''Shit.'' Lucas cursed himself.
Though he was trying to calm Roan, he knew in the end it was a lie and only he knew how he was able to get here.
Everyone who managed to break through the wall despite having an inferior bloodline had something else topensate for that.
The famous mercenary who managed to go past the wall and reach 9-Star used an artefact to trade his lifespan to increase his potential
And, the real reason why Lucas can break through quickly on top of his hard work was because of upgrading his bloodline from bronze to golden grade bloodline so how can it be easy for Roan to catch up with them while he only had a Silver grade bloodline?
For a moment he was at a loss for words and felt as if his tongue had been tied. It was a situation where he didn''t know what to do.
"See, you also know the truth," Roan spoke sarcastically.
"That''s why you should stop giving me false hopes, Lucas."
"Roan, I never meant that?" Lucas spoke in an apologetic voice trying to hide his guilt.
"Leave it, Lucas, I know the truth. I can''t break through quickly and will soon reach my limit and can''t advance further," Roan spoke as he wiped his tears.
"Don''t lose hope, Roan. Let us think about something. There must be something that could help you." Lucas spoke, trying to calm down Roan.
"I am not losing hope, Lucas. It''s just, I am afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Lucas was unable to understand what was going on in Roan''s mind.
"I am afraid of being left alone. I am afraid of going back to my loser self when I was bullied. If our strength difference bes quite big, I know we will be separated from each other."
The more Roan spoke the more agitated he became. Thinking about the bleak future without his friends made him scared.
"I am afraid of being too dependent on you all to the point that I will lose the meaning of my existence. You might be here today but what about tomorrow and in the future? You can''t babysit me and protect me. Once you are absent, I will fall into that deep abyss from which I crawled.'''' Roan''s words choked at the end.
''Damn it!'' Lucas clenched his fist standing outside the door.
Lucas bit his lips, unable to refute a single word. Each word of Roan stabbed his heart as if ming him for pulling him here.
And there was no falsity because it was indeed he who intervened in Roan''s life and brought him to this stage instead of pushing him away when he had the chance.
"What''s worse than all of this is being with you all, I would taste the higher society, it would boost my ego. And once I am used to it, I might not be able to go back to my previous life even if I want and my greed along with hunger for power, I may take a wrong step losing myself entirely."
"Fuck!" Lucas cursed feeling that things might get out of hand if Roan kept on going like this. He needed to enter the room first to do anything as in a broken state like this people aren''t sane enough to listen to words and persuasion.
"ROAN!'''' Lucas roared, making Roan standing behind the door shudder.
"I will count to ten. If you don''t open the door within that time, I will blow this entire damn door. So first open it and then we''ll talk peacefully."
Chapter 236 236:Roans Agony[2]
Chapter 236 236:Roan''s Agony[2]
10¡9¡8..7..6..5¡4¡
Roan didn''t n to concede even though his heart started beating wildly but as soon as he peeked at Lucas outside, his scale became numb in fear.
3..2..1..
The moment the countdown became zero, Lucas pulled out a handful of bombs and was about to attach them to the walls when a sound echoed.
CLICK!
Lucas took a moment to take a deep breath and sort out his thoughts.
"Thank God, the threat worked." Lucas sighed in relief, putting away the bombs. He didn''t dare to blow up the¡.. maybe he would.
As the door was unlocked, Lucas walked in anxiously. The first thing he saw was Roan sitting near his table with his arm wrapped in bandages messely.
His eyes looked bleak which had lost their brightness and his face looked haggard.
"Roa..!'''' Lucas'' voice cracked a bit seeing him in such a dispirited state.
With a look, Lucas could already catch the trail of thoughts that might be ringing in Roan. He was in a state simr to Roan when he arrived in this world.
It''s just he had still hope and a system to back him up but the current Roan had lost all of his hope.
On walking closer, Lucas saw torn soles and a boot lying on the table.
It was the boot that increased the speed of one minor realm that he bought from the system. But since it had a limit, Lucas gave it to Roan along with that sh ring that blinds one''s vision.
Standing aside from Roan, Lucas put his palm on his shoulder.
"Roan, what happened? Who did this to you?"
"No one!" Roan answered sharply.
"It''s just my ipetence biting me in the back."
"Don''t say..."
"You don''t need to feed me false hopes, Lucas." Roan turned his head, giving Lucas a sharp look.
"I think I should ept the truth. I know you''re gonna say that same dialogue that if you can do it I can also do it but after all this mess, I had understood a simple truth." Roan paused a bit and looked up at the ceiling.
"In the end, I am not you, Lucas."
Lucas felt a chill as he sensed a deep sense of envy sprouting inside Roan''s heart.
''Damn, isn''t this where people''s viin phase began.''
"Just because you managed to get stronger with a bronze bloodline, I don''t think I can also do the same. Just like a winner, there is bound to be a loser. Sadly, I belong to the loser camp." Roan started tough thinking about his condition.
A deep silence lingered for a moment.
Roan snapped his neck towards Lucas.
"Let''s end it."
"What?"Lucas asked.
"Our friendship. There is no need for us to delve into this anymore and waste time."
Lucas'' body shivered as Roan''s words echoed in his ears like thunder.
"Roan, calm down."
"I am calm, Lucas. I feel I have never been this calm. I was stupid before to believe in false hope and live in a world of fabricated lies. You also know friendship lies in equalpanionship and once we step out into society, I am gonna fall apart so it''s better to end things now." Roan slumped on the chair.
"So, Lucas thanks for all the help but let''s end..."
Before Roan could finish his words, his eyes widened as he saw a fist smashing against his face.
BOOM!
With a deafening sound, Roan''s body flung down onto the ground.
As his vision cleared, he saw Lucas sitting over him giving him a vicious re.
"I had enough of your childish antics. What is this? A melodramatic monologue of an ass-kicked hero?"
"You think you are a kid who can throw a tantrum around." Lucas scoffed and punched Roan again.
He was not a psychologist who would go around giving counseling sessions. For people like Roan, it is better to beat them into pulp to put some sense into them.
"Just because you got beaten once, you think you can spout all that shit without knowing what we have gone through. Listen, Roan, the stronger you are, the stronger the danger you will face."
"Roan, thest thing I expect you to do is to make some bullshit excuses just because someone beat you and from your eyes, I am damned sure that you could blow up that bully but held back fearing that you might be expelled if you hurt him badly."
Hearing Lucas'' cold and angry voice, Roan started to panic.
All the bravado in his heart left seeing those lifeless scary gaze that looked like that of a merciless demon.
"Wait! Lucas...Lu-...I was wrong..."
"Stop..."
"Aagh!"
"Tell me who did this?" Lucas asked, pausing for a bit.
"That¡."
Seeing him hesitating, Lucas'' eyes turned cold and he punched him again.
"Who did this?"
Soon, cries of pleas echoed in the room as Lucas beat Roan and knocked him out.
"I think this much is enough."
"At least he coughed out the name before passing out," Lucas said, feeling that his approach was correct.
"I should have beaten him before so that he didn''t have time to think about all these stupid things."
He beat the shit out of him to make sure he wasn''t able to wake up during the process.
Lucas pulled Roan, wiped off the blood, threw him on the bathroom floor and then opened the system shop.
Staring at Roan, a faint smile formed over his lips.
"From now on, there will be no wall blocking you."
Pulling out a potion, he opened Roan''s lips and made a chug down into his mouth.
After a moment, Roan''s whole body twitched.
Roan''s lips opened wide but no words came out of his lips while blood started to ooze out from his body.
After being fed with things to keep him unconscious and hardcore, his body wasn''t in a state to wake up.
Soon ck slimy gooey substance emerged from Roan.
While the miraculous process was taking effort, Lucas walked towards the table and saw various parchments attached to the wall.
The moment his eyes fell on them his eyes widened.
[Shot eleration]
[Pration Enhancement.]
[Aiming Focus]
[Null Recoil]
Astonishment appeared over Lucas.
"This spell...These spells are specifically for firearms." Lucas murmured in disbelief.
"Did Roan develop all this?"
"Oh my God, it seems my choice was indeed correct."
"Damn Raon, you are awesome. You''ll surely became a menace in theFuture."
While Lucas was engrossed in studying the framework of the spells, the changes in Roan were already over.
Lucas helped Roan to clean up a bit and then carrying him, threw him on the bed.
Seeing him sleepingfortably, Lucas'' heart surged with an explicable expression.
"Sleep well."
"From now, you are reborn."
"After you wake up, I will make sure to squeeze out the value of my wasted experience. You better be worthwhile." Lucas snorted loudly, making the sleeping Roan shiver for some reason.
Lucas could feel Roan''s turbulent mana exuding from his body. Due to the potion, Roan had a significant breakthrough.
Nodding his head in satisfaction, Lucas walked out and his expression underwent a 180¡ã change, the moment he walked out of the Roan room.
The temperature of the corridor fell by a few margins as he passed by.
"You dare to touch my friend''s hands."
A strong murderous aura erupted from him dyeing the space around him in red.
"I will make sure you pay back well."
.............
On the roof of the 1st Year building, a trio stood near the edge, taking puffs of cigars and blowing fumes of smoke.
In the middle of the trio, stood a bulky man with tattoos engraved over his chest and arms.
"It''s been too boring these past days."
"Sir Floyd, didn''t you enjoy thrashing that bastard? I saw you pouring your heart into bullying him." One of his sidekicks asked, scratching his head.
Floyd turned his head towards the sidekick scaring him.
"What fun? That kind of person is a pathetic loser. We just hit him once and he was already on his knees. Such a weak ass man. I thought he had some courage or at least grown some balls after staying in the group where everyone is weary but he turned out to be a sore loser." Floyd answers, clicking his tongue.
However, his sidekicks knew that they were just a few inches away from getting their ass kicked.
During the beating, they saw the boy conjuring a spell but for some reason, he didn''t finish the spell. The spell was enough to knock them down and injure them badly however it failed atst.
Hearing no reply from the sidekick beside him, Floyd continued.
"At the very least, I thought he would go into the infirmary again for treatment but that coward is just cooped up inside." Floyd made a distorted expression, clearly pissed off for not being able to break that guy more.
He threw the remaining cigar and asked frustratingly.
"Hush! What''s going on around nowadays? I haven''t found a suitable prey to vent my frustration and the only one that I found gave in too easily."
"Seriously, is someone messing with me or did someone spread information about me making others avoid me?"
"Boss, you are just overthinking things. People are just busy due to the tournament to train and hone their skills so that they can do their best in the tournament. As you see, they are training around somewhere. Don''t worry boss. We will catch someone soon and have fun." The sidekick two muttered rubbing his palms excitedly.
"Hmm!" Floyd nodded his head but his expression changed in the middle as he realized something in between his sidekick''s words.
"Wait! What do you mean by they are busy? Are you indirectly saying that I didn''t prepare well for the tournament and waszing around while they were grinding their ass?" Floyd spoke angrily and then threw his fist to hit the sidekick two''s chin.
"Boss, I didn''t mean that."
BANG!
"Ouch!" He groaned in pain, holding his chin and stepped back in fear of angering his boss.
"Shut up! I know very well what you meant." Floyd sneered.
"You two, keep in mind that I am the boss."
The two sidekicks nodded their heads obediently.
Floyd, satisfied with their expression, walked towards the stairs, clicking his tongue.
Reaching the door, he rotated the knob and opened the steel door leading to the stairs.
"Juniors nowadays don''tst long."
As Floyd retracted his hand, a reddish line went past him.
The two sidekicks who were behind were suddenly taken back as a hand flew past them and blood sprayed on their faces drowning everything into the silence that was broken by the grievous screams of Floyd.
Chapter 237 237:One Word...Answer In One Word
Chapter 237 237:One Word...Answer In One Word
Before passing out, due to immense beating and the pummeling he got, Roan coughed out the perpetrator''s name which took Lucas by surprise.
For further confirmation, Lucas kept asking around near the infirmary to find the group of three.
It was none other than that fucker Floyd that made future Lucas'' life hell.
This time instead of him, it was Roan who was bullied which drew Lucas'' attention to the miraculous fate that always had a cause and effect.
A person who gained one thing that was not in his destiny was bound to lose another thing. It also made Lucas wonder whether he did the right thing by helping Roan as he didn''t want Roan''s future to get disarrayed and be filled with chaos.
However, all those were things to worry about in the future and he needed to focus now.
"Good way to fuck yourself. You had a few more days to live but you decided to shit yourself by provoking me. I didn''t look for you to settle the score but you eagerly offered yourself to me."
"Good¡Good. I will make sure to squeeze the interest out of his misery."
Lucas'' heart started burning with a burst of anger that almost made him lose his sense of reason. Since he had personally witnessed their brutal assault and torture, he knew these guys were no less than a beasts in human clothing.
RING!
[Lucas, just how many times are you gonna take over the Horizon server as if you own it? I might be one of the best hackers but I am definitely not the best. If we keep doing this, someone will surely notice and we may get in trouble one day and I will definitely not save your ass if they reach out to me.]
Lucas stared at Scotch''s grumbling message but he ignored it.
Inhaling deeply, he walked towards the roof of the 1st Year Academy Institution.
On reaching the door, he could hear the sound ofughter and mockery.
"Juniors of this year, don''tst long."
CLICK!
With a subtle clicking sound, the door opened.
It was then that Lucas pulled out his sword to deliver a lightning-fast sh.
A red line went past Floyd''s hands that was retracting back. Following the red line, the hand shot back spurted blood.
Things happened so fast, that it took the bewildered Floyd a moment to understand what was going on.
Snapping his head, he saw his right arm missing and he opened his lips to scream but a figure shed before him and a strong pain coursed through his body jolting his mind.
BOOM!
Appearing right before him, Lucas punched Floyd''s huge body that shot back mming against the two sidekicks behind.
"Aaghhhhh!"
"Ughhhhhh!"
"Argh!''''
"Bastard, how dare you do this? Don''t you know the repercussions of doing this in the Academy''s premise?" Floyd clutched his missing arm and roared angrily.
"You got some nice voiceds but we can''t let others hear it, can we?" With a smile, Lucas pulled out a piece of paper engraved with magic runes and tore it off.
It was a magic silencer barrier developed by Roan that created a noise-blocking barrier.
A gleam epassed the ce and soon mana around the ce enveloped creating a barrier to stop the sound from passing out.
Walking out, Lucas closed the door and stared at the three with a surge of emotions.
Floyd rolled around shrieking like a mad beast.
"Who the fuck are you?" One of them screamed and raised his fist to attack.
"Useless." Lucas tilted his body a bit to dodge and pped.
SLAP!
A loud crackling sound echoed following which two pieces of teeth shot out from his jaws.
"I got you."
Another one came from behind Lucas and extended his huge arms to grapple him but as he closed his arms, he only held a handful of air.
"What....?"
BOOM!
A huge hammer mmed his head knocking him down.
BANG!
Knocking the two, with the huge hammer over his shoulder, Lucas walked towards Floyd with a menacing smile.
Floyd''s whole body trembled as a huge shadow cast over his body frightening him.
"Who are you?"
"You ... .Don''t you dare. Our screams might have alerted others and they might be on their way here."''Floyd spoke, sweating profusely.
"No one can hear your voices and as for that camera, it isn''t working," Lucas answered with a venomous tone frightening Floyd.
"Why are you doing this?"
Lucas squatted down before Floyd andughed aloud, staring at his terrified eyes.
"You hit my friend. Broke his arms again and again and then asked me who I was and why am I doing this."
"Are you kidding me?"
lights¦¦Ïvel "Uhhh, that....Liste-"
Before he could speak, Lucas smashed the hammer over Floyd''s face without any mercy.
"Bastards like you only talk after getting beaten to a pulp."
BOOM!
Soon, a hardcore sound of thrashing shook the whole ce.
...
After half an hour, Floyd opened his eyes.
"Where am I?"
"What am I doing here?"
Several questions shed over his mind but instead of answers, he got an influx of mind-numbing pain as if all the bones in his body had been crushed into pieces along with flesh being ripped apart.
His lips opened wide to scream but no sound came out from it.
After a few minutes, his vision returned to normal, all he saw was blood.
Everywhere he looked was bathed in blood.
On rotating his head, what greeted his vision almost made him piss.
His limbs had been twisted and deformed by an unknown angel.
Several spikes had been lodged onto his body and erupted from the ground.
His legs, knees, thighs, arms, and palms have been impaled. Except for the vital organs, his body had been pierced with spikes and then he found that several sets of his front teeth were missing.
And to add further fear, many sharp spike shreds were floating around his neck, digging lightly as if warning him that he would be killed at any moment from now.
And while he was at the end of the rope, the guy who was responsible for all this was ying Subway Surfer on his smartphone with an indifferent expression as if he was done just nting a scarecrow in the fields.
His two sidekicksy on the ground with bleak eyes and toothless gums while the man used them as chairs and sat on their blood-drenched bodies but there wasn''t a single drop of blood on him.
Unbeknownst to him, tears started to slide down his cheek as a question started ringing repeatedly in his mind.
''Who the fuck did I mess with?''
''And why the hell did I mess with a friend of such a psychopath? If I knew this, I wouldn''t have dared to offend such a guy.''
"Oh, so you are already awake, huh?''''
Lucas, putting down his smartphone, observed micro-to-macro changes in Floyd''s expression.
"I will ask you a question and you have to answer me in one fucking word."
"So, say whose order was this?"
Floyd''s eyes widened and he swallowed his saliva.
"Seeing your expression, it seems I was correct. There is someone behind you."
Remembering that cold guy, Floyd''s voice stuttered...
"I...There is no on-...ooooooooooooo!!"
A loud groan echoed as a spike, just went past Floyd''s waist tearing his skin.
"One word." Lucas interjected.
"Be...Believe me...there is no one."
Lucas'' expression darkened and standing up, he walked closer towards Floyd.
Extending his hand, he touched the gut of Floyd.
''My telekinesis skill had gone up by a margin after the breakthrough. Let''s do this.''
With a bone-chilling smile, Lucas sneered.
"It seems you had a hearing problem. I said¡No, I ordered you to answer me in one fucking word."Lucas spoke loudly and twisted his palm.
Floyd''s face distorted due to an intense agony as if his internals had been set aze.
PFT!
At the next moment, a jet of blood erupted from his lips followed by a heavy pain. His throat felt dry and it was burnt like hell. He wanted to scream but his voice was hoarse and no words came out.
Lucas pulled his hand immediately and wiped his sweat. If he had applied a little more strength, he might havepletely burst this guy''s internal organs.
"I will ask for the veryst time. If you don''t say this one word or dare to add another word or an additional, I swear in the name of God that the next thing that I will crush will end your entire fucking bloodline."
"So, say who ordered you to do this?!" Lucas shouted.
"Eon!" Floyd answered. He wanted to speak more and plead guilty but managed to force himself to shut up for fear of irking that guy.
He was hundr¡ no, a thousand percent sure that this guy might do what he said.
"Issac!" Lucas mumbled with confusion but it disappeared in the next second as he connected the dots quickly.
"Isaac, did he say this to you directly?" Lucas asked skeptically.
"No, he ryed this message through Eon and promised to delete videos of my ill-doings.'''' Floyd ryed everything he knew.
"Eon, isn''t that Isaac''s dog?" Lucas''s eyes blinked.
"He won''t target Ro¡No, he is exactly the type of guy who would do this."
After hearing Floyd''s words, Lucas realized something. There were many like Floyd whom Lucas heard gossip about but they weren''t able to act because they didn''t have evidence or videos.
Lucas initially thought they were ying dirty somewhere where there was no third eye. Moreover, with all those things happening in the past few months neither he nor Julian has time to look for these things.
"It seems Issac is not only covering for them but he is also keeping those records as leverage to use these scum. Since no one is monitoring the camera 24/7, he is taking out important information."
"Hmm!'''' Lucas nodded and waved his hand freeing Floyd from his hell.
Then he threw three high-grade portions, taking it wouldn''t leave any mark for them to use against him.
"Take this right before my eyes and before giving it to your goons, fix their teeth in their sockets and then make them drink. Do this right now." Lucas ordered in amanding tone and Floyd immediately sprang into action.
Lucas then fell into deep contemtion for a moment. He can use this but striking Issac with this alone was quiteughable as his influence was deeply rooted.
At that time his smartphone rang and when opening it, he found that it was from the Administration.
On epting the call, a cold voice emerged from the other side.
[Student Lucas, you are immediately asked to appear in the Trial room of the Council within the next day at 9am. Failing to appear will result in you being suspended indefinitely and may even be expelled in the future.]
After rying the message, the call was cut off abruptly, leaving Lucas staring at his smartphone screen nkly.
"What the hell? Was I really found out after taking so many measures?"
Chapter 238 238:Councils Trial
Chapter 238 238:Council''s Trial
TAP! TAP! TAP!
Lucas hurried his way towards the Trial room which was rarely used unless there was a grave situation.
On his way, he thought of countless possibilities for why he was being called whileing up with a way to avoid the crisis.
The most usible reason he might be called for was either someone managed to find out what he did yesterday or Issac moved to trouble him.
As per the specifics, he didn''t know anything. He tried to look for Miss Ami but her phone was unreachable. Meanwhile, the other heads of the Council didn''t know anything. Even Dead Eye Ian who was responsible for Security had no clue.
"If worsees to worst, I can drag it down or I can just leave the Academy."
Lucas'' eyes shone with stern determination. Unlike before he wasn''t going to give in to unjust me pinned on him.
Near the Trial room, a guard led Lucas inside.
Taking a deep breath, Lucas stepped in through the door that opened wide showcasing the interior.
It was a big spacious room withrge blocks of higher seats where many people were seated.
Lucas raised his chin to take a look at the people.
Each year had 100 professors and 20 Instructors to assist. But out of all of them, only the Professors of ss A had some presence.
In the first year, besides Ami, and Donald, Lokov held a major chunk of power.
All the influential professors were present here; however, to make it worse, most of the people under Julian''s faction were absent.
An ill forbidding welled up in his heart as he saw Issac in the middle who maintained a generous benevolent smile capable of charming any woman.
Behind him sat many 2nd year and 3rd Year professors which hinted that the situation might be way worse than he imagined as people with the majority of powers were assembled here.
It seems like the trial holds a crucial significance for the entire Horizon.
''What the fuck! All of them are looking at me as if I havemitted a grave sin.''
"Lucas!"
Lucas snapped out of his thoughts and nced at the source of voice only to find a familiar person with a pale expression filled with guilt.
"Senior Linda!"
Seeing her, it didn''t take long for Lucas to figure out.
"Lucas, that...."
CLAP!CLAP!
Linda was halted by a reverberating p followed by a sharp voice.
"Sorry, but we don''t have time to witness a touching reunion." Issac stood up from his seat and walked down from his seat.
Ignoring Lucas'' sharp re, he coughed to draw everyone''s attention.
"Proceed things as per the rules. Issac, please ry your investigation." Lokov urged Issac sternly but anyone with a brain could sense that he was supporting Issac.
Donald raised his brows while his gaze interchanged between Issac and Lucas.
Donald who knew about the inside information felt all this was bullshit over rivalry for love and Issac being jealous.
And Issac made a move at the worst time, as Ami and the Princess''s support were absent now.
''I can only dy things for a bit if it gets worse.''
Donald sighed inwardly.
"Since we already have many things going around, I won''t waste your time and will get straight to the point."
"Lucas Bright, a student in 1st Year had vited one of thews of Academies."
With an authoritative tone, Issac walked towards a Podium and started his speech.
"ording to article 21(A), anything that is developed within the Academy using Academy resources would be part of the Academy and the patent of any such product will solely belong to the Academy. The inventor would only be provided with the profit of sales after a thorough negotiation.''
"Also, ording to Article 23(C), the indigenous products developed in the Academy can''t be sold through outside means."
Issac paused a bit, staring around at everyone.
His gaze, rotating all around, fell on Lucas.
"However, my fellow junior who might be unaware of certain uses, had vited them. An indigenous potion Calming Potion along with the Super Sensory Potion has now been listed in public and is sold by the Company named Salus."
"We don''t know whether Lucas is acting as the middleman or has some ties with it. But we can''t exclude the fact that Lucas was involved with it and forced Linda to research potions for him."
"He didn''t force me." Linda refuted with an anxious expression trying to stand up for Lucas which made Issac''s expression distorted.
"That just means, you are also an aplice that sold yourself for some meager money and used the benevolence of the Academy for your own personal gains." Isaac sneered.
''I gave you an opportunity but you didn''t cherish it. Good, now you can drown with him as well.''
"There is something I want to say to the jury." Lucas raised his request humbly to rely on his opinion.
"Who asked you to talk?!" Lokov screamed trying to assert his dominance.
"Let him speak. Everyone has the right to voice out their opinion." Donal interfered with a calm expression.
"Thanks, Professor Donald." Lucas bowed his head respectfully and proceeded while marking Lokov''s name on the death list.
"I don''t know if Sir Issac knows about this but all the funding for the research was done by the organization named Salus. From arranging materials to providing financial aid to Senior Linda, it had all been funded by Salus and we had not used a single penny of the Academy nor did we use academy materials or resources.
"So what, you still had used the Horizon facility. Didn''t Linda experiment in the Lab facility and use the instruments? This proves that without the Academy facility, you couldn''t have developed this potion." Isaac added.
"Everyone knows how expensive the equipment is. Without such a world-ss facility, do you think you could have developed it easily?"
As Issacid out his allegations, Lucas pped for Issac inwardly.
''This man hides his fangs well. I am sure he knew about this quite before but decided to strike when a favourable opportunity arose.''
Lucas had to admire this guy''s patience.
It had been two days when Salus began its sale and Issac struck him.
This time it wasn''t his fault nor he was careless.
When he came to know about this from Linda, he asked her about this and she assured him that as long as they didn''t use Horizon money there would be no problem. Linda hadn''t used the academy facility much except for the testing phase.
As Lucas thought about this, he could hear two men mocking behind him with that familiar meme and ming him for believing her.
''Woman!''
''Hahaha!''
However, despite all this, he didn''t me Linda.
Lucas raised his gaze and met with Linda who was trembling with moist eyes feeling guilty.
Lucas looked at her as if trying to assure her that everything was alright. There was no need to panic.
He didn''t know if Linda got the signal but she seemed to calm down a bit.
The Professors present in the jury started to discuss among themselves.
"We need to punish him harshly and make an example out of him so that others wouldn''t dare."
"I don''t think we should do that. Moreover, we don''t know about Salus and the support behind it. Let''s think about it calmly." A professor spoke in Lucas'' favour.
"So, what if those Salus had a background? Do we need to fear them? Don''t you forget that we are Teachers of the Institute of Horizon. We don''t need to bow before anyone else."
"Well said!"
"That''s the spirit."
Hearing those proud arrogant words, Donald suppressed his urge to hit them.
''You know, you are the Teachers of a prestigious institute who don''t need to bow before others yet you go around licking under toes and ass. I had never ever in my life heard of such sophisticated hypocritical words.
"We need to punish him for this crime.This isn''t a simple issue. Some try to sabotage the Academy''s goodwill for business purposes. We can''t let this slide with a simple warning or punishment. We need to be strict."Lokov rubbed his chin with a profound expression while looking at Issac from the corner of his eyes, like a dog hungry for praise.
Donald''s expression turned worse. Out of 36 present out here, 22 of them seemed to make things difficult for Lucas.
''If ites to voting, things might be worse.''
"All of you, please keep quiet. The first thing is, that the form of new-found potions might be in thepany''s hands to tempt these students to find them excellent. I don''t think they were too much at fault. At most, we can give them a slight representation, cut their points or suspend them for a few days. Let''s not make the matter worse as we don''t have full authority in this and Vice Principal Josh is absent." Final intervened trying to tilt the things.
''''Bullshit.''''
"We can''t do this."
"I agree, we can''t bex in this matter. The reputation of the academy is at stake."
Taking a deep breath, Lucas sighed seeing the Professors quarreling and then he seized Issac.
''So, you want to y politics and mind games, huh?''
Issac, who was also observing Lucas, felt a bad premonition seeing Lucas'' lips curling upwards.
"Sir, before you can ry your judgment. I want to tell you something."
The jury which had been discussing things suddenly turned silent and stared at Lucas.
"You dared to interfere again?!" Lokov along with others screamed at Lucas.
"Don''t you have minimal courtesy?"
"I have," Lucas said with a smile,"I raised my hand and Sir Donald permitted me to speak."
"Yes, I did, any problems? Let him voice his opinion first. You can''t ignore his words and give judgment." Donald spoke looking around.
"I can infer that most probably you are going to ask me to hand over the patents and then punish me for all the stuff. But before we go into that, I wanted to inform you of something important."
"As far as I know, the patent of potions was reviewed and approved by Duke Frost and Duke Warren. And both of them also had a part in the profit." Lucas spoke slowly yet steadily but his words struck like thunder startling everyone in the room.
Chapter 239 239:Councils Trial[2]
Chapter 239 239:Council''s Trial[2]
"Did I hear wrong?"
"No, you didn''t, he said Duke Warren and Duke Frost were supporting Salus and had a part in the profits."
These words rang like thunder in their ears.
The Trial room suddenly became sombre and the temperature of the room went down by a few margins.
They were already prepared to crush this boy without leaving him a chance to turn things but the guy, as if pulling an uno reverse card, managed to change the turn of events with just words.
The moment Lucas'' words fell, a dead silence lingered for a moment. The Professors who were barking like dogs suddenly forgot to breathe for a moment.
Even Issac had a bewildered expression on his face. He had looked for patents but since there was no deration, he thought that they didn''t have any.
But that wasn''t what he and the others were worried about. It was part of shares.
Only a foolish person would let go of such a chance and Salus shows a good turnover, wouldn''t they like kicking in the two Duke faces at a time and inviting trouble?
The Professors who were supporting Issac previously now sat with ugly expressions.
Seeing how his words worked, Lucas spoke with a provocative smile.
"Still, I understand that I have broken some rules and need to adhere to them as said by Sir Lokov."
Lokov who heard this cursed inwardly.
''Fuck, why are taking my name. Others said this. If words reached the Duke''s ears that I forced their pawns to the corner, they would push me out of the world.''
ncing at the barking dog who kept his snout close, Lucas continued.
"Respected Professors who took out the precious time to oversee the case, all I want is a month. Please give me a month to resolve this crisis."
Lucas spoke humbly and bowed his hands. One month was enough for him to dig holes for them.
"No, we can''t."
"We need to decide now."
Many shouted in fear that the Dukes might act in the month''s time.
"We need to discuss this." Donald spoke and a loud murmur rang again.
Issac observed everything with a cold expression.
''So what if you have expert Dukes? It seems you are forgetting who I am. Let''s see what you will do when I push you to the corner.''
Issac''s eyes shone with a cold gleam as he already decided his next step.
Cough¡.Cough¡.
Donald coughed after a series of discussions and looked around.
"One month is too long. After discussing things, we concluded that Student Lucas would be given 15 days to resolve this matter. If not, another trial will be held to decide the next step."
"Adjourn!"
Following Donald''s words, everyone stood and walked out while keeping an eye on Lucas.
Some looked at him angrily, while others looked at him in shock and disbelief.
Issac passed by him haughtily and murmured softly.
''''This is just the beginning, Lucas. From now on, my eyes will be on you.''''
Lucas just stared at Isaac without speaking anything. It is better to show his actions rather than wasting his brain cells to argue.
Donald stared at Lucas who gave a brief nod as if expressing his thanks for supporting him.
Though it waspletely useless, Lucas was sincerely grateful for Donald''s support. Having at least someone who was supporting him amidst all this, not only warmed his heart but it also gave him courage.
Moreover, Isaac''s dogs were not willing to give him so much time but Donald''s persuasion at least gave him some more time.
Donald walked out taking long strides after patting Lucas.
As everyone left except for Lucas and Linda, she came forward and bowed her head to apologize with a teary expression.
"I am sorry. It''s all my fault. I was too overconfident and conceited. I should have looked over things carefully."
Seeing her like this, Lucas felt ufortable and distressed.
"It''s not your fault. Those who want to pick faults will do so somehow. And you don''t need to worry about this. Just leave the aftermath to me." Lucas assured Linda trying to calm her down.
"I already discussed this with thepany to make ab outside. It''s already in work. For now, we have enough potions. You should start to expand and have a team. You will soon have your own facility to work on."
Linda stood frozen on the ground for a few seconds when she heard this.
"Ab facility¡Of my own.." Linda stuttered for a moment as her mind tried to process things.
"Really?!" She asked curiously.
"Yes, or do you think I am lying to you?" Lucas chuckled.
"No, it''s just that I didn''t expect you to treasure me so much." Linda spoke with a blush but Lucas''s next words made her choke.
"I treasure your skills." Lucas answered bluntly with a stoic expression making Linda''s lips twitch.
"I also meant that. Lucas, thank you. I will work hard to repay your grace. And for my mistake, you don''t need to give me profit any more. Until I work in theb of Salus, there is no need to pay me."
"How can this be.."
A series of nonsense began and Lucas finally managed to make Linda yield who decided to get the money reluctantly.
After this, Lucas went to his dorm. The trialsted for half an hour but it was enough to blow his mind and make him tired.
Lucas, who was walking with dead eyes, suddenly saw a familiar figure leaning against the wall near his room.
"Sir Harris, why are you here?" Lucas asked in surprise as he searched for him yesterday but wasn''t able to find him.
"I had gone out for some work but it seems things are not well on your side. I also heard about Roan." Harris spoke coldly.
For him, Roan is almost like a student and someone of the upper ss bullying him in his absence didn''t bode well with him.
"Do you need help with the matter on your hand?"
"How will you help?" Lucas asked curiously but closed his lips seeing Harris'' cutting throat sign.
"You don''t need to do that now. I have my ways and we can do that after we expose their wrongdoings."
"Hmm! So, what are you going to do now?" Harris asked.
"Rest a bit and then train!"
"I have a better n."
"What is that?'''' Lucas asked flinching back as his heart beat with a bad premonition.
Instead of answering him Harris appeared behind Lucas and pulled him holding his neck.
"Come with me. I will give you my training."
Lucas shivered in fear as Harris''s training meant 7 days and 7 nights of outings and beating in a vast wilderness without food or water.
"Sir Harris, can we do thatter? I need a vacation." Lucas cried out. He didn''t have a problem with the training itself but now he had other things to do and this guy''s training doesn''t have fixed timing and goes on until he is satisfied.
"What vacation? Are you a small kid? Come with me. We are gonna have the fun that one can have on vacation." Harris answered with a smirk as he dragged Lucas through the hallway who just cried inwardly and burnt incense for his well-being.
Chapter 240 240:Beyond 9-Star
Chapter 240 240:Beyond 9-Star
In a vast open ground, the sound of sonic explosions reverberated again and again.
Seeing countless attacks pouring at him, Harris let out a soft sigh and raised his palm covered with a fiercely glowing crimson aura. Almost instantly, a pir of bright red light burst forth.
"Fucking hell. This is training for God''s sake."
Letting out a soft groan, Lucas covered himself and fled trying to escape from the pir of light chasing his tail that obliterated the ground leaving behind nothing but flying shrinks of shattered ground, rising dust and smoldered charcoaled soul in its wake.
Harris frowned, noticing Lucasnding after a huge jump and his figure momentarily disappeared from his vision.
Just as he let go of his light sword, he felt the temperature bing chilly and raised his chin only to notice many spikes of ice hovering in the air starting to fall.
Harris'' figure turned into a shadow dodging the nks of ice spikes hurling at him.
Running around, he paused his steps seeing ice spikes shooting at him from all directions.
With a nonchnt look, he kicked the ground shooting himself up towards the sky.
As his figure shot upward like aet, a shadow flickered and a humongous fireball descended on him.
"Wow! That''s something new. Just how many skills did you gain Lucas?"
With an amused smile, he twisted his body and punched.
BOOM!
The fireball punctured like a balloon with the hot condensed gas expanding crazily but it wasn''t over as from the explosion, crackling lightning shot at him almost hitting him.
Harris managed to react at the veryst second and dodged the streaks of lightning from frying him.
Onnding down, he saw a sword wrapped in lightning and fire erupting towards him.
Lucas gripped his sword tighter and suddenly immted crimson mes that engulfed the weapon and his whole body in a warm embrace.
Lucas activated Mana Devour and suddenly felt an explosive strength coursing through his veins.
Harris with a smiling face shot at the iing boy like an arrow and swung his palms at him.
Lucas sidestepped by twisting his body deflecting Harris'' glowing palm and swung his sword but Harris raised his other palm to deflect.
But much to his surprise, Lucas let go of his sword and continued to charge, he rammed his whole body onto Harris after activating Mana Devour.
An explosion reverberated, scattering shockwaves that swept away the upperyer of soil around and as the smoke dissipated, one could see Lucas'' back lying a few meters away from Harris.
Lucas holding his dizzying head looked at Harris as if he had seen a monster.
''Is his body made up of Diamond?''
When he mmed his body against Harris, instead of pushing back Harris he felt a rebound as if a rain hit him throwing him back.
He thought that by taking Harris by surprise, he could finally manage tond his much-awaited hit but his sweet dream was thrown into shit.
"Sir Harris, this is unfair. You are bullying me with your higher realm power."
Standing up, Lucas walked towards Harris with a hint of resignation.
"This isn''t a strength of 6-Star. So, are you cheating?"
As Lucas came closer and grumbled, he sneakily tried to raise his foot to crush Harris''s toes who took back his foot swiftly and kicked him.
BANG!
Lucas'' body dragged along with the ground for a few metres leaving behind ck drag marks.
"Now, that is what we call improvement. If it was before, your body would have just blown away by that kick." Harris replied putting down his foot and crossed arms around his chest.
Lucas, who managed to defend himself, took a step to get back in an attacking stance but his expression stiffened as a crack echoed from his knees and he fell holding his dislocated knees.
The impact of the force shook his leg to the core.
''Unlike other teachers, he never goes easy on me.''
Lucas, using the sword to support himself, kneeled on the ground taking deep puffs.
On raising his face, he noticed Harris''s expression who was waiting for him.
At that moment, Lucas decided to ask the question that had been looming in his head.
"Sir Harris, the power you contain as a 6-Star is way higher than others. Why is that?" Lucas asked curiously.
He knew that Harris was way stronger than before and fell to 6-Star but even with experience his power is exploding.
He had a rough estimate of power of a 6-Star but this guy power at 6-Star is really absurd.
"Sir Harris, remember that question I asked about the realms. I want to know. I want to know the real truth now."
Harris'' brows furrowed but it became normal after a moment.
"Why do you think the current way of power is wrong?''''
"Anyone with a discerning eye could see that something is fundamentally wrong in our way of storing mana." Lucas answered casually but this was something he got to know from Future Lucas'' memory.
Harris smiled, seemingly pleased with Lucas'' answer.
He walked towards Lucas with a bloody smile that sent a chill down the spine.
Soon, the air around Lucas became heavy.
''Wait! Don''t tell me he is going to hit me with all his strength.''
Lucas screamed inwardly.
The mana in the air bellowed and the air started swirling around as if signalling the forting of a storm.
Harris'' aura started to skyrocket and a fierce crimson aura exploded from his body leaving the vicinity in red.
Like a beast unhinged, Lucas could see a madness sh in his eyes which was followed by a bombing sound echoing from Harris.
Six crimson dots flickered from Harris'' back that rose above their head and expanded into a huge crimson mass that started flickering.
Astonishment shone over Lucas'' face as he felt an insane amount of mana circting inside the round orbs.
"What you are witnessing now is the most primitive method of Cultivation of the world and the real Star Cultivation method."
Lucas swallowed his saliva as he saw Harris'' figure rising and floating in the sky.
His red hair danced crazily and his entire figure looked divine.
"So, what we are learning is just a false or subpar method."
"No!" Harris chuckled and released his power returning to normal.
"Let me give you a brief rundown."
"Most of the records of the world before the Demon War had been lost, it would be correct to say that all the records seemed to have vanished or been erased by someone."
"We are now at the end of the fourth era ording to Steer but still we don''t know much about the world''s beginning. Most of the record and power realms of the First Two Eras are missing. However, from what we know, it has been said that we have been following subpar methods of cultivation. If not for the Demon War which even put Gods in jeopardy, we might have learnt the true cultivation pathway. "
"I didn''t understand this part." Lucas asked, feeling a bit confused.
"I can''t give you a brief on that now but know this. In exchange for helping Gods to defeat Demons, we gained the real Star cultivation methods of an ancient era but it was limited to some people."
