《SSS Ranked Reincarnation: Dark Dragon Legacy》 Chapter 1: Legacy "So I''m dead. Well, that is to be expected when you get shot in the lungs. I am not the narrator here, but I''d like to give you a little filler before we continue with my passage to the underworld. I am Reo, a normal high school kid, but I''ve always had the worst luck possible. I sometimes feel like my bad luck has been intentional¡ªmaybe Lady Luck hated my guts for some reason. That terrible luck is the reason I suddenly got shot by a robber at night. And it wasn''t even my house that got robbed; it was five houses away. Yet they just had to pass by me when I stepped outside. I normally wake up at night and take in some air outside. It had be what I would call a ritual. While I was carrying out my ritualst night, the robbers came running through. One of them sighted me, and before I could say or do anything, the sound of a gunshot resounded, and a bullet dug into my chest and lungs, killing me in seconds. And that brings us to the current situation I''m in." Reo''s eyes opened, and he took a look around the ce he was in. He half-expected to see two gates¡ªone leading to paradise and one to the abyss or something like that¡ªbut none of that happened. He was inside a cozy living room. It was warm and kept to a minimalistic decoration. There was a long couch opposite Reo, and seated there was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her skin was as white and soft as silk, without a blemish or scar. She wore a beautiful ck dress that matched her jet-ck shiny hair. Her eyes were like the starry skies, a void that held endless mysteries. Reo felt his chest tighten as he looked at her. He felt as though he was drawn to her for some reason; her presence gave off an aura that calmed and pulled him. Reo shook his head to clear his mind. He didn''t have time to admire this woman; he had to understand what was going on. "Is this the underworld?" he asked, using all theposure and confidence he had. "No, it is not. This is my personal ce," she spoke in a sweet, soothing voice. "Then who are you, and why am I here?" he asked her. "Well, I am a goddess," she said. "A goddess? Is this real, or are you toying with me?" Reo asked. He didn''t have time to overreact to what she said. It was better that he just calmed down and listened to what she was saying. "Well, we are as real as anything¡ªgods and goddesses. We exist for what is known as the bnce, but all that aside, it is not the reason you are here. After you died, your soul was to go through the circle of rebirth. Your soul would be cleansed, and you would restart in another world with no memory of the life you had before. But I need your help, so I put in a word to those above, and they allowed me to take your soul," she exined. "Need my help? How? You''re a goddess¡ªwhat could I possibly have to give to you?" he asked. "We gods can''t overly interfere with our worlds, so we need vessels. I want you to go to my world and help me there," she said. "I understand most of what you''re saying, but I still don''t understand what I''m supposed to help you do," Reo said. "Well, I can''t tell you the details now¡ªthe reasons are also ssified. Just know that you have to uncover the task I have for you." "Now I''m unsure about doing this," Reo said. "No need to be. There would be no point in ying you¡ªI sincerely need your help," she said. Reo thought about all that she had said. There was no point in him refusing. He had already died, and she was giving him a chance to live again with his memories. Though he was skeptical about the whole task thing that she didn''t reveal to him, it wasn''t enough to stop him. "Alright, there''s nothing for me to lose at this point. I''ll do it." "Good. Now I''ll exin something quickly. Your powers in this new world will not be like those of a normal person because right now, you have the ability to make edits to your power. Does that sound good?" she asked. "I just have one question. Can I get a summoner-type power? I watched some anime and read some novels¡ªthe summoning power always got me," Reo said. "I see. Well, if that is what you want, then you will awaken the ability to summon all races except humans," she said. "I understand. Is that all?" Reo asked. "No. Thest part is receiving a legacy because you will need one to survive," she said, and suddenly six cards appeared and floated in front of Reo. "Legacy? What is a legacy?" Reo asked. "A legacy is the inheritance left by a being that has left their world one way or another," she exined. "So I get to pick one of the cards. But what about this nk card?" Reo asked. "That card is mostly part of the procedure in general. I don''t advise it, but I have to put it there. The card is a gamble, where you let fate decide the legacy you will get. Right now, all the legacies that I haveid before you are A-ranked, but with that nk card, you could pull an F-rank or S-rank," she said. Reo understood the risk that he was taking, but for some reason, the card kept calling out to him. He looked at the goddess and spoke, "I''ll take the nk one. I know the risk, but still." She saw the resolution on his face and decided not to try to sway him. She let him take the card. Reo stretched out his hand and touched the nk card. [You have gained SSS-Ranked Dark Dragon Legacy] Chapter 2: New born [You have gained SSS Dark Dragon Legacy] The goddess stared in confusion at the screen and announcement. "How is this possible, there had only ever been one other SSS ranked legacy to enter my world." Her voice left the normal calm, and entered a surprised pitch. Rei stood there looking, he felt as though he had just spent a lifetime of luck for this. He understood that there was S rank, and father that woulde SS and then SSS. And after hearing the goddess react, he knew that indeed this was a big deal. But still, he had finally had some good luck, and that made him happy. "I guess I just had good luck." He said. "Putting it like that is an understatement, but let''s leave that for now. You have surprisingly gotten an SSS Ranked legacy. And even thought this legacy is powerful, it will also have a huge drawback. Legacies change the character and though of a person, the stronger the legacy, the more the power of the legacy, the more you change. And from what I know, the dark dragon was a prideful being, and also very selfish. I don''t know how you will be, but his character will definitely influence you. Reo listened to her closely, he understood what she was saying, but there was no point thinking about it much, he had already gotten the legacy. "I understand, so now, is this all?" He asked. "Yes, but onest thing, your legacy will awaken one year after your birth, because your body needs at least some time to get ready." She said. "I understand, so how do I get reborn?" He asked. "Follow me." She said and walked out if the room, he filled her into another room, were a portal was activated there. "This is my personal rebirth gate, gods have it for tikes like this, when they have to personally rebirth a soul." She exined. "So I just walk through?" He asked. "Yes, you walk through and your journey begins." She replied. He walked to the gate and was about to walk in, but the he turned back and looked at her. "I never asked, what is your name?" "My name is Ophelia, pleas remember me." She shed a smile. Reo nodded and walked through the portal, and his souls was transferred to a new world, were he would be reborn to start his mystery task for the goddess Ophelia. _______ ________ The cry of a newborn baby filled the mansion, the lord ran towards the room, expecting his second son, one that would carry his name like the first. As a Duke, he was hailed and respected all through thends. His status was second only to the king. He was also a very powerful mage, and That was a well known fact. His first children, the twins had also carried their fathers blood. They had been bornst year, and seeing how much of prodigies they were, he decided to have a second son as soon as possible. The Duke was a man of average build with jet ck hair, neatly cut and arranged. His demeanor was a calm, yet serious one. He walked to the door of the room and pushed it open. Inside the room were several women helping his wife, and a medical mage as well. The medical mage was a middle aged man with the baby in his hand, a little white haired bundle of joy, the same color as his mother, who was exhausted on the bed. She was very beautiful, a woman that would be considered a world ss beauty on earth. But the air in the room was not one of celebration, it was heavy, and the faces of those that were inside held sadness. "My Lord, your son seems tock your affinity for magic, I am sorry." The medical mage said with a downcast expression. The Duke didn''t react to what was said, he simply looked at the medical mage and told him. "My name will not be sullied, kill the child, he died at birth." The Duke said. Nobody there was slightly shocked by what the Duke said, they knew it woulde to this as soon as the child came out without magical affinity. But the wife of the Duke raised her hand to draw the attention of the Duke. "Please, my husband. He may not be the child you wanted, but he is still our son, we should at least give him a life. Why don''t we give him to a family far away and pay them to take him as their son. We are the cause of his life, we should let him live." The Duke thought about what she said, he gave out a sigh and walked towards the door. "Do as you please, but he should never been regarded as my son." The Duke said and left the room. Reo had been watching the whole thing, he was beyond shocked at what was happening. Day one of reincarnation and he was almost killed and now he was getting kicked out. His mother took him from the hands of the mage, she looked at him with teary eyes, get sadness could not be hidden. Reo felt his chest tighten as she looked at him. He felt sad, sad that he would have to leave this woman that obviously cared for him. His mother looked at one of the maids and handed Reo to her. "His name is Silva, when you take him to the new family, tell them his name is Silva." The maid took the child, she bowed and left. And that night, she covered herself head to toe and went through the night. Reo, now Silva gazed at the mansion that would have been his home, but now was an enemy home. ''Just wait, I''lle back here one day, and I''ll make my father pay dearly. The maid that carried him through the night, going outside the city to a small town via a night time carriage, and giving the child to a new family. Chapter 3: 10x effect A year had passed since Silva was brought to this new home, and so far he had fit in. His father was an adventurer in the town and was quite a good one. His mother was a mage, but she focused solely on healing magic, so people came to her for healing, and she got paid. His father''s name was Leon, and his mum was Sarah. Both of them were good-looking, but they had jet-ck hair, which was a heavy contrast to Silva''s hair. They also had three kids before Silva. The first was their eldest son, who was currently four years old, and the next were the twins, a boy and a girl who were two at the moment. Silva had quietly stayed in this house without causing a fuss. He was like the perfect child, so much so that it caused his mother to worry at times. She didn''t understand how Silva was always calm and barely cried at all. She tried her best to understand Silva, but she came up with nks at every turn, so she decided to take Silva as he was. Silva had waited for a year patiently, awaiting the day that his legacy would awaken. But he wasn''t just sitting around in that time; he had slowly been gathering information about this world and also learning to read and understand thenguage as much as he could. Still, the information that he was able to get was minimal. He only found out that this town was Ribest, a small adventuring town. As for thenguage, he was able to understand when spoken to, but his reading was still basic. That was to be expected, since he didn''t have ess to reading materials. Silva was busy chilling in his crib, counting the minutes and hours as they went by, but then, today would be thest day of doing that. [SSS Ranked Legacy Awakened] [Dark Dragon Legacy fully awakened] [Beginning Synchronization] [Complete] [Congrattions on bing the spawn of the dark dragon] [The ck Dragon Legacy increases all abilities and skills by 10x, Including EXP Gathering rate, SP rate; this effect stacks up after leveling up] **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human(50%) Dark Dragon(50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy(Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic. **Mana:** 10,000 x 10 (100,000) **Exp:** 0/100 **SP:** 100 x 10 (1000) **Level:** 1 **Strength:** 1x10 (10) **Defense:** 1x10 (10) **Speed:** 1x10 (10) **Agility:** 1x10 (10) **Intelligence:** 1x10 (10) **Free stat points:** 4x10 (40) **[Skills]** [-Scale hardening lv1: Cover yourself in dark dragon scales for five minutes, 200% percent increase to defense and strength.] x 10 [-Dragon eyes lv1: See energy forms,sts for five minutes] x 10 **[Magic]** -Abyss Magic: Gate of Hell, sacrifice your blood to open a powerful gate to consume the souls of your enemy. Effect multiplied by ten. Silva took his time to read through everything, and he came to one conclusion, and that was that the dark dragon legacy was overpowered. He didn''t know the exact way power worked here, but the effect of multiplying by ten was something that would change everything. "It seems that I am half dragon, but I can''t use any dragon skills or abilities indefinitely. Even the scale hardening is for five minutes, but with the times ten effect, it willst for fifty minutes; that''s almost an hour." Silva decided to test this skill. He simply thought about it, and then ck scales started covering his body, covering everywhere. Silva was happily admiring his scales, but then the door to the room opened, and he immediately called off the skill. His mother walked in and picked up Silva from his crib. She held him in her arms in a way that said she knew what she was doing. She kissed his forehead and then used healing magic on him; the soft glow soothed Silva. This was sort of her daily routine, ensuring that she treated him daily. Silva didn''t understand how this woman could be so loving to someone that was not her real son. He understood that they were paid to care for him, but he could tell without a doubt that the love they showed was not bought. They cared for him like one of their own, even though he was obviously very different from the rest of the family. All this made Silva happy, and subconsciously, he had begun taking ownership of them; they were his. This was a character effect that came from the legacy, but it was too little for him to notice. He thought it was simply normal feelings and that was all. After she healed him, she took him outside in her arms. She got a chair and ced it at the entrance and sat with him. Their house was a little removed from the main town, so there were few houses around them. His parents had chosen this side because his mother loved the quiet; she wanted to minimize the noise as much as possible. Silva looked at the surroundings that were to be his home from now on, and he started nning on what he would do. His first task would be to be the strongest adventurer in this town. That would lead to some good recognition that would help him gain more things like knowledge and strength. His motherter took him inside. She took a book from her shelf about the way magic worked, but Silva snatched it from her. She tried to get it back, but he refused, so she ced him down and opened the book for him. Silva began to seriously read the book, though his mother thought he was ying, but she let him be. But after that day, Silva would bother her day after day, asking for books with his limited vocabry. The rate at which he consumed the books was outstanding, and his mind stats shot up. After he became three and was a whole lot more fluent, his parents tagged him as a genius because of how well he read and wrote at that age. For Silva, he discovered that even reading like this was giving him EXP. Whenever he conquered a harder subject, he would get EXP, and with the 10x effect, he had steadily risen to level five, with enough stat points to distribute and system points to spend. Chapter 4: fifth birthday Years passed, and Silva was now five. He had grown up to be the perfect anime Isekai protagonist¡ªthe young genius who learned to walk and talk early and was already reading tons of books. His parents, though, didn''t let him out of the house much, and the reason was because he was too unusual¡ªhis abilities and other stuff. Not to mention the fact that he didn''t even look like them with his hair color and all that. All this had slowly made Silva detach from society, but he couldn''t care less; he was happily living his days with the numerous books his dad had bought him. His level had risen by so much, and so had his skills, though he hadn''t used them for much, but the 10x effect was raising him through the levels easily. Currently, his stats looked like this: **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 120000 **Exp:** 200/700 **SP:** 5000 **Level:** 7 **Strength:** 40 **Defense:** 30 **Speed:** 50 **Agility:** 50 **Intelligence:** 60 **Free stat points:** 80 **[Skills]** [-Scale Hardening lv4: Cover yourself in dark dragon scales for five minutes, 200% increase to defense and strength.] x10 [-Dragon Eyes lv4: See energy forms,sts for five minutes] x10 [Speed Comprehension lv2] x10 **[Magic]** -Abyss Magic: Gate of Hell, sacrifice your blood to open a powerful gate to consume the souls of your enemies. Effect multiplied by ten. -Consume: Eat the soul or parts of the soul of any being to gain strength His strength had grown by leaps and bounds, so much so that he was almost as strong as his father, and he was only five. The way he knew that he was that strong was through the Dragon Eyes. When it leveled up to lv4, he was able to see the stats of others. His father was a level 20, specialized in swordsmanship, and had an average stat of 70. He didn''t know if that was impressive or not, but he had seen his father train around the house, and so he knew that his father was quite strong. About the skill "Consume," Silva didn''t know how he got it. He simply woke up one day, and the skill was there, and it looked very dreadful. It looked even more scary after he read the contents: the ability to eat the soul of a being to gain power. That sounded evil and overpowered, but he hade to ept all this because the SSS-Ranked Legacy was the cause. "I think it is time I start getting some action. I''ll never know why she sent me to this world if I don''t get started." Silva left his room, the one that he shared with his brothers. One of his brothers was now nine years old, and the other was six. Though none of them really talked to Silva all that much. The eldest one was engrossed in training and couldn''t make the time for Silva, and the other one was simply being an ass. The reason for that was simply because his twin sister had taken a liking to Silva and doted on him to a very abnormal level. There had been times when Silva had to literally hide to get some alone time. He didn''t hate herpany, but there was always a limit to what he could take. As soon as he stepped out, his sister sprang up from the side and grabbed hold of Silva. "I''ve been waiting for a while now; Mum and Dad have made a birthday breakfast for you," she said in a jolly tone. "Lia, you seem more happy about it than I am," Silva said. "Well, that''s because I''ll get to feed you. I''ll make sure you eat a whole lot. And also, I helped Mum out to make some of the food; I am eager for you to try them out," she said eagerly, pulling him to move. "I can feed myself, there is no need for you to feed me," Silva said. "Not happening; I''ll die of depression if I miss this chance," she retorted. ''What does a six-year-old even know about depression?'' Silva thought. He knew his sister and what she was like, and the fact that she would not allow him to resist until she had her way, so he gave in and walked to the dining room with her. The whole family was seated there waiting for Silva, the table filled with all sorts of food that they would normally not cook. But since it was his fifth birthday, they had to do it. His two brothers, Quin, the eldest, and Mike, the second, were seated as well. When Mike saw Lia pulling Silva like that, a frown formed on his face. Silva noticed the frown; he knew that this issue would escte one day, but he really didn''t care. He didn''t have the parental love he wanted in his past life because of his parents'' jobs. Also, he didn''t have siblings, and as such, was alone. But in this world, he had a sister that loved him so much¡ªso much that it was bordering on what was normal and what was not. Though she wasn''t really his sister even in this world, he hade to ept her and all of them as his family. He just prayed that Mike wouldn''t destroy all that out of anger. Just like she said, Lia fed Silva despite him wanting to refuse. He didn''t understand why, but even though he was ten times as strong as her, for some reason, he couldn''t fight back. The scene made his mother and father smile. Quin didn''t care; he still had his emotionless face, but Mike was seething and trying to hide it with food. After they ate the birthday breakfast, Lia and her mum took the dishes away while the boys remained at the table with their father. "So now that you are five, what do you want to do? It is at this time that most people start choosing paths that will fit them," his father asked him. Silva thought for a moment, then answered him. Chapter 5: Mikes Hate "I''d like to try out my options, Father, in magic, swordsmanship, and other things. So for now, I''ll just see what I can do in all aspects, and the one that suits me will take the cake," Silva said with a little smile. "Smart kid indeed. Alright, your mum is the only one with any amount of magical know-how, and I am the one with the sword. Though I am rtively weak, I can still teach you a bit," his father said. "Dad, you said you are weak. Can you exin to me? Because I think you are strong," Silva said. "That''s a dumb assumption," Quin looked up and said. His father nodded as well and then started exining to Silva. "Listen closely, son. Everyone lives by levels and grows by levels. Our strength, skills, and abilities rise through leveling up. But leveling up is not that easy, especially for usmoners, because we most timesck what is called a legacy." Once Silva heard that word, his attention was fully drawn. He paid full attention to his father. "Nobles, royals, and high-ranked people, most of the time, all have legacies. This legacy may be an inherited one passed down from generation to generation. This legacy normally allows them to level up faster and get stronger faster than normal. But that is not all there is. The second thing that makes them different is that the legacy they receive by inheritance will also mutate based on the person. So a person can receive his legacy, and his own body will change it and make it more powerful. That''s why nobles and royals are already leagues above us. Commoners that manage to awaken a legacy are most of the time taken to academies run by the kingdom to train them. I''ll let you in on a little secret: your sister Lia awakened a legacy. I still can''t tell which it is, but it was verified by the city healer; he has the ability to appraise. She will one day leave us for greener pastures and surely surpass me and your mother by a margin that is veryrge." Silva was shocked to hear that his sister had a legacy; he had never used Dragon Eyes on her, hence he didn''t know. "Legacies also have levels, mostly known from F to A. I hear that you can only find A and B-level legacies in the royal families; C is mostly found in the noble houses. I, your father, don''t have one, and to top it off, all my abilities are average, so I am limited. I have been on level twenty for three years now with no signs of leveling up. It is possible that I may have reached my peak, but I don''t want to ept that fact so easily, so I train and take on quests. But there are many levels beyond that little twenty, far, far many levels. You can make it to level 100, and after that, you can undergo what is called evolution. I don''t know much about it, because I have never met a person that has evolved, so my knowledge is limited," he exined. Silva was shocked. He didn''t expect there would be this level of difference in strength. Looking at it now, his father was weak as hell. But still, his father struggled for the family to get stronger, and he could see that. He watched him train like there was no tomorrow, with little results to show for it. "I''ll do my best, Father. I''ll make sure that I reach the highest height," Silva said. "Stupid," Mike said with a scoff. Quin nced at Silva but said nothing. "Alright, kid, tomorrow your mum will take you to test your magical affinities and other stuff, and maybe you will have a legacy, but don''t get your hopes up," his father said and left the table. Quin got up early, heading to go train, but Mike didn''t move. He looked Silva dead in the eyes. "You think you are better than me because you are smart?" Mike asked. ''How the hell does a six-year-olde to that conclusion? This world is very terrifying,'' Silva thought. "I don''t understand what you mean, brother," Silva yed dumb. "Don''t mess with me!" Mike snapped. ''Sheesh, take a chill pill, bro. Your tantrum will give me a headache. Still, I have to deal with this issue before things escte.'' "I am sorry if I have wronged you, brother Mike, and I beg your forgiveness," Silva said and bowed his head. He sincerely thought this would quell his brother''s anger, even just a little bit. But what happened next was going to drive a rift between them so deep andrge that their very existence would be a threat to each other. Mike stood up from his seat and walked to Silva, who was bowing. "You think your fake apologies will trick me?" Mike asked. He took the only ceramic bowl in the center of the table and smashed it on Silva''s head. Silva was stunned by the sudden events. He had started bleeding from his head. He didn''t know why Mike did that, but a sudden rage filled his heart. He immediately threw a punch, but at thest moment, he held back some of the power, yet still, the punch sent Mike flying through one of the chairs. The noise drew the attention of everyone in the house. They came in to see Mike on the ground, struggling to breathe on a pile of broken chairs. Silva was also on his knees with a bleeding head. Silva knew that if they came in and he was standing, they would not see him as a victim, so he went on his knees and held his head in pain. His father and Quin quickly grabbed Mike from the ground, while his mother and Lia tended to Silva. Lia kept asking Silva if he was alright, with tears gathering in her eyes. Mike saw this scene, though it was blurry, and his hate grew deeper. Chapter 6: Just the beginning Silva''s mum was able to patch up the boys; their wounds were not too bad, but they had to rest for the remainder of the day. Later that night, the two of them were called down to the living room. Their father, mother, Quin, and Lia were there. "I want to understand what led to that situation, and I want the truth from both of you," their father said, his tone serious. Mike had already started shaking; he knew that if the truth were to spill, he would be the one to receive most of the punishment. "I was the cause, Father. I started to tease Brother Mike and took it too far. Something I said made him angry, and he hit me out of rage. And even though I was the cause, I still hit him back after he hit me, rather than just take the punishment for talking too much. I understand that what I did was wrong, and I should not have even retaliated after being the one to wrong him. So I beg you, don''t take your anger out on him. I''ll bear the punishment," Silva spoke up and exined the situation. He had decided that since Mike wanted a war, he would use a method that Mike wouldn''t be able to counter, and that was reverse psychology. Normally, people would y the victim card to get out of situations, but what Silva was doing was ying the criminal card. Even though he did this, he would bebeled as the criminal, though he and the person would know that he wasn''t. That person will, in turn, hate this because the person he hates is now saving his neck. The other thing that wille out of this is another opportunity. If anything should happen around Silva, and it is caused by Mike, or even if Mike was just around when it happens, that bes the perfect time to merge the victim card and the criminal card. Creating a whole new level of trickery, because when they are asked about what happened, Silva would just say that it was because he had hurt Mike all those days back, and Mike had taken his revenge. Then he will plead for them to forgive Mike, and all scores would be settled. At that point, Silva would have won because Mike would face a greater punishment than he was supposed to. His father will see him as an evil child that couldn''t even forgive his brother after so long. That was the whole y, a n that a six-year-old like Mike could not possibly understand. ''It seems having high intelligence stats and past memories makes me some sort of mastermind. I think the legacy had something to do with this as well,'' Silva thought. He didn''t have any hate towards Mike, but his pride had been stung by Mike. He felt like he had tried to make peace with Mike, but Mike shoved it away. When Mike did that, he felt his pride take a hit, and so, he decided to make Mike see how futile it was to fight him. He wanted to make sure Mike knew their difference. When his father heard what Silva said, a frown appeared on his face, but then it disappeared. "Even if you are the one that instigated the whole thing, I will give equal punishment. Mike did not just retaliate; he gave you wounds that could have killed you. I can''t allow that to slide. So starting tomorrow after you check your Magical affinities with your mother, you will both have to split twenty pieces of wood for the next three days," his father gave his verdict. Silva didn''t care about this sort of punishment. To him, it was nothing due to his strength, but he could see the dread etched into Mike''s face. A kid like him splitting twenty pieces of wood every day for three days straight, that was a nightmare in the making. After the whole thing was settled, his father dismissed them. But he made one mistake¡ªhe didn''t ask them to make up with one another. He forgot to read the lines that were clearly showing; these two were not on good terms, and the longer it took to reconcile, the harder it would get. Night came, and it was almost time to go to bed. The boys were all in their room, not speaking to each other at all. Quin was fiddling with a wooden sword, Silva was reading a book, and Mike was just at the side, seething with rage. Even though Silva had saved his neck, he hated it so much, so much that he would have rather told the truth and taken the punishment. The thought of Silva saving him made his heart cry, but it was far toote to fix it now¡ªthe motion had been set. *Knock, knock.* The door opened, and Lia walked in. She walked as though she was in a rush, grabbed hold of Silva, and started pulling him out of the room. "Wa-wait, Lia, what''s going on?" Silva asked. "I can''t allow you to sleep in the same room with the person that tried to kill you," she said. At this point, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Lia. "Lia, they both hurt each other; you shouldn''t just take Silva''s side," Quin said. "You know that''s a lie, Brother Quin. I may not be capable ofplex thoughts, but you know Silva would never cause any trouble. He is always trying to keep to himself, and that''s what I love about him," Lia said, and then looked at her twin. All of them knew the meaning of that look¡ªshe was ming Mike for what happened. Quin didn''t retort after that. He knew as well that it was very difficult for Silva to be the cause of this issue, but since Silva said it was him, what else could he have done? "Fine, take him," Quin said, and she dragged Silva out of the room. Quin looked over at Mike. Mike was about to explode from rage. Quin knew this was just the beginning. Chapter 7: He has a legacy The next day, Silva and his mother headed out to the ce of the medical mage. Though his mother was a healer, the medical mage in the town was the only one capable of casting appraisal. The ce of the medical mage was towards the center of the town, which meant Silva and his mother had to pass through crowded locations. His mother was quite well known due to the fact that she healed people. It wasn''t every time that they could afford the full treatment from the medical mage, and so Sarah would heal most things. As they passed through the town, people constantly greeted her, but not before looking at the child beside her. It was known that they had another son, and that he didn''t look like the family, but now that they looked at him, they understood that it was not just that he didn''t look like them, he waspletely different. If not for the trust they had in Leon and Sarah, they would have certainly said that she was lying about him being their son, or maybe she had cheated on Leon and gave birth to him. Sarah and Silva were not oblivious to the looks they were getting, but they kept moving, and after a while, they finally arrived at the medical mage''s shop. There were already people there carrying out their check-ups and other things. Silva and his mother entered the shop as well and went to the waiting area. They sat down and waited for someone toe and attend to them. Sarah could have just walked into his office and gotten it done, but she would feel bad about getting ahead of people. For a time, she had worked with the mage, the two of them healing together, and they were basically partners. She stopped due to the fact that she had to take care of her ever-growing family. One of the apprentices walked out of the office of the mage; she was a dainty girl, with two pigtails. She looked no more than fourteen. When she saw Sarah, she ran up to her with an eager expression and admiration. You could tell that this girl looked up to Sarah. "Lady Sarah, I''m so d to see you here," she said. "Same, Jh. I wanted to get your boss to use appraisal on my son Silva," Sarah said. Jh looked at the son she was talking about; she blinked for a moment after she saw him. "Hello, kid," she said, starting a conversation with Silva. She pronounced each word clearly so that Silva would understand. "I may be five, but you don''t need to overexert yourself for my understanding," Silva said. The way he spoke shocked Jh; she looked at him closely. "Don''t worry about him, Silva has always been different. He learned how to read before he was two,prehendingplex words. Sometimes I wonder how his mind works; it''s simply crazy," Sarah said with a smile. "I see," Jh said, still ncing at Silva. She didn''t know how to react to what she was hearing, a child reading that early. "Lady Sarah, why are you in the waiting room? You can easily walk in; you are an honorary member of this clinic. I don''t think there is anyone who would object to you cutting," Jh said. "No, there is no need for that," Sarah tried to refuse, but Jh grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the office. Silva followed behind, watching his mother get pulled against her will. When they got into the office, the mage was just finishing a simple check-up on a woman. The woman was just leaving as they entered. The mage was a middle-aged man, but he looked quite well-kept, his beard trimmed properly and his robes neat. When he saw Sarah, he got up from his seat and rushed to her, holding her hands and greeting her. "Lady Sarah, it''s so good to see you here," he said. Silva noticed something about the way the mage greeted his mother, and that was the fact that there was a very heavy longing in the eyes of this man. He could tell that this man most definitely had some sort of feelings for his mother, but they were probably not reciprocated. He could see a deep sadness hidden behind that smile, maybe it was due to his high intelligence or something, but he could see it. "It is good to see you, Luke. Seems you are still well," Sarah responded. Silva also noticed from his mom that she knew about the feelings of this Luke dude. He could tell. "It''s been a year; you barelye this way anymore, and the work has not allowed me to visit," Luke said. "Well, it can''t be avoided. The reason I came here today was to have you check the status of my son," Sarah said. As they spoke, Silva remembered something: his stats were abnormal, even he knew that a child his age should not have this type of stats. He had to hide them, or part of them somehow, but that would mean buying a skill, but the shop only opens after level ten. This would be problematic, but there was really nothing he could do now. He just hoped that his legacy would be hidden, or that the appraisal of this man would not be high enough. Yeah, it shouldn''t, because it could not even tell what sort of legacy that Lia had, so he should be safe in that regard. "Alright kid,e, and I''ll check you," Luke said. Silva walked to him, Luke ced his hand on Silva''s head, and then a light came from his hand. Luke froze after that, he shivered and drew his hand away from Silva. "What happened, Luke?" Sarah asked. "He- he is level seven, a-and his average stat is around forty," Luke said, shocking Sarah and Jh. "That''s not all, he seems to have about two magical affinities or so, one is summoning magic, but I don''t know the rest. Thest thing is that, he- he has a legacy!" Chapter 8: Splitting wood Immediately after saying that, Sarah ran to the door and shut it tight. Her body simply moved on its own. She rushed back to Luke and eagerly began to ask him, "Are you certain about what you saw?" "My appraisal may not be high, but I can say for sure that it is true," Luke confirmed. "How can a kid have stats up to forty? That is like the stats for a normal grown adventurer," Jh said. "It makes sense now. The other day he got into a fight, and when we came, his brother was thrown through a chair," Sarah said. "This is something beyond normal. For a kid to already be level seven, what could he have done to raise his level that much?" Luke asked. "I am not sure, but he started reading since he was one and has been obsessively reading for the past years. Could it be that it was the reading that pushed his level that high?" Sarah asked. "It is notmon, but very possible, and it would make sense. Though his strength doesn''t make sense, maybe it is an effect of his legacy," Luke said. Silva had been watching them as they spoke. He didn''t say anything and waited for them to calm down, and when they did, he spoke. "Would it be troublesome for people to see my stats?" he asked, though he knew the answer already. "Indeed it is. If word of your stats at this age got out, and the fact that you have a legacy, you can kiss your family and life here goodbye. Even your sister, who came here with your mumst year, her information had to be hidden due to her legacy. And her stats were nowhere near yours, so do you get the picture?" Luke asked. "I think I understand it," Silva said. "We have to find a way to hide his stats," Sarah said. "He will need to learn the skill concealment, but that is very hard, just like appraisal. The best thing to do is to get an item that can hide his status from prying eyes," Luke suggested. "I can get the skill. I am certain of it," Silva spoke. Luke wanted to tell him how hard that was, but Silva spoke again. "This town only has one appraisal user, and that''s you. I have several years to try and get the skill before I ever think of leaving this ce. I think for the time being I am safe, so there is no need to worry. I plead with all of you here, Sir Luke and Miss Jh, help me keep my secrets," Silva said and bowed his head. "I don''t know how you did it, Sarah, but this kid is amazing. He keeps surprising me in ways I don''tprehend," Luke said with a smile as he raised Silva''s head up. "Don''t worry, kid, we will protect your secret. After all, your mum helped build this clinic. I owe her more than she knows," Luke said. Silva was relieved after he heard that, but now he had to seek out the skill like he promised. A skill was obtained in ways that no one understood. People just got them, some through training, and others just got it like that. When Silva said that he would get the skill, Sarah and Luke said nothing, but they knew that if he wasn''t born with it, it would be near impossible. The best thing would be for them to get an item for him to conceal. After leaving the clinic, they headed home straight away. His mum rushed to tell his dad about what had happened. Silva, on the other hand, went to the back because today was the day he started his punishment. He looked at the heap of wood and realized that Mike had yet to start his punishment as well. He didn''t care, though, and took the axe that had been prepared for them. It was smaller than normal to fit their child builds. He took the first piece of wood and set it on the tform for him. He took the first swing and cleanly cleaved it in half. "This will be easier than I thought," Silva said before getting the next piece. It took him just under thirty minutes, with a few short breaks. After splitting ten of the twenty-one pieces, he dropped the axe. He wasn''t going to do more than he should, even if he could. He was about to head inside, but he came face to face with Mike. Mike paid him no heed, walked past Silva, but froze when he saw all the wood that had been split. "Who did this for you?" Mike asked. Silva paused and turned around. "I did it myself," Silva said. "Lies! I know when you and mum returned. There is no way that you finished this in that time. You cheated, you cheated your way out of this punishment. Admit it," Mike yelled. ''This six-year-old surely knows how to talk a lot,'' Silva thought as he looked at his brother. "Admit what? I did it myself," Silva said. "You liar!" Mike rushed at Silva with his axe raised, but when he saw Silva smiling, he quickly stopped in his tracks. If his rage had taken over him, he would have injured or killed his brother. That smile was simply Silva telling him that if you do that, I still win. "I''m telling father," Mike resolved that telling was the best solution, so he ran inside after dropping the axe. "This will be an issue. I may have to seriously fight my brother one day, maybe to the death. I don''t want that, but he is being too unreasonable," Silva said. He walked into the house and headed to take a bath; he was quite sweaty. Later that day, Silva saw Mike splitting wood in the back with a face contorted in anger. It seems the n to tell father didn''t go as well as Mike had hoped. Chapter 9: Swordsman Three days had passed, and both boys had sessfully gone through their punishment. Leon, their father, started sword training for Silva and Mike. Quin had already been far ahead when it came to training and was now a rank ten after several years of training. His growth was fastpared to normal people, and his father had high hopes for him. Mike, on the other hand, was a level three, a growth achieved just by growing up. He gathered experience by simply growing, so there was no training behind his level. The same could be said about Silva; he didn''t have any physical training behind his leveling. "Alright, for the next five years of your life, you both will train in the sword. It doesn''t matter if you want to learn magic or anything else; you have to prove yourself with the sword first. If you ever want to learn magic, then in these five years that you will train, show me that you deserve to be heard, that your requests deserve to be considered," their father said. He took two wooden swords and handed them to them. He already knew about Silva''s stats, but he didn''t want to weaken Mike''s spirit, so he kept that information away from the others. It would be a big blow to Mike''s pride if his younger brother was several times stronger than him. He knew he wouldn''t be able to keep this hidden for long because the difference would most likely show during their training, but he hoped that it would push Mike to go further when that happened. "Alright, today you start with practice swings; you have to do it till the sunset, no breaks until dinner," Leon said. Mike wanted toin about how insane the training was, but then he saw Silva already swinging, so he reluctantly started as well. Silva had been reading books for years now, but he was yet to get any action. His skills and magic had been dormant for all this time. He was eager to do something that involvedbat, so he swung his sword without wasting any time. This motion continued for over an hour, and fatigue had started to set in slowly, especially for Mike. Sweat had started trickling down his face, and his face was getting contorted. Silva kept pushing, shing downwards, and with every sh, his movements became smoother and more refined until finally... [Sword Mastery lv1 x10] As soon as that notification came through, his sword movement became ten times better and faster. It was as though he was slicing through air; the sound of his sword cutting the air was crisp and sharp. His father, who had been watching, saw this change, and then he understood how naive he had been. Silva was not in the same league as Mike; his speed of growth was not something Mike would be able to ovee through determination. He just watched Silva transition from a novice to a better swordsman in an hour, while Mike was still struggling to breathe. Still, he decided to let it y out for today and see how it would go, but that was a very bad mistake on his part. Because after over three hours of shing, Silva finally leveled up to level eight, he got extra free stat points added to the ones he had before. So he decided to put all his stat points into his stats today. He had been keeping them because he had not startedbat training yet, but now he had started. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 120000 **Exp:** 0/800 **SP:** 5000 **Level:** 8 **Strength:** 40 **Defense:** 30 **Speed:** 50 **Agility:** 50 **Intelligence:** 60 **Free stat points:** 100 **[Skills]** [-Scale Hardening lv4: Cover yourself in dark dragon scales for five minutes, 200% increase to defense and strength.] x10 [-Dragon Eyes lv4: See energy forms,sts for five minutes.] x10 [-Speed Comprehension lv2] x10 **[Magic]** -Abyss Magic: Gate of Hell, sacrifice your blood to open a powerful gate to consume the souls of your enemies. Effect multiplied by ten. -Consume: Eat the soul or parts of the soul of any being to gain strength. "Let''s assign twenty stat points to all my stats," Silva said. He received a sudden surge of strength as his strength and all stats increased far past the fifty mark. His sword became faster and more refined in that instant; it was like he had been a veteran for quite a while. But it didn''t stop there as his swordsmanship leveled up as well to level 2, and that caused another exponential increase in his skill. His sword became so fast that his father had trouble keeping up, and that was when his father knew that it would not be for the best if these two even spent time rtively close together. "Silva, stop!" He called out. Silva immediately stopped swinging. "Come over here, please," Leon said. "Your sword, it changed multiple times over the period of your training. I don''t know how you did it, but the way you swing is no longer that of a child. And the strength behind your swings sadly surpasses even mine. I think I know the reason for all this, but sadly I can''t tell you yet. Keep your training up and get stronger, and I''ll tell you. But for now, you can''t train with Mike. I''ll arrange for you to start another training; it will be something that matches your level. I feel like if you keep on training with Mike, the difference in abilities will kill his spirit." "I understand, Father. I''ll do my best to train harder," Silva said and left. He knew that the thing he wanted to tell him was about not being their son, but Silva felt like it was too early for such information. It didn''t matter to Silva, though; that information was already with him. He saw everything the day he was born. Chapter 10: Test After that day, Leon took it upon himself to start training Silva in a full course of swordsmanship. But in just a year, Leon could not even keep up in the slightest; Silva had gone beyond what he could handle. So he stopped the lessons and decided to ask a favor from the leader of the adventurer''s guild, who was known to have the highest strength in the town. Today was the day that Silva was going to start his training with the guild master. He would have to pass a test first, and if he proved capable, the guild master would train him. During the past year, Silva did his best to get to level ten, and with his ten times effect, he was able to achieve it before his training began. His stats had basically dwarfed his father''s and everyone else''s in the house. This led to heavy resentment from Mike; it had gone from anger to pure, unfiltered hatred. They never met gazes anymore. Mike threw himself into training, wanting to surpass Silva. He poured his soul into it and copsed on multiple asions. His father exined to him that he was already on a great path and that he should stop the obsession of surpassing Silva. He told him that what he was doing was hurting himself and that he was still not getting where he wanted to be, so he should stop. His father had said that with all good intentions, but all that Mike heard was that he wasn''t as good as Silva and would not be able to surpass him. That pierced his heart and caused him to start pushing harder and harder, not caring how much damage he did to himself. Lia, on the other hand, had grown to like Silva more over the year, and that caused Mike even more pain, watching his twin sister act that way with the person he hated. After getting to level 10, Silva was finally able to ess the shop feature of his system. When he had firste to this world, he thought that everyone was able to use a system like him, but it seemed it wasn''t that way. For other people to see their stats, they needed special items or the appraisal skill. He, on the other hand, had a full system with awesome features. He was certain that this was the work of the goddess. He was yet to check the shop feature, but he would do that after he passed the test with the guild master. "Silva!" His father called from outside. Silva left his room and headed out to meet his father. They both headed towards the adventurer''s guild, which was a full ten minutes'' walk from their house. They arrived at a two-story building with the sign "adventurer''s guild" boldly disyed. Leon walked in, and Silva followed behind. As soon as they entered, some adventurers who were seated there started calling out to Leon in greeting. While some shot Silva some looks that he didn''t understand, he paid them no heed. Leon walked to the counter where the receptionist was. "Is the guild master in?" he asked. The receptionist was a beautifuldy dressed in a green and white uniform for the guild. "Sir Leon, it''s nice to see you. The guild master is upstairs; you can head there," she said with a smile. Leon nodded and headed towards the stairs with Silva. When they got to the second floor, Leon headed straight for a door and knocked on it before opening it. "Leon, it is good to see you!" A huge man called out to Leon as soon as he entered. His body was ripped, and his muscles glistened like they were made of metal. His clothes were barely able to keep from ripping. He was far above six feet tall, and with those muscles, he looked like a giant. Silva used Dragon Eyes, and he was shocked to see the stats of this man. He was a level seventy, with stats over a hundred and fifty. His most impressive stat was his strength. The strength was two hundred, while all other stats were about a hundred and fifty. ''This man is a monster.'' That was the only thought passing through Silva''s head. "It''s good to see you again, guild master," Leon said and bowed his head. "Drop the guild master business. We''ve been friends for a long time now; call me Raze. That''s my name, or have you forgotten?" the guild master asked. "No, I remember, but this is me asking for a favor, so I should at least show some respect," Leon said. "Forget that. So is this the young man that I am to bea¡ª I mean, train?" Raze asked. ''The hell? This man clearly said beat. He wants to beat me up? What the hell have I done to you? We just met,'' Silva yelled in his mind. "Yes, he is the one. His situation is special, like I told you before, which is why the details have to be between me and you," Leon said. "I understand; you don''t need to stress about it. But he has to prove that he is worthy of being my student," Raze said. If this was just a test, Silva was sure that he could stand his ground. After all, his stats had really gone up after he became level ten. He received an increase of two to all stats, and his 10x effect multiplied them to twenty and added them to the original stats. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 150,000 **Exp:** 0/1,000 **SP:** 80,000 **Level:** 10 **Strength:** 80 **Defense:** 70 **Speed:** 90 **Agility:** 90 **Intelligence:** 100 **Free stat points:** 40 He may not be half of Raze, but his strength was enough to pass any test that Raze could throw at him. If he was not able to pass with stats like his, then Raze simply didn''t want him to pass. Chapter 11: Adaptive fighting Raze led them into a small arena at the back of the guild; it was a ce used to settle some disputes and other things. There was a rack of weapons that had seen better days, but no one tended to them as long as they were still a bit functional. "What weapon do you use, kid?" Raze asked. "I use a sword," Silva replied. "Alright, take your pick," Raze said. Silva took a sword from the rack that fit his size and came to face Raze. Raze, on the other hand, took a piece of stick that had been lying on the ground. "I''ll be using this. The rules are simple: you have to survive a minute of me attacking, and after that, you have to attack me andnd a hit in the next minute. If what your father said about you is true, then you should be capable of pulling this off, right? After all, you are stronger than your own father," Raze said. Raze looked at Leon at the side. "Keep count for us; tell us after every ten seconds," Raze said. Leon nodded, he raised his hands, and then brought them down to signify the start. Raze charged from his position like a rocket; he covered the distance between them in less than a second and then swung his stick towards Silva. Silva took a step back as fast as he could and raised his sword, parrying the stick to the side. Even that simple parry put a lot of strain on his body; this was the disparity in strength. He set one of his feet back and nted it into the ground. He managed to get through the first attack; he quickly withdrew a few steps and got ready for the next attack. "That is good, but can you keep it up?" Raze said and charged again. He went in for another sh, but Silva was able to parry that one as well. He continued that way until his father called out the thirty-second mark. As soon as it reached this time, Raze increased his speed and power behind his attacks. He started pushing Silva back with several attacks, but Silva was able to block the attacks. Silva could see a smile forming on Raze''s face whenever he sessfully blocked an attack. It was as though Raze was having fun sparring with Silva. "You''re really something else, kid. When your father told me about you, I, for one, thought that it was exaggerated, but it seems all he said was true," Raze said as he went in for the final attack, using more force than normal. Silva set his de to block, but then the stick suddenly disappeared and appeared at another angle. Silva was shocked by this, but he quickly calmed his mind. He had high intelligence stats and was able to make rational and quick decisions. He spun his body in an unusual way, allowing him to parry the attack. The way he parried the attack was risky, and so it sent a shock up his arms, but it wasn''t something he couldn''t withstand. "That''s one minute," Leon called out. "Thatst move you pulled off there, Silva, was really unconventional. I had wanted tond one hit against you at least. So I used a move that I was sure you wouldn''t be able to dodge, but you still managed to pull it off somehow. The way you twisted your body, that was simply amazing," Raze praised Silva. "I guess now I just have to hit you once," Silva said. "Hmm, after thatst move you did, I can say you passed already, but if you feel like you cannd a hit, then have at it. I will remove the time limit and have you try as much as you can," Raze said. "No, that won''t be necessary. I''llnd a hit in one minute," Silva said. Raze was shocked when Silva said that with so much confidence. He could feel his heart beating faster and his anticipation building for the fight. "Alright, thene at me with all that you have," Raze called out. Silva didn''t waste a moment. He charged forward with his sword at his side, and then he activated dragon eyes. The initial use of dragon eyes was to see the flow of energy. If he used it in this fight, he would be able to predict the motions of Raze. For instance, if Raze were to take a step back, energy would gather in the leg first for the motion. Silva would see that energy motion before the leg moved, and that would give him a split second to make decisions. It may not be much, but hisnding a hit could alle down to just a split second. As he got close, he went in for a conventional thrust to get things going. Silva noticed the energy flowing into the lower abdomen and some parts of the hips. The energy moved in a twirling motion, and so Silva was able to predict that Raze would be twisting his body to the side in order to dodge. Just as he predicted, Raze did indeed shift his body to the side and dodged the attack, but because Silva had a split-second head start, he immediately shed his sword to the side. Raze did not expect Silva to have such reaction time. He used his stick to block the sword, but then Silva added force behind his sh and cut through the stick. Raze took a few steps back, the shock on his face was evident. ''This kid, he is adapting his attacks at reaction speeds that I have never seen before. His first thrust should havepleted the motion even after I dodged, but he quickly halted his sword and went for a sh. I tried to block the sh, but then he added force. It is like he is reacting as fast as I am making my moves. What sort of monster is this kid?'' Chapter 12: Giant Slimes Now that he had managed to break Raze''s stick, Silva was not going to give him a moment to rest. He would press harder andnd his hit. Silva charged in, going for a stab while observing the energy flow of Raze. Raze took a step back and was about to twist his body. Just like before, Silva was ready to move the same way and change the direction of the sword to a sh. But Raze did something that Silva was not expecting in the slightest. Raze''s hands suddenly moved, pping the side of the sword and pushing it in another direction. Silva had been too focused on making the best use of his split second and didn''t notice thest energy flow that Raze used. Raze made ast-minute movement when he saw that Silva would react quickly to him dodging. The best way he could fight against Silva''s reaction speed was to makest-second decisions and act on them without care for what might go wrong. "Your fighting style is indeed a very good one. You maximize your reaction time and use it to your advantage, making split-second decisions that throw your enemy off guard. Tobat your style, I took a risky path that involves me making a move at thest moment, just before you react to my first motion. That means, when you reacted to me dodging and were about to swing your sword, I took the risk of blocking it with my palm. My hand moved forward just before your de changed directions, and that allowed me to block. It is a crazy technique that requires a keen eye and higher speed than your enemy," Raze exined how he blocked the attack. "That''s a lot of calction going into blocking one move," Silva said and charged again. This time, he pushed his speed to the max and went for the legs with a sh. Raze leaped into the air and dodged the attack, but that was what Silva expected. Silva paused the flow of his sword, and then changed direction once more. Raze saw through this; it was not as effective as his former moves. Raze brought one leg down, Silva tried to lift his sword, but it hit the underside of Raze''s foot and went back down. Razended on the sword that was on the ground and sent a kick at Silva. Silva had no other choice but to let go of the sword and block the attack. "You attacked me, I was supposed to attack," Silva said. "Yeah, it slipped my mind since the fight was getting so good, but sadly I think your minute hase to an end," Raze said. Leon nodded to confirm that the sixty seconds were indeed over. "I wasn''t able tond a hit." Silva felt pissed that he couldn''tnd a hit. "Don''t get angry about it, kid. You passed and will be my student. It was never possible for you tond a hit in the first ce. Even with your stats, there was no way that I would allow you tond a hit on me," Raze exined. He patted Silva on the shoulder. "I''ll give my best in training you for the next few years," Raze said with a smile. "I feel like I will have surpassed him strength-wise in the next year, if not less," Silva thought to himself. "The training will start tomorrow. Go home and get some rest; you need it after the test that you just got through," Raze said to Silva. Silva and his dad headed home; they had managed to get the guild master to train Silva. ______ ______ The next day, Silva met with the guild master, and he informed him of what their training would be. "Your abilities don''t really need much in the way of training; you just need some experience, and all your stats will go up ordingly. So on that note, you and I will be heading into the forest to carry out some quests and gather you some much-needed experience. The best way to get better is by actually being in life-and-death battles," Raze exined. Raze took out a few pieces of paper andid them down on the table. "These are quests that I have handpicked myself. I felt that they would match your level of skill and strength. You have to carry out all these quests in the next thirty days. I''ll be there for you for the first three quests to show you the ropes of survival. After that, everything will be in your hands. If you seed, I''ll take it that you passed the first phase of your training," Raze exined. "I understand. I''ll do my best to live up to your expectations," Silva assured. "Alright, so take your pick. What quest will you be taking?" Raze asked. Silva read through the quests that were on the table andnded on one that had to do with exterminating giant Slimes. In all honesty, Silva didn''t need all this training and stuff. His legacy could make him grow as fast as possible. But Silva wanted a solid foundation. He wanted to ensure that he took his time to get what was needed and didn''t rely solely on his legacy. He would train in the basics of the sword and other things, so that when added to the legacy, he would basically be an unstoppable monster with unlimited growth. ______ ______ Silva stood at the entrance of the forest with Raze behind him. Silva was holding a sword that Raze gave to him before they got here. ording to the quest, there was a group of giant Slimes near the outskirts of the forest, and they had been trying to enter civilization. Silva had to head to theirir, or wherever they stayed, and deal with the Slimes. He entered the forest and started searching for a Slime. Finally, he found a giant Slime hopping through the bushes. It was as tall as a full-grown man, translucent blue, and jelly-like. Bobbing up and down as it went Chapter 13: Crazy leveling up Silva didn''t need to use his dragon eyes to spot the slime''s weak point; the core was clearly visible through its translucent, jelly-like body. However, he still decided to use his eyes to check its stats. [Giant Slime] **Level:** 8 **Strength:** 20 **Defense:** 25 **Speed:** 15 **Agility:** 10 **Intelligence:** 5 "Seems I don''t have to worry about anything," Silva muttered after seeing the slime''s stats. He then charged at the slime with a sword he had received from Raze. The slime noticed Silva''s presence and fired a slime bullet at him. Silva dodged the bullet, which struck the ground and melted it around the impact site. "Tsk, that''s a nasty technique. I can''t let that hit me." The slime fired more slime bullets, but Silva easily dodged them and closed the gap, stabbing into the slime and hitting its core. The core shattered, and the slime''s jelly-like body spilled out like water. [You have killed a Giant Slime. 