"From the remnants we have, it can be inferred that primordial humans or early humans were many times stronger than the present time. They have assimted vast powers and with the blessing of Gods, they gained many supernatural powers and these powers were passed down from one generation to another."
"Those powers are still present. Do you have any guesses?" Harris paused for a moment after he asked.
"Bloodline powers?" Lucas made a bold guess but still, he felt as if it had beplex whenbined with the term bloodline.
"I understand what you are thinking but it''s not thatplex." Harris chuckled and started exining.
"The modern term suggests gics. Strong people give birth to strong offsprings. A tall man mostly gives birth to tall children and a short man mostly gives birth to short children. If reced tall with strength, children of strong people or of a higher realm give birth to children with better gics and if their parents had powers bestowed by God, it is like icing on the top."
"Now, this is where shit went downhill. When the world split after the Demon War, thews of the world were also deformed and severe restrictions were ced on us that bore a great limitation. The world did this to keep bnce and the current limitation is 9-Star."
"Hmm!" Lucas rubbed his chin and some things that hadn''t been cleared started making sense.
"So when did this whole bloodline thinge into y?"
"After the war, people faced a great restriction imposed by the world. Everyone''s growth became limited and many people whose talents were quite bad or had low potential even found it hard to awaken which didn''t happen previously where no matter whether you are talented or not, you can still awaken. Also, the concentration of mana had thinned out." Harris answered, then pointed at his nodes.
"Humans and others crafted new power scales for urate measurement of power and divided people based on bloodline and many new suitable awakening methods came to y that made it possible for the lower potential to awaken otherwise those with a bronze bloodline had no chance to awaken."
"Now, the answer to your question. ording to the Star Pathway, we create a spiritual path guiding mana into our soul where it aggregates to form a manifestation of Star. Each time we break through we get a new star that continues until we gain 9 Stars. After we have 9 Stars, we use our soul to pressure them to make them fuse which turns the stars into a spiritual Sun which is the next stage."
Lucas'' heart tightened hearing the new realm and his eyes shed with anticipation.
"The Sun realm is divided into early, middle and peak. After the Sun realmes the Divine realm where the Sun transforms into a halo."
Lucas closed his eyes, absorbing what Harris said.
"Sir Harris, was there a Sun realm expert during the Demon war?"
"As per the records, none." Harris shook his head.
"Something had happened by the end of the 2nd era causing the entire power system to regress. However, the restriction of 9-Star started in the Third Era. I don''t know why the power system regressed during that time. There are a lot of ambiguities."
"Nowing into this, if one follows the current way, which has been going since the 3rd Era, one can never cross to the Sun realm because fusing stars requires a great amount of energy as it undergoes a process of destruction and for that, you need to amass great power. In terms of the current method, it is inferior to the other one by 40% in terms of energyparison."
"What....What the hell?!" Lucas shrieked.
"Why aren''t we taught about this and are still lingering on this subpar awakening method if the higher ups still know? It lowers the strength of the entire world. Aren''t we getting our future fucked by doing this?" Lucas asked with a frown feeling that he might have abolished his power and started from scratch.
''Didn''t that mean, I...No, we all are fucked up and stay at 9-Star.''
Chapter 241 241:Beyond 9-Star[2]
Chapter 241 241:Beyond 9-Star[2]
"Hahaha!" Harrisughed, witnessing Lucas''s expression.
"No, you are not. This is done for your well-being. There are two reasons for this. The first one is that a person needs to have a body to handle the coercion of stars. Unlike the primordial times, our body is too weak."
"Secondly, anyone who reaches 9-Star would be made aware of this and at 9-Star they can change their power structure without much bacsh and create stars. One can also attempt to create stars at the lower level but if you fail you''re gonna burst out due to the pressureing from the stars in your natal soul." Harris started exining to Lucas.
"Then what were those talks about 10-Star?" Lucas asked with a questioning gaze.
"10-Star is a pseudo realm. Our present world exerts pressure on us when we try to fuse the 9 stars to form the sun but you can make the stars remain fused to generate strong power. However, in doing so, you are betting on your prospects as once you be a 10-Star, it might be difficult to undo the chance to be a Sun realm expert if, by chance, the world ever allows it."
''The world will be fused soon, doesn''t that mean soon 9-Star would advance to the Sun realm? Now that I think about it, the book always says that restrictions are imposed on 9-Star to stop advancing, but it never mentions people advancing to 10-Star. Maybe until Frederick had reached 9-Star, it was supposed to stay hidden.''
Thinking this, Lucas asked aloud
"Suppose the world fuses once again, then does that mean everyone''s potential will get a boost?"
"In a way yes but it isn''t that significant."Harris shook his head.
"Everyone will surely get a boost due to the increase in mana, increased resources and removal of restrictions that had been suppressing us from reaching the upper limit to keep the bnce but in the end, there is still limitation."
"As I said it''s alle down to gics at the end. For example, a person who is supposed to grow to 150cm, by exercising and other means may increase his height by a few centimetres but he can''t increase his height to 190 cm or more if he was born with short or dwarf genes. Though there are means to achieve that but who knows what side effects one has to bear and those things are very, very rare. Not everyone is as lucky as you."Harris squinted his eyes at Lucas whose body was in a mess at the beginning due to consuming something magical to awaken.
Lucas averted his gaze while having a sudden realization about the bloodline potions.
The golden bloodline potion brings both external and internal differences in him like an increase in height, making his skin smooth and brighter, and improving his overall aesthetics and body structure.
''So, in the end, what the bloodline potion did was to improve the overall gics allowing the person to grow and adapt better. As per bloodline power, it is inherited by genes but dtes over time due to the gic mixing which they call bloodline degradation.''
After Lucas made a rough guess, he then stared at Harris with aplicated gaze.
"Sir Harris, how did you know all this?"
"You clearly don''t have a simple background."
Harris gave a bitter smile and paused before opening his lips.
The reason why Harris had never taken a disciple was because his brutal training wasn''t something a child of this age could handle.
Lucas had tried to ept him as Master but their rtionship was quiteplicated.
Thinking about this, Harris'' expression became sorrowful.
"I am...no, I used to be a noble descendent but I ran away from home.''''
"Why?" Lucas asked curiously knowing that once his name was enough to make the underground organizations tremble in fear.
He used to be a top powerhouse who was injured for some unknown reason and can be said to be retired.
''It seems Sir Harris is one of those problematic kids.''
Harris sighed and sat beside Lucas, staring up at the sky.
"I was hailed as a genius. A heaven-defying one on top of that as said by people but I was never able to shine because I had a sister who shone with such dazzling brilliance that it shadowed me."
Lucas noticed a myriad range of emotions over Harris'' nk expression.
"My sister was a bit fierce and always beat me. Even when I was big enough I would be beaten by her. I started to feel jealous of her strength and wondered what Ickedpared to her."
"One day, during the parade I threw something which fell on the Emperor. I was toozy to ask for forgiveness. You can say that I was conceited at that time acting all that arrogant until I got my ass kicked by my sister in front of everyone. This infuriated me to the core and broke thest straw. In my anger, I ran away and vowed toe back only when I became stronger than her."
Lucas for some reason felt his heart struck for some reason.
"Do you hate her?"
Harris turned his sight abruptly towards Lucas and smacked his lips.
"No, never. All I wanted was to defeat her and also humiliate her if possible."
''Isn''t that the same as hating her?'' Lucas'' lips twitched as he murmured inwardly.
"After escaping I chose to be a mercenary working here and there. My parents didn''t look for me thinking that I was throwing a tantrum or might have searched for me, only God knows."
"My life working as a mercenary was difficult. For someone like me who had lived drowning in riches, grovelling in filthy mud was like a disaster nevertheless I persisted. And the main reason for this is because I found someone to impress.''''
PTUI!
Lucas choked seeing Harris'' naive innocent expression.
''Is this the same guy described as an emotionless psychopath by the book? Then what is this lovesick expression?''
"Don''t stare at me like that."
Harris'' cold words echoed in Lucas'' ears.
"Love is often unreasonable and can make one act out of character. Only those who are in love will understand this mystical emotion. And from the moment Iid my eyes on her, I felt attracted to her even though I had seen more beautiful girls than her."
"After so much pain, I finally wooed her. We formed our mercenary team, and traveled together around the world enjoying ourselves to our hearts'' content and indulging ourselves in our desires."
"Soon, she got pregnant which also brought many changes inside me. I didn''t want my child to live days of suffering so I decided to let go of my foolishness and return. I wanted her to live a carefree life. I didn''t n on inheriting the title and decided to leave it to my sister. I started dreaming about having a sweet lovely daughter whom I could protect and y around with¡.."
"s, fate is a fucking bitch that don''t even blink before trampling you."
Harris'' expression deformed and his eyes became dark emitting a strong murderous intent.
Harris put his hands over his eyes trying to calm himself down.
"I don''t know why but a son of bitch attacked us out of nowhere. I was nowhere near his level and was destroyed. Just as I thought he came for me, he did something that still gives me nightmares. He walked towards my wife and using his power extracted something from her where I could only stand and watch, begging him to spare her."
"The moment he finished extracting her...she suffered a miscarriage and died along with her child..."
A deep silence lingered for a moment and at that moment, Lucas even forgot to breathe seeing Harris'' maddening expression with eyes burning with fury.
Harris clenched his fist ming himself for being weak.
Too weak that he couldn''t even protect his family.
"I was just a pathetic piece of shit and med myself for being too weak. My head snapped and I lost all reason. Consumed by rage, I searched for him, destroying everything in my path. I swept through every illegal organization and ughtered everyone who tried to oppose me."
"I got stronger and stronger the more I fought. On my hunt, I found upper members of the Church in cahoots with underground organizations and started going after them and in turn made the Church my enemy. I overturned their killing order by killing more members of their churches. I hanged those fake priests in public ces along with evidence of their crimes."
"Amidst all the chaos, I finally found a link to those fuckers and as I delved into it, I encountered enemies with power simr to that bastard who stole everything from me."
"He was a 10-Star Demon. Searching for him, I had my way to the Demon realm despite facing a turbulent space storm as I crossed through the portal."
"A 10-Star Demon¡" Lucas mumbled, trying to search in his memory.
"We fought. It was a battle that I was winning but before I could finish another one appeared. I fared well against the 2 10-Stars and won at the cost of exhausting and burning a part of my lifespan. Just as I thought everything was over...."
"Five more 10-star creatures that I have never seen in the world appeared."
Harrisughed out loud and then staring at Lucas, he spoke,"What you are thinking is correct. At that moment I truly thought that I fucked up for real."
"As I prepared myself to embrace death, she appeared."
Chapter 242 242:Unfulfilled Revenge
Chapter 242 242:Unfulfilled Revenge
"She?" Lucas asked, taken aback.
"My opponent whom I always strive to defeat. My sister."
"Your sister, was she stronger than you when she appeared despite all the work you put through?"
Harris chuckled after hearing Lucas'' question and then sighed.
"Haaa.....Unfortunately, yes."
"Even the word itself seems to be underwhelming whenpared to her. She is a brute."
"A different breed of monster."
Lucas saw both joy and sadness in Harris'' eyes.
"I thought that I would die that day for sure cause even if I fought until myst breath and managed to defeat them, I wouldn''t have the strength to get up again. And at the higher realm, potion effects are quite negligible. Either I would have died that day or would have lived the rest of my life like a normal human being in yearning for my dead child and wife."
"Suicide was also an option as everything became meaningless since I couldn''t find the guy who murdered my wife and my revenge would always remain unfulfilled." Harris smacked his lips with remorse. Though he still had not given up, he was not able to find that group that vanished as if they never existed.
Harris then closed his eyes, reminiscing about that scene that was etched deep inside his memory, one that he could never forget his entire life.
A battle that shook the entire Demon Continent, wiping almost a part of thend making it a barrennd.
Augh escaped from his lips remembering this.
Till now he finds this funny, that he naively thought of surpassing a person like her who could turn the world upside down with just her presence.
In front of her, he had always been an ant which also made him think that all his struggle was just a meaningless pursuit and pipe dream that was bound to stay as a dream.
"My sister was a menace. She beat them to dust and pummelled them to the ground until nothing but their battered flesh remained. Each of her punches shook the entire Demon Continent. In doing so she pulled the aggro of higher Demons who tried to contain her but in the end, they were sent flying by a p."
"Did she beat the Patriarch of Demon tribes also?" Lucas asked with reverence.
"Hahahaha! Now that you asked, I find it hard to contain myugh."
"She scared the shit out of them with her aura and even pped some. She said that she just wanted to take out her anger on those 5 bastards and then she would leave but she didn''t mind apanying them if they pushed their luck and for some reason, she saw the Matriarch of Lust n as an eyesore so she scared her so much that she almost pissed."
PFFFT!
Lucas choked on hearing this.
Staring at Harris'' funny expression, Lucas spoke wondering whether she was a bit naive or too arrogant,"Your sister seemed to be quite bold and daring."
"Hey, don''t underestimate her. She had the power to back up her arrogance. Each of her punches carried the power of a meteorite capable of wiping a vastnd."
''Exploding power of that of a meteorite.''
"Just who is she? Why have I never heard of such a woman? "Lucas asked, taken aback.
Even though the book has hidden many things, it mentions all the top powerhouses of the world that are present there.
And since Sir Harris is a prominent noble house, her name should be quite popr.
So who is she? What is she doing now?
Even for 9-Stars, isn''t she just too overpowered?
Lucas felt more confused as he thought this.
''Who the hell is she? Why have I no information about her? Harris'' description makes it look as if she is a protagonist of the previous generation.''
''Damn, this Future Lucas must have scammed me. Even with the additional knowledge of the future he passed to me, there isn''t any mention of such a terrifying woman.''
Harris didn''t answer Lucas'' questions but just kept smiling.
"You will know her soon. Very soon."
Harris kept silent and didn''t entertain it anymore.
No matter how much Lucas asked, Harris gave a perfunctory answer much to Lucas'' annoyance.
Lucas wanted to know things like.
What happened after that?
How did she find out about his location?
Where is she now and what is the family he belongs to?
The curiosity was killing him. His feelings were akin to that of a person who had watched the film from the beginning but didn''t see the climax.
As Lucas pestered Harris, a ringing sound echoed, breaking the peaceful atmosphere.
Both Lucas and Harris'' smartwatches and phones rang at the same time wondering what happened now.
"Now, who the hell died in the Academy?"Harris spoke, signalling to Lucas that he was toozy to pick up the phone.
Lucas picked it up while rolling his eyes and saw an onught of messages.
The ss chat group was flooded with messages that distressed him.
The vacation was extended for more than seven days as professors were still busy and there was going to be a funeral for the dead and deceased so those who were still at Horizon were asked to attend the funeral.
Lucas also saw Parth''s countless messages but he ignored them as he wasn''t in the mood to read his bullshit.
Below, the heavy bombardment of messages, there was a link along with a message sent by Horizon.
Cutting useless things, Lucas clicked on the link that took him to a website.
A long list appeared on his white screen and as he scrolled down, a frown shed over his face and his expression turned ugly.
"Those fucking bastards....."
His face became cold and his eyes became dark as if he had just read the information about the guy who murdered his family.
"What happened?"
Harris asked, seeing Lucas'' furrowing brows.
"Hahaha!"
His question was greeted by Lucas''ughter as he put down the smartphone.
"Nothing, it''s just those group of lickingdogs fucked me up for real this time."
Harris blinked his eyes hearing Lucas'' words and rubbed his ears feeling uneasy.
''Why do I feel that he wants to say that he will fuck up for real this time?''
Chapter 243 243:Ranking List
Chapter 243 243:Ranking List
The moment the rankings were published, the news channel started broadcasting, filling all their time slots.
Unless you are someone who isn''t connected to thework, you would have surely heard about this over and over again along with the attack on Horizon.
Cyprus was caught in a storm as a news channel kept hammering about the incident.
Some said it was the fault of the Academy for not taking proper measures while some med the Emperor for being careless.
There were even some channels that depictedmoners as traitors and greedy swine that gave away easily to temptations.
There were hardly any channels that conveyed true news to the masses while keeping their propaganda at bay as behind the channels stood many noble houses they used to mold the public opinion in their favour.
During the debate, another storm set off as the Academy published the list of winners that began another round of debates.
The TRP of the news channel was currently at all times as they started narrating the events unbridled, fueled by hidden agendas.
Out of all, Aztec news that leads broadcasting begins its hourly analysis on rankers and their background.
[Aztec News]
[Hellodies and gentlemen, I hope you are having a great day. To spice up your life, we have brought breaking news for you.]
[The 2nd Year and 3rd Year tournaments had been cancelled this year. The 1st Year who unfortunately bore the brunt of the massacre, had not even gotten out from the terror when the Academy published the ranker list.]
[Previously, you all were shown a live telecast of the winner getting their ranks and rewarded but this time things had been toned down a bit.]
[From the insider information we have, though they did want to cancel the 1st Year tournament and dismiss the rankings, they weren''t able to cause as you all know among the rankers, the Top 3 would participate as a Team for the Inter Academy Championship that will be held in April on Ralph.]
[This is the list of the top 10 rankers disyed on your screen.]
1. Frederick Frost.
2. Monica Crystal.
3. Rose Seyfried.
4. Charles Warren.
5. Ezekiel Holmes
6. Humphrey Befall
7. Tiffany Dearillole
8. Jete Tierney
9. Hailey Maceis
10. Richard Cross
[While Frederick had maintained his top spot, Charles had fallen to rank 4.]
[House Frost might be in jubtion and start the celebration now while for House Warren, it might be quite gloomy due to the fall.]
The two hosts joked a bit unfazed by the severity of joking about a noble house. Their expression then turned solemn suddenly as they changed colours like chameleons.
[We don''t know how thest three were ranked as Lady Jete didn''t even reach the third round while the other two had not yed any significant role in thest stage.]
The male host stared at the screen and raised his brows, staring at the screen suspiciously.
[While the Academy rified that everything had been done ording to the rules after thorough consideration, who knows how many strings had been pulled from behind and how many transactions had happened in the background.]
The hosts then cracked a joke to lighten the mood and then the atmosphere became sombre again.
[Meanwhile, we are very disheartened to learn that Humphrey has been injured and has been paralysed. Meanwhile, Ezekiel Holmes, who managed to climb up to rank 5, unfortunately died in the massacre.]
[May God give blessing to the parting soul and may you rest in peace while those who are affected, may God be with you giving you courage to step ahead on the rough grumpy road.]
[Nowing onto the next topic, the Team for the Inter Academy Championship hadn''t been dered for now. Vice-Principal Josh, who is known for his fiery temper had been absent during all these processes due to certain emergencies so the selection of the team had been dyed but we can roughly assume the top 3 to be selected like previously. We only hope that we can win this year overwhelmingly like the time two years ago when Princess Julian froze the entire stadiums destroying all her opponents and bringing the cup back home gloriously.]
Thementator then started to discuss each student of the top rankers disying a short clip of their fighting abilities bringing cheers for many.
Other news followed suit and the same things were being yed everywhere. After the top 10, they shed a bit of light on the top 100 ying on the screen in rapid session clearly showing that it wasn''t too important for them to waste time on.
........
In a corner of the Northeast, a crimson-fiery woman cracked nuts and stuffed them in her mouth while clicking the news one after another.
Her brows furrowed a bit as she changed the channels.
"I don''t see his name in the top 100 and ordion to publish the list and his name is not in the top 1000. Did he not perform well? I remember he said that he would be in 1000." The woman mumbled with sadness and turned her gaze towards the man who was wrapped in bandages and gauge from head to toe.
There were two dark circles around his eye along with rough bruises all over his body and his left arm wasn''t working due to the intense bea¡he meant workout he had to go through. With his right arm, he broke the nuts and ced them gently in the bowl on his wife''sp.
The moment he felt a curious gaze, his heartbeat jolted making his body shudder.
"Haha, Honey didn''t I tell you? He just did well not to get his rank dropped. He is safe and sound after getting eliminated in the second round."Leonard''s back was drenched in sweat as he lied with a in expression.
He got an edited recording and with maniption, he removed Lucas from the third round and cut off some parts in the first round and showed it to Vanessa while praying to God that he would not be found out.
Though this time, he was spared. If there is a next time, he may die....He might die for real in his psycho wife''s hands.
He didn''t have any problem with Lucas getting recognition, it''s just that once Vanessa knew about this she might be too happy and as Lucas climbed higher, he was bound to face some obstructions and many might offend him which if it gets known by Vanessa, then hell would be unearthed.
"But Lucas said to me that he would do well," Vanessa asked sharply again, believing in her son.
"He could have done well if these people didn''t attack1. Don''t worry, not a single hair of our son has been affected, you can video call him anytime you want."
"I talked to him yesterday, he said he is well that''s why you are alive today."
Leonard felt a shiver down her spine, seeing Vanessa''s gleaming fiery eyes.
"Hahaha!" Leonard chuckled under her gaze and tried to divert her attention while feeling proud in his heart and holding his tears
''Mission aplished. Thanks, son, you did well otherwise you were just a step away from being fatherless.''
"Haa! I am a bit tired, so I will go and take a nap." Vanessa stood up and left, leaving Leonard who sat there with aplicated expression.
His expression distorted with a murderous glint.
"Now, what is this shit. He should be in the top 10 if not the top 5 so why isn''t his name in the top 1000?"
The Aztec news was Emperor mouth so he had asked them to cover up Lucas tracks but his son wasnt even ranked.
What is this bullshit?
Though this made things easier for him but that didn''t mean someone was not messing with his son and manipting things.
"Should I intervene?" Leonard felt a bit stifled and clenched his fist.
He had been torn in between and after the things happened he had always been indecisive.
Though Vanessa had gotten stronger and might have taken hundreds of them or even thousands, still in the end she was just one and if the other side had an entire army of top powerhouses, what could he do?Moreover,now they have a weakness.
He don''t want someone harm his son to get back at Vanessa.
Previously,he held back from sending strong ones lest he gather some attention.
Nothing in the world is perfect and no matter how much he covers his tracks, there will always be someone who might step on his tail. That''s why in fear of being exposed he didn''t send many people to observe and he didn''t want to be excessive and invade his son''s privacy.
Moreover, he didn''t expect his son to grow up at such a terrifying rate.
Now he had to not only hide Lucas'' news from Vanessa, he also had to stop Vanessa from appearing in public.
What he fears isn''t that the group since if they pose a threat, everyone will step up rather he fears the unknown.
With no knowledge of the group, he can''t even ask others to act.
"This is too difficult but I have to hold on. I can''t lose my only son but what can I do when I don''t even know who the enemy is despite searching with all my strength." Leonard closed his eyes trying to calm his surging emotions.
"No, let''s observe. If what I see is correct then my son isn''t the one who would suffer injustice. He had already formed many connections. Let''s have faith for now."
"However...."
"Mir!"
A dark figure shed behind Leonard.
"Yes, Your grace!"
"Ask Dragon Squad to keep an eye on Lucas. Follow him in the shadows."
"Your Grace, didn''t you refrain us before.." Mir asked with a frown.
"I take back my orders. Until this matter of ranking is solved, guard him as who knows what might pop up. Unless his life is in danger, don''t show yourselves."
"As per you, from now on you will be his shadow. If he fights someone between 6 and 7-Star, don''t act unless his life is in danger. As per those above that, kill them if they try to harm him."
"Is that clear!"
"Yes, your Grace!"
"Leave."
"I will make sure to protect the Young Master." Mir bowed his head respectfully and left.
That day, the formless assassin who was ranked among the top 3 assassins after disappearing for 19 years, finally made a move.
And what effect will it have on the future¡..
Only time will tell.
Chapter 244 244:Thier Woes
Chapter 244 244:Thier Woes
The sombre sky, draped in a veil of grey, echoed the heavy hearts of those gathered at the funeral. Mournful whispers mingled with the gentle rustle of leaves as they bid farewell to a cherished soul. Tears, silent messengers of grief, painted the faces of the mourners in shades of sorrow.
The casket, adorned with lilies and roses, stood as a silent tribute to a life now stilled. Fragments of memories danced through the minds of the attendees, each recalling moments cherished, now forever lost in the vast expanse of time.
Grieving parents clutched a handkerchief, a mother''s sobs muffled as she sought sce in the embrace of her loved ones. Children, with quivering lips and tear-stained cheeks, tried toprehend the irrevocable absence of a guiding presence.
The clergy''s soft-spoken words floated in the air, a hymn of peace and remembrance, attempting to console the shattered hearts. Yet, the weight of loss hung heavily, a tangible presence amidst the hushed whispers and stifled sobs.
As the casket descended into the waiting earth, a final farewell echoed in the minds of those left behind. The sound of dirt hitting the coffin reverberated, marking the conclusion of a poignant chapter in the symphony of life.
Silent, teary-eyed, and with heavy hearts, the attendees lingered, sharing embraces and offering quiet words of support, knowing that life would never be the same without the light of those that had now faded away.
Herman''s heart was filled with grief as he oversaw the process.
"This shouldn''t have happened." Herman smacked his lips, staring at newly crafted graves.
14 died, 19 were still paralyzed with soul injuries and several students were now in trauma seeking aids.
What was worse was that this happened in the final stage, where everyone could be said to be a top prodigy of the current generation and their loss might be quite big when ites to the long run.
Amidst the line of students paying their due respect, Lucas looked around. He suppressed his anger about not getting his rank.
"Those bastards are still enjoying themselves."
While most of the people had already returned, Frederick, Parth, and Charles along with children of higher nobility had yet toe.
Lucas asked the reason for not giving him ranks and the reply that he got was totally absurd and bullshit.
With Josh''s absence and Herman being a candidate for Vice-Principal, he can''t decide the matters on his own and a council of Professors would decide matters which fucked things up.
Due to the potion incident, they suspect foul y of him using Sensory Potion to increase his senses and boost his strength so they halted his rank until Josh took charge.
And due to the extended holidays, and the absence of Professors, Issac''s side had the majority of votes.
He also put forward the reason that he is in 3-Star and if the battle went till thest minute, who knew if he would be knocked out and using points given by the Tower to rank up wouldn''t opt for it.
The only sce for him was that he wasn''t the only one who was in misery.
Parth should be in the top 10 based on the ranking system of the Tower and he managed to hide till the end of the novel but now that bastard was ranked around 20. The top 15 were upied by those who had reached 4-Star as decided by Issac''s squad even though some assholes among them hadn''t even reached the third stage.
This is some next-level tyranny and misuse of power.
Lucas also knew that this was just a way to bring time to mess up his mind and agitate him during the 10 days. However, even after Vice-Principal Josh came, he might not get his desired rank as they might advocate that since the Tournament didn''t end properly, his rank shouldn''t be ced at the top and taking his realm into ount, he should be below the rankers who were 4-Star during the tournament.
''My performance is enough to get me in the top 3 but Issac is gonna use all his connections to suppress me.''
''He thinks of me as a harmless snake in the absence of Princess Julian.''
''Just you wait.''
Sensing his thoughts running wild again even on such an asion, Lucas shook his head trying to calm himself.
Slowly and steadily, he came toward the grave, put a flower on each grave and prayed for their well-being.
Despite being not close to the deceased, Lucas was sure that all of them would be unresigned to the way fate yed with them.
Drifting along, Lucas came towards the grave of his so-called nemesis and his expression becameplicated seeing Ezekiel''s grave.
His corpse was taken by the Duke to be coffined in his estate and this was just a memorial grave.
Lucas saw Ezekiel''s name crafted with golden letters along with a piece of sentence.
One who never gives up.
Lucas'' lips curled upwards seeing the text.
"Why am I not surprised?"
''Isn''t this a weird trait of each viin? Not giving up until death.''
Lucas, who was lost in thoughts for a moment, snapped out hearing a sharp cold voice.
"He admired you."
Lucas'' brows creased and on turning his head, the sight of a sickly pale face, with dark spots and disheveled clothes reflected in his eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
Jete with a cold expression, stared at the grave with a mncholic expression.
"When you defeated him during the ss Battle Royal, though he was greatly dissatisfied he admired you. He is just too stubborn at times but Ezekiel respected you and looked at you as his rival, one he needed to ovee no matter what."
Lucas was slightly startled by Jete''s words.
"How can I know that you are telling the truth? If he admired me, he wouldn''t have spread those rumours." Lucas asked cautiously as who knows if this girl who might have gone crazy tried to push him into a pit.
Jete stared at Lucas'' piercing eyes that were enough to make her shudder previously but now after going through such grief, all she felt was emptiness.
"It doesn''t matter if you don''t believe it. The person who matters and knows the truth is no more. I said this because I don''t want you to think of him as a spoiled brat like others. He spread the rumours because you were ignoring him and he wanted to draw your attention. Everyone makes mistakes and being born with a silver spoon and being used to looking down on others, we nobles naturally had a conceited tendency.''''.Jete paused a bit and stepped closer, caressing Ezekiel''s grave.
"But that doesn''t mean we can''t change. Like others, we also grow as we learn. Yeah, some might still not learn and behave as idiots as always but he wasn''t like that."
Lucas looked down remembering his confrontation with Ezekiel in the tournament and thought that Jete might be right as unlike before Ezekiel didn''t hurl curses at him calling foul blood or low blood.
Or, he might be wrong and didn''t pay attention to the barking dog.
"Before he aimed to be the strongest. Someone, who looked down on everyone thinking that he was superior but after his confrontation with you, he started to change. Watching you, he started to aim to be a better person instead of stronger, however, his defeat in your hands was like a knot in his heart which he wanted to unwind s.."
Jete couldn''t finish thest words as a drop of tears started to force out of her eyes.
Lucas stared nkly at her.
''She had fallen hard for him. Is this how Future Lucas felt?''
''Even though I joke about looking for a wife, still, I find it hard to believe that someone can fall in love to such an extent that your emotions cloud your every reason and judgement.''
''Ha....The world is quiteplicated.''
Thinking for a moment, Lucas asked Jete to follow him to a less crowded ce as people were stilling here.
As Jete followed Lucas towards the back with a confused expression, Lucas turned abruptly with a solemn expression.
"Say Jete, if give you a chance to have revenge, what will you do?"
Jete who heard this question almost stumbled upon her feet and then she gritted her teeth with a vicious expression.
"I...I will shred that fucker into pieces!" Jete screamed.
Hearing this, a strange grin appeared on Lucas'' face.
"Then why don''t we make a deal? Or you can say let''s exchange some favors."
.....
In a broad room filled devoid of daylight, a man with disarrayed hair drowned himself in wine and alcohol.
He raised his chin and his trembling eyes fell on a picture frame of a family of three. It was the picture of his loving wife who hugged her son cozily.
The picture that motivated him to stay strong had now be a thorn in his eyes that didn''t let him forget his misery.
His wife left early leaving behind his only son. After her death, many women tried to seduce him but his love for his dead wife had been deeply rooted to the point that he didn''t want anyone to upy the ce of his dead wife.
After her death, his son was the only one reason for him to be alive but now even he was taken away from him.
Looking at the picture, he murmured in a painful voice.
"Why?"
"Why are you always cruel to me? Taking away everything I loved."
"It''s not as if Imitted a huge crime of ughtering many people. This is too much."
His eyes became lifeless with tears bursting out from his eyes.
At that time, a knock resounded...
"Your Grace, there is someone who is asking for an audience."
"Ask them to go away. I am not in the mood to entertain guests.'''' He spoke, wiping away his tears whilementing the fact that he who always says that men don''t cry, was now shedding tears of sadness.
The Butler on the other side of the door hesitated a bit before speaking.
"Your Grace, Lady Jete sent him and asked me to ry to you that you need to meet this man no matter what as he contained some valuable information that might help you.
The Butler took a deep breath, as no sound came out but after a minute, a grave voice echoed.
"Let him in."
"You can go, Sir." The Butler spoke respectfully to the scar-faced man wondering who this guy was.
Pushing the door open, the man entered and saw Duke Holmes with a haggard expression sitting on a velvet sofa adorned with diamonds.
"Who are you and what information do you have?"
"And get straight to the point. I am not in a mood to hear random bbering."
"I pay my sincere greetings to one of the pirs of the Empire, Duke Holmes." The man spoke bowing his head respectfully and then pulled out the mask that startled Duke Holmes.
"You..."
Chapter 245 245:Sinister Plan
Chapter 245 245:Sinister n
A day ago¡.
"Are you close with Duke Holmes?"
Jenny stared at Lucas with an inexplicable gaze and replied,"Yes, I am."
"So, do this. Arrange a meeting with him." Lucas asked.
"I can''t do this. His condition is a bit worse. I don''t think he is in the same state currently."
"Can''t you contact his servant? Ask them to allow me to pass through." Lucas spoke in a leading tone.
"Can''t you just go and meet him? Why are you asking me to make a way for you?" Jenny asked with a confused expression.
"Do you think that guy would meet me if I appeared before his doors? He already hates Commoners and if you add me, his son''s former rival, to the equation, he would just kick me out."
"What are you going to do?" Jenny asked suspiciously.
Lucas stared straight into Jenny''s eyes.
"David...Omen...After what had happened and what we had to go through, I can''t let it go. I n to unite forces of people who have been harmed by them. Ezekiel isn''t the only one who suffered and he won''t best." Lucas walked closer towards Jenny and raised his palm.
"Join me Jenny, and I will make sure you will have your revenge. However, I am also looking for benefits and want a strong person under my wing. I do not want to force you against your will until you have your revenge. Until then we can work together. I will treat you well." Lucas spoke and added,"I will make sure that David will pay for his sins."
With a diamond bloodline and Marquise house backing her up, Jenny also had good prospects but originally she was swept up with Ezekiel, made many wrong decisions and faded into the background.
It took some time for Lucas to get back on track and change his subconscious thoughts about treating people without prejudice due to their character set in the book.
A living entity is a miraculous being that is capable of learning and self-growth. Ezekiel''s rivalry with Frederick had forced Jenny to a wicked stage and a rivalry against Rose that intensified to the point of territorial warfare in the 2nd year but now with such a loss, Lucas could see the maturity in Jenny. Except for the fact that she had lost light, she had now grown up a lot and who knows whether she would end up a broken viin harming others if not taken care of properly.
For a person with emptiness, anything that can fill their heart is a life-saving straw. And the goal of revenge for now might fill her heart.
It was a rare moment for him as he genuinely wanted her under his wing and he was not manipting her with false hopes.
As for David, that guy also had a beef with him and he knew he would be targeted by that bastard.
"Are you serious right now?"
Jenny was taken aback seeing the sincerity in Lucas'' eyes. Her mind became nk and her mind stagnated unable to decide anything.
"I am not joking, Jenny. I acknowledge your skills as well as Ezekiel''s. If he had looked a little bit out of his shell of arrogance, he might not have given David a chance to do this."
Jenny took a deep, heavy breath and stared at Lucas who was waiting for a handshake to seal the deal.
"Please, give me some time."Jenny pulled back at thest minute. Though her mind whispered to her to ept this after such grief, she had be a bit cautious and should take her time to think things through.
And how can she believe that this guy can rival Omen and corner them? About the help, she could help him as it wasn''t something significant.
"You can have your time. I understand but help me meet Duke Holmes, I have to meet him."
"I can do that." Jenny answered indifferently and started arranging things.
........
At the current time.
The disheveled Duke Holmes sat with a drooped hunched back. Strands of grey hair could be seen over his head.
Just in a few days, he seemed to have aged a lot.
Lucas who sat across from him could only sigh. It seems one of the noble houses might fall soon if things were left to fate.
Lucas'' eyes gleamed as he caught on something.
''House Steel is in bad shape. Holmes is way worse. And some noble heads died in the tournament.''
''Fuck, doesn''t that mean the Empire would soon be in chaos with many noble houses disintegrating?''
''Is this what Omen or White aimed for?''
Lucas'' whole body was drenched in cold sweat and his scalp became numb due to the sudden realization.
"So, what do you want to say?" Duke Holme''s cold voice reverberates.
"My condolences for your loss."
Duke Holmes'' eyes moved a bit. He took down a bottle and filled up a cup.
"Is this why you came here? to waste my time?"
A strong coercion erupted from his body striking Lucas who just remained unfazed by the pressure.
He could feel his bones getting crushed and his shoulders being weighed down by a huge weight, still, it was nothingpared to the pressure Future Lucas or Harris gave him.
A hint of surprise shed in Holmes'' eyes that made him sober up a bit.
As a hint of recognition for a guy who managed to surprise him and as someone whom his son had thought of as an opponent, Holmes gave Lucas a drink.
Lucas wanted to refuse as he wasn''t good with alcohol but he didn''t want to hit the man''s face in such a state.
Taking a sip, he got straight to the point.
"Sir Holmes, I came here for help. If possible, I want to make a deal."
Pfft!
"You want to help, you want to make a deal. What do you want from this man who can''t even protect his son and wife? Others see me as Duke, someone of nobler status but I can''t even consider myself a man after such failure. Moreover, it was one of my wrong choices that had led to my son''s death and here I am, wasting time drinking and trying to drown my sorrow and guilt." Duke Holmesughed heartily but Lucas could see tears in the man''s eyes making him ufortable.
''Damn, this is already the third sad depressed guy I have met that has been fucked up by life. It''s ufortable seeing a grown man shedding tears.''
"Shouldn''t you take revenge for your son''s death? You can''t let his death be meaningless."
Duke Holmes paused a bit and his eyes were set ze.
"Do you think I didn''t try? Those fucking Arts along with all those noble families just vanished as if they had never existed. I can''t seem to find a way for them. As per Omen, where the fuck can I find them!" He screamed crushing the wine ss and thenughed.
"I might have gone insane. I might look pathetic in your eyes and seem to have fallen to the point that now I am discussing things with a child who has yet to step into society. Moreover, you aren''t noble or someone with great power."
"Hahahah--"
Duke Holmes''s crazedughter was suddenly cut in the middle by Lucas'' words that riled his heart.
"What if I can help you find Art?"
The question came like a punch smashing Duke Holmes and he almost stood up in shock.
"You can?"
If he heard this previously, not only he would have sneered at Lucas but also spat at him for being an idiot who is trying to put his nose where he didn''t belong but now like an ant clutching ast straw to avoid drowning, Holmes asked excitedly with a great anticipation.
"Before I answer that, I want to ask you something?" Lucas raised his eyes and locked his gaze at Duke Holmes.
"What sort of deal did you reach with White and Arts behind the scenes?"
His sudden question hit him in the guard.
"I can''t answer that. I had taken a vow."
"I know that much." Lucas said.
"You can''t say but you can nod."
A mischievous smile formed over his lips.
"Is it about power, territory, secret organization, dividing the Empire by creating chaos and striking Roy-...."
Lucas didn''t need to finish his sentence as he already had an answer from Duke Holmes''s bewildered reaction to hisst words.
"I got it. Now that you said that, I am now almost sure that White had a hand in the disappearance of the Arts and noble families that had vanished out of nowhere."
"Did White silence them to keep the matter shielded?" Duke Holmes asked with a frown.
"No, it is unwise and a waste of manpower. Why go through such troubles when you have a chance to increase your prestige? With many strong people disappearing from the eyes and going into shadows, White would have gained a lot and you out of all of them were made the scapegoat."
Duke Holmes felt his heart stabbed and pierced by Lucas'' blunt words. He would have never imagined that the verymoner whom he hates to the core, would not only be sitting before him but also manage to find things he couldn''t guess.
No, it was just that, it''s just he had be too dull and wasted himself in alcohol unable to see this punny thing.
With no heir and being the weakest Duke, the people under him would try to get over him and many pairs of greedy eyes would already be eyeing his fall.
The moment he show weakness, he would hbe been swallowed and the House of Holmes would cease to exist.
Chapter 246 246:Sinister Plan[2]
Chapter 246 246:Sinister n[2]
A sense of dreariness washed over Duke Holmes snapping him out of his drowsiness.
With the way things were, he didn''t give a damn if the Empire was in crisis. The only thing that mattered now was to have revenge.
It was like a sixth sense of a parent who was repeatedly telling him that his son''s soul wouldn''t be in peace until he made the perpetrators behind this incident pay for their crimes.
"In the end, you might just be a chess piece that was going to be discarded at the end."
Duke Holmes stared at Lucas'' golden eyes with a cold look and asked,"Are you sure about this?"
"Even though I won''t hesitate to bite anyone who had a hand in my son''s death, I can''t attack without any proof and it''s Duke White you are talking about."
"They are the menaces who even controlled the Empire from the shadows centuries ago and no one knew how deep their water is. I am sure they have umted quite enough during the Puppet Emperor''s reign with ample means to rival that of the Empire."
Lucas tilted his head down a bit and intertwined his fingers. Even if he expected this still he was surprised that Duke Holmes still had enough reason left with him.
He thought that this guy may have already be a mad dog who would bite anyone if one looked at his previous behavior and records.
''At least he is not an idiot or a conceited fool who can''t weigh pros and cons.''
Instead of answering immediately, Lucas took a moment to think about the usible scenarios.
The current Emperor had always been weary of White''s trying to curb its power by imposing sanctions and bans but little did he know that White was like an elephant having different sets of teeth.
The amassed fortunes of White were all hidden deeply. On the upper surface, they aren''t corrupt and the officials do their duties well. Their business was quite clean and no one could point out a single fault.
However, that''s just the tip of the iceberg. Their real poweres from underground.
When investigated properly, one would find 7 out of 10 criminal organizations and mercenary groups linked to them.
Even Omen became their partner though Lucas didn''t know when they tied the knot as it happened in the background and if Lucas didn''t know the future, he would have thought their ambitions were just to leech off the Empire.
s, their greed was too vast to be contained in Cyprus. When chaos broke out, Duke White and Issac made a move crippling the workforce of the world.
Frederick, who was focusing on the frontline, wasn''t able to contain the chaos and if he left, the Demons and monsters would delve deeper into the humans.
''I may not cut them at once but I can slowly bite them off and curb their influence.''
Seeing Lucas didn''t speak for a long time, Duke Holmes raised his brows and asked teasingly.
"What happened? Thinking of backing out when I talked about evidence?"
Lucas lifted his chin startling Duke Holmes for a moment.
His heart shuddered to see the cold-blooded look on the boy that was devoid of empathy or emotions.
The coldness emanating from those eyes was enough to freeze one soul.
If he hadn''t seen this through his eyes, he would never have believed that a boy of simr age to his son could give him a look simr to that of a cold-blooded killer.
Lucas stood up from his seat abruptly under Duke Holmes'' curious eyes.
"Further talk would be meaningless since I don''t have evidence. Since you want evidence, I will give something irrefutable. Until then please ask your people to keep an eye on these guys." Lucas took out a pen drive from his pocket and put it on the table.
"Start sharpening your knife from now on. If you go against White, you might soon receive help. Until then, take care of yourself. Where there is a way, do not let the hard work of your ancestors get drowned because of the stupid decisions you have taken before. It''s time for you to step up and if you can''t, just ask others for help."
Lucas turned back and walked towards the door and opened it, leaving with a final parting words.
"Once you extend your hand to ask for help, you will naturally find people who will be happy and willing to do so."
BANG!
The door was closed, casting a deep silence inside.
Duke Holmes, who just sat there with a frozen expression, took a moment to recover. Today''s events shook him to the core.
Picking the pen drive, he shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Son, I pity you for choosing such an opponent. If you had just 10%...no, it is the father''s fault for not guiding his son properly."
"However, even after that, I don''t think you could rival him."
"His thoughts are already terrifying now. Who knows what he will be when he grows up?"
"Haaaa...Making an enemy of someone like him is like ordering a coffin for your own grave.'''' Duke Holmesughed out remembering a golden-eyed man who just looked like this boy but he shook his head.
....
Lucas returned by taking portals.
He didn''t go to the Academy but rather entered the Inner City and entered the Princess'' Mansion gifted to Julian by the Emperor.
He was blocked by the array of Knights but with the Princess Pass, he was allowed after some verification and Miss Ami also vouched for him making it easier for him to go through.
He entered the inside where Miss Ami was present to lead the way.
"I heard about all the nuisances." Ami said with a bitter smile,"Just hold on for a bit, once Her Highness wakes up, I will make sure to help you."
Lucas stared at Miss Ami''s haggard expression. She seemed to be quite tired. Though her words didn''t give him much hope, at least it warmed his heart a bit.
"How is Her Highness?" Lucas asked as he followed Miss Ami to the inner chambers.
"She is still unconscious. Her condition has recovered but we do not know when she will wake up."
Lucas knew that it would be any time today when Julian would wake up. What Lucas wanted was to strike at the right moment when she was vulnerable.
He will pass her the cure and exchange some favours. It might not work out well when she is in her right mind so he needs to do it while she is muddled.
"Miss Ami, do you know where Vice-Principal Josh went and when he will return? I might need his help."
"He had gone to look for someone. As to when he will return, I don''t even know." Ami shook her head helplessly.
''That means, he had surely gone to look for Principal Dous under the Emperor''s order. I need to make sure he returns as soon as possible otherwise I can''t move forward with my ns.''
Lucas and Ami reached the inner room where Julian was resting.
"She is taking a rest inside. Do you want to go and take a look?"Ami asked.
"No, it would be improper." Lucas muttered, folding his arm and leaning back on the wall, making Ami sigh in relief, but in the next moment, her expression changed drastically.
Lucas, about to lean on the wall when Miss Ami, pulled Lucas'' arms shaking his body.
"That won''t do. You should go and take a look since you are here. I am sure Her Highness would be happy."
"WHAT?" Lucas stared at Miss Ami''s expression as she pulled him.
"Miss Ami, are you saying that? Wai-..."
Before Lucas could plead, Ami forcefully pushed him into the room and locked the door from outside.
"Sorry, Lucas, I don''t want to do this but it''s the Emperor''s order," Ami muttered softly while praying that nothing bad would happen inside.
Lucas was about to strike the door but his body froze on realizing where he was.
He turned back and saw a huge luxurious bed in the distance over which Juliany covered with many nkets and then looked at the door that had been locked.
''Have she gone mad? How can she let a man enter into the room of a woman of such high status? The Emperor would¡''
Lucas'' thoughts paused for a moment and he controlled his urge to curse aloud.
''Fuck¡I am sure it''s that bandit king''s orders. He always acts against the men chasing Julian, but since Julian doesn''t repel me, he must be doing this to find a way to cause trouble for me.''
''If I stared at Julian or went near her, he must surely note all this and ry it to Julian after adding some spice to it.''
Lucas rubbing his chin, looked around the room.
''Hmm! I remember, there is also a secret chamber to hide. What if he is observing me?''
Veins bulge over his head as he realizes the sinister n cooked by the Emperor.
"Good¡Very Good."
Lucas spotted a table near the window and walked towards it. He sat on the chair and pulled out the dairy where the cure was written.
He wrote two more important things and as he wrote them, an evil grin appeared on his face that was enough to send a chill down the spine.
''You want to burn my future. Let''s see if you don''t get your house burnt into mes.''
''Kekeke!''
Chapter 247 247:A Matter Of Past
Chapter 247 247:A Matter Of Past
While the entire world seems to be moving, time seems to be paused for someone.
Julian seemed asleep but she was unconscious yet conscious at the same time in her inner soul. From the moment the guardian spirit residing in her natal soul got pulled out, she was in a state of suspended animation.
It may not look it like but she was aware and was able to perceive everything that happened in the tournament.
She saw the scene that none were able to witness.
When everyone fell, he stood up.
Like a gale of storm, his presence blew her mind and heart.
Like waves of a tsunami, his wrath flooded over the enemies.
The moment Lucas got possessed by someone, a shock went through her body.
Many questions arose in her heart out of nowhere seeing the cold emotionless face of Lucas possessed by someone
She felt a certain connection to him.
''Why do you look so much in pain?''
''Why am I getting a familiar feeling from you?''
''Why does my heart burst out seeing you? What are all these emotions?''
s, there was no one to answer those questions to clear her confusion and by the end, she passed out after Lucas'' forehead touched hers and she fell into a deep slumber.
.....
DRIP!DRIP!DRIP!DRIP!DRIP
The world bellowed with a mighty shower drenching the parched earth.
Under the crimson sky reeking with blood and amidst the destruction of the world wrecked into rubles, a man holding a woman in a wretched state walked across the blood-soaked soil.
The woman raised her chin to stare across the world that was at the end of destruction.
Stopping at a ce that was freed of blood and destruction, a scarred face looked around at the rising sun spreading its crimson austere holding a frail trembling woman gently yet tightly.
The man felt as if the woman would disappear from his sight if he loosened his grip even for a moment.
His firm eyes looked a bit lost, seeing the short-haired woman filled with scars and bruises. Even though her skin had be charred and burnt, it still carried the allure of the charms she was born with.
She was a female fatale, capable of destroying the world with her charm. She was born with a golden spoon with everything at the reach of her hand yet she was reduced to such a state by the cruel world.
"Why do you have to go through all this, Your Highness?.. Just why is fate so cruel to you?"
"Stop calling me Highness, I am not a Princess any more and soon, I am gonna get my freedom. My days of hell are soon going to end." She refuted softly with a painful smile that tore the man''s heart.
The man''s heart pained and holding her hands, he spoke sorrowfully.
"I am useless...Until the end, I was useless and ipetent unable to share your worry. If I wasn''t so weak, you wouldn''t have to hide from people hunting after you." The scarred-faced man''s voice choked at the end.
The woman moved a bit as she stared at the man who had always been with her in the woes.
The Empire fell, and her parents were brutally murdered before her very eyes but before that, they used their remaining strength to allow her to escape.
With the hope of revenge, she could only run away so that her family''s sacrifice wasn''t wasted. However, it wasn''t easy to escape in this wretched world.
A huge bounty was put on her name attracting countless people all over the world. Her disguise failed due to some people having discerning eyes.
Her beauty and charm became a disaster making it hard for her to hide so she destroyed it.
No woman would want to do this and might hesitate many times before taking this step but she ruthlessly destroyed her beautiful self.
She burnt her entire body and scratched it with knife marks from face to toes. She cut her angelic bluish-white hair into short and tried to make her as ugly as possible.
But despite all this, some people who had the power to identify souls managed to find her and surrounded her. As she resigned herself to fate, searching for people going after the bounty he appeared and carried her protecting her against the sea of enemies.
Unfortunately, he waste as she lost her lower portion and she used her life force to increase her strength, she almost became a cripple.
The only way to cure her was to use the sap of World but those fucker brunt the entire tree to ashes.
Now, staring at the saddened expression of the man, a beautiful smile appeared across her face.
"What? Are you feeling remorse now that you didn''t ept my proposal at that time? Didn''t I say that you will regret it if you don''t ept it?" Even in pain, she gave a mesmerizing smile.
"I...." The scarred man''s words got stuck as the woman put a finger across his lips.
"I understand how things have been difficult for you. You don''t need to say that. I don''t want to burden you any more.And I don''t want to drag you down to death with me."
His heart shuddered to see that look and he spoke trying to suppress his fear.
"Truthfully, I may look tough but I am afraid of being alone, I am afraid of imagining life without you. If you leave, I don''t know how¡.I just feel like losing myself."
"I feel suffocated just by thinking about this."
The woman spoke cruelly, shattering his heart but as he saw drops of tears trickling down from her eyes, he knew just how much pain she was going through.
He knew he was being selfish and if not for him she would have already killed herself after all how can a prideful girl like her who can make her enemies tremble in fear live like a cripple who can''t even walk. If he were in her ce, he might also do the same thing still, he couldn''t ept it.
"If you hadn''t saved me at that time, I may not be alive today. You are the reason I am alive and what I have be is all thanks to you otherwise I would be still wriggling under someone''s feet waiting to be trampled."
The man who kept mumbling panicked seeing her not answering which made him afraid and his mind went nk while his body went cold.
He opened his pale lips to speak, but his body suddenly jolted forward due to being pulled.
Before the man could react, she held his neck and pulled him towards her and kissed him violently, sucking his lips, startling the man.
A chilling iciness erupted from her body that covered the entire ce.
A bluish aura moved from her body and went across his heart and the power started to integrate into his body.
As he felt a sudden influx of power, his heart suddenly stopped beating as he noticed the auster in her eyes dimming.
Tears welled up in his eyes as he struggled to hold back his emotions.
He squeezed her hand weakly and his eyes gazed at her face as if trying to capture every detail of her face and every memory of her and lock it in his heart.
Looking at her face was bing pale, he spoke the sentence that he was never to muster the courage to speak.
"I love you." He spoke with a voice filled with untold sadness coupled with his boundless love.
"I love you today, I loved you yesterday and I am going to love you tomorrow."
"Whether it was in the past, present or future, I loved you and will do so in every possible timelines until we can be together."
His voice choked at the end as he watched her body bing limp and her soul slipping away to which he whispered words offort with a smiling face and promising to cherish those precious memories forever.
After an unknown amount of time, his knees unable to muster the strength became limp and he squatted down holding her close to his chest with tears streaming down from his face knowing that she had gone away taking a part of him that would be missing forever.
Chapter 248 248:In Exchange For Cure
Chapter 248 Chapter 248:In Exchange For Cure
Unbeknownst to him, Lucas had fallen asleep out of nowhere. In the midst of writing some additional information, his eyelids felt heavy and he was drawn to sleep but he woke up immediately feeling a crushing pain in his heart.
Lucas opened his eyes and was bewildered to see drops of tears sliding down his cheek.
He ced his palm on his chest that was thumping against his chest wildly.
''What the fuck?''
Lucas immediately wiped away the tears while trying to remember the dream he had a moment ago.
"What happened to me? Why can''t I remember anything I just saw?"
"Did someone attack me by invading into my dream or did they pull me into their dream? Is it the Emperor? Or did he instruct someone to deal with me?"
He muttered feeling his mind go nk as many questions started ringing in his mind one after another.
He started to remember the contents of the dream but felt something was blocking him from remembering things and the more he tried to remember forcefully, the more his head started to ache.
As he was about to ponder about it, he heard a rustling sounding from the bed.
.......
The mana inside Julian''s body was constantly shaking fiercely while her body tried to assimte as much as possible heat from the surroundings.
Slowly and steadily her face started to regain her austere and the chillness started to subside slowly.
A warm sensation enveloped her giving her a cozy andfy feeling that prolonged her peaceful rest.
She didn''t know how much time had passed.
Whether it was a moment or a few days, she didn''t know about it.
The delicate eyelids adorned by thin eyshes matching the silvery bluish white hair of the beautiful woman who had been lying in the same position for an unknown amount of time quivered gently for a moment before finally beginning to move upward slowly.
Blinking a few times, her crimson eyes were unfocused and her body was feeling quite warm and cozy, making her feel extremelyfortable and giving her a soothing and rxing feeling.
Julian closed her eyes again and sighed in her heart after trying to figure out her memories of what happened after she passed out.
It was really like a roller coaster. The things she experienced in such a short period weighed her down.
At this moment, the memory of Lucas holding her in his arms and confronting Issac appeared in her mind.
As soon as she remembered it, her cheeks started to heat up as she had faint memories of all those intimate moments. It was the first time a man outside her family touched her, making her feel weird.
Though she wasn''t embarrassed about it, she felt a bit shy.
She remembered Lucas'' warm touch which made her reluctant to part with him.
Previously, Lucas had just touched her back but now she wondered if Lucas had touched more than that as he carried her.
"Haaa....." She sighed heavily.
"That scoundrel really took advantage of me this time." Julian muttered with a coquettish voice which when heard may give a heart attack to many.
If anyone can record her voice and leak it to the public, the entire Cyprus might burn in jealousy and if anyone manages to find the identity of that person, he might be the number one public enemy of the masses.
"And who might be that scoundrel that you are referring to?"
Julian''s brows furrowed and her expression distorted as she heard a hoarse heavy voice.
She got up from her bed and the moment she looked around, her expression cracked for a moment seeing Lucas sitting on a table near the window and looking at her with a cold bloodied expression giving her a shiver down the spine.
She was unable to react for a moment seeing that intense gaze. Realising something, she looked down and saw that she was dressed properly.
Though her skin was exposed a bit, it was nothing much and for some reason, she was not embarrassed at all but her heart was beating wildly seeing those intense gazes.
"Why are you here?" She asked.
Her voice was quite soft, much contrary to her previous cold self.
Even she hadn''t noticed that her usual indifference had softened slightly when she spoke this time.
The coldness in her voice could not be found anywhere rather was filled with warmth and carried a tiny hint of concern.
Lucas looked outside and saw the flowers swaying in the gentle breeze. He may have looked serious but inwardly felt a bit absent-minded seeing Julian with her clothes soaked in sweat sticking close to her body giving him a peek at the marvelous curves with well-endowed proportions.
Everything about her looks perfect.
However, he felt this wasn''t enough to force him to concede or lose his mind.
Taking a deep breath, he spoke,"I am asking the same question myself.''''
"Huh?"Julian tilted her head in confusion.
"We shouldn''t dwell on such useless matters." Lucas turned back and spoke with a smile.
Julian stared at Lucas''s smiling face and her eyes widened for a moment as she saw his smile ovepping with a certain someone.
''So, was it true? Was that the end that I...no we were going to experience?''
Julian bit her lips and her fighting intent soared.
Lucas pushed the dairy on the table and pointed at it.
"Your Highness, please open it after I leave."
"What''s in it?" Julian asked.
"Cure....Cure to your treatment."Lucas answered truthfully.
"The cure to my illness¡." Julian muttered softly, unable to process these words.
After a moment of silence, a scream erupted from her lips.
"What?! Cure to my illness? Where did you get this?"
Lucas kept mum for a moment before answering,"Does it matter?"
Julian shrank back under those scrutinizing gazes,"If it works for real, I dont think it''s matter." She muttered nonchntly.
"However, I am not giving you this for free. I want something in exchange."
Chapter 249 249:In Exchange Of Cure
Chapter 249 Chapter 249:In Exchange Of Cure
Lucas conversed with Julian freely, unaware of the two states scrutinising him from head to toe from the secret beside the wind.
"So, father, this is our brother in-." A man with silver hair spoke in a lethargic tone while rubbing his eyes and shut his lips feeling a dense killing intent choking him.
"Ellen, fuck you!" Kevin roared, almost scaring the shit out of his third son.
"Father, I am your child. You can''t kill me."
"It would be good if you die. The world would have at least one less burden to carry." Kevin spoke angrily and his voice was filled with envy and jealousy.
If one asked who Kevin was, who he hated the most in this world. Then he would answer without any hesitation that he hated Ellen the most and always wanted to beat him.
And the reason behind this was not somethingplex.
His third son Ellen had been living the life that he always wished to live. Carefree with no worries and ying around all day to his heart''s content.
Ellen''s mother was Kevin''s maid and childhood friend. Though she didn''t have a prominent background, working under him, she had a vast connection to use if Ellen fought for the throne but this bastard had always managed to get out of his grasp and would disappear during important times.
"If only my father had another son, I wouldn''t have hit my head taking care of an Empire filled with fools." Kevin cursed as he always felt that the Empire was a shackle around his neck.
"Father, can you stop cursing me to death with your eyes? Lazing around is an art that you don''t have so just do what you are good at.'''' Ellen muttered nonchntly patting Kevin''s shoulder but retracted his hands noticing his re.
"Cough..So, I was talking about ...''
"Why the hell are you calling that asshole brother-inw?" Kevin''s face became red in anger, feeling that Ellen was rubbing salt on his wound.
"Huh?!" Ellen scratches his head acting confused and asks.
"Didn''t you and Uncle Leonard have talked about this engagement? I heard about this when I was ying around."
Kevin facepalmed trying to contain his urge to p.
"What we talked about was if Leonard had a daughter, I would make one of my sons marry her daughter and if possible she would be the Empress and it''s not the other way around."
"Oh." Ellen made an understanding look.
"But what''s the problem with Julian being with him if she really wished it?"
Kevin''s expression darkened hearing Ellen''s words. He couldn''t even imagine his cute loving dollughing for an outsider.
Hearing no reply from Kevin, Ellen continued.
"If my analysis is correct. There is a 99.99% chance that he is going to be the one. I know my sister very well. Except for the family, she had never dared to be close with any male. Though she didn''t have the so-called disease she almost hated men to the core unless they were a bit decent." Ellen then pointed at Julian and spoke with a smile.
"And old man, do you see that look in her eyes? I can tell you that she seems to be conflicted about her own emotions and feelings at the moment. Her mind seems to be in a mess due to those unknown emotions...."
CLUNG!
All the hair on Ellen''s body stood erect as he heard a scratching sound and turning his head, he was taken aback to see Kevin pulling out his sword.
"Why are unsheathing this sword?''''
"To shove it in your ass so that you don''t talk anymore." Kevin answered calmly, however, his eyes were saying something else.
The more Ellen described Julian''s expression gracefully, the more his heart burnt. If Lucas wasn''t Leonard''s son, he would have hacked that piece of shit and wiped him off the world.
But he can do nothing now except feel sour with anger that he wanted to vent.
.......
"There is also some other information beside this." Lucas pointed out in a diary and ced it on the table nearby with a nk expression.
"What''s in that?" Julian asked curiously.
"Aside from the way to treat your condition, this contains information that mighte in handy."Lucas cast a gentle smile
Julian''s eyes shone with astonishment, her lips opening wide, almost asking how. However, she managed to stop her impulsive behaviour and a sudden thought came into her mind.
''Were all of those memories true? Did he regress? Otherwise, there is no way he could find the cure.''
The dream from which she woke up wasn''t a simple one. She saw many crucial events which might or might not be true.
However, till the end of her life she didn''t know a way to cure her curse.
Julian''s eyes becameplicated. She wanted to ask but she felt a lump stuck in her throat.
Swallowing her saliva, she asked, "What do you want in exchange?"
"Permission to move The Secret Order."
"You even know about that." Julian blinked her eyes though this time she wasn''t shocked.
''Was there anything he didn''t know? But ording to my dream, I didn''t create any secret order and was struggling to even live due to a curse. All of the things in this life are quite different to the point that this doesn''t make sense.''
The more Julian thought, the more messy it became. On top of that, she felt a bit sour seeing Lucas exchanging favour for this when she could permit him if he just asked with a valid reason.
Julian bit her lips at the thought.
''Something is wrong with me. These unknown emotions are affecting my thought process. I was already bad at handling my emotions and it had be worse due to all these bullshit events.''
Julian peeked at Lucas subtly but seeing that nk stoic look, she felt frustrated.
She did not know why but she expected something else, maybe some sweet words but from the moment she woke up, he had maintained a clear firm distance and hadn''t even asked about her current state.
He seemed to be on guard around her and treated her more coldly than before.
On the other hand, though Lucas was acting stoic his heart was beating wildly seeing Julian''s displeased expression like that of a wife asking for her husband to calm her down.
''Damn! What''s with that look?''
At that moment, Julian''s expression was like an open book. There was neither any mask on her expression nor was she making an effort to hide it.
''I think she might have seen some things of the future as Future Lucas''s interference in the world flow might have brought an undesirable effect which he warned me about.''
After a brief pause, Julian also calmed down a bit. She felt that she needed some peace of mind because this guy''s presence was stirring her thought processes.
Taking a deep breath, she spoke.
"Okay! I will permit you if what''s in this diary is worth it. So, let me first take a look and think about this."
Lucas nodded seeing Julian calming down.
After a brief pause, Lucas stood up abruptly and turned around.
"Your Hi...I mean the president, have a rest and please take care of yourself. I hope you will be fine."
Lucas walks back pausing a little.
''I hope that you can soar this time without anything dragging you and I will try to make sure that happens.''
CLICK!
Julian stared nkly as Lucas receded feeling a bit lost.
''Haaa¡..I need to sort out my mind and feelings. I shouldn''t be influenced by those memories. If I want to fall for him, I need to fall for the current him, not for the things that happen in future otherwise it would be an injustice to him. However, even before I came to know all this I couldn''t refute the fact that every male I came across, I liked quite a bit but this guy always avoided the topic.''
''In that sense, his current and future selves are the same, not wanting to put down their ego.''
Julian pouted with a sour expression and was about to get up when a figure appeared before her, startling her.
Chapter 250 250:Leaving A Threat
Chapter 250 Chapter 250:Leaving A Threat
"My precious girl¡."
"Shut up and step back." Julian blurted out instinctively.
Julian felt her blood pressure going above the horizon.
"That means you were listening to us."
With an embarrassed expression, the father-son duo who walked out of the secret room to greet her halted under Julian''s sharp gaze.
Julian stared at them with a deadpan expression and asked,"Aren''t you ashamed of eavesdropping others? An Emperor and Prince, secretly listening to the conversation of others. Do you think you would have any face left behind if this gets out?"
Kevin just averted his gaze as if she wasn''t talking to him. Meanwhile, Ellen just shrugged nonchntly.
"It''s not as if he had any face left after ying around."
Kevin choked and red at Ellen shutting him up, then he walked towards Julian with an amicable expression.
"My doll, we didn''t mean that. We were just looking after you. Who knows what a boy in a room alone with a fairy like you will do? Remember men are beasts. You can''t let your guard around them. Who knows when that beast will pounce on you0000 so your daddy was here to guard you." Kevin exined his reasoning and beat his chest.
Julian''s lips twitched uncontrobly on hearing this. She wanted to refute saying that you are also a man but she decided to stop feeling headache from dealing with this dramatic duo.
Her third brother had ways of twisting words drafting ck into white while white into ck and this was a talent he inherited from this guy only.
"Did you hear everything?" Julian asked
"Umm!" Kevin and Ellen nodded their heads as if they understood what she meant.
"Any opinions?" Julian asked.
"I will not interfere with your deal but as for the treatment, I am skeptical about it.'''' Kevin voiced his opinion feeling a bit stifled.
How can a boy have a cure for a Curse when the entire world doesn''t have one? Kevin felt absurd hearing Lucas'' words.
And if he had one then since when and from where did he get it? And how?
While Kevin asked Julian about her condition, Ellen picked up the diary and scrolled through it.
A very profound magic diagram appeared on the second page with notes on each circle, their uses and the number of strokes in each diagram. There were also several sets of runic arrays squeezed through the circle following which a vast amount of materials were required to make the mixture that would be used to draw the circle.
Just a look at it made Ellen dizzy. Though he wasn''t a heaven-born genius, he was fairly aplished and well-versed in magic but the profoundness of this was beyond what he could fathom.
''What, in the name of the seven hells is this? It looks legendary...no ancient powerful magic of mass potential. How can a kid find this?''
''No, even if he found it, can someone even copy such a structure? Only that old man Dous can imprint this.''
"Hey, stop gawking at the dairy as if you have seen something heaven-defying."Kevin mocked seeing Ellen''s eyes almost popping out from his socket.
"Even a low-ss thing is enough to surprise him. This is what happens when he stays on the streets and ys around instead of studying seriously.
"Dad, take a look." Ellen ignored his father''s mocking and spoke with a solemn expression, surprising Julian and Kevin a bit.
Kevin took the diary and started reading it but seeing Julian peeking curiously, he bent a little to allow her to see things.
And when the father-daughter duo went through it, expressions of shock and astonishment shed in their eyes.
"It looks soplicated. Looking at it makes me wonder if I had studied magic properly."'' Julianmented.
Kevin didn''tment and went through it. With his experience and knowledge, he was able to understand some things.
It is like a conduit that takes the excess cold mana and converts it to hot mana which is then transferred back to the body that would sh against the cold mana.
This thing might not clear the root problem but it was enough to keep her safe from chill attacks. His fear of Julian freezing due to chill attacks and falling into a life-death crisis would be lessened a bit.
Kevin turned the page and looked at the series of materials with a frown. There were a total of 108 things that needed to be ground into a slimy mood and then a magic circle would be engraved behind her back.
"Now, this makes itplex. One can''t afford to make a mistake in engraving it."
"Dad, that old man Dous is fit for the job." Ellen said.
"I know that old man is good enough. However..." Kevin stared at the circle with aplicated expression.
"We don''t know the true profoundness and mystery behind this and can''t be entirely sure if this will work."
Julian stared at her brother and father''s frowning expression and asked.
"Then, can''t we look for someone else to make sure this diagram is safe?"
Though she believed in Lucas that wouldn''t make her father trust the thing.
Kevin shook his head.
"Sir Dous is one of the three Archmage of the current Era and his attainments are almost simr to the two of the Ralph Kingdom. So if he can''t, then those two also can''t."
"So, in that case, we can only find the Sage."
"Who?" Both Julian and Ellen were confused seeing their father talking about someone with a reverence that made them doubt if their father had gone mad.
"You will knowter but for now just remember one thing. The Sage isn''t a God but he is equal to God who is overseeing the world from a safe ce and minimizing some sinister existence." Kevin answered but regretted it at the next second thinking if he had spoken too much.
"But the problem is, this doesn''t eliminate the root ca..." Kevin''s words struck in the middle as the next page lifted due to the wind.
Kevin squinted his eyes seeing the words Pennant Cure.
[Use the Blood Essence of Lava Dragon to permanently cure the curse.]
[Don''t need to waste your time looking around. You can find one in Versailles City Fire Vein in the Dwarf Kingdom.]
[Warning: If you use Blood essence without the magic circle, then there is an 89% chance that she will burst out unable to assimte. The Magic Circle will guide the heat emitted during assimtion to the perfect path and will keep the energy in a synergical path so no matter how bad the situation is, don''t consume Blood essence without engraving the Magic Circle first..]
[And another thing, if you are looking for the Principal, he is in Hames City in the Demon Continent. You can find him in Tavern''s name I don''t remember but as far as I had seen, you will find him flirting with the Hostess of the Tavern. Please inform Vice-Principal Josh to look there and ask him toe back to the Academy within 5 days.]
Kevin''s eyes almost popped out of their socket for a moment.
''What the hell did I read? Is this diary written by a kid or an omnipotent being? And what did he mean by seeing?? Is he a seer?''
Kevin rubbed his chin wondering if he should investigate the matter.
Kevin skimmed the page and saw another message that seemed to be directed at him.
[Your Majesty, if by chance you are reading this. I hope you don''t burn the bridge after you cross it. I swear and I am even prepared to take a mana Oath that I would never do something to harm Julian. All, I think, is for the benefit of Her Highness. However, despite this, if you take the matter into your own hands and try to cause trouble for me, I only have three words for you.]
[9th September 2072.]
The moment Kevin read the date, he closed the diary immediately in bewilderment and cursed.
"Fuck You!"
"What?!"Julian and Ellen screamed.
Kevin''s body froze seeing Julian and Ellen''s expressions. Hiding his awkwardness, he ordered.
"Ellen, we found a permanent cure. Ask that number one to go to the Dwarf Kingdom now and inform them that we are going to hunt The Fire Dragon in Versailles."
"And ask number two to handle the intelligence department and pass the message that Sir Dous is in Thames City. I will give more informationter."
"Go.....Go.....Stop standing and wasting time and inform the other two."Kevin shooed Ellen away and then looked at Julian.
"My baby Princess, give me an hour. I wille back after arranging things."
"No problem, but give me the diary. I want to study it."
Kevin felt a chill down the spine and his back was drenched in sweat.
"No, Julian. I need to take this. There is some additional information here that I need to look for." Kevin spoke and ran away as if life was online under Julian''s confused expression.
''Damn you, Leonard, what kind of vicious cub did you give birth to? Fuck, he isn''t even twenty.''
''I haven''t even started making things hard for you but you bastard already threatened to burn my house.''
''What the hell?''
Chapter 251 251:Are You Willing To Bet On Your Limbs?
Chapter 251 251:Are You Willing To Bet On Your Limbs?
After a whole many days of spection, the academy finally reopened. However many students were still absent and were taking their time to digest the incident.
As per those whose soul were damaged, now they can only depend on fate to show a miracle.
Some were even thinking about dropping out. If you are from one of the top nobles, it is not as if you are gonna lose something important by dropping.
The sole reason for them to enroll here was to build connections and battle among their peers for superiority.
In Lucas''s ss, which has been changed to A-1, in the absence of Ami, Donald took over the first ss with a smiling gentle face.
The atmosphere of the ss was quite weird to begin with.
Previously, the ss had been divided into three factions, Charles, Frederick and Rose taking over the girls group.
But all of them hade closer after the ss battle Royal, however after Lucas confronted Frederick things had frozen between the two.
"I hope you are doing okay and had a fair share of fun."
The moment he said this many pairs of eyes red at him as if asking if he had gone insane.
"We took days off to digest and recuperate, not to have fun." A boy spoke bluntly.
"It''s all the same." Donald nodded.
"By the way, congrattions for performing well. This ss had some talented people in here."
The atmosphere froze as soon as Donald raised the topic.
As the matter of ranks arose, Charles and Parth along with many stared at Lucas withplicated expressions.
Many of them were looking forward to his rank but to their disbelief, he wasn''t ranked.
Things haven''t been good for him and many rumours now paint him as a bad guy who sabotaged the Academy resources for his profit.
On top of that, this was the first time Charles had heard such a stupid and unreasonable reason to deprive one''s rank. He was sincerely worried about him and even asked his father to help, who assured him that he would talk to the Vice-Principal.
While Frederick stared at Lucas withplicated eyes, Axel stared at him with pity.
''Poor guy. He was cheering me up that I didn''t have a chance to be in the top 10 but he didn''t even get a rank. Don''t worry Lucas, I don''t look down on you. I believe in you.''
Rose and Helena know the insider information and also add more pity to what he is receiving.
Parth, who was peeking at Lucas'' expression, was also worried about this to the point that he was chewing his nails out of anxiety.
But the reason for his worry was greatly different from others.
''This can''t be happening. I can''t believe this. I bet all my fortune that Lucas would be in the top 5 but this piece of shit isn''t even ranked.''
''Fuck, I am broke. I am bankrupt.''
''Did he get some insider pieces of information and pull some cards so that he isn''t ranked after gambling on himself? Knowing him, I am sure he can do this.''
''Damn it!'' Parth cursed inwardly as his heart bled.
If Lucas heard this, he would have beaten this bastard to pulp after all, he had bet 100k on himself that he would be in the top 5 but due to someone''s interference his money had been stripped so Lucas was in a foul mood.
Lucas notices everyone gazes at him and tries to contain his urge to shout.
''Stop looking at me like that. If you want to pity someone, pity those idiot Professors. They don''t have many days to remain here.''
Seeing the uneasy atmosphere prevailing around, Donald coughed a bit trying to ease things.
"There might be some problems here and there but don''t worry. All will be good once the Vice-Principal arrives.'''' Donald spoke, pushing back his specks.
"Everyone has done their best so don''t need to be upset about the final result. For those who are in the top 10, I believe you should prepare yourself for things toe. Once Sir Joshes, you will get a reward and ess to thebyrinth."
At that time Donald saw someone jumping on his seat and waving his hand.
"What happened?"
"Excuse me, Sir but exactly is thatbyrinth, you are talking about? I have heard it many times, but what is it particrly?"
Donald stared at the boy solemnly for a moment and made him curl back in his seat.
"The Labyrinth is an ancient site of the previous era. ording to Seers, the powerhouse of the previous Era built a site of testing that might be helpful to the next generation. As for what is in the Academy Labyrinth. I don''t know. Only those who have entered there know its profoundness."
"So, those of you who got the chance to go there, please make sure to utilize this opportunity well."
Donald, after giving a brief speech, took his leave after which students started to murmur.
Frederick, who was sitting silently, stood up and walked towards Lucas.
The entire ss descended into silence while some geared themselves up to witness an epic confrontation.
Rose frowned with a worried expression and stared at Frederick''s group of friends seeing them not reacting she fell into a dilemma wondering if she should act in case these two fight but after pondering a bit she decided to observe.
''I hope Frederick doesn''t let his stupidity get the better of him.''
Frederick stood before Lucas but before he could speak, his heart became uneasy seeing his expression.
Lucas faced Frederick''s darkened face with a gentle smile on his lips but those eyes seemed to shoot daggers at him.
"Lucas, we need to talk."
Lucas stared at Frederick with a smile while trying to figure out this guy''s thoughts.
''Does he want to pull to the side and get rid of me?''
Lucas took a moment feeling intense gazes locking him.
Lucas'' lips twitched as he nced around.
''Come on, guys. It''s not as if we are deadly enemies.''
"What do you want to talk about?" He asked nonchntly.
"Not here."
Lucas just got from his seat and nodded.
"Follow me."
Frederick stepped ahead but stopped seeing Parth and Charles following behind.
"Now, why are you following us."
"We..."Before Charles could answer, Parth blurted out.
"To witness the epic showdown."
BANG!
Charles hit the back of Parth''s head with a re.
Frederick sighed seeing the tense situation.
"Don''t worry, we are not going to fight. We are just going to have a peaceful conversation."
However, seeing Charles and Parth''s disbelieving look, Frederick gave a bitter smile.
"Am I really that untrustworthy?"
"....."
Frederick smiled and ceased seeing the trio keeping their lips shut.
Lucasughed inwardly seeing Frederick''s expression.
"Okay, enough jokes. I believe he won''t do anything bad.'''' Lucas assured them and followed Frederick to the garden.
''In fact, he can''t.''
Cause unlike before Lucas is not gonna take things lying.
Frederick led Lucas towards the garden up to the borders of Blood Peach forest which was deste.
He observed Lucas here and was surprised to see him looking around with a carefree expression and whistling while his hands wrapped behind his head.
Seeing this, Frederick decides to act.
Summoning his spear that appeared out of thin air, Frederick turned his body swiftly and swung the other end of the metallic rod spear straight at Lucas'' head.
BOOM!
A loud shockwave resonated sweeping the dust and debris that created a smoke screen before him.
Frederick had almost used all his strength to attack but to his surprise, as the dust dispersed he saw Lucas blocking his move casually with his left hand that gripped the other end of the spear-like pincers.
"I don''t know the intention behind this move of yours but¡.."
Lucas tilted his head to the side, casting a crazy smile that shook Frederick''s heart wildly.
"Do you think you think you can handle the repercussions of attacking me cause unless you have the power of peak 6-Star, even if you don''t die I will make sure you lose more than a limb."
Lucas held the spear tightly not letting Frederick get it back and stared deep into Frederick eyes with a chilly expression .
"So, my dear Frederick.Are you willing to bet on your arms cause I am not only ready but I am prepared enough to bet my life on this fight."
Chapter 252 252:Are You Willing To Bet On Your Limbs?[2]
Chapter 252 252:Are You Willing To Bet On Your Limbs?[2]
"So, my dear Frederick. Are you willing to bet on your arms cause I am not only ready but I am prepared enough to bet my life on this fight."
Lucas cast a threatening smile while looking at Frederick''s stats using his insight andparing them to his own.
___________________
Name: Frederick Frost
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Diamond
Realm: 4-Star+
Combat Ability: C-
Strength: 4-Star
Agility: 4-Star
Stamina: 5-Star
Perception: 4-Star+
Magic Power: 5-Star-
Name: Lucas Bright
Species: Human
Bloodline Grade: Golden
Realm: 4-Star-
Combat Ability: D+
Strength: 4-Star+
Agility: 5-Star-
Stamina: 4-Star+
Perception: 4-Star+
Magic Power: 4-Star
___________________
At this moment he was not giving any vain threats nor was he being arrogant. He might not be able to defeat him but he won''t lose unless Frederick uses the power of his guardian spirit.
Frederick stared at Lucas and smiled, he was about to reply when Lucas made a move.
BOOM!
Frederick raised his hand to defend but surprisingly pushed back.
''Why is he so fast?''
Before Frederick could ask, he saw Lucas''s image shing right before his eyes. His instincts kicked in and he reached immediately and swung his spear but all it hit was empty air knowing Lucas'' moves, he rotated his body to strike the spear towards the back.
However, Lucas didn''t jump from behind, rather heid low and kicked Frederick''s knees.
Frederick manages to catch Lucas'' movement, and he jumps while hitting the spear onto the ground as support, then he jumps again to gain some distance.
Lucas rotated his body and got back on his feet.
"Let''s just solve things as men do!" Frederick shouted and took his stance pointing his spear at him.
"Stop giving me those looks. I didn''t attack first." Lucas muttered, pulling out the red sword from his storage.
The sword glowed brightly and an overwhelming killing intent radiated from Lucas dyeing the area.
"Since we are near Blood Peach forest, I don''t think we will be noticed even if we go all out." Lucas said calmly but his heart was beating wildly.
His blood boiled and his eyes shed with anticipation.
Frederick and Lucas kicked the ground at the same time creating a crevice.
Leaving behind after images they appeared before one another and swung their weapons at one another unleashing all their strength.
BOOOOM!
Shock waves spread, dust rose and the ground pulverized as the battle went on.
...
After an unknown amount of time, when the screen of dust dissipated, two figuresy on the ground filled with scratches and bruises.
"Haaaa..." Frederick''s chest rose up and down as he stared at Lucas as if he were seeing a monster.
"You are stronger."
"Stronger my ass...You didn''t use your bloodline ability otherwise I would have been reduced to dust." Lucas spat the blood in his mouth.
"You also didn''t use your full power. I know you had many hidden moves."