50 Exp, 25 SP] x10 With that kill alone, he had gained 500 Exp. If he killed another slime, he would level up. "It seems I didn''t even need toe with you. You handled that so easily I felt it was pointless," Raze said. "No, I did gain experience from it. I can handle a giant slime faster than I did now because I now have a little understanding of its abilities," Silva responded. "Alright then, you should search for the next one. The more you find, the closer you get to their home," Raze said. ''Hmm, or I could get a skill that allows me to find them easier,'' Silva thought to himself. He had yet to use the shop since acquiring it, so now seemed like a good time to do so. The interface for the shop opened before his eyes, and a long list of skills and spells filled the screen. If he began to search manually, he wouldn''t find what he was looking for in thisrge list, so he tried something different. "System, is it possible to narrow the skills on the list to those that can help you search for enemies?" Ironically, the skill that appeared at the top of the list was called "Search." It cost one thousand SP. [Search Lv1: Seek out a specific target or specific type of target that you have in mind. Skill consumes 1 Mana per second. Effective range: 100 meters] x10 Luckily for Silva, his legacy made it possible to use Search for ten kilometers, and it also reduced the Mana cost by a tenth. Silva decided to wait on buying any more skills; he couldn''t keep Raze waiting. He activated Search with the giant slimes in mind. Immediately, he picked up on their locations, even identifying the ce where they gathered most, which was likely their home. "I have found them, their homes as well," Silva said. "What do you mean by ''found them''?" Raze asked. "I have a search skill, so I was able to find them," Silva said casually. Raze opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. He took a deep breath and finally spoke. "At this point, nothing you do will surprise me, kid," Raze said. Silva didn''t respond and started running toward the closest slime. When he was able to see the slime, he increased his speed and went for the attack. He didn''t want to allow the slime to attack at all. He stabbed the slime, prating its core, and the slime spilled like water. [You have killed a Giant Slime. 50 Exp, 25 SP] x10 [Level up.] [2 free stat points] x10 Raze met up with Silva, not rushing because he was certain Silva could deal with the slimes without his help. In fact, he felt like his presence here was quite pointless, but he had promised to be there for the first three quests Silva took. Silva used Search to locate his next target. He made sure to take out all the slimes that were alone before heading for those in clusters of two or three. Silva charged at one of the three slimes. The other two fired slime bullets at him when they saw him. Silva easily maneuvered through them, but one brushed his shirt and melted it slightly. It seemed his speed wasn''t quite enough, but that was not an issue. He killed the first slime by shing it in half, body and core. He immediately charged at the second slime and killed it the same way. [You have killed a Giant Slime. 50 Exp, 25 SP] x10 [You have killed a Giant Slime. 50 Exp, 25 SP] x10 Thest slime seemed to be smarter than its brethren; it tried to retreat, but it was toote. Silva charged at it and stabbed through its core. [You have killed a Giant Slime. 50 Exp, 25 SP] x10 Silva went around taking out other slimes until only the ones at their home were left. By now, he had leveled up to level 14. He decided that it was the right time to use his stat points. The number of slimes there was over twenty; he had to be stronger to deal with them. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 150,000 **Exp:** 500/4000 **SP:** 100,000 **Level:** 14 **Strength:** 80 **Defense:** 70 **Speed:** 90 **Agility:** 90 **Intelligence:** 100 **Free stat points:** 120 He had umted quite a number of SP and stat points. Silva made a mental note to start getting some new skills and spells from the store. He had a hundred thousand SP, more than enough for a shopping spree. As for the stat points, he decided to add twenty to all stats and leave the remaining twenty for any emergency, bringing his stats to: **Strength:** 100 **Defense:** 90 **Speed:** 110 **Agility:** 110 **Intelligence:** 120 **Free stat points:** 20 It had only been a few days since he met Raze, but his stats were already getting close to Raze''s. Silva was beginning to think there was no point in getting Raze to train him in the first ce. Chapter 14: Rising Hate Silva headed towards the herd of slimes. Raze had offered to help him, but Silva refused his help. He couldn''t let the EXP that he could gain from there be taken away. As soon as he got to the ce, over twenty slimes took notice of him, but before they could do anything, he had already dived into their midst. His speed was too fast for the slimes to react to. Their base speed was around ten, but Silva was already at a hundred, which was ten times their speed. They also had very low intelligence, and because of that, they couldn''t keep up with his movements, even with their three hundred and sixty-degree sight. In less than a minute, over twenty slimes were already killed, and that amounted to 10 thousand EXP, and an additional five thousand SP. He leveled up to level 16, with some EXP left over. Raze looked at the scene in shock. He was capable of pulling off something like this, but he didn''t expect Silva to do it, not in his wildest dreams. "That''s thest of them, is the quest consideredplete now?" Silva asked. "Y-ye-yes, the quest isplete. I didn''t think we would get it done in one day; I believed we would have to return another day to finish off," Raze said. "That would be a waste of time. I want to get through all the quests as fast as possible," Silva said. _______ _______ When they returned to the guild, Raze sat Silva down in his office. He wanted to have a talk with him. "Kid, there is really no point in me training you; your sword skill is already at a high level. Your movements are fluid and fast. You also have your own personal style added to it, with extremely fast reactions. It takes people years to create styles unique to them, but you already did. All you need now is experience to level up more and more. This is something that you can''t get from me. The best I can do is offer you pointers from time to time," Raze exined to Silva. "Then how do I get this experience? I can only take the quests that you give me," Silva said. "I understand, and that is why I''ll be making the first exception, and I''ll be making you an adventurer. That way, you can mix up in real quests, not the quests that I have chosen for you. I had selected those quests for you while keeping safety in mind. But I''vee to realize that the way for you to grow is by going through some difficult situations. I know you are a six-year-old, but I believe you can handle it," Raze exined his offer to Silva. "I want to take the offer, but I believe that you should inform my parents about it first, and if they let me, then I''ll be an adventurer," Silva said. After that, Raze went ahead to tell Silva''s parents about the offer, and after a long discussion, they agreed to it. The word of a child adventurer got out, and it caused an uproar all over the town. Many people tried to find out more about this adventurer, but Silva kept a very low profile for the next few years,pleting quests and leveling up. _______ ________ A few years went by just like that, and Silva celebrated his twelfth birthday. He had grown so much in that time. Twelve years were considered the real starting point of life for any person. It was also the legal age of bing an adventurer, though he had started far younger. All this time, Silva had been growing in strength and skill; that was the only thing he did. The amount of spells and skills now were amazing, and his stats had also reached crazy heights. But he was yet to start searching for the reason why the goddess sent him here, but all that changed after his twelfth birthday when he started having some kind of dreams. The dreams always started with him going to a certain magical academy, and then something of massive chaos happens in the academy. He knew he had to go to that academy to find out what the dreams meant. The academy was called the ckstar Academy. It was in the nearest city to them, ckstar City. It was also the original ce where Silva was born. This was the academy that Lia had been trying to get into. Her legacy hade to be an ice-type legacy, and that made her a very powerful ice mage. She had started receiving training since she was ten, preparing to get into the academy when she turned fourteen. Normally, her training would have cost way too much for her parents, but they had Silva. Silva was now a C-ranked adventurer and was making tons of money after every quest, and he was able to pay for her training. This action further increased how much Lia loved him, and how much Mike hated him. The gap between them was so evident that even his parents knew about it but could do nothing about it. Quin, on the other hand, didn''t care about all that was happening. He had be an adventurer and had also risen to the rank of C. He trained hard and became a very skilled swordsman, well-known throughout the town. Most of the time, the people of the town referred to Quin and Silva as the shining brothers. Lia, on the other hand, was referred to as the rising star. As for Mike, it was as though he failed at the game of life. Even though he trained and was getting better, he was still far outshined by his siblings, especially Silva. No matter what he did and how he trained, he was alwayspared to his brothers, and his own aplishments always fell short of theirs, and not by a friendly margin. This had slowly thrown his soul into despair, and all that hate was getting channeled at Silva. Chapter 15: Labyrinth Silva headed to the adventurer''s guild early in the morning. He was very close to reaching level 25, and he wanted to finally level up. Though the quests he could receive were limited to C rank, if he wanted to get to B rank, he had to do something worthy of recognition by the lord of the town or a higher authority. But Silva had dodged that recognition for years now. He didn''t want to get involved in political issues at this stage of his life. Though he might be able to get better quests and grow stronger faster, it wasn''t worth the stress that came with politics. Silva arrived at the guild and noticed a crowd of adventurers. This was something that wasn''t seen often, so he became curious about what was happening. The crowd was sorge that no one even noticed him when he walked into the guild. The ce was bustling, filled with so much noise that he couldn''t make out what was happening. He looked around and noticed Quin and Mike seated at a table, so he went to meet them. "Hey guys," Silva greeted. He raised his hand in a slight wave, then drew out the empty seat and sat down. "Good morning, Silva," Quin responded to Silva''s greeting, but Mike outright ignored him. Mike and Quin had not been home for a while. Quin was considered an adult now, and he had a small ce in the main town, which allowed him to carry out his adventuring better. Mike decided to stay with Quin for a while. "What''s happening? This ce is far more crowded than usual," Silva asked. "Abyrinth was discovered in the forest yesterday. It has pulled all the adventurers because they want to get early permits to enter before the big city adventurers start heading this way," Quin exined. Abyrinth was an enigmatic construct withws that differed from those of the normal world. It is a ce that offers tons of resources, but in return for the resources, it gives equal dangers. Labyrinths were considered national treasures, and the ce that finds one will surely get popr and grow faster. "I see, abyrinth should warrant such attention. I have never been to one before. Is there a way I can get a permit to enter?" Silva asked. "With the number of adventurers here at the moment, it would take you all day to get one. You could use your connection to the guild master as his student to get a permit, but sadly, he was called out of town today concerning thebyrinth," Quin said. "I have to find a solution; it would be bad if I missed the first entry," Silva said. "Well, you can join my party. I know you move solo, but this time you have topromise if you want to enter thebyrinth early. I managed to get a party permit, and it allows one more member," Quin offered. "We don''t need his help, Quin!" Mike said in anger, standing up from his seat. "Mike, sit down. This is not the time or ce for your feud with Silva. Don''t let your hate cloud your senses; Silva is stronger than both of usbined. Added to that, he is very reasonable. Even if he gets most of the kills, I''m pretty sure he will let us have a very decent share. In my book, that is a good bargain, so put away all your issues and work with him, or you can sit out of the party. You understand that I don''t work based on rtionships, but rather effectiveness, and on that note, Silva is far more effective than you," Quin said. Every word that Quin said was like a dagger, prating the soul of Mike. They were all true, but it didn''t make it any easier to stomach. "You guys don''t have to worry about the sharing; everything will be equal amongst all party members. I, for one, mostly want the experience thates with thebyrinth raid," Silva said. "Bullshit!" Mike said, but Silva and Quin ignored him. They waited a bit for the rest of the party to arrive. The party was made up of two other men and onedy. She was just about sixteen and used dual daggers. Silva used dragon eyes on all of them; their base stats ranged from fifty to seventy. It had been a long time since he had stats around that amount; his current stats were double that. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 300,000 **Exp:** 10,000/14,000 **SP:** 50,000 **Level:** 24 **Strength:** 160 **Defense:** 140 **Speed:** 180 **Agility:** 180 **Intelligence:** 200 **Free stat points:** 500 Currently, he stood as the strongest person in this town, though he had bought the conceal skill and hid his real stats. The stats he let show were under those of Raze, the guild master, and a few other veteran B-rank adventurers. Silva didn''t want the tag "strongest," because it would attract unwanted issues. Finding a safe point was the way to go. That didn''t mean he would take it easy on anyone who crossed his path; his pride as a dark dragon would not allow that. Quin told the party that Silva would be joining them. Their excitement when they heard that could not be hidden; after all, he was known throughout the town. "My name is Rock; I act as the tanker of this party," the bigger guy spoke first. The second guy spoke up and introduced himself as well. "My name is Roy; I specialize in magic." The girl refused to introduce herself. Silva didn''t know why; he hadn''t met her before, but she outright refused to look him in the eye. Since she was not going to reveal her name, Quin decided to introduce her. "She is Roxy; she specializes in sneak attacks and assassinations." After introductions were done, it was time to head to thebyrinth to start their raid. Chapter 16: Goblins When they arrived at thebyrinth, they met a massive crowd standing in front of therge door. Many people still wondered how such a thing could just appear out of nowhere. The door was connected to a mountain and was said to lead downwards into the mountain. This particrbyrinth was found when someone identally blew up the mountain, revealing the door. "We should head to the front; it seems a few people have already entered as well," Quin said and led the team to the front of thebyrinth. There were quite a few guards from the town and seemingly from ckstar City as well. When they saw Quin''s team, they halted them and asked for their permit. "Do you have a permit to get into thebyrinth?" the man asked. He was one of the guards from the city, not the town. "We do," Quin said and took out his storage pouch to remove the permit. He handed the permit to the man. The man looked through it; it was a party permit for six people. He looked at the team and then spotted Mike and Silva. He decided to ignore Mike since he seemed older, but he focused on Silva. "Isn''t it reckless to take a kid into abyrinth that was just discovered? Sure, he may be at the eptable age, but that doesn''t mean you can just take him to his death," the guard said with a pissed face. "I made the conscious decision toe here; there is no need for you to worry about me. I may not look like all that much, but I am pretty strong," Silva said. "Tsk, kid, it doesn''t matter what you think, it is careless to do what you want to," the guard said, his tone getting pissed. "Sir, I don''t think you have the right to tell us what to do and what not to do. Everyone in my party is of the eptable age, and if there is anyone qualified to enter thisbyrinth, it would be Silva," Quin said. "You damn brat, do you want me to revoke your permit?" the guard asked. Their discussion had created a scene, and the people around were looking. When the town guards saw the people that the guard was arguing with, they all ran over. They immediately pulled the guard back and bowed their heads to ask for forgiveness. "Sir Quin and Sir Silva, we are deeply sorry for wasting your time. He didn''t know better," a guard said in apology. "Raise your heads, we just want to get in," Quin said and passed them, entering thebyrinth. The guard that had been pulled away snapped at the town''s guards; he didn''t understand why they would juste and pull him like that. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked. "Those two people you were stressing out are Quin and Silva. Both of them are C-ranked adventurers of this town; you can''t just disrespect them," one of the guards exined to him. "What? How can that kid already be C-ranked? He looks twelve," the guard asked. "That''s not all; there is a rumor that he''s already good enough for B-rank, but he refuses to have political connections and so has remained at C-rank. He is the town''s prodigy, the first person to be an adventurer at six in the town." The guard that had been pulled raised his brows in shock. He could remember years ago, a rumor of a kid bing an adventurer spread through the city. Many didn''t take it seriously, but here he was today, and he saw that same person. He now understood why the guards reacted the way they did; such a person was basically a treasure. _____ Inside thebyrinth, it was like a cave, illuminated by some white stones on the ceiling. There was the dripping sound of water hitting the ground at intervals, giving a strange vibe to the ce. The air was also heavy and stationary; there was no movement of wind at all. As they passed through the ce, Silva used his advanced search to check for enemies. He simply searched for living organisms, and in less than three seconds, he found a group of what seemed to be goblins headed their way. "There are a ton of goblins headed this way, about fifteen of them. Their base stats are all around ten to twenty. Their weaponry seems heavily beat up; it shouldn''t be able to take a full hit from yours." Silva gave them all the information they could possibly need. Everyone took out their weapons in response to what he said, but Silva didn''t do that; he simply stood and waited. There was something he wanted to try, and that was summoning. He hadn''t done a summoning since he came to this world, and that was his base magic. He wanted to get the feel of summoning; he didn''t need such weak creatures, but for the sake of testing it out, he would do it. The group was happy that they had Silva on their side; his search ability just saved them all the trouble that could havee with those goblins. After a while, the goblins were in sight, brandishing their weapons at the party. "You three handle it. Mike, join them," Quin said and retreated back. Such creatures hardly helped him level up ever since he got to level 20. Silva didn''t know how it was happening, but he knew that Quin had something special about him. Even without a legacy, Quin leveled up very fast; there had to be a reason that only he knew about. The issue was that he had to face tons of stronger monsters if he wanted to grow faster. The four people took the frontline and charged at the iing goblins. The battle began with the mage casting a fireball that exploded on the head of a goblin and killed it. Silva watched as they fought; he approached the battle and snatched one of the goblins like it was nothing. The goblin shook and struggled, but nothing it did was even helping in the slightest. Chapter 17: Poisoned Mind [Do you wish to force a summoner contract?] This feature was an aspect of the summoner contract that Silva could use to force a being to submit and be his summon. But for this summon to work, he needed to dominate the creature and force it. The goblin was very weak, and so Silva was able to use this feature. "Yes, I want to use the forced contract," Silva said. A light shone on the head of the goblin, and it went down, leaving a mark that looked like a four-pointed star and an eye at the center. The mark also faded away after a few seconds. Silva could feel his connection with this goblin, his emotions, and other things as well. Silva could even slightly tell what this goblin was thinking. He could sense the goblin''s hate for Silva, but it could do nothing about it. Silva had an idea since the goblin hated him that much, and so he gave amand. "Whenever you think ill of me, you will choke yourself until you stop thinking about it." Immediately he gave thatmand, the goblin used both hands to choke itself. It began struggling for breath, but its hands refused to stop. The others had dealt with the goblins, and so they watched this horrific scene. They had killed goblins and other monsters, but they never actually put them through something like this. They could see the tears welling up inside the eyes of the goblin, its eyes were bloodshot, and its veins were all popping. Silva looked at the goblin with a nk, expressionless face, waiting for the goblin to find its way out. The goblin was about to pass out, but then its hands left its neck, and it was able to breathe. It seemed it had finally let go of its hate for Silva. But that was too early an assumption, as the goblin grabbed its neck a few secondster. "It seems you still hate me. I tried to believe that you were capable of forgiveness, but it seems you can''t, so I''ll end you now," Silva said. He walked to the goblin and plunged his sword through the heart of the goblin. He didn''t even flinch as blood sprayed on his face. The others looked at Silva with some fear in their eyes. Silva had killed that goblin without the slightest care after torturing it. Thew of thebyrinths was that when something died in thebyrinth, it would be transformed into certain materials known as drops. The mostmon of them are crystals; the monsters and things killed here normally turn into crystals that can be sold for a good buck. Many people have also died inbyrinths, but there was no corpse, no body part to remember them by. Most of the time, their funeral is held by burying the crystal or whatever drop came after they died. Still, this didn''t stop anyone from exploringbyrinths; humans still seek out the treasures thaty in the depths of those hellishbyrinths. The goblins that they killed transformed into crystals, and Quin took them and put them into his storage. "We should head deeper; we have wasted a bit of time here," Quin said. "Sorry about that, I was the cause. I just wanted to test my summoning magic," Silva said and walked up to them. "Summoning magic?" Quin asked in shock. "Oh, it seems Mum and Dad never told you about it. My main magical ability is summoning. I have not been able to train it for years since I focused on training and quests. I just decided that today would be a good day to start, and so I used it on the goblin. It was choking itself because of themand I gave it. Bound by the summoning pact, he is unable to defy me unless he possesses greater strength than mine," Silva exined. "I see, but Silva, you said that you have never practiced this summoning magic before, right?" Quin asked. "Yes, today was the first day," Silva responded. "Sigh, is there no end to your abilities, Silva?" Quin asked. "Hehe, I just got lucky, that''s all," Silva responded. Quin knew his brother all too well and how he downyed his abilities. In fact, something told Quin that he was yet to know the true depths of Silva''s power. Honestly, that feeling was true; Silva had never for once used the numerous dark dragon abilities and skills he had gathered over the years. Neither had he shown some of his sword skills that were level 7 and above. He had reached level 10 mastery in basic swordsmanship and was about to evolve the skill. This, among many more, were the unfathomable growths that he had over the years. The party headed deeper into thebyrinth, and soon they were met with two choices: a path to the left and a path to the right. "We should take the left; I used Search, and there was a ton of goblins on the left, even a few hobgoblins of good strength," Silva said. "What the hell are you saying, you brat? If the left has more monsters, then we should go right," Mike barked at him. "Mike, what the hell do you think we are here for? To enjoy our walk through thebyrinth? We are here to get stronger, gather experience, and gather resources. The only way we can do that is if we head to the ces that are more risky because that''s where all the good things are," Silva exined. "Bullshit, you just want to get us killed, you little bastard," Mike yelled. Roxy came and stood beside Mike. She folded her arms and spoke. "I agree with Mike. We can''t just head into danger because your lust for battle is very high. Are you even human? How can you want to take us to our deaths like that?" she spoke with a pissed-off look on her face. It was at this point that Silva understood why she refused to greet him when they met. Her mind had been poisoned, poisoned by Mike, against him. Chapter 18: Better Flow Now that he knew what was going on, an evil plot set in Silva''s heart. See, there was one thing he didn''t like, and that was the fact that over the years, Mike had used other people in the feud. Mike would always aim to use people to attack Silva, but Silva always turned it back on him. Silva had made it sort of an oath that whenever Mike used someone against him, he would use that same person to hit Mike hard. Right now, he was pissed because this girl had nothing to do with them, yet Mike had gone ahead to tarnish his name to her. Now she was hating him for no particr reason. His pride stood in the way of letting this go, and so he would have to take care of this. "I stand with Silva on this one," Rock said. "I don''t think he wants us dead. Rather, he wants us to get the best out of thisbyrinth, he wants us to gain more resources." "I''m also with Silva on this one. I''d rather go to the left and fight to better my abilities," Roy agreed. "Then the majority has it, let''s head left," Quin said and went into the left cave. Mike was pissed at this decision. He wanted tosh out, but he couldn''t, so he reluctantly followed into the left path. It didn''t take up to a minute since they started the path, goblins charged their way, holding their rusted-out weapons. Silva took out his sword; he took his stance beside Quin. "I''ll back you up, Quin," Silva said. Quin nodded and charged ahead with Silva right behind him. "Roy, provide general cover for us," Quin yelled. "The rest of you, hold the midline and protect Roy." The goblins moved to surround Quin and get to his back, but Silva intercepted them. A goblin leaped into the air and came down with a sh; Silva sidestepped and dodged it. He kicked the goblin in the abdomen and sent it flying into a wall, killing it. [You have killed a goblin, 50 Exp, 25 Sp]x10 Silva didn''t want noise during his fight, so he immediately turned off his notifications. Another goblin came from behind Silva, trying to attack his blind spot. The de was about to hit Silva, but Silva vanished and appeared behind the goblin. He stabbed the goblin through the chest; the goblin let out a horrendous cry and fell down dead. Three goblins charged at Silva from the front. Silva pulled out his sword from the dead goblin, took one step forward with the other leg nted at the back, and then he shed. The sword cut through the three goblins like a hot knife through butter; their bodies flew in halves. As he fought, one slipped past him and was about to get to Quin. Silva saw this and immediately activated sh Step. sh Step was a skill that increased his base speed by ten, but Silva''s skills were all multiplied by ten, which meant he could go a hundred times faster than normal. In a sh, the goblin that was almost in Quin''s blind spot was pulverized into a mist of blood. When Silva stopped running, there was not a single drop of blood on him, as that speed didn''t allow the blood to rest on his body. __________ ___________ Quin saw what Silva did. He was happy and a bit jealous. He would have been able to take care of the goblin, but Silva kept to his word that he would watch his back. Three goblins tried to attack Quin as he was distracted, but a huge fireballnded in front of them and sent them flying. Quin looked back and gave Roy a thumbs up. He faced forward; the three goblins were just burnt, but they could still very much fight, and so they charged at Quin again. Quin held his sword with a double grip, then took a step back and thrust forward. A single thrust looked like three and pierced the three goblins. ''Seems like brother Quin has some pretty good skills in his arsenal as well,'' Silva thought. Quin dashed forward. The goblin panicked as it saw Quin. It swung its des carelessly; Quin dodged to the side and then shed, cutting the goblin in two. He spun around as soon as he cut through the goblin and threw his sword. The sword prated the head of an archer goblin that was behind him and about to shoot. He drew the sword out and looked around. There were still quite a few goblins around, but they had be cautious, or in better terms, they were scared. "If you won''te to me, I''lle to you," Quin said and dashed at a small group of three goblins. They quickly held their swords up to fight. But the fear in their eyes could not be hidden. Quin smiled when he saw that fear. He drove his sword and used the same skill as before, killing three of them in what looked like a single thrust. Silva had been watching Quin fight even as he fought; he saw when Quin smiled. Quin hardly ever smiled, no matter what; he tried to keep a calm expression at all times. But just some seconds ago, Silva saw it¡ªhe saw his brother smile. ''So that''s what gets you happy¡ªthe thrill of battle, the joy of winning,'' Silva thought to himself. "What was the point of his asking us to protect Roy if none of the goblins even got through?" Rock said with a sour expression. "If this keeps up, we will not be able to gather any experience. The captain normally allows us to work as a team, and we all grow. Now that Silva is here, he is working with him rather than us. It pisses me off," Roxy said. "You can''t deny it; they have a better flow than when we are with the captain," Rock said. Chapter 19: Hob Goblin Quin pulled his sword out of the head of thest goblin, but he knew the battle was not over. He could sense the hobgoblins not too far away. He turned around and looked at the party. "You were able to reserve your strength in this fight, and that''s a good thing. But now, there are several hobgoblins headed our way, so you have to fight," Quin said. "Seven, there are seven hobgoblins, and their base strength is fifty to seventy. But there is one with stats in the eighties. I''ll handle that one personally," Silva informed them. "Silva is taking out the strongest; that leaves us with six. I''ll be handling two at a time. You four have to find a way to win or at least hold off the other five. Each of you has to take one on and hold it off until we are done or until you can kill it," Quinid out the n. With the n in motion, they headed towards the hobgoblins, and the goblins headed to them as well. Finally, they met with the over ten-feet-tall goblins, holding massive weapons. Their muscles tightened, their veins popped, and they stood like mountains, like giants about to crush puny insects. "Silva, now!" Quin ordered. Silva charged like a bullet. He was so fast that the goblins swung down to hit him but couldn''t get him. He easily dodged them and got to the goblin at the back, the strongest one. The hobgoblins saw that he was going after their leader. They tried to give chase, but Quin and the rest started their assault, forcing the goblins to concentrate on their own issues. Silva stood before the leader with a smile on his face. It had been a while since he faced something with reasonably high stats, and he was eager to y with this goblin. "Alright, I won''t use too many skills, just the bare minimum. I want to be able to savor this fight," Silva said to himself. The leader got pissed at Silva''s nonchnt attitude. He swung his sword down, wanting to crush Silva. The sword cut through Silva cleanly and hit the ground, digging a deep hole and raising dust. But the goblin didn''t feel like he had hit something; it was as though the sword passed through air. When he looked again, he saw the afterimage that he had cut fade away. In panic, he looked around for Silva but could not find him. Then suddenly, from above, he felt a chill. He looked up and saw Silvaing down. The goblin instinctively used his sword to block. Silva shed down, and both swords collided with a loud bang. The leader was forced several steps back before he found his footing. He looked up and saw Silva standing there with a smile. The look on Silva''s face pissed him off to no end. He could tell Silva was mocking him, a great goblin warrior. He wanted to rip that look off Silva''s face; he wanted to stomp all over his corpse. "ROARRRRRRRRR!!!!" He roared in anger, charging forward like a bullet, his every step leaving prints in the solid ground. "Now you''re talking," Silva said. He charged at the goblin to meet it halfway. He swung his sword, but the goblin parried it, sending Silva''s arm up with his sword. The goblin looked up at Silva''s face. He wanted to see the despair that would form as hended the final attack, but when he looked up, he saw Silva smiling. A chill ran through his body. Why was Silva smiling? It was clear that he had the upper hand and would end things now, but he wasn''t sure anymore. He felt like if he made the next move and shed down at Silva, he would be the one to die. This feeling overpowered all other thoughts in his mind. His body moved on its own, and he leaped back a couple of meters. When he stopped, he looked at Silva again and saw Silva frowning. At that point, he knew that Silva was baiting him in. That frown meant that he had just escaped a deadly trap, one that could have imed his life. "Why did you retreat? Is that how a goblin warrior acts? You have seriously pissed me off now," Silva said in anger. He kicked off like a bullet. The goblin took a stance to block Silva, but Silva disappeared. "You think you can block me? I told you I''m pissed off right now," Silva said behind the goblin. The goblin jumped in pure fright. He tried to get away, but Silva didn''t let him. Silva was not holding a sword. His hands were covered in ck glistening scales, with inch-long ws that looked like they were made of metal. The goblin trembled as he saw this. He looked at Silva''s eyes¡ªthey glowed red and gave off a threatening aura that suffocated him. Silva dug his hand into the stomach of the goblin, deep inside until his forearm was buried in the goblin. "I''ll show you what pissing me off causes," Silva said and activated the spell, Consume. The soul of the leader started getting pulled into Silva. The process was not simple at all. It caused the goblin so much pain that he yelled out his guts. [You have gained 30 EXP] x10 [You have gained 30 EXP] x10 [You have gained 30 EXP] x10 Silva kept getting notifications as he absorbed the soul of the goblin. He had only ever used this once. It gave him a lot of EXP, but he didn''t want to use it much because it caused unimaginable pain and destroyed your soul, so no reincarnation for that being. The body of the goblin fell to the ground lifeless, empty, and hollow. [You have killed a hobgoblin, 100 EXP, 50 SP] x10. "Just a little more before I level up, that''s good," Silva said. He undid his scales and ws and went to meet the others. Chapter 20: Chimera Silva recognized that he needed stronger opponents because even with his legacy and the ten times buff, fighting weak opponents was not helping him. The party managed to take down all the job goblins, but the others were tired afterward; they had expended so much energy in the fight. Each of the hob goblins was at least their strength, so the Bayless were somewhat evened out. Silva and Quin, on the other hand, didn''t look tired, even after Silva fought the leader and Quin took on two of them. It simply served to show that their strengths were not on the same level. "Alright, we should take a rest here," Quin said, so they camped there for a bit. Roxy decided to whip up something quick. Normally, parties took food pills and preserved foods, but in their party, Quick had a storage pouch. That allowed them to carry a lot of things, so they could even cook during their quests and explorations. She was the one who handled the cooking since the other guys were incapable. Silva saw this as an opportunity to start his n against Mike, so he quickly bought a few skills in cooking. [Purchased beginner cooking skill lv1] [Purchased kitchen skills lv1] "Use as many points as you need and get both to level five," Silva said. The system had a way to allow him to increase his skills to level five using points, but after that, he could only use repeated actions to level them up. But this wasn''t an issue because he had his 10x buff, which would make the cooking skills he had ten times better. After purchasing the skills, he was filled with a ton of knowledge on handling the basics of cooking and the kitchen. If he wanted to level up more than this, he would need practice and research. "This should be enough," Silva said. He got up and walked to Roxy. "Hey, can I help you? You had a very stressful battle, so I''d like to assist you," Silva offered. His offer drew the attention of the others; they didn''t think Silva would know anything about cooking. Mike, on the other hand, had a very bad feeling about this. He could tell that Silva was plotting something, and it was targeted at him. "When did you learn to cook? You should let her be and not ruin what she is doing," Mike said. "To think you would be this uncaring, Mike. She fought the same battles as you and went through the same stress, even more. She is not a frontline fighter, but she still had to fight and win. She must have been under a ton of pressure. It''s a good thing she isn''tpletely burnt out. Yet now you want to ce all the work on her while you sit and do nothing. I do know how to cook. I took my time to learn, but even if I didn''t know how to, I can''t just sit down and watch her," Silva said. His argument was so sound that Mike had noeback; he just kept quiet. "Alright, since Silva seems confident in his skills, would you mind him assisting you, Roxy?" Quin asked. Roxy looked at Silva for a brief moment and shook her head. "I don''t have an issue with that," she responded. Silva started helping her. She was making porridge. He made sure to stand out of her way and only help her. He was so efficient in helping her that all she needed to worry about was the pot on the fire. Whatever she needed, she didn''t have to ask; he already had it prepared and waiting. At one point, she stopped thinking about anything else and just stretched out her hand when she needed something, and he would give her exactly what was needed. Mike watched this while fuming. He knew Silva was up to something. He felt like he was close to understanding, but yet he could not understand. Their intelligence was worlds apart. Quicker than expected, the food was done, and they all ate. Their reactions let Silva and Roxy know that the food tasted great. Silva was happy because his level one wasplete. It may not be enough yet, but he nted the seed, and now he had to water it. This time he would hit Mike so hard that Mike would stop messing with him. After a full meal and rest, the party headed deeper inside thebyrinth. When they went deeper, they saw arge hole with a path leading downwards. "This should be the way to the second floor of thebyrinth. We should take a bit to ensure we are in top condition before we head into that ce," Quin advised. While the others sat around resting, Silva sat at the edge of the hole, staring deep into it. He felt a very subtle energying from it, but he couldn''t say what it was. As they rested, two parties came by. They looked like they weren''t from the town. Both parties stopped when they saw Quin''s party. Both parties consisted of six people, and they were fully armed with swords and staves. They were the perfect image of a party, and they seemed to know that fact, so they moved with pride. Both parties left soon after and headed inside the hole, disappearing. "We should head in as well," Quin said and got up. They went into the hole as well. Roy lit up a me to guide them. The path was slim, and one wrong move would send you to the bottom. They didn''t know the depth, but it was risky no matter how you looked at it. They continued their path for ten minutes and finally made it to the bottom. As soon as theynded, they could hear the sounds of battle. They rushed to the scene of the battle and saw the two parties battling a chimera. "What the hell is wrong with thisbyrinth? How can it switch from goblins to a fucking chimera?" Rock said. Chapter 21: Battling the Chimera The Chimera before them had the head of a tiger and a lion, the body of an eagle, the feet of wolves, and a scorpion''s tail. It ferociously attacked, with each strike sending party members flying. Even with both partiesbined, they were at a heavy disadvantage. Silva looked at this Chimera, and an irresistible urge to fight filled him. He could tell it was strong. He used dragon eyes on it to see its stats, and just as he assumed, it was strong. [Chimera lvl 50] Strength: 150 Defense: 160 Speed: 180 Agility: 180 Intelligence: 140 The lowest stat of this Chimera was its intelligence, and it was still a staggering number. Silva felt his blood boil; he wanted to fight it so badly, he needed to. This would be his first opponent that was around his strength for a long time. He took out his sword and stared at the fight. Quin saw this, shook his head, and spoke. "Can you take it down?" Quin asked. "Definitely," Silva responded, not breaking his gaze. "Alright, then do what you want to," Quin said. He didn''t finish his sentence, but Silva had already disappeared. Silva used sh step from the get-go and arrived at the Chimera in less than half a second. The Chimera noticed the new threat quickly and recognized that it would be in trouble if that person hit him. It retreated, barely escaping Silva''s de. "Whoa, to think you have your own sh step and that crazy reaction time," Silva said with a pleased expression. The parties that had been fighting were shocked to see Silva. Where did hee from? Did he teleport? Silva looked at them and spoke, "You guys are heavily beaten up. You should rest; I''ll take up the fight from here." "Who the hell do you think you are? You want to steal our kill?" one of the party captains yelled at Silva. "What did you just say?" Silva looked over, his eyes glowing. A pressure poured out from his body, so much that even his party felt it and were having issues. The captain who had spoken took the full brunt of it. He fell to the ground with terror in his eyes. Silva faced forward, looking at the Chimera. "Alright, now it''s you and me. We can dance to our hearts'' content. You will be the foe I use to enter the new level, soe at me with all you have, or you''ll die," Silva said. The Chimera didn''t know why, but for some reason, it feltpelled to move first. If it didn''t move, it felt as though it would die. Roarrrrrrrrrrrr! The Chimera charged like a rushing bull. It came in for a two-directional bite, one for the arm and one for the head¡ªthe benefit of two heads. The scorpion tail also came from above, locking in three directions that the attack wouldnd from. Silva smiled. He calcted the trajectory of all three attacks in his head. He stepped to the side slightly to dodge the stinger while cing his sword at his back to parry the lion''s head. He raised one leg and kicked the tiger''s head, escaping all attacks at the same time. He pushed the heads back and took a few steps back. "Your strength is on par with mine. Still, I don''t want to use any skills; I want to fight this out," Silva said and charged at the Chimera. The Chimera swung its paw, and Silva parried to the side. He spun around and shed the back of the leg, sending the Chimera into a world of pain. The Chimera tried to back away, but Silva was already charging at him. It quickly used its stinger,ing at full speed. Silva used his sword to block the full strength of that stinger. BAM. The sword cracked on impact. It didn''t break, but that spider-like crack spread all over it. "I knew I should have bought a better de; this one is shitty," Silvained. This was his current best sword, and the other ones inside his inventory were all worse than this one. He normally overwhelmed his opponents, so he never saw the need for another sword. The Chimera saw the situation with the sword and wanted to attack again. "Corrode." Silva cast a darkness spell. A dark orb shot from his palm to the face of the lion head and started burning the face. The Chimera fell back in pain as it roared and shook its head like crazy. "You thought you could use the opportunity to finish me off? Think again." Silva charged at the Chimera. He leaped into the air and was about to sh down. Unexpectedly, the stinger attacked once again with more force. The stinger shattered the sword as he blocked with it, but it couldn''t get to Silva. Silvanded on the ground. He took a look at his sword that had been shattered down to the handle. "Here, take this." The second captain threw his sword at Silva. Silva caught it and looked at the de. This sword was the best he had held. It was light, sturdy, and extremely sharp. He felt like he could slice through steel easily with this. He looked up at the Chimera that had finally regainedposure. "Alright, let''s try this again," Silva said. He ran towards the Chimera, going head-on for it. The Chimera saw this and attacked with its stinger. Silva could easily handle all this situation with the arsenal of crazy skills and spells he had, but he wanted the thrill of battle, so he refused to use any. He used the sword to parry the stinger, and it worked well. He was amazed by how much his flow increased by just switching his weapon. The stinger dug into the ground beside him. Silva made a quick spin and shed the stinger, cutting it off. The Chimera roared in pain as blood spilled from its tail, but it had to steady itself because Silva was already charging for the closest limb. Chapter 22: Spar The Chimera moved back, but it wasn''t fast enough; Silva''s sword sliced the leg clean off. "This sword basically makes me dominate. Is this what having a good weapon can do? I want something better. I need something better than this," Silva said to himself. The Chimera saw that the situation had turned bad. It needed to get away from Silva. It tried to retreat, but Silva was already in a world of his own. Silva had started making changes to his stats so that he could enjoy the sword to the fullest. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 300,000 **Exp:** 13,000/14,000 **SP:** 80,000 **Level:** 24 **Strength:** 160 **Defense:** 140 **Speed:** 180 **Agility:** 180 **Intelligence:** 200 **Free stat points:** 500 "I should round all my stats up. Let''s see what a jack-of-all-trades stat feels like." Silva added his stat points, making all of his stats stand at 250, and leaving him with 110 stat points. **Strength:** 250 **Defense:** 250 **Speed:** 250 **Agility:** 250 **Intelligence:** 250 **Free stat points:** 110 A powerful surge of power filled his body and made him feel ted. He charged at the retreating Chimera without a care in the world, forgetting that his stats now almost doubled that of the Chimera. He leaped into the air and struck down, his sword splitting the Chimera in two like it was butter. [You have killed a Chimera 500Exp, 250Sp]x10 [Hidden Questplete: y a soulless being, 1000Exp, 10 free stat points]x10 [Level up, 2 free stat points]x10 [Major level up, quarter of a hundred: free skill ticket, 1000Exp, 1000Sp, 10 free stat points. Dragon Roar Lv1]x10 [Level up, 2 free stat points]x10 Silva received several messages after he killed the Chimera. He leveled up twice and was now at level 26. He also got a ton of cool rewards, but all paled inparison to the joy he got from the battle he had just fought. The body of the Chimera slowly disappeared, leaving behind a sword. It was as if thebyrinth heard his cries for a better sword and sent him one. It was a one-edged, ck sword. He picked it up, and the de appeared before him. [Stinger of the Chimera, item type, B-tier sword, upgradeable.] [Special ability: Poison] Silva swung the sword around a few times and was happy with how it felt. He turned to face the others and then realized they had all been staring at him all this time. They all had one question in mind: Was Silva even human? This was the Chimera they had struggled to stand against. When he initially fought the Chimera, it looked like he was struggling, but then, all of a sudden, he split it in two with a smile on his face. "Who are you?" the man who had lent him his sword spoke, walking up to Silva. "My name is Silva. There is nothing special about me," Silva said. "Nothing special? Are you joking? We are a peak C-rank adventurer party from ckstar City. Our strength is no joke, even in the city, yet my party, along with another C-ranked party, could not trouble that thing. Yet you killed it, so easily at that," the man said. ''Sigh, seems I did too much. I was eager to kill that Chimera; I didn''t care if they saw me. Well, I am pretty sure that I can''t stay hidden for long. The task the goddess is showing me has something to do with ckstar City and the academy. I''ll have to go there soon.'' "Don''t worry too much about it. Your team should rest up and continue your exploration. I used Search, and there are no other beings like the Chimera around," Silva said, signaling Quin to get going. He handed the sword back to the man and walked away with his own party. Normally, people would get pissed at you for stealing their prey, but everyone there knew that even if they ganged up on Silva, they would lose. _______ ________ "Have you been hiding your strength all this time, Silva?" Quin asked. "You already knew, didn''t you?" Silva asked as well. "Well, I know you more than you think. I may not have interacted much, but I watched you grow and observed all your actions. You are very good at plotting and always have a n ahead. I know that the reason you told that person your name back there was because you have a reason," Quin said. "You know me quite well, brother. I do have a reason. It''s something to do with the city of cklight," Silva said. ''If my name went around, Mother would know I am still alive, and that her n to keep me alive worked. She named me so that one day she would find me. I still remember that look of love in her eyes and the pain she felt as she let me go.'' As they headed deeper inside, they starteding across goblins and hobgoblins. Silva refrained from any battles of that sort and let the others handle it. They continued that way through the second floor without issues. At breaks, he would help Roxy cook and then clean up. She had be morefortable with him helping. Mike, on the other hand, got pissed at this sight. Whenever he saw Silva helping Roxy, his blood boiled. "Mike, your swordy is dull. It seems your mind is not here. And so, Silva will spar with you. Take out all your anger on him," Quin said as they rested. Mike looked confused for a bit. What was his brother plotting? Quin knew that he was not half as strong as Silva. Why would he suggest this now, to disgrace him? "I know what you''re thinking, but it is not to disgrace you. It is to show you something. If you manage tond one hit on Silva, it means you are capable of going against him. If not, you are to drop this crazy anger that has filled you, forget about Silva, and focus on thebyrinth. Do you understand?" Chapter 23: Existence Mike looked at Silva with a frown. He stood up and drew his sword, getting into a stance, inviting Silva to fight. Silva knew that if he showed Mike any mercy, Mike would take it as disrespect, which would fuel the mes even more. Personally, Silva had no issues with that, but he wanted to respect Quin, who set this duel. He took out a random sword from his inventory and got up. Mike saw the sword Silva was holding and frowned. "Don''t y with me. I know you have a better sword. Am I not worth it?" Mike asked. Silva let out a sigh and took out the Chimera''s stinger, getting into his stance as well. "Alright, fight," Quin began the duel. Mike wasted no time; he charged as fast as he could, going straight for Silva''s head. He shed at Silva with full intent to kill. Silva got pissed at the fact that Mike was trying to kill him. He stepped forward, parried the attack, and grabbed Mike by the cor, throwing him against the wall. The scene shocked everyone; they didn''t expect things to take this turn. "What the hell are you doing, Mike? You went for the kill, filled with killing intent," Silva asked. Mike didn''t say anything; he just got up and charged at Silva again. He went with an upward sh. Silva took a step back, and the sword passed just barely. He then went in with his own sh, so fast that Mike could not react. Silva stopped the sword an inch away from Mike''s neck and then withdrew his sword to take another fighting stance. Mike got far more pissed at the fact that Silva could have won but refused to. He felt a burning rage in his chest. Silva looked at Mike as he fumed, and a thought came to his mind. ''Why did it get this way? What made it so that we can''t be brothers? Quin epted me, Lia did, but Mike refused, and now the rift between us can''t be fixed by an apology. If this goes on like this, Mike and I may never see eye to eye. Still, I have to show him full respect and respond to his hate. Since he wants me to show him my strength, I will.'' All of a sudden, everything seemed to be slow and calm for Silva. He could see the movements of Mike in slow motion. [Sword Skill: Calm Seas has been activated.] Silva activated a skill that he had bought and learned, a sword skill that made the world calm like a sea before the storm. The first phase was the calm, the moment when he would make all the decisions he needed to make, and after that was the storm. The period of calm passed, and the storm came. Silva stepped forward like a mighty wave, and in one downward sh, his sword collided with Mike''s, shattering it and sending Mike flying and mming against the wall, leaving a crack. Mike fell unconscious from the impact before he even reached the ground. Silva looked at Mike lying there and bowed his head. ''It''s not your fault, Mike. You are a very good swordsman and very dedicated, but you kept choosing me to be your enemy. I wish I could tell you, but my life is basically a cheat code. Making me your enemy would make you seem inferior no matter what you do. Still, I am not ready to allow your actions to go. Whatever you bring, I''ll double it and hit you back.'' The group waited for Mike to wake up. After that, they fed him a potion. It belonged to Silva, but he asked that they didn''t tell Mike it was from him. A normal person would be happy to get a potion to heal up, but Mike would take it as spite. After Mike woke up and healed, he didn''t utter another word until it was time for them to get going. He didn''t even nce at Silva; he kept his eyes forward. As they went, Silva didn''t know why, but the energy he felt from the first floor was getting stronger and stronger. A whileter, they made it to another giant hole, which they presumed was the path to the third floor. They were all in top condition, so they went in. When they got to the third floor, the pungent smell of blood and rotten corpses filled their noses. The group moved forward quickly and saw the bodies of a party of six on the floor, decaying. "This doesn''t make sense," Quin said, his eyes trembling as he looked at the sight. He had seen dead people before, but the sight was still not pleasant. The others basically had the same look and expression as Quin, with Roxy being the most panicked. Silva, on the other hand, wasn''t shaken. Ever since the dragon legacy awakened, his emotions were kept in check by the legacy. A dragon would not flinch at the sight of death, and so that was subconsciously engraved into him, making him immune to this sort of thing. He walked up to the bodies and bent down. The smell hit him harder down there, but he didn''t care. "Quin, you noticed that they are all rotten to arge degree, right?" Silva asked. "Yeah, that''s why I said it doesn''t make sense. Thebyrinth has been open for just a day or so. If you died, you shouldn''t be this decayed. Aside from that, when you die in thebyrinth, your body is supposed to disappear, but they didn''t disappear and even started decaying," Quin said. "Exactly. I am not sure, but I think they were no longer categorized as living beings before they died. No, that would not make sense. There arebyrinths with undead, and the Chimera I fought didn''t have a soul. The only thing that I think is possible is that their existence was eaten up by something," Silva said. This was the power of a 250 intelligence stat; he was deducing at a crazy speed. "What do you mean their existence was eaten up?" Quin asked. "We are about to find out," Silva said, looking in a certain direction. Chapter 24: Shaman Everyone looked in the direction Silva was looking, and after a while, they started hearing heavy footsteps. Finally, the being showed itself¡ªa cyclops with a glowing red eye. As soon as Silva saw the cyclops, he used Dragon Eyes to look at it, and then he saw it¡ªthe massive energy in the eye. He didn''t know how to put it, but that eye was definitely the cause of the death of the party. "Whatever you guys do, don''t look it in the eye; it will eat up your existence," Silva said as he took his sword and got into his stance. "Quin, I don''t know how to make ns. Make one that will help us kill it without anyone looking at it," Silva asked Quin for help. "Alright, everyone, make sure you are in constant motion. Rock, you take the left arm. No matter what, focus only on the arm. Roy, take the right arm. Mike and Roxy, take the left leg; I''ll take the right. We will leave the upper body to Silva. No matter what happens, try not to look up and focus strictly on the part of the body that was assigned to you, do you understand?" Quin made a n immediately. Silva was shocked at the efficiency of his brother; he made a n like it was nothing. Now that they had a n, Silva charged at the cyclops with the others behind him. With his Dragon Eyes activated, he didn''t need to worry about the eyes; he could look at the cyclops, but the others didn''t have that. That was why he was the best person to take the frontal attack. The stats of this cyclops were a bit higher than the chimera''s, but not by much. The cyclops tried to squash Silva as he was headed its way, but Mike, Roxy, and Quin attacked both legs out of nowhere. Their des dug deeply into the cyclops''s legs and drew a lot of blood. The cyclops was forced to step back. It tried to use its hands to stop its fall, but then Rock used his strength to m into one hand as soon as it touched the ground, while Roy sted the other hand with a fireball. The cyclops fell to the ground. Before it could move, Silva leaped into the air and shed down, splitting the head into two. [You have killed a cyclops, 500 EXP, 250 SP] x10 The body of the cyclops disappeared and left arge crystal. Silva picked it up and put it away. "There are two more headed this way," Silva said. "The normal n will not work for them," Quin said. "No need to worry, I''ll take one out; you guys handle the second one," Silva said. Nobody argued since they knew he could do it. The cyclops came, two of them, and like the first time, they didn''t look it in the eyes. Silva ran to one of the cyclops and then activated something he hadn''t used in a long time¡ªhis abyss magic, Gates of Hell. He took his sword and cut his arm, causing blood to ssh out. A small ck hole appeared and consumed the blood before turning into arge ck gate with a giant skull. The cyclops saw the gate and was filled with fear, but before it could move, the gates opened and a powerful suction force drew out the soul of the cyclops, permanently locking it in the abyss for torture. The only way for the soul to get out was when Silva would use Consume to eat the soul in the abyss for extra EXP. The empty husk, that was the body of the cyclops, fell to the ground and disappeared as well, leaving a crystal. "So removing the soul is not the same as removing the existence. I wonder how the eyes of this cyclops do it," Silva said. He walked to the side and leaned against the wall to watch the others fight. This time, Quin was the one taking the frontal attack, while Roxy and Mike took a leg each. It wasn''t long before they toppled the cyclops, and Quin stabbed the heart. The cyclops disappeared and left a crystal as well. The party managed to get rid of the cyclops without expending much energy, so they immediately headed deeper. As they went deeper, Silva could still feel that energy, and it was getting stronger. It had been a while since they fought goblins, but they soon came across a group of well-armed hobgoblins. These goblins were by far more coordinated and stronger; they used formations to attack, with the swordsmen in the front and the archers at the back. Silva wondered how they got this coordination, and then he noticed a goblin at the far back holding a purple glowing crystal. Goblins evolved in many ways, but the first evolution was to a hobgoblin. After that, there was the goblin warrior, chief, mage, and lots more. But there was one specifically that used groups of goblins to attack and was known for their high intelligence and magic, and those were goblin shamans. From what he had read about goblins, he could guess that this was a goblin shaman. ''It will probably give a good fight,'' Silva thought. He ran and leaped over the entire group of goblins,nding in front of the shaman. The shaman leaped back in a panic and used its crystal to control the goblins to attack Silva, but the party started attacking the goblins, stopping them from focusing on Silva. "Fight me with your own power. I want to see what your magic is capable of," Silva said as he dashed towards the shaman. The shaman stretched its hand out, and an earth wall formed between them. Silva sliced through the wall as soon as it formed, continuing towards the shaman. The shaman started firing earth bullets as it retreated, trying to keep its distance. But Silva closed the distance in mere seconds. Chapter 25: Abyss flames The Shaman panicked and called back all the goblins, whether they were fighting or not. The goblins all had to run towards the Shaman, not caring if they were getting cut down by the party. "You really think your army can stop me? Let me show you how stupid you are," Silva said with a grin, and then he used sh step. The Shaman thought that he had disappeared. Silva stopped right behind the Shaman and slowly stabbed his sword through the back, piercing the heart. "I thought you would put up a good fight. You were pathetic," Silva whispered into his ears. He didn''t stop there; he activated consume. [You have gained 100 Exp] x10 [You have gained 100 Exp] x10 [You have killed a Shaman Goblin, 500 Exp, 250 SP] x10 [You have leveled up, 2 free stat points] x10 He left off the empty shell that was the Shaman''s body. Now that the Shaman was dead, all the goblins started acting individually, making it a bit easier for the party to take them down. After dealing with the goblins, there were a ton of crystals on the ground, including the one the Shaman was holding. Silva picked the crystal up from the ground. [Control Crystal: Control twenty beings of lesser power. This crystal''s effect is multiplied by 10.] His legacy made it possible for him to control two hundred, rather than twenty. Now that they were done, they headed deeper and came to the nextrge hole. "We shouldn''t enter yet; I''ve made an observation and I want to share it," Silva said. All of them sat down to hear what he had to say. "When we entered thisbyrinth, we met with a lot of goblins, and that seemed normal. But when we dropped down to the second floor, things changed¡ªwe suddenly met with a Chimera. The Chimera was not supposed to be there based onmon knowledge. Its strength is way too high. You would expect that immediately after the first floor, maybe we would get to a floor that had a lot of hobgoblins. We would normally expect a slight increase in strength, not a Chimera. And now, the third floor also has things just as strong and in more numbers. It seems the concept of strength changes radically after every floor in thisbyrinth. So, I''m going to assume that we will see something far stronger if we enter the next floor. Also, there is the fact that in thisbyrinth, all paths lead to the hole, like it wants people to go down. There is no real reason behind the information I am sharing; I just want everyone to make sure they keep an eye out. The unexpected can happen here." The group started being more cautious because if Silva was telling them it was dangerous, then for sure it had to be dangerous. If only they had known that the lower floor was not just dangerous; it was something else... As soon as theynded on the fourth floor, as they went deeper and reached a certain level, Silva felt the energy he hadn''t been feeling for a while get stronger, and then suddenly his senses tingled. But before he could even make a move, a wall rose through the ground and separated them into two teams. Silva, Mike, and Roxy were on one side, and the others were on the other side. Silva threw a punch to try and st the wall, but the wall absorbed the hit and spread it through the entirebyrinth. Because it spread out, it didn''t do anything to the wall. He tried again, pouring every ounce of strength, but the same thing happened. He would have kept trying if the wall was