"I dont. I can only say if we fought to the death or encountered a terrifying situation, I would be less likely to die but that doesn''t mean I am strong enough to defeat you this way." Lucas said and then asked,"So, why did you sneak attack me?"
"Just to get back at you for using me as a scapegoat."
"Ohh! So you knew that." Lucas chuckled.
"Hey, I might not be intelligent but I am not brain-dead like Parth."
"Secondly, I knew you could''ve stopped it. In my eyes, you are invincible."
Lucas was taken aback by hearing Frederick''s words to the point he found it hard to maintain his expression.
"So?"
Lucas paused for a moment and pointed at his face.
"From which angle do I look like an invincible guy to you? And if I am, why don''t you get under my wings?"
"Do you mean that?" Frederick asked, raising his eyebrows.
"No, I don''t want to have a headache from having an ipetent subordinate like you."
"You...."
A thick vein bulged over Frederick''s forehead.
"Lucas, at first I was really angry but after thinking it over, I know you don''t mean any harm."
"And as I say that I would have saved you if you were in trouble but I felt that there is a 99.99% chance that you are thest guy who would be in trouble so in my mind I have ignored you because I knew you won''t die," Frederick spoke sincerely.
Lucas scratched his head wondering where this guy got such a twisted idea.
''Did that spear pile those shits inside his head?''
Seeing Lucas scrutinizing their gaze, Frederick tried to exin with a sigh.
"Though I have lied a lot, I am not an expert liar. And, in a way you are correct. I have not treated anyone as a friend in my heart. Hell, I don''t even know truepanionship."
Frederick paused a bit feeling a bit of hesitation but decided to speak aloud remembering his brother''s sincere advice.
He had a gut feeling that he might regret itter if he let this chance go.
"Except for Rose, whom I have special feelings for, I have always thought of you all as subordinates. And as you know you can''t trust someone fully and being someone who has seen many betrayals, I don''t like to trust others very much."
"Do you also think you are some hot invincible guy that can take care of everything on his own?" Lucas asked seriously while sitting up.
Frederick flinched back on hearing Lucas'' words and averting his gaze, just nodded silently.
Lucas blinked his eyes in surprise while going over things.
''He thought that.''
''You don''t trust others. You think of others as your subordinates. Isn''t that what people call the protagonist syndrome?''
"Damn, you are sick."
"What?!" Frederick asked with a scream.
"I mean, you are sick, Frederick. You are too conceited." Lucas spoke in an equally louder voice.
Lucas got up and pointed at Frederick''s chest, speaking loudly.
"Do you think you are a perfect guy who can''t make a mistake? Do you think that your luck is so great that it will always be in your favour? It is good to think that you are strong and mighty but you should have a flexible attitude otherwise when you are defeated, you might find it hard to swallow."
"And about seeing us as your subordinates. There is no problem in doing that but remember one thing. Your subordinates are also humans and humans should be treated as humans. At least you should trust them and step up for them otherwise you would never be a good leader.''''
Lucas at this moment clearly understood why Frederick was never able to evolve as a good leader.
In the book, everyone could see him having trouble leading things but his effort to step up and try to unite others was praiseworthy but the results were what mattered.
Even if Frederick won many battles all of them were his effort. There has never been a circumstance where he was able to bring the full fighting force of his men.
And now he knows the reason. This MF doesn''t even trust his people which makes it difficult for him to judge his men without any prejudice and help him up.
In a war, the morale and trust of themander can be a major deciding factor which this guycks. As permanding and strategy, if you are bad at it, you can simply put a man who can do this just like how he favoured Zach ss Battle Royal who was going to be a great Commander in the future.
Frederick exhaled deeply.
"I understand, I need to work hard on many things and Lucas even if there was some friction, I hope we can try to sort out things."
"I also feel so." Lucas mumbled thinking that it was not as if he was affected,"By the way, did you grow conceited after getting that spear? Can I hold it for a bit?"
Frederick raised his brows and stared at Lucas deeply.
"Why?"
"I want to see what kind of spear it is that manages to grow a twerk to this stage. Don''t look at me like that, I am not gonna steal it. I don''t like spears, they are too troublesome to control.'''' Lucas said, shrugging his shoulders.
Frederick pulled out his spear which looked like a simple metallic rod with a circr end and red at Lucas.
"I got that but did you have to say thosest few words?"
Lucas took a deep breath and held the spear while wondering if there would be a bacsh.
Knowing the plot, it shouldn''t invade his consciousness but who knows what can happen.
The sole reason for holding this spear was to do a test. ording to the plot of the book or legend, this thing is a Demi-god artifact refined by a god-level Dwarf during the 2nd Era and only the destined one can lift it, as for others it would be too heavy to lift simr to Thor''s hammer in movies.
The moment Frederick let go, Lucas felt a huge weight being tucked into his palms.
His breathing became heavy and he gritted his teeth. His knees bend feeling the weight.
"Holyshit!"
"Why the hell is it too heavy?" Lucas gritted his teeth and squeezed every fiber of his muscles to generate strength to stop it from falling.
Lucas didn''t drop it but this was too heavy for him to hold for long and use it.
RING....RING...
Hearing the ring, Lucas dropped the spear that fell with a loud thump and wiping the beads of sweat over his forehead, he took out his phone and saw Miss Ami''s name.
Ignoring Frederick''s widened gaze, Lucas picked up the call.
"Lucas,e to my office right now. It''s urgent."
"Uh..Okay." Lucas nced at Frederick and spoke.
"Frederick, I have to go. Miss Ami is calling me. See ya."
Lucas turned around and left abruptly leaving Frederick who looked down at the spear and then at Lucas retreating with a bbergasted expression.
"What the fuck?"
"How was he able to hold it?!" Frederick yelled and as he bent down to grab the spear, he saw the spear was vibrating.
"Am I hallucinating?" Frederick rubbed his eyes and then grabbed the spear.
The moment he held it, his consciousness exploded and became nk and was soon covered with a crimson veil.
Chapter 253 253:Shit..Piercer
Chapter 253 253:Shit..Piercer
Amidst the devastated world, waves of chaos bellowed following the downfall of blood from the sky in the form of rain. Scattered pieces of rotten flesh and corpsesy open in the vast ce piling up one after another adorned with flies and ravenous creatures feasting on them.
Amidst all this, a blood-red spear with a bluish de drenched in blood stood rooted in the ce creating a majestic look.
"So, here it is."
A cold voice resonated in the ce following which a man with a scarred face and scattered long hair emerged.
The creatures feasting on flesh suddenly hunched back and ran away in fear.
A solitary figure emerged, whose presencemanded an aura of raw power. With an unwavering burning gaze radiating from his golden gaze, he stood tall, radiating a deadly intensity that sent shivers down everyone''s spine. Every word uttered carried an undeniable weight, causing even the bravest to involuntarily quiver in their presence.
Walking towards the spear, he slid his fingers along the metallic rod making the spear shiver and then clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"Out of the piles of God-rank shit lying in thier treasure, those fucking Gods send you semi-finished product as humanity''...no, world''s hope."
"Hahaha! If this isn''t hypocrisy then I don''t know what it is."
[You are being rude to Gods and how dare you touch me. I am the yer of Evil, the Evil Piercer, only a worthy and deserving one can touch me.]
[You are not worthy]
An old voice emerged from the spear followed by a brief silence.
PFFFTTT!
The scarred man hearing this burst into hystericalughter.
Controlling his urge tough, he spoke mockingly.
"You are right however it is not that I am unworthy rather it''s you who is unworthy for me to touch.''''
[Yo....]
Before the spear could finish its words, it felt a tremendous palpitating sensation as a hand gripped it like pincers.
The veins over the man''s arms bulged outwardly as he pulled the spear with pure raw force.
[How is this possible?]
It screamed in horror witnessing an unbelievable scene like never before.
Even though it was in the rank of Demigod due to being unfinished, however, it was one of five weapons among God''s ranks that could be lifted only by those whom it deemed to be worthy.
Even most of the Gods couldn''t lift them without their will. This was also the reason it was stuck here. After its previous owner died, the enemies and the ones who killed it were not able to disce it or pull it out.
It was waiting for a suitable being to use it but who knew one day a random guy would pop up and start cursing him while lifting him with pure force?
ncing, at the spear trembling in his arms, a smirk formed across his lips.
"So, do you think I am worthy now or are you the one who is unworthy?"
[I haven''t tested you. Every time someone touches me, I invade his consciousness and judge whether he is worthy but when I tried to do the same with you, it was blocked.]
"Oh, then why don''t you try now?"
[Hmmm! Let me see if your words weigh your puny power.]
The spear snorted and inserted its consciousness into the man.
With the permission to sneak in, it dived deep into this guy''s soul world but as soon he entered it, a scream of despair emerged.
[What in the name of the seven hells is this?]
The spear''s ego was pulled back in fear of getting overwhelmed by such a scene.
As it was about to speak more, a loud crackling sound echoed.
The man raised his chin and saw a huge crack open up in the sky from which many dark figures rushed out numbering in hundreds of thousands.
With wings and sharp ws, it looked like a swarm of locusts as they upied the whole sky like a dark cloud.
"Herees the test dummies."
"Perfect fucking timing."
He chucked and took a step forward looking at the spear.
"Ummmm....What is your name?"
He scratched his head trying to remember the name that had been boasted by many.
"Toilet plunger something...No, I got it."
"Shit Piercer, go..."
[Fuck you...It''s Evil Piercer for God''s sake. How can you say...]
His words were cut off again by an immense killing intent coagting over the spear.
"Whatever..." The man muttered nonchntly and stared up.
"You pieces of shit from another world have the test of my Shit Piercer."
With a loud deration, he whipped his arm sending the spear soaring into the sky like a javelin.
BOOM!
The space trembled and the air before him was punctured leaving a series of sonic explosions, the spear struck the swarm and the energy coagted over it and burst out like a tsunami engulfing everything around and with a matter of seconds, the entire sky was set aze by a ferocious wave of destruction and the world seemed to break.
As the world was enveloped by mes of destruction, the man suddenly turned his head with a blood-curdling.
"Useless piece of shit, stop staring at me and do something meaningful."
....
The scene distorted and everything went back to normal with Frederick''s fingertips touching the trembling spear on the ground.
Frederick''s legs buckled up and his butt hit the ground with a thud.
"What was that?" Frederick spoke with a pale and horrified expression. His whole body was shaking feeling an invisible scythe of death had been ced on his neck.
"Just the hell did I see."
Frederick wiped his sweat and looking down sighed in relief that his pants were dry. Thankfully he wasn''t hydrated otherwise he might have wet his pants for real.
His mental fortitude of two lifetimes seemed to crumble just by that man''s gaze.
[I don''t know what happened. I don''t know if this is real or an illusion but I sensed a random distortion in the world''s flow as if this was sent by a future version of me.]
"Do you know who that guy is?"
Seeing the spear-keeping mum, Frederick guessed that either it didn''t know or couldn''t tell me due to some restriction.
However, he fell into deep contemtion wondering if thosest words were for him cause it might be the second time he heard someone calling him useless within this month.
"Arghhhh!'''' Frederick held his head in frustration.
"What the hell is going on?! Is this a bacsh of my regression?"
.....
Inside Miss Ami''s office, Lucas carefully held the box as if he were holding a precious treasure while unaware of Frederick''s condition.
If he had seen Frederick''s fearful face, he would have made sure to capture it to ckmail him.
Lucas opened a ck box and pulled out a sapphire badge that glistened in the light.
"So, we can enter the space using this. Any secret code or password?"
"There is a way. It is like a ritual. The one in the leader position can enter at her own will but since you are borrowing the power. You need to use the secret invocation to enter." Ami voiced out.
"Are you sure this is what I asked for? Why does it sound like some shady cult instead of a club?"
Ami''s lips twitched uncontrobly upon hearing this.
"The moreyers of mystery act as blockades to stop a random guy from popping there." Ami said and started exining.
"As per the members, currently there are five. I can''t share their identities as Julian had not said anything to tell you about their identity but as a new face, I am sure they might find trouble with you.''
"No need, I will handle them if they annoy me." Lucas said while observing the badge. He knew about the members and their good tendencies.
He is even familiar with the few in them.
''A mole would join the organization in the future but it is not going to happen as I will make charges.''
The organization began with Principal Dous''s backing as the space where all this happens is an artifact gifted to Julian by Dous but members were selected by Julian whom she met by chance.
The members use aliases instead of their true identities to hide them from getting found out.
Lucas looked back and stared at Ami.
"Miss Ami, are you going toe with me?"
"Yes, I stand behind the leader position along with Herman acting as a protector. Julian had asked me to make sure to protect you in case they trouble you."
Miss Ami then exined a few things. Looking at Lucas'' expression, Ami felt that this guy knew everything and might just be pretending.
"Lucas, tell me the truth. You know everything and are just listening to me for formality."
Lucas just smiled instead of answering.
"Haaaa...You surely know a lot. I miss that naive Lucas who looked cute." Ami shook her head putting her hand on her forehead.
"By the way you can join as a random member and pass the proposal so why act as temporary leader?"
"Because it''s fun." Lucas answered with a serious expression that made Ami choke.
The change in her student was too fast for her to digest. From a nobody, he had risen to the top gun of the current generation.
Despite this, she felt proud to be a teacher of such a guy. Except for sometimes when she had an urge to p him, she liked his meticulousness.
"Miss Ami, do I need to inform everyone in advance before I start?"
"Generally meetings take ce at scheduled times but we haven''t had any meetings in the past three months. However, we can start at any time we want as per your wish but it''s better if you send the signal so that they can make some free time to attend." Ami advised.
Lucas nodded and thought about the message.
''It''s better I gave them time to adjust their mentality beforeing there and inform them about the leader thing. If they find trouble with me, I can just threaten to expose their true identity.''
He channeled his mana into the badge and sent a message.
[Tomorrow 6 PM]
[There is a temporary change in leadership.]
[A temporary leader is gonna take over things to discuss some important things so make sure to appear.]
Chapter 254 254:The Order Summons
Chapter 254 Chapter 254:The Order Summons
On the top floor of the Hunter Association building, an old man sat there with tired eyes smoking a cigar.
As he started taking a puff, his body became lighter and he gained a bit of his lost vigour.
"Things had been too tiresome. It seems I am bing old." He muttered thinking about the time when he just took the Vice-President position.
Just as he was about to take another puff, the mana around him changed.
"Haaaa...Every time I went there I felt deja vu seeing her." Vice-President shaking his head pulled out a badge.
"I haven''t seen the others in the past months. God knows what those groups of maniacs are doing now."
...
In the Ralph Empire.
On the TV screen, a long thin woman with a sweet innocent expression, with candy pink hair cast a cute smiling face.
[The tension between the Iron Blood Duke and the Marquise of Cerman is rising. And all of this is because of the Game of Chess.]
[Iron Blood Duke imed that he had lost because the Marquise of Cerman cheated while the Marquise of Cerman imed that all of this was the old guy being paranoid.]
[Spections of a cold war in business had been going on around and this unease may lead to a territorial war.]
[What is true and what is false? For further updates stay tuned with us.]
"Cut!''''
"Veronica, you did a splendid job."
The cameraman and the team gave a thumbs-up.
"Shut up!"
The sweet innocent smile from her expression disappeared leaving a cold expression.
"I am fed up with this shit. Everyone knows that those old fogies have good rtionships and there is no way they''re gonna fight but all of the stupid people have to rey it again and again to gain publicity."
The Scriptwriter scratched his head and said, "That''s because this news is getting hot."
"So you want to repeat this shit every fucking hour?" Veronica cursed and looked around.
"Why can''t we broadcast about the attack on the Horizon Academy? With the Inter Academy Championship, this news will surely be a hot topic as people like Ralph''s would either sympathize with them or mock them."
"But ording to Public opinion, 80% are not interested in it."
Veronica was taken by surprise for a moment.
"So other newsgroups also didn''t show the news because of this rating."
Unlike Cyprus which leads in the scientific field, Ralph''s society is still backward with many old useless customs. The entertainment industry isn''t well-developed and their group is one of three that rule over this part as they were pioneers of all this.
So she thought this might be the reason for the people not paying any attention to that.
"Where did you take the poll?"
"We didn''t. It''s an anonymous influencer who asked people in slums about these and most of the people denied it."
Veronica''s mouth opened wide with shock then her expression became dark and her face twisted.
Just as the cameraman thought about what was going to happen next, the writing pad with papers mmed into the Scriptwriter''s face.
"Fuck you...You idiot, stupid son of bitch."
"Mot***####*#*##*###*#[Censored]"
Everyone lowered their head in fear because this girl might look cute but once angry even hooligans would cry on hearing her curses that can make one bleed blood from their ears.
After cursing to her heart''s content she red dagger at the fat scriptwriter.
"You swine head. You can''t even understand simple things. Do you think people in the slums are our targeted audience? They are struggling to earn their daily food on an empty stomach. Do you think they have the time to waste on watching TV?"
"Then what about the Scriptwriter from other news? They also didn''t give this priority." The Scriptwriter spoke, rubbing his sullen.
"Because they are fucking stupid," Veronica spoke angrily.
"Our society has a deep social hierarchy. The slums are ignored and won''t have time to think on this matter while the nobles must have already known about this. So, our target audience should be middle-ss men. Most of our entertainment industry revolves around those nobles who just want to spread their agenda."
"If we want to grow, we need to get out of this matrix."
"That noble coughed, that noble bled, that noble took a shit."
"Enough of that!"
Veronica who let her mouth loose suddenly stopped feeling a sudden call.
Veronica took a deep breath to calm herself and said, "I have to go. Meanwhile,e up with something the middle-ss people are interested in."
She got up and left, leaving behind a gust of wind after which people in the room wiped their heads.
"Isn''t she from a prominent noble family? Why can''t she just do what nobles do instead of loitering? Every time she is pissed, I can feel my lifespan dwindling."
...¡
In a dimly lit chamber adorned with ancient tapestries, a lone figure cloaked in shadows sits at the head of a grand, ornate table. Their features are obscured by the y of light and darkness, an air of enigmatic authority emanates from their presence.
Whispers among attendants echo softly, their hushed tonesden with deference. Each person present, shrouded in mystery, bows in reverence to the figure whose voice carries weight, resonating through the room like a quietmand.
Around the table, an assembly of individuals from disparate backgrounds and realms of influence gather, their identities concealed beneath veils or masks, adding to the mystique of the ndestine gathering. They exchange cryptic dialogue, discussing matters beyond the understanding ofmon folk, weaving plots and schemes beneath the guise of diplomacy.
In this ndestine conve, the obscure that carried a great authority raised his hand to stop the forgoing discussion.
The man wore a foxy mask and stared deeply at a man with a green snake mask. Behind the mask, the man''s eyes were as sinister as a snake that seemed to be waiting for its prey.
"Before further talks, I think others shouldn''t be involved."
"I also think so." The man with the snake mask grinned and pped after which the entire room was empty except the two.
"Twin snake, as I said, I have no intention of joining Twin Dragon society. I made Valha from scratch with my blood and sweat. Once I join someone like you, we''re gonna lose our independence. If you want cooperation, we have no problem but we can''t ept your hegemony."
The man named Twin Snake observed the leader of Valha. Hearing his words he fell into deep thought.
Twin Dragon society had already its arms and hands digging deep into the society of the Three Empires. However, he wasn''t content with that and wanted to extend it to continents of other species.
Valha members are quite good in disguise and their informationwork and precision were a step ahead of them after all they solely focused on intelligence.
Meanwhile, Twin Dragon society is like a club of gentlemen.
Thinking about how big his organization has be always makes him nostalgic.
Twin Snake was a member of the PSB intelligence that acted undercover in a criminal syndicate but his colleagues from PSB betrayed him under false propaganda making him a wanted criminal.
He thought he would have died but luckily he encountered thedy who not only helped him but also supported him to be what he was today.
With her unique ideas. He created this group. It had many clubs under him like the swordsman club, martial arts club, puppet club, sports club, tea party club and many more.
On the upper surface, it provides a ce for a group of simr interests to mingle but in truth, it ropes in talents to use forming an invisible force that can attack, create chaos, act as a diversion and even go to war.
Their credibility was quite good and members could get resources ording to their rank and services. Whether it is skills, manuals of martial arts, weapons, potions and even teachers to seek guidance, they have all.
He was not ambitious enough before but what happened during the tournament made him want to consolidate more power even though he didn''t inform the master about this.And he was sure that if she knew about this he would praise her for his meticulous thinking.
If Twin Dragon society manages to take over Valha, then he might be able to form a close intricate.
"What if I say you don''t have any choice, Sir Val?"
"What do you mean? Are you threatening me?" Val, the leader of Vaha asked angrily.
"I am not threatening you but the one behind me might soone for your head and believe me when I say this. You can''t avert my boss." Twin Snake spoke and then started to exin.
"See, I am offering you a win-win situation. Your intelligence department is great but it''s only good in Cyprus. You are expanding to Ralph and Silver Knight but it''s not going well cause you don''t have any support but it''s different for me. If you agree with me, with my member''s support you can get a foothold there."
It would be wrong to say that Val wasn''t tempted. How can he not have the ambition to spread hiswork to the whole world? But the problem was he was not free like before.
Vaha had already pledged his loyalty to Her Highness, though it was forced. From then on, her words were aw that he had to follow, and he couldn''t act arbitrarily.
No matter how powerful or deeply hidden Vaha is, they couldn''t afford to offend the Royals thoroughly, especially the Emperor of Cyprus who doesn''t follow his rules.
Knowing that his group betrayed the Emperor''s lovely daughter, The Emperor mighte for his head directly. In fact, The Emperor had done this so many times. The number of people who lost their lives offending the Princess went past thousands.
Val started tapping his finger on the table.
''It would be easy if I just informed about this to Her Highness but I can''t use her name and if I just say that I also have a backing, I don''t think that would be enough for them to let us go. And about the head-on confrontation with Twin Dragon, I would like to avoid that.''
''''Why don''t you tell me about the one backing you? I would like to decide after that."
"You dare ask for m-" Twin snake words struck in his thought as he felt a call from the Secret Order.
He raised his chin and spoke.
But at the same time, Val also spoke hurriedly.
"Something urgent came up. I need to le-"
Both Val and Twin Snake became silent as they stared at each other.
"I will wait for your answer." Twin Snake tried to cast a crafty smile and left Val with a suspicious expression.
"What happened to him?"
"Whatever? I guess I got some time." Val shrugged his shoulders.
He got up to prepare for the ritual and innovation.
"It''s my first time going there, I hope it will be a pleasant surprise and who knows if I will avert this trouble with their help." Val got up and started preparing for the meeting.
Chapter 255 255:The Secret Order of Scarlet Snow
Chapter 255 255:The Secret Order of Scarlet Snow
All the members prepared for the ritual to enter. This ritual was like a password and one needed to proceed with every step correctly to be able to enter the mysterious ce.
First, one needs to create a circle on the ground using snowkes or chalk-like whitish powder. Then ce the badge of the organization at the centre.
Then, one needs to light a candle and ce it near the badge. After that one needs to ce a sprig of pine or cedar covering the candle and as it starts burning, they have to chant the invocation while ringing the bell three times.
The members in their ce sat cross-legged and started chanting for the blessing of the Winter Witch.
In the quiet hush of winter''s embrace,
Where snow-kissedndscapes hold their grace, I call upon the season''s deep insight,
Guide me through transitions, dark and light.
Winter, is the bringer of stillness and calm,
Grant me wisdom, your soothing balm.
In the barren trees and icy air,
Reveal the path, show me what''s fair.
Amidst the frost and the silent cold,
Let rity and vision gently unfold.
As nature rests in its wintry repose,
Grant me guidance that only winter knows.
By the cycle of seasons, ancient and true,
I seek your counsel, I call upon you.
Embrace me with your transformative art,
Grant me introspection, a fresh start.
Witch of Winter, from your icy throne,
Bless my journey, make your presence known.
In this sacred space, I humbly plea,
Please ept the humble one into your embrace.
A bright light erupted from mes gnawing the pine that engulfed them.
When the fire disappeared, the members found their surroundings were changed into a ce hovering with fog and white clouds.
Several towering marvellous pirs rose with a crystal clear ceiling with a vast encapsted dome above them, beyond which countless pairs of stars twinkled over the blue oceanic sky.
The entire edifice looked magnificent and lofty, like a legendary pce, a meeting ce for leaders of the world.
Directly under the starry sky, a dazzlingly golden table appeared with five chairs on either side.
At the end of the table, a man sat with his face covered with a mask beside him, a woman and man stood guard with a solemn expression.
The five individuals who entered here were startled for a moment. Not because they were new to this ce but rather because the ce had changed along with the leader.
Previously, the ce was a Wintend with a frozen waterfall and the meeting was led by the Leader called Snow Witch.
Val, who was new to the ce, looked at the other members.
An old man with a white mask that had the name Hunter.
A woman with white crystalline hair dressed in a bluish gown with the name Observer.
A pinkish-haired woman in a fiery red dress with the name Preacher.
And a man with snake-like eyes behind a dark mask. The moment his eyes fell on the guy, he blurted out softly.
''Twin Snake.''
A twin snake with the code name Basilksk stared at the new member with a bewildered expression.
"You are a new member of The Informer?" Basilisk, who also used the identity of Twin Snake, was startled to see that foxy mask.
''He was of the same organization.''
''Holy shit! Doesn''t that mean, I threatened my teammate?''
''Fuck if she learned about this, she will kill me.''
Unlike Val and Twin Snake who were having a mental breakdown seeing one another, others solely absorbed the Leader Seat.
Lucas stared at the group of five and particrly at two men who seemed to have a staringpetition.
COUGH!''
Lucas took a deep breath and smiled.
"Greetings to you all."
Everyone took their seat with a nod except The Preacher who stared at Lucas furiously
"It''s weird to see a new face out of nowhere."The Hunter spoke with a smile
"I know it''s surprising and might also be unsettling seeing someone else upying the leadership seat but no need to fret. I am here on the leader''s orders. You can think of me as the Vice-Leader of the Leader Snow Witch for now or as temporary Leader as you wish."Lucas exined in a soft voice returning the smile.
Ami and Herman, who stood behind Lucas, almost jumped in disbelief hearing Lucas proiming himself as the temporary leader and Vice-Leader.
Ami turned her eyes and as they met with Herman, she could almost hear his screams in her head.
''What the fuck did he say? And when did all this happen and why was I not informed.''
Ami red at him asking him to shut up.
"Oh, is that so?''''
The pink-haireddy known as Preacher chuckled as she took a seat.
"Vice-Leader, you look so young and brave that it melts my heart. I hope you can handle such a fierce woman." She spoke seductively.
The other four who heard her raised their brows feeling that this woman was going to stir some trouble. In the earlier words she meant that you look so young so can you handle the responsibility?
The atmosphere descended into silence for a moment.
Lucas with a nk expression stared into the night sky while tapping on the table and lost in thoughts ignoring Preacher''s words.
The world depicted here was a manifestation of one''s inner self. In the case of Julian, it shows a beautiful world that had beenden with snow that had been waiting for spring which depicts that once she was freed of the curse, she was gonna soar to the sky.
As for Lucas, the entire space was filled with a veil of crimson fog and clouds adding ayer of mystery but beyond that veil lies a dark deste night crystal sky that shows just how many things and secrets he had in his heart.
"Hey, do you let your thoughts run wild? Are you thinking something of th..."
"Did your parents teach you that?"
A deep, hoarse voice as if sharp nails scraping the metals echoed in the hall.
Preacher''s pink eyes behind the mask widened as she heard the sharp rebuttal.
Observer raised her eyes with an amusing smile and stared at the others.
''Quite amusing.''
"What do you mean by that?" Preacher asked.
"I meant what I said. Unless you have a problem with hearing, you should have understood my words. Don''t you know that you shouldn''t disturb someone of a higher authority when he or she is about to speak?" Lucas spoke.
"Hmph! I know this much but I don''t believe that you are the one having higher authority here. Until the leader says so, I can''t ept you as a leader. Who knows if you are an imposter? What is the proof that the leader allowed you to act in her absence?" She spoke with a snort and waited for the man to speak with a teasing smile.
"From your stature, you looked like a small kid of 15 or less trying to act as superior. Sorry kid, you can fool me with that deep voice."
''Do you think you can win an argument with a reporter who can fabricate lies into truth and truth into lies? Dream on!''
The sight of the man sitting on the leader''s seat sighed deeply reflected in everyone''s eyes.
After a moment of silence, he spoke softly yet each word of his echoed like thunder.
"Veronica!''''
The moment he spoke that name, everyone shuddered.
Everyone who joined here went through a special process and kept their identity a secret. No one knows what is the leader''s true identity nor does anyone know about the person beside them.
Both Observer and Hunter smiled under her mask with a profound smile while her eyes gleamed with excitement.
''This kid is surely fierce.''
While the Informer and Basilisk stared at Lucas with a cautious expression.
As per how they entered, all they met with was the mysterious leader under certain circumstances.
Out of everyone, Val looked at everyone with an inexplicable gaze.
He entered through the token given to him by the Princess and as he was told about a white-haired woman on the leader''s seat. The leader should be the Princess as per his guess but much to his surprise, there was another white-haired woman named an observer.
Though the Preacher and Leader Winter Witch''s hair neither matches the characteristics of the Princess, the shape of the body of the former woman matches that of a Princess.
This makes him wonder if the woman named Observer is the Princess and the leader is the Empress who also looks simr to her.
Seeing the nobility and authoritative tone of the man, he guessed that he was either one of three Princes as the chances of the Emperor appearing here were quite slim.
''If that is the case, I dont think it''s hard to uncover their identity. I hope I made the right choice by epting to be part of it.''
"You identified the wrong guy," Veronica spoke sternly.
Lucas chuckled hearing this.
"I am joking. I am not fickle-minded like some shitty news broadcasters."
"I am no-"
"Veronica, I don''t give second chances. This is myst warning, I won''t look over it twice. If you want to test me or have some funny thoughts, you should drop it cause me and everyone here doesn''t have as much free time as you to take in partly tricks."
"So stop behaving like a bitch here."
A dark undted killing intent surged from Lucas making the space tremor.
The fog and clouds became blood-red. The twinkling stars flickered with a crimson austere that made it seem like blood dripping down from the sky.
And a mighty pressure enveloped Veronica, making her shiver in fright.
Chapter 256 256:The Order Of Scarlet Snow[2]
Chapter 256 Chapter 256:The Order Of Scarlet Snow[2]
The ce may look like an ordinary ce for a secret meeting but it is much more mysterious than that.
This is an Legendary-grade artifact that boosts the leader''s strength, making him superior no matter how strong the other side is originally.
Since all of them were manifestations of their soul, he could kill them here and that would injure their soul and they would be helpless to resist unless they were at the Sun realm which equals Legendary grade in artifact case as per Harris''s notion.
Veronica felt beads of sweat covering her forehead and her breathing stagnated.
''What the hell is this? He is a kid, a generation below yet he is so strong. Maybe my guess before was true. This guy might be an old man using a disguise to look younger but who is he?''
If Lucas heard her though he would just scoffed calling her a brain-dead woman.
Veronica sighed thinking that her n failed. She didn''t dare to do this in front of the cold-blooded leader but in front of this guy, she thought she could push things a bit and pry into the origin or get some valuable information s this guy was a tough nut to crack.
"I...I apologize." She muttered faintly much to everyone''s surprise. They know she is a willful and spoiled girl who always messes things up.
At the other end, the Observer, the white-haireddy, stared at the boy with deep curiosity.
''What an interesting fellow! No wonder he was able to make Julian give it to her. I am sure Dous would like it when he hears about this boy.''
Thinking inwardly, her eyes shone brightly as she heard that Dous had been found and was already on the way here.
"Any more questions about my position?" The moment Lucas asked this Basilisk raised his hand to speak.
"Though I am not questioning your capability, how can I be sure that you aren''t an imposter who stole the power or the badge from The Leader? And why is she absent?"
"I mean she could have introduced you formally instead of creating such a tense situation."
Lucas stared at the guy.
He had even met him once. He was the same guy they met at the orphanage Uncle Shawn who was there in disguise.
From Lucas'' perspective, this guy was quite capable and someone who could be trusted but the only defect in his personality is that he is like a fanatic believer who respects Julian so much.
A step above the boot lickers and this excessive thinking of his is gonna create too many problems in the future as he wanted to expand his organization crazily observing all the underground forces in the human continent and also in others but it backfired.
''I need to warn Julian to tame this guy properly.''
Lucas tapped the armrest and spoke slowly.
"That''s a very valid question but it makes me wonder, do you have this much faith in the leader? Your questions make me wonder if I even have faith in the Winter Witch."
Basilisk suddenly felt deja vu on hearing this and for a moment even felt ashamed of this.
"Winter Witch isn''t someone that can be trifled with and I made a deal with her that allowed me to take over things here to do my bidding. And the reason for her absence is that she is handling a grave matter."
"I apologize for the meaningless question." Basilisk bowed his head.
Ami and Herman raised their brows hearing Lucas'' eloquent speech.
''Since when did he be such a fluent oracle?'' Ami thought inwardly while wishing to record this whole thing and show it to Julian.
"Okay!'''' Lucas pped his hands to draw everyone''s attention.
"Since the fun time is over. Let''s get off to the main things. I am acting as a temporary leader so I dont have the leisure to spend time around. As per curiosity about my identity, please keep it in check cause....."
"People''s curiosity might stir great animosity."
Lucas nced around as each one of them just gave a brief nod as if signaling him to continue.
"There are two things I want you guys to help me with."
"As you know, our group''s main goal is to try to fight against the people who try to create chaos and support one another in our endeavors. I want you to use all your resources to find Art and the other families who disappeared out of nowhere."
"My people are already on them. We are searching for every clue. But all of them vanished as if they never existed." Val, the Informer, spoke, taking the lead.
"Yes, I don''t know what they used but we weren''t able to trace their mana." Basilisk spoke with a frown.
"White had a hand in it." Lucas dropped the bomb, startling everyone.
"White...You mean Duke White. Are you sure?" Veronica asked, unable to believe this.
"Yes!"
"It might be possible if it''s them but it''s still unbelievable," Val muttered, shaking his head, unable to swallow it.
"It isn''t." Lucas smiled and stared at Vice-President Lee who was disguising as Hunter.
"What do you think about this Sir?"
Hunter didn''t think that he would be directed to this.
"It''s possible if they have an artifact that can join two ces by portals."
"I guessed that but we dispatched Mages to take mana samples to search for them. We also resorted to blood magic." Basilisk asked.
"I think I have an answer to that." The Observer, who has been keeping silent till now, spoke and this startled many as she doesn''t speak much.
"They either used something to mask their presence or they might have hidden in an isted space barrier. And since they use portals to directly jump there, you won''t find them unless they step out."
"Good guess." Lucas pped and snapped his finger.
A map appeared out of thin air covering the table.
"Your guess is correct. With years of wealth they amassed, all these things are the tip of the Iceberg."
Everyone nced at the map and saw the many dots marked over it. This was thend ruled by Whites.
"The area marked here is the possible ce where those traitors might be hiding. They might also be hiding in the Center territory or under the White Mansion, but we will keep that ce forst."
Lucas raised his head towards Basilisk and ordered,"Use Spirit Puppeteer under you to control a group of core people and use them to sneak in."
"But how can we find the isted space barrier?" Veronica asked.
"Lady Observer, I hope you can help." Lucas smiled.
A top-ss Sorceress is sitting beside him if he didn''t ask for her now then he would miss a great opportunity.
"I have an artifact that can detect space barriers but it can only detect." The Hunter spoke.
"Sir, please lend it to the others."
"Veronica and Informer, I have other things for you."
"Yes!"
"Can you call me by code name?" Veronica asked with a re.
"Sorry, it was a misspell. Now listen."
They nodded waiting for Lucas to speak.
A list materialized in front of them.
"On it, are the names of Professors of Horizon. They had taken part in many ck dealings and other things. I want you to bring evidence of everything they have done. I dont care whether you torture them or take their family hostage, I want every piece of information that can make them fall into abyss."
Val''s eyes lit up looking at the list.
''Finally, something that I enjoy doing. A huge storm will be blowing in Horizon.''
Veronica smacked her lips seeing the list.
''I am sure this would be sensational news. With Horizon''s teachers getting fucked up before the tournament, things would surely be interesting. By broadcasting this I can earn a heap.''
Lucas noticed Veronica''s mischievous smile and could figure out exactly what she was thinking but he didn''t intervene because he handed it to her.
''I wonder how it feels when you see your name spread across the world.''
''Such a grand fame. I hope you thank me for this cause you''re gonna enjoy it.''
"Now that I have done what I wanted. Does anyone have anything else to discuss?"
"No!"
Everyone replied at the same time.
"In that case, let''s adjourn as many of you might have things to do." Lucas nodded and soon one by one everyone ejected while he waited as he had to best to leave this ce.
However, he suddenly felt goosebumps and was stunned to see the Observer sitting at her ce and giving a seductive and mesmerizing smile.
His heart almost skipped a beat.
"Uhh¡Big Sis, is there anything you want?"
Lucas asked respectfully as the woman was someone that you shouldn''t antagonize even in your worst dreams.
The mesmerizing woman with white hair and voluptuous curves, she was like an elusive nun who had let go of her identity and lived in seclusion as per the description.
However, the truth was that this mature hot woman who looked quite young was a grandma of 300 years.
She is Irina, a half elf and one of Principal Dous''s Secret lovers, whom Lucas had to treat cautiously as she had the power to invade one''s dreams, see-through illusion, distort one''s memories and also had the power to see fate.
She is also a master of seduction arts and wants Julian to be her disciple but invading dreams and seduction disgust her so she always refuses.
Irina''s lips widened with pleasure after hearing how Lucas'' address her.
"You are packed with many surprises, kid. I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time."
Chapter 257 257:The Order Of Scarlet Snow[3]
Chapter 257 257:The Order Of Scarlet Snow[3]
Twin Snake aftering out put down his mask and wiped the beads of sweat over his forehead.
Throughout the meeting, he felt as if he was sitting on needles stabbing his butt. He was sure that instead of that new guy, if the Winter Witch had presided over the meeting and learned about his marvelous deeds, she would attach him on the wall and shoot arrows of ice at him.
"I narrowly escaped death today."
His snake-like pupil over his green sclera became normal as he put down the mask. He hadn''t changed the previous mask before going into The Order as he never thought that the Leader of Valha he threatened was the newly joined member Informer.
The other party was also in the same situation as him. Val also did not expect him to be a member of Order.
When both of their eyes met, he wanted to hide at that moment. After all, not only did he threaten that guy but also dragged his master''s name who also turned out to be a supporter of Valha.
"Master, why didn''t you tell me this thing?"
"Am I still not capable of gaining your trust or is my organization still too weak to get into your eyes? Though I am saddened by this fact I won''t lose hope."
"You even subdued Vaha as expected of my Master. And as your underling, I have no right to question your choice so all I can do is to work better and gain your trust so that I can stand beside you in all your worries and troubles."
"And this Twin Dragon society, I am gonna make it the top organization in the whole world."
This was some next-level coincidence he had but it wasn''t a blind faith. He had the skills to back it up.
"Though I made a mistake, Valha is also part of the same organization. I can move forward with my ns."
"When the focus of the entire world is on Ralph, we will rise. Since all the leaders and top powerhouses would be concentrated there, they wouldn''t turn their sights on us even if we create some disturbances so I need to prepare."
"I need to buy Dwarf and Elf ves and train them to go undercover, however before all this, I need to do my job."
As Twin Snake formted his n, he wondered who that guy was, the guy who made his Master give her seat.
"Knowing how elusive she is, I am sure she wouldn''t give this to a friend so I can only assume that guy might be our future master."
"Holy shit! Doesn''t that mean pleasing him is like taking a shortcut to please my Master?"
He immediately took out his mana stonemunicator. He was still using this instead of a smartphone because, unlike a smartphone that can be hacked, this thing cannot be hacked and was much safer.
"Listen, everyone. Cease all your missions right now and out all manpower in searching for the missing Arts."
"I repeat, put everything into this mission. Additional information and help will reach you soon."
¡...
While everyone already started making moves, there were still two people left staring at one another.
Lucas swallowed his saliva upon hearing her words.
''Looking forward to meeting me? Is this another red g transversing through time and space toe for me.''
Lucas looked around to find no one. Even Ami and Herman had gone out thinking that the meeting was over.
"Is that so?" Lucas said, acting nonchntly.
"You are tougher than you look." Irina smiled and removed her mask.
"Is that a personal attack on me?"
Lucas also did the same and removed his mask. From her tone, he knew that she already knew everything so it was useless to maintain a facade now.