simply strong, but this one was absorbing all his attacks and spreading them, so there was no way he could punch it down. He tried shing, but the same thing happened. He called out to Quin, but they could not hear each other. Since it hade down to this, they would have to continue on their own. Silva looked at the people he was with; he knew this was about to get stressful. "We can''t reach them, so we are going to have to make our own way. The wall is also noting down at all; it absorbs my attacks like it''s nothing." "Tsk, useless when it counts," Mike said and turned to Roxy. "Let''s go, we don''t need him." Roxy nodded and nced at Silva before following Mike. ''It is not safe to separate, but now that Quin isn''t here, Mike would rather die than listen to me. I should go my own way,'' Silva decided. He waited for them to be gone beyond sight and then went his way. There was a very odd feeling about this floor. He felt like death was looping around, and to answer his questions, when he took his next turn, a group of twenty skeleton undead was gathered. "This ce just throws all things together into abyrinth¡ªgoblins, Chimeras, Cyclops, and now undead." He took out his sword and waited for the skeletons to notice him, and they finally did. They all charged at him as soon as they saw him. "Since no one is here now, I can go all out for now," Silva said. His sword suddenly lit on fire with ck mes. He shed down and fired an arc of ck mes. The mes tore through the entire skeleton army and killed them all at once. His head was filled with notifications of kills, so he turned it off. The move he had just used was darkness magic and abyss magic, a spell that fused the two to create the mes known as mes of the abyss. These mes would burn through everything until that part was cut off, or superior mana was used to suppress it. Still, even after using superior mana, it would still burn slowly until light magic or a very high-end healing spell was used to stop it. Another perk of the me was the fact that it could burn the soul as well. Chapter 26: This Minotaur pissed me off "That was fun, it''s been a while since I let loose," Silva said. He picked up all the crystals that were on the ground and continued his way inside. ROAR! A powerful gust of wind hit Silva as he took his next turn. He looked and saw two chimeras standing and guarding what looked like arge door. "This floor is unpredictable and fun," Silva said before charging at the chimeras. His movements were too fast, and he ran past them, causing the chimeras to explode into a mist of blood. He took their crystals and stored them. He walked to the door and ced his hands on it, adding just a little strength. The doors opened up. It revealed what looked like an arena. There was another gate on the other side, but Silva knew that getting to it was not going to be that easy. Just as he thought, a light appeared at the center, and a minotaur appeared, wielding arge axe. Silva eagerly used dragon eyes on him to see the stats of the minotaur, and what he saw had his blood boiling. The minotaur had stats above 200 and also seemed to have a unique bloodline. "I can''t believe I was sent to fight a child, what was it thinking?" the minotaur spoke. "It can speak? This just keeps getting better," Silva said, his hunger for battle rising. "Kid, leave now, I have no intention of battling you," the minotaur said, but when he looked up, he saw Silva charging at him with crazy speed. Silva had a wide grin on his face. He leaped into the air and came down with a powerful sh. The minotaur used its axe to block. Bam! The sword and axe collided, causing a very loud sound. The minotaur''s arm trembled after blocking that attack, and he looked at Silva with shock. "Such power, how can that small boy produce this much power? Who is this human?" the minotaur thought. Silva didn''t give it any time to recover from the shock. He came in with another sh, more powerful than the first. The minotaur parried the strike, but even then, the force his arm took was great. He took a step back to prepare for Silva''s next attack. Silva kept going with shes left and right, while the minotaur was kept on the defensive. "How is this kid capable of all this? I can''t even counter him. Don''t tell me I''ll have to use that to win," the minotaur was lost in thought about what to do. "You should really activate your bloodline if you want to stand a chance against me," Silva said. "How do you know about that?" the minotaur asked. "Is that important now?" Silva said as he attacked again. He went into a flurry of shes that pushed the minotaur back. All that Silva was doing was pushing the minotaur to use its bloodline. He wanted to see how much stronger the minotaur would be. The minotaur saw that there was no way for him to overpower this kid, so he activated his bloodline. His body burst with a very sinister energy, his eyes glowed red, his muscles tightened, his size increased, and his skin became darker. "I admit that you are strong, kid, but enough ying around," the minotaur said and grabbed Silva by the head, starting to squeeze it. While his head was getting squeezed, Silva used dragon eyes to check the new stats of the minotaur and see how much they changed. When he looked at the stats, they had all just barely passed 220, with the highest being strength at 230. When Silva saw this, he became pissed. He used his hands to grab the hand that was holding his head and then transformed his hand into his dragon arms. With this, his power was about 280 to 300. He squeezed the minotaur''s hand and dislocated its bones in a swift motion. The minotaur let go of Silva and cried out in pain. Silva transformed his right hand back to normal and held his sword with it. "You piece of crap, you had a little power-up, and you thought you could disrespect me? You grabbed my head when youcked the power to back yourself up," Silva said. What he was really pissed off about was how useless that unique bloodline was. But in actuality, that bloodline was not useless; some might even say it was overpowered. Small kingdoms would go to war to have a person with such a bloodline, that was how unique it was, just by increasing the person''s stats by a few tens. But Silva didn''t know this, and it pissed him off that the bloodline was that weak. The minotaur looked up in shock. Even with its bloodline, he was unable to do anything. Rather, it seemed the kid had gotten stronger. Initially, Silva had wanted to make this minotaur his first summon, but after this pathetic and disrespectful disy, his interest disappeared. He walked up to the minotaur. The minotaur leaped back in fear, but Silva used sh step and was already behind it. He stabbed it through the heart and killed it. [You have killed a minotaur, 500 Exp, 250 Sp]x10. Rather than a crystal, what dropped this time was a two-handed great axe. Silva took the axe from the ground. [Minotaur''s Rage.] [Special ability: Increases all stats by 50% for ten seconds]x10. Even though the minotaur disappointed him, the drop made him feel better. After killing the minotaur, the other door opened, and Silva walked through. He got into a cave corridor that was oddly quiet, but he didn''t read much into it and continued moving forward. When he was so far away from the door he came from that he could not even see it anymore, he heard a hiss, a very loud one from a distance, and also a very loud shout, a voice he was sure belonged to Roxy, he quickly chatted in that direction. Chapter 27: The Power of the Axe Silva ran at top speed, but he came into contact with an army of undead, and there were several liches at the back as well, with magical crystals. Aside from the army of undead, there was an army of goblins, along with shamans and hobgoblins. "It seems that thebyrinth doesn''t want me helping Roxy; it''s trying to stop me," Silva said. He knew that he didn''t have time to waste, so he decided to add his stat points into his stats. **Strength:** 250 **Defense:** 250 **Speed:** 250 **Agility:** 250 **Intelligence:** 250 **Free stat points:** 210 Through his leveling up, he had managed to amass another good amount. He added twenty to all his stats, pushing them up to 270. **Strength:** 270 **Defense:** 270 **Speed:** 270 **Agility:** 270 **Intelligence:** 270 **Free stat points:** 110 He still added fifty to his intelligence. He needed to think faster so that he could navigate through the enemy, and intelligence also made his use of mana and magic faster and stronger. **Strength:** 270 **Defense:** 270 **Speed:** 270 **Agility:** 270 **Intelligence:** 320 **Free stat points:** 60 He also made sure to keep some free stat points for the sake of an emergency; you never know what may happen. Now that he had done that, it was time to massacre. Using the same method he had used for the Minotaur, he transformed his arm into a dragon arm, covered in dark scales, and then he held his sword in the other hand. He activated his dragon eyes because he wanted to use the energy flow to employ his predictive fighting, which allowed him to be one step ahead of the enemy. Now that he was ready, he charged in without hesitation. He didn''t know why Roxy screamed like that, but he was certain there was danger. If she was with Mike and still screamed that loud, loud enough for him to hear it so far away, then it meant that whatever they faced, Mike was unable to handle the situation. The undead and goblin army also charged at him. He used the abyss me again, and in one powerful sh, he wiped out the frontline fighters. The liches and the shamans immediately fired a barrage of spells at Silva. Silva didn''t dodge; he used his sword and cut through all the attacks before charging forward again. The frontline army proved to be no more than a nuisance, and the shamans and liches weren''t making any sort of difference. "This is taking too long," Silva said. He decided to use magic. He had been purchasing and training with spells that fit him for a while now, but he still liked closebat. That didn''t mean he didn''t know magic; in fact, his magic was on another level, with the abyss mes being on the lower end. "des of darkness," Silva called out, and swords made of darkness started forming and firing at a crazy rate. This spell consumed the opponent from the inside out. The des would keep firing until he ran out of mana, and that was not something that would happen soon, as his mana pool was no joke. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 310,000 His mana pool was over three hundred thousand. When he used a special means to check the mana pool of one of the best mages in this town, it was just over a thousand. That difference was not simply something that could be ovee, no matter how much that mage worked. The dark des continued firing rapidly, taking out the army of goblins, undead, and hobgoblins alike. In less than a minute, the entire army was killed and turned into crystals on the floor. Now it was time to take care of the shamans and liches. He didn''t waste any time. He used the same method and fired dark des at them until they died. He used sh step to gather all the crystals; he still needed the money. Then he ran to find Roxy. He had only heard her scream once, and he was trying to get her position from just that scream. That was a hard thing to do, but he had his ways. He activated his search, keeping Roxy in mind, and the search picked up her signature. He used search again to check for any monsters around, and there were a ton. Strong ones as well; he could sense monsters as strong as the Minotaur, and they were close to Roxy''s location. He had to move fast, or else she might end up dead before he got there. But like he had said before, it seemed as though thebyrinth was trying its best to stop him from getting to her because at the next turn, he met with a Minotaur that appeared out of nowhere. The Minotaur was bigger than the first and held a greater sword. "You are the puny human that killed my brother. I''ll make sure I have your head for this," the Minotaur said. Silva didn''t have more time to waste; he took out Minotaur''s rage. The Minotaur''s eyes widened in shock when he saw the weapon. He could tell that it belonged to his brother. "Give that to me!" he roared and charged at Silva. Silva activated the unique ability, and his stats rose to an unprecedented level. The normal weapon increased stats by 50 percent, but with his 10x buff, it would increase by 500 percent andst for a hundred seconds. His stats basically hit a thousand. He shed down, and the entire path was blown away. A massive chasm was left, and the Minotaur was nowhere to be found, only a crystaly at the side. [You have killed a Minotaur, 500 Exp, 250 Sp] [Level up, 2 free stat points.] His notifications had been on mute for a while now, but they automatically came back on to announce his level up. Silva took the crystal and stored it along with the axe. He started running after that, in search of Roxy. Chapter 28: into the darkness Silva made his way through several monsters, none being able to stop him, and finally, he got to the location where he had sensed Roxy. He saw her lying on the ground unconscious, with a deep gash across her chest. He ran up to her as fast as he could and ced his head against her chest to make sure she was still alive. Though that was pointless as she would have disappeared if she was dead, he still felt the need to do it. Her heart was still beating, so he took out the best healing potion he had and tried to feed it to her, but he couldn''t. He decided to use another approach. He poured the potion into his mouth, then slightly opened her mouth, bringing his head down and interlocking their lips. He projected the potion with force into her mouth and down her throat. He sat back up and cleaned the sides of his mouth while looking at her. In less than a minute, her color returned, and the wound began healing at a visible rate. After ten minutes, the wound had closed up, she coughed up some blood, and her eyes opened. She looked around, and everything was blurry. When it finally cleared up, she saw Silva sitting beside her. She tried to get up, but Silva pushed her back down. "You need to rest and let the potion do its work. You aren''t strong enough yet," Silva said. She did as he said andy down, staring at the cave ceiling. "Thank you, I owe you my life," she said. "No, we are party members. We have to look out for each other even if it is temporary," Silva said. Suddenly, she started crying, tears pouring out of her eyes nonstop. Silva didn''t know how to react to this; he just stared at her with a confused look. "Sob, I disrespected you and was mean to you all this time, sob. I didn''t even know the type of person you are, sob, yet I listened to Mike and thought you were a bad person," Roxy said. "What did Mike tell you about me?" Silva asked. "He said you are maniptive and that you always turned people against him. You even made his twin sister hate him. He said you did your best to make his life a living hell, and that was the reason he decided to stay with Sir Quin," Roxy said. "I see, most of those are true in a way, but there are stories that led to all this. The people he imed I manipted against him were all people he told things to, just like he told you. When they found out the truth, they turned against him. His sister never disliked him, but he was always angry that she spent more time with me, and he started doing stupid things to hurt me. That made his sister angry, driving a rift between them," Silva exined. "Sob, I understand. You aren''t a bad person. I was stupid to listen to him," Roxy said. "No, don''t worry about all that. By the way, where is he?" Silva asked. As soon as she heard that question, her body started trembling, her face contorted with rage and anguish all at the same time. "Take a deep breath, Roxy. Calm down and talk to me," Silva said. She took a breath like he said and calmed her head before talking. "We came here together, and suddenly, a Minotaur appeared and attacked us. I thought we would fight together, but Mike left me to my death and ran away. He used me as a shield to buy time. The Minotaur attacked me, but I was lucky enough not to die. After that, it chased after Mike, who was long gone," Roxy exined. "That fucker. What the hell is wrong with you, Mike!" Silva punched the floor and left arge crack. He immediately used search to locate Mike and found his location. ''There are some things you never do as a man, Mike. Dad taught us better than this. What are you turning into?'' Silva picked Roxy up. She tried to tell him that she could walk on her own, but he insisted on carrying her. He carried her on his back and ran in the direction of Mike. He was pissed because he thought that Mike was simply angry at Silva and would not take that anger out on anyone else, but it seemed Mike was simply an asshole. Silva ran and fought all at the same time, killing all the small fries that were in his way. Roxy was shocked at how all those monsters didn''t even prove to be an issue for Silva. After a while, he finally got to the ce. It was at the hole that led to the city floor, and from mere looking, it was deeper and wider. He saw Mike on the ground covered in blood, and the Minotaur standing there as well. Silva took out the axe again and activated its special ability. "You puny human never learn, right?" the Minotaur asked as he charged at Silva. Silva raised his axe with one hand and brought it down, repeating what he did with the former Minotaur. In that moment, his concentration was taken by the attack, and Roxy closed her eyes to avoid dust and other particles. Because of that, the two of them didn''t notice the wounded Mike sneaking up on them. Mike pushed them with all the strength he could muster into therge hole. Silva and Roxy fell into the hole. Silva looked up and saw Mike smiling like a madman as they fell into the darkness. Chapter 29: The Tiger Silva and Roxy fell separately. If Roxy hit the ground, she would die for sure, so Silva dived in her direction and grabbed her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He dived towards the walls of the hole, took out his axe, and swung it, but the axe bounced off the wall. It was as if there was a force stopping the axe from prating. "You have to be kidding me," Silva said. He had no other choice; he didn''t have any floating or flying ability or skill, so he would have to make do with what he had. "Roxy, close your eyes and don''t open them till we get to the bottom," he said, and then he activated hisplete scales transformation. His entire body was covered in ck scales. They plummeted at a crazy rate. He made sure she was on top and he was below, then he grabbed her tight enough for her not to fall off, but loose enough for her not to take the brunt as well. They mmed into the ground, creating a small crater. It had been a while since Silva felt this type of pain; it was like his entire body was mmed with arge bat. He looked at Roxy and saw that she was alright. "We made it without dying," Silva said and finally let go. He closed his eyes, trying to stabilize himself. That fall was no joke, even for him with such stats and abilities. Silva expected that Roxy would have gotten off him, but instead, she clung to him tightly and refused to let go even after they safelynded. "Roxy, we''re alright now, you can get off," Silva said with his eyes closed. "No, just a little while longer," she said and rested her head on his scale-covered body. Silva refused to undo his scales; he wasn''t sure how he would handle it if the only thing separating them was their clothes. After a few minutes, she finally got up from him and sat down on the floor. Silva also got up, undid his scales, and stood on his feet. He looked up and could barely see the light at the top of the hole. "We really fell a long way," Silva said. "We didn''t fall; Mike pushed us, a-and you saved me," Roxy said while looking down. "I can''t believe I trusted and believed in him. He has tried to kill me twice in one day, and you have gone out of your way twice to save me. I can never repay you for that." "You don''t have to think about repaying me; we''re a party, we should look out for each other." "But we aren''t; you just joined so that you could enter thebyrinth. You have no obligation to help me, yet you did, risking your life at that, even after I was that bad to you," Roxy said and broke into tears again. Silva walked to her side and patted her tofort her. "You''re like a broken record, going on and on about how you did bad to me, but you really didn''t do anything. You just ignored me, that''s not bad," Silva said. "It is, it is! Don''t try to make me look good at all after how I acted," Roxy said. He lifted her chin up and looked her in the eyes. "Roxy, stop crying, you''re ruining your beautiful face, though your crying is kinda cute in its own way," Silva said and shed a smile. Roxy had seen people smile, but for some reason, this smile felt and looked different, like she would never be able to forget it. ''Beautiful? Cute? W-what is h-he saying?'' Her mind became a jumbled-up mess. ''Mike, I wanted to slowly turn Roxy to my side and use her against you, but your stupid ass made all that easy for me. Sure, I went through some trouble, but it all worked out good.'' "Are you two going to continue your little love moment in front of me?" Silva and Roxy heard a deep voice. Two blue eyes lit up, looking in their direction, and then a massive tiger with blue fur and ck stripes walked out of the darkness. It had a domineering figure; its eyes held pride. It was a being that knew its strength and was ready to show it off. ''I didn''t even sense it here all this time, it was able to hide from me,'' Silva thought. He used dragon eyes to check the stats of this being. **Thunder Tiger, Lvl 90** **Strength:** 800 **Defense:** 780 **Speed:** 800 **Agility:** 790 **Intelligence:** 800 Silva was shocked when he saw the stats of this tiger; this was the first time he was seeing stats this high. It finally made sense why he could not sense the tiger. But rather than backing down, he was eager¡ªeager to fight this tiger and turn it into his summon. "Roxy, stand back, and don''t interfere, no matter what. If things turn bad, then run with all you have," Silva gave his instructions and then turned to the tiger. "I want us to make a bet," Silva said. "A bet? Why would I make a bet with a puny human like you?" the tiger asked. "Well, I''ll just tell you. I want us to duel, and if I win, you will be my summon, and if I lose, you can have me for food," Silva said. "Silva, what are you saying?" Roxy tried to stop him, but he gave her a reassuring look. If it was before, he wouldn''t attempt something this silly, but he had leveled up a bit and had also gotten the axe. Yes, the axe was his trump card, and it would allow him to get stronger than the tiger for a hundred seconds. But he couldn''t use that carelessly because the intelligence of this tiger was stupid high. Silva would have to wait for the right moment to outsmart him and use the axe. [**Summoning Mission Update: Subdue the Thunder Tiger**] [**Rewards:** 2000 Exp, 2000 SP, 10 free stat points] [**Penalties:** Death] Chapter 30: First Real Summon This was the first time that he had received a mission of this sort from the system, and he was eager for it. The tiger looked at Silva, saw the confidence and resolution in his eyes, and knew that Silva was not ying around. "Since you seem so confident, I''ll honor your wish and have the bet with you. But remember, your loss means your death," the tiger said. "Ipletely understand. I don''t n to trick you," Silva replied. For this fight, he would have to pull all the stops, magic and skills. Even that would not be enough to win, but he needed to use them as a grand distraction that would all help set the stage for using Minotaur''s Rage. He took out his sword in his right hand and transformed his left hand. He activated Dragon Eyes and sh Step. He got into his stance, his eyes glued on the tiger to watch its energy readings and know what it would do next. Roxy moved out of the way, giving them enough space to fight. The tiger saw that Silva was not moving, and that meant Silva wanted him to make the first move, so he did. The fur of the tiger crackled with lightning, and then all the lightning channeled to the front of his mouth, and it fired a massive bolt of lightning at Silva. But immediately as the lightning was leaving the mouth, Silva had already moved out of the way. He used sh Step to be fast enough, and he had already read the attack before it happened. Now that he had dodged that, he had an opening before the tiger would finish shooting out the lightning, so he took it and charged at the tiger. The tiger saw what Silva was doing, his eyes followed Silva, and then he lifted his paw and mmed it into the ground, causing the ground to explode from the impact. The force blew Silva away, mming him into the walls. Silva fell to the ground, but he leaped out of the way as anotherrge bolt of lightning struck where he had just been and tore up the ground. "Your senses and reaction are good, but they won''t be able to defeat me for sure," the tiger spoke with confidence, and that was the truth. Silva had been unable to even get close to this tiger, and the tiger had barely moved. This was the difference between them. "So this is what others feel when they fight me, I see," Silva said to himself, but he was not troubled; rather, he was eager to continue. "I guess I have to try my best and go all out." He used the Darkness de spell and began to fire dark des rapidly. The tiger let out a horrific roar that destroyed all the des, but even after that, the des kepting, so he roared once again. This process went on five times. By this time, the tiger was convinced that if he didn''t take out Silva, he might as well continue using this spell. He hadn''t seen a human use such a powerful spell and not run out of mana. "I admit you have caught my interest, at the very least, but now I''ll take you seriously." The tiger charged at Silva, faster than Silva could even react to. The body of the tiger was covered in lightning as it moved, and it covered the distance in a sh. Silva was unable to read the energy flow because it was very fast, faster than he could react to. The tiger raised his paws and mmed Silva with 800 worth of strength. Several bones in Silva''s body shattered from the impact, his skin tore up, and blood spattered all around. His body mmed against the wall and fell like rags to the ground, his blood pouring out from all angles. The tiger walked to his side and was about to finish Silva, but he felt something was wrong, and he was right because as he raised his paw, Silva vanished. Silva appeared behind him, holding the Minotaur''s Rage, his stats well over one thousand, and using sh Step at the same time. What had happened was actually very simple. Silva was a dragon and one with a very powerful constitution. Regeneration was child''s y for the power of his legacy. As soon as he was hit by that paw, his body had already started healing up. But Silva was a darkness mage, and darkness was used for illusions as well. Using his illusion spell, he made it seem that he took the attack and was totally brutalized. He used this to bait the tiger, and when the tiger was close tonding the finishing hit, he activated the special ability of the axe. With a massive increase in his stats, and with sh Step, he was able to move faster than the tiger could notice, and that allowed him to get behind the tiger. ___ ___ The tiger felt dread as he saw that axe head for his head. He knew that even if he took this hit and survived, the damage would be beyond his imagination. "I yield," the tiger said quickly. Silva stopped his attack andnded on the ground. "I never thought that I would meet a human your age capable of this feat. I am utterly defeated," the tiger said. "You could have put up a greater fight, but you underestimated me during the fight. You didn''t think I was capable of such tricks," Silva said. "No, I believe that even if I took you seriously all through, I have this feeling that I would still have lost to you," the tiger said. He stepped forward and bowed his head to Silva. "You have won our bet. I''ll be your summon and live for you," the tiger said. Silva nodded and activated the summoning ritual to make his first real summon. A magical circle lit up under Silva and the tiger. After a while, the light died and the ritual was done. The mark appeared on the forehead of the tiger and then disappeared. [Missionplete] Chapter 31: Not your brother [Missionplete] [You have gained 2000 Exp, 2000 SP, 10 free stat points] x10 [You have leveled up, 2 free stat points] [You have gained a summon, would you like to name him?] "Huh, you don''t have a name?" Silva asked. "No, beasts can only get a name from a beast above them. I have been here all my life, so there was no one to name me," the tiger said. "Alright, then I''ll name you. Ugh, Thunder¡ªno, that sounds dumb. Alright, Fang, does that work for you?" Silva asked. "That''s a nice name, Master." [Your summon is now named Fang] [Your legacy 10x buff will apply to your summon as well] Thisst notification shocked Silva. He didn''t expect that his buff would be passed on; this basically meant Fang was ten times stronger. Fang also felt the massive increase in his power and looked at Silva in confusion. "Don''t worry, it is just the buff that my legacy gives," Silva exined. ''I want to explore deeper into thisbyrinth. I feel there is more to this ce, but for now, I have to go back and take Roxy back. There is also the matter of Mike. He crossed the line, and this time I''m surely going to make him pay. "Roxy, you cane out now, I have handled the situation," Silva said. Roxy came out of where she hid and stood behind Silva. She stared at Fang, still apprehensive about the tiger. "Alright, Roxy, this is Fang, my summon," Silva said. "Summon?" she asked. "I''ll exinter. We should leave now and meet with the others," Silva said. Fang lowered himself for Silva to climb up. Silva climbed and assisted Roxy in climbing. "Alright, take us up, Fang." Fang used the path in the hole and started running up. He was very fast, so they made it out of the hole in less than five minutes. When they got out, Silva immediately used search to find the others. He extended it as fast as he could, but he couldn''t sense them on this floor. They went around the floor searching as well, but they didn''t find any of them, aside from a party that had entered the fourth floor as well. Since they weren''t here, they went up to the higher floor but found no one, so they continued until they finally came out of thebyrinth. The crowd had dropped a lot, but there were still a lot of people around. As soon as they got out of thebyrinth, his search picked up the presence of the party among the crowd. People were shocked to see a massive tiger and two people riding on it; they all stepped aside and watched. Silva came down from the tiger, his eyes glued to one person, and that was Mike. When Quin saw Silva and Roxy, he ran up to them. Rock and Rou followed as well. They started asking them questions about what had happened. "Mike said a powerful monster killed both of you," Quin said. "Is that so?" Silva asked. He looked over at Mike; their eyes met, and Mike was trembling, in fear and in rage. "MIKE!" Silva roared, his voice booming through the forest so that everyone heard him. They all kept quiet and watched what was happening. "Mike, why don''t youe and exin to Quin what happened in thebyrinth?" Silva said. "W-wh-what do-do you mea-an?" Mike asked while stuttering. "Cut the crap! If you don''t tell everyone what you did, I''ll beat the truth out of you," Silva said. He took out his sword to show he was serious. Quin wanted to calm him down, but Silva let his killing intent pour out of him. It choked Quin and forced him back; everyone close to Silva had to step back. Only Fang could stay close to him. And this killing intent was not targeted at the people watching but rather Mike, yet they felt it. Mike was sweating bullets and shaking like crazy, but he refused to yield, his face contorted in rage. He forced himself to stand and started walking towards Silva, one step at a time. Every step took all the energy in his body. "Fuck you, Silva!" Mike shouted. "I''ve always wanted to tell you that. You think you''re so special; you think you''re a big shot. You came and took away all that belonged to me, you piece of crap, and you aren''t even a real member of the family," Mike said. Thatst part stunned Silva. How did Mike know? He looked over to Quin, and Quin bowed his head, meaning he also knew. "Hahaha, yes I know, for a long time now. Quin and I overheard Mom and Dad saying it. You were abandoned with them. The people who gave birth to you didn''t want you; they threw you out. They despised you and threw you away. You''re abandoned, and yet you stay in our family acting like you own it." The people began to discuss what they just heard. "Is that why his hair is different? I''ve always known something was off." "So he isn''t their real son? Never expected that." "Hahaha, your truth is out. I wonder how Lia will take this when she hears it. Quin and I had a pact to never tell her, but all that is useless now," Mike said. "Don''t bring her into this. If you damage my rtionship with Lia, there will be nowhere for you to run, even in hell," Silva said. "Run? I''m not running anywhere. I want you dead before I run away, and I''ll start the process by telling Lia." "That won''t work, Mike," Quin spoke up. "Huh? What do you mean?" Mike asked. "Lia knows already. She knew the exact same day we knew. Just like we overheard Mom and Dad, she overheard us making the pact. She has known for a while that Silva is not her real brother," Quin exined. "Impossible," Mike yelled. Chapter 32: Abomination "It''s the truth, Mike. She already knew," Quin said. "No, no, no. If she knew, then why does she still fawn over him? Why won''t she look my way? Why does she still hate me?" Mike asked, his eyes looking crazed. "That''s because she likes Silva. She never cared about being his sibling; she simply liked him as a person," Quin said. "No, no, no, this is all wrong!" Mike yelled out, shaking his head violently. Something about him started to change. "Master, that human is turning into an abomination created by hate and despair," Fang spoke to Silva telepathically. "What is that? Exin to me," Silva asked. "There isn''t much time, but his hate and despair have definitely gotten to a level where his soul is copsing and reforming, creating an abomination. His consciousness and being will disappear, with only one thing remaining¡ªhis hate for you," Fang exined. As they spoke, Mike had truly started morphing and changing; his body was turning purple and increasing in size. "He may have done some terrible things, but I still see him as a brother. Is there a way to save him?" Silva asked. "The only way to do that is to unravel his soul and fix it back to normal. The way to do that is by making him let go of the emotion that caused him to reach this state. I doubt that he will let go of his hate for you; he may be beyond redemption," Fang said. "No, I can still try," Silva said and started walking towards Mike. Everyone around had given them a lot of space when Mike started transforming; they didn''t want to be caught up in whatever was happening. "Roar! I''ll kill you!" Mike said and charged at Silva. He swung his now massive hand and mmed it into Silva''s chest. Silva was sent flying and rolling until he came to a stop. He got back up and started walking again. "Mike, this was supposed to be a brotherly feud, where you trouble me, and I trouble you back. What you are doing now, it''s not part of it; you''re just being a dick," Silva said. Mike mmed him again, and he went flying. Silva got up again, his nose and mouth bleeding. Mike was still transforming as this was going on, and if Silva didn''t turn him back soon, it would be all over. Silva kept going, hit after hit, until he was covered in blood, and those around started covering their eyes to avoid seeing this scene. Silva stood in front of Mike. Mike was almostpletely gone. He raised his hand again, but he didn''t hit Silva. "W-why?" Mike managed to force the question out. Silva smiled with his blood-covered face and replied, "Because you are my brother." Mike froze, his grotesque-looking eyes staring at Silva. The rage in his eyes slowly subsided. Mike took a step back, but suddenly a man in a dark cloak appeared behind him. "How boring, I wanted to see more," the person said. He took a needle and pierced Mike before disappearing. He came and went faster than Silva or Fang could react to. Mike started reacting to the needle that was pierced into him; his veins bulged, and his body grew. His transformation was forced intopletion, and Mike was turned into a full abomination. Silva just stood there, not knowing what to do. He looked at his brother, who was now rioting, and felt his chest burn up. Whoever that person was, he just made an enemy out of Silva for life. "I have to find a way. System, is there a way to help Mike? Tell me now," Silva asked while going to intercept Mike, who was attacking people. Quin also charged that way; he felt a sense of guilt for what was happening. If he had tried to smooth things out since they were kids, it would have never gotten to this level, but he felt that if he let it be, over time it would stop. His negligence had turned his brother into a monster now, and he may never be able to see Mike again. "Fang, ensure that no one gets hurt. I''ll find a way to stop him," Silva instructed before going through the list that the systempiled. He read through them and found one that could work. It was a darkness spell that allowed one to enter the minds of others. If he entered Mike''s mind, he could possibly find Mike and try to bring him out. That was the only option for now. [Darkness spell, Mind Invasion has been purchased] Silva cast the spell immediately, and his consciousness invaded Mike''s mind. When he opened his eyes, he was inside a swamp environment, and at the very far end, he saw Mike, tied up with vines from head to toe. The more time passed, the more vines wrapped around Mike. Silva took a step forward, and several vinestched onto his body and started pulling him down. Silva couldn''t use his magic or abilities in this ce; he had to tear off the vines before he could take another step. As he took the next step, the vines shot out and wrapped around him again, pulling him down as much as they could. He repeated the process and took another step, and the same thing happened. He also noticed that with every step, it got more difficult for him to tear them off. "Don''t worry, Mike. I don''t care how long it takes; I''m going to bring you back and have you apologize to Roxy." Even the worst people in the world had those they wanted to protect. Even an emotionless dragon had some people close to him. His mother, his father, Lia, and Quin¡ªthey would all be heartbroken if Mike died. They had done so much for Silva, and he wanted to do his best to make sure that he paid them back in full. To that end, he couldn''t let Mike die; he just couldn''t let Mike go. He didn''t want the family that epted him to mourn. Chapter 33: Joker of the Abyss Step after step, it got harder and harder to reach Mike. The vinestched onto Sikag and refused to allow him to move. But Silva pushed through it, taking it step by step, though he wasn''t sure if this would be enough, because the vines wrapping around Mike were getting more and more. Silva decided to try something else; he needed a way to fight inside of Mike''s mind, or else he wouldn''t get there in time. The only way to do that now was with the help of the system. "System, purchase whatever it will take to allow me to get through this ce faster," Silva gave a vague instruction. Since his spells and skills didn''t work here, he couldn''t say for sure what would work, so he decided to leave it to the system. [Unique Abyss spell purchased: The Joker of the Abyss] [The Joker is a being beyond reason and reality, his uncanniness and craziness make him uncontroble, a being that defies logic.] The system offered a solution, but it didn''te at a small price; it cost Silva his entire SP in one go. This was the first time he had bought anything so expensive; he didn''t even think there were things this expensive. The Joker spell activated, and a purplish aura enveloped Silva, changing his outfit into a purple Joker suit with a ck shirt underneath. White makeup covered his face, and a grin was drawn in red, his eyes glowing in a sinister way. In his glove-covered handy a deck of cards, ck as the abyss and giving off a terrible aura. Silva didn''t know why, but he felt free and untouchable in this form. Whatever this spell was, it was not normal. He moved his hand, took a card out of the deck, and flipped it over. On the card, there was a sword, an A-ranked sword called "The Severing." Silva knew that he didn''t have this sort of weapon, but it seemed the Joker spell was the cause of this. He now understood why the Joker was said to be a being that defies logic. The card lit up in a bright light and transformed into the Severing sword. Sikag gripped it, and he felt the immense power flowing through it. He raised the sword and took his next step. The vines shot at him, but he simply swung his de, and several de arcs shot out, destroying all the vines. Kyaaaaaaahhhhhhh! A loud screech sounded when Sikag cut the vines. The vines gathered a small distance in front of Silva and turned into a humanoid figure. "Are you the abomination taking over his mind? Hand over my brother now!" Silva demanded. "He chose this path, his hate led him this way. There is no going back for him," the humanoid figure spoke in a very creepy voice. "You will hand him over to me, or I''ll tear you to pieces," Silva said, followed by an uncontrolled burst ofughter, a feature that came with the Joker¡ªthe inability to take anything seriously. "Why am I begging this creature in the first ce? I should just wipe him out," Sikag said with a grin and took out another card. On the card was the imprint of a heart. It transformed into a real heart, and when the vine figure was set as the target, it transformed again into a vine-shaped heart. The heart started beating in his palm. Silva squeezed it slightly. Kyaaaaaaahhhhhhh! The vine figure screamed in pain as soon as Silva pressed the heart. Silva looked up with a smile, took the Severing sword, and stabbed it into the heart. The vine figure screamed even louder, but Sikag didn''t care; he just stayed smiling. Finally, he tore the de out, and the heart crumbled, and so did the vine figure. Now that the path had been cleared, Silva stopped the Joker spell and headed for Mike. He got to Mike, and the vines around him unraveled. Silva caught Mike and held him tightly. "Mike, if you are still in there, this is Silva. You may hate me, you may despise me. But remember that if you go, there will be people who will cry. The friends you made, your mother and your father, your brother and your sister. Even me, because we haven''t finished our brotherly feud. We haven''t found out who wins. You aren''t just going to let me win, right? That''s not who you are. You are a fighter; you never give up like that, and you push till the end, even against unimaginable odds. I don''t know where the Mike I know went when you left Roxy for dead or pushed us into the hole, but I believe that wasn''t the real Mike there. I know you believe that Lia hates you, but I promise you this: she will be sad if you die. So get back up and make her smile." "Master, his body is transforming back to human," Fang told Silva telepathically. ''Guess it worked out then,'' Sikag thought, looking at Mike. "I''ll be going ahead for now, so wake up and plot against me like you always do," Silva said and then ended the mind invasion spell. He returned to his body that had been lying on the back of Fang. He sat up and looked at Mike. His body had turned back to normal, and hey there unconscious on the floor, naked. Quin took out arge piece of cloth and covered Mike up before picking him up. Silva came down from Fang. "I''ll be heading back to town with them, Fang. Stay in the forest a bit. A lot has happened, and I don''t have the strength to start introducing you to everyone that asks," Silva said and left with Quin and the rest of the party. His mind could not forget the person who had appeared out of nowhere and forced Mike''s transformation. He didn''t sense that person''s presence, even when the person appeared. Even Fang, who was a lot stronger, didn''t sense the person. "Who the hell was that?" Chapter 34: Tera Linsword A week had passed since the incident, the tension had died down, and everything had gone back to how they used to be, aside from the fact that Mike had not yet woken up. He had been in aa for seven days now, with no sign of waking up. Silva had tried to enter his mind to check on him again, but he couldn''t; the mind waspletely shut down, and he could not enter. Today, Silva sat in his room. Since Quin had moved out and Mike was in aa, he had the whole room to himself. He wanted to finally add all the screen stat points that he had. The man who had appeared that day had made Silva want to grow stronger fast. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 310,000 **Exp:** 5,000/18,000 **SP:** 100 **Level:** 28 **Strength:** 270 **Defense:** 270 **Speed:** 270 **Agility:** 270 **Intelligence:** 320 **Free stat points:** 450 Over the whole thing, he had amassed 400 stat points. It wasn''t an outstanding number, but it was good. He decided to add a hundred to all his stats aside from intelligence. He added only fifty to intelligence, and that rounded up all his stats to 370. **Strength:** 370 **Defense:** 370 **Speed:** 370 **Agility:** 370 **Intelligence:** 370 **Free stat points:** 0 Silva got up and was about to leave. He hadn''t done any quests in the week, so he wanted to take one, or at least head back to thebyrinth. There was so much that he wanted to find out about thebyrinth and how deep it went. After their report to the guild, the Labyrinth wasbeled as an A-rankedbyrinth, and that had started to cause more traffic in the town. Silva got to the door, he opened it, and saw Lia standing there. His guard had been down, so he didn''t expect her and was taken by surprise. "L-Lia, what are you doing here?" he asked. "I''m sorry," Lia said. "Sorry? For what?" he asked. "I knew you weren''t my blood brother, but I didn''t want that to cause a distance between us, so I didn''t tell you or act like I kn----" Her statement was cut short as Silva interrupted her with a hug, and then he spoke into her ear. "Why would you apologize for that? I am the one that should be thanking you for not seeing me any differently even after you found out. You stayed the same way and cared for me the same way that you always did. I''m grateful for that. Even though you are not my blood sister, you are the closest person to me," Silva said. "If that''s the case, then indulge me this once, Silva. Can you pat my head?" she asked. "Huh? Huh? But you are the older sibling; shouldn''t that be the other way around?" Silva asked. Lia heard that and pouted her lips. Silva saw it and thought it was cute, but he decided to indulge her, so he patted her head. She pressed her body against him tightly, and that was when the man in Silva realized that Lia had developed far; it wasn''t too noticeable because of the gowns she wore. But she had developed some sizable natural weapons, and they were pressing on his chest. ''Shit, bro, get that shit out of your head. Sister, she is your sister.'' Silva tried to clear his head. Lia noticed the struggle on Silva''s face, she smiled and pressed herself closer to him. The arm that Silva was using to pat her head immediately went down to her shoulders and pushed her away. "I have to get going, sis. I may be backter, or maybe not even today, so don''t wait up. Just keep up with your training," Silva said and basically dashed out of the room. This was the first time he was this flustered. Lia watched him go, she pouted and then smiled. "Just wait, Silva. I''ll make you see me that way," she said. _______ ________ Silva arrived at the guild. He hadn''t been to thebyrinth for a week, so he wanted to find out if there was any update. When he arrived, he saw Quin and his party about to leave. Since Mike was in aa, they had a new member, a girl of the same age as Roxy. She was a warrior who used a two-handed sword and was covered in full armor up to her neck. As soon as Roxy spotted Silva, she ran up to him and hugged him, throwing the two of them to the floor. Her chest was a bit bigger than that of Lia, and even though she was in her adventurer clothes, it still gave Silva a very good press. ''What the hell is happening today? Why the hell does my story want to turn into some sort of erotica overnight?'' Silvained in his mind. "Roxy, get off Silva already," Roy said. "Keep quiet!" she yelled at him. "Look at you. You gave him the cold shoulder when you first met him, but now you are all over him," Roy said with a smile. "Shut the hell up. That was a mistake back then," she said and then looked at Silva with pleading eyes. "You forgive me for it, right?" she asked. "Yes, yes, I do. Now please get off me, or there will be untold issues," Silva said. It seemed his body was getting to that age where it reacted to certain things, and with the battle clothes he wore, he might not be able to hide it. Roxy finally got off him, and Silva stood up. "Is she your new party member?" Silva asked. "Yes, she is our new frontliner, filling in for Mike," Quin said. "Hi, I am Silva," Silva said and stretched out his hand. She took his hand but applied a powerful grip. Silva smiled, but he didn''t retaliate. ''She wants to test me, but I won''t fight back.'' Even though he didn''t fight back, she was unable to cause him any pain. After a few seconds, she said her name and let go. "My name is Tera, Tera Linsword." "Oh, ast name. You must be a noble then," Silva said. Chapter 35: Ultimatum "Oh, ast name. You must be a noble then," Silva said. "Yes, I am. I''m from cklight City; my father is a Baron. For certain reasons, I came here to be an adventurer," Tera said. Silva noticed that she was holding back some information. Something must have happened to her to make her leave the luxurious life of a noble. A baron might just be a step above a knight, but to amoner, they were ridiculously rich people. "Alright, well, you picked the perfect party to be a member of. Quin is very strong and skilled. I''m sure you''ll go far with them," Silva said. Tera didn''t reply; she simply nodded her head. Since she was fine talking to him, he faced Quin. "So, tell me about thebyrinth situation," Silva asked. "Well, you already know that it has been ssified as an A-rankedbyrinth, right? Well, that''s not all. ording to what was reported, no team has been able to make it past floor five. Several C-ranked and B-ranked teams have tried, but they get stuck on that floor and have to flee. Thebyrinth is just that dangerous. They even imposed a new setup: only teams from D rank and up can enter, and only individuals from C rank and up can enter alone," Quin exined. "I see. I have ns to head there as well; maybe I''ll tag along for a while," Silva said. "No, the receptionist actually told me to tell you when I see you that the Guild Master is asking for you. We were actually going toe by the house first and tell you before we left. I think he is still waiting for you," Quin said. "The Guild Master? What could he want? Alright, thanks. I''ll meet up with him and go to thebyrinthter," Silva said. They chatted a little bit more and then parted ways. Silva headed upstairs to the Guild Master''s office. _______ _______ "Captain, was that who you just met?" Tera asked as they left. "Oh, you are new to this town, so it''s understandable that you don''t know him," Quin replied. "Is he popr or something?" she asked. "Well, if by popr you mean that there is absolutely no towns person that does not know him, then yes, he is popr. He is currently a C-ranked adventurer," Quin said. "C-ranked, at his age? Is that even possible?" she asked in shock. "Oh, it is. He became an adventurer at the age of six and has been growing since then. His strength is greater than C rank, actually; he could even be A-ranked in strength. The only reason why he is C-ranked is that he refuses to join politics, so he hasn''t done an upgrade quest. Still, I wonder how long the guild will overlook that. His strength has far surpassed that of a C rank, and it is now bing something that is troubling the other C ranks. _______ _______ Silva knocked on the office door twice and waited for a reply. "Come in." Raze''s voice sounded from the inside. Silva opened the door and walked in. He saw Raze seated in his chair and another man seated there as well. "Silva, it seems my message got to you. We have been waiting for you to get here," Raze said. "We?" Silva asked. "Yes, this is the butler of the town lord, Baron Ezra. He is here on a matter that concerns you," Raze said. "Concerns me?" Silva asked. "There have been severalints to me and to the Baron that you are taking all the C-ranked quests. Your strength has far surpassed C rank, yet you adamantly choose to stay there. You take quests that would take others days and weeks toplete, and then youplete them in hours. Because of that, you take several quests in the span of some days, and that has seriously dropped the number of C-rank quests avable, forcing the C ranks to carry out lower-ranked quests. That, in turn, is creating ack of quests for those that are lower¡ªa chain reaction caused by only you," Raze exined the situation. "Then can''t the guild allow me to just take B-ranked quests?" Silva asked. He understood what they were driving at, but he didn''t want to give in. "That''s not possible," the butler spoke. "A system that has been set up can''t be continuously changed to favor one person. It was done before when you were a kid, and you were allowed to be an adventurer. But now, you havee to the age where you understand your actions and know what to do. You can no longer force your personal desires to change rules," the butler exined. "It is as he said, we can''t decide to just change all the rules to fit you. You must be B-ranked and above to take B-ranked quests. Now, I know that you may be thinking about staying in C rank, but sadly, this isn''t a request, Silva. It is an order that has been passed down from the Baron himself. It is an ultimatum. You must either take an upgrade quest before the day runs out, or your status as an adventurer will be revoked permanently," Raze exined the situation. ''So it hase to this. I''ve be that big of a threat where if the government can''t control me, they''ll try to start getting rid of me. First, they''ll revoke my status. Soon they''ll charge me for a set-up crime, and one day I''ll finally disappear without a trace, and everyone will forget about me. Sigh, I ran away from this for as long as I could, but I am not strong enough to resist yet. Though that is only a matter of time. In due time, they won''t be able to stop me. Even if this is an inconvenience, it still has its good aspects, like the fact that I can learn more about this world and get closer to certain people.'' "Alright, then what is the upgrade quest?" Silva asked. Chapter 36: Slime jelly "Now, your upgrade quest is the reason that the Butler of the Baron is here. In two days'' time in the city of cklight, there will be a festival. That festival is to honor our little town that has delivered an A-ssbyrinth. The Baron is going to receive recognition, and the Duke is going to award him a higher title as Viscount. Normally, that is a privilege reserved for the King, but the King will not be in attendance, so the Duke will have to do it. Now, this is a great ceremony, and the Baron will have to unt his wealth and power a bit. That''s where youe in. As the prodigy of this town and the rising star, you will be his main attendant and security for the period he stays there. If the Barones back safe, your quest will bepleted, and you will be promoted to B-rank, as well as given a good reward," Raze exined the quest to him. "I see, so this quest will throw me out for all the nobles to see, and then I''ll be dragged into politics. Since I have no choice, then I''ll do it. I''ve been wanting to see cklight for a while," Silva said. "Alright, very good. You are to take this free time to prepare, so no quests for you, at all. You must focus on your quest," Raze said. Silva didn''t say anything more; he bowed his head and left the office. "This is all bullshit. I wish I could get stronger faster; then I could break free from all this." Silva decided to head home. He saw Lia at home since she had finished her magic sses, so he decided to have fun with her to clear his head. "Lia, let''s go out and have some fun," Silva said to her. She was cleaning up the kitchen; he sat at the dining table, watching her. "Huh? You want us to go on a date?" she asked eagerly. "When did I say that? I said have fun, not a date," Silva corrected her. "When a boy and a girl go out together to have a nice day, it is called a date," she argued. "Yes, a boy and a girl, not a brother and a sister," Silva retorted. "Tsk, well, whatever. I''ll take it as a date; you take it however you want," she said and went in to prepare. Silva also changed into some more casual clothes and waited for his sister. They didn''t need to clean up every single time because the Mana seeping out of their bodies eliminated dirt on their skin, given some time. Bathing and showering were just an extra luxury. She came out wearing a simple white dress. When she got to Silva, she spun around and asked, "How do I look?" "You look pretty," Silva said. He never had issues with such things aspliments, but when he saw the blush on Lia''s face, he thought maybe he shouldn''t haveplimented her. "Alright, let''s go." ______ ______ It was noon, so they decided to start their date/not a date off with lunch at a famous beast steakhouse in the town. They served all sorts of things, from horned rabbit meat to mountain wolves. When they arrived, a waiter led them to their seats. Silva took the menu and skimmed through it. He saw something that caught his attention. "Lia, what is slime jelly?" Silva asked. "Uhm, I don''t know as well. This is the first time I am seeing something like this," she replied. "Ho Ho, seems you two don''t know of this fine delicacy that has made its way to this town," a blonde-haired man sitting not too far from them spoke. "Slime jelly is gotten from the slimes, their bodies to be precise," the man said. "How is that possible? The bodies of slimes turn liquid after their core is destroyed or removed," Silva said. "Well, that is true, but a famous wild chef discovered a way to do this. He captures slimes and sets them in freezers, and then lets them freeze. Under intense cold, the cores shatter and dissolve into the bodies of the slimes, while the slimes retain their solid form. Then they are taken out and warmed over a low heat that returns them to their jelly-like form, where they are then put through certain processes to make them tasty," the man exined. "That sounds barbaric," Lia pointed out. "Yes indeed, freezing them alive seems like a very sick thing to do, but there was no other way to get them to retain their bodies. Only this method was able to get the job done, and I have to say myself, the taste is very much worth it," the man said. "I see, then I''ll have the spicy slime jelly," Silva said. "I''ll take the honey-vored one," Lia made her choice as well. They called the waiter over and made their orders. The food was brought to them in some minutes. The jelly looked like normal jelly, and one would not be able to tell that they were slimes. Silva''s slime had a reddish tint, probably because of the spice, while Lia''s slime had a brownish tint. The both of them dug their spoons into the dish at almost the same time and took a bite. Their eyes opened wide in shock as waves of vor sshed in their mouths. The jelly exploded as soon as it came in contact with their saliva, filling their mouths with vor. The man looked at their faces and gave a knowing smile. "It''s good, right? At first, I didn''t think that something as basic as a slime would have such vors with such immense depths," the man said. Silva and Lia basically gobbled the whole thing down and then ordered another te. When they finished eating, they thanked the man for telling them about the slime, they paid and left the restaurant, the man watching them as they left with a bright smile. "Ah, to see my creations epted like this, that makes me feel like an aplished chef." Chapter 37: Carriage The day of departure finally arrived for Silva, and it was also the first time he was meeting the baron. The baron was a middle-aged man with a good and sturdy build; he didn''t even look like he needed protecting. Silva was asked to meet at the house of the baron. He was taken inside to the baron''s office, and there they met each other. "So, you are the Silva that everyone is talking about," Baron Ezra said and stretched out his hand for a shake. Silva took his hand and bowed his head slightly. "Raise your head, son. You and I will be spending quite some time together; you should be free with me," Baron Ezra said. "I understand, sir. I''ll do my best," Silva responded. "Alright, the carriage is getting set up, but while we wait, let''s talk a little," the baron said and offered Silva a seat. Silva epted and sat down; the baron did the same. "I would have poured you some wine, but you can''t drink until fourteen, or are you man enough now?" the baron asked. "I''ll have to decline, my Lord. My job is to protect you and be your aide. I can''t drink now; it could cause issuester," Silva said. "Hmm, a proper kid, I see. You will go ces, boy. Not only did you win the gic race and get good looks, but you also have immense magical abilities and strength, and a legacy added. In all my years of running this town, you are the first I have seen with such growth. In fact, in all the ces I have been to, I haven''t seen a child like you. When your sister awakened her legacy and word got to me, I was surprised. I felt we finally had a prodigy in this town, and then you came along. Well, all that aside, you will be going with me as my guard, but mostly to show off a little, so I''ll ask that you try to be a bit of a show-off. I know this is a bit much to ask, but it is very much needed. The life of a noble may look all shy and good tomoners, but the weight we carry is great. We have to constantly force ourselves to do things we don''t care about because we need to behave ording to our status, to not be looked down upon and to gather allies. The worst thing that can happen to you as a noble is not having allies; you will fall from your position of greatness at a crazy speed. I have seen nobles that lost all their allies, and in just days, their great lives vanished; some of them even died. We live with all this pleasure, but there are many sleepless nights and constant issues that may im our lives," the baron spoke in a regretful tone. "So why not stop? Why not leave this whole nobility and live off somewhere else?" Silva asked. He could guess why, but he wanted to be certain about it first. "Oh, it isn''t so simple. I''ll get killed if I ever do that. I''ll be seen as a traitor who enjoyed thevish goods of the kingdom and then decided to stop when I had my fill. Even if I manage to get away, anyone affiliated with my bloodline will be publicly executed, and their heads kept for disy as a warning to traitors. The reason I am telling you this is because you have also stepped into that world. When youplete this quest, you will be a B-rank per my orders to the guild. B-ranked adventurers and above are seen just like nobles; their lives stop being in their hands. When I heard of you and all that you are doing, I had to bring you in. And do you know why? With great poweres great responsibility, and with that responsibilityes the bondage that follows. We can never be truly free, but the weaker you are, the freer you be. But that is no life, because you are free from the direct hand of politics but not from the chains. If a B-ranked adventurer suddenly took a woman as his ve, not many would care, because she was weak and useless," the baron said. "So it is a sick cycle. The stronger you are, the more shackles are put on you by the person on top. But if you stay weak, those that are stronger than you will put you in shackles. It is a system that uses the survival of the fittest, a system where the only way to chase true freedom is to be stronger than the one on top or be so weak that your presence vanishes from the sight of those stronger. Both are extremes that may not be possible to meet, yet they are the only way to be truly free," Silva exined how he saw things. "Indeed, young one, you understand how it goes. So do your best to rise and keep rising. But your view has one mistake: you can never be weak enough to vanish because there will always be one being that will still be capable of seeing you, and you will get eaten up. So the only route to true freedom is to go up and keep going up no matter what. If you are in a sea, the only way to go is up, swim up until you get to the top. If you swim down, the pressure will kill you. The pressure of all those above you will crush you, and you''ll die. It may take very long to swim out, your legs may be weak, your body may be heavy and tired, but you have to keep swimming if you are ever going toe out," the baron finished what he was saying. He got up and looked out of the window. "Hmm, seems our carriage is ready. That was a good chat, Silva. We should head out now; it''s time." Chapter 38: Mission Three carriages were set for them to go, with the one carrying the baron in the center, while the other two served to carry his guards. Silva would be taking the same carriage as the baron and his two children. His son was about fifteen and was a student of the prestigious cklight Academy. His daughter, who was as cold as ice, was thirteen, and she would be applying to the academy theing year. Both of them sat opposite their father, while Silva sat beside the baron. He didn''t really care about what was happening in the carriage, so he looked outside, lost in thought. It wasn''t long after they boarded that they started their journey. They would pass through the forest to get to the city. The journey would take a full day, so they would have to camp out in the forest for one night. Not long after they left, they entered the forest. ''The dreams are getting more consistent, but the goddess has refused to give me any more clues. Sigh, I should stop thinking about it for now.'' Silva stopped looking outside and turned to face inside the carriage, catching the son ncing at him, same thing with his sister. The boy''s name was Ray Ezra, while the girl was Fay Ezra. Silva had to say, their parents'' naming sense was pathetic. When he caught them ncing at him, he stared at both of them with a smile and decided to ask. "Lady Fay, Sir Ray, by any chance, are you uneasy about me being here?" he asked. "Huh?" The baron, who had not been paying attention, looked up when he heard what Silva said. "Sorry, Silva, they simply haven''t been in town too often. My son is in the academy, while my daughter is training with an instructor from the academy to prepare for it. So they don''t know much about you," the baron exined. "I understand, their gazes were just a little off-putting," Silva said and stared outside the window. "Master, there is an issue," Fang spoke to Silva through telepathy. "What is it, Fang?" He had told Fang to carefully follow the carriages and alert him of any danger. "Master, a group of bandits is headed toward your carriage. They will arrive in less than a minute, and there are about twenty men. Should I take them out, Master?" Fang asked. "No, let them be. I''ll handle it," Silva replied. "As you wish," Fang said. The baron said that he should show off a little, and that was what he was about to do. Silva looked at the baron. "Sir, there are bandits on the way here," Silva said. "What? Bandits?" the baron asked in shock. No normal bandit group would attack a convoy with the crest of a noble family unless they were sent by someone. That was very usible because he was on his way to bing a viscount, and surely there would be people who didn''t want that and would try to kill him. "How can you be sure? You just sat there and knew?" Ray asked, his sister nodded in agreement. "Would I have a reason to lie to the baron about bandits?" Silva asked, and that kept Ray quiet. Silva stood up and banged on the carriage twice to get the attention of the coachman. "Stop the carriage," he said. The coachman stopped it immediately. "I''ll go take care of it with the guards. The three of you just remain here," Silva said. "Who are you to tell us to stay put? We have the ability to protect ourselves." "I know you do, but I have been hired to ensure that you are all safe. I can''t allow any of you out into battle. It is not that I do not recognize your skills, but there are uncertainties on the real battlefields. I can sense that you two have trained a lot, but you haven''t faced real life-or-death battles, which simply makes you a liability in the battlefield. If something were to happen to you there, the guards would rally to protect you and risk their lives for you. If you don''t know what you are doing, you will send several fathers and mothers to an early grave. If you understand what I have said, then sit out and allow those who have been given the job to protect you to do their job," Silva said and left. Ray heard all that, and he fumed in anger. He, a prestigious first-year at the cklight Academy, was spoken to in such a rude manner. His father looked at his angry face but paid him no attention. His son could never surpass Silva, that was something that he very well knew, so his son could throw all the tantrums he wanted. All the carriages had stopped when they noticed that the middle carriage stopped. The guards all came out when they saw Silvae out of the carriage. If the main guard was out, that meant something was happening. They all rallied around Silva. "Bandits are headed this way, about twenty of them. We will see them in less than thirty seconds. All of you protect the baron but don''t charge at the enemy. All you have to do is form a defensive formation around the carriage," Silva gave his instructions. Some wanted to voice their opinions, but it was toote. The bandits hade into view. They came from one direction, like they were soldiersing for war. Silva took out his sword and looked at the guards. "Remember, do what I said," he said before charging at the enemy. He used dragon eyes, and the highest was 25, with an average stat of 50. "Seems I was worried for nothing," Silva said. He nted his feet into the ground and activated sh step. He vanished before the bandits, and when he reappeared, he decided that he would be injuring them badly enough to cripple them. But against what he decided, a mission came through. [Kill the Bandits: A dragon does not discriminate against enemies. All must be destroyed or converted.] [Rewards: level up, 20 free stat points, 3000SP, S-ranked skill] [Penalty: destruction of your soul] Chapter 39: Rewards [Penalty: destruction of your soul] This was unusual. Silva had no other way to calm the situation he had just found himself in aside from unusual. The system, for some reason, just gave him a mission with high rewards that would make his mouth water, and also a crazy penalty that would freeze his heart. There was no stopping to think; there was no point in even thinking about refusing. This was a do-or-die situation. To that end, he changed the direction of his de, cleanly lopping off the head of the man who was first. He stopped after that. He felt a slight unease about just killing someone, but it evaporated almost immediately. That was definitely done by the legacy. The bandits stopped when they saw one of their men fall to the ground dead. Silva, on the other hand, got his first notification for killing a human. [You have killed a human, 1000 Exp 500 Sp] x10 [First human killed, Special reward 5000 Exp, 5000 SP, 20 free stat points] x10 [Level up, 2 free stat points.] Silva smiled when he saw the results. He looked up at all the bandits as Exp, rather than humans. For one sole reason, killing a human gave him the highest EXP he had reached from a single being. And right here before him was a ton of EXP. He would be able to get to level 40 at this rate. The bandits charged at Silva in rage because he had killed one of theirs, but Silva''s speed was too much, and in less than five minutes, neen bandits had been killed. Their blood covered the ground, creating a bloody sight. The guards who had been watching this whole thing shivered in fright as they saw the monster standing on the corpses with a beat-up bandit in his hand. Silva decided that he would not kill thest one and that they would question him first. During this battle, Silva had leveled up so much that he got to level thirty-eight. His free stat points had reached over a thousand. He dragged the bandit towards the carriage and threw him to the ground. The guards subconsciously stepped back when Silva was near them. What sight could be more scary than a twelve-year-old killing humans like they were nothing? It sent chills into their hearts. But Silva could not be bothered; his legacy had a tight seal on his emotions and would not allow him to be reluctant to kill. "Baron Ezra, I''ve taken care of the bandits," Silva said from outside. "Yes, I know. We watched the whole thing," the baron said and opened the carriage door. He came out, and his eyes lingered on Silva for far longer than they should have. Ray and Fay had also watched this brutal scene, and their legs gave out. They refused toe out, or better still, they couldn''te out. Silva grabbed the bandit, who was stricken with fear, and looked into his eyes. The bandit shivered like a naked person on ice. "Who sent you? I''ll ask this only once," Silva said. The bandit had no thoughts of resisting, but as he opened his mouth to talk, his head exploded, sttering blood and body parts everywhere, including on Silva''s face. [Mission Complete] [Rewards: level up, 20 free stat points, 3000 SP, S-ranked skill] [Level up, 2 free stat points] x10 [Level up, 2 free stat points] x10 Silva was happy that he took this quest, because now he was at level 40, with a shitload of free stat points to distribute. Silva used Mana to rid himself of the blood on his body. He then changed his clothes to ones that were in his inventory. It was shy, and his clothes were changed. "Oh, was that an item box skill?" the baron asked. "Yes, something like that," Silva replied. "You are always full of surprises," the baron said. Since they weren''t able to get any useful information as to who sent them, it was time to leave. The baron ordered the guards to gather the corpses in one ce. Then the guard with earth magic dug a hole, and they poured the corpses into it and lit it on fire. After they finished, everyone boarded their carriage and continued, but all the carriages were quiet, and the reason was one person: Silva. The way he tore down humans like they were nothing gave everyone the chills and reminded them that they were weak. If Silva decided, this whole convoy would simply vanish. _______ _______ On the other hand, Silva was enjoying the quiet as he started editing his stats. It was time to use all that he got to get stronger. He started with the first thing, and that was to add all the stat points he got. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 500,000 **Exp:** 4000/30,000 **SP:** 100,000 **Level:** 40 **Strength:** 370 **Defense:** 370 **Speed:** 370 **Agility:** 370 **Intelligence:** 370 **Free stat points:** 1500 He had a lot of stat points, and now it was time to share them out. He decided to share it equally by adding 300 to all his stats. **Strength:** 670 **Defense:** 670 **Speed:** 670 **Agility:** 670 **Intelligence:** 670 **Free stat points:** 0 Silva felt his power increase. It was an addictive feeling; whenever he added his stat points, he always got it. Just from this bandit battle, he had be twice as strong. He wondered how strong he would be if he used the Minotaur''s rage or if he used the joker of the abyss. While he was getting happy with his strength, he remembered that person who forced Mike''s transformation. "I have to get stronger fast," he said to himself. Now that he was done with his stats, it was time to check out the S-ranked skill that he had gotten. [True Clone (S ranked): This is a special skill that allows you to create a clone. The clone has a hundred percent of your power and your intelligence. Only one clone can be made at a time.] x10 Chapter 40: Plots With this new skill, Silva was happy and pissed at the same time. The reason he was pissed was simple, he could make exactly ten clones with his buff, but it didn''t stop there-- all his clones would be ten times stronger than him. It made him happy because his strength had generally increased, but the fact that even his clones would be stronger than him made him feel a little bad. Well, there was no reason to mull over it too much; at the end of the day, it was still his strength. The carriage traveled until it was dark, and they set camp at a clearing. The guards gathered together and made food that they would eat. The baron stayed with his children in a special tent that was brought, while Silva patrolled the area. He went out a bit and found Fang waiting for him; there was something they had to discuss. "So Fang, the person that you said was watching from a distance, did you manage to get him?" Silva asked. "Yes, he is unconscious. I left him a small distance away from here, but why did you ask me to get him and not kill him?" ''Sigh, that was because I had killed all the others and could not get any information.'' "I just have a few things to ask him, take me there," Silva said. Fang took him to the location where a skinny-looking many on the ground. When he got there, he tapped the head of the man and poured some mana to kickstart the guy. The eyes of the man shot open and he leaped off the ground in an attempt to defend himself, but Silva grabbed him by his neck and mmed him back to the ground. "Stay down, you idiot. Now let me tell you this before you start lying to me. If you lie, I''ll see right through you, so you better be careful in your responses," Silva said, his eyes glowing and releasing a threatening aura. This man could vaguely see Silva''s face, but something told him that he was the one that had killed all the bandits that were hired. If he dared do anything funny, he would be killed like a pig for ughter. "I''ll answer honestly," the man said. "Good, now who hired the bandits, and why?" As he asked that question, he used his mana to search the body of the man. He tried to find the self-destruct mechanism that was also installed in the bandits. He had to find it before the man answered. When the man started answering, he saw the mana in the man''s body gathering at one specific point; he knew that had to be the point. He channeled his mana as fast as possible and managed to disrupt the explosion, basically saving the man''s life. "It was Viscount Romeo. He didn''t want to stand on the same level as Baron Ezra. I believe they were once friends, but Romeo grew above Ezra. He grew prideful and treated his friend harshly, and now that his friend is about to get to his level again, he wants to end him," the man exined. "Oh, I see. Well then, thank you for the information; you have proved your worth. Sadly enough, I am slightly pissed, so your life is forfeited. Fang, you can have him as dinner," Silva said as he walked away. The man stared at Silva''s back, and despair filled his heart. "I told you what I knew, you are supposed to release me!" the man shouted. Silva paused and looked back with a smile. "Where in our discussion did I say I''ll let go of you?" Silva asked, shing his smile and walking away. The man looked in despair as Silva walked away. Fang bit into his hands and dragged him away, his yells reaching the ears of Silva. Silva got back to camp and saw Fay standing and looking around. When she saw him, she walked up to him. He could sense some apprehension in her steps, but he didn''t pay that any attention. "What is the matter, Lady Fay? You should be getting your rest now; tomorrow will be a busy day for you," Silva said. "I can''t sleep, so I wanted to practice my magic for a bit. I needed a sparring partner, and you are the strongest here," she said. "Lady Fay, I seriously think you should get some rest. We can practice another time; I''ll be happy to practice with you as well," Silva said. "No, I want to start now. I''ve asked my father for permission, and he said I can ask you," she said. "Sigh, fine, Lady Fay, then let''s go a bit deeper into the forest; the noise would disturb the others," Silva said and led them into the forest. _______ _______ Some minutes before Silva had returned from where Fang took him. Outside the tent of the baron, the baron''s son had fallen asleep. The baron stood with his daughter Fay; he stood and looked at the moon before speaking. "What do you think about Silva?" he asked. "I don''t know. He is strong from what I saw, his strength astonished me. His brutality was crazy; it weakened my kneespletely. Aside from that, I don''t know anymore," Fay replied honestly. "I see, but you don''t hate him, then there is a chance. You see, that boy has so much prospect for the future; he will for sure go far in life. I want you to get closer to him, as close as possible. You should even be his lover. I have a feeling that after here, you may never get the chance to get close to him. So I need you to be smart. Unlike your brother, you think things through and know what is good for the family," the baron said. "I understand what you are saying, father, but have you thought about if he has someone he likes?" Fay said. "Haha, Fay, our kingdom, under thew of the goddess Ophelia, allows a man more than one wife, and even more for barons, as long as all the women ept and the husband possesses the resources to take care of them. In fact, thatw can also be applied the other way around, with a single woman and many men, as long as they agree--though that has scarcely happened." Chapter 41: Purchase of the heart "Alright,e at me with all you have," Silva said. He held a tree branch in his hand to serve as his weapon. Fay nodded and took her stance. Her sword was immediately covered in mes, and then she dashed at Silva. ''Hmm, I can sense a lot of Mana from her, but I feel that even Lia has a better flow than her,'' Silva thought. He didn''t feel too much pressure, stepping forward and parrying her attack cleanly. He didn''t stop there. He moved in, tripping her, and she fell face-t on the ground. "You focus so much on your sword that you don''t watch the rest of your body, and that''s a bad habit. You have to be cautious of your entire body--that''s the first stage. After being cautious of your body, you have to take it a step further and be cautious about your surroundings." He stretched out his hand and helped her get up. "When you get through that as well, you finally enter the next stage: being cautious of your enemy and watching their every move. If you do that well, you can even predict their movements before they make them. If you practice to this level, you can reach a whole new stage, and that is being able to create your own space." Silva took his stance and then closed his eyes. He extended his senses throughout his body, then to his surroundings, and finally to his opponent. He merged all of them to create a space around him. "With this space, you can monitor your entire environment and everything that happens. Now, attack me," Silva said with his eyes closed. Fay charged at him again, trying to aim for his blind spot since his eyes were closed. But as soon as her sword got close to him, he moved out of the way. He then countered and ced his sword against her neck. "That''s how you do it." Silva opened his eyes. "This should be enough for now. We''ll continue another time," he said and left. Fay watched his back, filled with conflicting thoughts. ''I came here to simply get closer to him for the sake of father and the family. I didn''t really think I''d learn something this important from him. Now I am eager for what our next lesson will hold, but before then, I have to master what he showed me now.'' ____ _____ When the sun rose, the convoy continued their journey to the city. It didn''t take more than a few hours before they finally arrived at the city gates. As soon as the guards spotted their crest, they informed the Duke about their arrival, and they were led to the estate where they would stay. Inside the house that they were given, they all set their things down and met in the living room. Ray and Fay sat beside their father, while Silva sat opposite him. "Alright, Silva, the main event will start tonight. You have all day to do whatever you want. I advise that you three go through the city and have some fun for the time being," the baron said. "Father, why do we need him to tag along? We can handle things just fine," Ray said. "Don''t be stubborn, boy. He is here to guard us, and he''s stronger than anyone we brought. There is no one more suitable to guard you than him," the baron said. "Baron, what about you? If I leave with both of them, who will guard you?" Silva asked. "You don''t have to worry about that. We are in the private estate of the Duke, under his protection. You''d have to be stupid to attempt anything here," the baron spoke with certainty. Silva didn''t push more than that, so he left the manor with the siblings. "Let''s head to the market; they have a lot of nice things there," Fay said. "I''d rather go to where the guards of the Duke train and watch," Ray said. "You can''t be serious, Ray. Tell him, Silva," she said. "Why the hell are you bringing him into this?" Ray asked. "Master Ray, the Baron asked that you both have fun. We have to find an activity that both of you will at least be happy doing. And as a gentleman, it is advisable that you let thedy pick," Silva said. "You heard him, right?" Fay said. "I don''t care. He can simp all he wants. I''m going to the training grounds. You two can go wherever," Ray said and tried to leave, but Silva grabbed his shoulder. Ray turned around, pissed. He was about tosh out, but when he looked into Silva''s eyes, he was stricken with fear. "We will go where Lady Fay chooses. Do you understand, or should I drag you along?" Silva threatened, his voice like a demon from hell. Ray couldn''t resist at all. He slowly nodded his head and followed them. They walked through the market, buying a lot of stuff--from simple jewelry to snacks and food. They came across a store, and a pendant there caught Fay''s eyes. She wanted it, but when she looked at the price tag and what she had left, she couldn''t afford it, even with her brother''s help. They had spent all their funds purchasing other things, and she was scared that if she left to ask her dad, it wouldn''t be there when she got back. "I''ll buy it for you, so don''t worry," Silva said. He saw the longing in her eyes and decided to help out. He purchased the pendant and handed it to her. She took it and held it close to her heart. "I promise to pay you back," she said. "No need for that; it''s a gift from me," Silva said, shing a smile. Ray, who had been waiting for them, could finally leave as Silva started walking as well, his face seriously distorted in anger. It seemed that Silva didn''t know what he did back there, but that is a story for another time. Chapter 42: Meeting Family Night came, and it was finally time for the ceremony to start. It kicked off with a party, where the nobles talked and drank as much as they wanted for some time. Finally, the Duke arrived at the hall, and he was announced. Silva, who had been in a corner ever since they arrived, looked up to see the Duke, his biological father. The Duke walked in with two children by his side, his son and his daughter, their heads held high as pride oozed from them. ''So I would have been one of the pompous brats if he had kept me?'' Silva thought. After that, he didn''t pay heed to them and just got some food to eat. No one else was eating at that point, so the Duke noticed Silva. He turned his head a little to look at Silva, but the darkness of the corner didn''t allow him to see his face properly. The Duke went up and took the highest seat, his children also sat beside him. He took a ss of wine and held it up. "I wee all of you to this asion. It is to celebrate the discovery of an A-rankbyrinth and to award the man that found it. This will serve as another opportunity to strengthen the kingdom of Vermilion, and as a town under my jurisdiction, it brings me great honor as well. Baron Ezra, please step forward," the Duke said and finally dropped his ss. The baron looked over at Silva, signaling him to follow. Silva let out a sigh and followed the baron closely behind. When the nobles saw the kid following, they started asking questions as to who Silva was. The baron didn''t evene out with his own children, yet he brought this child. When the Duke saw Silva, he raised his brow. He gazed at Silva as though he was trying to pierce through Silva''s soul. But Silva was not disturbed; he hadyers uponyers of mental and soul protection. He knew things like this would happen, and so he did well to invest in certain skills and spells. ''Seems Dad over there can''t recognize me. Well, he didn''t even look at me for more than five seconds before dering me worthless. Normally, I shouldn''t care about this, but my pride as a human and as a dragon is biting at me, and I''ll never have peace until I see this man breaking down in tears. Still, I''m too weak to oppose him. He is a Duke; his strength is extreme. I am very sure that he has evolved as well.'' Silva and the baron knelt before the Duke. "Baron Ezra, for your contributions to Vermilion, I, Duke Terron, on behalf of King Charles Vermilion II, raise you to the status of Viscount. You will receive all payments worthy of your status, as well as a three-year tax exemption. You may rise," Duke Terron said. The baron got up and bowed to the Duke. He was about to turn and leave, but then the Duke spoke. "Viscount Ezra, I have heard that there is a rising genius from your town. After seeing this young man with you, I feel inclined to ask," the Duke said. "Your eyesight is indeed great, my Lord. This young man is Silva. He is currently acting as my guard, but he is a B-ranked adventurer," the Viscount said. What he said caused a slight uproar in the hall; everyone started saying how unbelievable that was. The Duke raised his hand, and everyone fell silent. He looked at Silva and spoke. "Come forward." Silva did as he was told and took a step forward. "How old are you, child?" the Duke asked. "Twelve," Silva answered, causing another uproar. The Duke silenced them again. "It seems the Viscount is proud of your strength for him to take you as a guard. So then, let''s gauge a friendly spar: you versus my son Oliver here. He may be older, but I believe you won''t find an issue with that," the Duke said. "No issues, my Lord, but I do pray that whatever the oue, I will not be held ountable," Silva said. The Duke frowned when he heard that. Silva was implying a few things: one, he was going to beat the hell out of the Duke''s son, and two, he was certain that he would win. "Alright, I agree to your terms," the Duke said. The son of the Duke didn''t say anything. He simply got up in obedience to his father. As he walked past Silva, the disdain was evident in his eyes. A space was cleared at the center of the hall for the fight. The Duke ordered that the guards hand them swords in order to ensure that no special swords were used. The Duke sat on his seat, expressionless, and raised his hand. Once his hand came down, the match would start. "Why do I have to touch a vermin like yourself, adventurer scum?" Oliver said to Silva. He was obviously pissed that he had to spar with this peasant. "I hope you use your de as fast as you run your mouth. It would be a shame if you lose here," Silva said. His words were targeted to hurt, and they did just that. Oliver''s face distorted in rage as soon as he heard that. The Duke dropped his hand, and Oliver charged immediately. "I''ll kill you,moner scum!" he yelled. ''Show me how strong you are, brother.'' Oliver stabbed at Silva. Silva took one step back, just barely getting out of the reach of the sword. Then he used his sword to tip Oliver''s sword aside and stepped in for a clean headbutt. Oliver''s head shot back, and he nearly went unconscious, but he remained awake. No one in the hall had expected Silva to pull off such a move. This was a fight of sword and magic, and so his move was unconventional. "You see, when you live as an adventurer, you pick up certain things," Silva said, then took a stance. Chapter 43: Matilda Oliver was pissed at what had just happened; he immediately decided not to hold back at all. "I''ll show you the power of a noble, you piece of shit!" Oliver yelled out, his de engulfed in mes. He held his me-covered de with pride and then shed at Silva, releasing a powerful me arc. "This is just pitiful," Silva said. He made a simple sh motion with his sword, and the me arc dispersed. "You''re weak," Silva said and then charged at Oliver. He wanted to win with a smashing victory, regardless of what troubles it might cause. He was so fast that Oliver was unable to see him. Silva went for a sh at the neck, ready to cut him down. "Stop!" The Duke''s voice boomed, and Silva stopped immediately. He didn''t know why, but the voice carried a force that stopped him. "Your strength is indeed something else, Silva. My son is considered a prodigy, and here you have defeated him," the Duke said. "Master Oliver must have gone easy on me. I am undeserving of such praise," Silva said with his head bowed. The Duke frowned because he understood what Silva was doing here; he was insulting him even further. Everyone could see that Oliver didn''t hold back; he was simply subdued. After the fight, Silva quickly found a corner to stay in for the rest of the whole event. He had done what they had asked of him. The Viscount had asked that he show off a little, and he was sure that this was enough showing off, no matter how you looked at it. This fight would cause issues for him for sure, but he was ready for what woulde. As long as an evolved did note after him, he was certain he would survive any fight. As he stayed in his corner, an olddy approached him. She held a ss of wine and carried herself in a dignified manner. But one thing was certain when Silva looked at her: she was strong, maybe as much as the Duke, or even more. He could tell that her power was great, but he could not get a good grasp on it. "It is a beautiful night, isn''t it?" she asked Silva. "Who are you?" Silva cut to the chase. He could tell she wasn''t here to make small talk. "Oho, my name is Matilda, but you can call me Grandma," she said with a smile. "Why would I do that?" Silva asked. "Haha, I was just joking. I am the Director of the cklight Academy. After your performance today, I''d like for you to join my academy," she said. "No, I don''t think I want to go," Silva said. "Also, I am only twelve. There are still two years before I think of school," Silva said. "Well, with your abilities, epting you early is not an issue. In fact, there are always those we ept early every year. You will be one of them," she said. "Stop speaking like I have epted to go. I am not going," Silva refused. "Then we won''t let your sister in as well," Matilda said. Immediately she spoke, killing intent seeped out of Silva. He looked at her with a face that said, "Try that and I''ll kill you." "You''re strong, but I doubt even with your strength you can defeat the academy and the city. I also saw how you looked at the Duke. It seems you have some business with him. You can get closer to his children through the academy. I am offering you this now because of my own personal reasons. I have known about you long before you came here, and also your sister. That is why I know she wants to join the academy. If you refuse my offer, then I''ll have no choice but to refuse her. Will you stand in the way of her dreams because of your selfish reasons?" Matilda said, walking away. Silva stood there and watched her leave. These were the reasons he ran from politics. A single man can be strong, but not stronger than politics. It was an alliance made of not only the strong, but the wise. It brought the most demonic and evil brands of humans. Even with all your strength, it is impossible to fight against them. Even the strongest men are tied by politics. Silva wanted to go to the academy, but he wanted to do it at his own pace. He knew that his dreams were leading him to the academy, and he would surely go. But still, he wanted to be in control. When the director came up to him, she took away that control and made him move at her pace. The issue was not in going to the academy. The issuey in the rope that had been set around his neck. Matilda knew that Silva would not budge and that he was a hard nut to crack, so she immediately hit him where it would hurt the most--Lia. If he refused what Matilda said, he would kill Lia''s dream, and if Lia ever found out, she would be devastated and might never forgive him. The solution was simple: he had to do what Matilda said. He would just have to go to the academy. "It''s just a matter of time. Soon, no one will be able to control what I do. For now, I''ll keep quiet and slowly build my own army in the shadows. Waiting for the right time to use them, that time will be toplete whatever task Ophelia gave me. And after that, I can do whatever I want." --- Note from the author: [Sorry to put this here, SSS Ranked Reincarnation has been going for a bit now, and I''d love if you, my readers, could drop a review about the novel. Your reviews help me to make the novel better, so please drop a review for the novel, thanks in advance] Chapter 44: Alter ego The night came to an end, and this was the time for Silva to get active. If anyone wanted to assassinate the Viscount, it would be the night when things werex due to all the fun they had. Silva got outside the hall before people started leaving, and he created all ten of his clones. "What do you need from us, Original?" the clones asked. "I need you guys to scan the area and stop any attempt on the life of the Viscount or his family. If things get too far out of hand, you can always contact Fang, he''s close to the city waiting," Silva gave his instructions. "We understand," the clones said and dispersed. Now that he was done with that, he went back in to meet the Viscount. "Sir, the event is over and the Duke has left, I think it is time that we head back," Silva whispered to the Viscount, who was held up in a discussion with some nobles. "Sadly, I can''t right now, but help Fay and Ray get back to the estate. I''ll be safe; this ce is under the protection of the Duke," the Viscount said. ''I''ll be okay? Famousst words,'' Silva thought, but he didn''t say anything. He bowed and left. "This message is to the clones: I am leaving with the children. You all have to protect the Viscount. You may be strong, but don''t let your guard down even for a second," Silva said to the clones telepathically. "Your father has some more things to do here; he asked that I escort you to the estate," Silva said to Fay and Ray. _______ _______ The three of them walked under the night sky. The gentle, cool breeze pushed against their bodies as they walked the path to the estate. "Silva, do you n on attending the academy? With your abilities and skills, you would get in easily," Fay asked. "He may be too much for the academy, honestly," Ray said, looking forward as he spoke. "The Director was at the event today, and she met me with the offer of joining next year," Silva said. "Next year? You''re only going to be thirteen by then," Ray said in surprise, but then he remembered who he was talking about¡ªthis was a guy not bound bymonws. "At the very least, I''ll be your senior," Ray said. "I can''t believe we will get to go to the same ss. It will be fun with you there," Fay said eagerly. "More like dangerous. He''s way out of our league; I think only the fourth years will be a match for him," Ray said. "You guys give me too much credit, but I''ll see when I get there," Silva said. As they walked, he had long noticed three shadows following them, but he didn''t say or do anything. He kept using only public paths where some people were still awake and walking through. He refused to use any path that was sketchy. For now, he didn''t want to fight them, but the people following them started getting ahead of themselves and were approaching. So Silva ordered three clones to handle the issue, and the people following them vanished. _______ _______ The next day was the day they were to leave, but before they could go, the Duke arrived at the manor. He was followed by several guards and his daughter. As soon as the Viscount and the others saw him, they all bowed to him. "Raise your heads. I just wanted to see you before you left as a courtesy. I am your host, and it would be bad if I can''t do this much," Duke Terron said. "You have done more than enough for us, my Lord. I do not deserve more," the Viscount said. The Duke turned his attention to Silva. He frowned as soon as their eyes met¡ªsomething about this child was throwing him off. Aside from the absurd strength this child had, there was something about him that was offsetting. Was it the hair color that resembled that of his wife? What could it be that was ticking him off so much? The Duke decided to keep those thoughts for another time. This was not important for now. "Silva, I heard that you will be attending the academy next year. I look forward to what exploits you will carry out when you are there," the Duke said. Silva bowed to him but didn''t say anything. After the small discussion, the Duke allowed them to leave. The Viscount and his family, along with Silva and their guards, got into their carriages and left the estate. The Duke looked at the carriages leaving. He snapped his finger, and a guard came close to him. "Research that Silva. Gather every bit of information about him¡ªhis family, his strengths, all the details about him," the Duke ordered. Inside the carriage, Silva was also deep in thought. ''The Duke will certainly ask for my information. This may be an issue, actually. I don''t have the means to hide things from him. I''m not smart enough to outsmart the intelligence unit of the Duke. System, is there a way¡ªany skill that I can use that will help me?'' [Alter Ego, 50,000 Sp: create a secondary mind that possesses the same intelligence as you] This skill was very expensive, but when Silva read the description, he knew that it was worth it. And there was also one other thing. If he bought this skill, he would have ten minds that were all ten times more intelligent than him. That would seriously up his nning and everything else. His battle sense and everything would be out of this world. "Purchase the skill." As soon as he bought this skill, he felt his mind split into eleven parts, but his original mind stayed the same. "Whoa, this is great," one mind spoke. "Yeah, having this many minds will allow us to work better," another mind said. "You all should calm down and let OG mind talk; he needs to address us," another mind spoke. Chapter 45: Beasts, and the mystery man Silva stayed in bed for a full day after returning from the city; he wanted to regain his strength as well as understand his new skill. The ten minds that he had were all ten times as intelligent as his original, and so he had to find a way to use this. He gave charge of his body and all its functions to three minds; they would handle his movements and every body function. He gave his thinking and senses to another three; they would take care of his ideas and observation. Another three would handle his magic; whatever had to do with magic would be in their hands. And finally, thest one was given a special job. He was in charge of overseeing the jobs of the other minds and ensuring that they produced good results. He was tagged Mind 1, while the original mind was called OG mind. OG mind just had to be there, getting information from the other minds; his decision was the final and greatest. Knock knock. "Silva, it''s me, Lia." Silva heard Lia''s voice; he hadn''t seen her since he got back. He didn''t really ask about her, since he knew she was fine. He got up from the bed, stretched his body a bit, and then went to the door. Immediately he unlocked it, she pushed open the door and came into his room. "I became an adventurer, brother, at C rank," she said happily, showing him her identity card with a bright smile. Silva took a look at it. "Congrattions, but you never told me that you wanted to be an adventurer. Also, you are going to the academy next year; was there a need?" he asked. She pouted her lips and hit his chest, but not strong enough to cause any pain. "You are so dense sometimes. I became an adventurer because I wanted to go adventuring with you," she said. "Alright, I guess I haven''t really had time to be with you. I was thinking of heading out today, so we should form a party and go to thebyrinth. It will also be a good opportunity for you to test out all that you have been learning for years now," Silva said. She agreed and decided to wait for him outside while he got changed. He wore simple light armor, and that was all. He got outside, and the two of them headed out. But as soon as they opened the door, they saw someone running towards their house. "Sir Silva," the man called out, almost tripping and falling. "A monster horde! There is a pack of over a hundred wolves headed towards the town. The Viscount has asked that all mercenaries and adventurers help out. He specifically told me toe and get you," the man said. Silva looked at Lia. "Take care of Mum and Dad. We will go to thebyrinth another day." He dashed off at an inhuman speed, the ground cracking from his burst. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him and got to the gates in less than five minutes. He saw the guards and adventurers lined up in formation, waiting for the horde. The horde was just as they said, filled with wolves, up to a hundred. Silva thought this would be easy, seeing their numbers, but Fang contacted him. "Master, there are over five hundred beasts headed for your town, and most are over level fifty. Several are up to level seventy and above." "This forest doesn''t have this many. Howe?" Silva asked. "It''s the man from before, the one that caused Mike''s abomination to beplete during that time at thebyrinth. He is riding arge beast that is about level one hundred if I am not wrong," Fang said. "Alright, then keep watch and help me as much as you can in the forest. When I have the opportunity, I''ll send my clones as backup, or I''lle myself," Silva said. That man¡ªhe wanted to meet him, find out who he was and what he wanted here. This was a good opportunity to finally get to the man, but he would have to fight his way through. The wolves finally got into range and the battle started¡ªthe explosion of magic, the crushing of skulls, and the shing of swords; the sounds filled the air. Silva didn''t move yet. He took out his sword and got ready. He wanted to test out his strength as of now. He closed his eyes and let the intelligence squad make up a n in his head. In less than a second, they did and sent the information to all the minds, and with the final okay from Mind 1 and OG mind, Silva shot like a bullet. A wolf leaped into the air to bite Silva. He sidestepped, dodging the wolf by only an inch in the most effective way. He shed up and cut the wolf into two halves. [You have killed a wind wolf, 100EXP 50SP]x10 The notification came through, but immediately the intelligence squad turned off all notifications. Their calctions decided that Silva would be slightly distracted by the notifications. As soon as he finished that wolf, he took a step forward and stabbed the head of an iing wolf, prating the skull. He pulled his sword back and grabbed the wolf by the throat. He used the body to m a wolf that wasing from behind him. With all his minds working, Silva could sense 360 degrees around his body for as much as half a kilometer. There was no way any beasts would sneak up on him. He stabbed the wolf that he hit and dropped the body of the wolf he held. Three wolves leaped at him at the same time, but Silva vanished and reappeared in the air above them, cleanly decapitating all of them. Hended on the ground and looked at the battlefield. The battle was raging; lives were getting lost on both sides. Silva could salvage this situation and take care of just about a hundred wolves. In his eyes, calling all adventurers and guards was overkill. But he still decided not to do too much. He didn''t know what power that person had. If he wasted his energy here, he may not be able to stop the real threat. Chapter 46: Hidden Mission Quin noticed Silva on the battlefield and made his way to him quickly. "Silva," Quin called out. "Yeah, what''s up, bro?" Silva asked. "You are probably wondering why the Viscount would call all the adventurers and guards for some wolves, right?" Quin asked. He stabbed an iing wolf while talking and ripped his sword through its side. "Yeah, that question was in my mind. It seems like overkill, or does the Viscount know about the other hundreds of beasts in the forest?" Silva asked as he sidestepped and dodged a wolf, splitting it in half. "Seems you know already. Well, it was my team that noticed the several beasts. The wolves were just far ahead and got to the town first. The Viscount didn''t have the time to exin to everyone, but he specifically asked me to tell you to help him protect this town," Quin said. "What about the other B-ranks? And the guild master?" Silva asked. "They are the final line of defense, but you are the sword that will go forward," Quin said. "Alright, I understand what you want. I''ll go ahead then," Silva said. "Alright, my party will provide you with support," Quin said. He took out a crystal and crushed it. All the members had the same crystal on them, and as soon as Quin broke his own, theirs cracked as well. This was a crystal that allowed them to know that they were being summoned by their boss, so they all immediately headed for Quin. By now, more than half of the wolves were already dead, so the battlefield was far clearer. "Alright, we will be backing Silva up. Try to keep up," Quin said and then nodded to Silva. Quin charged towards the forest and called Fang to meet him. The party already knew about Fang, so when they saw him, they didn''t react. "Fang, were you able to take out some?" Silva asked. "Yes, I killed about ten, but then that man noticed me, so I ran away before he could do anything," Fang said. "That was a good decision. We don''t know what he is capable of just yet," Silva said. They soon came into contact with horned earth bears. A single one could stand ten feet tall, and there were more than twenty here. Their levels all ranged from 50 to 60 with high strength and defense stats over a hundred. "Take them two on one," Silva said to the party. The only person amongst them that would be able to take one on would be Quin. For the others, they wouldn''t be able to handle the strength of the bears. Silva could sense several more beasts farther in the back, but he couldn''t sense that person yet. A bear used its paw to m Silva. Silva blocked the attack with his sword, and the bear received the whish from the strike. Their strength was evenly matched. It was like a fully grown adult versus a baby. The bear was enraged that it couldn''t hit Silva, so it attacked again. Silva dodged the paw and sliced it off. The decapitated hand flew into the air. Silva leaped into the air, his intelligence squad stats calcting. With the results of their calctions, he kicked the paw at the perfect angle, causing it to shoot forward, and the ws pierced into the bear''s eyes. Silvanded, then dashed at the thrashing bear in pain. He jumped again and slit the bear''s throat cleanly. "Tsk, that was too easy," Silva said. He was immediately attacked by another bear. He moved out of the way and then kneed the bear in the head, obliterating its skull. Before the blood of the bear reached the ground, he charged at another, got on its back, and twisted the bear''s head, killing it. He had basically stopped using his sword, as he felt it was pointless. Fang was also toying with the beasts. He used his paws to yfully bat their heads off with ease. Not only was he stronger, but he also had the ten-times bonus. He would have already attacked that man, but Silva didn''t allow him to, which was why he ran away. Right now, his strength was that of an evolved beast, or even more. He was confident in that, but Silva was a cautious person. The twenty bears were killed in five minutes. Quin only managed to kill two, and his party took down two. The rest were split between Silva and Fang. "Was there really a need for us toe with Sir Silva?" Roy asked. "Of course, what if something happened to him?" Roxy said. "I feel like there is nothing in this region that can threaten Silva," Rock said. "Haha, you guys are overestimating me," Silva said. "No, Master, you are the one underestimating your power. Honestly, you are the most terrifying being I have seen. That man had taken us by surprise that day, but he didn''t give me the kind of aura you give me. When I look at you, I feel like a massive being is ring at me. The aura you exude is a mountain, and that man is a molehill," Fang exined. Silva thought about what Fang said. It wasmon for beasts to subconsciously fear stronger beings. If that was the case, then Fang was scared of Silva''s dragon. The dragon in him was visible to beasts, maybe even to humans. Silva felt a sense of pride from that. [Hidden Mission Complete: Understand yourself. You are a dragon, a prideful being. Caution is not in your nature.] [Rewards: Dragon newt form. Transform into a human-lizard form. All stats are doubled. Pride of a dragon. Your pride rises during battle, and so does your efficiency.] These messages were so important that the intelligence squad had to let Silva see them. When Silva saw it, he felt pride rising in his body. He set aside all the ns he had. He looked at his brother. "Quin, return to the town and protect it. I''ll take care of everything here," Silva said. Quin wanted to refuse, but he looked at Silva''s glowing eyes and knew that this was not a discussion. He ordered the team to move out. Roxy was reluctant, but Silva walked to her and assured her with a pat on her head that he would be fine, so she finally left with the party. Chapter 47: A doll Silva summoned all his clones, all of them stood side by side, waiting for the beasts that were headed their way. He understood that the clones all had higher stats than him, so to make everything level out, he took out the Minotaur''s axe. All the clones were armed with basic swords, but with their power, it was enough for what they needed to do. Silva got on the back of Fang, and leading the army of clones, he charged into battle as soon as the next wave of beasts came into sight. Eleven Silvas ripped through the wave like a typhoon, and nothing was left; the beasts were all decimated in seconds. They continued inward for the main army, and finally, they came head-on with the remaining beasts and the mysterious man that sat on thergest beast. As soon as the man saw the enemies, he raised his hands, and the beasts charged at Silva and his clones. The clones split into two groups of five and all used sh step to nk the man. Silva instructed Fang to st a path through the center. Fang used a powerful lightning roar, roasting all the beasts that blocked their path, and then he charged through the middle. The man riding the beast panicked. He tried to retreat a bit, but he forgot to give the beast the right instructions, and the beast ended up throwing him to the ground and almost stomping on him. He rolled out of the way and got on his feet. He took out a pin and injected the beast. It was simr to the one he used on Mike. Just like Mike, the beast started turning into an abomination, but Silva could not allow it. He didn''t know how much the strength of the beast would rise if it became an abomination. He jumped from Fang''s back and then used the new skill he had gained, which was transforming into a dragon newt. His entire body was covered in thick ck scales, his head took a lizard-type shape, and wings sprouted from his back, as well as a tail, but that was not the amazing part. With the axe in his hands, his stats had already reached over thousands, but now that was not just doubled by the skill, it was also multiplied by ten. His strength soared and hit a new high, well over ten thousand. Silva felt like there was nothing in this world that could stop him at this moment. He swung the axe down; it tore through space, creating ripples as it moved. Immediately the axe touched the beast, it was blown to smithereens, the ground was torn apart, and the man was sted away. A clone ran and caught the man; they couldn''t let him get away now, could they? That was why they nked him, in case he ran away. Now that their leader was taken down, all the beasts started running wild. Silva still had use for their exp, so the clones dealt with the beasts, and that allowed Silva to level up. [Level up, 2 free stat points] Silva walked to the man on the ground and removed his cloak, expecting to find out who he was, but what he saw was not normal. It looked like a wooden doll, it had no face, no features whatsoever, and now that Silva had looked at it, it cracked up and then turned to dust like it was made of y. It seemed that whoever that person was, he was far smarter and stronger than Silva thought. He thought that he had finally caught the man, but it was a puppet. That simply meant that the man was somewhere watching what was happening. Silva tried to think of a reason, with all his minds working at hyperdrive, but he still could note up with a good reason for this man to be attacking this town. The only two reasons were the man wanted Silva, or he wanted the dungeon. There could be another reason, but Silva had no lead. "Sigh, forget it, I can''t figure it out," Silva said. He unsummoned his clones, packed up all the dust from the doll as well as the cloak, before getting on Fang and leaving the forest. He would have to take more time to think and look into the matter; it couldn''t be rushed, but he knew for certain that the man wanted something in this town. As soon as Silva left the forest and was far gone, a tear in space appeared and the cloaked man walked out, staring in the direction Silva had gone. "So he is the one to be wary of. I''ll need to get rid of him for the sake of the n," the man said, and then disappeared. _______ ________ As Silva headed back to town, he asked Fang to stay in the forest. He went back on his feet, but before he reached the town, he felt a gaze. He turned back and looked in the direction of the gaze; he was vaguely able to sense a person, one simr to the cloaked man. Silva thought of running back into the forest to fight him, but that wouldn''t be possible. A person capable of appearing and disappearing, as well as hiding his presence, would surely escape before he got there. Silva decided not to do anything, he just waited, and when the man finally disappeared, he went into the town. Immediately he got back to town, Quin and the others came to meet him. Quin exined to him that another beast used a different route and made it to the town gates. It was as strong as the one that Silva had killed in the forest. The beast caused a lot of injuries but no deaths. They finally subdued it, and now the beast was captured alive and taken to the adventurer''s guild. Silva also had to go to the adventurer''s guild; he needed to talk to Raze about the cloaked man. If he wanted to find out the reason for the man attacking, he needed some help. Chapter 48: labyrinth After rying all that had happened to the Guild Master, they discussed a n of action on how to deal with whoever that man was. It seemed that the man was searching for something in this town, and the person who knew most about the town would be the Viscount. So the Guild Master decided that he would go and have a talk with the Viscount to try to find out what the issue was. Silva, on his own oath, decided to take a rest. He was a bit tired after using the Dragon Newt form for the first time. ________ _________ "Brother, are you ready to go?" Lia asked as she knocked on the door repeatedly in an impatient manner. "Yeah, yeah, I am almost done," Silva said, putting on his armor and opening the door. Since they didn''t have the opportunity to go to thebyrinth the other day, they had decided to go today. They left the house and headed straight for thebyrinth. Lia seemed extremely happy that she was getting to go into thebyrinth, her face was all smiles. "Alright, Lia, I need you to listen closely. You are never to stray beyond where we can see each other. If something were to happen, I need to be able to see you. Also, there may be monsters that have hidden abilities and can use them at any time. You have to keep a level head and ensure that you watch out," Silva gave his warnings. "All those are true, Brother, but I don''t have to fear all that much. After all, I still have you with me," Lia said. Silva was happy that his rtionship with his sister was not destroyed. He didn''t know how he would react if she chose not to rte with him because they weren''t siblings. ________ _________ First floor, Ribest town dungeon. Silva stood behind Lia as some goblins charged at her. She pointed her hands at them. "Ice Bullet." She cast her spell. Silva expected that it would fire only one ice bullet, but it fired more than ten,pletely decimating all the goblins. "What the hell?" he asked in shock. Lia looked at him and gave him a silly smile with her tongue out. ''Seems she has grown way more than I was expecting. Her legacy must be a high-ss one.'' "Alright, it seems you will be able to handle everything on the first floor, so I''ll just follow for safety. You''ll take care of all the monsters," Silva said. Lia nodded and started heading deeper into the dungeon. They spent a lot of time taking out monsters on the first floor and finally moved to the second floor. Like the first time, they came in contact with a chimera. Silva wanted to step in and kill it, but Lia took care of it. "Ice Coffin." She called out. Ice spread from under the chimera, covering itpletely. When the chimera waspletely covered, the ice shattered into pieces, and so did the chimera. Silva watched this in shock. So this was the power of a legacy? He couldn''t use himself as a standard for measurement because his abilities were absurd. But his sister was a perfectly normal person. Even for Quin, he would need to fight a bit to kill the chimera, yet she took it out with one spell. He decided to take a peek at her stats with Dragon Eyes. He hadn''t done it in a while. She was already level 23, and her base stats were all more than forty, but her intelligence was close to a hundred. Since intelligence was needed for casting spells, it made sense that it would be higher. Her stats were impressive, and so was her level. Their father was stuck in the 20s, yet she was able to surpass that with ease. Her legacy was surely powerful. Silva finally understood where Mike''s hate and anger stemmed from. In a family of normal adventurers, there was a son with extraordinarybat abilities and mastery of the sword, who had also be a peak C-rank adventurer. Then there was a daughter with a powerful legacy who was growing at an outstanding rate. Her future was set to be great. Lastly, there was the adopted son. He wasn''t even part of the family, yet he was the most terrifying out of all of them, andmon sense didn''t apply to him. Mike was the only normal person, and that was what ate him up. He could neverpare to his siblings, and who better to pour his rage on aside from the outsider who took his sister''s love from him? The stronger the three got, the more the hate grew in his heart. _________ ________ Silva spent until noon killing monsters with his sister, but they didn''t go past the second floor. He decided that it was enough for now, so they left thebyrinth. He wanted to take it easy on her first raid, and they could go deeper in the future. After they left, he walked her back to the town. "I''ll be heading to thebyrinth. I have to raid for myself," Silva said. "Huh? I wanted to spend the rest of the day with you as well," Liained. "Sorry, I''ll make it up to you another time," Silva said. She pouted, and then she hugged him out of nowhere. "I''ll hold you to that," she whispered into his ear before she left. Silva stood there in a bit of a daze. He didn''t know why, but she did send a shock through his entire body. After clearing his head, he headed into the forest, where he met Fang. "Are we doing it today?" Fang asked. "Yes, we will be going as deep as possible into thebyrinth. Let''s find out what''s in there," Silva said. Since the first day they entered thebyrinth, he had this feeling of a power the deeper he went, so he wanted to find what it was. When Fang and Silva arrived at the dungeon, there were many people looking at them. It was shocking to see a kid with such a massive beast, and some people were not from the town, so they didn''t know about him. As you would imagine, a party stood in his way, about to make trouble for Silva. Silva began wondering, didn''t these people already see him when he came with his sister? So the only reason they are here now to trouble him is Fang. Chapter 49: Lucas Grave The man who was the leader looked slim, and he held a long sword. The rest of the party consisted of just men, five in number. "Hey kid, why don''t you let us take a look at your pet?" The man asked with a smile that could make the devil cringe. "Why do you idiots never do any research before acting? Why don''t you think?" Silva asked. "What the hell did you say?" The man asked as he grabbed Silva by the neck. People saw what was happening, and when those who knew Silva realized it was him, they started talking. "Isn''t that Silva?" One asked. "Yeah, it''s him. Seems someone is picking on him." "The hell? Do they want an early death?" The man holding onto Silva heard some of the conversations but didn''t understand why. Who was Silva? "Do you even know how to use your head? A twelve-year-old walks around with a massive tiger beside him, yet no one has tried to do anything to him," Silva said. The man heard Silva. He thought about what Silva said, and it made sense. Added to the words of pity he had started hearing from the people watching, he knew something was wrong. Silva grabbed his hand when he felt the man''s grip loosen. "Do you think you can grab me and walk away like that? You must be delusional," Silva said. Silva''s eyes glowed, and the man shivered uncontrobly. He tried to say something, but his mouth wouldn''t open. "Hey, let go of our leader," one of the guys said. He was on the younger side and tried toe close to Silva, but Fang blocked him, roaring at the man. The man fell to the ground, ridden with fear; he couldn''t even move after Fang roared. "That''s enough, Silva," a voice came from behind. Silva had already noticed this person approaching long ago. It was the B-ranked adventurer and the number one adventurer of Ribest, Lucas Grave. He was a noble who had chosen the adventuring life and decided to stay in this town. He was a well-built man in his middle ages. He had a thick beard and neck-length hair, with a massive sword on his back. Behind him was his party, known as the Lost Winds, made up of two women, a knight and a mage, and two men, a swordsman and a healer. "Sir Lucas, it''s quite nice to see you here," Silva said without looking at Lucas. He knew Lucas'' strength. It was said that Raze was the strongest in the town, but honestly, Lucas would definitely win in any fight between them. That was because he was a terrifyingly good swordsman; no one in the town had ever made him use his true sword technique. "I don''t know what happened here, Silva, but you shouldn''t disrespect other adventurers like this," Lucas said. "Disrespect? No, that''s not it. I am simply showing this lowlife his ce. Heid his hands on me in an attempt to hurt me. I am sorry, but there''s no way I canply with your wish to let him go, not until I''m done ensuring he is punished well," Silva said. He didn''t really care about the man he held. He didn''t even have him in his sights. But Silva was stubborn due to his legacy. He would have normally not hit this man too hard, but when Lucas told him to let him go, something in him refused and rebelled against it. "Silva, we are both B-ranked adventurers. For the sake of the respect we both have, I ask that you let him go. This can be settled in a more amicable manner," Lucas said. "Not happening," Silva said. He lifted the man into the air, mmed him into the ground, lifted him again, and sent him flying with a kick. The man mmed against a tree and coughed up blood before fainting. "You bloody little brat," Lucas roared in rage. He took out his sword and charged at Silva. The ground cracked from the force of his movements, and he was like a bull rushing toward a red cloth. Silva took out his sword. As soon as Lucas swung, Silva used his sword to block the attack, then stopped him and sent a kick into Lucas'' chest. He sent Lucas back a few meters before finally stopping. "Don''t stand in my way, Sir Lucas, or the respect I have for you will diminish," Silva said as he turned and left with Fang. Everyone who witnessed the scene was filled with all sorts of thoughts and emotions. They didn''t know how to react to what had happened. Lucas looked at Silva as he entered thebyrinth, his mind filled with rage for Silva. He wanted to kill Silva, to end that little brat. ________ ________ "What you did back there, master, was there a reason?" Fang asked. "At first, I was honestly pissed at that man, but thenter I sensed Lucas. I wanted to see what the strongest person in Ribest was like. I''ve heard so much about him and the exploits he had done. So when I sensed him, I took that as my opportunity to test his strength. He wanted to show that he was the strongest, and he tried to stop the conflict. So my refusing to listen and doing what I did back there was bound to piss him off. The final straw was when he attacked me. I ensured to make him look bad in front of everyone, so I put enough strength into my counter. All this will genuinely piss him off, and he wille for me. And when he does, he will use his true strength to fight me. Then, I''ll be able to see that technique that everyone talks about," Silva exined. He and Fang walked through the first and second floors unhindered. It wasn''t until they got to the third floor that they had to start fighting. It seemed the monsters on floors one and two were scared of Fang, a natural predator. Chapter 50: Talking to the labyrinth Boom, A massive fireball exploded against the wall. Silva moved out of the way just in time to dodge the fireball. The smander that shot the fireball receded quickly into the darkness after attacking. This was the sixth floor of thebyrinth, and unlike other floors, this one had very little lighting. Silva could still see, but his enemies thought otherwise. He was facing a pack of level seventy me smanders, and they were using hit-and-run techniques to fight. Silva took the time to find out if there were any really strong ones amongst them, but it turned out that there weren''t; all were right around the same level. Since that was the case, he wanted to take them all out in one swoop. He decided to make the best use of the enemies, and that was to grow stronger. Meeting his father, the Duke, and also that cloaked man had shown him that there was so much he was yet to know in this world. "Gates of Hell." He activated the spell that consumed all souls. He took his sword and shed his hand, pouring out blood that turned to gas and then disappeared. The gate appeared and started sucking in all the smander souls. They struggled, but against Silva''s spell, it was futile. [You have killed a me smander 300EXP 150SP]x10 [You have killed a me smander 300EXP 150SP]x10 ... He gathered a ton of EXP from killing them, but it still wasn''t enough for him to get to level 42, so he decided to use "Consume" on the souls inside the Gates of Hell. "Consume." [You have gained 100 EXP]x10 [You have gained 100 EXP]x10 ... [Level up, 2 free stat points] He finally leveled up, but that was not the main thing; it was the next notification. [Consume has evolved to Gluttony] [Gluttony: Consume the strength and abilities from the opponents. When Gluttony is activated, the urge to consume will get stronger and stronger over time]x10. This skill was a double-edged sword for Silva. When he consumed a skill, he would get ten times the power of the skill when it was with the owner, but also, the urge he would feel to consume would be ten times stronger than it would normally be. Still, it was clearly a powerful skill, one that would raise his power faster than before. There was no better ce to try out a skill called Gluttony except for thebyrinth, so Silva activated the skill and headed deeper with Fang. "The upper floors are too weak," Silva said. "No, Master, you are just too strong," Gnat responded. "Fang, I noticed that your base strength is far too high for the ce where I found you. What was that?" Silva asked. "Hmm, thebyrinth spoke to me on a normal day. I think I was in a deep floor, and then I heard the voice. It promised me my freedom as long as I went to a particr floor and waited for some days. I did as I was told and went there to wait, and after some days of waiting, you finally came by," Fang exined. "Then you mean thisbyrinth is alive? Not only that, but it can also see the future?" Silva asked. "I don''t know for sure, but that was what happened," Fang said. As they headed deeper, they didn''te across any beasts, but then, all of a sudden, the ground began to shake. The floor burst open, and seven dragon heads made of ck-looking metal came out. Their presence was terrifying, and as they roared at the same time, thebyrinth shook. They came out of the ground fully. Their massive body was like that of a dragon, but without any wings. All heads locked on Silva and Fang as soon as they appeared. "Is that a hydra?" Silva wondered aloud. It wasn''t a real hydra, though, and was some sort of mechanical hydra or metal golem. The hydra opened all its mouths and immediately fired seven streaks of purple me that all merged at the center to create a more massive st. Fang jumped in front of Silva, opened his mouth, and fired a powerful stream of lightning that collided with the hydra''s st and canceled it out. Silva took the time to look at the stats of the hydra, and he discovered that the hydra had no levels, but it had an average stat of over one thousand. "Something that strong shouldn''t be on this floor," Silva said. As he said that, he heard a cheeky giggleing from all around thebyrinth. It seemed it was thebyrinth itself that made thatugh. "Fang, is that the voice that spoke to you?" Silva asked. "Yes indeed, Master. That was the voice," Fang said as he got ready to take another attack from the hydra. ''Then thebyrinth must be watching us for some reason,'' Silva thought. He looked around and then yelled. "What do you want from us?" he asked. "Kill the hydra, and you will find out," the little voice said again. Silva was curious and wanted to know, so he decided that they would kill the hydra quickly. "Fang, take him out," Silva ordered. "With pleasure, my Lord," Fang said, and his body vanished, appearing behind the hydra. His ws crackled with lightning as he shed into the base of the necks. He decapitated all seven heads at once. The body of the hydra fell to the ground and then vanished, leaving a small crystal behind. Silva walked to the crystal and picked it up. [Teleportation crystal acquired. Destination has already been set. Do you wish to use the crystal?] "Fang,e closer to me," Silva said, and Fang came close. "Use the crystal," Silva said. [Please pour some Mana to activate the crystal.] Silva did that, and the crystal lit up brightly. A magical circle appeared under them, and their bodies started disappearing. They vanished from the floor, taken to wherever that crystal''s destination was set. [If you readers would like a discord tform to talk about the book and also ask me questions, drop ament on this chapter, thanks] Chapter 51: Fighting a guardian Silva and Fang appeared before a massive door, but the door was not the issue; it was the massive pressure that came from behind it. Silva felt like he would suffocate while standing there. He didn''t want to take another step, but a force started pushing both of them. The doors opened, and they were forced into what looked like an extremely massive throne room. There was nothing in this throne room aside from the being that sat on the throne with its head down. All the pressure came from that being. Silva''s heart was racing for the first time; he had never felt this tense in his life. If not for the pressure he was feeling, he would have run away for sure. The force pushed them until they stood halfway through the throne room. The being on the throne looked smallish, like a child. "You are finally here," the being spoke. Its voice was small and childish, like a little girl. She looked up at both of them, and the pressure intensified, but Silva still felt tense in her presence. She was a child with jet ck hair and two horns on her head. She got up from her throne and walked toward them, with ck dragon wings and a dragon tail. Her long ck gown dragged on the floor as she walked. Silva felt his heart beating faster than normal as she approached. What would he do to get out of this situation? He wanted to activate the Joker of the Abyss, but then he heard the girl''s voice in his head. "Don''t do that," she said. Her voice suppressed his Mana and stopped the activation of the Joker of the Abyss. The Joker of the Abyss was his strongest spell. If that didn''t work, there was really nothing he could do. Only her voice could suppress him. She got closer and closer to them until finally, she stood right in front of Silva. She opened her arms, and Silva believed that his end hade. But instead, he felt her arms wrap around him tightly. She buried her head in his chest as much as she could and didn''t let go. [The Labyrinth of the Dark Dragon has been transferred to you. Do you wish to ept?] "Wait, what the hell? What''s this?" Silva asked. He removed the girl from his body and gave her a very confused look. "Did you do something just now?" he asked. The shock he felt now overpowered the fear he had. She giggled and gave him a very cheeky smile. "I transferred thebyrinth to you," she said, as if it were nothing. Fang immediately fell to his butt when he heard that, while Silva looked on in disbelief. "What? Wait, why?" His head was filled with tons of questions. What the hell was going on here? "I''ll exin everything you want, but now you must ept thebyrinth and fight the guardian." "Guardian? What guardian?" Silva asked. "For me to transfer thebyrinth to you, you must prove that you are strong. That was the reason I sent powerful monsters your way for you to get strong, and that''s why I sent Fang. I did all that so that the day you came here, you would be strong enough to defeat the guardian. You weren''t supposed toe here so fast. I was supposed to help you get even stronger, but you wanted toe, so hehe." The girl said. "The fuck is ''hehe''? You want to kill me? Send me back. I have a feeling that this guardian will not be simple at all," Silva said. "Toote. I no longer have control over thebyrinth. I transferred it to you. If you don''t ept it, thebyrinth will self-destruct and kill all of us. And if you ept it, you have to fight the guardian. Those are the only options now," the girl said. ''Fuck, this girl just set me up,'' Silvained in his thoughts. There was no choice now. "I ept ownership of thebyrinth," Silva said. [Ownership has been transferred to you] [Congrattions on your ownership] [50,000 EXP gained, 50,000 SP, 500 SP] x10 Silva nearly passed out from shock at the rewards he got. Maybe bing the owner was not so bad. [Level up, 2 free stat points] [Level up, 2 free stat points] [Level up, 2 free stat points] [Level up, 2 free stat points] ... [Congrattions on reaching level 50. Gift box in inventory. All stat points increased by 2, x10] [Level up, 2 free stat points] [Level up, 2 free stat points] By the time he finished leveling up, he was at level 55. Silva just stood there with his mouth open. His stats were no longer human. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 800,000 **EXP:** 10,000/45,000 **SP:** 700,000 **Level:** 55 **Strength:** 690 **Defense:** 690 **Speed:** 690 **Agility:** 690 **Intelligence:** 690 **Free stat points:** 6,000 Silva had just be strong in an instant. He had so many stat points to distribute that his mouth began to water. He didn''t know the strength of this guardian, so he had to get ready quickly. "Add a thousand points to all stats." He decided to leave 1,000 stat points for emergencies. The sudden spike in his stats caused a massive pain in his body. Silva fell to his knees and coughed up blood. Fang wanted to help him, but the girl blocked him. "Don''t. He is preparing for his fight; don''t interrupt him," she said. After a few seconds, the pain subsided, and Silva got back on his feet. He wiped his mouth, and with a determined look on his face, he waited for the guardian. **Strength:** 1,690 **Defense:** 1,690 **Speed:** 1,690 **Agility:** 1,690 **Intelligence:** 1,690 **Free stat points:** 1,000 This was what his current stats looked like. A teleportation circle appeared in the hall, and a massive wyvern came out of it. Silva tried to use Dragon Eyes on it, but for the first time since he got the skill, he couldn''t see anything. Additionally, he received a grievous whish for trying to peer into the stats of the wyvern. Chapter 52: Technique over brute force Silva took slow steps back because of the pain that hit him just now; the whish was on another level. Silva had one thought in all his minds right now: this was going to be the greatest fight he had fought so far. There was no holding back; he would have to pull all the stops. "Fang, support me to the best of your abilities," Silva said. He took out the Minotaur''s rage, his stats increased to about ten thousand, but even with this power, he didn''t feel like he could handle that wyvern. The wyvern took the axe in Silva''s hand as a sign to start. It pped its wings and shot at Silva so fast that it caused a sonic boom. Fang jumped in front of Silva, summoning all his strength. He came in with a paw attack. The wyvern saw the paw, but it didn''t slow down. It opened its mouth and bit into the paw of Fang. Faster than Fang could react, the wyvern used its mouth to throw him so far that he mmed into a wall and cracked it. Silva saw that and it sent shivers up his body. Fang had stats of about eight thousand, yet he was tossed like a bag of potatoes. The wyvern looked at Silva and fired a thick stream of purple mes. Silva used the axe to block the attack, but the force behind it sent him flying. He rolled through the ground for a dozen meters beforeing to a stop. He got up from the ground as he sensed the wyverning from above. He moved out of the way just in time to dodge the wyvern, but the wyvern was too fast and smart. It swung its tail, it crackled like a whip, hit Silva in his chest, and sent him flying once more. Even with all his minds working at full power, he couldn''t escape the wyvern. The power of the wyvern simply dominated his in all ways. The wyvern was not ready to allow Silva to get up. It opened its mouth to fire another stream of fire, but before it could, Fang mmed into the wyvern and managed to push it down. Fang had charged himself up with all the lightning he could. It allowed him to go fast enough to gather enough speed to hit the wyvern down. Fang tried to pin the wyvern down, but the wyvern bit deeply into Fang''s shoulder and ripped out a chunk of flesh. "Roar!" Fang cried out in pain. He dropped his guard, and the wyvern used that. It pushed Fang off its body and then went in for a finishing bite. Dark des, numbering hundreds, rushed at the wyvern, disrupting the wyvern from finishing Fang. It used its wings to block the des. When the des stopped and the wyvern took away its wings, it saw Silva up in the air,ing down with a powerful sh. The wyvern adapted to Silva''s speed and was about to counter, but Silva transformed into his dragon newt form. His speed increased massively, and with the axe, strength ripped from the power. The wyvern as well was terrified by the attack; it got out of the way as fast as it could. The axe hit the ground and caused a massive explosion; a fifty-meter radius was wiped out by just that move. The wyvern knew that attack would have killed it. It couldn''t allow Silva to gather the strength for another attack. It rushed at Silva and fired a thick stream of mes. Silva summoned all his clones; this was not the time for him to try to do it alone. Aside from the fact that the clones were all stronger than him, there was safety in numbers as well. All the clones used darkness magic to create arge dome that covered them all. The dome was thick enough to block the attack, but barely. Immediately after the stream of mes stopped, the entire dome shattered. The clones all charged in different directions, trying to nk the wyvern. Silva ran towards Fang. He gave him a healing potion, and his wounds began healing up. Fang got back on his feet and charged at the wyvern. Silva used his dragon newt transformation, increasing his strength even more. He needed to get another chance to attack like the one he did before. He could tell that the guardian was scared of that attack. "OG mind, we have a way that could work innding a good enough attack," one intelligence mind spoke. "Yes, all the clones should be thinking this as well. You just have to transform, all of you, as you fight you pass the Minotaur''s rage around, acting like you will be the one to attack," another mind said. "Yes, and that would confuse the wyvern, and at the end of the day, you will be able to kill it with a surprise blow when it is too confused," another mind said. "I see, that makes sense, then let''s give it a try. Body minds, you will need to give this your all," Silva said. He ryed the n to the clones, and just like his minds said, the clones also had simr ideas. They all transformed into the dragon newt form. This sudden transformation threw the wyvern off. Fang took that advantage and sted its head with a thick stream of lightning. The head of the wyvern swung like a pendulum that had been struck. It forced its head to stabilize. When it looked forward, it saw Silva headed its way with the axe. It immediately tried to st Silva with mes, but Silva threw the axe and then used sh step to escape. This pass-and-dash method continued until it was very fast and had made the wyvern dizzy and confused. Its fear of that attacknding didn''t allow it to think straight. This happened until the perfect opening was found and Silva lifted into the air, with all the power and all the force, and was about tond the hit. Chapter 53: Jokers Logic The Wyvern sensed the attack, but it was toote. The axe dug into its shoulder deeply, so deep that the cracking of bones could be heard as the axe ripped through. The wound was sorge that the arm looked like it would fall off at any given time. The Wyvern fell to the ground in pain. Silva heaved a sigh of relief, transformed back to normal, and walked to the side of the Wyvern. He wanted tond the finishing blow. But in that instant, all his warning bells sounded in his head. Before he could react, the tail of the Wyvern mmed into his chest. It hit with so much force that Silva''s ribs shattered, and his body shot like a bullet into a wall. The attack knocked Silva out, and that caused all his clones to disappear, leaving only Fang standing. The Wyvern got back on its feet, its wounds healed uppletely, sealing them. But the aura around the Wyvern changedpletely¡ªit looked very angry. The eyes of the Wyvern glowed red, and it charged at Fang. It wanted to finish Fang off and then handle Silva. Fang stood his ground. He roared and fired a thick stream of lightning. The Wyvern countered with a stream of mes that overpowered the lightning. The mes hit Fang, sending him rolling until he hit a wall and stopped. The Wyvern walked toward Silva; now that Fang was out of the way, it could deal with Silva. Fang saw the Wyvern. He couldn''t let his master be harmed. He channeled all his lightning into his body and used it to dash. His speed caused a sonic boom, and the wall cracked as well. He became like a bolt of lightning as he collided with the Wyvern, sending it flying. Though Fang initiated the attack, the bacsh he received was great, as he too was thrown into a wall. Both Fang and the Wyvern got up at almost the same time. The Wyvern shook off the impact of the attack, but the same could not be said for Fang. His head was bleeding, and his body was trembling. He was at the end of his strength, running on fumes, and even that was about to run out. But still, he couldn''t let Silva get hurt; he had to do something. He summoned all the lightning he could. His body became like a shining light as the bolts crackled around him. But this was very dangerous, as his body was tearing up. Yet he refused to give up and kept going. He used all that force to charge at the Wyvern and mmed into it. This time, only the Wyvern was sent flying. But Fang was no better. His consciousness was fading, but to his surprise, the Wyvern stood back up. Fang tried to stand, to not fall, to not give up, but his body wasn''t responding. Then he felt a hand on him and heard a voice. "You did well to protect me; now let me do the same for you," Silva said. When Fang heard that, it was as though a switch in his head was turned off, and he fainted. [Summon Fang has reached the level of Evolution.] [Evolution has begun.] "It seems your sacrifice has paid off, Fang. Just stay there and peacefully evolve; I''ll handle this now," Silva said. He walked closer to the Wyvern with slow, steady steps. The Wyvern felt uneasy and became cautious. The look in Silva''s eyes caused it to panic. "Summon all clones," Silva said, and all his clones appeared. "Joker of the Abyss!" all the clones called out at the same time, and they all transformed. The Wyvern didn''t know what was going on, but it knew that when they all transformed, there was danger. It spewed a stream of mes in a circr motion to deal with them all at once, but Silva and the clones pulled cards out of their decks, creating all sorts of defensive items that warded off the mes. Then they charged all at the same time. Two clones leaped into the air. They drew their cards, and this time it was a joker card. They threw the cards past the Wyvern, and immediately upon passing the Wyvern, they teleported to where the cards were. The joker card allowed the joker to teleport to where the card was, and so they used it to get close to the Wyvern. Then they took out other cards that transformed into weapons. They allnded their attacks, and deep wounds showed on the head of the Wyvern. After the first time Silva had used the joker, he tried to find out more about it, and with the help of the system, he was able to get the information he needed. The Joker of the Abyss was a being with an infinite amount of cards, but he only had a twenty percent chance of pulling what he needed. But with Silva''s ten times buff, he had a two hundred percent chance, which meant he could never pick what he didn''t want. Every draw from the deck would be something he needed. With that in mind, he could pull out any legendary weapon to fight here. The joker was his greatest strength. Even though that dragon girl was able to stop him from using it, this Wyvern couldn''t. And so, now he would go all out to finish the Wyvern. But even with the joker activated, the Wyvern was shockingly able tond some hits on the clones, sending them flying, but the wounds had begun gathering as they used all manner of cards to attack. The Wyvern was too preupied to notice that Silva had transformed into his dragon newt form and was holding the Minotaur''s Rage in his hand, charging up for an attack. All of a sudden, all the clones distanced themselves from the Wyvern. The Wyvern got confused as to why, but when it looked up, it saw Silvaing from above with a powerful attack. The Wyvern knew there was no dodging that. The axe was about to hit the Wyvern''s head, but a powerful force suddenly stopped the attack. Chapter 54: the dark dragons (extra chapter) Silva didn''t understand what stopped him. He thought it was something the wyvern did, but as he looked at the wyvern, he saw it bowing. "Congrattions," the dragon girl said. She ran up to him; she had been watching the fight, and it had kept her on edge so many times. She was happy that Silva still managed to pull through. "Did I win?" Silva asked. "Yes, that force that stopped you was thebyrinth. It couldn''t allow you to just kill one of the strongest beings in thebyrinth. It would be the same thing as killing your own forces," she exined. "It is as she said, my Lord. I was utterly defeated by you; I acknowledge your power." The voice of the wyvern boomed through the hall. Silva looked at the wyvern and then the girl. Even though he had won, there were a ton of questions on his mind. She noticed that, so she tugged on his hand and pulled him to the throne. She sat him down there and then stood in front of him. "You have a lot of questions, so I''ll start by introducing myself. I beg you to just listen and ask me questions after I have finished the exnation," she said. Silva nodded; he wanted an exnation, so he had no issues. "My name is Elsa, thest descendant of the Dark Dragon, and also the ruler of this ce. You humans call it abyrinth. The Dark Dragon created this ce as his home, but due to his powerful aura, it caused monsters to spawn here. For many years, he lived here with all the other Dark Dragons of his family, but soon he died. Even I don''t know the history of how he died or how the whole tribe died out. All I know is that my mum died some months after birthing me here. All that I know is what she taught me during the few months she was with me. She told me that I have to watch this ce as the ruler and wait for the return of the ancestor, the Dark Dragon. She told me that he could be from any race, but he would bear the power of the Dark Dragon, and that no matter where he was, his destiny would pull him here to be the master of this ce. I stayed here for over a hundred years waiting for the person she spoke of, but for the past hundred years, no one of that identity came. But then, twelve years ago, I felt a strange energy, one that connected with me. Could this be the bearer of the power that my mum spoke of? I didn''t know, so I decided to watch. I watched you for all these years until the day I was certain that even if you weren''t the person she spoke of, you had something to do with the person. And so I made it so that the humans would find this ce, and then finally one day you came in. That was when I started aiding you to get stronger," Elsa exined as best as she could. "I see, I understand all that you said. I don''t know if I am the one your mother spoke of, but I know that I have a connection to the Dark Dragon, as I received his power. Humans have something called a legacy, where they inherit the power of beings that once lived in this world, and I inherited that of the Dark Dragon," Silva said. "Then it has to be you, and now since you have the power of the ancestor, you are basically my father," Elsa said with a broad smile. "What the flipping hell did you just say? How did youe up with that logic?" Silva asked. Did this dragon go senile from staying underground for too long? "Well, you are basically the Dark Dragon, the one that gave birth to the whole tribe. Of course, you are my father," she responded. "No, no, no, that logic feels like it was picked from a rubbish heap. There is no way I can be your father; I''m freaking twelve, and you are well over a hundred years," Silva said. Elsa looked at him with teary eyes and then burst into tears. She wailed so loudly that it pierced Silva''s ears. ''What the hell is this? I can''t even stand against her. She is far stronger and older than me, yet she is crying because I said I''m not her father?'' Silva thought. Elsa didn''t stop; she kept crying until Silva could no longer take it, so he walked over and hugged her. "I''m sorry, you can call me father if you want," Silva said. He had to force those words out of his mouth; it wasn''t easy. Immediately he said that, she stopped like a tap that was turned off. A smile appeared on her face, a very cheeky one. "Hehe, yay, I won," she said and skipped around. This was the second time she had yed him. He let out a sigh and just gave up. What was the point of arguing? "Elsa, I want to use Dragon Eyes on you to see your stats. Am I allowed?" Silva asked. "No, your strength is too low. Even if I allowed you to see it, you would still receive a bacsh that would kill you," Elsa said. ''Is that how great the gap between us is? She must be out-of-this-world strong,'' Silva thought. "Then what about Wyvern, sir? Can I take a look at him?" Silva asked. "Yes, you should be able to safely look at his, and since he is your servant now, he won''t be hiding it from you again," Elsa exined. Silva looked over at the wyvern. The wyvern bowed its head in response. **Guardian Wyvern** Lvl 20 (Evolved) **Strength:** 25,000 **Defense:** 25,000 **Speed:** 30,000 **Agility:** 25,000 **Intelligence:** 20,000 Silva nearly screamed at the stats of a being that had evolved. He subconsciously looked at Fang, wondering how Fang''s stats would look. Chapter 55: the guardians Now that everything was handled, Elsa started exining how the Labyrinth worked. "The Labyrinth is one massive living construct, and it is now connected to you father. I don''t know how, but the Labyrinth is self-sufficient, it uses the life force and bodies of all the beings that died in the Labyrinth," Elsa said. "So what you''re saying is that it consumes the beings that die to sustain itself, and then the extra humans that die here will be consumed so that the Labyrinth will grow," Silva said. "That''s basically all there is to it," Elsa replied. "Then what about the time when it was hidden, the period when the Labyrinth was not open for people to enter?" Silva asked. "It self-sustained, with my help, that is. Once every few days I release my aura, and the magic particles spread through the Labyrinth, creating more monsters. So the number of monsters is always up. The Labyrinth consumes the older monsters whenever I release my aura, paving the way for the younger ones to take control. That has been the path followed for all these years. But now that the Labyrinth is open, I don''t need to do it, because the humans that die here are enough resources to sustain the Labyrinth and create new monsters," she exined. "I understand, but I have one question. Aside from being in charge of all the monsters, what other gains do you have as the owner of the Labyrinth?" Silva asked. "Hehe, that''s simple. The Labyrinth umtes all the energy it absorbs, and then once a month, it uses it for what is needed, and also gives one percent of the energy to the owner, basically increasing the strength of the owner. I know that one percent seems very low, but when you look at the size of this Labyrinth with over fifty floors, the energy it gathers is not little. So one percent is still a massive amount," Elsa said. Silva didn''t feel bad about the one percent, because for him it would be ten percent due to his ten times buff. He could barely hold in his smile; he tried his best to control his emotions. "So what task do I have now that I am the leader? Is there anything special for me to do?" Silva asked. "No need to worry about that, Father. I''ll be the one to handle it for you. I understand that you have to get stronger and do certain things, so I wouldn''t want you to be distracted. The only reason I handed over the Labyrinth was because it was to be yours, but I have no issues continuing the work for a while," Elsa said. Silva subconsciously patted her head when she said that. He felt relieved because he really needed to train more. But when he looked at the face of Elsa, she had a triumphant smile on her face. Silva didn''t understand why, but he felt like he was yed again. "But before anything else, Father, you need to know the main monsters that live in the Labyrinth. The Wyvern you fought is one of the weaker ones, actually," Elsa said. "What the hell? Weaker?" Silva asked in shock. He couldn''t believe that this Labyrinth would have monsters stronger than the Wyvern. A bright light shone in the Labyrinth, and then seven figures appeared, all bowing their heads. There were six of them plus the Wyvern, making seven. These were all the guardians of the Labyrinth, the strongest of the monsters in the maze, but calling them monsters didn''t seem proper, as some looked humanoid and very intelligent. From the left was a half-spider, half-human. She had pretty white hair, and her upper human body was bare, revealing her ample chest. She had a seductive glint in her eyes, something that would make men fall for her even if she was a spider. It took a good amount of mental fortitude for Silva to resist. "My Lord, my name is Sx, an Arachnid and the fourth Guardian," she spoke and bowed once again. Her voice waspletely sensual, sending shivers up Silva''s spine, but he tried not to let it show. "Nice to meet you, Guardian Sx, and thank you for having me as your master," Silva said. "It is my pleasure," she responded. "If you will allow me, may I see your strength?" Silva asked. "Most definitely, my Lord," she agreed readily. Silva activated his dragon eyes on her. Guardian Arachnid, Sx Level 40 (Evolved) **Strength:** 40,000 **Defense:** 45,000 **Speed:** 50,000 **Agility:** 55,000 **Intelligence:** 50,000 There was only one thing on Silva''s mind when he saw this: if this was the guardian he had fought, he would have most definitely lost the battle. And ording to her, she was only number four, which meant there were three stronger than her. Silva became eager to see their strength. "You are pretty strong. I feel if you were the one I fought, I would have never won," Silva said to Sx. "Your praises are wasted on me," she responded and let out a giggle that made Silva''s body heat up. ''If I want to keep my sanity and body, I better keep my distance from Sx,'' Silva made a mental note. If he wasn''t careful, he might find himself banging this arachnid. The next guardian was the Minotaur. He stood at over ten feet tall with a massive axe on his back. "What''s your name?" Silva asked. "My name is Zack, my Lord, the sixth guardian here," Zack introduced himself. Silva went through the same procedure and checked Zack''s stats. Guardian Minotaur, Zack Level 25 (Evolved) **Strength:** 30,000 **Defense:** 30,000 **Speed:** 25,000 **Agility:** 20,000 **Intelligence:** 20,000 Zack seemed to be a monster focused on strength and defense, while his speed and agility fell short of the others. The next person was one that didn''t sit well with Silva. It was a small girl, around ten years old, with fairy wings on her back. She looked the smallest, but Silva felt a terrible auraing from her. He didn''t know why, but he was about to find out. Chapter 56: Vampire Before Silva could even ask the fairy for her name, she introduced herself. "I am Lily, the fairy, the second guardian." ''Second?'' Silva couldn''t believe that she was the second guardian. "Alright, Lily, nice to meet you," Silva said. She smiled back at Silva, but the smile set his mind at unease; he didn''t know why. He went ahead to try using his dragon eye to see her stats. **Guardian Fairy, Lily** Level 80 (Evolved) **Strength:** 100,000 **Defense:** 100,000 **Speed:** 100,000 **Agility:** 100,000 **Intelligence:** 100,000 **Magic:** 10,000,000 "What the hell?" Silva couldn''t hold himself back from shouting. Her stats looked like something a child writing a novel would do. All the stats were the same, aside from the fact that they were all a hundred thousand. Her breath alone would crush Silva, and here he was standing as their leader. He suddenly felt a mountain of pressure press down on him; it became harder to breathe. Then there was the magic stat. The dragon eyes didn''t normally show magic, but in her case, it did, and the number was simply absurd¡ªten million mana points. Even Silva, who was proud of his mana, couldn''te close. He was simply at 800 thousand, while she was at ten million. While he thought about how absurd this was, his eyes moved to Elsa. Elsa had said that he wouldn''t be able to see her stats. Lily had such high stats, yet he was able to see Lily''s stats. If this was the case, it simply meant that Elsa''s stats were much higher than Lily''s. This was a wake-up call to Silva. He was a frog in a small pond. He was considered the strongest in his town, yet look at the beings he was facing. ''I have to be cautious from here on out. If thisbyrinth has such beings, it simply means there are several like them all over the world, and even more powerful ones as well. If I act too rashly and draw attention, they''ll see me as a growing threat and take me out easily. I have to keep a low profile, just enough to not catch their eyes.'' "Lily, your magic, it''s out of this world," Silva said. "Indeed, my magic is second only to Lady Elsa''s," Lily said. That statement made Silva wonder about Elsa''s strength again. He looked at Elsa, and she gave him her innocent smile. After Lily was the wyvern. They had already met, but Silva didn''t know his name yet. "Since master has seen my strength already, I''ll only tell him my name," the Wyvern said. "I am the seventh Guardian, Wyvern Kratos." Silva nodded to the wyvern and then looked at the next person. It was an orc, but he looked like a human man aside from the horn on his head. He had a smile, but his muscles still trembled with power. "My name is Maru, the fifth guardian and an Orgre, I look forward to working with you," he said. **Guardian Orgre, Maru** Level 40 (Evolved) **Strength:** 35,000 **Defense:** 30,000 **Speed:** 35,000 **Agility:** 35,000 **Intelligence:** 35,000 Now, all that remained were the third guardian and the first guardian. The third guardian was a snakedy. She was half snake, half human like the arachnid, with glistening ck and green scales. She carried the same sensual air. Silva was beginning to think this was somethingmon to demon humans. "My lord, my name is Jade, the demi-leviathan guardian," she said with a smile, but the smile made Silva fear for his manhood. Just like with Sx, he decided to stay away from this snake. **Guardian Jade, Demi-Leviathan** Level 70 (Evolved) **Strength:** 90,000 **Defense:** 100,000 **Speed:** 95,000 **Agility:** 95,000 **Intelligence:** 90,000 Her stats were almost as absurd as the fairy''s. She was indeed powerful. Now, it was time for the main event of the day: the stats of the number one being. He lookedpletely human, aside from his longer ears and glowing red eyes. His skin was pale as paper, and he had sharp canines. "My lord, I am Drake, the vampire guardian and the number one guardian. I''ll be the one to be by your side for most of the time," Drake said. Silva wanted to try using his dragon eyes, but Drake raised his hand to stop him. "Just like Lady Elsa, I advise you not to attempt to see my stats. It may not kill you, but the bacsh will most definitely keep you bedridden for days," Drake exined. "He is correct. His power is not simply higher than our little fairy Lily''s; it is so high that it would take all the guardians to fight him, and they would still lose in the end," Elsa said. "You praise me too much, mydy," Drake said. ''Another overly powerful being. I am curious, but I shouldn''t be reckless.'' "Thank you all for epting me as your leader. You are all very powerful beings. I am not close to being worthy of being your leader, but here I am. So to that end, I promise that I''ll do my utmost best to get stronger, to be someone worthy of being your leader. I''ll need your help to that end, so I hope we can work well together," Silva said. ________ ________ The whole thing had been a very stressful and great experience for Silva, but he had to head out at the end of the day. He left Fang in Elsa''s care and teleported to the tenth floor before making his way towards the upper floors. Now that he was the owner of thebyrinth, he could teleport wherever he wanted in thebyrinth, and the monsters would also noty their hands on him unless he willed it. These were all pretty good perks, but now he could no longer kill these monsters for exp, because they had basically be his army. As he headed out, he made it to the sixth floor, and there he came face to face with Lucas and his party, Chapter 57: Domination When Lucas spotted Silva, his face changed into one of anger immediately; it was evident that he was still pissed. But now, Silva was no longer interested in Lucas, because he hade to thebyrinth and had seen beings that went beyond the normal concept of power. To him now, Lucas was an ant, not worth even stepping on. His pride as a dragon would be hurt if he brought himself so low as to fight this ant. So, because of that, he paid them no heed and headed on his way, but as he was about to pass, Lucas raised his sword to block him. "I challenge you to a duel, tomorrow at the Guild''s arena," Lucas said. "I won''t being," Silva said and continued on his way. "Be careful what you choose, Silva. I may not be able to trouble your existence, but I know you will leave this town soon, and then Mike and Quin will be in my hands," Lucas said. Silva paused when he heard that threat, and he shed a smile at Lucas. "I see, so that''s how you y. Well, after tomorrow, no one will have to worry about you," Silva said and walked away. He wasn''t angry at what Lucas had said, it was just an ant taking opportunities; there was no issue with that. But still, tomorrow, the town would lose its strongest for sure¡ªSilva didn''t have ns to show mercy. He left thebyrinth after a while and headed back into the town before it got dark. He headed straight home. On his way home, he felt a presence¡ªno, even more than one. With his powerful mind, he sensed over twenty cloaked people running through the town. "Seems they are making their move. I should discuss with Raze after the fight tomorrow," Silva said and headed inside. From that night till the next day, the word of the duel spread faster than wildfire on dry leaves. The duel was scheduled for noon, and no adventurer wanted to miss it; in fact, no one wanted to miss it. The guild master had to loan a projection crystal from the mayor. It worked like a normal projector, but it projectedrge holograms into the sky. This one was sorge that the whole town would be able to see. It also produced the sounds that it recorded. The smallest crystal would be set inside the arena to capture the fight, while the bigger one projected. This was just how big of a deal the two well-known B-ranked adventurers'' sh was. When it was time for the match, Silva decided to gote by over ten minutes. Talks that maybe he ran away from the fight filled the arena as everyone waited for Silva. Finally, Silva arrived in casual clothes, not armor. He got to his ce in the arena and faced Lucas, who was all armored up. In his hand was his giant sword, ready to go. "I thought you would chicken out and run, but instead, you came to me empty-handed to insult me," Lucas said. "Just shut up and let the duel begin," Silva said. The referee saw that they were both ready, and so he raised his hand and brought it down to signify the start of the duel. "I will make you cry, kid. Your strength has gone to your head for far too long," Lucas said. The rage in his eyes could not be hidden as he kicked off the ground. He charged like a mad bull, yet his movements were precise, with the proper intent. Anyone could tell that his movements were a life''s worth of training, slowly umted and burned into his body. Sadly, to Silva, who stood on the opposite side, it was nothing but a bore¡ªso boring that he yawned loudly and smacked his lips after. Everyone was taken aback by this. Silva was clearly not taking this seriously. Did he have a death wish? This was the strongest adventurer in this town, after all. Raze, who was watching from his office in the guild, could already tell that Lucas had lost the fight. Silva, though he looked bored, was already watching Lucas and plotting the quickest way to take him out, but Lucas was too preupied with his rage to see the truth. Lucas was filled with rage when Silva did that right in front of him. He couldn''t hold himself back anymore. He activated his most powerful technique¡ªthe sword glowed blood red. Lucas swung with all his might. The de moved so fast that the normal eye would not be able to see. Silva threw a casual punch at the iing de, and when his fist collided with the de, an explosion happened, and a figure shot like a bullet in one direction and was lodged very deep into the wall. Of course, that person was Lucas. Immediately when Silva''s fist collided with Lucas''s sword, several things happened. Before the sword shattered, a massive force was passed through the sword into Lucas''s arms, shattering the bones inside like they were all made of crackers. The sword shattered, and the particles were all pushed toward Lucas because of the force of the punch. They stabbed several ces in Lucas''s body, leaving him with several holes. Thest thing that happened was that the force from the punch mmed against Lucas''s chest, cracking and breaking several ribs, and then sending him flying. Lucas hit the wall, and that caused its own set of injuries. When he fell to the ground, he wasn''t awake. Heck, they didn''t even know if he was alive. But Silva had made sure to leave him alive; this town still needed their strongest. Silva wouldn''t be here for too long. All eyes shifted to Silva, who stood casually after destroying the strongest. No one knew how to feel at this moment, so they didn''t react at all, just stood confused. Silva left the arena without looking back. Today, he showed a little bit of his power for the sake of a warning, and also to attract attention. Sure, he said if he overdid things it would be an issue, but he also wanted to be trending news that would ring in the ears of the Duke. He had a little revenge n, after all. Chapter 58: Lilys question "After my talk with the Viscount, there is nothing of notice in this town, the only thing would be the Labyrinth. And since you said that the first time you saw him was at the Labyrinth, it is possible that it had something to do with the Labyrinth," Raze said to Silva as they sat in the office. "But they have also been moving around town. I sensed them the other day. They are nning something," Silva said. Suddenly, he felt something was wrong. There was a barrier forming around the town. "There is an issue right now, Guild Master," Silva said and got on his feet. Immediately, an adventurer burst through the door, his breathing was heavy, but he tried to still speak. "Guild Master, about ten cloaked men were found around the town. They activated some sort of magical circle, and now a barrier is forming around the town," the man ryed. "It makes sense now. They must have been studying the town as well as drawing this circle in order to trap us inside. Then they can go to the Labyrinth for whatever they have to do," Raze deduced. "It must be very calcted because Lucas is still healing, and all other rank B adventurers are also within this town as well," Raze pointed out again. "So they ensured that anyone that would rtively be a threat is inside the barrier, and they can move unhindered and do what they want," Silva said. He looked at Raze, and Raze nodded. The both of them dashed out of the office and headed into town. The streets were filled with people, all looking at the barrier that had formed over the town. Silva took out his sword and leaped high into the sky, shing the barrier. It rippled violently but didn''t break or crack. Silvanded back, he looked at Raze and shook his head. "It is tough, too tough," he said. But this time, all his minds were working in parallel to find a way out of the situation, and in less than five seconds, a general idea was made. Silva would use Dragon''s Eye on the barrier and find the weakest point, then he would gather his strength for a powerful attack. "I have a n that may work, Sir Raze. Get the adventurers and the Viscount''s personal army ready. Once the barrier breaks, we will all be heading to the Labyrinth," Silva said. Raze didn''t question Silva, he simply nodded and moved along. He ran as fast as he could. Silva activated his Dragon Eyes and took a look at the barrier. He ran around the town, watching for the weak point, until he finally found the ce where all the energy converged. He took out his sword and sent a full-power stab to the exact point. The entire circuit of the barrier and the formation copsed and imploded, causing the entire barrier to break down. Silva didn''t go to search for Raze or anyone else. He started running towards the Labyrinth at full speed. That ce belonged to him now. He couldn''t let someone just waltz in. When he got to the Labyrinth door, he saw the mutted bodies of the adventurers that hade out to the Labyrinth. It was not a pretty sight as their innards were shed out and their blood painted the ground. Their eyes were wide open, frozen in a state of fear and panic. That meant the people that killed them surprised them and then dominated them. Silva walked around, closing the eyes of those that still had full heads. After that, he walked to the door, taking onest look back, he entered the Labyrinth. As soon as he stepped foot in the Labyrinth, he teleported to the throne room. As soon as he appeared, he was jumped by Elsa in a bear hug. "Daddy!" she yelled out as she grabbed him. "Daddy? That''s a new one," he said to her. "I''m trying out new ways to call you, that''s all," she said. Silva caressed her like a child and headed for the throne. The guardians that were there all bowed to him as he passed by. He sat on the throne with Elsa on hisp, and then he spoke. "I am very sure you already know that some set of people came into the Labyrinth. Is there a way for us to monitor them?" he asked. "Of course, Master," Drake said and snapped his fingers, and every floor of the Labyrinth appeared in the air in holographic form. So many views to one single floor, nothing could possibly hide from his eyes, all fifty floors. He saw a view that had people in cloaks walking, and then he pointed to it. "That one." The hologram came closer and became bigger. The cloaked people were about a hundred, all armed, and they looked strong at the very least. "So you all are the ones that caused all this havoc," Silva said. He looked up at the guardians and spoke. "These people have genuinely made me angry. They trapped my town and killed several of the adventurers from my town. I don''t know what they want in this Labyrinth, but I want them to get one thing for sure: pain, suffering, and torture. I want all hundred of them to feel despair, and I want their leaders to all beg for death but not get it. So I''m asking all of you for the help I need to do this and to make them suffer very much," Silva said. "You don''t even need to ask, my Lord. We will carry out your will," Drake said. "I hope I''ll get a reward after this," Jade said and licked her lips, sending chills up Silva''s spine. "Yes, anything that I can give, as long as it doesn''t require my body, just for safety," Silva said. She frowned and stuck out her tongue. ''So she wanted my body. Scary,'' Silva thought. "If I may ask, am I allowed to torture them how I want?" Lily suddenly asked. The expressions of all the guardians turned to dread, even Elsa let out a nervous chuckle. Chapter 59: Parallels [Sorry, there was a mistake some chapters back, Maru the guardian is not an Orc, he is an Ogre] Silva sat on the throne watching the group of a hundred cloaked men walk through thebyrinth. He observed them closely. They had many powerful members that handled thebyrinth monsters, taking little time to take them out easily until they reached the sixth floor. As soon as they got there, Silva initiated the n. "Sx, lead your arachnids to the sixth floor. I want you to start by causing disarray in their force. Ensure that you take enough so they can''t fight. Also, you''ll be there, but not to engage, just to use your powerful aura to cause them fear. I want them to scatter in all directions. That way, we can start the real hunt, one by one," Silva said. Sx bowed her head and teleported from the hall, and so the game began. ________ _________ The cloaked men walked through the sixth floor unhindered, like a powerful wave wiping out everything in their path. But suddenly, the man at the front raised his hand, signaling them to stop. He tried to peer farther into the darkness. And as he did, the darkness stared back. Several glowing red eyes, too numerous to count, appeared. They started hearing the crackling of hard endoskeleton legs on the rocky floors heading their way. It sounded like an army in heavy boots. Finally, the spiders, half the size of humans, appeared, with some far bigger than that as well. Their number was in the hundreds, about two hundred of them, all there, ready to tear this group of a hundred limb from limb. To top it off, Sx, who was at the back, decided to release her aura for a bit. It was like a mad wave that washed over the cloaked people. It poured fear directly into their souls, weakening their resolve to fight the arachnids. They all turned tail and started running while the arachnids gave chase. Only five could stand, and they yelled at the others to maintain formation, but the others were too far gone in fear to listen. These five who stood were the leaders of the group, but it was still evident they were scared as their bodies kept trembling. But since they didn''t run, Sx ordered them to be brought in, all five of them. The arachnids swarmed them, and even though the men fought as if their lives depended on it, they were outnumbered ten to one. There was no winning. The five were all dragged into the darkness, while the remaining arachnids gave chase to those who had fled earlier. "The master knew this would disrupt them. Just putting fear in their hearts has thrown their entire formation into shambles," Sx said, looking at the men getting dragged away. "I have a feeling the Master will give them to Lily for questioning," Silva said. The thought of Lily torturing the men gave Sx chills. _______ ________ Sx appeared in the hall again, with all five men behind her. They had been tied up with spider webs, so thick and tight they had trouble breathing. Silva looked at them and tried to sense the unique energy he had felt from the first cloaked man, but none of the five here were the right person. ''So he didn''te? He must have sent these ones here,'' Silva thought. He got up from the throne and walked over to the five of them. "I''ll try my best to save you from the pain that wille if you refuse, so I''ll ask this once: tell me the details of your n and all about your organization," Silva said. He told Sx to remove the webs covering their mouths. She did as instructed. But as soon as she did, they all started chanting something at the same time. Sx quickly covered their mouths again. "What were they saying?" Silva asked. "I don''t know, but as soon as they started chanting, their mana began gathering at their core. It''s probably a self-destruct spell of some sort," Sx exined. "So I take it they don''t want to tell us anything, then," Silva said, frowning at them. "It''s your fault for what''s about to happen. Don''t me me; me yourselves," Silva said and then looked at Lily. "I want to see your torture abilities that everyone here is afraid of. We have to get the truth out of them, even if it means breaking their spirits and souls," Silva said. Lily nodded, grabbing two of the men while Silva took the other three. "Watch over the remaining people who scattered, Elsa. When Ie back, we can continue having fun with them," Silva said and headed out of the hall following Lily. "Do you think the master will be able to stomach what he''ll see during Lily''s torture session?" Jade came close to Elsa and asked. "Don''t worry. Father has the mental fortitude of the first dark dragon. He won''t be fazed by this," Elsa said, assuring them. She still had her doubts in mind because Lily had a level of brutality that no one else could reach. Silva and Lily walked through the hallway as she led him to her torture chamber. "Master Silva, I have something to tell you," Lily said. "Yeah? What is it?" Silva asked. "Well, my fairy power is called foresight, the ability to predict the future. Because of my mana, I can see futures up to tens of years ahead. The issue with my ability is that the farther into the future I look, the more parallels are born," she said. "Parallels? What are those?" he asked. "Nothing is ever definite in the future. Parallels are other paths that can be taken. There are an infinite number of parallels, and the farther you look into the future, the more parallels are born," she said, she nced at Silva before she continued, it seemed there was something she was leading to with this discussion. Chapter 60: Mana veins "These parallels are all things that can happen, one of them will happen, but the probability of any one happening is equal across the board. The reason why I''m telling you this is because I looked into your future, basically I used my foresight on you, seeing some years into the future. There were over a hundred paths that you could take, but there was something simr about them. In most of them, you destroy the world and then end up dead, killed by someone you love. I''ve tried to get a clearer picture of what I''m seeing, but there is a force blurring out some details. In most of the futures I see, you be a terrifying dragon, you rip through the and destroy all. The guardians fought by your side and all died, even Lady Elsa. We all fought and died for you, but in the end, you let someone you love end your life. That is why I want to make this clear to you right now. If you want to lead us, then lead us without emotions, cast aside all those feelings, because I refuse to die for someone who will waver from his course after others have sacrificed for him. After we die, after we give our lives, the least you can do is carry out the course that killed us. I may not be able to see the details of the future, but I hope that you will listen to what I have said." Lily finished what she had to say and looked forward. Silva paused, he stared at Lily''s back as she walked, all sorts of thoughts filled his mind. This was news on a whole different level. What would make him destroy the world, what would make him risk the lives of all the guardians and still die in the end, and who was the loved one that killed him? Question upon question filled his mind, but he decided he would not overthink it, there was no point in beating himself over what he barely understood. He carried the men and followed Lily, but as he was about to enter the torture room she went into, a message came through the system. [Congrattions on getting some information toward the task given to you by the goddess Ophelia.] [You are on the right path to understanding your function. 1000 EXP, 500 SP.] Silva was happy after seeing this, it meant all the things that he had been doing so far were not off track, he had finally made progress as to why the goddess sent him. With a smile on his face, he walked into the torture room, but that smile immediately changed into shock. The walls were filled with all sorts of des and torture equipment, there were also shelves with bottles of chemicals and lots more. Lily snapped her fingers and the men all started floating, they got suspended mid-air, even the ones that Silva was holding not too long ago. "Let''s get started," she said in a calm, clean voice. One of the men floated down to her side, she undid the spider webs but suppressed the man''s ability to speakpletely. "Master, do you know what happens when two conflicting Mana meet in the Mana vein of a being?" Lily asked. "No, not at all, I hardly know about Mana veins in the first ce," Silva responded. "Then I''ll teach you as we go along," she said and ripped the clothes off the man, leaving himpletely naked. "Mana veins are what carry Mana around the body of a being, your veins develop after your Mana core is fully established. The Mana that you absorb and also generate is fixed to match your own Mana. Even in the case of Mana deficiency, you have to slowly digest it into the core and then let the core charge it up. But when the Mana is directly infused into the veins, it collides with the Mana of the person and causes unimaginable pain. This is also amplified when the person has a very high Mana capacity. I noticed that this particr man has the highest Mana capacity, so I decided to try this method on him. Now that''s not all, what I exined to you is what happens when I infuse human Mana, but Fairies tend to have one of the most potent Mana. And then there is me, who even among fairies still has Mana potency out of their league. What will happen if it is my fully potent Mana that this man gets?" she asked and then infused her Mana into the man. Right after, the man''s veins bulged, his body trembled, his eyes went blood red, and his skin turned a deathly purple color. "Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" His screams echoed through the room, he shook violently in pain, but she used magic to restrict the space around him, so as he forcefully shook in pain, he was cracking the space and it was ripping his body all around. Still, his voice didn''te down, he yelled and yelled, writhing in pain, his blood poured from all the wounds, pooling on the ground. ck, thick blood seeped out of his mouth, nose, and eyes, even the pores of his skin started bleeding. He shook and screamed until his voice sounded like a wild goat, a puddle of blood and vomit formed under him, he even pissed and shat himself right on the spot. Silva watched this horrendous scene, amazed by how brutal and ruthless this cute-looking fairy girl was. Even with all the pain that this man was going through, not once did her face flinch, there was only a slight smile on her face that had been there since the beginning. She finally stopped infusing, giving the man a moment of peace, but at this point, he started to look more dead than alive. "You see, Master, when the Mana infused is as potent as mine, the pain caused can break the mind in seconds," Lily said. Chapter 61: Library Lily used magic to heal the man, bringing him back to the optimal state, but even with his body healed up, it couldn''t take away the horror he felt, that was forever a part of his soul. "Now you can ask him any question, I doubt that he will try anything," Lily said and took a step back for Silva. Silva came close to the man. The man looked at Silva like he was the devil, this twelve-year-old to whom they called master. This twelve-year-old watched him get tortured without flinching, what sort of mind would you have to not be fazed by such a sight? "Alright, answer my questions honestly, or what you felt will just be the tip of the iceberg. Do you understand me?" Silva asked. The man nodded as fast as he could. He didn''t want it, he couldn''t take that pain. No, he would rather sell his soul to this kid than feel that torture anymore. "I will tell you anything you want, please, I''ll tell you," the man said. "Good, what''s your name?" Silva asked. "My name is Eren. I am from cklight City. I was born and I grew up there," Eren spoke in a rush. "What is the name of the organization that sent you all here?" Silva asked. "We are called the Dark de. I was asked to join a few years back. They offered us a good life as well as a good life for our families. All we had to do was follow. It was like they brainwashed us into certain beliefs, and the beliefs were tied to the ancient demon race," the man said. "Ancient demon race? What is that? Tell me more about it," Silva asked. "I don''t know more, that''s all I know. We were asked to raid this dungeon to scout because our leaders believe that a demon king candidate will be birthed in thisbyrinth. I don''t know what all that is, but that was the information that we received. Nothing more, we are simply a scout team," the man said. "Ancient demons, and a demon king candidate, all this information, and you have nothing more on them?" Silva asked again. "I don''t know, please, this is all that I know," Eren said. "Hmm, what about your leaders, what do you know about them?" Silva asked. "I''m sorry, we never get the chance to see any of them. We are outer members, only the inner and core members know the leaders of the Dark de," Eren said. "This makes you very useless at this point, and I am guessing the rest of you only have the same information," Silva said and walked toward the door. "Lily, I leave them in your care. Break their minds and feed them to the monsters," Silva said and left the room. As soon as he left the room, he heard the guttural screams of the men. He didn''t care though; he kept walking toward the throne room. After today, he finally understood why the other guardians were wary of Lily''s torturing. There was something that Silva also noticed: the guardians were well-versed in the things of the world to a certain extent. Silva believed that, unlike the other monsters, the guardians were not all born here, and if they were born here, they took time to learn a lot of things. That''s understandable, since they lived for over hundreds of years. Even if they were underground, they would still have gone out a bit or met with adventurers inside thebyrinth. But all that aside, what was troubling Silva now was the talk about the ancient demons and the demon king candidate. This was the first time that he wasing across talks about the demons. He had to find the answers. He got into the hall and all the guardians were still there, and as usual, Elsa ran and hugged him. "Daddy, did you get the information that you needed?" she asked. "Not much, but I came across some very vital information, something about ancient demons and demon king candidates," Silva said. Elsa paused when she heard that; her face changed into a serious one. "If those people are here for any reason concerning demons or demon kings, then it is a very serious thing," Elsa said. "Is there something I need to know?" Silva asked. "Yes, there is. There is one more ce in thebyrinth that you need toe into," she said and then looked at the guardians. "Drake, youe with me. The rest of you should go and capture all those cloaked men and cage them until Daddy is back. The issue at hand is more important, so we will have to keep their punishment aside and just capture them. Is that okay with you, Daddy?" Elsa asked Silva. "Yeah, it seems the issue is really serious, and I also want to know what the demon stuff is about," Silva said. The other guardians bowed their heads and teleported to capture the intruders that had been scattered all around. Elsa led Silva and Drake to the back of the throne. She ced her hand to infuse mana into the wall behind it. "Lady Elsa, is it the library? Is that where you are taking us?" Drake asked. "Yes, there are things Daddy needs to learn," she said. "Library?" Silva asked. The walls lit up, showing arge magic circle, and then the wall opened like a door. They walked into a hall more massive than the throne room. It was filled with books, equipment, crystals, and all sorts of things, even gold and all sorts of precious items. When Silva saw this, his mouth was left open. What the hell is this? "I was nning on showing Daddyter, after he became ustomed to thebyrinth. This is the library. I know there are a lot of things aside from books, but that is the name it was given. I told you before that all I know is from my mummy, but that was kind of a white lie, Daddy, because I got knowledge from here. All the dragons that ruled here since the Dark Dragon, these ces house their knowledge, and their resources were stored here," Elsa said. Chapter 62: Demon kings and heroes "Since the dragons have lived for so long, we have information about the demons and much more, but for now, I want you to see what the ancient demons are," Lily said. She flew into the air and took out one of the several books on the shelves, then she flew down and handed it to Silva. Silva took the book and then took a seat. He opened it up and started reading. Gods exist, and they watch over all life. They are believed to be the ultimate form of life. But not all gods are good and gracious. In fact, many are terrible and have no care for other lives. These are regarded as the evil gods. Evil gods are gods that have fallen from their initial grace and goodness and have taken it upon themselves to reap the souls of all life. In many ces, they are referred to as devils, but they are just evil gods. However, evil gods are as important as gods. A god is a being that lives eternally, and so, it bes hard over eons to keep helping races of lesser beings that refuse to listen. If there were no evil gods, gods would have no opponents, and as such, the boredom would lead them to try to create an evil that would challenge them. The lesser beings would bear the brunt of the destruction, and the god would fall to be an evil god. Then again, are evil gods truly bad, and are gods really good? To a lesser race, they may want to see it that way, but no, they are neither truly bad nor good. The only difference is one seeks