He stared at the plump, mature woman with puckered seductive lips and sharp emerald eyes shining like a jewel who just kept smiling at his prior question.
"You already knew my identity, didn''t you?" Lucas asked, wondering if she saw it through the veil of fate or some other source.
"How can I not when Julian ranted about you for hours cooking my ears."
"Huh! Why?"
Irina put her finger on her lips and asked with a confused expression,"Oh! Aren''t you curious about my rtionship with her?"
"Rather than that you are curious about this which means you already know about me from before?"
And here, Lucas knew he had fallen into a trap.
''My social skills still can''tpare to this ancient beauty.''
"I know a bit. You are like grandm....grand teacher to her.''''Lucas almost said, grandma.
A word that he needs to avoid if he wants to live peacefully.
"So, what did Her Highness say about me? Was it something interesting?"
"Yes, she went on begging me to help you in this meeting in case others look for trouble. Though I don''t speak much I have a high authority here and if I epted your position others wouldn''t dare to refute."
"I mean they can but the consequences would be quite bad." Irina spoke, shrugging her shoulders nonchntly.
"By the way, your natal soul is quite dark, filled with blood and death."
Lucas suddenly felt a chill down his spine seeing Irina looking around.
"How do you know?"
"Because I can see what others can''t see. After all, I am the previous Saintess so it wouldn''t look good on me if I can''t see through this much."
"What?!"
Now, it was Lucas'' time to be surprised to the point that his jaw dropped wide.
"Didn''t the previous Saintess die?" Lucas scratched his head trying to look for the things he had missed.
Irina''s eyes widened for a moment.
"Wait a minute? From your tone, I infer that you know me so why don''t you know that I am an Ex Saintess?"
Now it was Irina''s time to be surprised.
"Is this a trick of yours to make me speak?"
"No!"
''There wasn''t any link between the two things except for the fact that the previous Saintess was very close to Julian. Except for her death and her teaching to Luna, there wasn''t any mention of her alias unless it would be discovered in the second part of the novel.''
"So, tell me what do you know?"
"I only know that you are a half-elf who is a master in seeing through illusions, invading dreams and seer of some sort and I know this from a book that spoke about your venture in war with Demonkins many many years ago."
From many many, Lucas meant 200 but if he said this didn''t that mean he was speaking about one of the greatest taboos of the world?
That is a woman''s age.
Irina''s lips twitched hearing Lucas'' words.
"Are you the Ex- Saintess for real? You are half Elves so are you even allowed to be one?"
"Why not? As long as you have a light elemental attribute or powers along with recognition of Goddess, you will directly gain the power of light as your bloodline ability and be Saintess. I had done my fill so it was time for me to retire. I wanted to look for my lover but found that he had run away somewhere distant." Irina said with a sullen expression.
"You are too frank."
"I already passed the stage of being shy and blush and you will also know my guy very soon."
''I don''t need to because I already know that Principal Dous is your lover and it feels crazy. That guy even had a Saintess in his harem. A person befitting a harem protagonist.''
"So, why didn''t you go out Big Sis and instead stayed here?"
"Oh my!" Irina knocked her head.
"I forgot the important thing in this useless talk. me my age for this." Irina tucked out her lips.
"Help me¡"
"What help?" Lucas asked, leaning forward.
His mind was already screaming for opportunity.
"Help me to persuade Julian to learn my arts. She had a good talent for seduction and dream invasion."
Lucas blinked his eyes and screamed.
"Hell no!"
''Do you want to taint Julian and you are even asking me to help?''
"As per my understanding, Her Highness would never ept this."
"I know that''s why I am looking for you. Help me persuade her."
Lucas hesitated a bit weighing the pros and cons after all, could he even persuade Julian?
Irina sighed seeing this and said,"Listen, Lucas, you don''t need to pretend too much. I already know a gist about you and can even see a glimpse of the past and future."
"Even though you managed to avert the disaster for Julian now, this is just the beginning and there will be more. And you of all people, are gonna face the harshest fate out of everyone. You need strength not only for yourself but also for others. Julian will prove to be a crucial addition to that."
"So, please. You might not understand this fact but in the whole world only you can persuade her."
The world turned silent for a moment. Except for the rough breathing of Lucas, other noises cease to exist at this moment.
Irina''s words rang in Lucas'' mind.
"I can''t promise anything but I will try my best."
"That much is enough."
"However, you owe me a favour now."
"Certainly," Irina spoke with a smile and her image blurred suddenly.
"Wait! I wanted to ask about my fate! This is cheating!!" Lucas shouted, feeling betrayed as she might have run away knowing that he was going to ask this exact question.
.......
In a thatched hut far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
A woman in a white dress sitting on a chair suddenly opened her emerald eyes.
Staring at the ceiling a deep sigh escaped from her lips.
Getting up from her seat, she threw a piece of wood into the chimney that started to burn and spew embers.
Walking towards the window, she rested her hand over it and stared at the myriad scenery.
"With the way things are developing, I thought the future would not be as bleak as it was before s I was still wrong."
"Lucas, though I pity you, I am useless to help you. So, I can only help Julian so that she can stand strong."
Irina closed her eyes and opened it. The next second they glowed brightly.
Mana gushed out from her body and her vitality started draining as words created from mana floated in the air.
In the shadows of deep, two souls are bound to weep.
A fate unjust, in darkness steep.
Betrayed and torn, their spirit worn,
Through pain, they''ll rise, a new morn born.
Through trials dire, in nights of fire,
They face the tests, their heart won''t tire.
In suffering''s embrace, a power they trace,
Their spirit''s light, the world''s guiding grace.
From depths profound, they will rebound,
Their courage found, destiny unbound.
A rise foreseen, a hero serene,
To mend the world, in crimson pristine.
In fate''s cruel twist, their purpose kissed,
To heal, to save, their path persists.
Their legend''s verse, a tale diverse,
A saviour born from hardship and world''s curse.
Chapter 258 258:Gathering Evidence
Chapter 258 258:Gathering Evidence
It didn''t take long to put the n forward into action.
The moment the orders were given by their temporary leader Lucas, the members had to make use of every resource to get work done as fast as possible.
As a result of which, though things looked quite calm on the surface, the entire underground organization of Cyprus was boiling.
The Emperor''s forces were already putting pressure on the mass influx of mercenaries and underground organizations, tightening their grip.
And then a new force emerged striking the loose ends making things be more chaotic.
The fish that were able to escape the were caught by Vice President Lee''s forces who acted quite openly in partnership with the PSB.
The movement of so many forces alerted many people who found that someone was trying to muddy the water. Many guessed that there was a big force that seemed to be controlling things from behind and they tried to find that external force but no one was able to connect the links.
While a separate force of Valha coborated with Duke Holmes''s forces to track every single Professor that had been on the targeted list, the news agency already started getting notice of an earth-shattering breaking news.
Even themoners had been bribed to track and ry information in exchange for some money which they happily agreed with.
Meanwhile, Kelly who was in a very good mood due to gaining Issac''s favours decided to indulge a bit.
He got a huge reward for performing his duty and decided to celebrate in a bar.
Singing happily, he stepped into the bar he visited frequently only to find everything empty.
There were no people, no girls, no bartender.
"What?!"
He screamed in bewilderment and turned around to run only to find the door closed.
A chill crawled from behind and his senses were warning him that he was in some deep shit.
"Who is messing with me?!" He roared violently circting his mana but much to his horror he was not able to control his mana.
An inexplicable sense of horror crawled into his heart.
As he looked around in panic, he saw the scenery distorting before his eyes.
A table appeared out of thin air with two chairs. A man wearing a mask in a dark robe sat on the other side with a smile.
"Please take a seat, Mr.Kelly."
"Who are you?" Kelly asked in bewilderment.
"That''s the wrong question, sir. At the moment, you should ask where you are or what''s going to happen to you."
Kelly felt a shiver down his spine on hearing this.
Swallowing his saliva, he asked nervously,"Are you here to kill me?"
Pfft!
The manughed aloud.
"You are not worthy enough to be killed by me."
"I know you have a question but before that, you should take a look at the things in this crystal." The man spoke with a smile and soon a big crystal appeared in the middle of the table.
Kelly''s eyes glowed curiously and for some reason, he felt attracted to this crystal.
Walking forward, he stared deeply at it, finding it oddly captivating to look at and soon engrossed in the various images ying on it.
However, his curiosity disappeared the moment he saw the contents.
The scene of his children, his parents and his wife imprisoned reflected in his eyesight scaring the shit out of him.
"M..My family. What did you do with them?!!" He screamed in panic.
"Don''t worry sir, we haven''t done anything but might do many things if you don''t cooperate.'''' The man-masked grinned.
"What do you want me to cooperate with? I will do anything as long as you don''t harm my family."
"As expected from an intelligent person. You know what to do." The masked man smiled and asked the man to sit at the table.
Kelly took his seat and waited anxiously for the stranger to speak.
"I just need a little help. I heard you have been acting unbridled after having someone''s back."
Kelly felt goosebumps hearing the voice.
"I just want you to confess your crimes and about the person supporting you."
"I...I can''t." Kelly denied.
"That''s unfortunate, in that case, I have to kill your entire family. And I will also make a torture video for you to enjoy."
"No, please...No..." Kelly begged.
"Sir, I assure you that your backer won''t find trouble with you. I can even swear. You just need to tell me what you know and then be free."
Kelly breathed heavily and looked around.
Everything around was dark and sinister. A trail of most hovered in the air that for some reason horrified him. The mist seemed to be clouding his sense of reason and making him intoxicated
And the man capable of creating a scene like this would certainly belong to some great powerhouse whom he can''t offend.
''Sorry, sir Issac. Mine and my family''s lifees first. I apologize.''
"I will speak. I will tell you everything."
"Great." The masked man eximed joyfully and recorded everything.
After Kelly chugged out everything he knew, his vision distorted and became fuzzy.
The darkness disappeared and the scene of a bar appeared with many people snoring loudly with peaceful expressions.
At the corner, a masked man along with a few dark-robed men stood watching around.
Tonight, a group of Professors from Horizon had booked the entire ce to enjoy and indulge themselves but just as they began their enjoyment due to a certain mystical power, they fell asleep.
Then they were dragged into a dream world by a masked man who interrogated them making use of their weaknesses.
Some gave away in fear while some gave way due to great prospects.
And none of this would be remembered by them after they wake up from the slumber.
That''s why Dreamweavers were feared by many because once they act unless you have a strong soul, you''re gonna be stripped naked of every information.
"I have extracted everything." The masked man spoke.
"Thanks Sir for the help." A man spoke with gratitude.
"Nah, I was just following Madam''s orders. I was asked to assist. Now, pass this information quickly so everyone can act as quickly as possible."
Scenes simr to this were happening in many ces and for those on whom this method wasn''t carried out, they were kidnapped directly and tortured brutally while others were threatened with the life of their close ones.
....
In a closed room, Lucas oversaw things asking for detailed reports each hour so that he could adjust if required.
Lucas with a badge that couldmunicate separately with any members made sure to keep a grasp of the overall situation. He even nned to move Duke Holmes into this organization if he was able to ovee the difficulty and survive but the final say in thisy with Julian.
Lucas pulled out the map that was filled with cross marks.
"Now only four ces are left. With Grandma Irina making a move along with Vice-President Lee, it had been discovered that they had been hiding in these four spots."
"Since they have split up and are hiding in these four spots, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact ce so all we can do is raid these four ces at once and take them by surprise but..."
"That''s not my work for now. It all depends on Duke Holmes. With all this detailed information, he just needs to get support from the Emperor and others."
"I have done what I need to do. And I already have proven to collude with White. Thank God, Grandma Irina moved personally without having to expand her power and extract their memories." Lucas sighed and then made a call and sent the information to Duke Holmes immediately.
After that, Lucas went through the confession and criminal records of the Professors and cursed loudly.
"Should this kind of thing be done by someone responsible for guiding others? These are rotten pieces of shits polluting the entire Academy."
The more Lucas went through the crimes, the more his expression became solemn. One of the significant aspects of this problem stems from the so-called freedom.
The Professors were free enough to live on the campus as they wished. Though they behave properly here, on the outside each of them is no worse than a criminal.
On the list, there were serial killers, murderers, thieves, rapists, illegal drugs and weed dealers etc.
"Since I am doing this, I should do this thoroughly. Previously, I ordered them to look for the ones under the Issac faction but now it seems I have to check everyone''s background."
"Who knew how many cks appear painting themselves as white? Except for the few core members whom it would be risky to take care of and named characters, let''s just sweep everything and cleanse this Academy for real this time.
Though Lucas felt bitter doing the work that should have been done by Josh, he was going to make sure he squeezed from him thoroughly in exchange for this service.
"Since, you made me work this much. I am gonna make sure that you bleed properly."
Chapter 259 259:First Step To Her Cure
Chapter 259 259:First Step To Her Cure
In the floating Royal Pce.
A man walked to and fro with an anxious expression while biting his fingers due to nervousness.
A woman sat on the couch while looking at the man''s stupidity.
Seeing the man behaving like that, she was unable to take it anymore.
"Kevin, stop biting your nails for God''s sake. Did you ditch all your etiquette?" A cold voice echoed in the room.
"Royal mother, it''s not as if he has any." Ellen muttered with a yawn.
"He is the same. If not being forced to sit here, he might have already left the throne, Mother." William, the first prince, spoke with a sigh.
"Yeah, he might have already dumped the throne on us." The Second Prince Micheal spoke.
Wim was Julian''s biological brother who looked almost simr to her except for their eyes. Micheal was born to Kevin''s second wife Roxana and inherited his mother''s looks of golden hair with crystal clear pale oceanic eyes.
Except for his bloodline power, he didn''t inherit any features of his stupid father, something he was very proud of.
Kevin suddenly stopped his notion and pulled back his hands and looked at the frosty expression on his wife and sons.
"Ileana, I am just nervous. I am not an Emperor now. I am just a father now."
Ileana sighed on hearing his words. Being an Empress, the mother of the nation, she had to practice extreme diligence and patience to the point that it was tiring and made her yearn to have some freedom but with such a person messing around, if she didn''t hold the power firmly, who knows if her husband sold the entire Emperor next day.
"I am also her mother. Even though we are worried about her welfare, we shouldn''t show it on our faces. If she saw our nervousness, how would she feel? We are just going to add more burden on her shoulders."
"If not for her illness, we would have already let go of the facade of fighting for the throne.'''' William smacked his lips.
Ileana''s lips twitched hearing this and stared at her three son''s expressions and sighed.
''Like father, like son. All of them want to bezy bums. Thankfully my Julian isn''t like them.''
"Yeah, My Empress you are right. I haven''t thought about it properly."
"When the hell do you even think?" Ileana snorted and started scolding her sons.
"Stop behaving like yourzy father. He is just an ipetent fool who likes tow around. Don''t take him as your role model."
"What do you mean by ipetent fool?" Kevin asked coldly.
As both started to bicker with each other, their anxiety decreased by a bit and with a clunking sound, they heard light footstepsing toward them.
The moment they saw the figure, the three brothers'' eyes lit up and they jumped up on the figure.
"My sister."
"My sweetie."
"Wait!'''' Julian took a step back in fear.
The three pounced on her and hugged her.
"Sister, you have suffered in my absence." William and Micheal spoke at the same time, then realizing that they spoke the same thing, they red at each other.
"She loves me more."
"No, she likes me more."
''She loves me the most.'' Ellen nodded inside with a sweet smile.
They started to argue but Ileana threw the three of them away and clung to Julian like an octopus.
"My precious girl. You have grown thin."
"Things had been hard for you." Ileana''s eyes became moist as she hugged Julian.
When Julian was going through difficult times, she was unable to apany her cause she had to stop a demoness froming here.
And it was hard, so hard that she felt that she might not be able to return alive. Fortunately, Leonard appeared in time to suffer her wrath.
As Julian was showered with the love of her family, the curtains of the window started fluttering and a figure appeared in everyone''s view.
"Old man, so you are finally here." Kevin asked in a disgruntled voice.
Cough...Cough...
Opening the window pane, a man appeared with long white hair and a thick beard that cascaded down his neck.
His long hair spread over his shoulders and even though his face was hidden by a thick beard it wasn''t able to hide his delicate features giving him the look of an elderly gentleman.
His eyes were as sharp as a sword as if they could see through every facade.
"Grandpa Dous!" Julian and the Three Princes spoke in an excited tone.
"Old man, what took you so long? Aren''t you ashamed of chasing skirts at this age?"
"What do you mean by that?" Dous asked in a murderous tone.
"I mean what I said. I knew you were chasing the waitress of the inn. Old Josh found you. You are already 500 years old and going after young ones. Aren''t you a pedo?" Kevin asked angrily.
"Shut up!" Dous threw his magic staff at Kevin who lunged forward to catch it.
"Fuck! Have you gone insane? It''s made from the wood of the world tree, not some ordinary tree." Kevin muttered in disbelief.
"I was just passing it to you." Dous said, caressing his beard.
"Can you stop now?"
Dous and Kevin felt a killing intent and turned around to see Ileana giving them a death smile.
"Sir Dous, do you want me to call Lady Irina and Kevin, do you want to be punished?"
Both Dous and Kevin felt a chin down their spine and kept their lips mum.
"Mother, don''t be harsh." Julian said, shaking her head. These two bicker a lot.
He nodded and looked at Julian, "My granddaughter had grown up quite big. I repent for missing the chance to watch you grow."
Dous spoke with a nostalgic tone.
"How is Horizon?" He asked.
Kevin''s lips twitched a little.
"You should ask that to Old Josh. You are the Principal of Horizon but you are dumping your work and running all around the world."
Dous averted his eyes as he saw Kevin''s re.
"Old thief, I suggest you take a look cause it seems sooner it will burn to ashes."
"Sir Dous, how many days will you be staying here this time?" Ileana asked.
"Not much but I have got a few days," Dous replied with a courteous smile.
"Then please teach me a few things, Grandpa." William and Micheal spoke at the same time.
Ellen at that moment was already looking for a way to sneak out but was held in by his two brothers.
"Certainly, this time I will teach you some awesome things."
The moment he spoke, a frown appeared on Julian and Ileana''s faces clearly worried about the things he was going to teach.
Kevin then pulled Dous aside and showed him diary.
Dous went over the things and spoke.
"We have a problem."
"What is it? Is there a problem with the Magic Circle?" Kevin asked.
"Not that. This is just drawn in Ancientnguage. I can handle that but the dragon part is the problem." Dous, seeing a frown on Kevin''s face, answered.
"Kevin, I can guess that you are ready to kill the dragon but it''s not that easy. Though it is a rule that once a dragon leaves the nest without permission it would be emunicated but that and this is a different matter. If you just go and kill it, with the egos on their head you would be in some deep shit."
Kevin''s expression turned solem for a moment.
"So, should I just let my daughter suffer?"
"No, you need to take their permission and negotiate. As long as you give them some things, they won''t create much trouble for discarded members but if you kill a member of their species without prior information, it would hurt their ego and mess things up." Dous exined and then turned around.
"Let''s not waste any more time. We should start the process." Dous spoke and looked at Julian.
"Are you ready for it?"
Julian nodded.
Kevin took out the prepared mixture as mentioned in the list.
Dous looked at the violent mixture carefully and pulled out a long pen-shaped bone that was emitting fumes.
"Is that the engraver?" Juliana asked.
"Hmmm!"
"Julian, it''s gonna hurt a lot." Dous warned her before proceeding forward.
"I am ready," Julian muttered with a resolute gaze and loosened her straps and exposed her delicate back.
Meanwhile, Dous noted down the principles carefully and sat down behind Julian.
Dipping the engraver in the mixture, he took a deep breath and moved the tip to touch Julian''s skin.
"Ahhh!" ''A small groan escaped from her lips as she felt a scorching heat that was burning her skin.
As soon as the engraver touched Julian''s icy cold skin small fumes of vapour emerged.
Dous started to draw the circle.
Julian gnashed her teeth and clenched her fist to contain the pain that transmitted to her brain.
Her eyes became watery and her nails dug into her palms from where drops of blood trickled.
"Julian!" Ileana muttered softly as she saw Julian''s back bing red and the ce where the circle was drawn seemed to swell.
She was about to stand up and ask Dous to stop but Kevin held her hands tightly and shook his head to stop her.
Meanwhile, Julian''s brothers stood there gnashing their teeth seeing Julian wriggling back from which drops of blood were trickling.
After drawing for two hours, Dous wiped off the sweat from his head while looking at Julian who seemed to pass out from the pain but the tingling sensation of burning skin apanied by a strong itch didn''t let her fall unconscious.
As soon as the circuit was finished, it started to operate and Julian''s back started to glow brightly.
"Old man, what happened? Did something go wrong?" Kevin asked with a panicked expression.
"Hohohoho!" Dousughed a little while caressing his beard.
"It seems that our precious doll is going to make a breakthrough." Dous spoke with a faint smile, shocking Kevin and Ileana.
"The shackles that had been holding you back are no more. So, my girl, it''s time for you to spread your wings and soar towards the sky."
With a loud cracking sound, a fierce breath radiated from Julian that illuminated the entire ce.
Chapter 260 260:Negotiation
Chapter 260 Chapter 260:Negotiation
Inside Vice-Principal''s office, a deep sombre atmosphere prevailed as two figures sat facing each other with an oppressive momentum.
Lucas stared at Josh''s tired eyes enveloped with ayer of dark circles. This was the first time Lucas had seen such an energetic guy like Josh in this state.
His face looked haggard and he seemed to age a lot with a lot of wrinkles on his forehead making it hard to fathom just what kind of nightmare he had gone through.
"It seems, the past few days have been quite tough for you sir."
"Isn''t that because you blessed me with that fucking piece of information that forced me to go that damnednd." Josh cursed aloud as he didn''t need to maintain the facade here.
"I am sure you are not gonna answer this but how did you know this?" Josh asked sharply.
"I will refrain from answering that." Lucas replied with a casual smile.
It was a really risky route on his part. One which he really didn''t prefer to take unless the situation was grave. The Principal wasn''t going to return until the Demon continent resurfaced and it would be hard to find him using the connections of humans hiding in the Demon continent and searching for him, Vice-Principal Josh might have gone missing in the vast Demonic continent.
Moreover, he was sure that the group of folks wouldn''t dare to harm him knowing that he had valuable information. And in the worst case, at most, they would soul-search him and look into his memories.
However, if they do that, they''re gonna get the biggest surprise of their life. One that he was really looking forward to.
After all, no matter how much he hates him, his Future self is absolutely badass.
Josh scrunched his nose seeing Lucas'' nk expression that annoyed him. He just arrived yesterday and almost got a heart attack seeing the mess that had been made by those bastards.
If there were nows, he would brunt each of them down, extract their soul and torture them for eternity.
The Demon Continent was a rough ce filled with danger at each step and as a human, one needs to be quite cautious. It was a tiresome and arduous journey and he wanted to take some rest after returning s...
And to make it worse, that son of a bitch dared to mess with this guy out of all people not knowing that there is fucking bomb behind this guy.
She was cautious of unknown enemies but if she lost her reasoning¡..
However, there was no need to reach there.
Previously, this boy was quite a soft cutie pie who only bore his fangs when exposed to danger but who knew his body resembled a sharp de ready to swing at any moment?
And the truth is though Josh looked calm, he was terrified at the moment and he could already see his trauma and nightmare resurfacing.
''People really grow up.''
"So, just tell me what you want and leave."
"Vice-Principal, I am not here to add more tension, rather as a good student of Horizon it''s my duty to partake in your woes and troubles." Lucas muttered, taking a file containing a thick bundle of documents and there were several of them.
"Have a look."
Josh raising his brows, guessed the contents of the documents feeling that somehow all of this was connected to the perpetrator who pushed this guy out of the ranks.
Josh grabbed a file and skimmed through it. He didn''t read it carefully but rather gave a nce and then went on to the next.
Lucas'' lips twitched as he saw him looking at things casually without the least bit of seriousness.
"Is all this urate? You might get in trouble if you forged these things just to me them." Josh asked.
"Everything had been thoroughly investigated."
"This list contains everything but I especially advise you not to take action against the ones I circled in red now. You monitor their moves to avert danger and don''t let them go loose. If we eliminate them now, who knows who will take their ce?'''' Lucas advised Josh sincerely who eyed Lucas sharply.
"I was going to do that after all it''s a lot." Josh nodded.
"Aren''t you a bit ipetent? There are so many moles and pricks under your eyes." Lucas ridiculed Josh.
Lucas'' words irked Josh and he shouted,"What do you know boy?!"
"I had a firm grasp over Horizon and had cultivated good teachers and professors. But all of this changes due to the war 20 years ago. There was a shortage of manpower and our Horizon Professors fought in the war with Demonkin and many lost their lives. A huge vacancy was created making Horizon unable to function. So, the post was immediately filled and some people used this opportunity to sneak in."
"I don''t understand the reason for Horizon to take part in such an issue. Was it that grave?" Lucas asked curiously.
"It was..." Josh added with a frown.
''Boy, it''s because your Father got into an ident during the war and a major pir got crippled. So, in the way you are the fucking menace because of which I suffered. If Vanessa wasn''t pregnant then this wouldn''t have happened.''
Josh controlled his emotions and asked solemnly.
"So, as far as I got to know you, there is something you want in exchange."
"Ran-"
Josh cut Lucas'' speech, "Don''t worry about rank, you got the highest score. I will give you the rank 1 you deserve."
"Vice-Principal, I was about to say that I don''t want rank 1," Lucas said, surprising Josh.
''Rank 1? I am not a fool to get that rank and be a punching bag for the world."
"Three. I want to rank three."
"What? Why?" Josh asked, trying to understand what this guy thought.
"Don''t you want fame, reputation and dozens of people suck on you and even lick your toes?"
"What the hell are you about? I don''t want to discuss these things. I just want rank 3 and no need to publish this now.'' ''Lucas said aloud.
Josh caressed his beard thinking for a moment and nodded.
"Another thing?"
Josh snapped out of his thoughts and stared at Lucas with a bad premonition.
"Since you Horizon defamed me and stopped me from taking on potion business. I have suffered both mentally, physically and financially so don''t you think you shouldpensate me for all this?"
The moment Lucas said this, Josh started to sweat profusely. As he looked at Lucas'' grin, he could see the familiar outlines of Leonard who had left him a trauma.
If it was any other person besides this guy, Josh wouldn''t hesitate to send him flying with a p. But if he touched a single hair of this guy, that woman was gonna rip all his hair and throw him into the trash.
Without waiting for Josh to reply, Lucas put forward his condition.
"I want an alchemy facility in Horizon. I am prepared to pay for the rent and you also need to clear the previous usation and help me in the supply of material."
"Why don''t you just go and loot me?!" Josh screamed in anger.
"Sir Josh, this is neither a negotiation nor a request. I am taking what is due." Lucas spoke coldly.
"You want to make potions there and sell them in the market. It''s not possible. I can let go of previous usations but this is against the rules,"Josh spoke helplessly."
"Hahaha! That was a good joke. Do you think I don''t know how things work out? Is there anyw that hasn''t been broken? Simply bend it and...." Lucas paused a bit and bent forward.
" I have done a great favour by giving you this list so you better give me the benefit of equal importance."
A brief silence lingered
Josh sighed heavily and after some thought, he spoke,"Okay, but about thest thing give me some time."
Lucas and Josh discussed how to proceed with the teachers'' problem. Josh wanted to clean them up discreetly but Lucas was adamant about stripping theiryers of disguise. He knew that most of them had notmitted any offense to be executed and would be imprisoned so he needed to make sure they got tormented both physically and mentally.
As per those who were going to be killed, both Lucas and Josh rubbed their hands in excitement, cooking a satisfying ending for them.
After a brief, Lucas bid farewell waiting for the shit show to begin.
Josh pulled his speck and rubbed his eyes with an inexplicable gaze.
"Both father and son are made of the same mould. Threatening and using every means to get their work done. However, this bastard is more terrifying than him because at least Leo acted openly but this bastard kept his fangs hidden until he attacked."
Josh''s worries started to deepen wondering about the future. Leonard and his group only started to act in the third year after building connections but this boy had already taken a huge step.
He still remembered the day when Leonard almost sold the whole academy for a trillion giving him a heart attack. Fortunately, he was able to stop it but.....
"I hope this guy doesn''t walk in his father''s steps and n to sell the entirety of Horizon."
Josh suddenly felt uneasy, unable to suppress this thought.
"Arghhhhh!" Josh pulled his hair in frustration.
"Just what sin did Imit in my past lives that I have to teach guys like these?"
Chapter 261 261:Meeting Of Professor Council
Chapter 261 Chapter 261:Meeting Of Professor Council
After Lucas'' meeting, Josh sent a message for a meeting with the Professor''s Council to discuss an important issue.
Lucas'' body hovered in the air as he meditated cross-legged. while using telekinesis to keep him floating.
A golden aura encased his body as he circted his mana using his breathing technique.
He had kept tabs on many things and his mind was on the verge of getting fried. So for this, meditating to rx was the best thing a person could do.
Lucas opened his closed eyes and sighed.
"I don''t know why but taking care of things like this is much more troublesome than training with Harris. I would rather get beaten up by Sir Harris than take over the administrative work."
Lucas rubbed his forehead wondering if he should be a noble if he was offered the title.
Wouldn''t that mean he would sink into piles of papers throughout the rest of his life?
"Now, I understand why the Emperor and the Dukes always run away. ying around is just an excuse, they run away to get away from paperwork and with efficient wives to take care of this, they can rx a bit."
At that time a mad thought came into his mind.
''Should I buy some ves who are good at work like this and make them work instead of me? With ve seals and mana contracts, they won''t dare to go against me.''
As the thought arose, Lucas found it hard to shake this thought.
very from a point of view was wrong but if he bought a ve, not only would this help the ve to get out of hell but Lucas could also give them a better life in exchange for their loyalty.
"Should I buy a ve for real?"
RING!RING!RING!
THUMP!
"Now who is this?" Lucas grumbled bitterly as the call broke his concentration and he fell over the bed with a thud.
Thankfully he has learned his lesson before.
Falling on the bed, Lucas picked up his phone wondering who called him now to eat his head.
Just as he saw the name of the caller, Lucas got up straight with a scream.
"Mom!"
He picked up the call immediately.
[Hello, my precious boy, how are you? Mom missed you a lot. In fact, mom is missing you everyday.]
"I am doing fine Mom. How are you? Have you been well and how is Father?"
[I was not feeling well but after I talked to you I am feeling great. As per your father¡]
His mother paused a little and said.
[He is also doing well.]
Lucas stared at his phone screen and knowing what this pause meant, he could only pray for his father''s well-being.
''I hope your soul rests in peace.''
''Don''t worry, I will take care of Mom for you.''
If Leonard heard this he would have died for real by coughing blood.
Lucas then chatted with his mother for a moment. He told her almost everything except for the troublesome things.
[If it''s hard just drop out. Believe in you Mom, we have enough for seven generations to hit off without working.]
Lucas chuckled hearing his Mom''s words.
[By the way, Lucas, what rank did you get? I don''t care about ranks but your father is unable to sleep properly.]
On the other side, Leonard who was massaging Vanessa''s shoulder suddenly screamed in his mind hearing his wife making him a scapegoat.
He was already sweating buckets when Vanessa talked with Lucas and was already prepared for the worst in case Lucas told her everything.
Fortunately, his son was sensible enough.
"My rank, huh!"Lucas fell into a pinch for a moment.
''I am going to go home soon. I should talk about everything there ande clean. It''s useless to hide everything and pretend. Though, this might make her worry and question how I got stronger quickly but as a mother, she needs to know all this.''
"I have got a good rank around 1200.''''
[1200...That''s quite an improvement, Lucas. Don''t feel down. I know you are the best and one day gonna topple everyone.]
[Okay now onto the main question. When are youing back? It''s been so long since I have seen you. My eyes are yearning for you. And if you don''te back, I am gonna give you a visit.]
"No!" Lucas almost screamed.
"I will being next month. Most of the things are gonna be finished by then and I will have a long vacation after that.''''
[That''s great. I will be waiting for your homing.]
"You are saying it as if I am returning home after winning the war."
[Knowing the things that had been happening there, it''s alreadyparable to war.]
His mother spoke in a grave voice
[By the way, what about that President? Are you now close to her? Tell me, did you make her fall into your trap?]
"What? Mom, stop letting your thoughts go wild."
Lucas screamed in panic and before his mom''s thoughts could run wild to the point of asking for children, he immediately thought of an excuse.
"Mom, I have a meeting with my friends. I have to go."
Lucas cut the call and breathed in relief.
''Sometimes moms are too much. She might even start talking about her grandkids if she was allowed to talk more.''
Though Lucas was troubled by his mom pestering him, his heart felt warmth and he thanked his luck that at least he was not an orphan.
Putting down his phone, he started thinking about tomorrow.
"Finally, I can get rid of those sons of bitches. Issac, I hope you will like my surprise."
.......
In a grand chamber adorned with ornate decorations, a circr tablemanded the centre stage, its polished mahogany surface reflecting the glow of crystal chandeliers overhead.
Surrounding it were manyyers of tables and high-backed chairs surrounded the central table, each meticulously ced, awaiting the distinguished upants.
The room bustled with energy as individuals of diverse backgrounds and attire streamed in, their voices hushed in anticipation of the imminent gathering. The aromas of freshly brewed coffee mingled with the subtle scent of polished wood, creating an atmosphere both formal and inviting.
At the head of the table, a podium stood tall, bearing the seal of the council and symbols of Horizon i.e. an eagle in between the ce where sky andnd meet.
An impressive array of microphones encircled the table, ready to amplify the voices that would shape the proceedings of the day.
Professors, adorned in attire signifying their positions, took their ces around the table. Some exchanged cordial nods and whispers, while others perused meticulously organized folders filled with agendas and reports.
Many diligent workers bustled about, arranging papers and ensuring everything was in order.
The room filled in steadily, a symphony of hushed conversations and rustling papers. Each individual carried with them a sense of purpose, amitment to the decisions to be made within these hallowed walls.
At one end of the room, Lucas strode under everyone''s scrutinizing gazes and stood beside Issac with a resolute expression.
"You really got some guts. I have to give that to you." Issac spoke with a gratified smile.
"I''m stillckingpared to you, Senior Issac." Lucas replied with an equivalent smile.
"Do you think you can overturn the things here by begging and licking Julian''s feet? As a man aren''t you ashamed of grovelling at a woman''s feet?" Issac sneered and ridiculed Lucas.
"At least, I am close enough to do that unlike you whom she doesn''t even look at. And Senior Issac, you might not know but let me give you some advice." Lucas spoke with a sinister grin.
"Women like men who have guts, which you don''t seem to have. After all, what do you amount to without White''s power?"
"Enough of your puny talks. I have an advantage so why wouldn''t I use it? I am not a poor beggingmoner like you. The difference between our lives is like heaven and hell." Issac raises his voice.
"Believe me, you can do nothing. Even if you managed to gain the support of two-thirds of the other members, I can still restrain and nullify their judgment. So, instead of trying something useless, just kneel, apologize and swear that you won''t be hovering closer to Julian, then I will reward you greatly with riches that you can''t even fathom."
Lucas gave Issac a sidelong nce and controlled his urge to spit at him.
"There are some things that man has to get by his own hard work. And it seems you are too confident and to burst that, I have got a great gift for you."
"Gift?" Issac frowned but stopped hearing a loud voice at the entrance.
As the appointed time approached, a gentle hush fell over the assembly. Josh, dressed in regal attire, strode purposefully to the podium at the centre followed by Ami and Herman.
With a nod and amanding presence, he called the meeting to begin, marking the beginning of the end of the meticulously orchestrated symphony of schemes of conspiracy.
Chapter 262 262:Meeting Of Professor Council[2]
Chapter 262 Chapter 262:Meeting Of Professor Council[2]
?262 Chapter 262:Meeting Of Professor Council[2]
Josh with amanding presence stood at the head at the centre of the room and coughed a bit to check the mike, then started speaking in a sharp cold voice with a crooked voice.
"Esteemed Professors, we gathered today to address the pressing matters of concern of the mess you have created in the academy in my absence."
Everyone sucked in cold air, having their heart gripped with fear. Almost one-third of them belong to Issac''s faction and knew that they would be facing a storm today however Issac''s assurance calmed them down.
In the worst case, they can just resign if the Vice-Principal makes things difficult for them and House White will take care of them.
"Let''s discuss the first thing." Josh then stared at Lucas who stood straight with an unwavering gaze amid all the gazes.
"Why is he not ranked?"
A silence ensued after that question.
Lokov under Issac''s gaze stood up.
"Vice-Principal, you might not know that this bastard disobeyed the rules and used the Academy resources for personal use and if he can''t give us a satisfactory answer he''s gonna be expelled."
"That isn''t a reason to withdraw his ranking."
"It isn''t but there are others." Lokov said, trying to eye others for support.
"Sir, thest stage was unfinished so let''s take a theoretical approach. Out of many participants present there. Lucas was only a 3-Star while many of them were at 4-Star. I know he got the highest points but if the battle went on till the end, Lucas had to face many 4-Stars. Yes, he might have defeated Ezekiel but is there a guarantee that he could defeat the others?" Kelly spoke with a gentle smile and exined things calmly.
"This is nonsense!" Ami shouted, unable to take it anymore.
"As you said, this is just your assumption and just like Lucas, other 4-Stars were also fighting there so it was not a sure thing that Lucas would fight other 4-Stars. Moreover, just like him, they would also be exhausted after a long fight so it''s invalid."
"That''s what I am saying. A special case like him is hard to rank and with chances of being expelled, if we give him a top or any rank, then aren''t we just wasting a spot?" Kelly tried to shift eloquently.
He was supported by many who hit their palms on the table to extend their support.
Lucas gave Kelly a cold gaze wondering why these fuckers were after him as if he had killed thier parents and stolen thier wives.
''It''s annoying when I see a random barking at me.''
Ami tried to argue with Kelly who minced his words gently trying to gather support with a reasonable justification. People like him were quite hard to deal with.
Josh watched everything with an indifferent expression and turned his gaze towards Lucas who yawned with bored expression.
Lucas was seriously bored watching this kind of drama. It was nothing new for him. He was just waiting for Josh''s signal to start.
Lucas noticed Josh''s giving him a brief nod.
Lucas bent his head and spoke softly to the microphone attached to the cor button.
"Commence the operation and target this asshole Kelly first. I want him to be famous."
Issac at the side noticed Lucas'' murmuring and gave him a mocking gaze. He opened his lips to whisper as if telling Lucas that it''s over, you can''t do anything.
CRING!CRING!CRING!CRING!
The heated debate between many suddenly came to a halt as many phones rang at once stupefying many.
"What happened, are we under attack?" Someone murmured while pulling out his smartphone.
The moment he opened his phone, his eyes became bleak seeing the message.
"What the hell?!!"
He screamed. He may be the first one but he isn''t thest as many started to curse.
Ami and many others stared at the ones screaming like wild men, confused by their sudden turn of behavior.
Josh chuckled seeing their reaction and asked Herman who stood beside him.
"Turn on the TV. Let''s see who''s cooking."
"Just say you have cooked a delightful meal for everyone here." Herman chuckled and switched on the huge screen in the centre of the room.
Herman used his watch to open the four disy TVs attached to the ceiling.
They were attached in circles and each disyed a different news channel.
The moment the news was announced everyone was stunned seeing Professor Kelly''s image on the channel.
[Breaking News]
[Exclusive news straight from Horizon, the top academy of Cyprus.]
[Watch this handsome and elegant face carefully. If you are wondering who this nobleman is then you are wrong. This man is Professor but the twist is this man teaches in Horizon during the day while at night he kills and rapes people.]
[He forces people to give money and if they fall, this beastmits all kinds of heinous crimes. From a secret source, it had been said that he was doing this because he had the backing of a higher noble who alsomitted all kinds of evil deeds.]
[And sadly, he is not the only one. Besides him, many use the mask of a Professor as a disguise tomit many heinous deeds. We will be going there one by one. Today we will unmask all of them who are eating away at our society.]
Except for the loud noise of the host of the TV, none of them could even mutter a word.
Shock and bewilderment was evident on everyone''s face but more than that many were afraid to the point that they started to tremble.
At first, everyone inside the room was afraid but as they saw the group of people, soon they found amon pattern among the people in the list.
All of them were those from Issac''s faction and were also the ones who targeted Lucas.
Finally, someone unable to bear it screamed.
"What the fuck!"
"This is wrong!"