to keep the bnce, and the other seeks to destroy it. It doesn''t matter if destroying the bnce will save lives; the god will not allow it. At this point, is he a god anymore? Is he good or just selfish? A mere mortal may never understand what an evil god is or what a god is because gods and evil gods revolve around a singlew called Order. Aw that is said to be before the gods, aw by which they all take their standing and make their decisions. Due to all this, a god can''t disrupt order to save anyone, and tobat this, they created the races of Angels and Demons. Every world and every dimension has its own type of angels and demons. In this world, the goddess Ophelia made the ancient demons and the celestials. She did it with the help of an evil god, whose record no one knows. These two races became the holders of bnce. They battled for as long as they lived, and they couldn''t defeat each other. This became the new order. But soon, by some mysterious means, the order was destroyed, as a new, extremely powerful race came to be and aided the demons. The dragons, and then all other beasts, started aiding the dragons and the demons as well, and this offset the bnce. Because of this, the only race that chose to help the celestials were the humans, and this created a mighty disorder. This disorder became something that the goddess had to fix. And so, she created two realms: the Abyss and the Heavens. She sent all the ancient demons into the Abyss, and then she sent the celestials into the Heavens. She wanted the normal races to be separated from the two major races. But that was far from the end, because from the realms of Heaven and the Abyss, the celestials and the demons reached out. This brought about the creation of the Heroes and the Demon Kings. The heroes were humans chosen by the celestials to bear their will and be the keepers of order, whereas the demon kings were chosen by the demons. In every generation, an equal number of heroes and demon kings are born, and this is what has kept the peace for every generation. Any generation where the heroes or demon kings are fewer than the other, a great war will break out, and the stronger side will dominate until the next generationes. A demon king can be from any race that is not human, whereas the heroes can only be human. This new system is what has regted the peace and has allowed order to be retained. No one knows how long this will stay. Silva closed the book. He had gotten the information he needed for now. He looked at Elsa and spoke. "Those men said that they came here because there was a demon lord candidate here. What does that mean?" Silva asked. "Hmm, that would mean a new generation is starting, and the search for the hero candidates and the demon king candidates will start soon. These people might want to offset the order. If there is really a demon king candidate here, then it would make sense. If they got him or her, they would be able to make the humans have a headway by killing him, or help the demons by supporting the demon king candidate, depending on their ns," Elsa exined. "The first Dark Dragon was a demon king, known for his powerful abyss magic. During his reign, he rose to be the first demon lord. A demon lord is a being almost as powerful as an ancient demon, or more to be honest. He offset the bnce, even with equal numbers of heroes and demon kings. He led the other demons, and during that time, humans were heavily subjugated," Drake said. "Hmm, for humans to still survive, howe?" Silva asked, considering they were only one race. "That''s because half of the world is made up of humans, and they keep giving birth. Elves have low birth rates, the same as dragons and other races. Only beings like goblins can keep up, but female goblins are rare, so goblins kidnap women to have their children. But with how weak they are, it is hard for goblins to make a lot of children because they are killed inrge numbers," Elsa exined. [You have learned information about your function from goddess Ophelia.] [You are on the right path.] Chapter 63: Demon king candidate There were a lot of thoughts in Silva''s head at this point; this whole demon, celestial, and other stuff had really confused him. "So, do we know who the candidate is? It can''t just be a random monster, it has to have something special," Silva said. "That answer is already there, Master. There can only be two options: you or Lady Elsa. But Lady Elsa has been around for over a hundred years; if she had any prospects of being a demon king, she would have been selected in the past generation and not now," Drake said. "Ah, so what about the guardians?" Silva asked. "No, the guardians have lived even longer than Lady Elsa; we watched her grow. So it can''t be us as well. The whole thing started during the range of your birth, and with you carrying the legacy of the first dragon, and also being a half-dragon, it makes you the perfect candidate," Drake said. Silva was unsure how to react. He had the thought that it could have been him, but he wasn''t sure that was possible. But now, Drake was pointing out some good facts. [You have unlocked one level to the task of Goddess Ophelia. You may now receive a message from her.] A notification came on, and then a hologram of Goddess Ophelia appeared massively in the middle of the room. Drake and Elsa bowed immediately when they saw the goddess. "Wait, you can see her? That shouldn''t be possible," Silva said. "I allowed them to see because I believe that they have a vital role to y as well. They are also yourrades; they won''t speak of what happens here, right?" Ophelia asked. "You can''t be making rash decisions like that," Silva argued back. "Hahaha, well it has already been done," she said with a smile, and then her face turned serious. "It took you less time than I thought. I expected that you would take some years to get this first message, but it seems that the legacy has sped the process up. What I want to say is that you have always been destined to be one of the next demon king. When I gave you the legacies to choose from, all were from former demon kings that have died or left this world. So no matter what, you would have be one, and then your task would have been simply to be a demon king. But it seems something unexpected happened ever since you picked the dark dragon legacy. Thews of order refuse to let me give you details all at once, so you must seek it out like you have already started. Your journey is no longer just to be a demon king. No, it is more than that, far, far more, and the stronger you grow, the more your task is changing bit by bit. Your presence has impacted the order, and if you don''tplete the task, all order will shatter, and whates next is something I can''t tell you. Either way, I''ll still be there to guide you through as best as I can. Also, don''t try to get the task done by force and speed, just live your life at a steady pace, and you''ll be shocked at how fast you will get it done. This is all I can say for now." Ophelia waved at him and disappeared. "To think Master would be acquainted with the goddess," Drake said in reverence. "Stop it, you''ll make it awkward," Silva said. [You have gained a new title: Demon King Candidate] [Perks of the title: Order of the Demon King, infuse fear into the hearts of those of lower levels and ten levels higher than you x10] "Ites with a perk. This isn''t so bad after all." "Master, now that we are certain that you are a candidate, it is best that I warn you. Begin to build your army, as great and as strong as possible, because things may get very dangerous from now. The other thing is that you must keep your status a secret from humans. If they ever find out, it could spell the start of a war, one that will not be easily handled. And you are far too weak now. It would be bad for a war to start. Aside from humans, you must keep that status away from beasts alike. If the current demon kings hear about you, they will get their hands on you and force you to serve under them as training. You will lose your free will and everything," Drake warned. Silva could tell from his tone that this was a serious issue. He made a mental note to listen to what Drake said. "Daddy, you have the summoner ability, right? But I noticed that you use it only partly. If you use the true power, you can build a bigger army, and even train beings that may be as strong as the guardians," Elsa said. "Hm, you just gave me an idea. If I make the guardians my summons, they will be ten times stronger," Silva said. "That won''t work, because, again, you are too weak. No matter who you are, it is impossible for a normal being to tame an evolved being," Drake said. "Daddy, back to what I was saying. Let me tell you about the other side of summoning. So far, all you have been using is the taming sub-branch of summoning. There are more types, like golem summoning, spirit summoning, undead summoning, and more. If you can learn how to do that, with your mana capacity, you will be making an army in no time. You also need close confidants in the human world. The guardians can''t be with you always, because even if they suppress their mana, if a powerful person sees them, they will know. So your summons can be your close confidants, moving with you and watching over you," Elsa said. "I understand, but let''s take things easy for now. Even if I am a candidate, I''m only a candidate. No one knows what will happen just yet, and we still have Dark de to deal with," Silva said. Chapter 64: Stupid Knight Silva informed the Guardians to leave as many of the intruders alive as they could because now that he knew about all the types of summoning, he wanted to try them out, and one of them was undead summoning. He went through the System and found a spellbook on undead summoning; he needed bodies for this to work. He returned to the hall where over seventy remaining meny there like bags,pletely tied up with spider webs. ''The first thing I have to do ispletely kill them. Until they die, I can''t use them,'' Silva thought. He pointed his hands at them and used a dark spell. "Hands of darkness." Several ck hands came out and started choking all of them. In less than five minutes, the mass murder of over seventy people wasplete. Silva didn''t bat an eye or even show any emotions. Immediately after they all died, he activated the summoning spell, causing a massive magical circle to appear under all the men. ck smoke seeped out of the circle and into the bodies of all the intruders. It took some time, but all the intruders got up on their feet, their eyes glowing purple. [Congrattions, you have created undead summons, Zombies.] [2000Exp, 1000Sp] "Zombies? That''s cool," Silva said. He looked at all the zombies. They all lined up and bowed their heads to Silva. "Drake, handle them, maybe send them to one of the floors to serve as beasts," Silva said. It was time for him to head back to the town. Suddenly, Silva felt a huge rise in mana movement in one direction. He looked over in that direction and saw that it was where Fang was. The mana kept gathering until Fang finally woke up. The first thing Silva noticed was that Fang was much bigger than when he started the evolution. There were no other changes to Fang, aside from his size and the stronger aura he carried. Silva decided to check his stats right away. **Name**: Fang **Race**: Thunderstorm Tiger. **Level**: 1, evolved. **Strength**: 10000 **Defense**: 9000 **Speed**: 9500 **Agility**: 9500 **Intelligence**: 8000 Silva was shocked by what he saw, but he knew it was because of his ten times buff that it was this high. Still, having a summon like this was awesome. Fang noticed Silva approaching him. He bowed his head in respect to Silva. "You''ve done well to get this far, Fang. You have mymendation. Stay in thebyrinth for a while and train with the guardians. Get ustomed to your strength." Silva immediately gave him some instructions. "As you wish, master," Fang said. "Alright, I''ll be on my way. See you allter. Take care of Elsa for me," he said and teleported out of the hall to the fiftieth floor of thebyrinth and went out from there. The reason he chose the fiftieth floor was to ensure he wasn''t spotted, since it had lesser traffic. When he stepped out of thebyrinth, he noticed that the voices of the killed adventurers were no longer there, and there were some armed knights by thebyrinth. When they saw Silva, they all pointed their spears and swords at him,pletely surrounding him. "Who are you?" one of the knights asked. "I''m Silva, a B-ss adventurer," Silva said. "Hahahaha!" All the knights burst intoughter when Silva said that. Silva could tell that these knights weren''t from the town, so they didn''t know him. "Look, kid, we aren''t here to y. Tell us who you are, or we will have to arrest you," the knight yelled again. "I have my adventurer''s card here. I''ll show it to you," Silva said and was about to remove it, but his attention was taken away by the sh of a sword headed for his head. He took a step back, and the sword missed ever so slightly. The knight had attacked him. If not for the fact that he was Silva, he would have been knocked out. "You think we are joking, you brat?" the knight yelled. "What sort of unreasonable event is this? If you only let me show you, we can avoid all themotion, and if I''m lying, you can simply arrest me," Silva said. His patience was at its limit. He looked at the man with Dragon eyes, and that was when he noticed a dark, sinister energy twirling in the man''s mind. That had to be the energy controlling this man and causing him to be this unreasonable. Silva then sensed a presence watching them some distance away. When he looked, it was the cloaked man. "That man again," Silva said. He looked at the knight. Even if this man was being controlled, he wasn''t going to let this slide. This was because that energy was not truly controlling the man; it was enhancing the man''s emotions. All the man needed to do was take a deep breath and control his emotions, and that energy would dissipate. But no, he was too pissed off for some reason, and now seeing a child who imed to be a B-ranked adventurer made him angry. His emotions were enhanced, and now he wasshing out at Silva. He could control this situation, but he chose not to. "What are you all standing there for? This is an order! Arrest this brat. Don''t hold back. If he resists, beat him up," the knight said. The knights didn''t understand why their boss was acting like this, but an order was an order. They all charged at Silva at the same time. Silva quickly checked their stats, and they were all about fifty in average stats, the highest had stats of just sixty. Seeing this pissed Silva off to no end. Why would ants try to arrest him? He decided to show these idiots the difference between a mountain and an ant. He remembered a reference from his favorite Asian fantasy novels. They stood before Mount Tai, but they didn''t know. [Discord is up,e and join the SSS Ranked Reincarnation Dark Dragon league. .gg/Y5nJ3VAg] Chapter 65: Raiding Plans Silva didn''t even use any weapons, all he did was let his aura loose. The man exploded, mming into all the knights and throwing them in all directions. The captain looked at this in shock, but the refusal in his head did not allow him to make the wise decision. He drew his sword. "You bastard, I''ll show you your ce!" he roared, but after taking one step towards Silva, he fell to the ground and trembled. The bloodlust that Silva released broke the man down, forcefully clearing his head, and the knight finally understood that he stood before his death. Still, Silva had no ns to kill. He had taken over a hundred lives today, it was already too much; adding more would be going overboard. Aside from that, killing the Duke''s knights would not end well, no matter how weak they were. "What''s going on here?" A knight in ck armor came from the forest, Raze was also with him. When Raze saw Silva, he could already tell what had happened here. Raze bent over and whispered into the knight''s ear. The knight''s face changed to shock and then quickly back to normal. He walked to Silva and bowed his head. "I am deeply sorry about what the acting captain did. We were informed that there was a B-ranked adventurer inside thebyrinth, but we didn''t know what you looked like. I''m sure this idiot jumped to the conclusion that you were lying and attacked you. I''ll make sure to punish him," the knight said. "He was being controlled, a strange energy was clouding his mind, but it''s gone now," Silva said. "Still, there is no excuse. A knight allowed himself to be controlled, that is already an act worthy of death," the knight said. ''It''s not like he had any choice, the person that clouded his mind was far stronger than him.'' Silva thought. He nced over to where he had seen the cloaked man, but the man was long gone. "All of you, get up and head back to Ribest. Await your punishment there," the knight said. The knights groaned in pain and stood up, helping their vice-captain, who was acting captain. He could barely stand on his own. The knight in ck looked at all of them and wondered. ''This child took out all of them, and it doesn''t look like he had any issue doing it. It doesn''t even seem like he fought. How is that possible?'' "Silva, you''ve been in thebyrinth for so long. Tell us what happened," Raze went straight to the point. "I went as deep as the tenth floor. The people that entered had overestimated the strength of an A-rankedbyrinth, so they were all killed. I found some drops, and some were human-rted drops, which leads me to believe that they were killed. We can''t be certain, but to be sure, thebyrinth needs to be explored further to find out," Silva said, lying as easily as breathing. "Then the best thing would be for us to talk to the Viscount and also inform the Duke. We should gather a party of A-ranks down to B or C ranks from the city and the town," the knight said. "That makes sense, we should get to that quickly," Raze agreed. Silva started regretting telling this story, because he was certain they would want to put him in the party that would raid thebyrinth. ''Sigh, the things I have to do to look normal,'' Silva thought. Since they were done for now, they headed back to the town. The town had calmed down, and everything was alright. "Okay Silva, we both will head to the Viscount''s mansion. You can do what you want until we contact you," Raze said and left with the knight. Silva let out a heavy sigh and decided to check the guild before heading home to rest. He walked into the guild, which was rowdy as usual, and then he saw Quin sitting with his party. They seemed to be celebrating something, so he headed there to find out. "Hey, Silva, nice to see you here," Rock called out to him. When Roxy heard Silva''s name, she got up from her seat, ran up to him, and grabbed him by the hand. "Silva, wee,e join us," she said and pulled him to the table. She sat him beside her and clung to him. "Let go of Silva, he just got here," Rock said to Roxy. "Shut the hell up, he isn''tining," Roxy said. "That''s because he doesn''t want to hurt your feelings. I''m not as kind as he is," Rock said. "It''s okay, Rock, it doesn''t really bother me," Silva said. Silva looked at Tera and nodded in greeting to her, and she nodded back. "So, what''s the cause of the celebration?" Silva asked. "Two things really," Rock said. "First, Quin is now a B-ranked adventurer, and second, Tera is as well. And with two B-ranked adventurers, we took the test for the B-ranked party, and we passed," Rock exined. "That''s awesome, you guys are really moving up fast," Silva said. "Hearing thate from you sounds like sarcasm," Roy pointed out. "No, I''m serious," Silva said. "We know you are, but then again, your speed is like ten times our speed, so you understand," Roy said. Silva just smiled and then looked at Quin. "Congrattions, bro," Silva said. "Thanks," Quin replied. "Now we''re in the same rank again," Silva said. "You''re only there because you don''t want to go up," Quin said with a smallugh. Silva gave a nervousugh. What his brother said was actually true; he didn''t really want to go up, well, not yet. "So, tell us about thebyrinth. We heard that you went in to chase after those people," Quin asked. "Yeah, but I stopped at the tenth floor and came back after not seeing them. A team may be set up for a full exploration to check things out," Silva said. Chapter 66: The cloaked man "How is preparation for the academy examsing along? There are just a few more months until the exams," Silva said as he walked up to his sister, who was sitting at the dining table. "Yes, I''ve been reading as much as I can and also practicing. I''ve ended my apprenticeship, so I don''t have to go for magical training anymore. That reminds me, brother, I heard that you will also be going to the academy, even though you are under the normal age," Lia said. "Yeah, for certain reasons, I decided that I''ll take the test as well, but don''t worry about me, I''m preparing too," Silva assured. "Hmm, I don''t believe that. You are always adventuring; I haven''t seen you study much for some time. I know you read a lot, but you haven''t read the academy-rted materials, and as your big sister, I have to ensure that you do. So from today, you''ll have toe home earlier. We will study together at night before we go to sleep," Lia said. Silva wanted to refuse, but he could see that there was no way out of this. His sister''s eyes were resolute. "Alright, I''ll do that, but for now, I have something to attend to. I''ll be back before night," Silva said and left. ''I''ll make you see me that way, no matter what,'' Lia thought as Silva left. Silva decided to head to thebyrinth. He left the town and was on his way, but then he felt something calling to him. His minds all went to work and pinpointed the location and the person. When they saw the figure, they all said at the same time: "It''s him." The cloaked man stood a distance away from Silva, facing his direction. But there was no malice, no killing intent¡ªit seemed he wanted to talk. Silva decided to meet with this fe. He walked to the man, and when they were only meters apart, he stopped. "I take it that you are here to see me?" Silva asked. "Interesting indeed," the person spoke in a distorted voice. "Stop being creepy and tell me what you want," Silva said. He also tried to use dragon eyes, but something was disrupting it. "You are the one we are searching for. I can sense it from you. At first, I wondered how someone as strong as you could be born here. I thought you would hinder me from finding the demon king candidate, but it seems you are the one. I tried to control the prophecy, but I couldn''t," the man spoke. "What prophecy? Tell me," Silva said. "You will know in time. As it stands now, you have grown too knowledgeable and powerful for me to kidnap anymore. It is pointless for me to try anything. I understand that you have the wholebyrinth as your army. If I started a fight with you, it would not end well. So for now, I''ll retreat from this town, but I''ll be watching closely. Be careful on your path; you are on a path worse than hell itself. In time, you''ll understand. Remember, I''ll be watching, and the day you slip up, I''ll have you to myself," the man said and vanished into a ck cloud of smoke. Silva stayed put for a moment, trying to arrange his thoughts. This was the person who had terrorized the vige quite a bit and had also caused Mike''s predicament. Yet when he stood before him, there was no longer any hatred or bad feelings. Rather, Silva felt it was important to take the man''s words to heart. Something was definitely happening. "I have to go to the academy. Everything will start from there. The dreams have not stopped, even after the new message from Ophelia, and that means that ce is still the ce to go," Silva said. This town also didn''t have any avenues for him to grow stronger. He needed to go to the city and stay in the academy. He was sure he would find better ways to grow stronger, faster. After the discussion with the cloaked man, Silva decided not to go into thebyrinth. He just wandered through the forest, going deeper and deeper while thinking. After some time, he heard the sounds of people, swords, and magic. The smell of blood filled the air. He decided to check what was happening. When he got there, he saw that a small battle was underway, as goblins and hobgoblins had raided a caravan. The goblins were over thirty, and the caravan had a few knights and mages fighting. But that was not what caught Silva''s attention. No, it was the beastkin who caught his attention. She was a wolf woman, wielding a mighty sword and swinging it around like it was nothing. If not for her, the goblins would have won by now. Silva decided to check her stats and see what they were like. Demi-beast. Level 60 **Strength:** 490 **Defense:** 420 **Speed:** 500 **Agility:** 500 **Intelligence:** 550 Her stats shocked Silva immediately. It was hard toe by stats like this, and her level was even higher than Silva''s. She was a warrior, and a powerful one at that. From the way she swung her sword to the way she moved her body, it screamed of years of experience. But even so, the battle was overwhelming, as more goblins poured into the battlefield, and this time they even brought two giant goblins with strength around 200. The two goblins carried a massive tree bow. One set it on the ground, pulled the string with the arrow, and another held the bow. When the wolfdy saw this, she tried to charge at them, but the goblins kept getting in her way. The two goblins fired the arrow, and it headed straight for her. With its size, it would rip her apart. But just as the arrow was about to hit, a dark de struck the arrow and exploded it into bits. Chapter 67: Dawn, The wolfdy was shocked when the attack that was to end her was destroyed suddenly. A figurended right in front of her like a knighting to her rescue. Well, this was from her point of view. She had lived a life where she was alone and never helped, so the feeling of someone saving her was all new. But when she saw who stood in front of her, her feelings changed to panic. This was a child, and he would die if he got hit. "Stay back, it''s too dangerous!" she yelled, but Silva had already charged at the goblins. He didn''t waste a single breath on the hobgoblins or normal goblins. All he did was use darkness des to take them out as he ran. His targets were the two giant goblins. The two goblins saw Silva headed for them and decided to attack first. One lifted up the bow and swung it like a bat at Silva. Silva leaped into the air andnded on the bow, then ran up it. With his sword in his hands, he jumped from the bow. The goblin tried to catch him mid-air, but Silva shed the hand off in one move and then came down with a stab into the head of the goblin, killing it. The second one was overtaken by rage when it saw its brother dead. It made a clenched fist and swung down at Silva, who was still on the head of the first goblin. Silva leaped out of the way, and the fist of the goblin crushed the skull of its brother. The goblin was momentarily shocked at what it had done; in its rage, it had caused its brother more harm. Silva took advantage of the momentary pause and made his way to the back of the goblin. He jumped up to the head and split the goblin clean in two. Now that the two giants had died, the remaining goblins tried to run off. Silva summoned his clones, and they chased after them, killing the rest. And just like that, the battle that would have imed the lives of all these people ended. Everyone who survived looked at Silva with mixed emotions. Should they be happy that they were saved, or should they be wary of the twelve-year-old that just massacred all the goblins with a straight face? Silva ignored the others and made his way to the wolfdy. She subconsciously took a step back, her mind terrified at how Silva killed all the goblins. "I am not going to hurt you," Silva said with an innocent smile. He looked just like an ordinary child. But to the people here, they became even more wary of him. He controlled his emotions and expressions so well that if you saw him, you would never believe that he did such a thing just moments ago. "Take this." Silva took out a healing potion and handed it to her. She looked at it closely, a bit skeptical. "If I wanted you all dead, you would have already been dead. You don''t have to worry about anything being wrong with it," Silva said with a smile. The wolfdy epted the potion and drank it. Her wounds started healing up, and energy returned to her body. "Thank you. I''m sorry for being rude to you even after you saved us," she said, bowing her head to him. "You said ''save us''? Actually, I had no ns of saving anyone other than you," Silva said. The hearts of all those there tightened when they heard that. "I would have simply watched this whole thing happen if not because of you," Silva said. She looked at him with a confused face. What was Silva saying? "I guess you guys will be better off heading to Ribest, my hometown. It is closer to here," Silva said to the others and pointed in that direction. "But Miss, I want to talk with you, so I''ll dy you a bit," Silva said to the wolfdy. She didn''t know what he wanted to talk about, but she agreed. After the others finally took what they could and all said their thanks to Silva for saving them, they headed for Ribest, leaving Silva and the wolfdy alone. "Dawn, my name is Dawn," she said in an awkward manner, as if she didn''t have much human interaction. Demi-humans in this time and age were sold as ves in certain towns and cities, often after wars and great suffering. All Silva really knew about it was that they were pushing for the abolition of very and returning the enved demi-humans to their home countries. This was information he got after he entered the political sector. "My name is Silva. I''m an adventurer from Ribest," Silva said. Dawn looked at Silva very closely. Her eyes went all over him like a scan, and she couldn''t help but ask, "Sir Silva, how old are you?" she asked. "Drop the ''Sir'' talk. I''m twelve, getting to thirteen," he said. "Seriously?" she asked in shock. She could tell that Silva was powerful. There was no way a twelve-year-old could be this strong, but she decided not to pry. "So, tell me, Dawn, where is your home?" Silva asked, but as soon as he did, her face went sour. He could tell there was a story behind that face, and he wanted to know, but he couldn''t outright ask her. "You don''t need to tell me if you don''t want to," he said. "No, you saved my life. I owe you my life at this point. I''ll tell you," she said. They found a ce to sit, and then she started recalling her past. Dawn was from the Grey Wolf Beastkin tribe, but she was an outcast due to the fact that she wasn''t a real beastkin. Her mother was from the tribe, while her father was purely human. It was hard for two different races to have a child, but not impossible, and she was an example of that. Chapter 68: Second Summon Because she was different, she was seen as an outcast, and it all worsened after her mother died, assassinated. She lived her life in the tribe from hand to mouth, struggling and pushing daily. She trained and grew stronger to gain their recognition, but nothing worked. Until finally, she was exiled as an outcast, just before the war started. Humans raided the tribe and killed everyone, taking the children as ves and the women as toys. She was toote. When she returned, the tribe was gone, and she was thest survivor. She had nowhere, no one. She was all alone. A little girl inside the body of an adult, trying to find her footing in the world, but where would ept her? She became an adventurer, and even there, she was scorned and looked down upon by humans. Many tried to take advantage of her, and because of that, she bloodied her hands with their blood. This was her story that led up to this point. This story was that of a lost girl seeking out where she belonged. To Silva, it served as an opportunity. He stood up and stood in front of her. She looked up, wondering what he was doing, but then she saw a smile on his face, one that was assuring and confident. "Remember I said I only helped because of you? Because when I looked at you, I saw a warrior. Even in the face of hardships, you fought. You could have easily left all of them here and gone your way. You could have escaped with your strength, but you wanted to prove that you weren''t an outcast. You wanted to be epted. So you stood your ground and fought to the end. Isn''t that right?" Silva asked. Dawn stared at Silva. She lost control of her tear ducts, and tears began pouring. This growndy started crying like a child, as though all the pain she had forcefully sealed away since birth had just broken free. She couldn''t hold herself back anymore. She sobbed and cried. Silva ced his hand on her shoulder. "Are they worth it? Are all those idiots that have looked down on you worth the pain? Even as you bore so much, they still don''t respect you. They don''t know how much effort you put in; they overlook that and treat you how they want. I think you''ve carried enough pain for a lifetime. I admired you, and that''s why I saved you. So, will you let me continue saving you? Let me be there to stand and be someone that truly epts you, because I understand you," Silva said and took a step back, bringing out his dragon wings and ws. Dawn was shocked when she saw it. She never expected that Silva would be part dragon. Silva transformed back to normal and came closer. "Unlike me, you can''t hide your physical sides, but with me, you wouldn''t need to hide it. And there are a ton of people I know who would ept you and take you as family. So, will you let me help you and keep saving you from yourself?" Silva asked and stretched out his hands. ''I know I''m an asshole for ying with her emotions and using that to get her to sign a contract, but I''m telling the truth. If shees with me, she won''t need to feel like an outsider anymore,'' Silva tried to clear his little conscience. Dawn looked up at Silva''s hand. She hesitated a bit, but then she gave in and stretched her hand. Silva took her hand and started the summoner ritual. The ritual went as nned, and the mark appeared on her body. [You have gained a new summon, Dawn. Congrattions.] Dawn felt her power increase all around. This was the ten-times buff that Silva had. She felt ten times stronger. No, that was the wrong statement¡ªshe was now ten times stronger. She looked at Silva with confused eyes, and Silva responded. "I told you that I''d keep saving you, right? What you got just now is the first part. In case I can''t save you, I''ve given you added strength to fight as well," Silva said. He hadn''t finished talking when Dawn leaped up and hugged him, pushing them to the ground. They stayed like that, and she whispered into his ear. "Even if it means burning the world, I would do anything to stay with you." At this point, the child in Dawn had taken over. Her physical age was about eighteen to twenty, but right now, that scared kid in her head was in control. She had found someone who would ept her and be there for her, something she had never had, and like a child, she didn''t want to let go. Silva let them stay that way to get it out of her system, and after five minutes, she got up. Silva got up as well and smiled at her. "Now that we have an agreement, why don''t we hunt down the goblin tribe that attacked you? You need your revenge, after all," Silva offered, his moods already searching for the location. Her demeanor changed after Silva offered that. It turned into that of a bloodthirsty warrior. She picked up her sword and nodded at Silva. "Let''s eradicate them," Dawn said. "Okay, Mind. The location has been found. You can proceed," Mind 2 contacted Silva. "Alright, let''s go, Dawn, our first battle together," Silva said and dashed in one direction. Dawn followed, running just behind him. She kept ncing at him from time to time, and she would smile every time. Normally, it would take days and months to make someone trust you, but by pulling some strings and ying with emotions, Silva did that in less than an hour. But it wasn''t all him. Dawn had been actively searching for eptance for over twenty years, and many people had tried to use her. She could basically smell deceit by now, but from Silva, she couldn''t sense any deceit, just pure certainty in his words. Chapter 69: Gallan The Goblin tribe was located at a veryrge tree in the forest. Small mud huts were littered everywhere, while there was a massive hole in therge tree, making it look like a cave. Silva looked at Dawn and asked, "Are you ready to bring them to the ground?" "Definitely!" she responded with conviction. She wanted to end these goblins more than anything right now. "Alright, then let''s move," Silva said, drawing his sword and charging into the tribe with Dawn following. A goblin spotted Silva and Dawn and immediately screamed to signal the tribe. It finished shouting and tried to run, but a sword had already passed through its chest, killing it. Silva had long turned off his notifications because it wasn''t worth hearing them. Even with his ten times buff, his level was way too high now. The goblins all came out and started their attack. Silva wanted to move, but Dawn cut in. "Leave this to me, Silva," Dawn said. She swung her de, and goblins were split in two. She was like an unstoppable typhoon sweeping through the area easily. She was incredibly fast, and in less than a minute, she had killed all the goblins. Finally, the ruckus reached inside the tree, and several giants came out, all of them as huge as the ones Silva had killed. But this time, it wasn''t the same. She was ten times stronger than before, but for safety, she decided to use her magic. Her de lit on fire, creating a ming sword. Silva saw this and was shocked. You needed a high amount of Mana to do something like this. The idea to try this out with dark magic came to his mind, and his thoughts started simting how it would work when he needed it. She swung her sword and fired arge me arc. The arc hit the first giant and cut through it cleanly, continuing to kill the one behind it. She dashed at them at a speed they couldn''t keep up with, shing through the rest and killing them like they were nothing. Now that she had killed all the goblins, all that was left was to check inside the tree. Silva led the way, and she followed. As soon as he entered, he felt a powerful bloodlust and saw two red eyes looking at him from the darkness. Silva used Dragon Eyes to find out the stats of whatever it was. It had stats over 400 and was level 60 as well. The only way for that to be possible was if it was a goblin king, and just as he presumed, it was a goblin king, charging at him into the light. It held arge dagger firmly, its Mana wrapped around the dagger, making it sharper. It leaped into the air to attack Silva, but Silva used the skill he got, FEAR. His eyes glowed. The goblin king froze in midair. It used some sort of technique to stop its movement,nding and leaping backward. "What are you?" the goblin asked. "Oh, so you understand humannguage. Then this should be easy. I have wiped out your entire tribe, but there is a chance of survival for you. Be my summon now, or I will kill you. You should already feel that you can''t kill me, right? There''s a voice screaming at you not to fight me; better listen to that voice," Silva said. The goblin king stared at Silva. The Fear skill had been turned off, but it was still intimidated by Silva. Silva saw that the goblin was still reluctant, so he let his aura and bloodlust seep out. The goblin king began shivering because of this, its body moving on its own as it bowed its head. ''I need to build an additional force, that''s what Elsa told me, so you''ll make a great addition,'' Silva thought. He activated the summoning, and it worked without issues. [Congrattions, you have gained a third summon.] [Do you wish to name your summon?] Silva looked at the goblin and asked, "You don''t have a name?" "I don''t have one, Master," the goblin said. "Fine, your name is Gan," Silva said. "Thank you, Master," Gan replied. This was the easiest subduing Silva had done, but it made sense. He was simply subduing a weaker creature. Gan was too weak to cause him any stress. The only reason he didn''t force Dawn¡ªwell, that was because she was a beautifuldy. Who in their right mind would force a beautifuldy into anything? Gan felt a surge in his strength when the ten-times buff kicked in. He looked at Silva in surprise. "That''s a little gift to make you stronger," Silva said. Gan mmed his head on the ground in respect to Silva. He was forced just moments ago, but now all his anger faded away. Who cares if Silva killed his tribe? The tribe was to grow his strength anyway. Right now, he just hit a height he never thought was possible. "I, Gan, swear to be your humble and faithful servant till death," Gan said. "No need to be dramatic," Silva said, and then he looked at Dawn. "I hope you''ll forgive me for sparing him. I know you wanted to kill them all," Silva said. "Please don''t apologize, Silva. You already allowed me to destroy their tribe. You honored my selfish desire. From the looks of things, he will be useful to you, so I have no issues with it. But if he ever gets rude to you or tries for your life, I''ll kill him on the spot," Dawn said as she leaked killing intent that frightened Gan. "Lady Dawn, be rest assured that I am fully a servant of Master now. I hold no grudge over the dead goblins," Gan said. "How can a goblin have this sort of vocabry?" Silva asked while looking at Gan, trying to figure it out. "Ah, Master, that is because I was captured by humans from a young age and was with them for several years," Gan said. Chapter 70: Three A ranked Silva decided that it would be best if they returned to the Labyrinth first before he headed back to town. He introduced Gan and Dawn to the guardians and Fang. Dawn and Gan were shocked to see such powerful beings calling Silva "Master," but they got used to it after a while. Silva decided to head back to town, and the only person that came with him was Dawn. She was an adventurer, and she had also been with the caravan that was destroyed, so it made sense that she would return to the town. As soon as they arrived at the town, an adventurer informed them that the Guild master was waiting for Silva. So Silva and Dawn headed for the guild. Dawn walked close to Silva, so much so that their shoulders brushed. Silva looked at her many times, but whenever he turned his head, she would look away, so he decided not to think about it and just keep walking. Before they got to the guild, they came across Quin and his party, who were headed toward them. "Hey, Silva," Quin greeted. Roxy, who was at the back, saw Dawn and how close she was clinging to Silva. It was as though a wire in her head snapped. She was about to run up to Silva to hug him, that way she could push him away from this beastman. But as she tried to move, Rock grabbed her hand and shook his head at her. She red at him, but he refused to let go. "I heard that the adventurers from the city have arrived. The massive raid will be set for tomorrow. You should get some rest," Quin said. "I understand. I just have to meet with the guild master first," Silva said. They exchanged some more small talk before they parted ways. As Roxy passed by, she stared daggers at Dawn, but Dawn paid her no heed. "It seems that girl likes you, Silva," Dawn said as they walked. "No, it''s what I''d call ''Knight in Shining Armor Syndrome.'' I saved her, so she feels somewhat indebted to me. Her mind transcribed that as feelings for me. I don''t believe it''s true feelings," Silva said. "But you did the same for me," Dawn muttered. "Did you say something?" Silva asked. "Nothing," Dawn responded. They got to the guild, and Dawn waited for him in the hall while he went upstairs to meet the guild master. ________ _________ "I heard you saved a caravan from a goblin raid," Raze said as he poured some tea into two cups for them. Silva stretched out his hands, took his cup, and sipped from it before cing it down. "Yes, we also exterminated the tribe," Silva said. "Oh, is that so? What about the bodies? Those can get you some good ie," Raze said. "Oh, I forgot all about them. I didn''t find them important. But you can send someone to go get them. It''s not been long since we killed them," Silva said. "Sigh, I can''t believe you just killed all of them and left them there. I''ll send some people after our talk. You see, cklight sent three A-ranked adventurers and several B-ranked. As it stands, you are the strongest adventurer in this town, and so we need you to be the leader. Lucas will also y a role since he is head up, but he will answer to you, as well as all the other B-ranked and C-ranked adventurers that will join. I know that the city adventurers will want to boss around, but I believe you will be able to handle them," Raze said. "Alright, but I think we also have an ace. I helped out an adventurer called Dawn, a beast woman," Silva said. "Oh, I believe I have heard that name. She is from the Grey Wolf Tribe that is no more. I heard she was an A rank, though because of her race, she is looked down upon," Raze said. "Good, you are well informed. She is going to help me in this, so that means we have one A-ranked adventurer with this town. With her help, handling the city adventurers would not be too hard," Silva said. "Normally, I would ask how you got to know her, but at this point, I don''t believe there is anything you can''t do," Raze said. "You overestimate me. Well, if that''s all, I''ll take my leave and prepare for the raid," Silva said and got up. He left the office, and Raze watched him leave and then let out a sigh of relief. "What sort of aura is this? For a child to be able to pressure me just by sitting near me, what has my life been for?" ________ _________ Silva went down and saw Dawn standing with her sword and two men on the floor, badly beaten up, with a few broken tables and chairs. The adventurers stared at her in shock. "What happened?" Silva asked out loud. "That stupid bitch you brought in just went on a rampage," one man said. Silva looked at the man with bloodlust, and the man fell to the ground and coughed up blood. "What the hell are you doing?" another person asked in anger. "He lied to me. There''s no way she would have fought all of you unprovoked, so tell me what happened!" Silva said and released his aura. The whole room became heavy, even Raze upstairs felt the pressure. The attendants could not take it anymore, so they spoke. "Those two men disrespected her because she was a beastman and also tried to sexually harass her," the attendant said. "So because she is from a different race, you all watched someone talk to her anyhow and try to mistreat her. And when she defended herself, you all stood against her, trying to pin the me on her. There are despicable creatures, and you all fall into that group. You decided to be racist and side with your people even when they are wrong. You are all filth far beneath the shit of a dog," Silva said. He grabbed Dawn by her hand and took her outside. Chapter 71: The Raid part 1 They left the guild, and Silva headed for an inn. He got a room for Dawn and decided to stay a bit and talk to her. But as soon as he entered the room, she followed behind and hugged Silva from the back. Silva was shocked as he felt her body press against him. Even with ten extra minds working in parallel, he couldn''t calm down. "Dawn," he said. "Please, just for a moment," she said. "Thank you, thank you," she repeated. ''It seems I underestimated the effect of loneliness in her heart,'' Silva thought. "I said I''d save you, right? The next time theyy their hands on you, or talk to you, I''ll kill them, slowly torturing them till death," Silva said. When she heard that, she tightened her grip on him. After a while, she let go. Both of them sat on the bed, and Silva started talking about the raid tomorrow. "Thebyrinth belongs to me, but the town doesn''t know that. They believe it''s a group of people probably still in thebyrinth. So tomorrow, the raid will be happening, and I want you to be there with me," Silva said. "You don''t need to ask; I''ll surely go with you," she replied. "But thebyrinth doesn''t really have anyone inside, right? Yet you''re allowing them in. What''s your n?" she asked. "Information gathering. People from cklight City areing. They have some A-ranks, and A-ranks have information that normal people can''t ess. I need all the information I can get before I head for the academy in a few months. So while they''re all there searching for non-existent people, I''ll slowly carry out my n," Silva exined. He spent the rest of the time exining the details to her until night came, and he decided it was time to leave. But as he got up, Dawn grabbed his hand. She looked up at him with eyes that begged him to stay. Silva couldn''t see the mature woman anymore; all that was there now was a child that wanted someone with her. "I''m still a kid. Spending the night in the room of a woman doesn''t sound right," Silva said. "Please, just this once," she said. Silva stared at her. The man in his body screamed at him to stay, overshadowing the small voice that tried to tell him to leave. ''Whatever, man. Fuck it. Whatever happens, happens. No regrets, no looking back,'' Silva decided. So theyy in the bed, and the night came. Dawn snuggled up to him, sleeping like a littlemb. On the other hand, Silva was heating up. There was a wolfdy right next to him. In his past life, everyone had a fantasy about a catdy, a wolfdy, or something like that. They may not say it, but everyone has definitely thought about it. And now, here he was, living that fantasy. He couldn''t control his body. He heated up from the stimtion and slowly closed his legs to stop his little friend from poking out. He cursed the rapid development of children in this world. Unlike Earth, fourteen was considered adulthood here, and children grew faster due to Mana. Silva slowly passed the night without a wink of sleep. His eyes were wide open as he watched Dawn sleep. From time to time, she muttered something in a cute manner and held onto Silva tighter than before. Her tail would wag from time to time and hit the bed, while her ears perked up and down quickly in random patterns. As she slept, she was the epitome of cuteness, and Silva was barely holding on to his sanity. ________ _________ The day of the raid finally arrived, and all adventurers of B-rank and many of the C-rank were getting ready to go. Silva and Dawn also got ready and left the inn. As they walked, Silva noticed a spring in her steps, like she was lighter and full of energy. ''I guess she hasn''t been resting well enough for some time,'' Silva thought. The raid would start when the leaders of the Ribest town adventurers and the cklight town adventurer''s leader arrived at thebyrinth, along with the people raiding. As for Ribest town, the leader was Silva, and since they all knew Silva and what he was capable of, they had no issues with it. The same could not be said for the cklight City adventurers because when they saw Silva arrive at thebyrinth, one of them tried to chase him away. "Why, why, why? Why do fools keeping my way?" Silva asked out loud in a tired voice. The adventurer got pissed and wanted to attack Silva, but he felt lots of killing gazes on him. He looked at the Ribest adventurers. They were all looking at him with murderous intent. The leader of the cklight group came forward. He wore ck armor with a two-handed sword on his back. His hair was white and flowing all the way to his back. He had a well-carved face. Silva was sure that this man would be a very popr model if he was from Earth. Silva didn''t fall behind look-wise, actually. It was hard to find a person as good-looking as him, but he wasn''t aware of this; he just lived his life. "From how the adventurers reacted just now, should I presume you are the leader?" the man asked as he stepped closer to Silva. Dawn ced her hand on her sword and was ready to draw. If this man did anything careless, his head would roll. The man nced at Dawn and then frowned. It seemed he knew who Dawn was. "Yes, I am the leader, B-ranked Silva," he introduced himself. The cklight adventurers started talking when they heard this. They kept talking about how Silva must either be lying or have some sort of secret. Silva could already feel some envious gazes on him. These were the ones that would fall prey first. Chapter 72: The Raid part 2 "Well, my name is Orion Lukesworth, an A-ranked adventurer from cklight City," the man said and stretched out his hand for a handshake. As their hands locked together, Orion started adding pressure, like he was trying to test Silva''s strength. Silva frowned. Did this idiot even know what he was doing? Dawn was right there beside him; there was no way she hadn''t noticed what he was doing. Taking into ount the character that Dawn had started building, she would kill anyone that touched Silva. And like he said, he could sense her emotions raging up. Silva decided to disgrace Orion a little, and so he squeezed as well. Orion felt a sharp wave of pain. He tried to hold a strong face and remove his hand, but he couldn''t pull it out. He looked at Silva, who was smiling at him. ''This brat! How dare he?'' Orion was fuming with rage. "Next time, be cautious," Silva said, released his hand, and walked away. The other adventurers could not really see what happened, but the stronger B-ranks and A-ranks knew, and thoughts had started sprouting in their heads. What was Silva''s strength? How did he acquire such power? Was it possible to steal that strength? Silva was aware of the blooming envy, and like before, that was what he needed. He met with Quin, whose team was here as well. Since they were a B-ranked team, they had toe too. When Roxy saw him, she ran up to him and hugged him, but then she saw Dawn behind him, and their eyes shed. Sparks flew as the two looked at each other. Dawn would have no issue with another woman having feelings for Silva, but she hated the fact that Roxy was evidently hating on her and trying to get Silva all to herself. That can''t happen. Dawn would rather let the world burn than lose Silva after finally getting someone that she wanted to be with, and the person epted her. Silva noticed the tension and decided that he would make something clear to them before he entered thebyrinth, or else, Dawn might just kill Roxy. He whispered into Roxy''s ear. "If you think you''ll be the onlydy I''ll be around, you are sorely mistaken. Even if they aren''t for love, I''ll have to be with them for political or personal reasons. I''m telling you this now so that you don''t go getting mad over what you can''t control. If this is too much for you to handle, then you can always forget about me," Silva said. It was as though a bomb exploded in her head when she heard thest line¡ª''you can forget about me''¡ªher heart tightened. She knew it was impossible to tie Silva down, but she wanted to try at least. But now it was Silva telling her that it wouldn''t work. She was conflicted; she tried to resolve her thoughts. Silva pushed her off him a bit and looked her in the eyes. "When you are certain of what you want, tell me, alright?" he said, then left her. He knew what she would choose, but he hoped for another result. If she kept loving him, she was digging a hole for herself, because Silva was unpredictable, and this may lead to some painful situations for her. Silva met Quin and gave him a clear warning. "No matter what, Quin, stay with me in thebyrinth, you and your party. You guys have to stay with me, do you understand?" Silva asked. Quin didn''t know why Silva was saying it like that, but since it was Silva, there had to be a reason, so he decided to follow Silva''s instructions. "Then, we''re in your care, bro," Quin said. Right now, they stood with over a hundred adventurers from the town and city, consisting of C-ranks and B-ranks that came from Ribest. And then B-ranks and A-ranks from cklight City. In all honesty, this wasn''t a raid but a flex, and the cklight City adventurers were only here to bully, but Silva was ready, very ready for them. It was finally time to go in. Silva called all the B-ranked adventurers from Ribest; they were mostly men, but about six were women. They all surrounded him, even Lucas, who had been beaten up badly that day. He refused to look Silva in the eyes. "Alright, most of you already have parties, and your parties are here, so I need you guys to lead them in small groups. Also, just for today, allow anyone who wants to join your party. There are some solo raiders here, so assimte them into your party if possible. They will all follow you, while you follow my orders or Dawn beside me." Silva pointed to Dawn. He watched closely to see their reactions toward her, and sure enough, some of them looked at her in ways that pissed him off. Silva marked them, about five men in total. To think the women didn''t even look at her badly, but some idiots did. He would hand these men over to Lily for sure. "She is an A-ranked adventurer, and she will be helping me today, so her orders are only secondary to mine. You forfeit your life if you disobey her in this raid, and I mean that," Silva said and used his killing intent to pressure them. After the small talk, they all stood in front of thebyrinth and walked in. The group of over a hundred started their march. As soon as they entered, Silva started receiving updates from the lowest floor. Elsa and the others were watching and working. Silva was sending them information about the people he would like dead to feed thebyrinth, those he wanted kidnapped and tortured for information. And those that looked at Dawn with eyes they shouldn''t have. Those ones were set to simply suffer eternal pain. The remaining amounted to about sixty to seventy people. From that amount, he needed to make it more real, so twenty would be heavily injured, while the rest would suffer minor injuries all over. Chapter 73: Starting off with causing trouble The first few floors were a walk in the park for a mighty force of over a hundred people. They easily walked through, killing the monsters as they went, but as soon as they stepped into the sixth floor, Silva started heating things up. The group decided that they would rest on the sixth floor, as there was arge area. They had been inside for four hours now, so rest was needed for the weaker members. Since the beginning, the adventurers from the city kept casting looks at Silva and Dawn. The two of them were the odd ones out, a kid and a beastman. But Silva didn''t have an issue; the whole thing was about to fall apart anyway. It was time to unleash the power of his dungeon. As they camped there, a heavy amount of bloodlust reached them, and from the darkness, four mighty minotaurs walked out holding massive axes. The whole group got to their feet when they saw this. These minotaurs were considered peak B-ranked monsters. And their rage mode would be able to kill an A-rank, so they needed to stop them fast. "All mages, get ready to attack from a distance," Orion yelled, but only his mages answered. Those from Ribest waited for Silva to talk. "Dawn, Quin, and Lucas, take one minotaur out each," Silva said and charged at one himself. The three of them did as he said and started charging at a minotaur. Because of them, the mages that were about to attack stopped. If they attacked, they would hit Silva and the other three. Lucas drew his sword and took a step, his body phased, and when he appeared, he was in the air behind the minotaur. He shed off the head cleanly. Quin was fast on his feet. He waited for the minotaur to attack, then dodged. The axe struck the ground, and Quin stepped on the shaft and leaped into the air. He spun around and shed the minotaur''s head off. Dawn got within ten meters of the minotaur. She took out her sword and threw it. It dug into the head of the minotaur, throwing it back and mming it against the wall. Silva didn''t do anything special. He just leaped into the air and punched the head of the minotaur, turning it into meat paste. ''Sorry that I had to use you four to make this look real,'' Silva said in his mind. He already knew that quite a few monsters would be lost in this stupid thing. "What the hell are you doing?" Orion barked at him. "What I came to do, take out the monster and raid the dungeon," Silva said with a nonchnt attitude. "You brat, you think you are something special?" Orion asked. "Well, I became what it took you three decades to be in just twelve years. Of course, I am special. Oh, you think I don''t know about you? I did my research. You were stuck at B-rank for many years. You became a B-rank at the age of thirty, and that was still considered good, but you are a noble, and such speed was pathetic for a noble of your status. So you turned to drugs and potions, forcefully pushing your strength to A-rank, and now you have been stuck there for years, unable to advance. When the discussion of the raid came up, you quickly used your position as a noble to be chosen because you believe that this is where you can advance. Pathetic." Silva said with spite in his eyes. All this information, he got from the Viscount. He asked the Viscount to look into the family of whoever was sent to the raid, and Orion was from the Lukesworth Barony. As such, the Viscount easily got the information he needed and gave it to Silva, and now Silva was using it against him. "You filthy piece of shit!" Orion roared and drew his sword at Silva. He charged in like a bullet and shed at Silva''s neck. But then, a de blocked his attack. He looked up and saw Dawn had blocked him. She was very pissed. She pushed his sword back and sent a kick to his chest. Orion flew and mmed into the wall, and this triggered a fight. Both sides collided, the people of Ribest versus the city. But this was all phase one of the n Silva had set up because now that tension was high, working together could no longer happen, and the monsters could finally roll in. Close to fifty minotaurs headed their way, the stampede shaking the ground, but because of the fight, they didn''t notice until it was toote. Orion tried to bring back order, he yelled, but nothing was working. That was when he realized that his voice was being suppressed. He looked over to Silva and saw Silva smiling, and that was when he knew he had messed up. They all messed up the moment they stepped in here. There was no choice, he had to run, he had to run now. But as he took a step, he stepped on a rock that activated a pitfall. It was quite wide, and so close to ten people fell into it. The A-ranked adventurers knew they had to do something fast, but Silva didn''t want the chaos to stop like that, so he used his skill, Fear, to cause them to scatter in all directions. The minotaurs gave chase, eagerly pursuing the adventurers. Their job was to lead them down to the lower floors. The reason Silva had triggered that initial fight was so that if Ribest adventurers and ckcity adventurers found themselves together, they would be unable to rely on each other and would cause each other harm. Now, only Silva and Quin''s party remained. They had stuck to him, just as he told them to. They too had run into a corridor, and three minotaurs were chasing them. "You guys go ahead, Dawn and I will take care of the minotaurs," Silva said, and he and Dawn turned back and headed for the minotaurs. Quin didn''t question it. Even he could fight the minotaurs, but his legs just kept running for some reason. Chapter 74: Playing Games When Silva and Dawn headed back, he created a clone to meet Quin. The clone would tell them that Dawn had gone to help the others. After making the clone, he and Dawn teleported to the throne room. As soon as they appeared, Elsa ran up and hugged him. "Daddy!" she called out. Silva tried to hold himself from falling. "Has everything been set up?" he asked. "Yes, master," Drake said. Silva walked to the throne and sat down as a massive hologram screen showing one side of thebyrinth appeared. There were over ten people on screen. They had run away from the minotaurs and were now closer to the entrance of the seventh floor. Three of them were from Ribest, and the rest were from cklight City. About four of them were marked with red dots over their heads; those were the ones who looked at Dawn with eyes they shouldn''t have. He would be starting with this set and having some fun with them. _______ ________ "The minotaurs are definitelying. We need to find a way out. We can either take the risk of entering the seventh floor or fight them," an adventurer said. "No, you are wrong. We can sacrifice you and your twopanions. You Ribest C ranks should be the ones to die first. If you die for our sakes, we can get away from here and survive, so better do it," the strongest of the cklight City adventurers said. "What the hell are you saying? You want us to die so that you can escape? You bastard, are you even human?" the man snapped back. "You three don''t have a choice. You either fight us and get forced into being the sacrifice, or youply," the man responded. (Who said they didn''t have a choice? Are you perhaps the owner of thisbyrinth?) Silva''s voice boomed through the space. All ten of them could hear him, but he wasn''t there. "Who the hell are you? Show yourself," the cklight City adventurer said. Immediately after, a massive force mmed him to the ground and pressed him down until the ground started cracking. (Who told you that you can raise your voice here?) Silva asked. He stopped the force and allowed the man to take a breather. (Listen closely, all of you. Four of you here must die for certain, and that''s simply for a crime youmitted. So I''ll show you the four people, and the six of you must subdue them in any way possible, but ensure they are alive. When you seed, hand them over to my friends who have surrounded you.) The adventurers looked around and saw that they had been surrounded by minotaurs, and these ones were bigger and stronger than the ones that chased them, ten in number. An average B rank can take care of a minotaur, just as Quin showed. Well, that''s