"This is false. I have notmitted any evil."
"Vice-Principal, don''t believe this. Someone is targeting us by making falsified news trying to defame us and the Academy."
Josh stared at the pale expressions and pulled his eyesses and wiped the lens with a sigh.
"Haaaa! Just how much are you going to fall?"
"If you would have been truthful, I might have¡."
"s.." Josh blew air over to his specks and then waved his hand.
The Professor beside Kelly who was screaming at the top of his lungs suddenly burst apart, startling everyone.
"Mercy¡. You can ask for that to the Devil in hell."
Chapter 263 263
Chapter 263 263
??263 Chapter 263
Following the death of one, the lights in the room started flickering.
The lights in the room went off suddenly before anyone could react following which many mysterious dark cloth figures appeared.
Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish!
Scratch marks shed in the air following, the thumps of heads knocked on the floor.
"Arghh! Attack!"
"Ring the emergency signal!"
"The Academy is under attack."
Many pulled out their weapons preparing for the big fights seeing an overwhelming number of people appearing out of nowhere.
"Rx!"
A cold ancient voice echoed in the ce that drew everyone''s attention. On looking at the source, they were stunned as this came from Josh who was sitting on his seat with his elbow over the table having his fingers intertwined and his chin ced on them.
Seeing that nonchnt look frightened them for some reason.
Surprisingly, all the attacks that were happening around ceased for a moment and the ck guards that appeared stood still as if the previous massacre was just an illusion.
"My fellow men who have worked hard for this institution."
"It saddened me to spit these things straight at your face but I have to say the truth with my saddened and heavy heart. It may hurt you but the fact is, from today...no since now, some of your service isn''t needed."
"As a Vice-Principal of one of the noble''s institutions, I should maintain decency and speak in a moral tone s..."
Josh pulled off his sses and rubbed his eyes with a sigh.
"I have to praise you. In my whole career, I have never seen fucking sons of a bitches like you who act as if you fucking triumph over the whole world just because you became a Professor."
"Even fucking criminals aren''t as unbridled as some of you. There is also an asshole who goes around sowing seeds and forcing female students by threatening them to be suspended along with many crimes that I am not able to say."
Josh paused a little seeing everyone''s confused expression.
"Stop looking here and there. I am talking about you Professor Kelly, you m**herfucker."
"What?"
"Really?"
The Professor who stood beside Kelly jumped back to gain some distance while staring at Kelly from head to toe as if looking at a monster.
"No, this is wrong. Sir Josh, you are making a big mistake!" Kelly shouted with a frightened expression.
"Yeah, I know you are born by a fucking mistake." Josh spoke with a disgusted expression.
"Don''t kill him. Take him and submit him to aw enforcer and torture him until he begs to get killed. I will personally oversee his and a few privileged matters."
"No, y-"
Professor Kelly''s scream stopped as a pair of hands closed his mouth. He tried to struggle and release his power but a shackle was wrapped around him suddenly that stopped his mana flow rendering him useless.
Josh''s eyes then fell on Lokov who was sweating buckets.
"And you Mr.Hot shit. I find it hard to believe after I went through your acts. Extorting money, threatening parents, running a downside business of taking money and giving an admission seat to children, and bribing for extra marks. Running an underground syndicate, killing people outside after bing their dog."
Josh sighed and gave him a pitiful look.
"Idiot, you just have backdrop support that wants to use you to do their bids. They are not supporting you to be King or member of the Assembly."
The moment his words fell, ck figures darted across the air towards Lokov but unlike others, he was not dull and reacted immediately.
BOOM!BOOM!
Two figures crashed onto the table after taking a hit from him. Tapping his foot, Lokov jumped and shot towards the door.
"If I want to escape, no one can catch me."
Being one of the heads of the first year, he was quite capable enough and was at 7-Star.
You can enter Horizon as long as you are 5-Star regardless of the background. The main teaching staff were at 6-Star whereas those who held the core power were at 7-Star and Lokov was one of the core members.
Lokov with a sinister expression stared back at Issac and then dashed. As long as he managed to get out of there, he would escape towards Blood Peach forest, enter deeper towards the Mist forest and hide away.
With White House support, he can return with a separate identity and then he would get back his revenge.
Lokov who in a span of a moment, had already thought of a n crossed the door but just as he stepped out, a kick struck against his chest with a heavy force.
BOOM!
A shockwave echoed tearing the wall and Lokov''s figure shot back like a kite that cut off the string and crashed onto the wall on the opposite side, spurting blood.
"Who..."
Lokov''s words choked as the entire room dyed with a crimson hue and an odd suffocating pressure enveloped everyone.
A heavy foul smell of blood assaulted everyone, making the weaker ones choke.
Lokov coughed blood and held his chest feeling difficulty breathing.
"Who...You....It can''t be ?"
Lokov muttered with great difficulty as the earlier kick seemed to have broken his sternum and rib bones shaking his body to the core.
His mind became nk seeing the familiar figure standing at the door with his hand behind his back who was the source of this strange phenomenon.
It was none other than First Year Combat Instructor Harris.
Witnessing the power releasing from his body, he sucked in cold air.
Harris wasn''t well known in the Academy like other teachers as he didn''t talk much or mingle with them and most of the time he stayed alone.
Except for a handful, no one knows what he is like. Many factions tried to approach him but he rejected all of them brutally drawing their aggro.
However, none of them knew that this guy was so strong.
Ami who saw the scene chuckled inwardly.
''You are already like this. If you knew his true identity, I am sure many of you might have wet your pants.''
"How are you so strong? How...Just how? You are just a small Instructor ofmon origin, so how strong are you?!!"
Lokov screamed and took a step but his body froze.
Swish!
A vertical line was drawn across his chest cutting it open and his blood spurted out like a fountain.
Many of them even weren''t able to react or see when Harris appeared before Lokov and drew his sword.
In the whole room, Josh saw it clearly while Herman who was already at early 9-Star managed to catch a blurry glimpse only.
"You bark too much."
Harris''s figure blurred and appeared right before Lokov, then kicked him in the chest again.
BOOM!
Josh ignored them and looked around.
"I have already sought permission from the Public Safety Bureau and Royal Knights. Those people whomitted an unforgivable crime will be executed here while others will be imprisoned and your punishment will be decided by thew.''''
With that, Josh waves his hand to ring the final bell and hits the nail into the coffin of some.
While all of this was happening.
Issac stood there with a nk expression. He looked as if he didn''t give a shit but if one looked at his hands sped behind his back, one could see faint trembles in his arms and feet.
His face was nk not because of indifference but rather the shocking scene that scared him out of his shit. There were times that he wanted to scream to stop this madness but the tiny bit of reason left behind stopped him from doing so as the moment he acted in their support they were gonna draw a sword over him.
With so many things happening, they would be fools if they didn''t know it was the White Household that supported the group. It was because of his nobility and power that he was standing here without anyone pointing fingers at him.
If the house didn''t have that much authority he was sure that Josh would have hacked him into pieces.
And more than that he was afraid of his father''s reaction.
Throughout history, there has never been a single blemish on them and even if there was it had been wiped out.
However, now the enemy must have surely grasped something.
Issac gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly to stop his burning fury.
"Senior Issac, I hope you are happy seeing all this.''''
"Huh?" Issac shrieked, seeing Lucas standing beside him with a grin.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I meant you are the Vice-President of the Student Council and as the leader of the student body, shouldn''t you be happy seeing petty criminals like them punished or do you feel sad and pity them?''''
Issac''s heart jolted in fear seeing the huge grin on Lucas'' face and as Lucas stepped towards him, he almost stepped back in fear.
Chapter 264 264
Chapter 264 264
??264 Chapter 264
"Senior Issac, answer my questions. Aren''t you happy...."
His speech was interrupted by a shriek of a Professor asking and begging for mercy.
Lucas turned his head towards the wailing man with annoyance.
Lucas pulled out a gun from his ring. It was a one-handed gun. Aiming at the Professor from the blind spot, Lucas pulled the trigger a few times.
Issac''s eyes widened in horror as he saw Lucas shooting the Professor who was screaming with a nonchnt expression as if he was shooting a bug.
BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!
The loud banging sound created a sudden lull in the room
The two men in ck who tried to detain the Professor were dazed to see a small hole over his forehead.
Blood spurted out from the hole as the Professor who was struggling against the grasp, fell on the ground with a thud.
The people who weren''t targeted swallowed their saliva in fear wondering when students became so unbridled to kill a teacher.
Many wanted to step out and preach to the kids about righteousness while trying to act cool. Someone even opened his lip, but he was shut by the ones beside him.
"Shithead, can''t you see that Vice-Principal isn''t saying anything so why the hell do you want to act?"
"Take a step and see if the ck guard doesn''t kidnap you."
Hearing their words, the man shuddered and stepped back.
Meanwhile, Ami and Herman''s expressions cracked a bit and they stared at Josh who averted his gaze as if he was blind and didn''t see anything.
''Don''t look at me like that. I have been threatened by him to keep quiet.''
Harris standing over the bloodied Lokov, gave Lucas a satisfied smile and spoke.
"I expect nothing less from my disciple. Good work."
Lokov under Harris''s foot almost coughed blood hearing this.
Both the teacher and students were of the same mold.
Lucas, noticing everyone gazing upon him, raised the gun.
"This is a short-arm pistol named L.B. Pistol, which is capable of firing 30 rounds. It had a bullet of E-rank metal that could prate the thickest fur of 4-Star. As for humans, you know our body structure. Without mana and aura coating us, we are justmbs to be ughtered." Lucas paused and raised his voice.
"For more information and for those who want to buy it, please visit your nearest Salus store!"
"Thank you! You can continue now." Lucas bowed and put back the gun leaving everyone bbergasted as if they were watching an advertisement.
This was also a part of the deal and was the most unique way to advertise it that Lucas came up with for the situation.
Then he stared at Issac ignoring others screams and pleas for life.
"Pardon the intrusion, so where were we?" Lucas scratched his head.
"Ohh! I remember now. I was asking if you are happy seeing the bad people getting punished. I am sure, you are a noble person who can''t stand these evil people, aren''t you?"
Issac swallowed his saliva and spoke angrily being led by Lucas.
"Filthymoner, don''t push your luck."
"Keep your voice down!" Lucas''s golden shone brightly with a strong killing intent.
It was thick and strong enough to give Issac chills.
"It''s not me pushing you, rather you pushed me. You are the one who brought all this onto yourself. You think of yourself as the king of the world but that''s just your fantasy."
"So know to differentiate between reality and fantasy.'''' Lucas snorted and walked away pushing Issac''s shoulder.
Issac felt his heart boiling in anger but he didn''t pursue Lucas.
No, he wasn''t able to because his legs were shaking as well as his whole body. The weight of the consequences that he was soon going to face along with the wrath of his father, horrified him.
Knowing his father''s indifference and temper, he wouldn''t hesitate to hack his son into pieces.
As he looked around, he could see the begging faces of many where the sound of news podcasts echoed in his ears.
Issac who drowned in his dark thoughts, suddenly felt a shadow on his shoulder and turning around he saw Lucas'' smiling face looking like that of a predator.
"Ahhh!" Issac jumped with fear gripping his heart.
"Believe me Senior Issac, this is just the beginning."
"The Beginning of the End of The White."
Lucas then turned around and left, leaving these words ringing in Issac''s ears who in turn looked at the bloody mess of his faction which was made with great difficulty and was being dismantled and killed.
Few survived because they didn''tmit any crime but after seeing this, they wouldn''t dare to associate themselves with Issac.
No, rather they wouldn''t dare to step into Horizon now. After all of this was over, they would resign and leave to live a peaceful life.
With this, Josh stood up delivering the nail to the coffin.
"Since we have already cleaned the pieces of shits. Let''s go with the decisions I made and I don''t think anyone is against it, or are there?" Josh asked, eyeing everyone who just looked away in fear of being the next person to die.
"Okay here is my verdict. Student Lucas''s rank would be raised to rank 3. He had the highest score and should have ranked 1 but I conceded to you on the ount that he wasn''t a 4-Star so I ranked him 3."
Hearing this everyone''s lips twitched.
Conceded...To whom did you concede...
Those who opposed you are already in coffins or soon going to be.
"Second, The Law said that one can''t use Labs for his profit but there is an exception to that which is, that the Principal and Vice-Principal can permit a third party to use Horizon facilities which had been lying dormant. And this happened many times. You can search this in the history of Horizon and for the loss of group Salus, we willpensate them with our entire Laboratory at their disposal to use with certain rent."
"How can we do this? This fee...."
Josh''s cold stare made the man freeze.
"Do you have objections? Come to my office, then we will talk peacefully there."
Those who heard him felt that once they went to his office they would be sent to the afterlife peacefully.
Seeing the man shaking his head, Josh looked around.
"Anyone else?"
What followed his question was a brief silence.
"Since no one has an objection, let''s wrap things up and go home."
...
A maid walked into the room and ced a coffee on the table.
"Your Highness, the meeting is over."
Julian''s cold and lifeless gaze changed.
"What was the result?"
The maid ryed everything to Julian while noticing her change in expression.
From worry, anger and anxiety to joy, her expression fluctuated greatly.
Julian took a heavy breath and rested down on her seat. She had been dead worried about this and even offered help but that idiot refused to let her help directly.
He wanted to handle this thing by himself without affecting her during the treatment period.
"You can leave now." Julian asked her to leave and then took a sip.
Her eyes then went back to the usual coldness making the temperature around the ce freeze.
"Issac, I warned you, didn''t I? You think I can''t touch you or harm you physically due to your house power."
"However, you calcted wrongly. I can still inflict damage on you spiritually." Julian put down the cup and stared outside.
"Your nightmare isn''t going to be over soon."
Chapter 265 265
Chapter 265 265
??265 Chapter 265
The crisp winter air painted thendscape in a serene hue, as snowkes pirouetted gracefully from the heavens, delicately nketing the world in a pristineyer of white.
Trees stood as stoic guardians adorned in icy attire, their branchesden with glistening snow, while the ground sparkled like a field of diamonds under the soft, ethereal glow of the pale sun.
As he took a deep breath, a trailing mist emerged from his mouth mixing with the wintery fog.
"The winter is finally here." Parth spoke in a yearning voice that was quite soothing to the ears.
But his next words shook them.
"Damn it, I can''t enjoy my peaceful time byying back on the branches anymore. My sleeping spot was destroyed by snow."
"You are still thinking about a peaceful time when someone just massacred half of the Professor''s squad."
"What''s new in that? I won''t be shocked if he kills half of the world''s poption the next day. It may not look like it but that bastard is the pettiest guy I have ever seen." Parth muttered, giving Roan a sideline nce.
Roan, who was taken aback for a moment, asked.
"What? Why are you looking back like that?"
"It''s because you look a bit more handsome and masculine." Parth muttered rubbing his chin, and asked.
"Roan, did you go through stic surgery? Did someone get into your eye? Are you feeling that otherworldly feeling of sunflowers blooming even in winter?"
"Shut up!" Roan red at Parth.
"You have grown some balls, after breaking to peak 2-Star but how did you do that?" Parth asked.
Roan scratched his head and wondered,"I don''t know but before breaking through I was beaten and pummeled quite badly by Lucas."
Parth eyes gleamed with curiosity.
"Is this a legendary technique of getting stronger by getting beaten?... Wait a minute. I remember Lucas would always get beaten to death at the beginning of the training sessions then he became like this." Parth pped his hands with an expression as if he had solved a great mystery.
"Finally, I have uncovered a big secret. Hahaha!" Parthughed wildly, making Roan scared.
''Did he finally go insane?''
"Hey, Parth, tell me where is Lucas now? Also, I didn''t see Frederick and Charles."
"Don''t you know that they have gone to get the special badge to enter thebyrinth?"
"...It seems I need to get my hands on that legendary technique to get stronger by being beaten." Parth jumped in excitement.
Roan shook his head seeing this madman.
''I don''t know about legendary technique but you might get a legendary beating if you piss Lucas off after such turmoil.''
.......
A group of 8 stood in line staring around the miraculous area with a strange gleam.
The grasnd below their feet seemed to extend endlessly over the horizon while a beautiful sky radiating various shades was over their head.
A cool gentle breeze blew through this meadow. The serene and peaceful atmosphere was so rxing that it wouldn''t take long for one to fall asleep the moment theyy on the soft grassy ground.
While few gave Lucas, who appeared out of nowhere a strange look.
Naturally, out of the 10 Hailey and Richard weren''t feeling good seeing Lucas among them but they made sure to keep themselves down cause after witnessing and hearing all the rumours, they knew that Lucas was thest person they should offend.
His tales of torturing a senior until he broke had made many wet their pants. Though there isn''t any witness, only a fool wouldn''t believe in all this after seeing that senior''s condition.
Lucas looked around and felt a bit sad for Parth as he was ranked 9 but after remembering that the bastard out of all treasures would choose a fancy lighter to light a cigar to make him look famous, Lucas decided it was better to keep him out and let someone else take out some good things.
Frederick and Charles, on the side, gave Lucas a curious stare seeing him nodding his head.
The thought that Lucas was digging someone''s grave came across their mind.
"How did you get that rank? I mean it shouldn''t be 1 or 2?" Frederick whisperer, making sure others didn''t hear this.
"That''s a secret. You can think of this as a part of a deal." Lucas grinned.
"So, you targeted the entire Professor squad who tried to frame you." Charles asked, feeling a chill down their spine.
Seeing their look, Lucas said with a re,"Come on man, Vice Principal Josh himself agreed to this. I just submitted some ck material but he went on a rampage."
Frederick and Charles exchanged a gaze that conveyed many words.
"By the way, why is Jete giving you that weird gaze?"
"Huh?!" Lucas turned back and saw Jete''s gazes lingering on him.
''Maybe she wants to say something.''
Lucas met her eyes and was about to speak but Herman and Ami appeared, interrupting them.
Herman took his stance and spoke like a gentleman.
"I hope you are doing great even though the situation isn''t great."
Ami stepped on Herman''s feet and whispered.
"Did you have to say that?"
"Sorry, it''s just that I have been too affected by that old man." Herman squeezed out a forced smile.
Ami snorted and stepped forward.
"Though the times were difficult, you all had managed to ovee the ordeal. I sincerely hope that you grew up and learnt a lot from this event."
As Ami said this, Lucas turned his gaze towards the lifeless Monica.
''She changed a lot.''
Ami pped her hand, spewing a few praises to cheer everyone up.
"Before we begin, let me inform you about a few things."
"First about thebyrinth. The truth is, it is a test site to nurture future generations just like the Tower of Miracles. Each part of thebyrinth had its challenges and twists. The top 10 of each year will get a chance to train here and hone their skills but that''s forter."
"Nowing onto the second point. You all should know about the Inter Academy Tournament that has been held in Ralph for ages. Previously, it was a battle between top warriors but now it''s a battle of the newest generation and rising stars to dere themselves before the world."
"The battle takes ce in a team of 3 along with an additional yer acting as a reserve and it will be the Top 4 who would be selected."
As Ami exined, she frowned, noticing Monica raising her hand.
"Miss Ami, I am opting out of it. I am not going to participate."
"W- what?" Ami''s voice stuttered a bit as she observed Monica.
Lucas was also taken aback for a moment. Originally, the team would be made of Frederick, Charles, Rose and Ezekiel but it was filled with problems.
But with him and Frederick as warriors, Monica who is a mage along with Rose as an Archer would make a good well-bnced team.
"Why are you opting out?" Herman asked.
"Sorry Sir, I have some personal circumstances which I can''t say now."
Both Ami and Herman were at a loss for words. There is no rule that states that someone can''t opt out but there aren''t many that do so unless they are injured.
And she can''t force someone to just fight.
''I think this must be rted to Humphrey''s condition.''
Ami sighed and looked at the others.
"In that case, it would be you four."
"Frederick, Lucas, Rose and Charles. Our hope to win will lie on your shoulders."
The four of them nodded with serious looks as if they were going to the borders to fight.
"Now,e here and take your badge."
Herman took out a ck box inside which there were 10 insignia.
The badge had an eagle that was flying between the ce wherend and sky met signifying the never-ending quench for greatness.
"Now listen everyone, This badge will allow ess to enter through a passage of fog. If you don''t have this, you will lose your way and be trapped inside. And once you enter, you won''t find anyone next to you. A way will appear and you have to follow that trail." Herman exined loudly, emphasizing each word.
Then everyone followed them into the passage that led to an uncharted territory.
The moment Lucas stepped in, the world around him distorted and he found himself standing in the middle of dense white fog hovering around.
Lucas gulped knowing what it was.
The fog has hallucinations and slows down your senses. The ce between abyrinth and the outside world is guarded by a Guardian Beast which, though named a beast, is a tree that can take a humanoid shape.
If not for the Insignia, he would have already lost consciousness.
As he searched around, he saw that the mist before him bifurcated forming a road.
Sighing in relief, Lucas followed the trail to walk out.
Chapter 266 266
Chapter 266 266
??266 Chapter 266
Everyone halted in their steps aftering out from the mysterious fog and gawked at the sight of a huge crater extending for almost a mile.
Deep beneath the surface, within the dark bowels of the earth, lies an intricatebyrinth of twisting tunnels and caverns.
Carved out over centuries by hands or mystical power, this subterranean maze was a realm of perpetual darkness and mystery.
The walls from the side were adorned with luminescent moss and eerie crystals, casting a dim illumination as they showcased the path through the depths from the side.
The air was thick with an ancient, musty scent, and a palpable sense of foreboding hung heavy.
The passages branched off in many directions, leading one deeper into the heart of the maze. Each pathway led to either sess or bing irretrievably lost.
Strange creatures and monsters lurk in the shadows that regenerate even after one sweeps through them.
Some sections of thebyrinth hold forgotten chambers adorned with relics of a lost civilization like ornate statues, cryptic hieroglyphs etched into stones, and chambers rumoured to have many treasures guarded by ancient traps.
It was truly a treasurend on which the foundation of Cyprus was built as many nobles'' houses and primary weapons came from this ce.
"Those who dare to venture into its depths must tread carefully, for every step risks entrapment in an unending maze where time seems to stand still, and escape bes an impossible dream." Ami exined and asked them to take out the badge they received by them.
"You see, the badge is currently grey and inactive but once we allow you ess, your badge will gain colour and you can enter. The entirebyrinth has 75 floors. And there is an interesting fact, the more monsters you kill, the more effect it will have on your strength."
Looking at everyone''s curious expression, Herman stepped forward to exin.
"You can think of it as gaining exp by killing monsters like games."
"Now, we have been brought here for two reasons. First, as per the prize, you can enter the storage room and select something of your choice. The second reason is a test." Ami spoke looking at everyone out there.
"To enter abyrinth, you need to be at 5-Star at minimum and secondly, you should know how to fight monsters and beasts well. Previously, we used to have many outings but with things happening we decided to stop this for the first year so yourbat experience in dealing with monsters iscking."
Ami then stared at Herman who looked aside and waved his hand.
"Previously, we used to test you in dummies but now you have to fight a monster of a special kind. We will do this for a day every week so that you can adapt to it before stepping inside thebyrinth."
With the movement of Herman, an invisibleyer of the wall disappeared and a gate appeared.
On the left side, a vortex appeared showing a chamber from which multiple chained monsters appeared. A great chilly bloody aura radiated from them freezing the entire ce.
Except for Frederick and Lucas, everyone else was frozen by fear and a palpitating heart.
Even Charles, Monica and Rose were not looking good.
"Students, let me remind you. This isn''t a normal monster but is a demonkin. They weren''t different from the normal beasts and monsters found in a dungeon in appearance but they carried the demon essence miasma. They can subdue normal beasts around them and have intense blood lust that makes it hard for people who encounter them for the first time to close in." Herman''s words struck more fear in everyone''s heart.
"They are smarter, better and tougher. All of them caged here are malnourished but still, you can see the sharpness in them. I want you to fight one and at least injure them. It''s okay even if you can''t."
Ami saw their confused expressions and exined.
"We are doing this now because of the change in the tournament of Ralph''s structure. Before the team battles there is a show-off where each student will fight a monster to disy their prowess before everyone but this year, the participants will have to face Demonkin so we are starting this now as it takes time to get used to blood lust." Ami exined the situation.
Some of them were nervous but they tried to reassure themselves that this wasn''t the first time they had experienced killing a monster.
In the end, Demonkin is just a monster after all, isn''t it?
"First is Richard Cross.''''
''What? Why me first?''Richard screamed inside in bewilderment as he rankedst.
"Choose any of them and don''t fear. We will save you before you encounter danger."Ami and Herman both assured him while asking by looking through the vortex and then entering the gate.
Richard stepped forward and said, "I chose that one."
Out of all Richard chose the least threatening one.
The demonkin he chose was Wolfbite, who stood on its two humanoid limbs. It had four horns over its forehead and wide teeth leaking saliva.
It looked like a werewolf with the presence of horns.
Richard pulled out his sword and just as he stepped inside the gate and prepared to attack, arge piercing howl shook him to his core.
"GRRRRRRR!" The Wolfbite screamed as it sensed the presence of a being simr to its strength.
A dense coagting killing intent struck Richard making his vision flurry. Itsrge reddish eyes glowed violently making Richard''s whole body twitch.
"Shit!" Richard cursed, trying to move forward, but his legs seemed to be stuck in one ce.
Ami''s figure shed behind Richard and she pulled him back freeing Richard from the tortuous encounter.
"It''s okay Richard. It''s already good that you didn''t be unconscious. All you need to do is gain experience. Once you are subjugated to such pressure, you won''t be stricken by fear." Ami patted Richard to soothe his wounded pride and then threw him aside.
"Next."
The next one also had a simr result to Richard but after that, Jete appeared.
Like others, she was also frozen and her body started trembling in fear but unlike others, her will remained firm and she managed tond a blow.
Tiffany also did the same, by managing to ovee the fear by throwing her axe. s, it bounced off after striking the monster as the axe wasn''t strong enough to pierce its outeryer.
Charles subconsciously pped for her but stopped after noticing Lucas and Frederick smiling at him.
Monica gave a soulless gaze and before the monster could emit the blood lust.
"Earthen embankment"
Ayer of earthen walls shot up and covered her, blocking the murderous intent.
With the monster''s position locked by chains, she started chanting.
"Shackle of earth."
"de of wind, Cycle of fire, Rain of lightning."
Binding the target with an additional earth shackle, she created a cyclone of fire that engulfed the whole beast over which des of wind and lightning struck one after another.
In a few moments, the beast was almost burnt to death.
"Good job, Monica, you deserve the second position."
Next was Charles who just thrashed a huge rock over the beast and then Rose who dug a hole in it using her Air piercer.
However, they were affected and copsed onto the floor aftering out.
Frederick immediately ran after Rose, polluting everyone''s eyes with love.
Jete particrly expresses her displeasure over such a sight.
Lucas looked around, finding everything deste around him.
''These damned guys.''
Until now, everyone treaded cautiously and fought using long-
range attacks instead of pushing forward.
Yes, until now...
"Lucas, it''s your turn,"
"Now choose the monster you wish to fight." Ami said as she looked at Lucas.
Lucas looked at various Demonkin monsters with great interest.
"I want to choose this one." Lucas dered, pointing at a humanoid-shaped monster.
"An early 4-Star?" Herman asked.
"And another thing, please unhinge the demonkin. I want to take it on fully."
Herman blinked his eyes in confusion and stared at Ami after hearing such an odd request.
Ami walked forward and pulled Lucas.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, is that a problem?"
"Hey, have you gone mad? Can you handle it? This is just a simple test of experience. You will have your chance to fightter." Ami spoke, giving Lucas a weird gaze.
''That damned Harris, he is surely affecting this guy.''
"I am sure, I just want to try out something."
Ami sighed heavily.
"Don''te back crying after getting your ass kicked." Ami chided him and walked back.
Lucas stepped into the portal and appeared before the monster.
Everyone who looked at the screen suddenly frowned.
"Hey, has he gone insane? Why is he fighting an unhinged beast?" Charles screamed.
And to everyone''s shock, the demo kin that was unhinged started running towards Lucas who just stood there nonchntly while Demonkin raised his fist to m Lucas making everyone''s heart go wild in fear.
Some tried to close their eyes while Ami prepared to go in and save Lucas but much to everyone''s surprise, the ws of Demonkining at Lucas, stopped suddenly¡.
Chapter 267 267
Chapter 267 267
??267 267
Outside the gate...
Confusion etched on everyone''s faces.
"Is he going to do something crazy again?" Frederick scratched his head in confusion.
After the spar with Lucas, he had a rough guess about Lucas'' strength. And the truth was, he was starting to feel a bit afraid of this guy knowing the crazy things he could do.
Just recently, he almost wiped out half of the Professors of Horizon. Though the work was done by others, Lucas was the one who pulled all the strings until the end.
This proves that this guy had already made a vast connection aside from his and Charles''s house.
In this brief confrontation, the only one who had gained many things was none other than Lucas.
Meanwhile, Ami and Herman stared at Lucas'' daunting gaze.
"Why isn''t he pulling out his sword?" Herman spoke with a frown wondering if this guy had been frozen by bloodlust.
Contrary to everyone''s thoughts, Lucas stared at the huge figure unchained before him. It had a huge statue standing on its hind limb. A dark visage, huge bulky hands and ws. There was a goat-shaped skull stuck over his forehead from which four huge horns extended.
Most of the Demonkin in a way are considered evolved monsters due to the intake of miasma and can stand on hind limbs but in no way they are slowerpared to the monster.
Seeing the size of the Demonkin, Lucas calmed himself as a gust of powerful wave assaulted him.
The area around him started turning red, as the Demonkin gawked at him hungrily.
''I hope this works.'' Lucas muttered.
He wasn''t trying to show off, rather he needed to do a test and though it was safe to do this with Demonkin chained, as taught by Harris, a person should experience a certain feeling of death and fear because only then can you bring out your full potential.
''Damn, I don''t want to do this.'' Lucas sighed as he asked Harris for help but that man told him to do it.
The Demonkin chains suddenly unhinged and it charged towards Lucas with a loud piercing shriek.
A huge pressure descended on him and the blood lust from demo kin assaulted Lucas like a wave but he stood unfazed.
Lucas felt that his own killing intent had surpassed this beast''s one.
Leaping over the ground, it extended its ws at Lucas, aiming straight at his vital spot. But just as it drew near, Lucas'' eyes glowed fiercely with a golden hue.
Many closed their eyes in fear of any mishap but what happened next, shocked them out of their wits as the gnarly ws just stopped an inch away from Lucas with the Demonkin face appearing right before Lucas'' face.
The Demonkin''s arm that extended to seize Lucas suddenly felt trapped by an invisibleyer of chains restraining his movements.
Realizing that it was trapped, it opened its jaw revealing sharp teeth.
Veins started appearing all over his body and his muscles bulged outward.
"GRRRRRRR!"
"What is that?" Herman asked with curiosity.
"Is it a restraining spell? When did he get that?"
Everyone who watched the scene felt perplexed, yet their eyes were glued onto Lucas who inched closer towards the Demonkin.
Lucas raised his right arm and pointed downward.
"Kneel!"
A cold dominating and ruthless voice echoed following a surplus of the amount of mana ring up in the surroundings.
BOOM!
The ground beneath the monster''s feet was pulverized and its huge body crashed onto the ground unable to move an inch.
The Demonkin started to scream in despair as it felt his whole body chained by an invisible force and then, a huge weight mmed his body trying to crush him internally.
Seeing the demokin slowly getting up, Lucas raised his feet and mmed it on the Demonkin''s head.
BANG!
The goat skull over its face shattered exposing its hideous face. Its teeth were exposed without lips covering them and there were no eyelids.
Its appearance was enough to cause nightmares in many but in Lucas'' eyes, it was just a leech that was supposed to die.
"No wonder you wear that mask to hide the ugliness inside."
Lucas summoned his sword but at that moment, due to hisck of mastery over telekinesis, his grip over the monster loosened a bit.
The Demonkin uses the chance to topple Lucas and run. However just as Lucas was thrown back into the air, he unsheathed his sword.
A red line drew across the horizon drawing a beautiful reddish line with a golden tint following which a monster head flew up in the air.
[You have killed an early 4-Star. You have gained 50000 experience.]
Satisfied with the prompt, Lucas walked out from the vortex and stared at everyone''s bewildered expression.
His casual expression looked as if he had gone for a stroll in the park ande back after killing a bug.
All of their brains screamed trying to understand what the hell they saw now.
Was this guy really that strong?
Didn''t that mean he was hiding his strength and if he had gotten serious, he would have beaten them to shit in the tournament?
As they thought about this, many of them felt relieved that it was good that the tournament was stopped in the middle otherwise it would have been too humiliating to get beaten by a 3-Starmoner before the whole world.
Seeing their weird look, Lucas tried to exin,"It was a restraining skill that I got recently."
"Yeah, we believe that.'''' Both Frederick and Charles spoke aloud but their expression was saying something else.
"Frederick your turn and Charlese with me to the vault. Rose had selected her thing."
"See you." Charles nodded and left after the greeting while Frederick went to select the monster.
Meanwhile, Lucas who was now left alone saw Rose walking out holding a greenish bow.
Lucas knew what it was.
A bow made from the branch of World Tree with a tremendous shooting power that adjusts itself to the user''s growth.
You can either use your arrows or create arrows of pure mana imbued with your attributes using this. Even if Lucas wasn''t an archer he somehow felt jealous of that weapon cause so many attributes lying dormant in his arsenal would make great use of this bow.
s, he finds shooting with a gun more fun.
As Lucas was lost in his thoughts, Rose came to his side and asked.
"Is your fight with Frederick settled?"
Lucas'' whole body shivered and for a moment he looked around wondering if Rose was talking to someone else as he had rarely talked with Rose and the truth was, he found Rose''s personality somewhat distant.
It was just that she was too monotonous and stoic without much fun.
"I am talking to you." Rose said, seeing Lucas looking around.
Cough!Cough!
"Yeah, it settled. We don''t have any deadly enmity, just minor shes of opinions."
"I see."
An awkward silence prevailed for a moment making Lucas ufortable so he decided to go and talk with Jete who was looking at him.
But just as he took a step, Rose spoke again.
"Frederick may be a bit unfriendly and had a habit of keeping things to himself. You may find him seriously frustrating when he does things on his own."
"And why are you telling me this?" Lucas asked wearily.
Rose stared at Lucas'' face with a softened expression.
"That''s because you are the only one whom he feelsfortable with. Truth is, I am jealous of you. Despite my repeated approach he still tried to do things by himself thinking that he had to rely on his own and had to bear the burden. And I don''t know what it is but after your confrontation, I can see him change." Rose closed her while remembering Frederick who seemed quite rxed now.
"He is much more rxed and worry-free now. So, please take care of him. He trusts you."
Lucas stood rooted in his ce reminiscing about Frederick''s character.
He reminds Lucas of people who have so many grievances but they can''t share it with their loved ones in case they would be worried. So suppressing the pain, all they can do is wear a mask of happiness.
"He might trust me but he believes in you, Rose. You mean more to him than anything else. And the reason why he doesn''t share his burdens is that he didn''t want you to be suppressed by those weights and worries. I know it''s wrong but we need to look by standing in his shoes. Just do your best, he will surely open up to you one day."
Rose''s eyes widened and her expression brightened up.
"Lucas, you are next."
Their conversation was interrupted by Ami''s call.
"Sorry, I have to go now. As for this matter, just believe in yourself and your love. And you too try to rx and have some fun. Don''t keep that stoic boring face all the time. Your face will be filled with wrinkles if you keep worrying all the time."
Lucas then ran away leaving those words.
"Rx and have some fun, huh!"
Rose smiled thanking Lucas for the advice.
Meanwhile, Frederick, who dealt with the Demonkin easily after a brief spar, on walking out, was suddenly struck by thunder seeing Rose''s sweet smiling face.
''Oh my God! What happened to my Rose?''
''Why is she smiling like a normal girl? Is she sick?''
''My poor Rose!''
Chapter 268 268:Treasure Vault
Chapter 268 268:Treasure Vault
??268 Chapter 268:Treasure Vault
Lucas followed Ami towards an empty grasnd.
One had to admit that the structure of the whole ce was quite weird. Even if you manage to enter here by stealing the badge, unless you know where the things are situated, you will exhaust yourself searching.
Ami stood at a space and tapped her feet.
With arge gust of air emerged two huge doors out of thin air.
"ce your badge at the key lock."
Lucas followed her instructions and the moment he ced it in the small ce, Lucas'' image blurred and he appeared in apletely new ce.
Lucas eximed in bewilderment as he darted across the huge vault whose end wasn''t in sight. The ce had a high mana density making it an oasis for an awakened.
As Lucas stepped forward, he saw beads of small flickers shing through the space. The beads twinkled and then disappeared.
"If my spirit sensitivity was high, I could not only see the spirits here but also converse with them."
The treasure vault contains a high concentration of mana. A natural heaven for these spirits who also act as security and helpers.
The vault was divided into various sections. One section contains skills, the other contains treasures like weapons, artifacts and so on.
He didn''t need any skill as he already had his hands filled with them so before he could master them and find hisbo, it was better to avoid adding another one.
''And I could just enter here again by threatening Josh in some way.'' Lucas shrugged his shoulders indifferently as if it wasn''t a big deal but if Josh had heard his words he would have jumped up and down in anger.
With shining eyes, Lucas began his exploration.
He got a glimpse of a few swords with marvelous features.
Like the Azur, that was kept in a shining case. It was a great sword of S rank and cut through any magic thrown at you. But the problem was it could only cut magic and was useless when it came to cutting other things physically.
Knight Spear.
Dragon Sword.
Athena''s Shield.
The weapons were great but Lucas didn''t know why but it didn''t excite him rather he felt that his useless stick sword was way better than all of these.
"It''s weird, does this useless sword of mine have a hypnotic feature?" Lucasughed at his thought and moved to another section.
Lucas hadn''t decided anything prior. The things taken by others were great but it was not something that suited him.
He nned to look for something that can be used for defence against a deadly attack. Or an artifact that can teleport him in case of danger.
As for the teleportation skill, it was S-ranked which he can''t master with his low rank.
As he entered the vault, he stood frozen seeing a page ced on the disy case at the entrance.
It looked quite odd and out of ce.
He suddenly felt a dark creeping aura and his eyes glued onto the single page on which various ominous strings of words started to float.
[ept me]
Lucas almost screamed seeing creepy ck text emerging from the page and floating in the air.
His heart started beating crazily and his back was already drenched in sweat.
As Lucas stood frozen in his ce, the string of words floating in front of Lucas disappeared.
Just as he was about to sigh in relief, another string of letters appeared.
[I Choose You As Master.]
It didn''t take long for him to guess the thing.
"What the hell is this thing doing here?"
"Just who fuck left it here."Lucas cursed aloud sweating buckets and tried to run but a dark aura shot out striking him down.
"Damn it! Damn it!I am dead!!"
Lucas shouted angrily seeing the artifact breaking out from the showcase and hovering above him..
It was the unranked mysterious artifact named "Cursed Gospel" that was wielded by the valiant but tormented hero in the distant past.
This artifact was a thick ckened leather page etched with arcane sigils, that harnesses powerful incantations but exacts a heavy toll on its user.
The wielder can invoke a devastating curse weakening the enemies, drawing ghosts to attack, and making them hallucinate and scream until nothing but their measly bones remain and it can be used against the enemy irrespective of the rank that they draw.
But with each usage, the owner suffers a physical or spiritual effect weakening their life force, temporary loss of senses, or even experiencing haunting visions. It was a risky but formidable weapon in battles, often utilized as ast resort when facing dire adversaries.
"But the risks are too much. Moreover, it was said that this attracts bad luck as it feeds on a person''s luck when used."
"Fuck! Just go away!" Lucas kicked the page but it glided around avoiding the kick.
"Just, wait, you''ll find someone better than me. There is a guy named Frederick, just go for him."
The page shook as if refusing his ims.
Seeing the thing hovering around emitting a gleam, Lucas also remembered another thing.
It stays away from people from having good luck while being attracted to those who have shitty luck.
Originally, it was a powerful spell of the Holy Bible carried by a Heroic Priest but the Priest on his way suffered betrayal along with many things that made his faith waver. He drowned in darkness and became one of the strongest dark wizards. When he died, this bible was ced in his tomb and to everyone''s surprise the Holy Page turned into a Cursed one and then came out of its own to search for prey.
This thing was used by the Demons to devastate the human army but waster sealed by Saintess.
Only a madman who has nothing to lose would use this shit.Even if Lucas doesn''t use this, it''s gonna put him in trouble.
"Arghhhhhhhhh! Why did you put this here? I have been waiting for long to pick a good thing but I got this time bomb."
The artifact had already chosen him so what can he do now?
Lucas then turned towards the page which was dancing around and shouted.
"Stop behaving like a dog and stay put like a living object!" The page as if understanding Lucas'' words shrieked in despair and started rubbing itself on his legs as if to apologize.
"Just behave as a lifeless page, okay, otherwise you will be in trouble."
With a resigned expression, Lucas walked out and saw Miss Ami standing outside the vault.
"What did you choose?" Miss Ami asked curiously.
"Thi-" Lucas pulled out the page and was about to exin when Miss Ami leapt in joy.
"Oh! You chose this page of Holy spell to aid you since you don''t have light affinity. I don''t know what spell it is but as a Holy spell, it would surely have a great effect."
Lucas''s jaw dropped wide and his gaze rotated from Miss Ami to the page.
"..."
''This looks like a Holy Page to her? Am I misunderstanding something?''
................
After struggling a lot, Lucas finally managed to throw the ck pot into his dimensional space.
The page has an ego with an IQ that of a small kid and wasn''t willing to go inside the space but Lucas managed to coax it by lying about the wonderful things inside the dimensional space.
Unless the situation is quite dire, he reminded himself not to touch it. His luck was already bad, and with this, he wouldn''t be surprised if he was shot down by lightning tribtion.
He even noted down to stay shut in case of rainy and stormy days.
Lucas fell asleep the moment he fell onto the bed but at half past 2 AM. Lucas'' eyes jolted open and he sprang up from the bed pulling out his weapon.
"Who?"
Lucas'' heart beated with a palpable tension. For a tiny fraction, his sixth sense screamed of danger.
Treading cautiously, Lucas looked around, finding nothing.
"That''s weird¡" Lucas mumbled, examining everything.
Until now, his sense of danger had never betrayed him. As long as there was a threat, he was bound to sense it no matter how the other side stayed hidden.
"Did I make a mistake? Maybe it was a dream."
"It seems I have to stay awake in case someone is upon me." Lucas sighed, pulling out his life-saving treasure.
...............
A few hundred metres away from the dorm in the Blood Peach forest, several figures hung down from the branch wrapped in dark tentacles forged of darkness.
There were almost 20 people whose bodies were trembling in fear.
Before their eyes stood a man from which many pairs of tentacles emerged.
As long as you are an assassin you are bound to know and fear this guy.
It was the formless assassin ranked 3 in the whole world. He was ranked 3 not because he fit there. Rather because he killed the people who dared to rank him and threatened people to keep him in rank 3.
They were looking at a living legend who even assassinated a Vampire King during a war in his own territory.
Mir, who stared at the distorting expressions of the assassins, asked with a smile.
"Tell me, how brutally do you want to die?"
Chapter 269 Chaptee 269
Chapter 269 Chaptee 269
??269 Chaptee 269
Several figures darted across the darkness.
The faint gleam of the moon covered the climbers of the forest.
The unknown figures wore robes of darkness aiding their concealment and covered their face giving the identity of an assassin.
The assassins moved silently through the dense forest, their figures were like a fleeting shadow amidst the moonlit trees.
Each step was calcted, avoiding branches and leaves that might betray their presence. With keen eyes and honed instincts, they navigated the darkness, alert to any sound or movement that could signal danger. The night was their ally, concealing their movements as they advanced towards their target with lethal precision.
Gliding through the trees, they finally arrived at the end of Blood Peach Forest and saw a huge embankment of steel wires.
There were a total of 20 of them who were sent on a mission.
A man came forward to take the lead.
"Before going, let''s check once again." His words carried authority showing that he was the leader of this horde.
"Lucas Bright!"
"Our target is an early 4-Star with an expectedbat ability to that of a 5-Star. He already had connections with many higher ups so if we failed we wouldn''t get any more chances. Moreover, if the one backing him manages to track us down, everyone here is done for."
As Kisaru''s voice stopped, everyone took a deep breath.
What they were afraid of wasn''t the boy but rather the boy''s backing that was dangerous enough to assign 20 of them a single mission.
"We will wait till midnight, and enter the dorms through the backyard and break open through his window. If we can''t do that. We also have wall cutters. We will make a hole, go inside and then just kill him."
"Some of you will be patrolling around and inform us in case of trouble. If worsees to worse, kill yourself with explosions. Don''t leave your body for them to trace us."
Kisaru gave them a set of instructions and a warning.
"Understood!"
"Understood!"
CLAP!CLAP!CLAP!CLAP!
Their voices were interrupted by a p and as they traced at the source of the sound, they saw a man wearing clothes simr to them, sleeping over a snowden branch.
"Who are you?"
They asked in bewilderment and panic as the man had not only bypassed their senses but also stood near them hearing everything.
"I don''t know if I shouldugh at your foolishness ormend you for your bravery in doing this. Assassins nowadays are worse. Running out like a licking dog as soon as they heard of money overestimating themselves." The man answered.
"Just kill him already. We have other things to do."
Kisaru''s voice hadn''t even fallen when five darted at the stranger to take a huge leap.
Raising their dagger, they arrived at the sight of the stranger and shot their dagger.
Swish!
However, before their dagger could reach the man who was lyingfortably. A sharp spike entered their gut.
Five spikes of darkness radiating in different directions pierced the men. There was no visible wound on their body, nor there was any blood but an immense pain transversed through their body.
They can feel something crawling inside their gut and making its way deeper tearing through their insides.
"ARGH!"
"ARGH!"
The silence of the night was finally broken by loud groans of muffled pain. Even if their pain tolerance was quite high and were trained to kill themselves, the pain they feel now was many times worse, making their mind go nk.
Like something was clenching their internal organs and pulling them apart brutally distorting their shape.
Kisaur''s back shivered and he searched around.
"Wh...Where did he disappear?"
"At the top!"
Kisaru and others raised thin chins and saw the man standing at the top of the tree.
"ARGH!"
Someone screamed in disgust and fear seeing the appearance. Many pairs of tentacles hovered from his back swaying in the air.
He had a body but his face was dark and obscure. It was extremely dark as the darkness itself. And in that darkness, emerged two ominous eerily bloody eyes that gored one''s body, and grabbed their hearts in fear.
The moment Kisaru showed those pairs of bloody eyes hiding behind the darkness, he knew they were doomed.
"It''s the Formless Assassin Mir. We have no chance!" Kisaru shouted, asking his subordinates to run.
But how can Mir let them go?
Many pairs of tentacles of darkness emerge from his body capturing the assassins who were like a harmlessmbs waiting to be ughtered.
"RUN!"
"RUN!"
The tentacles ran around like they had a mind of their own catching their prey and hanging them upwards from a tree.
In just a few seconds, hundreds of dark tentacles grazed past them.
With a step, Mir appeared right before Kisaru giving him a death scare.
"Tell me, how brutally do you want to die?"
"Should I first scrape all the meat from youres or should I just pull out the tendons and veins .No, let''s do this, I will crush your internal organs and rip them from your body slowly and steadily inflicting an excruciating fatal pain that would etch deep inside your soul."
Kisaru legs buckle up upon hearing this.
"Why are you doing this? We have no previous enmity, right?" Kisaru cried out.
For a grown-out assassin like him crying like this was already a big deal.
Mir had a bloodline ability of shadow and had a dark world created by his power. Once he engulfs you inside, even torture is a bliss.
Think about walking in a hall with no end in sight for eons or billions of years. You can''t die, you can''t live, just walk there like a soulless puppet while your physical body is brutally crunched.
"We might have had no enmity before you decided to attack My Young Lord."
"Young Lord? Are you talking about Lucas Bright? How can that be.."
Kisaru felt a pain around his neck. A tentacle wrapped around the neck with thorny spikes digging into it.
"Don''t you dare utter My Lord''s name with that filthy mouth of yours." Mir''s red eyes glowed more fiercely like a burning me.
"You are a lucky son of a bitch ''cause it''s me who came after you instead of his Madam. Do you know the mother of the child you are targeting?"
Kisaru suddenly felt a bad foreboding. It was akin to an invisible hand of fate squeezing him warning him about a misfortune.
The other assassins who had theirst bit of sanity intact lost it when they saw many red eyes suddenly appear over the tentacles
A dark humanoid visage with eyes all around reflected in their vision. The world seemed to be swallowed by darkness and those red eyes seemed to be the only source of eerie smiles.
"She is the Cmity. She is the destruction. She is death."
"She is Vanessa Daemon."
Chapter 270 270
Chapter 270 270
??270 Chapter 270
In a dimly lit room, the sound of a single flickering light bulb echoed through the rough walls.
A woman with snow-white hair and fiery crimson pupil, stood tall before her captive.
A man was bound to a chair, his body battered and bruised, a symbol of the pain he had been inflicted upon.
His skin was peeled leaving behind a reddish grotesque mass of red muscles oozing blood.
The woman circled the man, her eyes filled with both anger and determination. With each step, her boots left an echo in the air, matching the quickening beat of her heart. The room felt suffocating, the tension palpable.
The man tried to open his bloodied eyes and screamed.
"Julian, what are..."
BOOM!
Julian raised her knees and walked the heels of her shoes on Issac''s chest punching a hole in it from which blood spurted.
"Don''t say my name with those disgusting filthy lips of yours."
"You thought you could get away with it, didn''t you?" Julian''s voice dripped with a mix of disgust and rage. "You thought you could keep causing trouble without ever facing the consequences."
Issac, his face smudged with dirt and dried blood, remained silent. Fear etched into his eyes, he knew there was no escape from this ce.
An intense pain overwhelmed and consumed his sensation like a relentless storm ravaging every fiber of his being.
It was sharp, stabbing agony that pierced through your body, with a throbbing pulsating torment that engulfed one''s existence.
It was as if all the nerves all your body pulled apart sending signals of agony to the brain.
What was worse than this was after the pain came the itch tingling all of his body was there. He wanted his arms to scratch the relentless itch but couldn''t.
He didn''t know what was going on and what he was doing here.
All he remembered was sitting in his room when suddenly a wave of sleep assaulted him. And when he woke up everything around him changed.
Before he could make out and understand what was going on, he was assaulted by fierce chilling blows one after another.
Issac attempted to fight back using his fire bloodline power but to his horror, he was not able to. He was just like amb waiting to be ughtered and Julian didn''t show him any mercy breaking and twisting his limbs and trying to inflict as much pain as possible.
At the sideid all kinds of torture tools used by her. Who knew the seemingly naive girl hid such a horrifying interior?
"That''s enough...Do you know who I am?" Issac asked with thest bit of sanity while biting his lips to suppress the pain which had already been swollen and bruised.
"I am not gonna take this lying down."
BANG!
Julian punched Issac, breaking out a part of his skull and exposing the inside of his brain, startling Issac.
Blood along with grey matter spurted out. A part of the head was scraped off by the punch.
"Do you think I care who the hell are you?"
Julian with a cold demonic expression bent her head and looked straight into Issac''s eyes.
"You want me to ept your threat but what about mine? Didn''t I say you should not touch him?"
Issac, with a pain-stricken expression, understood the reason Julian was doing this now.
"You..you are doing all of this to me for a mere filthy.."
Unable to bear it any more, Julian extended her slender fingers and grabbed Issac''s lower jaw, ripping it apart without any shred of mercy.
Holding the dislocated jaw, Julian crushed it onto Issac who trembled and pulsated with pain.
Issac felt his body gaslighted in pain and cried out in pain but only a choking voice echoed.
Julian threw the shit with disgust and cleaned her hands,"If you dare to call him a filthy criminal one more time, I will rip that tongue of yours."
"Tell me, Issac, do you feel any regret for the pain you''ve caused?" Julian questioned, her voice cold and unforgiving.
Issac managed a weak nod, his voice barely above a whisper,"Yes¡yes, I do."
Julian scoffed, her grip tightening around the whip. "Regret alone does not absolve you of your crimes. It does not erase the pain and despair he felt."
Julian wanted to strike again but seeing Issac''s pathetic sight barely hanging onto life, Julian decided that it was better to save the killing torture for next time.
"I will say this once. So, make sure to remember this and etch it into your heart."
"He is my man. I am not taking it too far because you haven''t touched him but next time, if you dare toy your hands on him. I swear in the name of Gods, I am gonna make sure you know what hell is like when you are alive."
Julian then sted a ss spilling a pungent liquid on Issac and then lit a matchstick, threw it on Issac and left the world that started distorting.
..........
In the Vice-President dorm...
Issac, whose body slouched on the chair near the table suddenly opened his eyes wide.
He opened his lips to scream but it was suppressed by a burning pain following a sensation of sting and throbbing.
Like a fish out of water, Issac jumped off from his seat and pped his body on the floor.
"Arghhh!"
"Aaagh!"
"AAAAAAH!"
Issac''s agonized screams pierced the night as mes licked at his body, engulfing him in an inferno of searing heat.
His skin blistered and crackled, sending waves of excruciating pain coursing through him.
Smoke billowed around him, and the acrid scent of burning flesh filled the air. He writhed in anguish, his desperate cries echoing in the darkness, as the intense fire consumed him, leaving a harrowing image etched in the minds of all who witnessed his torment.
His high-pitched wails of anguish and pain followed by sobs reverberated everywhere causing the servants to run at him in horror.
"Master!"
"Master!"
"Help me! I don''t want to die!"
"It fucking hurts. It hurts ah...."
"Extinguish the mes¡Extinguish th AH!"
Under everyone''s eyes, Issac rolled here and there frantically. The servant''s minds turned nk seeing their master''s pathetic state.
However, above all else, a certain question rose in everyone''s mind.
''Where is the fire that Master is asking us to extinguish?''
.......
While Issac''s sudden change created chaos in the Vice-
President dorm, in The President''s dorms Julian stared at the ceiling with a nk look.
Though all the pain would be transferred into the real body, it was just enough for her to quench her thirst but this wasn''t enough to vent her anger.
She wanted to kill...She wanted to hack him into pieces before everyone and grind his meat.
However, she was forced topromise due to her father unearthing White roots.
So, all she could do was to take help and beat Issac in the Dream realm.
"I didn''t think you would do something like that."
A blurry figure emerged and wrapped her arms around Julian''s neck and pressed her cheek against hers.
"There is always a first time." Julian spoke coldly.
"I am talking about your bold deration."
Julian paused a bit and stared at the beautiful half-elf woman.
"Grandma Irina, can''t you speak normally? You always trap me with your words."
"I was just asking." Irina giggled with deep curiosity.
"I am an expert in that field with tons of experience so I can help you in that matter."
Julian''s lips twitched hearing this. If an Ex-Saintess who should be elusive was saying that she was a love expert, then there was something wrong in her head.
Moreover, she still remembers how much she cried when she attended her funeral only to find the next day that she was fine and just acting dead.
"There is no need to butt in. I as well as he know what we expect from one another and what we should do. Previously, I felt a bit odd and stifled wondering what was going on but after confronting everything I know what this blooming flower feels like."Julian paused a moment sinking into deep memories.
"The only problem is that he''s gonna act like a dummy until he feels that he is strong enough to stand by my side. So, until he feels that he is good enough to stand in front of me, he will maintain his distance."Julian sighed helplessly with a sad expression.
Even if she wants to, she can''t push him too much as everyone has their points of dignity and resolution to achieve. And looking at it from a different angle, she should be happy as he was also trying his very best.
If he moved first without much status then that means, he was entering her family instead of her going with him.
It was annoying and frustrating. And they also need to interact more to uncover if this was that or some fleeting emotion. So, all they could do was y the game of cat and mouse.
"And I meant that since he worked under me, I had his back. It''s you who is just thinking too much." Julian said with a straight face, making Irinaugh aloud.
"My dear, you don''t need to think so much. Hi...."
Before Irina could finish, she was interrupted by another person.
Julian smacked her head seeing the figure.
"What''s wrong with you? Why do you all barge in instead of knocking?"
Dous coughed caressing his beard giving Irina a look.
"I felt her presence so I went in."
Dous then walked forward and whispered into Irina''s ears.
"I did what you asked and as per your prediction, that ominous thing chose him but will it be alright? I still can''t believe there is such an unlucky guy around us."
Irina just kept smiling instead of replying which made Dous quite worried.
He already knew the bad luck of the poor guy and with that piece of shit hovering around, he wouldn''t be surprised if that guy died by getting struck by thunder tomorrow.
"What are you two whispering about?"Julian asked, looking at the couple''s mysterious expressions.
"Nothing...." Both of them answered and started talking with Julian, who felt that these two seemed to be hiding something.
Chapter 271 271
Chapter 271 271
??271 Chapter 271
Time flew away quickly and with the absence of any more raids or invasions, it was already the end of winter.
The academic year of the first year was quite short giving them an early vacation before the next year as the session for 2nd year would start early with all the first years going to Ralph for the grand event.
Due to the attack and all the problems creating many days off, both students and teachers had to squeeze off their strength to finish their studies as well as additional training lessons.
It was worse for the top 10 and torturous for those between 5 to 10 as even if they weren''t going to participate, they were forced to follow such a hardcore training regime to bring them to tears.
Amidst all this, Lucas''s Salus business was booming as his firearms had be a hotmodity due to their affordable prices.
Contrary to their expectations, the main buyers for this weren''tmoners rather they were mercenaries who ordered it in bulk.
With low-cost firearms beginning at just 5000R, many people who were badly in need of money bought firearms and hunted in the nearby forest around the capital and made a fortune.
In a way, the advanced guns introduced by Lucas simplified the hunting process, lowering the risk.
Selling a gun isn''t a one-time profit as they still had toe back to buy specific bullets creating a chain of purchase.
Due to the demands outssing the production, Salus started expanding its production but soon a problem arose.
And Lucas visited Skies to talk about this today.
"What happened now? Everything was going well?" Lucas asked wearily, staring at Reynolds, Aaron and the old Dwarf Bentley.
"I have a problem," Bentley said.
"Grandpa, what happened to you? Do you need some treatment?" Lucas asked, looking at Bentley''s age.
"Shut up! I am fit and fine. It''s just that the cksmithing work is too much. I can''t handle the workload."
"Hmmm! So should we make machines for each type of bullet?"
"No!" Both Reynold and Aaron scream at the same time.
Reynold coughed and exined, "We can''t do that Lucas. First of all, a bullet made by a cksmith and machine differs a lot in quality. Secondly, the bullets are engraved with a magic circle that coordinates with guns. We can''t have the machine draw that."
"Then just hire some people."
"That''s the problem," Aaron muttered solemnly.
"Listen here kid, with so many things to produce I looked for a cksmith and managed to hire 5 but we are still short of hands," Bentley said, raising his hands.
"It''s difficult to find people to work for us. Though they have no problems working with us they don''t want to sign the contract." Reynold briefed with a sigh.
Lucas had made a policy that everyone who worked for theirpany had to sign a mana contract so that even if they leftter they wouldn''t betray them.
Many felt that this was like very and weren''t on terms with this which is causing a serious problem to their expansion as not all people will blindly sign the contract.
Lucas fell into deep thoughts understanding the crux of the matter.
"So, what should we do?" Lucas asked after a brief pause.
"Kid, you need to trust people. You are too cynical." Bentley answered by caressing his beard.
''Is it easy? I can''t trust a stranger whom I haven''t even met. What if he or she leaks the secret then? won''t it be a big problem?''
"Then we give them the option. We can''t let some shady people into the core who leak the blueprint. You can hire them and divide the work by asking them to make small things and ask someone trusted tobine and also keep looking for people who are prepared to sign the agreement, also increase thier sry." Lucas ordered.
They weren''t creating something groundbreaking but once the process of making it gets leaked, Salus would lose its only advantage.
Salus guns were now a hot shot because they were the only ones producing it and oncepetition appeared and nobles were added to the equation, the battle would be quite hard.
Markets would be flooded with models like them. Maybe with better specs and enhancement.
"Grandpa Bentley, I am trusting you in this and if possible ask Sister Morgana to hire some more low-level mages."
''I think I should make Roan work here. Not only would he get bucks but he mighte up with something new.''
Lucas discussed a few more things and after the meeting adjourned, he had a private talk with Aaron who was already sweating buckets wondering what kind of hell-breaking thing were they waiting to do.
"Uncle Aaron, can you send this letter? The address is written there." Lucas took out a packed envelope stamped with a special insignia unknown to Aaron.
"Did you create the Mercenary?"
"Yeah!" Aaron answered with a stifle. At this moment he felt as if he was Lucas'' servant not that he was averse to it but this just felt odd to him.
"If possible, can you take on some small mission with Sister Morgana so that it may not sound random when he visits the Northeast?"
Q
"I will do that but when are we are going there?"Aaron wondered what was gonna happen in the Northeast.He had asked Lucas about this many times but Lucas just said that something interesting will happen that will boost our reputation.
"One and half months from now or probably two."Lucas held his chin.
''I don''t know if this thing will even follow the plot but I should prepare ahead for the worst.''
"Are we are going there?"Aaron asked about his squad.
"No!"Lucas refuted.
"You, me, Morgana and a few others."
"Who are these few others now?"Aaron scratched his bald forehead feeling as if he was sinking into the limitless abyss of questions.
"You will meet them there."
Lucas and Aaron conversed a bit after which Lucas left.
But before that, he asked Reynold to put the potion into action. Due to the alchemyb and other things, things were dyed a bit but now with everything set he is gonna pump out those potions and if things went well soon he would be quite rich.
Lucas rubbed his hands to warm as hail snow bathed him.
He looked at the bustling road even in such cold weather. As he looked for a stall as he was craving some warm soup.
Lucas halted his steps and then looked around in suspicion.
"It''s weird. I don''t know why but I am feeling as if someone had been following me recently. This feeling disappears when I enter a safe ce but when in the open, I feel eyes on me."
Many times he had the urge to use the Cursed Gospel on an unknown guy but in doing so he would have to exchange his luck or lifespan which he wasn''t fool enough to wait for his doom.
Finding no one, Lucas moved on while promising himself to make a check to avert any possible danger.
As Lucas walked away, a shadow emerged from the side alleyway.
"He isn''t as simple as it looks."
"As expected from someone who inherited the genes of two monsters. He can feel me faintly even when I hide in the shadows. Oddly enough, he had a strong affinity for darkness."
"I should ask the Lord and if possible I can pass some of my techniques to him, "Mir spoke with a smile and then disappeared into the shadows quietly without anyone noticing.
Chapter 272 272:
Chapter 272 272:
??272 Chapter 272:
CLANG!CLANG!CLANG
In a dark underground cave, a man sat on a rock with his eyes closed.
Thousand rays of white strings extended from his body joining with the bodies of puppets that fought one another.
"Melvin, what youck is awareness of your surroundings. A puppeteer by himself is nothing but a weak human who once hees to the limelight, is already at the mercy of others." A cold voice echoed in the space.
"Even if you have inhuman perception while being engrossed you can''t be mindful of your surroundings but your puppets can. Try to look through their vision. It''s not about controlling everything but rather letting your puppets do their bid while you observe and make ns for another thing."
"Controlling every action of theirs is taxing and a waste of energy so you need to connect your subconscious with them and make them act as your clone, an exact representation of yours."
Melvin listened to his Master''s words carefully and slowly guided his conscience into the puppet.
It was odd as he felt as if the puppet had be a part of his own body. Like an organ that was working on its own.
As Melvin emerged into that miraculous feeling, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
"Kid, snap out."
Melvin opened his eyes suddenly due to his master''s call and felt a huge throbbing pain in his head making him groan aloud.
"ARGHHHH!"
Melvin held his head and slouched down.
"What was that?" Melvin asked as his Master walked towards him.
Han Smith, who was alone with one of the renowned puppet masters, scratched his head.
"I forgot to tell you that if you keep your conscience away for too long, a part of you might get diverted forming a split personality. And since you are new to this, you need to handle this carefully but I forgot to warn you on ount of your terrific soul strength."
Melvin''s lips opened wide looking at the cynical old man.
"How can you forget something so important?" Melvin grumbled.
Han tried to shift the topic and said, pulling out an envelope,"You have a letter."
Melvin took the letter and tearing the envelope started reading it.
His eyes twitched seeing the sender.
It was the person who forced him to sign the very contract and send him here.
The letter was simply asking him to go to a ce and help him¡
At the end, there is also a warning that if he doesn''te he wille looking for his head.
''Why does he threaten people so much?'' Melvin grumbled inwardly.
"What''s in it, Kid?" Han asked curiously.
"Nothing, just got asked to do some work."
"Is it the same guy who sent you here?" He asked.
"Ohh!" Han''s lips curled upward and he rubbed his chin with a mischievous smile that gave Melvin a sense of crisis.
"It seems I need to speed up your training."
........
The days went back to usual...
Usual means, piles of work thrashing Lucas around.
On one side he had to hear Reynolds nagging everyone about the Salus business. Even if Lucas puts everything in Reynolds'' hand, believing in him and the mana contracts.
Reynold was forcefully feeding him information about everyday profits and asking him to act like his boss.
On the other side, ss, training and finally working in the President''s office.
Too much workload. He was quite jealous of his friends who had gone to parties and had fun while he had to work here.
Julian who was going over the document stared at Lucas'' deadpan eyes staring at her.
"Is there something on my face?"
"There isn''t." Lucas shook his head and asked the most awaited question of his life.
"President, do you have something that keeps you refreshed? Why don''t you have ck circles or haggard expressions even after so much work? Why do you always look the same?"
"Huh!" Julian dropped the pen hearing Lucas'' odd question.
Lucas felt the air inside the room freezing suddenly and then he heard Julian''s cold voice giving him chills.
"So do you want to see me haggard and ugly? Or do you mean that I use too much make-up like others to hide my face?"
Though Julian didn''t care much about her appearance Lucas'' words made her feel unpleasant.
"No...I didn''t mean that. I was just praising you. Like how can someone work so much yet not be tired? You are awesome." Lucas cried out in panic.
"I see." Julian nodded with a smile.
"You can take a break if you feel tired. Do you want to have something?"
Lucas wiped off the sweat on his forehead, skipping the death g.
Seeing the atmosphere easing up, Lucas decided to take the opportunity to finish the work given to him by Irina.
"President, there is something important I want to talk about."
"What is it?"
"Why don''t you ept Sister Irina''s proposal about learning seduction and Dreamweaver arts?"
Julian''s expression cracked hearing Lucas'' words.
"What did you say?" Julian''s eyes narrowed, locking on Lucas.
"No wait! When did you talk to her about this?"
"After the Order meeting," Lucas answered, swallowing his saliva.
"Hmm! After failing everywhere she looked for you to persuade me."
"Is there a problem in learning hwr skills?" Lucas asked frankly.
"Do you want me to learn seduction art and act like that?" Julian asked in annoyance.
She was prepared to learn Dreamweaver art but seduction was a big no but Irina would only teach at the condition that she have to learn both.
Seduction isn''t only about seducing others rather it paralyzes the opponent''s senses with your charm and by doing so you can easily pull him into the Dream realm even if the other party isn''t asleep after all it''s not as if you will find your opponent sleeping ording to your wish.
Seeing Lucas keeping quiet, Julian leaned back in her seat.
"I just don''t feel like doing that. And it''s not as if I am hell bent on learning it. I can even do well without it."
"President, listen to me. I understand your pride ising in between all this but sometimes we need to do something even if we don''t want to." Lucas closed his lips at the end as in the flow of speech he was just about to say just like him who was forced to be your secretary and work even if he didn''t want to.
"And who knows when it maye to use. You might regret that time and hit your head thinking that if only I had learnt that¡If only I had heard him or her. We should learn everything that may help us in our survival so that in the end we will have nothing to regret about."
"I am sure this will be quite helpful in the future and might even save yours as well as others'' lives."
Julian contemted for a moment about Lucas'' words. Though she was still averse to it, Lucas'' words about death, survival and regret struck deeply in her heart.
Remembering those dreams, Julian''s expression turned solemn.If she wanted to make a difference she had to rely on herself and get stronger.
"I will talk about it to her."
"Great! Big Sis Irina would surely be happy." Lucas eximed his joy but his smiling expression disappeared seeing Julian''s darkened gaze.
The temperature of the ce fell by a huge margin and Lucas felt a bad premonition in his heart.
"Did you just call Grandma Irina as Big Sis?"
The moment he heard this, Lucas knew that he would be facing one of the deadliest crises of his life.
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The day that Lucas was greatly looking forward to finally drew closer.
It was finally time for vacation. The one that Lucas was greatly looking forward to. He can finally go home and rx for a bit.
Away from the group of crazy bastards.
''I can now rx for a bit now.''
"Hey, stop making that face of rxation on you."
Lucas felt a voice echoing like thunder in his ears and looking up, he caught the sight of Ami giving him a dark look.
"I..."
"No need to say it. I can already see that from your expression. Though I would also like to give you a break I can''t because it''s a matter of my and our reputation so you can''t rx now."
"How does me taking a break have to do with your reputation?" Lucas asked in bewilderment.
"She is talking about the tournament," Frederick answered Lucas'' question.
"Uhhh!" Lucas nodded in understanding.
Truth was, he had taken the tournament a bit lightly as he knew the oue and despite certain changes, their win rate was a bit high. Rather than that, Lucas was excited about other things that he had to do in Ralph.
"Ouch!"
"Stop losing in your thoughts." Charles punched Lucas'' shoulder.
"Okay, enough chit-chat. Let''s not prolong the session. I want all of you to practice hard during the break and don''t ck off. I have the information of other participants in this list." Ami extended a USB Drive to each one of them which had information about other participants.
After the ss, each of them would freed from the torture ofing here so Ami made sure to give them the USB drive earlier.
"Miss Ami, is this list useful? Can we believe all the information written here?" Rose skeptically asked.
"We tried our best to get all the information we could get. Just give it a thought in case this helps you. Don''t underestimate your opponents. Being the top of their ranks, each of them would have ayer of mystery as well as their own trump cards."
The moment she spoke trump cards, Lucas could feel a few gazes on him.
Because, in having Trump cards, can anyonepare to him? Even Frederick feels that he falls short of tricks before him.
"I am just a poormoner unlike you," Lucas answered, gritting his teeth.
"We believe you." The three spoke at the same time but their expressions said something else.
"Our ss will be off from tomorrow on, so, any parting words?" Ami asked, pping her hands and then looking at Frederick to speak.
"It''s nice working with you all," Frederick spoke with a smile.
"I feel safe and less burdensome around you all." Lucas voiced his thoughts.
"Thanks for having me here," Rose replied.
"I just want my team to win," Charles answered proudly though he was crying inwardly as he was just there as an extra.
...
In the Leaders quarters...
Monica boiled a nutritious soup and walked towards the man sitting in a wheelchair with a lifeless expression.
His face was pale and sickly with eyes unfocused like a mentally ill person going through a trauma.
The person who seemed to have lost his charisma was none other than Humphrey.
"Humphrey, look what I have brought today?"
"Your favourite boiled chicken soup with a bit of spice. I asked the chef to make it tangy." Monica spoke joyfully, scooped the soup, blew air on it and then pressed it on Humphrey''s lips.
The current state of Humphrey was simr to a paralyzed man incapable of doing anything. His family wanted to pull him out of the academy which saddened Monica''s heart as she owed Humphrey for doing this to him.
From childhood, Humphrey has been hovering around her and she knew his feelings but she didn''t want to ept it because she thought that if she loved him, her love for magic would decrease and she wouldn''t be able to progress.
But after seeing the crippled Humphrey, she finally understood that she loved him more than anything else. The memory of joyful Humphrey circling around her trying to please her was one of the most beautiful memories for her but now, she won''t be able to see that.
Her heart pained as if it was stabbed by countless swords.
So she decided to be responsible for him and carry him throughout her life. They also had an engagement secretly and Monica was now taking care of him and even taking him to ss as she could feel that Humphrey still wanted to do it.
Drops of tears slid down her cheeks.
''If only I was strong enough and didn''t fall into that illusion...''
''If only..."
DING!
Monica''s eyes quivered hearing the sound of the bell.
She wiped her tears and got up, opened the door and was startled to see Lucas.
Meanwhile, Lucas was also taken aback seeing Monica''s puffy eyes and felt a bit ufortable so he tried to get rid of the awkwardness.
COUGH!
"Lucas,e in."
Monica greeted him with the same deadpan expression and asked.
"Do you want tea or coffee?"
"Neither. I came for some important matter."
"Huh!" Monica tilted her head in confusion.
Ignoring her, Lucas'' eyes fell on lifeless Humphrey and felt a tinge of grief.
He sucked in cold air and said,"Monica, I won''t talk in a roundabout way and get straight to the point."
"I know a way to cure Humphrey."
"What? Really?" Monica''s expression brightened like a blooming flower under sunlight but then her expression changed realizing what this meant."Are you serious or is this a joke ''cause we couldn''t find anything to help him?"
"I won''t lie in this matter. The sap of the World Tree can be used to cure Humphrey''s condition."
Monica''s whole body froze after hearing this. On one hand, her heart screamed in joy on hearing this but on the other hand, the revtion brought her a great deal of concern as Sap of World Tree was something that only Elves have and asking them to give a drop of it was like a haunting task.
"Sap of World Tree. How will I¡" Monica clenched her fist.
''No, I can''t lose hope. As long as I live and be stronger, I can get it somehow but before that¡"
"Lucas, is this true? You are not lying are you?"
"I am not. I can even swear and take a Mana oath." Lucas answered smiling and then spoke about the main reason for being here, "I can even get that for you."
"How?" Monica scrutinized Lucas who just grinned mysteriously.
"Each member of the winning team of the tournament would get a chance to get a reward of their choosing. I will ask for the Tree Sap."
Monica frowned upon hearing this and she felt a bit off."What do you want for this?"
Lucas walked forward and patted Humphrey, then spoke aloud,"Now, that''s a good question."
He paused a brief moment before answering.
"Both you and Humphrey have lots of potential. I want you two to work for me."
Monica flinched back upon hearing this.
"Hey, stop giving that look. I am not asking to do illegal things. I may not even need you now. When we enter the army, if I rise in position, I want you two under me." Lucas answered with a twitching lips.
''Why did she react like I am a Mafia lord?''
"Just this?" Monica''s voice was filled with skepticism.
"This isn''t that simple." Lucas answered solemnly.
In the original book Monica and Humphrey were overshadowed and didn''t get to shine but Lucas saw Monica as a monster of sorcery.
If given a chance and supported fully, she would grow into a menace which she was doing and Lucas needed to rob her. She surpasses Rose in raw talent alone and with hard work she can be a legend.
"What I want is a Mage for my future team. Think of this as me making you my left-hand man¡sorry woman who will take charge of the mage group."
"Your dream is too lofty." Monica smacked her lips in disbelief.
"It is. But great dreams and ambitions take time to bloom, and for that, I need to pave the foundation from now."
Monica sucked in cold air and after a brief moment, she spoke with slight hesitation,"If you manage to cure Humphrey, I will work under you but I can''t say about Humphrey. He should have the right to make his own choice."
"Fair enough," Lucas then looked at Humphrey''s lifeless face and spoke.
"Humphrey, I know you can hear me and even understand me. Listen, pal, just believe me and wait a bit, I will make sure you return to normal by the time our next year''s ss begins after the Tournament."
"Not only will you walk and run, but you will also kick the ass of those bastards who were the cause behind all this."
Lucas and Monica talked a bit after which Lucas went back followed by Monica to close the door due to which they missed the sight of a tear trailing down Humphrey''s cheek.
A tear that was shed due to overwhelming happiness.
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Before departing, Lucas'' gang met in the bar to celebrate.
Lucas found it unbelievable that he had managed to survive his first year among this group of monkeys scratching one another.
CLANK!
The sound of sses colliding with each other resounded.
Taking arge chug, Parth made a satisfied expression like that of someone in the middle of the desert that had found an oasis.
"Haaaaah!" Parth chuckled.
"This feels like heaven."
"Drunkard!" Lucas along with everyone sneered.
Parth just ignored them and spoke,"Brothers from other mothers, it feels great to be in your team."
"With people like you around, we will soon shake the world!" Parth shouted.
"You want to shake the world when you can''t stop yourself from shaking," Charles smirked.
"Roan, don''t listen to him. The young master is jealous of this almighty Parth who can bring down his reign."
"ahhh!"
"Why don''t you im that in the training ground tomorrow," Frederick spoke while staring at Parth.
Parth just averted his gaze and focused on drinking while asking Roan to buckle up for a drinkingpetition.
"Sorry, I just drink for fun, not forpetition. And it''s better to be apanied by a girl rather than you." Roan answered indifferently, pushing Parth''s shoulder aside.
"This nerd had grown some balls after getting into 3-Star. Roan, remember the wise words of this daddy. Big balls hurt more when hit."
"Just shut up," Roan closed his ears.
Lucas smiled seeing his friends bantering with each other.
His eyes swept around everyone present out there.
Seeing them, Lucas was sure about one thing, he had made some good friends.
Charles had changed his ss from a viinous young master to a third or fourth male lead.
Roan had grown from being a nerd to a person giving schrly vibes which were further supplemented by those two round sses.
Although he may still look thin, underneath his clothes, his body has grown a lot.
His family pack had been upgraded to six pack and his muscles weren''t bulky in any sense but with only a touch one can know that the schrly mage doesn''t fall back in hand-to-handbat.
Combined with his long red hair reaching the shoulders, he looked quite handsome.
On the other hand, Frederick had stepped further ahead on the path of the protagonist by starting to open up to others.
Frederick might be stronger now however, Lucas wasn''t much worried about it as he was a little short of buying a diamond-
grade bloodline.
Taking it would surely give him a boost.
And if one looks at Parth...
It''s better to not talk about him and have a headache.
"Lucas, when are you leaving?" Frederick asked, seeing Lucas'' dazed expression.
Fredrick''s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"I am going to catch the train in the morning," Lucas answered.
"Your ce is quite far from here. As far as I remember you have to take two trains and after that, you have to take a wagon or rely on your feet to reach your hometown." Charles spoke.
Lucas nodded and said,"Yeah, it will take almost a day or more. It depends on the wagon."
"By the way, Lucas, I got to know that the territory where you live is not under any noble house. It seems to be some sort of freend. Except for the Leonhart n guarding the borders, thend is owner free." Frederick spoke.
Lucas raised his brows with a surprised expression.
"This is the first time I have heard such a thing."
"Maybe it''s under the imperial''s hands," Roan said to you.
"Maybe or maybe not. Land under the Imperialws is demarcated but your hometown isn''t." Frederick answered.
Lucas raised his brows, feeling that Frederick must know something.
"Let''s leave that matter."
"We are here to enjoy not to discuss troublesome things," Lucas muttered and everyone resumed the joyous asion.
...
The sound of a bustling train resounded, while gentle beads of snow kept pouring around.
After the drinking party where he barely drank any due to Parth making a mess out of the party, Lucas waited for the train but he wasn''t alone.
Besides him stood Jete giving him a stern gaze.
Lucas sighed as he put down his phone after having a chat with his mother who seemed to be jumping in excitement.
"Can you stop that look? It''s unsettling." Lucas said with a slight frustration,"People are looking at us as if I cheated on you."
"Not my problem as you were too busy to have a proper talk with me and only now arranged time for me just as you are about to leave."
Lucas stared at Jete''s grievous expression.
"I have joined Skies as you said and would go to the Northeast after a few days but before that, I wanted to ask one thing."
Lucas met with Jete''s fierce gazes burning with ferocity.
"David...Can I fulfill my revenge?"
"Do you even know where he is or what he is doing now?"
Lucas halted a moment before giving an answer,"Why did you follow me till now if you don''t believe in me?"
"It''s better to go with the flow than to be static. Though it was brief, I have grown a bit."
Lucas smiled and looked up at the sky,"As long as David is alive out there and you are strong enough to defeat him, you can have your revenge. The only thing is we have to find out where the bastard is hiding now."
"So, how do we find him out?" Jete asked curiously.
"Situation..A situation would arise where Omen would be forced toe out. David may be in disguise or use a pseudonym but...."
Lucas pointed at his golden eyes glowing brightly.
"These eyes of mine can see through everything."
With his insight skills that can be used to see stats, he can indirectly see through disguise.
Jete didn''t know from where the guy got this much confidence but his words along with his aura had a certain conviction.
''Let''s just believe for now. It''s not as if I have anything better to do. Maybe working with him will hone my skills and I can seek revenge on my own.''
Jete after a brief talk left allowing Lucas to finally breathe in relief.
But just as she left, Lucas felt a cold overbearing aura from behind. He didn''t need to look back to know who the person was.