somewhat bullshit. You need to be experienced in fighting them to be able to kill them quickly. The reason why all the adventurers really ran from them was due to fear, induced by Silva. But as for these minotaurs that stood here, they were three times the strength of the other ones. There was no way this group of ten could survive them. The group felt fear when they saw the minotaurs; they felt like melting into the ground. (My friends here serve two purposes. If you refuse to subdue the four that I will show you, my friends will attack and kill all of you. If you do as you are told and hand over the four, they will spare you and leave. Then you six must head to the seventh floor. Now that all that has beenid out, let us begin. In ten seconds, the ones you must subdue will be shown to you,) Silva finished what he had to say and started counting ten seconds in his mind. When it hit one, a holographic light shined over the heads of four of the cklight City adventurers. The remaining six immediately knew what this meant, and the air became tense. The four that had been chosen took their weapons and entered a defensive stance. They started retreating slowly from the others. "You guys can''t do this. We are from the same guild and city. Let''s take out those Ribest idiots and fight the minotaurs ourselves," one tried to persuade. "I don''t think you understand what you''re saying. Even if the rest of you gang up against us, you can''t win against those minotaurs. I have a family, and so I will not just die here. I''ll have to hand you over to them. That''s the only way that makes sense. Who''s with me?" the C rank adventurer who had been arguing with the other adventurer spoke up. Even the remaining two adventurers from cklight knew this was the only option, so they drew their staffs and swords. It was time to subdue. "You bastards!" "Fuck all of you." "Betrayers!" "Motherfuckers!" The four that were chosen yelled out, but things had already been set in motion. An earth mage made the first move to capture them. The earth gripped the legs of the four and tried to stop them from moving. The others immediately attacked to make the best out of the opportunity. The battle of six versus four raged for five minutes, with both sides taking damage, but the four were taking very heavy beatings. One lost his leg, the other his hand, another his eyes, and another half his face, but they had to keep fighting if they wanted to walk out of here. In the end, four of them were knocked out and handed to the minotaurs. The minotaurs left immediately after they got the four, just as Silva promised. The six that had subdued the others found ces to rest, their bodies covered in their blood and the blood of the four they fought. But in the end, they managed to survive. What they did here may weigh on their conscience for life, but at least they were alive. Though, Silva had no ns to let them rest. (Now head to the seventh floor.) Chapter 75: Odd one out The six adventurers had no choice but to drag their wounded bodies to the seventh floor. They didn''t know what awaited them, but it was far better than disobeying that voice. The minotaurs took the four that had been knocked unconscious. They took them and teleported all the way to Lilies Hall, where they would wait for the others and their punishment would begin. Since Silva had dealt with the first group, he shifted his attention to another group that had run back to the fifth floor. That group was trying to get out of thebyrinth. They consisted of three C-ranked and two B-ranked adventurers, with one V-ranked being ady. As they ran through, making their way out, Silva was pissed at the fact that they were working together. He wanted chaos between both sides, yet these five had put away their differences to work together. He couldn''t let that slide. Aside from that, one of the B-ranks was marked as a person that looked at Dawn, and that simply meant he would have to endure the torture as well. ________ ________ The group of five ran as fast as they could, but suddenly, a being appeared in front of them, a half-snake, half-woman. She had ck hair and ck scales. This was one of the followers of Jade, the guardian. When they saw her, they all came to a stop. They immediately pulled out their weapons and got into battle positions. "I''m not here to fight you. I am only here to offer you a way out," she said. "Why would we believe a monster, and why can you talk?" one of the adventurers asked. "Is that really important now? I have a way to let you get out. If you don''t want the method, I''ll have to kill all of you now," she said. Her bloodlust spilled out of her and suffocated them. This was to let them know that they weren''t on the same level, and that she could kill them whenever she wanted. The idea registered in their heads, and they gave up. If there was a way to escape, then they would try it. They''d rather take the risk than go up against this monster that was evidently stronger. But not all five of them had this idea. One B-rank drew his sword and charged at the snakedy. She smiled when she saw him. He shed at her, and all she did was use her tail to block the attack. She then used her tail like ance and stabbed through his chest, killing the man in one hit. His body fell to the ground limp and then disappeared, leaving a crystal. She picked the crystal up and ate it, then gave a refreshed smile. The remaining four shivered at that sight. They had just witnessed total domination, and one of them had died. Now only three C ranks from Ribest and one B rank from cklight remained. "Now will you all listen to me, or will I have to make another example?" she said. "We will do what you want, just tell us," thedy came forward and said. You could see the panic in her eyes; she didn''t want to die here. "Alright then, it is simple. All you have to do is pick the odd one out. When you find the odd one, suppress him or her. If you fail to find the odd one, all of you die. You have one minute," she said and then disappeared. "Odd one? What could that mean?" one asked. The B rank looked at all of them. He observed closely, and then his eyesnded on the woman. She had to be the odd one, right? There was no other way. She was the odd one. She was a woman, so she was the only one different. He drew his sword and pointed at her. "She is the odd one. She is the only female here. That makes her the odd one out," he said with certainty. "What are you saying? That makes no sense. You can''t just say I am the odd one," she argued. "His theory does make sense," one of the C ranks agreed. "I can''t argue with it. You are the only difference here, so you will have to forgive us," the third guy said and pointed his sword at her as well. She raised her staff for protection, ready to cast a spell at the slightest movement. The rage she felt was evident on her face. The minute passed, and the snakedy appeared again. She looked at them all, pointing their weapons at the woman, and then she smiled. "Should I take it that this is the decision you have made?" she asked. "Yes, she is the only odd one out," the B-rank said. "Sigh, such stupidity," the snakedy replied, confusing all of them. "You ganged up on her because she was a woman. You failed to use your brain just because you felt that was the right answer. Did you even try to find any other answer? No, you just acted how you wanted and chose her based on gender. Truly stupid. She is from the same ce as you, and that man is the outsider from another ce, isn''t he? He was the odd one out," she said, pointing at the B rank. "Now, as per the agreement, I''ll give out death." She moved, her body like a sh, and in seconds, the heads of the two men flew off their shoulders. She wrapped her tail around the B ranked adventurer, squeezing him until he went unconscious. She looked at thedy, who was shivering in fear, but then she turned around and dragged the man into the darkness. Thedy stayed put for five minutes, unable to move, until she gathered herself. She got up and ran as fast as she could. She didn''t know why she was spared, but now was not the time to ask questions. Chapter 76: The A ranked The same thing was happening all over thebyrinth, but Silva decided to shift his focus from the small fries. He decided it was time to pull in the big dogs. All the A-ranks, three in total, to thest floor where he was. These were the ones that had the information he needed. There were two swordsmen and a beautifuldy mage; the three of them were the A-ranks that were sent. Silva teleported them into the main hall, while the other adventurers were out there in thebyrinth going through hell. Orion looked up when he appeared, and his eyes could not believe what he saw. Lined up from left to right were terrifyingly powerful beings standing. Their aura at full st, crushing his soul inside his body. And on the throne sat a man and a little girl. The man wore a cloak, covering his face, so he couldn''t tell who he was. But then his eyes went to Dawn, who also stood there. As soon as he saw her, he got up and pointed at her. "You traitor!" he yelled, but immediately, the hand that he used to point at her was severed. It flew into the air and fell on the ground with a loud thud. Orion looked at his hand in shock, and so did the other A-ranked adventurers. Orion may not be very strong, but his hand was cut off without anyone moving¡ªthey couldn''t even tell who had done it. Silva removed his cloak and spoke, "You shouldn''t be noisy when you are in someone''s ce. That is annoying." The three of them looked at Silva. They knew him; he was the leader of the Ribest adventurers. What was he doing here? "I have to say thank you, Orion, because of you, I was able to ignite the first phase of the image to cause chaos. I have the special ability to induce fear, but it bes easier when there is already tension. So I threw you a bait, hoping that you would take it, and you did. With that set in motion, I was able to take who I wanted, kill who I needed to kill, and punish," Silva said. "You bastard, why would you do all that? How can you be so cruel?" Orion yelled. "Hmm, such a great question. And now to the answer. We all live as puppets, under the rule of the strong. Your sense of ethics and justice is all skewed to fit your selfish beliefs. You fight other races, you enve beastmen, you hate all those that are not simr to you, yet you raise a g of justice. Is justice only for when it fits your needs? The hundreds of beastmen you walk past daily in ve markets¡ªdon''t they deserve the justice you wave around?" Silva asked. Orion frowned and balled his fist in anger, but he couldn''t argue back. The magedy stepped forward and spoke. "Why should they have any justice? They are all filled with the blood of demons. It is the task of humans to stop the demons," she said, showing her conviction. Silva frowned when he heard that. He looked at her and spoke. "You stand here, and right before you are several races that aren''t human, yet you opened your hole of a mouth to say they don''t deserve justice?" he asked, his eyes glowing red. Thedy shivered uncontrobly under his gaze; she could hardly keep standing. Silva transformed into his dragon-newt form, he looked at them and asked: "So tell me now, do you think I have no right to justice now that you know who I am? Do you believe that I shouldn''t walk the same road as you? Well, don''t answer, because even if you do, I won''t believe what you say." He transformed back to normal and then walked towards them. "The reason I can be this cruel, the reason I can act this way and take lives without batting an eye, is because I was wired this way. Yup, I was wired not to care. I was wired to be a menace to all humanity, to be a being that would go straight for my goals regardless. But even with that, I work with a simple system. You have to either do something to me for me to kill you, or you have something I need and want to take from you. Even with all the evil that I bring, I still protect what I hold dear and care for those that I love. So I''m not all bad, but I am still pretty nasty. And I''ll show you that nasty side if you don''t stop trying to activate that crystal in your palm," Silva said to Orion. Orion froze when he was caught. The crystal was the size of a fingernail¡ªhow did Silva still find out about it? Silva saw the look on Orion''s face; he couldn''t hold back hisugh. "Hahahaha, did you really think I wouldn''t see it? Or the spell that the magedy has been secretly casting, or the ring that man behind you has been trying to activate? Seriously, you all look down on me far too much, so I''ll have to take you down a notch. So for that, I offer you a way out. The three of you must defeat Gan, my summon over there," Silva said and pointed to Gan. "If you manage to win against him, you will be teleported out, no questions asked. But if you fail, you''re gonna see hell. Now, no time to waste. Gan, take over," Silva said and walked away. Gan bowed his head. He took his dual daggers and walked into battle. He weakened his aura to deceive them, so that they would believe they had a chance. Silva just wanted to give them hope, allow them to dream, and then crush it, over and over again. He would ensure that he radically damaged their spirits. Gan was only the first stage; many stages came after, and he would engrave into them how weak and useless they were. Chapter 77: You Lie You Die "Wait, my hand, how will I fight without it?" Orion yelled. Silva turned around and looked at him. He stared at him for a while, then spoke. "Lily, heal him up." Lily did as he spoke, and Orion''s hand regenerated. While Orion was getting happy that his hand was back, Silva spoke again. "All of you have one opportunity to ask for healing, and sadly, Orion has used up his opportunity. There will be no healing for him from here on out," Silva said. Orion froze when he heard that. How was that fair? Silva didn''t tell him. How could he have known? But he couldn''t voice his thoughts. If he did, he would die. "Now begin," Silva gave the go-ahead. Gan mmed his foot into the ground suddenly, his body shot forward like a rocket, so fast that the three could not react. When he stopped, he was right in front of Orion, about to sh him in two. The mage quickly cast an earth spell that created a wall to block the attack, buying Orion enough time to step away. The wall did little to stop Gan though. His de cut through with ease. He pushed forward and chased Orion, going for another sh. Orion had to think quick. He parried the strike, but the force behind it was too much for him. His shoulder dislocated, and he was sent flying into a wall. The other swordsman tried to take advantage and attack just as Orion was sent flying, but Gan was alert. The man shed at Gan, but Gan parried it easily and stepped in. He used his second sword to sh down diagonally. The man looked at the deing towards him. He couldn''t dodge, it was way too fast. Just as he was about to give up, a fireball mmed into Gan''s hand and pushed it back. "Oh, a dual mage. This may be interesting," Silva thought. With Gan pushed back, the man was able to retreat and recollect himself. Orion had also gotten up. He popped his shoulder back into ce and got into his stance. "I will not go down like this," Orion said. His sword shone brightly with a yellow light, and his aura changed. "So he has light affinity, a very terrifying affinity, but against Gan, it''s like a candle me," Silva thought. "Both of you cover me, I''ll take the lead," Orion said, charging at Gan at top speed. The mage cast a streak of mes that Gan had to block. She did it to block his view, allowing the other swordsman to get behind Gan. The man went for a stab, but Gan spun around and blocked it. The n was now in ce. With Gan''s back to Orion, he could attack. Orion leaped into the air, his sword shining brighter. He stabbed down right at Gan''s neck. Gan smirked when he saw this. Even when he was a normal goblin king, these A-ranked adventurers would have a hard time with him. So now that he was ten times stronger, they were nothing. He stomped his foot on the ground and gave a wall-shaking roar. The sound prated the ears of the three of them. Their eardrums were torn, and they bled from their ears. Orion could no longerplete the attack. He fell to the ground and covered his ears in pain, his brain ringing continuously. "Is this all? Is this the end of your struggle?" Gan asked in an insulting tone. "They can''t hear you, Gan, you destroyed their ears," Silva said. "Oh, I see. Then there is no point in talking," Gan said, but before he moved to finish them off, the mage and the swordsman raised their hands and yelled. "We would like to use our healing now." Silva smiled and signaled Lily to do it. She healed them, and they were able to stand good as new again. The mage took out a potion and fed it to Orion, but then she felt a deathly pressure on her, causing her to shiver. "No need to get angry, Elsa. I didn''t tell them not to use personal items. She hasn''t broken the rules," Silva said while patting her on the head. "Okay, Daddy," she responded and withdrew the pressure, allowing the mage to breathe well. After taking the healing potion, Orion was able to stand again. He got on his feet and carried his sword again. "I hope your second try won''t be as pathetic as the first one," Gan said, then dashed towards them. The mage was quick. She cast an earth spike spell, causing spikes to shoot out of the ground, but Gan either dodged or cut through them. He was like an unstoppable monster; his speed didn''t reduce even once. Orion used his sword again, but this time, he also used a technique that added to his speed a bit. He charged at Gan. When he was just a few steps from Gan, he tried to jump to the side, but as he did that, he saw Gan''s eyes trailing him, and then his arm and de as well. Orion used what energy he had and blocked the de. The impact shattered his sword and sent him flying into a wall, leaving a crack in the wall. Gan turned his attention to the other swordsman. He charged at him as well. The swordsman tried to move, but Gan was already there. As ast-ditch effort, the swordsman activated his technique, lightning sword, and tried to use it to stab Gan. Gan parried the attack and then headbutted the man, immediately sending him to the ground, unable to move. Now all that was left was the mage. But when she saw the other two were taken out, she broke down. She fell to the ground, shivering. "I guess that''s enough for round one. You three lost, so I get to choose the rules of the next game. And it''s a simple game of telling the truth. You lie, you die," Silva got up and said. Chapter 78: Mike wakes up Silva allowed Lily to take over the questioning, just asking them basic questions about things in cklight, and certain information only an A rank would know about. After he finished that, he used his SP dark spell that allowed him to enve people. He put it on all three of them and healed them. He still had use for them and their connections, so he let them leave. Right now, all three of them knelt before him in the throne room, their heads down, their egos vanished. They only existed to serve Silva now. "Now, when you head up, the other adventurers are going to have a lot of stories about taking monsters and things like that, and we can''t let word of that get out. So, the story behind what happened in thebyrinth is that you met a monster on the twentieth floor that was very powerful. A floor boss, and he caused severe hallucinations, which led to everything that happened so far. Currently, thirty percent of the people that entered here have been killed or captured for personal reasons. The remaining have either trauma or injuries, but they have all started returning to the surface. They''ve had enough of adventuring, and I told them to go finally. But they have all passed through hell because I forced them to keep going deeper and fighting both monsters and amongst themselves. Well, all that aside, you are to do as you are told and report to me. Also, carry out the instructions I gave you in cklight City," Silva said. He activated the teleportation and sent them to the upper floors. "Alright, that concludes the raid issue. I had fun," Silva said. He got up and walked towards the door. "Lily,e and show me what we worked on," Silva said. She bowed and followed him. They entered arge room, and inside were over ten people tied up. They were the ones that he had caught to torture. "Lily, you like carrying out experiments, right? Make sure to use them to the best of your abilities." After saying that, he left the ce. He met up with Dawn, and they went back to the upper floors. He waited for an opportunity and then got his clone to go ease himself. Then, he switched with the clone and came back. Five minutester, Dawn also arrived. "You are finally back, Dawn," Silva said, acting like he hadn''t seen her in a while. "I managed to help those I could, but the situation in thebyrinth is dire. We should head out fast," Dawn said. "I agree. There is no point in us staying here; we would be seeking out death," Quin said. __________ __________ Stepping outside thebyrinth, the surrounding area was filled with adventurers everywhere. The wounded were getting treated, and the others just sat in quietness. Raze was also there. When he saw Silva, he walked over to him. "Thank goodness you are still alive," Raze said. "Why are you here, Guild Master?" Silva asked. "An adventurer told us what happened in thebyrinth. She told us that everyone was in danger and that many people had died. So I rushed here, and by the time I came, the A ranks were out, and they exined the issue of the hallucinations that initiated the panic. As of now, I get that forty people are not yet back, and we don''t know what state they are in. It''s useless to go and search for them, given the size of thebyrinth," Raze exined. "I know this is not the right time to say this, but I am certain some of them have died," Silva said. "Kid, I know that, I know it all too well, but I have the duty to stand as the hope for the adventurers that have been battered by thisbyrinth. Even if I know that most have died in there, I still have to keep the hope up," Raze said. Silva didn''t say anything more. He turned to Quin. "I guess we had the lucky side; the monsters we faced weren''t too strong," Silva said. "No, you just went and killed everything," Quin said. ''Sigh, I forget that my clones are ten times my strength,'' Silva thought. "Silva! Quin!" Lia called out from a distance. She ran their way, huffing and puffing. Silva and Quin ran to meet her halfway. If she ran all the way here, then it must be something serious. "What is it, Lia?" Quin asked. "Mike, Mike has woken up. I went by your house to get something, Brother Quin, and I saw Mike sitting up. I got Mum and Dad to stay with him while I ran here to call you guys," Lia exined. "Mike? He woke up?" Quin asked to confirm. He looked at Silva, and Silva nodded. "Let''s head back home. Dawn,e with me," Silva said. Quin left his party, and they headed back to town. Silva carried Lia in a princess carry since she wouldn''t be able to run at their speed. Lia didn''t expect it when Silva picked her up. Her face went tomato red, and she tried to hide it. They ran to town nonstop and made it back in just a few minutes. They headed for Quin''s house and entered. When they got to the room, Silva saw his mum and dad seated beside Mike, and Mike was just sitting quietly. Mike looked up slowly and saw his brothers and sisters, but his eyes mostly stayed on Silva. Mike started moving, trying to get up. His dad tried to hold him down since it had been a while since he was in aa, and there was no way he had the strength to stand. But Mike was adamant, so his father helped him up and helped him walk slowly to the front of Silva. Mike looked Silva in the eye for some seconds, and then bowed his head to Silva. "Sorry," he managed to mutter, and then his legs gave out. His father caught him quickly and carried him back to the bed. Chapter 79: To Blacklight Months flew by after the issue of thebyrinth. The Viscount did all the paperwork, and everything was settled. It was written off as the work of a monster in thebyrinth. Nothing really changed, because simr things had happened in the past. Sacrifices are made to undertake the workings ofbyrinths, and this was taken as one of those sacrifices. Silva, on the other hand, had made it to level 60. The energy he received monthly from thebyrinth was turned into EXP, and the amount was not small. **Name:** Silva **Race:** Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) **Legacy:** Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) **Magical Affinities:** Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic **Mana:** 1,000,000 **EXP:** 1,000/50,000 **SP:** 1,000,000 **Level:** 60 **Strength:** 2,000 **Defense:** 2,000 **Speed:** 2,000 **Agility:** 2,000 **Intelligence:** 2,200 **Free stat points:** 100 Since the town had no stronger monsters for him, he decided to channel his energy into studying with Lia and getting ready for the entrance exams. ______ ______ During this time, Mike had be quieter and very diligent with his sword training. Ever since he could walk again, he trained as hard as he could. He also decided that he would be an adventurer in cklight City rather than stay here. So, of all the children, only Quin remained in the town. The time for the exams hade, and it was also the day that Mike would be leaving. He decided to stay until Silva and Lia were leaving, and then he would leave as well. The carriage waited outside their house, one specially prepared by the Viscount because his daughter, Fay, would be heading for the exams as well. Fay had been very active in her attempts to get Silva to look her way, but he kept escaping her grasp. She was no longer doing it because her father asked; no, this time she seriously wanted Silva, and those feelings had started blooming not too long after they went to cklight. Silva, Fay, Lia, and Mike got into the carriage, and immediately, it was already an issue. Both Fay and Lia decided to sit beside Silva, and when they both sat down at the same time, they stared daggers into each other. Silva, on the other hand, slipped out of the chair and sat down with Mike. The faces of the girls turned sour immediately after he moved. "You should sit with them," Mike said. "No, they''re alright there," Silva replied. Mike didn''t say anything more. He just gazed out of the window as their journey started. Silva looked outside the back window. He watched his parents wave at them as they left. It had been thirteen years¡ªthirteen years since he died and was reborn in this world¡ªand for the first time, he was leaving Ribest for an extended time. He was about to start the next phase of his journey at the academy. He somewhat looked forward to the academy, to see kids his age and to see what the academy had to offer. Though he doubted that whatever they taught would really impact his life, still, you never know. The carriage left the town, and soon, the town was out of view. Silva had sent Dawn ahead of him a month ago to prepare certain things with the help of the three A-ranks. Their names were Orion, Trez, and Jane¡ªthese were the ones he tortured the hell out of in thebyrinth. They had helped Dawn establish a few usefulworks and certain establishments that Silva would need. As for Fang and Gan, they were training in thebyrinth, but whenever he needed them, he could use the new shadow summoning spell he had learned. It was a darkness spell that created a shadow portal to a person who had been marked, allowing the person toe to you instantly. ______ ______ Many times now, Silva had thought about just letting his clone go to the academy for him, but he didn''t see any reason to do that, and there was always the risk of exposure. So, at the end of the day, he decided that going himself was the best. He also wanted to see that sly woman, the head of the academy. He could sense that she was far more than meets the eye. The other reason why he wanted to go was because of his mother, the only one he wanted to meet. He wouldn''t rush, but he wanted to stop by to see her. Even if it was from a distance, he wanted to see her again. As for the Duke, it was way too early to think about vengeance. The Duke was a powerful man, an evolved human, and had a massive personal army. If Silva went all out and used thebyrinth and the guardians to fight, he could secure victory, but the loss and sacrifice would not be worth it. ______ ______ "So, what do you n on focusing on in the academy?" Fay struck up a conversation with Silva. "Uhh, maybe sword techniques and stuff," Silva said. "What? But your magic is much better. I''ve seen it and heard about it," Fay said. "You clearly know little about Silva, and that''s why you spoke like that," Lia said. "What the hell does that mean?" Fay asked. "It means Silva isn''t really interested in the academy or what they have to teach. He will probably just listen to what he thinks is important and throw away the rest. That''s why he just said anything that came to his mind when you asked him that question," Mike spoke up while still looking outside. ''To think Mike could read me to this level,'' Silva thought. "If you do that, you will fail," Fay said with concern. "Do you really think there will be any test that will prove too hard for Silva? Aside from his absurd power, over the months, I discovered that he has a photographic memory. All he needs to do is nce at the material once or attend ss once," Lia said. ''It is not photographic memory, it''s just because I have ten extremely powerful minds,'' Silva thought to himself. Fay looked at him in shock when she heard that, and he just gave her a silly smile in response. Chapter 80: First Test The journey to cklight City went without issues, and they arrived after a day. After a security check at the gates, their carriage was allowed into the city. The carriage made its way to the adventurer''s guild first to drop off Mike. "I guess we''ll see you soon, Mike," Silva said as Mike got down. "Yeah, take care of Lia for me, keep her safe," Mike said. "You know I would burn the world for her safety," Silva replied. Mike nodded at him and then turned to enter the guild. The coachman started moving again, this time heading for the academy. "Will Mike be alright?" Lia asked. "Yeah, he will be fine. He''ll probably be a well-known adventurer in the city. I don''t think there''s anyone who puts as much effort as he does," Silva said. After that, the carriage fell quiet as the anticipation for the exams built up. There was no time to rest or anything; the exams were right away. Silva, on the other hand, was busy editing his stats. He tried to use the status hide skill that he got long ago, but there was an issue. The skill refused to allow him to reduce more than a thousand of his strength, even when he upgraded it. It refused to let him go lower than seven hundred, so all his stats reflected seven hundred. That was peak A-rank stats, maybe even S-rank. He did all he could to suppress this, but it wasn''t working. "Why can''t I edit my stats? Why won''t it let them go lower?" Silva asked. [The Law of Order has refused it.] The system actually responded, but that Law of Order was bullshit. What the system was saying was that Ophelia might have caused this. If she was the one, then it meant she wanted him to be just about that strong in the academy. The reason was unknown, and he had a feeling he wouldn''t get the answer even if he asked. "Sigh, if this is part of her task for me, I''ll just y along, but I can already sense the troublesing my way," Silva said to himself. The carriage finally made it to the academy. They all got out and took time to admire the magnificent building. Even on Earth, no university or college couldpare to this grand building that stood before them. Silva was actually surprised. His perception of the academy changed; it might be possible for this ce to teach him some things from the looks of it. They all took their luggage and went inside. Based on the academy rules, you came with your things before the exam because if you passed, you would be admitted straight away and start living there immediately. If you failed, you carried your things home in shame. They walked through the gates, along with many other young people their age. As soon as they passed the gates, they saw some adults directing the kids. They followed and finally ended up in arge hall, with over five thousand seats, and it was more than halfway full. The admission percentage of this academy was very low, as it took in about five hundred students, and there were about five thousand examinees. A verypetitive issue at hand. More and more kids kept entering until the hall was filled up, and the doors were shut. The hall got darker, and a spotlight turned on on stage. A man in a suit walked to the center with elegance. His cultured movements wereplemented by his white hair and handsome face. "Wee, all of you, to the first stage of the examinations. Your journey to bing a student has already begun. You will be passing through five exams in total, three of which are practical and two theoretical. Right now, you will be taking a theory exam. All of you will be isted using a special spatial magic that has been built into this hall. You will have an hour to finish your exam, and the people who pass will move on to the next exam. The rules and regtions of the test will be exined when you are inside the isted room. But for extra emphasis, all questions differ from person to person, so if you have already nned a way to cheat, it will not be possible. Also, the space detects any sort of mental or telepathicmunication, and if you are caught, your entire exam will be over. This exam covers the topics that the academy released a year ago for this year''s exam. You have all had an entire year to get ready, so no excuses." The man finished talking. He didn''t allow questions; he snapped his fingers, and all of their minds were transferred to isted spaces. _________ __________ Inside his isted space, Silva was at a desk, waiting for the exam. A small floating square appeared in front of him and started exining the exam to him. {You have an hour toplete the exam. If you haven''t answered everything in an hour, you have failed. You are not to pause for more than a minute. If you pause for more than a minute in your writing, you have failed. You can''t skip any questions ande backter; the questions must be answered in order. If you skip, you have failed. There is no erasing of answers. Whatever you put down is twisted as the answer. When you finish, the exam will be marked immediately and scored. You will be told if you passed or failed. If you pass, stay in the hall after returning. If you fail, immediately leave the hall after returning.} The cube made the exam paper and a quill appear. {You may now start.} The timer appeared in the cube and started counting down. ''Most of these rules are just to weed out the numbers. Following the rules may be even harder than the rest itself,'' Silva thought as he picked up his quill and took a look at the question paper. Chapter 81: Hundred Silva read through the paper, and as expected, it was all from the materials that he and Lia had studied. With his memory, solving it was no issue, so without much thought, he started writing. He zed through the questions like they were nothing. In less than five minutes, all hundred questions were done. He ced it down on the table and looked at the timer¡ªonly five minutes had gone by. "I am done," Silva said. The cube came close to him, scanned the paper, and scored it. {Perfect Hundred} {You have passed} The cube said, and Silva was transferred out of the isted space. He looked around the hall¡ªeveryone else still had their eyes shut, still taking the exams. The only person that was awake was the man who had spoken to them before the exam. The man noticed that someone was awake. He looked at Silva with shock. ''Is he already finished? It has only been five minutes. No one has ever finished in such a short time. No, maybe he failed. He will soon get up and leave the hall in shame,'' the man thought. But after a while, Silva still didn''t move. ''This can''t be. How can he be able to finish in such a short time? No, he probably just got lucky and passed. I should check his score and see.'' The man took out a piece of paper. Only one score was recorded there, so that had to be Silva''s. "What? A hundred? How is this possible¡ªa perfect score?" He said out loud, then covered his mouth afterward. He looked at Silva with suspicion. A perfect score, and he finished in record time. He looked at the name¡ªall it held was Silva. That meant he wasn''t a noble since he didn''t have a family name. How could a normalmoner get such a score? The man decided not to worry about it too much since he couldn''t understand what was happening at all. He stayed watching Silva, while Silva yed with his fingers as he waited for the others to finish. After five more minutes, the first two people finished, and after them, the first fail was recorded. Finally, Lia finished, and she caused the examiner another shock¡ªshe had finished in only twelve minutes and scored 98. She was a genius; such a result could only be achieved by a genius. The examiner refused to categorize Silva as a genius. He felt that there was something suspicious about Silva. It was possible that Silva had found a way to cheat, and until he found out how, he would keep his eyes on Silva. More and more people started finishing, and they began leaving the hall in huge numbers¡ªthose that had failed. They kept their heads down. Not being able to make it through even the first round was a great disgrace to them and whoever was backing them. After the time ended, out of over five thousand people that came to write the exams, only two thousand were left. The exam had weeded out three thousand candidates. The Viscount''s daughter, Fay, had also made it through, though she used half of the time to finish. "Congrattions to all of you who have managed to pass the first stage of the examination. It doesn''t matter what method you used¡ªyou still passed," the man said and looked at Silva, as though telling Silva that he was on to him. Silva gave a smile in return and then looked away. He didn''t care what this man thought¡ªit didn''t affect him in any way. "Now, you have ten minutes before the next exam. You will be led to the next hall when the time is up. It will be a practical exam, so get ready," the man said and left the stage. The hall immediately burst into noise, celebration, and more. They had managed to pass through the first stage, and that was worth being happy about. Fay came closer to Silva. She sat so close that her breasts, which were still forming, pressed against his arm. "Silva, what did you get? I''m sure it was really high," she said. "Tell me yours first," Silva said, ying along with her. He did his best not to think about the soft feeling on his arm. "I got 81. Pretty good, right?" she asked, shing a smile. "That''s all you got? I got 98," Lia came to burst her bubble. Fay''s face changed to a pissed-off expression, sparks flying as Fay and Lia stared daggers at each other. "I got a hundred," Silva said, breaking up their fight with one word. They both looked at him in a confused way. Did they just hear him correctly? "Are you serious, brother?" Lia asked. "Yeah, the exam was really easy," Silva said. "Only you would say that," Fay said. She folded her arms and pouted. "It was just memorization, nothing special," Silva said. "Again, only you would say that," Fay said. "Don''t worry, brother, I''ll beat you next time," Lia said with conviction. "Give it your best; I won''t make it easy for you," Silva said. "Me too! Don''t leave me out of it," Fay said. "I thought you were mad at me just now," Silva said. "Well, I''m no longer angry, and I want to try to defeat you as well," Fay said. "Alright, give it your best. If either of you can score higher than me in any exam, I''ll do whatever you want for a day," Silva said. Just those words served as heavy motivation for both of them. They decided they would give it their all until they couldn''t push anymore. The examiner returned to the hall and took the stage again. "Alright, your next exam has been set. You''ll all follow me to the next room, and the exam will be held there," the man said and walked through the door. All the students got up and headed to the door, but there were quite a few of them, and Silva bumped into someone by ident¡ªit turned out it was his brother, Oliver Terron. Chapter 82: Test 2 Oliver looked at Silva and recognized him. The defeat that day was engraved in his head; he could never forget it¡ªit had haunted him. The disappointed look his father gave him that day, the crushing realization that he could never be stronger than this boy. All that anger boiled in him, yet he couldn''t act on it. "Sorry, I was in a rush," Silva said with a smile and started walking past, but his sister, Sage Terron, the twin of Oliver, held Silva by the hand. "You bumped into a noble; you should apologize," she said. "Sigh, let go of me. I am an advocate of gender equality. I don''t mind bashing your face in right now," Silva said. His eyes showed that he was not joking¡ªit was like a predator looking at prey. Sage flinched back in fear and let go of his hand. Silva walked by without sparing a second nce. Everyone there watched the scene in shock. It was evident that Silva was amoner, yet he spoke so rudely to the daughter of the Duke. After that, everyone cleared a path for Silva. It was clear they shouldn''t mix with him. _______ ________ Inside the second room, it was a veryrge room, capable of holding all of them with enough space to spare. When all of them were inside, the man started exining. "This room is a full obstacle course, and only those who make it to the other side will pass. You can try several times, as much as you can, until the time is up. The speed and efficiency you use to get through will determine your score. All of you will start at the same time. Now, be warned, the pain you will feel will be real, one hundred percent, though you can''t die and will only be transported to the start after getting hit. But you will feel the pain," the man finished, and like before, he didn''t allow time for questions. He snapped his finger, and over three thousand wooden dolls appeared, holding swords and staves. Aside from that, there were several magical circlesid out on the ground, and some were hard to spot. As for what they do, they were yet to find out. "Alright, begin," the examiner said. All the candidates rushed in, all wanting to be the first. But a few stood back¡ªthe Terron twins, as well as several others. Lia and Fay stood with Silva; they understood why he didn''t move. Rushing headfirst would simply cause more harm than good. Out of the people that were waiting a bit, Silva saw a few that caught his eye: a girl with sky blue hair and a slim sword, a boy with zing red hair, and another girl with jet ck hair. He could sense their concentration; they were waiting for the best time to move. "Fay, Lia, you guys should start moving," Silva said. They both nodded and dashed into the course. Silva walked in at a steady pace. He could feel the gaze of the examiner on his back¡ªit was evident that this man was watching him closely. By this time, several hundreds of candidates had failed and had to start over. No one had made it through to the halfway point. A doll ran up to Silva at full speed to attack. It swung its de, but Silva sidestepped, dodging it with little effort. He sent a punch to the head of the doll and shattered the head in one blow. Everyone who saw this was shocked, even the examiner. These dolls would require powerful techniques and spells to break through, but Silva just punched it. His action upset the bnce of things. Those that were waiting back felt pressured to move because if they let Silva, he would be first. Even the three that Silva had been watching started moving. They charged through and started battling. Lia, on the other hand, was moving with caution. She used her ice to probe and find formations, which allowed her to dodge them. As for the dolls, she simply engaged them from a distance, freezing them and shattering them. Her speed was second only to Silva, who was basically walking through the whole thing. This led to higher panic from those that were near them. They had to move faster, but the dolls were very strong. The dolls would fight them and push them into a formation that would kill them and send them to the beginning. Many of the candidates refused to even get up after getting sent back. The pain they felt had traumatized them; they didn''t want to feel it again. The time limit for the exam was an hour to get through, and after ten minutes, no one had made it past the halfway point except Silva. The closest to the halfway point were the Terron twins, Lia, the red-haired boy, the girl with jet ck hair, and the one with blue hair. It seemed Silva had judged them correctly¡ªthese were the ones who were the geniuses of this set. Fay, as well as many others, were also keeping up and fighting diligently. Their speeds could be considered very fast, but they still fell short of that of the geniuses. That was just how cruel the world was¡ªa genius would have an easier path in everything, as long as they put some effort into it. As time went on, the sounds of explosions, swords, and the cries of the candidates filled the air. More and more gave up¡ªthey couldn''t handle the pain, but those that were stronger kept pushing. _______ ________ Silva finished his exam after twelve minutes, which was another record time for this particr exam. All he did was use his Mana to destroy the circuit of any formation that came his way while pulverizing any doll that came his way. When he finished, he leaned against the wall and started watching the others that wereing. He wanted to observe those three and see what sort of abilities they showed. When the three felt his gaze on them, they looked at him, filled with anger that he had made it first. But that wasn''t the worst part¡ªthe fact that he got the first position, and yet he had apletely calm look on his face, meant that it wasn''t a struggle for him at all. And that pissed them off even more¡ªit acted as fuel that made them want to go faster. Chapter 83: Lia Versus the third year, part 1 The examiner could no longer take it; there had to be something wrong with Silva. He needed to go to the director. But he had to wait until the time was up, and when it was, only a thousand and three hundred had made it through and would go to the next round. The examiner asked them all to wait while he ran to the director''s office. He got there and knocked on the door. Without waiting for an answer, he opened it and went in. The director, Matilda, sat on her chair as if she had been waiting for him, and when he came in, she spoke. "I knew you woulde, Elias," she said. "Director, do you already know what''s happening?" he asked. "Well, I can watch the exams from here, and also, I already knew that he would be part of the exam," she responded. "Who is he? Is he really fourteen?" he asked. "He is thirteen, one of the younger people to enroll," she dropped a bombshell on Elias. "In actuality, the exams are nothing for him. It''s barely a formality, to show the others what they would be facing aspetition," she said. "Howe? I''m still not understanding this," Elias said. "Haven''t you heard the story going around about a B-ranked child, one who is the strongest adventurer of his town?" she asked. "Oh, I have heard of that. I always dismissed it as an exaggerated story. Are you telling me that it''s true and that boy is the one?" he asked. "Actually, that story is underestimated. I have done my best to watch that child closely. His strength is at the very least much higher than what people say. I believe he should be above level fifty by now, maybe far higher, and he also has a legacy, and I am sure it is an A-rank legacy," Matilda exined. "That boy is amoner, yet he has all this? Is there a need for him to take the test? It may weaken the morale of those around," Elias said. "Let him be. Anyone who can''t take it is not worthy; they should all leave. But Silva aside, that girl who came with him is his sister. She is also a talented person. Her genius in ice magic andbat style is admirable, and she got the second highest in the first test. She is really special. Even among the geniuses that showed up this year, she is still shining," Matilda spoke about Lia. "If you call her a great talent, then what about her brother? What do we call him?" Elias asked. "A monster. He is a monster that is growing too fast. There are a few reasons I had hime to this academy. The first is simple: with him as a student, the prestige of the academy will rise as long as we use him as our trump card. The second is that we have to watch him and create countermeasures against him just in case. This academy is to be his prison, with eyes on him as much as possible. We have to try to temper his spirit and ensure that he doesn''t go off track. Because I have a feeling that by the time he is fully grown, this world will not be able to hold him. And if that happens, we can only hope that he is on our side, and that''s why we have to watch him," Matilda exined. "Then why not just kill him? It would be better that way," Elias said. "The disadvantage would be too much if we tried that. I am one hundred percent sure that he would escape from any death situation. You may not see it, but that boy is sly. He has the mind of an adult, and he is very sinister. He will definitely have a way to escape. If he escapes, do you know what will happen? He will go and get stronger and thene for us. That is why we have to just watch him and get him on our side," she exined. "I see. I''d like to hear moreter, but I have to return to the exams," Elias said and left the office. Matilda stood up and walked to the window of her room and stared out. "Silva, what really are you?" she asked. __________ __________ The next exam was abat-type test, where students would fight against their upperssmen in the third year. They got into the arena and saw over a hundred upperssmen waiting for them with their weapons and staves. The examiner stood in front of the candidates and started exining. "For this exam, you have to face off against a third-year student and run the clock out to win. You can also win by defeating them if you have the abilities. Each person gets two minutes. It may look small, but remember that those you are fighting are stronger than you and have more tricks than you. They can take you out in ways you have never known, and that would be considered a fail. As for the way you''ll be entering, I have this." He pulled out a box and ced it on the ground. "Pick a paper from inside. It will randomly assign your number," Elias exined. Everyone went over and picked their number. Silva got number 300, Fay got 79, and as for Lia, she got first. "Is that good luck or bad luck?" Fay asked. "I guess we will find out," Silva said. Lia walked to the stage with her staff. She waited for the third-year student who would battle her. The third-year got on the stage. She was a girl, she looked a bit older than Lia, but not by much. She held a wand, which meant she was mostly a mage. The examiner climbed the stage as a referee. He raised his hand and brought it down to signal the start. Immediately, the third-year waved her wand and cast a spell. "ming Turret Wave," she called out, hurling over thirty fireballs at Lia. "She wants to end this quickly," Silva, who was watching, said. Chapter 84: Lia Versus the third year 2 Lia reacted as fast as she could to the iing attacks. She stamped her staff into the ground, causing ice to spread out and form an ice wall. The fireballs hit the wall and exploded. The wall was destroyed, leaving only steam, but it managed to block the attacks. "You use wordless casting, seems you are good," the fire mage said as she prepared for another attack. But Lia had trained with Silva a lot, and she knew not to allow a strong enemy to be the one to keep attacking. "Ice mist." She cast a basic spell that was easy to cast and fast as well. It created a lot of mist that blocked the vision of her opponent. With that, she changed location, running to the side. This spell had two uses: it was used for obscuring and detection. Now she knew exactly where the me mage was, and she immediately attacked, firing an icence in that direction. But the me girl seemed to be experienced as well. She was able to sense the attack and counter with a heavy me explosion. The explosion cleared away the mist and allowed them to see each other. Lia was already ready with another spell, another icence. She fired the icence, and it hurtled through the air at crazy speed. The me mage tried to counter; she was about to cast her own spell, but then thence shattered into pieces and scattered. Only to reassemble behind her and go for the hit. She spun around as fast as she could and used a powerful me spell. "me burst." Because of the close distance, the me explosion hit her as well, and it pushed her to the side. But since she was basically a me mage, her resistance to fire was higher than the average person, so she recovered immediately and got up. When she got up, she saw Lia running towards her. She was a bit startled because mages normally fight at a distance. But not Lia. Silva and Quin had given her a good amount of closebat training. The me mage cast a fireball at Lia, but Lia stamped her staff, and an ice pir formed underneath her, throwing her into the air. From up there, she took aim and fired an icence at her opponent. The me mage cast a me wall and used it to block the attack and serve as coverage for her to retreat a bit. The people watching this fight were shocked, both the third years and the candidates. The two looked evenly matched, even though Lia was just a first year. Her battle sense and judgment were amazing, but that was what you get when your brothers were amazing adventurers. Aside from the asional adventures with Silva, Quin also helped her out, and so she was well experienced. Lianded on the ground and dashed at the me mage again, but this time the me mage wasn''t ready to allow her. "me pir," the me mage called out. A formation appeared in front of her and shot out a powerful stream of mes. Lia came to a quick stop. She spun her staff around, and ice formed to the flow of her movement as she spun with the staff, creating an ice coffin around her. The me smashed against the ice coffin, melting it at a crazy rate, but the ice coffin kept remaking itself just as quickly. The two countered each other, and Lia was safe until the spell was over. She broke open the ice coffin, but she didn''t allow it to melt. She shattered the ice coffin into small ice des and fired all of them at the me mage. ''This kid is crazy, she''s pushing me so hard,'' the me mage thought before she lifted her wand above her head. She brought it down at full speed while yelling a spell. "me wave!" A massive wave of fire exploded, destroying the ice and heading for Lia. Lia didn''t flinch. She pointed her staff at the iing mes and said in a calm voice, "Ice wave." The exact opposite of the me spell. They shed at the center, and the ice overpowered the mes due to the Mana difference. But the remaining ice wave was not able to hurt the me mage. It was just a cold breeze. Those who understood what had happened were shocked because the me mage had just used an advanced spell, and Lia, who was just fourteen, also used one. In this world, there existed a hierarchy of spells and techniques alike. There were the Basic spells, themon ones that most mages used. Next were the advanced spells, which were rarer and more expensive. Aside from that, the learning time was far longer, and it also posed a risk to the mage. Then there were the Epic spells, the legendary spells, and then the Arcane level spells. Above that was a spell rank that humans could not use alone: Chaos rank spells. Even among these ranks, they were split into low, mid, and high. As to how Lia knew the spell, it was simply because Silva had gotten a few for her, yup, from the library in thebyrinth. It had spells up to Arcane, some of which were way too powerful for him to even attempt. There were even Chaos-ranked spells for all elements there, about thirty Chaos spells in total. If people found out about that, they would raid thatbyrinth with every soul they had. That was just how powerful Arcane and Chaos spells were, the same with Arcane and Chaos techniques. When he gave her the spells, he expected it to take far longer, but all it took her was a couple of months to learn them all. She was indeed a genius, and this battle was proof. Even the examiner was shocked. It was normal for third years to have advanced spells, but Lia wasn''t even a student. She nced over at Silva, wondering what Silva would have in stock. "I forfeit the match," the me mage said after that attack. She had the feeling that if this dragged on, she would face a horrible defeat. And so, just like that, Lia, the first person, had passed the exam excellently, with a win. Chapter 85: Dark Bullet Lia''s fight had helped increase the confidence of the candidates, but it also made the third years stop holding back at all. And for the next ten people, all that was recorded were losses upon losses. Even the me mage that Lia had defeated returned to the stage multiple times and took out her opponents with malice. It became evident that the test was not simple; Lia was just strong. Time slowly went by, and finally, a person of interest came on, the red-haired boy. His battle was against a swordsman like himself. The swordsman used lightning, while the red-haired boy used mes. Their swords crossed in an epic battle thatsted until time was up, and he passed. But from the looks of things, he wasn''t happy at all. He was unable to pull aplete win like Lia had done, and that made him pissed. Soon after, it was Silva''s sister, Sage Terron, who imed the stage. Her affinity was metal and earth; she manipted the metal she created and caused barrages of attacks. Her opponent was a wind spearman, so he deflected the attacks while making his way toward her. But the daughter of the Duke was a genius, even better than her brother. She used an advanced spell that created metal golems to fight the spearman. The golem only held against her opponent for five seconds, but that was all she needed to cast her next spell. When the molecules of a substance vibrate faster, they create energy¡ªin other words, heat. This energy would try to evaporate, but what happens when you forcefully suppress it and then release it all at once? That was exactly what she did. Shepressed the highly vtile Mana molecules under a thin sheet of spherical metal. She hurled it at her opponent, who had just taken down the golem, and when he tried to block it, it exploded and threw him across the stage. This was what happens when a genius is born into the house of one of the most well-known mages, Duke Terron. She had ess to knowledge that normal people or lesser nobles could only dream of. Even Silva was intrigued by how that spell worked; it was evident she had made the spell herself. ''Seems my sister is actually more useful than my brother. She also kind of looks like Mother. But still, she loves her dear brother, and I have a feeling that I''ll be shing with Oliver soon.'' With that spell, she was able to knock down her opponent, and then she held her hand over him, threatening that if he moved, she would finish it off. "I forfeit," the third-year said and stood up. This was the second win so far that was not by draw. She stepped down from the stage, her face looked calm, but under that calm face, Silva could tell there was an enormous amount of pride. She looked at Lia as she passed, in a way that said, "You are not the only one capable of winning." More and more fights happened, with peoplesting less and less time before losing. The third years were all seriously fighting and taking out the candidates. The jet-ck-haired girl also had her fight. She used some sort of dark mes; it seemed to be a merge between fire magic and dark magic, which meant she was a dual elementalist. But sadly, she wasn''t able to defeat her opponent and only waited out the clock; her dissatisfaction was evident. Soon after, Fay had her fight as well. With her swordsmanship and fire control, she was able to wait out the clock as well. After her, Silva lost interest in most of the following fights until it was finally his turn. When he stepped up, the whole ce became quiet. The candidates knew what had happened, and so they wanted to see what Silva would do. Silva was not nning to hold back. Since the goddess only allowed him to hide some of his strength, that meant she wanted him to use the strength she allowed him to show. And that meant he would be fighting this person with a strength of about seven hundred, and after using Dragon Eyes, this person had a highest stat of a hundred. Honestly, was this even a match? His opponent was a swordsman as well. He held a two-handed sword and was ready for Silva to make the first move. Silva smirked and pulled out his sword. He stood open, like he was inviting his opponent. His stance was very provocative, and he did that on purpose. The guy saw this and was pissed. Who did this first-year think he was? If only the first years knew. The examiner looked at this match; he already knew the oue from the information he got from the director. He let out a sigh, silently praying for the third year about to face Silva. The third year could not take it anymore. He charged at Silva, wanting to finish this quickly. Silva got pissed as well. He was the cause of this issue, but his pride as a dragon was hit when this weakling came at him with such rage. He punched the stage and caused it to explode, pushing the guy into the air and leaving a small crater. He leaped into the air and then used the t side of his sword to swing at the third year. The third year also used his sword to block, but it was sheared immediately upon contact with Silva''s sword. The t side of Silva''s sword mmed into his stomach and sent him to the ground. He hit the ground with a bang and passed out for a second before waking up. He got back on his feet as fast as he could and saw Silva already standing and waiting. Silva pointed his sword at him, dark Mana wrapped around the de and moved to the tip. "Dark Bullet," Silva fired a shot that could destroy a head. Chapter 86: Micheal The dark bullet passed by the ear of his opponent. The third year froze in fright, knowing that he would have died just now. "I forfei¡ª" he tried to give up, but Silva was already right in front of him with his de to his neck. Silva bent in closely and whispered into his ear. "Next time, be careful, or I''ll have your head." The threat was backed by heavy bloodlust, so much that the third year couldn''t stand. He fell on his butt, shivering. Silva walked down from the stage, and those around shifted to make way for him. Not only had he dominated and won, but he had also brought his opponent to their knees. He had utterly andpletely defeated this third year, and this would mark the first day of the longsting issue that Silva would have with the third years, and the school entirely. Elias could only watch what had happened in shock. This was not normal. Silva wasn''t supposed to be here; with his strength, he could take on the fourth years hands down. _______ ________ The exam continued until everyone had finally fought, and after that, only a thousand students remained. "Today, you will all rest because it is alreadyte, and tomorrow, the final two exams will be held, and five hundred of you will be sent home," Elias said to them. They left then to a temporary dorm, where they would stay the night in preparation for the exams the next day. The male and female sections were separated, so Silva couldn''t see his sister or Fay. The rooms all had two bunk beds, so four people could sleep in them, but his roommates hadn''t entered since the rooms were shared. When they were called for dinner, they all went into the massive cafeteria. Silva got his food and headed for a seat, and when everyone that was on the row saw him, they all got up and moved away. Silva didn''t mind. He sat down and started eating. He didn''t even bother looking for his sister. "Seems like everyone is scared of you," Silva heard a voice from behind him, though he had spotted the person long ago. It was the redhead, one of the ones that Silva tagged as geniuses. "You don''t mind if I sit, right?" he asked and went ahead to sit down. "Why aren''t you scared?" Silva asked, not looking up. "Because I''m not ignorant. You aren''t going to justsh out at me for no reason, and as long as you don''t do that, I am safe," the redhead said. "You seem pretty sure about that," Silva said. "By the way, I''m Michael. I''m amoner from this town, so we are kind of simr," Michael said. "I see. For amoner to have your sort of strength and abilities, that''s quite something," Silva said. "Huh? Why are you talking like you aren''t one? In fact, you aside, that girl with you¡ªwho is she?" Michael asked. "My sister, Lia. What do you want with her?" Silva asked, but it sounded more like a death threat. "No, no, I don''t have anything to do with her. And also, is she really your sister?" he asked. "Yes, why?" Silva asked. "Well, I guess you guys don''t look alike at all, aside from the hair color. Even the face and other things," Michael said. "I know that already. Get to the reason why you brought her back up." "Jeez, man, you speak so maturely. Are you even my age at all?" Michael asked. "No, I''m a year younger than you," Silva replied. "Holy crap, you''re thirteen?" Michael said in shock. "Yes, so what?" "Nothing, bro. I was just shocked. Well, back to your sister. How is she that strong and good, or does awesome run in the family?" he asked. "No, she worked hard for where she is. Sure, she was blessed with great talents, but she still worked hard to get here," Silva said. "Alright then, to the important thing¡ªwhat are you?" Michael asked. Silva