"Your Highness!"
"When in Academy you call me president and outside Princess or Highness, why can''t you just call me by my name?"Julian''s cold words echoed in his ear to which he didn''t reply and kept smiling much to her frustration.
''Meeting with you is already risky. If I start calling you by name, my neck would go missing.''
An ufortable silence lingered as both of them looked at one another.
Julian then much to Lucas'' surprise extended her hands and demanded,"Hold my hands!"
"Huhh!" Lucas tilted his head in confusion.
"Don''t misunderstand. It''s winter and my hands are cold. I forgot to wear gloves as I hurried on my way here." Julian spoke with a nk expression.
"Quickly hold my hands and warm me up."
"Ohhh!" Lucas'' lips curled upwards. He wasn''t that dense to know what she truly wanted.
Some things didnt needed to be spoken to understand and after staying her for almost 6 hours day and from bits of the future, he knew what she meant.
"I understand." Lucas nodded and held Julian''s long slender hands. It was soft, delicate and bigger than him.
But much more than that...
''Holyshit! It''s so cold!!''
Lucas started shivering as Julian''s hands were cold...As cold as a frozen block of ice. Lucas felt as if her hands were sucking his body here.
Julian and Lucas walked by strolling the daily tform under the soft kes of snow falling.
Both of their hands sped to one another tightly and surprisingly neither of them felt ufortable.
Lucas saw that Julian''s emotions were a bit unstable and she looked a bit sentimental.
"Today is a fine day," Lucas muttered looking at the sky.
Julian''s lips twitched seeing him looking around instead of her.
As they passed by, Lucas noticed people looking at him weirdly again and when they passed beside a mother-son duo, the mother pulled her son aside and spoke.
"Did you see that guy? He is ying duality. A good man shouldn''t do this and y with a young maiden''s heart. Do you understand what I said?"
Lucas, who heard this, almost slipped.
At first Julian held herughter, but as she heard more, she wasn''t able to hold back andughed aloud.
"It''s not funny," Lucas grumbled, staring at Julian''s dazzling smile.
"Your Highness, why did you take the trouble toe looking for..." Lucas'' words paused as the train he waited for arrived interrupting the peaceful atmosphere.
Julian pulled out a ring and gave it to Lucas.
"What''s this?" He asked curiously.
"It''s vestige armour. Think of this as a gift for helping me."
After a brief staring exchange, Lucas nodded.
"Thank you!"
"Farewell Lucas," Julian spoke softly while waving her hand. There was a bit of sadness in her voice.
"You don''t need to say that. We are going to meet soon." Lucas chuckled and hoarded the train.
Julian looked at Lucas and then with a sudden motion, held Lucas''s cor, pulled it and kissed him on the cheek, shocking him.
Then she separated with a smile and the door of thepartment closed off and the train started to move.
Lucas just stood there frozen due to Julian''s sneak attack after which he screamed.
"What the hell!"
"Was I just kissed?"
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[City Of Aegis]
It was situated in the North Eastern region that was bathed heavily by snow in winter.
It took him almost a day to reach here as there was no direct railway connected to here. The nearest station to Aegis was Leonx City which is almost 400 kilometres away and Lucas had to ride a wagon till there.
Lucas didn''t even take a step in but countless emotions and blurry memories shed before his eyes.
The roads were covered with snow with few workers using shovels to clear the snow dirt on the road.
It was vastly different from the capital which was surrounded by high walls from all sides. The roads hadn''t been well maintained and Lucas couldn''t find a taxi or car in it.
Maybe it was due to the cold weather or it''s just that the town was too small.
"Maybe it''s too far and backward so there aren''t many modern vehicles."
Lucas would asionally find a few motorbikes but they were all old models, unlike the recent ones which had a nitro boost.
He felt as if he hade to the mediaeval period seeing the structure of the house which was mostly made of wood tiles.
Lucas didn''t feel odd, rather it felt quite pleasant.
Lucas looked for a person and asked for directions to his locality.
After walking for around half an hour, Lucas finally entered the locality which he seemed familiar with.
However just as he entered, his pupils dted and his body froze with uneasiness.
For a moment, he felt a chill down his spine seeing this.
His memory about this ce was a bit blurred however as soon he looked around, he remembered the nightmares of deaths Future Lucas induced on him.
In one scenario, it was exactly this ce infested by those strange dark creaturesing out from the crack of the sky.
Lucas'' breathing became ragged as he sank into the dark abyssal of memories until a soft pleasant voice called for him.
"Lucas!"
He snapped out of his reverie hearing the loud voice.
Lucas'' body wriggled a little as he suddenly saw many stares falling on him from all around as if he were a big shot.
''What the hell!'' Lucas muttered inwardly as he looked around to see many people staring at him.
Some stood before their houses while some were peeking while hiding themselves.
''Should I greet them?''
Just as he thought that he saw a few well-maintained aunties running towards him.
"Oh my! It''s Lucas."
"Gosh! You have developed into a charming Prince."
"Let me squeeze those cheeks of yours."
"Aunt Helena, Aunt Le and Aunt E." Lucas blurted out
hurriedly, stepping back in fear after seeing their weird smiles.
It was a subconscious reaction as he tried to resist a dooming fate but he wasn''t able to avert his fate of getting molested by the neighborhood aunts.
After getting assaulted by getting his cheek pinched to red, Lucas carrying things gifted by them walked to his home.
His own home¡..
After Lucas left, the cheerful atmosphere calmed down.
"Oh My! Young Lord had grown into a fine gentleman." Helena praised.
"Yes, I can''t believe this is the same person. He changed for the better." Le murmured, looking Lucas back in awe and added,"Don''t forget just whose son he is. I can feel ayer of sharpness hidden beneath."
Lucas after a small walk finally arrived before his home.
Lucas stood before the two stored houses which seemed to be quite hugepared to the neighboring houses.
Lucas stared at the huge wooden door for a moment and taking a deep breath, hesitantly reached for the doorbell of the house.
DING!DING!
.......
Inside The House
A woman sat in the drawing room while looking at the entrance.
Her red hair fell reaching her waist like a waterfall. She was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman. Her red Phoenix-like eyes were stuck on the door waiting for someone''s arrival.
"Dear! You should take a rest. You have been sitting there like a doll since morning. You haven''t even taken the food."
"Nor allowed me to take a bite." Leonard spoke thest sentence faintly but it was enough for her to hear it.
She turned her head and gazed at the man with chilling eyes, making the man step back a little.
"What kind of father are you? Your son ising from such a long distance and all you think is about food, food and food."
"Come here and eat my fist. It will take your hunger away," Vanessa spoke, raising her fist frightening the man.
Leonard grumbled while praying in his heart.
He was really scared...So scared that he might wet his pants.
He had already hardened his heart of what was about toe and how much Lucas would reveal to Vanessa.
"God! Please protect me.''
'' I don''t think she will kill me before her son, will she?''
Leonard asked but no answer came out.
Leonard then sneaked in to have a few bites of the delicious meal but just as his hands reached for it, a cold threatening voice echoed in his ears.
"Touch it and I will make sure you are incapable of touching anything else..."
"Just how many times do I have to say that we would have a family lunch..."
DING!DING!
The sound of the doorbell echoed in the hallway and Vanessa''s eyes widened. Then without wasting a single breath she fled towards the entrance, leaving behind Leonard dazed whose hand sneaked in grabbing a cake.
"Lucas, my son, thanks for saving me."
"I will remember your gratitude in this life." Leonard spoke with teary eyes and bit the cake with a satisfied expression.
......
As soon as Lucas pressed the doorbell, on the other side of the door, the sound of rushing footsteps rushing for the door instantly reached his ears.
His ears perked up and his heartbeat hastened and before he could calm himself, the door opened.
CLANK!
Opening the door, Lucas just saw a sh of a brilliantly smiling woman with red fiery hair and crimson Phoenix-like eyes greeting him and jumping on him with a whisper.
"Wee home, Lucas."
Before answering, Lucas was hugged tightly and a rain of kisses started to fall on him as if the kisses had been stored in a bank for years waiting to be collected.
Squealing in delight, his mother Vanessa Bright poured all her love on him.
"Ohhh my baby just look how much you have grown."
Lucas, who fell into her mother''s embrace, tried to struggle but he was held by his mother as if he was going to disappear the moment she left him.
Although it was the first time he had hugged thedy who was a stranger to him a year ago, he didn''t feel any kind of repulsion to it, rather he felt like he earned this embrace more than anything in his life.
Memories of his previous life shed before his eyes. His mother would always wait for him like this when he went to school or outside the ce and would shower him with love when he returned.
A mother''s love is boundless and unfathomable and now as he finally got the chance to meet his new mother who weed him with open arms, small drops of tears started to trickle down from his cheeks.
Feeling her embrace, Lucas'' body became weak and his mind became rxed as if he had found the mostfortable ce.
"I am back, Mom."
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Lucas, after getting a warm hug and a collective interest of kisses stored for him, tried to wriggle his body to get out as he was almost feeling breathless.
"Mom, I am gonna choke at this rate," Lucas muttered trying to squeeze out his words.
"Oh Sorry," Vanessa spoke and loosened her grip.
Before Lucas could mutter anything, Vanessa held Lucas''s wrist and pulled him inside while shutting the door with a loud bang.
"Mommmmmmm!" Lucas screamed as he was dragged like a paper doll.
''What the hell! Isn''t she just a 3-Star Mage? What kind of strength is this?'' Lucas panicked inwardly and felt as if he was being pulled by a monster.
In a sh, they passed through the hallway and appeared in the big central guest room which had a big dining table in the corner.
Vanessa stopped abruptly causing Lucas'' face to hit her back.
"What happened?" Lucasined and looked around to see his father Leonard Bright taking a piece of cake into his mouth but he had frozen like a statue before taking a bite.
Lucas didn''t know why the atmosphere felt awkward and he felt heat rising inside the room even though it was the winter season.
"Honey!!!"
Leonard heard a sweet and delicate tone and gave a smile seeing Lucas but he was unable to control his emotions and burst into tears while his gaze changed from Lucas to the piece of cake and then to Vanessa.
"Lucas!!" He cried out and ran towards him with open arms with the hope of avoiding the crisis that had been on him but before he could hug Lucas.
BANG!
His figure was blown away and hit the wall but fortunately, nothing seemed to be broken.
Lucas blinked a couple of times, unable toprehend what was going on, and looked at his mother who put up such an innocent smile as if she was an angel sent to this world.
"You see, your father has high sugar. The doctor has asked him to lower his carbs but your stupid father is sneaking behind me and eating food filled with sugar." Vanessa exined quite gracefully as if she was teaching a small child.
''High sugar! Carbs, what...how?''
An awakened warrior doesn''t catch a cold nor does he have a disease like diabetes which affects normal people.
Even though he doubted her, Lucas nodded his head like an obedient child, after all, a mother''s words are always right.
Obey her you will prosper, disobey her you will wither in the abyss.
''Maybe my father is a masochist.''
''Whatever may be, my family is not normal.'' Lucas muttered inwardly.
Vanessa pulled Lucas and she sat on the sofa beside Lucas while Papa Lucas stood up straight after being beaten like a dog and sat on the sofa with an awkward expression.
With an awkward cough, he raised his hand and stroked Lucas'' hair.
Lucas felt the rough and hard palms that had callus embedded in them passing over his head giving a sense of peace.
He stared at his father''s face andpared it to his previous one.
His mother was beautiful, excessively beautiful. For him, Julian didn''t stand a chance before his mother but that was just his inward thought.
Still, her core facial impression was quite the same as that of his mother from Earth.
But in the case of his father, he looked quite aged up.
"How are you doing, Lucas?"
"I know that you have surely gone through a hard time reaching here," Leonard spoke with a serious expression but Lucas could see the warmth in his eyes.
Lucas nodded his head with moist eyes,"It was hard. Still, I persisted somehow."
"For the first few days, I missed you a lot..a lot. I didn''t have any friends, I didn''t know anyone."
"There were people who shined dazzlingly while I was just a poormoner seen as filth, I used to hide and train at night to not get caught in the eyes of bullies. The first few months were hard.." Lucas spoke as tears flowed down his cheeks as he let out all the pent-up expressions that had been bottled up inside.
His journey has never been smooth, just because one looks indifferent doesn''t mean that he or she didn''t feel anything, rather they have all bottled it inside instead of taking it out.
Vanessa wrapped her hands around Lucas'' neck and rubbed her cheek with Lucas''.
"My baby, you have gone through a lot."
"Tough times don''tst long and good times will be on the way if you don''t give up," Vanessa said with a graceful tone.
After letting out everything, the atmosphere was silent for a moment.
Lucas wiped his tears and took a deep breath but remembering the deeds he had done just now, he was feeling embarrassed.
He smiled while looking at his mother Vanessa and seeing her face from close, he was stunned for a moment.
Her skin was wless and delicate and she didn''t seem to age.
Lucas always thought that she looked wless on the phone due to filters but seeing her close even the filters of the phone don''t do justice.
She looked more like his sister rather than his mother. Lucas took a nce at his father and whispered into Vanessa''s ears.
''''Mom, how did you catch up with the old man?"
Leonard, hearing this, choked and stared at Lucas in disbelief.
''What the hell, boy? You want to dig my grave?''
"It''s my bad luck." Vanessa sighed, not speaking anymore.
Even though his father was the same age as her, if he stood beside her mother, he looked like an elder rather than her husband.
''Father, you must have it hard. You must have gone through a bloody battle to woo Mother.'' Lucas muttered with sympathy while raising his thumbs.
Vanessa let go of Lucas and started to talk about all kinds of things.
"By the way, can you tell me about the girl Jete? I saw her in one of our calls."
Lucas, who was chatting with his father, suddenly felt a chill down his spine and turned around to see his mother with a twisted smile.
His angel mother looked more like a demoness who had his life.
''Jete, how did she pop her? Did I pick up Mother''s call while talking to her somewhere?''
Vanessa picked Lucas'' ears and muttered,"Do you think I''m a fool? In the video call, I saw her looking at you seriously.''''
"Tell me what did you do with her? Did you propose to her?''''
Lucas'' back was drenched in sweat seeing his mother''s frightening senses and remembered that back in the station, he had picked up his mother''s call and in that short video call, she managed to catch a glimpse of her.
"Just as a friend who needed some of my help." Lucas said with a straight face.
"I see!" Vanessa loosened the grip and sighed in relief.
"For a moment I thought you cheated on Julian," Vanessa muttered.
"Whattttt!" Lucas screamed as his face started to heat up.
"Mom, I have told you a thousand times that there is nothing between us." Lucas tried to clear the situation.
"Really? That means you don''t like her. Should I look for a fiancee for you? Boys of your age are already engaged and I am worried that you can''t woo a girl so let me help." Vanessa asked with a coquettish voice.
Lucas sweated buckets hearing this. He felt that the more he answered the more he would fall into her trap.
He looked at his father for help but Leonard just averted his gaze and whistled with a grin.
''You wanted to dig trouble for me, now karma strikes back.''
Lucas was unable to utter any words and just stood up and ran upstairs to his room while shouting back,"I am tired! I am going to rest."
He wanted to talk about the tournament and another thing but decided that it was better to take it slow.
Vanessa and Leonard burst intoughter after seeing Lucas'' embarrassed expression which looked quite cute.
Leonard, who wasughing heartily, suddenly stopped and sighed heavily.
Vanessa frowned seeing his dead serious look as if something bad had happened and she reached out for his hand.
Holding Leonard''s hand she asked with a worried tone,"What happened?"
Though she might be the boss of the ce she knows how to behave when Leonard is serious.
Leonard raised his head and looked at the ceiling with an inexplicable expression as countless thoughts ran through his mind.
"Previously, I read that a test reported that Lucas had a golden bloodline, not a bronze bloodline," Leonard spoke and paused for a bit.
Vanessa''s expression hardened at the sudden revtion and she wanted to scream, what report and when did you read it? Why didn''t you tell me?
But she decides to wait patiently first.
After all, if she makes a move and makes her husband lose his consciousness or kill him, who will tell her everything?
As a caring wife, she shouldn''t kill her husband.
"When I patted Lucas, I felt a resonance."
"Lucas had unlocked the bloodline ability." Leonard said, which astonished Vanessa.
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ck obscure smoke seemed to cover the entire sky blocking the rays of the sun while casting darkness on the earth filling everyone''s hearts with terror.
Large craters whose depth can''t be fathomed formed all around. Trees had been uprooted and swept away or they had been crushed into pieces.
Charred corpses of powerful beingid around the ce painting a grim picture of death.
An azure halo began to pierce the smoke followed by a frightening explosion of thunder tearing the eardrums.
In the centre of the battlefield, three obscure figures appeared who had various grievous wounds all over their body.
One of them even had a hand missing while a leg was swinging loose due to strong gales.
Before themy a red-haired woman who was pleading with them while joining her hands.
With a trembling voice, she pleaded.
"Please don''t harm my child."
"Please let him leave! Please, I am begging you."With a huge belly, she stepped back in fear.
"Please have mercy."
The teary expression of the woman was enough to melt anyone''s heart. Her eyes had been swollen and a river of tears drifted from her eyes drenching the parched devastated ground.
The obscure figure didn''t utter anything but rather looked at the big protruding belly and raised their hand towards it making the woman flinch back with a scream.
A bright light intensified and the scene changed leaving behind the red-haired womanying on the ground looking helpless.
Her eyes had been numb and she didn''t even have tears left to shed.
Staring around with lifeless eyes she looked down.
Her eyes trembled for a moment and they started to turn pitch dark as the darkness of night which could even swallow the ck hole.
Her body started to glow with a reddish glow and her eyes started to dance crazily in the air defying gravity.
mes started to rage everywhere, and the earth started to rumble, forming deep cracks and a fierce aura outburst from her staining the entire sky with red followed by a huge illuminated explosion which was enough to shake the entire continent.
.....
"NOOOOOOO!Not Again!"
Tears trickled down from Leonard''s eyes, wetting the pillow on which his heady.
Leonardo knew he was dreaming. That scene had been his recurring nightmare for almost 19 years. It was the moment when he thought he had lost everything and he gained the curse of this never-ending nightmare that had been haunting him and eating him away.
It was impossible to stop the nightmare as no matter what he did the scenes came back to his mind no matter what.
Leonardo whose entire body was drenched in sweat suddenly moved his hand.
His expression contorted as he felt the ce beside him was empty and his trembling eyes suddenly widened with an rming look and he looked around frantically like a maniac.
"Vanessa!!" He shouted and jumped off the bed.
Every night he had nightmares, Vanessa would hold his hand and calm him down but seeing her missing after the nightmare he felt as if his heart had been pierced.
His mind became hazy in fear and he was about to shout and run around crazily when he remembered Lucas had returned.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he ran upstairs and saw that the door of Lucas''s room had been opened slightly.
He slowly opened it not to make any sound and looked around to see Lucas sleeping soundly with Vanessa beside him, hugging him tightly with a sweet angelic smile
Leonard''s eyes softened seeing the scene and walking toward the bed he stroked Lucas''s hair lovingly.
Seeing Lucas safe and sound, all his uneasiness disappeared.
''My boy, you don''t know how lucky you are. It seems you have saved the world or traded all your work to have this woman as your mother.''
''If only you know the truth and know how amazing your mother is¡.''
Leonard sighed with a del deprecating smoke.
Leonard shook his head to clear the unpleasant memories and bent down to give a soft kiss on Vanessa''s forehead.
Not wanting to wake them up, he left as quietly as possible and sat on the couch in the living room while staring at the ceiling with a nk expression.
He had hardly seen any woman as tough as his wife. Even the world can''t justify his wife''s indifference, who was known as Crimson Demoness.
His and Vanessa''s match was like ice and water.
He still remembered about the day that turned his world upside down.
Vanessa''s pride was as high as the sky itself and she dered that if any man around her age managed to defeat her¡no if any man managed to hit her, she would marry her.
Kevin and Kai fought her to prove their worth.
s, Kevin ended up with all his bones broken while she tore Kai''s limbs and dumped him in the trash.
She always had an indifferent expression on her face and since her birth, no one had ever seen her smile.
In fact, there was a time when a bet was ced and the winner could get 10 billion if one could make her smile or get a photo of her smile.
He was only able to marry her whose heart was as hard as a diamond because he managed to hit her and gave a tough fight.
A burst of smallughter escaped from his lips as he remembered that there was no nobel in Ralph whose legs hadn''t been broken by her.
She even threatens the Prince of Ralph and gone against the Emperor of Ralph many times giving him headaches.
And the woman who reigned as the strongest woman on the continent was forced to plead and cry on that day.
For such a prideful person to beg for the life of her child, only she knew what she had grown through.
It was already a miracle that she wasn''t broken down by that incident, rather she had be stronger and stronger than ever waiting for the darned evil incarnation.
Thinking about it, he clenched his fist tightly.
Most of his followers were killed on that day just to protect them and he even thought that he would lose his child which made her lose herposure making her a maniac.
Fortunately, due to God''s blessing, Lucas was able to survive. However, was born a bit sickly with no bloodline but it was alright.
And Vanessa was unable to conceive after that so Lucas was the only child they could have and Vanessa was so obsessed with Lucas that she would explode if Lucas disappeared for a moment.
Seeing the recent changes and increase in the number of dungeons and monsters along with demons'' movement, Leonard was afraid.
He had already lost his power. What would happen if he or Vanessa disappeared and who would take care of Lucas who wasn''t even awake?
Due to the stealing of their bloodline, he was a little weakpared to other ones.
So he decided to use the potion to raise the bloodline left behind by his ancestor.
But he was still worried as the bloodline potion can only raise grade when one had a little essence of the bloodline.
If one doesn''t have any bloodline grade, to begin with, what can it raise when there is nothing?
But fortunately, his bloodline was raised to bronze which was more than enough for Lucas to awaken but to make Lucas go to the academy he had really suffered a tragic fate.
Since he kept his ns hidden from Vanessa, she not only disagreed but also beat him like a dog and broke every bone.
"Only I know how much suffering I had gone through to get the permission, "Leonard mutters, which almost makes him cry tears of blood.
Everything seemed to be moving in a good direction. He was not even worried when Kevin reported that Lucas had a golden bloodline.
Lucas grew up in a year to the point he was unrecognizable but even that wasn''t a problem.
Lucas''s rise would surely force them to leave the shadow still he had prepared for that, but the problem was bloodline ability.
"It would be okay if he had awakened Vanessa''s bloodline but God yed the trick again and he awakened his bloodline which many know as telekinesis and those bastards would surely snoop around him to steal his bloodline and Lucas would be on the wanted list."
"With the way he is developing, I just hope he doesn''t take after Vanessa as who knows what he will do when he knows about the things that happened to us."
Though Leonard said this he wasn''t able to curb his excitement wanting to see how his boy would develop.
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Lucas after visiting his home had been pretty much cooped up in his house to the point that he could teach ''how to bezy'' ss and if there was a system that recorded one''s achievement, he would''ve been a champion.
His daily routine had already been in disarray. In the academy, he would stay upte at night for self-training and would sleep for 2-3 hours.
Before sleeping he would activate the mana breathing technique and when he woke up, he would feel refreshed and all his aches and pains would be subsided greatly.
But it was the opposite now. His body was now aching due toying in bed like azy bum.
Living in his house where everything was brought to him, to the point that his mother even wanted to feed him, and only stopped after Lucas'' pleading. He could feel that he was bing a sloth.
However, it''s not like he had given up on practice, rather he was rxing all he could because he mightn''t get a chance in the uing event where even a blink would get him killed.
"I am sure my senses will be dull if this goes on for a month, while Fredrick is working hard."
"I remember that my father is a swordsman. I should ask for a training session with him." Lucas muttered rubbing his chin but before that, he should get out of his bed now or he may be addicted to beingzy.
Moreover, his father had called him to discuss something important.
........
Leonard stared at the scene with a nk expression while a small sigh escaped from Lucas'' lips.
It would be wrong to say that he wasn''t jealous. For god sake, he had been jealous of his own son''s treatment.
''Why is my son so lucky?'' Leonard gritted his teeth giving his son a hateful look who ignored him as if he didn''t exist.
"Mom, can you please stop this?" Lucas asked while closing his eyes.
His mother, who was stroking his hair, stopped abruptly and looked at Lucas with a sullen expression as if she was wronged and her right had been taken away.
"Why? Don''t you like it?"
"Mom, it''s not that. I don''t hate it but" Lucas muttered with an embarrassed expression but shook his head.
"It''s addictive mom. I don''t want to feel lonely and miss it."
Lucas turned to see Vanessa who had a guilty expression, as though she wanted to stop but contrary to Lucas'' expectations, his mother hugged him tightly, surprising him.
"Aaaahhh!" Lucas screamed, feeling his mother''s too-tight hug.
His mother was an oddball. Lucas feared that if they were a noble family she would have spoiled her child beyond irreparable.
"Cough...Cough¡"
"Can you please stop doing that, we have to talk about something important?" Leonard spoke with a stern expression.
Vanessa finally let go of Lucas and looked at Leonard.
Lucas stared at his father''s serious expression as Leonard rubbed his storage ring, took out a bottle and ced it before him. Lucas'' heartbeat hastened to see the small test tube-like bottle and felt that whatever may be inside, it was nothing cheap.
"Lucas, you have matured a lot unlike a year ago, so I am sure that you have some doubts," Leonard said.
"You must have pondered about your bloodline. I remember when you were small, you would always ask about your bloodline grade to the point that it made my ears numb. At that time, I wasn''t able to answer that because of a reason. But now that you have grown up, you should know about some things. This small bottle that you are seeing contains the answer to your questions."
"What is in the bottle?" Lucas asked curiously.
Leonard paused for a bit and answered, "Inside it lies a potion that can upgrade bloodline."
Lucas'' eyes widened for a moment and he opened his lips but nothing came out of them.
"Father, tell me you are joking?" Lucas asked with a surprised expression and looked at his mother.
Leonard shook his head while Vanessa nodded her head for confirmation.
"But, how....?"
"I mean, isn''t this priceless? How did we have such a valuable thing?"
"It was a gift to my great great-grandfather," Leonard answered.
"Great, great great-grandfather¡ What kind of man was he?" Lucas asked.
Leonard smiled a little seeing Lucas'' expression and started to exin.
"You might not know but we have a rich heritage. His name was Walker Bright. I don''t know about his strength but I was sure that he was a powerhouse in that era. Our Bright House used to be a member of the upper echelon as far as I know but it fell because of his certain decision."
Lucas waited for his father to speak further while Lucas fixed his gaze on the bottle.
"He fell in love with ady who was amoner, a half-elf and didn''t have a bloodline, but as you know, there''s a problem."
Lucas nodded.
"Preserving bloodline purity is a need of the hour. If everyone did this and all the upper-grade bloodlines started to marry lower bloodlines, what do you think would happen in the future? The future generations would surely be bleak if this goes on to the point that the bloodline grade might be lost. So, our house refused to ept your great great-grandmother but Grandpa Walker was as stubborn as a bull so just to marry her he started to search for a potion to upgrade her bloodline. "
"He didn''t want to make her bloodline diamond, rather he wanted her to at least have a bloodline. Being a half-elf, she would have distant blood of elves and all that was needed was just to raise it."
Leonard paused and continued.
"But there was no artifact nor natural treasure that can do this so he had to rely on alchemy and after countless research, he concluded that he had to find a missingponent. And that was the tear of the isle or branch of the world tree, both of which were sacred things of elves."
"So, he infiltrated the elves'' home, beat them and stole it,'''' Lucas muttered, causing Vanessa to giggle.
"Brat, how can you level your grandpa to a thief?" Leonard incredulously asked. "He helped the Elves ovee a crisis."
"What was the crisis?" Lucas asked as his eyes glowed.
"I don''t know."
Lucas'' expression stiffened for a moment and he red at his father. "You don''t know or are you deliberately hiding it?"
"I don''t know Lucas. That was a secret deal, but what matters is that your grandma got a bronze bloodline and your grandpa married her and destroyed the future generations." Leonard spoke with a sigh, only God knows what curse was cast on their house for him to be born with a diamond bloodline only for it to be taken away.
"Mom!" Lucas looked at Vanessa for confirmation, making Leonard''s lip twitch.
"He won''t lie on such a serious matter," Vanessa added,"Besides, the Bright family bloodline had degraded and they fell out of nobility due to the crisis."
"I see." Lucas
"Let me ask one thing. If my great-great-great-grandma was an Elf, why don''t we have those, you know..." Lucas spoke pointing at his ears.
"She was barely a half-elf and things got changed from generation to generation. However, that doesn''t mean we have inherited nothing from her. We might have not inherited externally but we did internally." Leonard exined.
"What is it?" Lucas asked.
"Affinity. You might have many elemental affinities. As you know elves are close to nature and can use most elemental powers. We inherited that. I have five elemental affinities and you should have around the same or more."
Lucas'' eyes widened in disbelief for a moment.
''Oh! So that''s the reason behind my elemental affinities. However, it feels useless if I can''t make use of it.''
"And Lucas I secretly mixed the potion in your drink which raised your bloodline to bronze."
"Hmmm¡I see, but what is our bloodline ability? Do we have any?" Lucas asked but his father spoke with a nk expression.
"Yes, we have one."
"And it''s telekinesis."
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Lucas'' words trailed off hearing his father''s words.
Vanessa observed her son''s actions waiting for his response. For some reason, she felt a bit nervous and squeezed his hands.
"Why did you ask about that? By chance did you..."
Lucas felt a chill seeing his father''s lingering gaze.
He twirled his finger pondering a bit. He was anxious now and unable to decide what to say.
After a brief pause, Lucas answered.
"No!" Lucas answered without any hesitation.
His heart was painted with guilt because of lying but he was helpless. If he said yes, he needed to exin about his bloodline which he didn''t want them to know now because he would soon take a diamond bloodline potion so if he said that family heirloom increased his rank to gold, he couldn''t exin how it became to diamond and then he need to eithere up with a lie to cover it or tell the truth and exin hisplicated system.
And he didn''t know if it was wise to tell them now as he was sure that his father might get a heart attack due to worry.
Leonard sighed a bit but then he was satisfied that his son had grown up. He could read his son''s expression of worry and could exactly know what he was thinking.
"That''s sad. Telekinesis is a great ability but the only problem is that it only shows its true potential at 6-Star and above. It not only consumes a huge amount of mana but it also needs great control which one needs to train relentlessly." Leonard answered, making Lucas fall into deep thought.
Hesitating a bit, Lucas decided to push it a bit.
"Father, do you know how to train or improve your telekic ability?"
"Why?" Leonard asked, squinting his eyes.
"Why don''t you just answer what he asks?" Vanessa spoke with a gentle smile, but her eyes gleamed dangerously.
Leonard swallowed his saliva seeing Vanessa''s gaze that seemed to say ''just answer what you are asked and stop leading the conversation''.
"Though I don''t have it..it wouldn''t hurt..you know, if I practice maybe I can awaken my dormant power."
Both Vanessa and Leonard gave Lucas a weird look, making him embarrassed.
"Cough!" Leonard coughed a bit.
"Don''t read many fairytales. No dormant power wille to save your sorry ass when your wif...I mean when life kicks you." Leonard bit his tongue and changed his words to avoid a crisis.
"Even if I don''t know about telekinesis, my father gave me some valuable tips."
"Listen, boy! Telekinesis is all about the visualisation of the process. However, there is another aspect to that." Leonard said, raising his finger.
"You need to first imagine it as part of your own. Like an invisible pair of hands whom you can control ording to your wish and will. And for that, you need to enhance your finger strength. Telekinesis will bore pressure mentally on your mind and physically on your fingers. if you don''t have a stronger finger to support the ability, you won''t be able to lift heavy things."
Lucas nced at his finger for a moment.
When he practices too much, sometimes he feels pain in his finger joints as if they are going to snap but he always thought that it must be for some other reason.
''Strong finger....huh...''
"I guess telekinesis must have been a great ability,"
"It surely is," Leonard nodded.
Lucas rubbed his chin pondering for a moment and asked,"Then are there any rtives alive from your side?"
"No."
Leonard directly shook his head with a sorrowful expression.
Lucas nodded and looked at his mother who seemed to be in deep thought. Vanessa noticed Lucas'' gaze and felt a little ufortable.
"Then, Mother, from your side¡?" Lucas asked with a hint of expectation in his eyes.
Vanessa shook her head but then nodded.
"Mom, Are you saying yes or no?" Lucas asked.
"There are still rtives from my side," Vanessa said.
"Why have I never seen them? Have they ever visited us?" Lucas asked, observing his mother''s expression.
"No, they are too far away from here. Moreover, they are a little higher in status than us." Vanessa muttered.
Lucas looked at his mom''s stiffened expression and felt as if his mother''s rtions with her rtives may not be good.
"So, mom, are my grandparents still alive?" Lucas asked with a cautious expression.
Vanessa''s eyes widened for a moment and she replied hurriedly,"They are alive and might be doing well."
"But why didn''t you ever mention them?"
"That...what to say¡?" Vanessa stuttered in her speech.
Lucas saw his mom''s uneasy expression for the first time and stared at his wrinkled father''s face with questioning eyes.
"I got it," Lucas muttered faintly.
"Huh? Got it...What did you get?" Vanessa spoke with a panicked tone.
"You eloped with Dad and my grandparents must not have agreed to the marriage," Lucas spoke while rubbing his chin.
"Cough...Cough¡" Leonard coughed violently and looked at Lucas with an embarrassed gaze."Yeah, it was something like that."
"So, shouldn''t you make up for it and try to appease them? After all, it has been so long since you have been married and they even have a grandson?" Lucas spoke while changing his gaze from his mother to his father.
"Yeah, we will sincerely consider it, so Brat, don''t embarrass us anymore." Leonard said while trying to hide his face.
Lucas just didn''t want the situation to be so awkward so he tried to mediate but seeing their expression they knew that something was amiss.
Seeing his mother''s nervous expression while fidgeting her fingers, he decided to find their information with Julian''s help.
''Maybe I can try to fix their broken rtionship.''
Lucas then cleared his throat and moved to the main topic that he had been preparing for.
"By the way Mom, Dad! I have something to say."
"Yes, Lucas!" Vanessa spoke with a loving smile.
"I am going to Ralph."
Vanessa''s expression froze for a moment while Leonard''s heart skipped a beat.
"Why?" Vanessa''s voice cracked.
"Hahahaha! You are going on tour with your friends, right?" Leonard asked with a smile while winking his eyes to send a signal to Lucas who, unable to understand, shook his head and dropped the bomb that was going to change Leonard''s life.
"No, I am going there to participate in the tournament."
"Tournament...Why...How?" Vanessa''s voice quivered while Leonard''s expression became pale as if he got an invitation letter from Yama of Hell.
"It''s because I was ranked 3 in the previous tournament, so I have to go to their fight for the Inter Academy Cup," Lucas answered with a dry smile, giving Vanessa a shock.
And it was at that exact moment that Leonard knew, he fucked up.
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There was a saying that someone''s trash is someone else''s treasure.
But it seems, it is also held true for the saying someone''s heaven is someone else''s hell.
After Lucas dropped the bomb, at first Vanessa was too shocked to speak to the point that she remained frozen for a few moments, scaring the shit out of Lucas and Leonard who thought that she might have had a heart attack.
However, as she recovered, Vanessa showered Lucas with hugs and kisses filling him with love and congratting him happily with tears.
She looked genuinely happy for Lucas'' sess.
But.....
It seems it was only true in the case of Lucas as Leonard was subjugated to an immense round of beating and brutal assault. It did not leave any wound physically but it mortified his soul engraving it with fear.
Lucas managed to catch his father asking his help to save him and came to know about how his father cut the TV cables and lied about him getting out in the first round.
He always thought that his mother had seen him till the third round and would be proud that her son was able to remain till that point but now that he knew the truth, he gave his father the ''you deserve it'' look and asked Vanessa to punish him severely and left the house to walk off leaving the grieving and screaming Leonard begging for mercy.
Lucas jogged in the frosty winter. The temperature was a bit better but it was still below 8. The snowfall decreased a lot and the roads weren''t piled up with snow and became good for travel.
"This town is a bit weird. Except for mymunity brimming with people, other areas are too sparse. I rarely see a hoard of people outside thismunity."
Lucas trailed to a park after running around and swiping off the ice on a swing and heating it with a mini fireball, he sat on it emitting a soft cry.
Lucas took out the pen drive given to him by Ami and lodged it into aptop. The pen drive had a folder of each group of participants.
The Inter Academy Battle Cup wasn''t limited to one species only. Humans would be represented by five academies.
Horizon of Cyprus.
Cavalier of Silver Knight¡
Radiance Academy of Ralphs.
Nexus of Principal States.
Saint Freya of Holy Nation.
Besides humans, there were also Sylvan Star Academy of Elves, Ironw of Dwarves and Stone Blood of Orcs.
The other races are mostly United and have one academy. In the end, it is a fight between academies not between species.
Many times in the past, the academy participants had also been represented by other species due to mixed heritage¡
The Princess of Ralph was also entering the tournament and she was someone to watch out for as she was designated as next-generation Archmage.
Sadly, that scum Prince of Silver Knight who tried to molest Julian was a year older than him and their team didn''t face Horizonst year as they were defeated in the first round by Ralph who also won the tournament.
Lucas then looked at the rules.
"The rules of the tournament are really weird," Lucas muttered, scratching his head.
Before the fight, each participant would fight a Demon kin of his level. It was like an appetizing starter to increase the excitement of the audience and introduce each of them.
After that will be the beginning of the team battle. The 8 teams would draw lots and fight ording to pairing.
In the first round faceoff, it would be best of two out of three.
Each team sends a student. Each member of the team will fight and the one team that wins two rounds out of three will advance to the next round.
In case of a tie, the extra participant or reserve yer will fight to decide the winner.
However, here is the pinch. In the very first round, the first participant of the academy who wins can decide if his team proceed with the next match engaging in the best of two or if the team would be considered as winning and advance to the next round.
It was like a privilege for the first win.
The rule was bullshit and unfair which was enough to crush the hopes of the Academy if a member lost the first match.
That won''t even have the chance to turn things around.
As Lucas remembered it started because everyone sent the weakest member first which in which battle dragged on leading to a dull disy.
This went on until it annoyed a tyrant who was bored of seeing dull matches until the Semi-Final.
"So, the Emperor and audience of that time were bored because people fought quite conservatively to save their power so they came up with this weird rule that would force the team to throw their best yer from the beginning. And with the sword of elimination on their throne, everyone who had gone all out since the beginning. It will also eliminate the weaker teams from the very first round as each team are now forced to send their strongest member."
"And by chance, if your luck is bad and you encounter the strongest team, then you can me yourself."
Lucas who was going through this suddenly heard amotion from afar.
He put back his things and went to look around.
On reaching out of the park, he saw people gathering there and looked at the wall eagerly as if there was a grand announcement.
Lucas grinded his way through the crowd and finally caught a glimpse of a poster seeing which his body froze instantly.
It was a warning message along with an announcement.
[There have been Orcs spotted across the border of the North East. The Lionheart n guarding the borders has ryed the order to invite the mercenaries to help. You will be rewarded handsomely for the support.]
[Also people are asked to remain careful and stay indoors in case an Orc sneaks in through the border. Avoid going to the wilderness, particrly during this period.]
"What''s happening now? Seeing this notice I don''t think it''s a minor conflict."
"Yes, the situation might be quite tense if they are asking mercenaries for support despite the number of troops stationed here."
"Fighting in such cold weather, I can''t even imagine it."
"But why are the Orcs loitering around here?"
"Who knows? Maybe it''s because of the food. They often create disturbances. Fortunately, they have never breached through the borders."
Lucas heard the discussion with a solemn expression.
The situation wasn''t like what the people thought. Things are gonna be quite dire. The winter this time was quite harsh as we moved upper to the region of the world.
The borders had been frozen and the Orcs Kingdom''s situation was way worse. Orcs weren''t good at farming and the harsh winter destroyed everything.
And they resort to hunting in Winter which is quite difficult now and wasn''t enough to fill up their stomachs.
However, they persisted but this time the Winter over the Orc Kingdom was so harsh that finding prey was quite difficult as the prey became quite scarce in winter.
And as they moved towards Cyprus to hunt, they found the temperature less harsh than their home and under the maniption of a certain someone that Human settlement gave grains and food, they would attack borders thinking it''s easy to get food.
Lucas turned back and left with a dry smile.
"I wish I had more time to enjoy s¡."
Lucas raised his head towards the sky and murmured with a strong conviction,"It''s time for Crimson Heart to take the stage."
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