furrowed his eyebrows. He stared at Michael with eyes that could break the strongest of hearts. "Michael, you should really learn not to dig into people''s information. Death is a really scary thing, you know?" Silva said. Michael could feel the bloodlust choking him. He had to use his mana to try and regte it so that he could breathe a little. Silva stopped the bloodlust and then transitioned into a small smile. "Sorry about that. It''s just that I can''t answer those questions," Silva said. "I understand. Forgive me for asking. Now, thest thing before I go is that I want us to have a small agreement. I can already see the hierarchy that will form when we get into the academy. There will be the Duke Twins, the blue-haired girl who is a noble of high standing, and then the one with jet-ck hair, who is also a noble from a prominent family. I guess you already know, but those are the main powerhouses, and the system will be built around them. But now there''s you, your sister, and also the daughter of the Viscount that is with you. Along with me, we can make our own power hold. We can push until we be the top of the hierarchy," Michael exined his offer. "The first thing that I''ll say is that I am amazed at how much information you have about all of them. How did you get it?" Silva asked. "That''s simple. They had all lived in this city months prior to the exam, and with a little digging, I found out about them and gathered information on them. As for Fay, that one I know because I asked around and found her name. She''s pretty powerful and talented," Michael exined. "Your n seems foolproof, but there has to be one thing made sure: you will work under me and not as an equal. If that is not good enough for you, I''ll create the top hierarchy by myself, and trust me when I say, no one can stop me." Chapter 87: Strength Test Michael could tell that Silva was not joking and that there would be nopromise. He also hated the fact that Silva wanted him to be under him. But what could he do? Silva possessed the strength he needed. He, as amoner, was limited, but with Silva, he would be able to move higher. Not only did Silva have strength, but he also had connections, like the daughter of a Viscount. A Viscount may not be too high, but it was still a very good thing. "Alright, I agree to that. Let us pass the exams tomorrow and start the ns needed," Michael said. After that, they both ate their food and returned to their rooms. Silva''s roommates for the night finally returned. They all tried not to look at or talk to Silva because everyone was actually scared of him. Sukav didn''t care, though. Hey in his bed at the top bunk and was drifting in his thoughts. Soon after, his main mind went to sleep, as well as half of the other minds. This was the method Silva used to ensure that he got enough rest while still being actively vignt. Sure, five minds were an overkill, but Silva was known to overdo things. _________ __________ The next day came faster than anyone wanted, with just a thousand people remaining. Five hundred would go home today. And the tests for today were all basic¡ªa written test, and then a strength test. Thesest tests were just to weed out the remaining people; nothing special about them. Today, Elias was not the only one here. He brought some young assistant instructors with him to help with the final aspect of the test. The first test was an open-air written exam. Stone bs were set as chairs and tables, and everyone took a seat. The instructors shared the question papers, and the test soon began. Silva solved his exam at a steady pace and was done. He got up to submit at the same time as his sister Lia and the blue-haired girl. ''Huh? How the hell did they match my speed? I didn''t even waste a moment on any question,'' Silva thought as he walked to submit. Lia looked angry, though, and Silva could understand why. She wanted to beat him so much. She put all her effort into the exam, yet she couldn''t. The blue-haired girl, on the other hand, had a calm expression. She didn''t look at Silva even as they submitted at the same time. She just stood and waited for what the instructors would say. The instructors handed the papers to Elias. He used a Cube to scan them, grade them, and then announced the scores aloud for everyone to hear. "Silva, a hundred points, standing at first position. Lia, ny-nine points, standing at second position. And Rachael, ny-eight points, standing at third position." "Tsk." Rachael clicked her tongue and frowned when her score was announced. It was the first time Silva saw her show emotion. The other students, on the other hand, started to panic. How could anyone be scoring that high? Some were even angry at Silva because how can anyone have it all? He was strong, and he was crazy smart. Was the world even fair anymore? "You three stand to the side, wait for the exams to finish," Elias said. So Silva and the two girls moved to the side and waited. After an hour, the exams had finished. Many people submitted before the time was up, Silva included, while some weren''t done even after the time was up. In the end, only six hundred made it through. Four hundred candidates had to leave. The pain and sadness they felt was unimaginable. Aftering so far, they still ended up failing. The remaining six hundred candidates would head to the strength test in the next yard, and a hundred would head home. This was where the real tension was. As the candidates moved, an instructor came to Silva and told him that Elias wanted to see him. Silva followed and met with Elias at the table where they had submitted. "You called for me?" Silva said when he got there. About four helping instructors were there as well. "It''s not a big thing, but I''d like for you to take the next testst. Allow the others to have their turn first before you testst. The reason is that I have a feeling that if you take it first, the results you get may cause the candidates to lose heart. At this point, tension is crazy high, and something like that would affect them negatively. So I hope you understand," Elias said. The instructors there wondered why Silva was being told this because they hadn''t seen the past tests, but they would understand after this test. Silva looked at Elias and let out a sigh. "Alright, I understand, but there better be a reward for the inconvenience," Silva said and walked away. "Sir, how could you let him talk like that? He speaks so proudly, like he knows he will get into the academy," one instructor said. Elias just sighed and then let out a chuckle while looking in the direction Silva left. "If he doesn''t pass the exam, then no one amongst the candidates will pass as well," Elias said. ______ _______ Inside the next yard, there was arge metallic-looking beam at the center and a magical array around it. Elias came in with the instructors and walked to the center. "Now, most of you already know that this academy focuses mostly on strength. We makebatants. Even if you want to be a healer or anything else, in this academy, you first have to be a fighter. Those that want to be only healers go to medical academies and such, but this academy tries to make a few things. We try to make soldiers, warriors, great adventurers, and such. But we will not throw away those that want to chase other fields. And that is why this beam is here at the center. Hit it however you want¡ªyou can use magic, physical force, or whatever. You can even use healing magic; it all works the same. The beam will take the energy you give and give out an output. That is the strength test." Chapter 88: Mission The strength test started with everyone doing what they could to attack the beam. Whenever they did so, their number would appear above in holographic form. So far, the highest attack was just a little over a hundred. Finally, Micheal walked to the beam. He drew his sword, engulfing it in mes, and sent a full-powered sh at the beam. The numbers rose until they stopped at a hundred and eighty. The first to reach that high, the candidates burst into talks about his strength; it was simply amazing. His action seemed to be the start of thepetition, as Oliver went up next with his sword as well. He stabbed while it was engulfed in mes, and his score rose to a hundred and seventy. Now, this number was crazy high, and the other candidates were amazed. But to Oliver, this was pathetic; he could not best amoner. Even his sister, Sage, gave him a frown, and that broke him more. Sage was a girl, and she couldn''t really inherit her father''s properties. But their father had told Oliver that if she continued to be better than him, she would take over, and he would make sure of it. After Oliver, the jet-ck-haired girl also attacked the beam with her ck mes. The explosion caused was very powerful, and her numbers rose to 185, making her the highest as of now. Soon, Racheal, the blue-haired girl, also walked up and attacked the beam. She got 184, making her the second. Fay also had her turn, but she got a hundred and fifty. Though that was high, she couldn''t reach the geniuses. Finally, Sage took the stage and went to attack the beam. Using her metal magic, she formed a spear and struck the beam. Her number rose madly, creating the newest high score that the academy had seen in a while. She got a hundred and ny-five. The number caused a shock through the entire field, and even the instructors could not believe this. Her brother, Oliver, balled his fist tightly to try and control his rage. Sage looked at Lia in a provocative way as she left the center. For some reason, she had chosen Lia to be her opponent. Lia decided that it was time for her test. She walked to the beam and pointed her staff at it. "Ice Serpent!" She used her most advanced spell, which caused an ice snake to form, over twenty feet long and half a meter wide. It shot through the air and mmed into the beam, freezing the spot and causing an explosion-like sound. Her numbers began rising and quickly passed a hundred, and then a hundred and fifty. It went all the way up and stopped at exactly two hundred, making her the new high scorer. The entire field went into an uproar. How was this possible? How could there be such a power gap between them all? The person who was hurt the most by this was Sage. She felt like she had lost¡ªnot just thepetition but her pride. She couldn''t take this; she was the proud daughter of the Duke. After the ce calmed down, the others started taking their exams as well, but few came close to a hundred and fifty, and many stopped at less than a hundred. Finally, thest person took his test and got just a hundred, but before their minds could calm down, Silva walked up. When everyone saw him, they realized that he was yet to test, he who had shown crazy power. It was now his time to test. All eyes were drawn to him as he walked up to be thest person. ''Sigh, I don''t know why the goddess would want me to be a showoff, but alright, I''ll keep it easy and still keep it amazing,'' Silva thought. He was aiming for three hundred, as that would be amazing enough, but the system had other ns. [Mission Update: Score not less than five hundred in your test. A dragon can''t be seen on the same tform as humans. Show it to them. Rewards: Full dragon wings transformation. Dark me breath. Abyssal me breath. Penalty: Deduction of all stats by ny percent for six months.] ''The fuck, you''ve got to be kidding me.'' Silva didn''t expect the system to y such a move against him, showing him irresistible rewards and yet a terrible penalty. The rewards were too good for the mission, and the penalties were too heavy for the mission. It seemed that the system wanted to force him into the showoff n right off the bat. Silva took a deep breath; he didn''t have a choice in this. He drew his sword and swung at the beam without any special technique or anything. He wasn''t sure how to gauge his strength to ensure that he got five hundred, but he felt using thirty or so percent would do the trick. His sword cut through the beam, the first attack to actually damage the beam here. The numbers rose until they stopped at six hundred. The entire field fell into silence. What the hell had they just witnessed? [Mission Complete, congrattions.] Silva got his rewards, but that was not important now. "Oh, this must be broken. Can I try again?" Silva asked. He didn''t wait though; he swung, and this time he got four hundred. "Yeah, I was right, it was broken," he said before walking away, but nobody was really buying that at all. It didn''t matter to him. Elias finally broke out of his confusion after seeing Silva''s strength, which was more than his own. He managed to gather someposure and finally walked up to the center to talk. "Now to announce the two hundred and fifty people that have passed the exams," Elias said. "Two hundred and fifty?" all the candidates shouted. They hadn''t even recovered from the shock Silva gave them, yet they were hit with another one. "Like we said, this academy registers five hundred people, but we never told all of you how it would be this year. Two hundred and fiftye from the tests, fiftye from the scouts, a hundrede from rmendations of the mercenary and adventurer guilds, their young potential students. And the remaining hundred are inbat, taken from rmendations by other guilds. The method changes yearly though," Elias said with a slight smile. Chapter 89: Aaron "The only thing is that they take their exams at different times and in different ces," Elias said. Silva already knew this because Raze had once asked the adventurer''s guild to suggest Silva to the main guild. But Silva declined. He was more than certain that he could get in with the normal exams, so there was no need. The other candidates couldn''t take what just happened. They began yelling and screaming about how unfair it was. But Elias paid no heed; he continued talking. "The image above will disy the hundred and fifty of you that have passed. You will follow me from here." The names shone above along with their images, as somemoners had the same name. To avoid confusion, the images were shown. Sitting at number one was, of course, Silva, and second was Lia. Fay came in at number seven, and that was a pretty good number. The third position was, of course, Sage, but she didn''t look happy with that. When the two hundred and fifty people saw their names, they all began celebrating, but the remaining three hundred and fifty felt like their world had ended. Some couldn''t even hold back their rage. They charged at Elias, wanting to harm him at least. But that wasn''t possible because the instructors fought back and sent them flying, causing many injuries as well. When the whole situation had finally calmed down, those who had failed walked away with their heads down. The remaining candidates, who had officially be students, stood there, waiting for their next instructions. "You all have proved that you are the best of the best. Out of five thousand, you came out on top. But even among the best of the best, there still exist the best. And that is why the academy has a ss system. But you will know your sster on. For now, you will finish your registration and rest for the day," Elias said. He led the students to the next hall and got them registered. They were all handed keys with their room numbers, handbooks, and maps. Silva parted with Lia and Fay to go and find his room. It took him just a few minutes to find the building where the dorms were located. After entering, he went up to the second floor, which was the top floor, and found his room. He inserted the key, opened the door, and went in. The room had two beds on opposite sides, as well as two of almost everything. This simply meant that he would be sharing the room with someone else. He wasn''t against sharing the room, though, as long as his roommate was tolerable. He chose a bed and sat down to rest. He stayed like that for a while before standing up and going to the door. He locked it and then scanned the room for any foreign objects that might allow people to watch him. When he was certain there was nothing, he used his shadow summoning to call Dawn. As soon as she appeared, she ran into Silva''s arms with a bear hug. Silva fell back onto his bed. He wrapped his arm around her and let her get it out of her system. She stayed that way for a while before letting go of him. This was how she was when she was with Silva¡ªshe turned into aplete child. After getting off him and sitting beside him, she finally calmed down and started talking. "It''s been so long," she said. "Yeah, I didn''t have an opportunity to just summon you here, so I had to wait until now," Silva exined. "So, give me an update on everything you''ve been doing so far," Silva said. "Alright. I worked with the three adventurers. We purchased a building in town and registered a mercenary group called the ck Dragon. It has only been established for two weeks now, and there are already a hundred members. We have trained them and poured a lot of resources into them, and they have started bringing results. All is going well, but if I may ask, Silva, why do you need a mercenary group?" Dawn asked. "Well, that''s simple. In the future, I''ll start certain types of businesses to build a solid standing in this kingdom and the world atrge. The ck Dragon mercenary group stands for two reasons. The first is that I''ll use them as the force to drive the business throughout the world. The second thing is the name. I want to know if there might be some threats or mysteries out there. If anyone recognizes the name of the Dark Dragon, that means they know something I want or need to know," Silva exined. They spent more time talking about the mercenary group and other things. After an hour or so, it was finally time for her to go. Like the way she came, she hugged him tightly for a while before letting him go, and then he used shadow summoning to send her back. After she left, Silva let out a deep sigh. His body had gotten so heated up when she hugged him. She couldn''t keep doing this. He was thirteen, his puberty was starting, and his body was reacting wildly to such things. Hey on the bed and looked at the ceiling. He started thinking about the feeling he got from the hug, and his body started heating up, so he decided to get up and walk around a bit. He packed his things and changed into light clothes for easier movement. He was about to leave the room when he heard a knock on the door. It seemed his dorm mate had arrived. He walked to the door and unlocked it. Immediately, upon seeing the person on the other side, he felt a simr feeling to when he was around Lily. The boy had blonde hair, wore sses, and had a slim body, but it was filled with mana. Aside from that, Silva could tell that he wasn''t fully human. He was probably half-fairy, because that was the aura around Lily. "Hello?" the boy said, forcing Silva to stop staring. "You''re my dorm mate?" Silva asked. He was certain that this guy had not been in the normal exams, so he must have been a special entry, probably a rmendation from one of the guilds. "Yes, my name is Aaron," he introduced himself. "Silva," Silva introduced himself as well and stepped out of the way to allow him to enter. Aaron entered and went to the other bed, while Silva quietly locked the door. When he locked the door, he immediately asked, "You''re half-fairy, right?" Silva said. Suddenly, the mana in the room spiked, filled with killing intent. Aaron turned around, his eyes glowing and his mana swirling around him. He stretched out his hand, and an invisible force grabbed Silva by the neck and lifted him off the ground. "How did you find out? Talk now, and I''ll give you a quick death," Aaron said. His voice and tone werepletely different from just a moment ago. "Be calm. I''m not an enemy," Silva said. "Lies! You humans can''t be trusted at all," Aaron said, increasing the force on Silva''s neck to stop him from talking. Silva used his arm to grab whatever force was holding his neck. Using some of his mana, he forced it to stop and dropped to the ground. Aaron looked in shock as Silva got out of the grip. This was not something a human of Silva''s age should have been capable of. Silva looked at him. He released his aura, and it canceled out Aaron''s aura and killing intent entirely. His eyes glowed and turned into his dragon eyes, causing Aaron to step back in fright. "Who said I was human, Aaron?" Silva asked. He took a step forward, and the pressure pressed down on Aaron, bringing him to his knees. "A-ar-are, y-y-you a dr-dragon?" Aaron stuttered. "Yes, you got it. I''m half-dragon, so I''m not human. It was because of this that I knew you were a fairy. So you don''t have to be scared about your identity. We both have something to hide," Silva said. He stopped his aura and allowed Aaron to take a breather. He stretched out his hand to help Aaron stand up. He pulled him up and helped him sit on the bed. "Sorry about all that," Silva said. "No, it was me who jumped the gun. The issue is that I can''t get found out. My mom was a fairy, but she died. My father is a mage. He works in a research area in the capital, and he wanted me to live like a normal human. So I had to learn the method he and my mother created before she died. All that led to meing here and hiding my fairy side." Aaron exined, Silva could tell that there was more to the story, but he didn''t dig Chapter 90: Homeroom Silva ironed things out with Aaron. He told him that he had inherited the legacy, which turned him half dragon. Silva didn''t go into much detail about it, and he also hid a huge chunk of things. As they kept talking, a knock sounded on the door. Aaron walked to the door and opened it. There were two boxes outside. On each box, their names were written on it. Aaron carried both boxes inside and handed Silva''s box to Silva. Silva opened his box, and inside was his uniform, cleanly folded, a rule book, a card about his sses, a basic storage ring, and a piece of paper with some information written on it. Silva first took out the card and started reading it. [As the current highest scorer in all examsbined, you will be part of the S ss, the elite ss.] The ss system in the academy was simple. It started from S ss all the way to F ss. The S ss were the elite, the top of the top. They were normally the lowest in number, only having about twenty-five students out of the five hundred that got enrolled. About ten were taken from the general exams and fifteen from other exams. So the top ten from Silva''s exams were in the S ss, which meant Fay, Lia, and his real brother and sister would be there as well. "What ss are you in?" Aaron asked. "ss S," Silva replied. "Oh, that''s cool, we are in the same ss then," Aaron said. "If you don''t mind me asking, what organization rmended you?" Silva asked. "Oh, mine is the Magical Association. My dad had affiliations there, so they picked me to be a rmendation. I came second in our exam. The first was a girl; she had terrifying magical abilities, and she is only human," Aaron exined. "But the winner of the general exams must be on another level. I heard that he wasn''t even in our league. And that his magic and strength were already that of a level 60 or more. Well, either way, what position did you get? It must be high up, considering your strength," Aaron asked. "I was first," Silva said without much care. "Wait, what? You are the one everyone was talking about? Well, it does make sense since your magic suppressed mine. I''m really happy we didn''t turn into enemies, that would have been it for me," Aaron said with augh. They decided to try on their uniforms, and they were tailored to their size. They also had an extra pair and an ID card. When Silva picked up his ID card, a holographic number shed from it: 1500 points. They didn''t know what that was, so he picked up the paper inside and read it. ording to the paper, purchases and many other things in the academy were handled by points, and points were gained through certain activities or even the buying and selling of items. Points could be transferred from ount to ount and so on. All students were given five hundred points, but those that made S ss got one thousand, and those that made first in the different tests, from general to the rmended tests, got 1500 points. That was why Silva got that amount, while Aaron got a thousand. Silva and Aaron spent the remaining part of the day talking and getting to know each other more. Silva spoke in a free tone. But he kept this aura around him that served as a warning to Aaron to never get toofortable with him. --- The next day was the beginning of everything about the academy. All sses were to meet for their first homeroom ss. Silva and Aaron got ready, they put what they needed into the storage rings and put them on their fingers. They walked out of the dorm building, and Silva saw Fay and Lia already there waiting for him. "Silva!" they called out at the same time. Lia was in front, so she managed to get to him first and hugged Silva, not allowing Fay to get close to him. But even after Lia finally let go, Fay still went in for a hug regardless, and Silva let her, because she would probably get angry if he refused. Aaron, on the other hand, just stood there, confused as to what was happening. Silva noticed that and decided to introduce them. "Aaron, this is my sister Lia, and my friend Fay. Fay is the daughter of the Viscount from my town," Silva introduced them. "Yeah, nice to meet you," he said in an awkward way. He shook their hands and nced at Silva with eyes that said, ''Sister and friend? Really? That''s all?'' Silva looked back at him with eyes that said, ''Of course, that''s all.'' After they got acquainted, they headed to the ss. They had small maps of the academy, so they knew where their homeroom ss was. The door was closed when they got there, so Silva pushed it and walked in. It seemed they were thest to arrive. As soon as they stepped in, all eyes turned to them. Those who didn''t know Silva scanned him from head to toe. But those who knew him either just looked away or got pissed at his presence, one of them being Oliver. Michael saw Silva and immediately ran out to meet him. "Hey, Silva," Michael greeted in a casual way. "Yeah, what''s up, Michael?" Silva replied. This was just to show everyone that Michael was acquainted with Silva, and since Silva was the strongest here, that made Michael untouchable. A simple logic, but it would prove effective. Silva and the others sat down in an empty space close to Michael, and they waited for ss to start. While they waited, Silva had his eyes on a purple-haired girl sitting in front. He could tell from a nce that she was the one Aaron spoke of. The amount of Mana flowing through her was absurd¡ªwell, for a girl her age, that is. Her mana was almost half that of Silva. Chapter 91: Top spot Silva''s mana right now was way too high, so high that the best mages in this kingdom would beg for it. So for her to have half his mana, her magical abilities were no joke at all. There was definitely something special about her. After a while, the teacher walked into the ss. She was a beautifuldy dressed in robes, though it did little to hide her curves. Even though she carried a sexy air around her, she still oozed intelligence, she also looked like someone that would curse at you. Her dark lustrous hair matched her abyss like eyes. "Good day, crickets. I''m your homeroom teacher," she said. Her voice was insulting; normally teachers wouldn''t talk like that, but no one took offense. "I know most of you feel special that you got into the S ss of the academy. You all feel like you have be somewhat important. But I''ll burst that little bubble you''re in. You aren''t special, you aren''t important, and any day someone can take your ce here. So let me set the ground rules now. It''s as simple as this: if you don''t do what you are told, you will be punished. That''s the logic of life," she said. She hadn''t even introduced herself, yet she was talking all around. It wasn''t until she was done that she took a piece of chalk and wrote her name. Miss Elizabeth Reinfield. She ced the chalk down, then turned around and faced the ss. "Today, after you leave here, you should go around the academy and see what sort of sses they offer, because before the day runs out, you should have selected the courses that you will be taking. Though the first-year sses haven''t started, you can audit the second-year sses and get future ideas of what courses will be avable when you get there, and that will allow you to make the decision of what you want now. Or you can read the course books and know what course you would be taking from there. Whatever option you choose, it''s up to you. Now, the next thing is the rules of the academy. I know some of you have read the rule book, but there will always be idiots who don''t. So for their sake, I''ll exin the basic rules. All fights are prohibited, only official duels are allowed. You can challenge someone to a duel using your ID card, and the person has to ept it before you can fight. I believe that rankings will be assigned at the end of the day on your ID card. When you get your numbers, duels change shape, because someone lower than you can duel for your position, and you must ept. And if he duels and wins three times in a row, he gets your position, and whatever ss you''re in, he will take your ce. But someone higher can''t force someone lower into a duel; that isn''t allowed. Now there are also some additional rules for duels. You and the person dueling must agree to the type of duel, because not all students are fullybat-inclined, so the two of you must make a decision as to what the duel will be. If no decision can be reached, then a teacher will be involved and will make the call through certain methods. These are the basic rules of the duels. Are there any questions?" she asked. Silva raised his hand. She looked over at him and chose him. "Say your name and then ask your question," she said. Silva got up and spoke. "My name is Silva, from Ribest," he replied respectfully. "So you''re that Silva, the one Elias was yapping about. You scored the highest this academy has ever seen," she said, making all the students turn to look at Silva. "I didn''t know it was the highest, I just did my best," Silva said. "Well, it was. But now is not the time for that, ask your question," she said. "My question is simple. If someone attacks me in secret and I defend myself, and that causes me to beat him up, would I get punished?" Silva asked. "Not really, just a warning or so. As long as there is evidence that it was self defense. In your case, I doubt that there will be anyone willing to attack you. You have a strength score over 600; even some instructors would struggle to get that. And if they did attack you, I''m sure they wouldn''t be attacking anyone else for a while," she said with a giggle. ''This woman, she''s been making sure the ss knows that I''m way stronger than them. I don''t know what her main n is, but I can guess what will happen now. These stupid ssmates of mine will begin to make ns to knock me down a notch, no matter what it costs them. I think she wants to use me as the catalyst that will induce their growth and make them work harder, just to take me down. I am pissed that she''s using me, but I have to say she is a smart woman, no doubt about that,'' Silva thought as he sat down. He scanned around the ss without looking and noticed the purple-haired girl ncing at him from the corners of her eyes. ''Hu hu, what is this now? Has she registered me as an opponent? Strong people will always take note of strong people. It''s like a lion and a tiger; if both of them are found in one ce, they will begin to monitor each other. Especially when there is a need to show whoes out on top. I can tell just by looking at her that she craves the top spot, but because of me, it just got a whole lot harder for her to get it. Honestly, I don''t n on leaving this spot, so she will have to suffer in vain,'' Silva subconsciously let out a smile as he thought about it, why would he leave, the spot had a lot of benefits. Chapter 92: The first duel Another student raised his hand to ask a question. She picked him, and he got up to ask. "What about duels against different sses?" he asked. "Well now, that''s a good question. Duels like that are allowed, but the lower-ssman must be the one who epts the duel. Such duels can''t hold if the lower-ssman refuses. But when the lower-ssman challenges his seniors to a duel, they must agree to it and duel him," she exined the concept to them. There were no more questions that day, and so, she spoke a little more on the rules and called it a day. Immediately she left the ss, before even the students could get up, the door swung open, and a group of third years, about six in number, walked in. Their presence drew all the attention, as this was not where they were supposed to be. Silva, on the other hand, noticed the person he had fought during the exams, and he could tell what this was about from just a nce. His mind ran multiple parallel simtions as to how this would y out, and all ended in a fight one way or the other. The bulky one who seemed to be the leader came forward and spoke. "I''m looking for a white-haired kid." He yelled and peered around. His eyes stopped at Silva, and he headed for him, but before he could even get close, Fay, Lia, Aaron, and Michael were in battle mode and had formed a wall around Silva. The dude was pissed off by this, but even he knew that he couldn''t fight here, and even if he did, taking out the elite first years was out of his abilities. One of them, sure, but all four? That was suicide. He understood that one doesn''t be an S-ss student by ident. Each one of them would have the power to rival a normal third year. He wasn''t a special student and was just a bit above average, so he couldn''t take them all. But this time, everyone in the ss had also turned their attention and had readied to battle. Sure, they didn''t know or like each other. But one thing was for certain¡ªin this case, as it stood, they would stand beside the person that was their ssmate because that person would be with them for four years, and this person was an outsider. When the third-year sensed the situation around him, he took a step back and tried to look peaceful and amicable. He hadn''t expected this turn of events. He had only nned toe in and scare the living hell out of Silva, but everything had backfired. But when he looked at Silva''s nonchnt face, his will to not give up got stronger. He couldn''t allow someone that disrespected his underling to go free. "I just came to talk. You seemed to have done a number on my friend, so I wanted to meet the person that was so strong," he said, but Silva could see how forced those words were. "Let''s just cut the crap already. Everyone here knows that''s bullshit. Look, I didn''t even take your friend or dog seriously, yet I defeated him. What makes you think that you can do anything different?" Silva asked. He had looked at this guy''s stats, and all peaked at 250 at best, yet he was standing here so proud. What was giving him the pride? What Silva said was like a blow to his ego, and he couldn''t take it, so he decided that he would handle Silva. "Alright, tough guy, I challenge you to a duel," he said and stretched out his ID card with a smug look on his face. Silva nced at the card to see his name, Ragna, and it seemed Ragna was amoner. It now made sense as to why he was trying to protect his followers. He had nothing to offer them aside from power, so now that one hade to cry to him, he had to show up for him, or lose a follower. Silva took out his card. Everyone watched closely because this was getting good. "Here are the rules. This is a brawl. All methods go, and the only way to win is by knockout. Do you agree?" Silva asked. "That''s fine by me," Ragna said. Silva agreed to the duel, and a light shined on both cards before dimming. A notification was sent to all cards in the academy about a duel. Normally, it would only be sent to the first years or the year that was having the duel. But a duel of such a gap was rare, and so it was sent all around. Even teachers got the info in no time. Ragna led the way to an arena, and when they arrived, in less than five minutes, those that were free had filled the arena¡ªfirst years, second years, and third years. The fourth years were too busy for such things; none of them showed up at all. Silva looked up into the seats. He saw his homeroom teacher and some other teachers seated. They had some snacks, in fact, and were waiting for the match to start. Elias was there as well. He looked around again and saw the purple-haired girl, as well as all his ssmates. "You''ll regret this, kid. You can beg for mercy now, and I might allow you to get away," Ragna said. "Beg for mercy? Hahahahahaha," Silva let out a resounding evilugh that made the whole arena keep quiet. "You walked into this arena with the belief that you''d make me pay? I''ve never seen a being so stupid. I''ll make you see that hell can exist up here," Silva said. He pulled out his sword, and the aura around him changed immediately. Ragna took out his massive sword from his ring. He wanted to enter his stance, but then his eyes locked with Silva''s. All Ragna could see was a mighty being, one so mighty there was no end to it. Fear gripped him. He felt like running, but there was no way he could. The fight had begun. Chapter 93: Aftermath Ragna remained froz, not moving. The crowd began yelling, asking them to start and not waste their time. "They want a fight? Won''t you move?" Silva asked. Ragna took a deep breath, gathering all his strgth to withstand the pressure. He forced his mind to believe that Silva was just ying tricks on him. Wh he finally was able to move, he charged at Silva at top speed, swinging his de to cut Silva in two. Silva kicked the g lightly and leaped back, dodging the sword by a hair, but th he stepped in and thrust his sword, stopping just as it was about to stab Ragna. Ragna froze wh he saw the proximity of the de, but Silva didn''t drive it in. Silva looked at him, smiled, and thunched a punch to Ragna''s face, causing a ton of teeth to fly out. Ragna fell to the g, spitting out blood, but Silva didn''t wait for him. He ran up and kicked Ragna in the abdom, forcing him to cough out more blood. Silva bt down beside him and started talking. "Is this all it takes to bring you down? You overgrown mass of muscle. All you are is a show, nothing else." "Don''t get cocky!" Ragna yelled and tried to swing from down there. Silva reacted faster than Ragna could blink and twisted Ragna''s arm. Ragna cried out in pain as his arm was being twisted. "Me? Getting cocky? It was you, you who got cocky, thinking that you could bully me to look good," Silva said. Ragna wasn''t ready to give up yet. He released his Mana to try and use magic, but as soon as Silva ssed the Mana, he used his own Mana to suppress it. He th pushed Ragna''s face into the g with a powerful force, blood dripping from Ragna''s face. Silva stood Ragna up and gave him some distance. "Come at me, redeem yourself, Ragna. Your whole ss is watching, teachers are watching, and all your juniors are watching. If you don''t show them that you can do something, they will lose all respect for you," Silva said, but Ragna didn''t move. He had lost the will to fight. Silva saw this and waspletely infuriated. "YOU BLOODY PIECE OF ROTTEN SHIT, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST LOSE YOUR WILL TO FIGHT LIKE THAT?" Silva allowed his bloodlust and killing intt to burst out of him. It immediately caused Ragna to fall to his knees and start coughing blood. Silva walked to him and grabbed him by the hair. "You can only lose if you pass out, right? Let''s see how long I can keep you before you pass out," Silva said and punched Ragna. Ragna coughed out blood and started begging. "Please, stop, please." Wh Silva heard the begging, he felt his rage increase. Punch after punch, he kept bashing Ragna. Ragna was now covered in blood and about to faint. But th Silva grabbed him by the head and infused Mana into his body to spark him back up. Ragna felt ergy course through him, but rather than happiness, he looked at Silva with dread. He started running because he understood what Silva wanted to do. The third years that were watching this felt their blood boil. They all wanted so badly to get Silva. They could all see the game Silva was ying. He wanted topletely and utterly break Ragna. Silva was way too fast for Ragna, so fast that to the likes of Ragna, it looked like sh step. He st a kick into Ragna''s chest, sding him flying. ''This is it, today, all by myself, I''ll dere war against the third years, and I''ll get the first years to follow me to fight against the third years. This on its own will allow me to sweep the ns of most of the nobles away because after this, I''ll be the beacon for themoners,'' Silva thought. The reason Silva was acting like this and making all these decisions was because he wanted people to know about him. He wanted them to get to know the person named Silva, and that would allow him to attract more influtial and stronger people. So he needed to make his name go beyond the walls of the academy. That might be the way to understand the task the goddess Ophelia gave him. He didn''t know what path to take exactly, so he chose a path for himself. Silva kicked Ragna up, and for the next five minutes, it was a beatdown, and th Silva would use his Mana to spark the brain. He kept up the cycle until the whole g was covered in blood, as if a massacre had happed. Finally, Silva allowed Ragna to faint after the twelfth time. He walked away with his bloody fist, leaving Ragna to those who knew what to do with him. There was no cheer. The ara was so quiet. They all looked at Silva as he walked away, some with hatred, some with confusion, and some with admiration. Who was this person called Silva, and why was he this strong at such an age? Before Silva could ev get too far from the ara, the news had already started spreading about the battle. He decided to head for his room first, because everyone would keep staring at him if he stayed outside. Hey on his bed, twirling dark magic a his finger. He heard a knock on the door, and the door oped. Aaron, followed by Michael, walked in. "He said he wanted to see you, and he wasn''t taking a no," Aaron said and wt to his bed to sit. Michael also followed and sat down with Aaron. "The question here should be how did you know I would be here?" Silva asked. "A calcted guess. By the way, your sister and Fay wanted to see you. I told them I''d tell you if I saw you," Aaron said. "Alright, I''ll meet themter," Silva said. "Now, about that duel, I think you just made the whole third year your emy," Michael said. Chapter 94: Student Council Inside arge office with a table, t people sat a it. They wore special robes, but you could still tell they were studts. Four of them weredies, while six were guys. They stayed quiet for a while until the one sitting at the top, who seemed to be the leader, spoke. "The first years have just joined the academy, and in fact, they are yet to start sses. Yet, today, I received word that a first year brutally disgraced a third year in a duel. Word says it was a legal duel with teachers watching as well. Does anyone here have details on that?" he asked. He had normal jet-ck hair, but there were a few strands of hairing down the side. He wore sses that made his tire character pop more. One of the guys stood up, an average-looking dude with no particrly striking features. "I heard that the fight was initiated by the third year to avge his underling, whom the first year had defeated during the trance examination. The duel took ce immediately after they agreed on the terms, and the terms were that the only way to lose was by getting knocked out. So there was no giving up or running away. Immediately after the fight started, the first year dominated, using only his fists to pummel the third year all a. Whever the third year was about to pass out, the first year would infuse mana into his mind and spark him back up. He did this a total of twelve times until he finally stopped. That was how the duel wt," he narrated. The t people in the room wt silt after this, because there were a few crazy parts to the story. "That kid must have wanted to start an issue with the third years. He possessed the ability to win, yet he kept dragging it out to inflict more damage on his oppont and also spite the whole third year," one of thedies said. She had beautiful blonde hair that was braided into one long knot. Her eyes were sharp and serious, and she carried the air of a warrior. "That is probably the reason he acted the way he did, but why would a first year want to stand against third years?" another dude asked. He was a muscr guy with a very low haircut and tanned skin. "Well, before we talk about the motive, we should look into the person that did it, and see if there will be any motivation for what he did," a slder guy said. He ced his hand on the table as he spoke in a very crisp and confidt voice. "It has already bepiled. I met with the director of the academy for his information," the girl sitting closer to the leader spoke. "But she did instruct me. She said I should read the letter she gave me to all of you first before we read his file." She took out the file and also a letter. She oped the letter and began reading. {Studt Council, This is from me directly, the director of the academy, Mrs. Matilda. About the person you are looking into, I advise caution wh you try to dive into that path. I know the studt council consists of the elite of the elite, but wh ites to this person, I am not so sure. His reason for being here at this academy is not the same as the other studts. I am trying to cage him up and control him before he bes a danger. This information will live and die with you t, the Council. Not another soul should hear of this or see this. As I said, exercise caution wh ites to this person.} The girl read it out for them all to hear. The council presidt ced his fists against his chin and let out a sigh. "This person is someone that ev the director has her eyes on, and she is trying to control him. Zain, read his file out to us. Let us see what it is that is special about him," the presidt said. The girl oped the file and started reading. "Silva from Ribest. He was born and brought up in a normal home. His father was an advturer, and his mother was a healer. He started reading and talking flutly at a very young age, and also started wielding a sword by the age of six. Before he was sev, he was made a real advturer. His activities dwindled over the years until he was twelve, but there are records of him still taking quests from time to time, and he had ris all the way to C rank before ev reaching the age of twelve. He has three siblings: Quin, Mike, and Lia. Liaes to our academy. She started this year, the same as Silva. Mike is an advturer, and so is their brother Quin, who is a B-ranked advturer. Silva is thirte, ording to records, and he is a B-ranked advturer, and also the strongest person in Ribest," she finished what the file said. Again, the ce was quiet. The presidt looked up. "Is this ev supposed to be possible? Who is this kid that he has so much talt?" the presidt asked the question that was on all their minds. "Zain, what about his legacy? Is there any information about his legacy?" the presidt asked. "No, his legacy has never be writt down. There is no record of the type, and ording to what the file says, he barely uses it publicly," she replied. "He is that strong without using his legacy? I doubt it, but we don''t have much to go on. This person, Silva, he has some sort of plot that may disrupt the academy''s normal flow. You all have to keep an eye out for changes. No matter how special he is, we can''t let him do what he wants. Our job as the studt council is to keep the order," the presidt said. Chapter 95: You lack talent The first day of official sses began, and Silva wt for his first ss, which was on basicbat, held in an op field. They had to put on thebat uniform provided for them, as that would allow them to move easierpared to the robes. It was apulsory ss that everyone had to attd, so ev wh they wt to register for their courses, it was already there. The same applied to the basic magic ss and some other sses. Silva arrived there with Aaron and saw his sister already there. In this whole ss, ev though Silva was well-toned and defined, you could tell he was the youngest. His crazy smooth and pale skin didn''t help either. Silva was the literal vy of boys¡ªpowerful and very handsome, like only a royal elf couldpete. Elves were known to be very beautiful, and the purer your blood, the better your looks, so the royal family of elves were world-ss beauties. Silva would be as such if he continued looking good the way he was until he grew, but that''s not what is important. Combat ss was a basic ss, and it was still handled by Miss Elizabeth, their homeroom teacher. She wore abat-type outfit that tuated her curves, and with every step, they shook like crazy. Wh all of them were there, she began the ss. "Most of you have learned many powerful fighting techniques and trained your bodies to be stronger, and that''s all good. But th again, most of you skipped the basics and leaped right into advanced techniques. The reason is that you all felt that basic training would do nothing for you and that you could make do with advanced techniques. But that begs the question: how long do you think that willst you before everything goes to shit? Imagine building a house with a very weak foundation. You may make it through the first floor, the second floor, and maybe the third floor. But after that, the house begins to get unstable, shaky, copsing, and lots more. And wh the winds and rainse, it all falls apart¡ªall because of the shitty foundation. That is why you all must know the basics ofbat, the life and the punches. You have to get good at them before you startyering them with techniques upon techniques. So to that note, the first phase of the ss will be foundation building. You all have to simply repeat. But remember this: it''s not all about repeating andpletely replicating what I do, but it''s for you to understand the movemt. Understand what muscles are involved, what tdons are getting stretched. You have to understand the blood flow every time you make the punch. It is about understanding how it feels in your body, because wh you do that, you can now edit that punch to fit your body, and you will be able to gain a better result. It is like art; every artist has a unique style. If I asked you to copy my art and try to understand it, over time, your own art will deviate from mine and create your own style. That''s all I need from you in this exam, so ve away and follow me." She said and got into position. She started a set of punches and kicks, while the studts followed, and they all did as she said, trying to understand the attack. Silva followed the routine, but every punch he threw was perfect because before he ev punched, his mind had already run the best simtion that would fit him, and they agreed on it before he punched. So he was already punching in the best possible way. They spt over half an hour going over the routine constantly. Wh they finally stopped, half of the ss fell to the g, trying to breathe. Not all of the studts there were fullybat-orited, but the cklight Academy was one that taughtbatpulsorily. Elizabeth gave them five minutes to rest before they would start the sparring sessions. Lia wanted to be Silva''s sparring partner, but the purple-haired girl came over and asked her. She looked over at Silva''s ce and saw that Oliver had met Silva and asked him. She sighed internally and agreed to the girl. Yesterday night, the rankings for first years had shown, and of course, Silva was number , the purple-haired girl was second, and Lia was third. It made sse that she would meet Lia to spar because to her, Lia was the only real oppont, aside from Silva, that is. Silva looked at Oliver. He nodded in agreemt. He didn''t know why Oliver hade to meet him, but he could sse that there was a reason; it wasn''t just to spar. "Alright, time''s up. It''s time to start. The rules are simple: no magic allowed, no death blows, and no trying to cripple your oppont. You may begin," Elizabeth said. Oliver wt in for the attack. He used basicbos of punches, but Silva easily evaded them. He took some steps back and th asked. "Ar''t you going to start talking? Won''t you tell me why you chose me?" Oliver heard that and increased the speed of his attacks, trying to hit Silva. "I want to warn you; you are walking a thin rope, feeling untouchable. I want to make it clear so that you''ll know. I have a feeling that if I defeat you somehow, I''ll be able to take over what belongs to me. So this is just a warning to prepare you¡ªwe are emies," Oliver said. "Well, I never wanted to be your frid, and also, I don''t believe you can take over the inheritance from your sister," Silva said, dodging an attack before stepping in and punching Oliver in the guts. Oliver leaped backward to try and gather himself, but Silva was already approaching. "Youck the talt and drive she has. She also sees you as one to protect; she doesn''t see you as an oppont," Silva said with a smile. Chapter 96: Underground Labyrinth Chapter 96 Underground Labyrinth "You bloody bastard," Oliver said and tried harder to hit Silva, but that was impossible as Silva kept deflecting the attacks. These were all things Oliver already knew, but hearing them from Silva made him rage. Silva watched him il about. He got tired of this, so he decided to end it. He grabbed Oliver by the arm and threw him over his shoulder, mming him into the ground. He squatted beside Oliver and whispered to him, "I think you''ll have an easier time getting better than your sister, rather than trying to beat me. If youe at me again, you may never live to tell the tale." Silva raised his hand to draw Miss Elizabeth. "I''m feeling exhausted. Can I take a break?" he asked. She looked at Silva, then at Oliver on the ground. She could tell something had happened, and that it wouldn''t be safe for them to continue as things were, so she allowed him. Silva left the field and walked towards the restroom, deciding to use the opportunity to relieve himself. But before he could get there, he saw Matilda walking his way, waving at him with a sly smile. ''This bitch, what does she want now?'' "Silva, it''s nice to see you here. I was thinking about looking for you. I have some things to talk to you about," she said. Silva decided to see the strength of this woman. Back when he was at the Duke''s ce, he was scared they might notice him using it, but now he was sure he could do it. [Matilda] Evolved Human. Lvl 10 Strength: 5,000 Defense: 5,400 Speed: 6,000 Agility: 6,000 Intelligence: 7,000. After looking at her stats, Silva could tell she was no joke her strength was the real deal. From what he had read, after evolving, it bes a hundred times harder to level up, and most humans die before even making it to level 2. But when someone sessfully levels up, the increase in power they get is absurd. ''If I take her in a fight, I''ll surely win, but there''s no way I can take her down quietly,'' Silva thought. "What is it that you want to talk about?" he asked. "Oh, it''s not something we can speak of now, bute byter during your free time, to my office, and we''ll talk," she said and walked away, all the while keeping her smile. "Tsk." Silva clicked his tongue and headed back to ss, forgetting about even urinating. --- After the first set of sses, Silva headed back to his room while the others went for lunch. He created a clone and sent it to the director''s office. He locked the door andy on the bed, watching what would happen. His clone was twice as strong as Matilda, so he would be able to handle her easily. Silva hade to underestimate his power, but with his current strength, he would be able to fight even Jade, the second strongest guardian. But until he was sure, he would keep a level head until he understood all there was to this world. --- The clone made it to the office and knocked on the door before entering. He walked in and saw Matilda seated behind the desk. "Come, sit, I''ll do my best to keep this short," she said. Silva walked to the chair and sat down. He didn''t say anything; he just waited for her to talk. "There is a secret that exists in this academy. It''s something normal students never get to see. Only the Fourth Years have ess to some of it. The Count has ess to all of the information, but even after leaving the academy, you are never to talk about it, because it must never be leaked," she said, trying to get Silva interested. "And I''m guessing that what you want to tell me has something to do with that secret. Don''t worry, I won''t spill anything you say. I don''t have the time for that," Silva said. "Alright then, under this academy is abyrinth, one that has existed for many years. Thebyrinth is an S ssbyrinth with great difficulty, filled with monsters and traps. But no one has been able to conquer thisbyrinth. And before you ask why we, the adults, haven''t tried to conquer it, it''s because thebyrinth only allows those seventeen years and below to enter. That''s why we''ve used Fourth Years to try and conquer it, but there hasn''t been any student to go beyond the tenth floor. Only members of the council have ever made it past floor 10. The details of what they found there are highly ssified. Now, about the reason I wanted to talk to you, I feel you already know why, but I want to give you a special pass to enter thebyrinth. I want you to start attempting thebyrinth because I believe that before you make it to Fourth Year, you would have made a lot of progress into thebyrinth. Normally, we don''t believe that the minds of Third Years and those below can handle what they''lle across in thebyrinth. But I''ve heard that you easily raided thebyrinth in your hometown and have done some extraordinary things as well. Also, when I look at you, I don''t see a kid; I see a sly man, a very crafty person. So, what do you say? Will you do it? There will also be a ton of rewards, like points for everything you sell or discover. There will also be normal rewards thate from time to time. So, will you do it?" she asked. "Yeah, no doubt. I see no reason not to. You''re giving me the opportunity to grow and get stronger," Silva said with a smile that made Matilda feel like she had been yed. But at least she finally had some hope of seeing what was at the end of thebyrinth, she was taking a risk in making Silva stronger, but she needed thebyrinth to finally be conquered. Chapter 97: Leah Silva decided to agree to thebyrinth because he had be searching for opportunities to get stronger, and one just fell into hisp. So there was no way he would refuse. Besides that, he would also be getting some great rewards, so why not? Later that night, someone came and called him out to hand him the card that would allow him ess into the dungeon. The person wore a cloak, covering every part of their body so that they wouldn''t be idtified, but that was not an issue for Silva. He could already tell it was a male fourth-year studt. The person also gave him a map to thebyrinth so that he wouldn''t get lost. He decided he would check it out the next night. --- sses had be going well for some time now, but oddly, hardly any new person had spok to Silva. It was as if they were keeping their distance from him. But on this day, the purple-haired girl walked up to Silva after a ss they had together. "Hello," she said, her face not showing any emotions. Silva looked up at who had called him and th responded. "Hey, what''s up?" he asked. "I want to talk to you. Do you mind?" she asked. "No, not at all. You want to talk here or outside?" he asked. "Let''s go outside," she said and started walking. Silva got up and followed her out of the ss. They walked side by side in the hallway. They had walked a small distance from the ss before she started talking. "My name is Leah, Leah Remini. My father is a Marquess," she introduced herself. "I guess you already know my name, but I''m Silva from Ribest," Silva said. "So you truly are just amoner," she said. "You think I would lie about that?" Silva asked. "Not quite. I just felt that for someone to be at this level at our age and be amoner was as rare as finding a ck dragon," she said. Silva let out a chuckle after he heard ''ck dragon.'' "Well, I guess I''m just the exception," Silva said. "Your sister as well; she is already a monster, and she is just amoner," Leah said. "Hearing a mega monster call someone a monster, that''s something," Silva said with a smile. "Hearing that from someone who breaks the normal scale of reality is something as well," she countered. "I guess that makes sse," Silva replied. "Still, you never know, there may be more like you outside. Our kingdom is just one on the contint; there are about five more kingdoms. Th there is the Empire and the Holy Kingdom as well. The Empire and the Holy Kingdom are the true powerhouses of humanity. They are the ones that lead humanity and all that they do, we just follow behind. They are also the ones that seek out the heroes," Leah gave Silva a small history throwback. "Yeah, but th, what about other races? They must have their own groups, right? And th other contints as well." Silva decided to make use of this opportunity to get the most information he could. "Well, there is the Elvish Empire, the dragon country, as well as many others, like the fairies and more. Sure, you can also find them on the human side, the same way you can find humans on their side. As for other contints, we have just one maind. Many people set out to see the other parts of the world, but there has never be a reply from them, and so we believe that there is only one maind for now," she exined. ''I have a feeling that there are more, but that is not important for now,'' Silva thought. "I guess teaching me history is not really the reason you came to meet me today, so what made you talk to me?" Silva asked. "Well, as much as I don''t like it, you are the rank one of the ss, and that makes you the strongest. But you have made an emy of the whole third years. You need strong allies that will help you. You may be confidt, but there are things you don''t know and can''t do. Ev now, there are heavy plots happing in the first year to take you down. You may be strong, but if you are hit by surprise, you will still fall. And so I wanted to offer a hand to be your ally. I am certain I can be of help," she said, stretching out her hand for a handshake. Silva paused a bit, looked at her, and asked, "What''s the catch? All you said will only profit me. I find it hard to believe that someone as smart as you will do something where you befit nothing," Silva said. "That''s true. What I want is for you to be my sparring partner. I need to get stronger, and aside from your sister, there are few that can match my pace," she exined. ''I see, she wants to try to unravel me like a ball of yarn, understand my secrets, and use them to get stronger. It''s a good n, to be honest, and ev though I don''t really need her, having another ally will be helpful. I can also tell that she isn''t lying, so there''s no harm in epting.'' Silva shook her hand in agreemt. "Fine th, whever we are free, let''s spar. I''d like to see your abilities as well; maybe I can learn a thing or two from you," Silva said. "Likewise," she replied. They spoke about wh they would have their first spar and th parted ways. Silva decided that since sses were over, he would go check out thebyrinth. He followed the map, and it led him through halls and ces that he didn''t think existed in the academy. Finally, he arrived underg, at a massive door with two guards. Immediately they saw him, they pointed their swords at him. "First year, you should not be here," one of them said in a harsh tone. Chapter 98: Inside the Labyrinth Silva didn''t have the time to be stressed, so he immediately took out the card and showed it to both of them. The two guards were shocked wh they saw it; this was the first time they had se a first-year allowed into thebyrinth. They both looked closely to sure that it was not fake, and it wasn''t. "Kid, I don''t know how you managed to get this card, but tering this dungeon is a bad idea for a kid like you," one of the guards warned. "You don''t have to worry, it was the director that asked me toe, so I have to do it," Silva said and walked past them. He pushed the roof op and walked in. Immediately, he scanned the surings for any watching device, but there was nothing. "Ha, finally I can let loose and level up as fast as possible. I''ve be stuck in one ce for far too long," Silva said. He summoned all his clones, ready for battle, and th split them into teams of two. He wanted to gain EXP as fast as possible, so each of the groups would go hunting and gather EXP. Silva th summoned Gan, Fang, and Dawn, and as usual, Dawn hugged him wh she appeared. "It''s good to see you again, master," Gan said. "It''s be a while, Master," Fang said. "I''ve just be very busy, but today, I need you all to raid thisbyrinth. Also, how are things at thebyrinth? How are Elsa and the rest?" Silva asked. "They are fine, master, but they are busy. It seems Lily predicted a massive beast wave that is iing for the kingdom, and they have be looking into it," Gan said. "The beast wave will have more than three hundred thousand beasts in total, and the first ce they will pass through is Ribest," he finished. "A beast wave, huh? Alright, after this whole thing, I''ll follow you guys back to thebyrinth. Let me see what this is about," Silva said before turning and heading into thebyrinth. He chose a path differt from the one the clones had chos, and they started heading that way. As of now, the amount Silva needed to level up was crazy, so he set the system notification to only ring wh he got over five hundred EXP. His currt stats looked like this: Name: Silva Race: Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awaked) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: ,000,000 EXP: ,000/50,000 SP: ,000,000 Level: 60 Strgth: ,000 Defse: ,000 Speed: ,000 Agility: ,000 Intelligce: ,00 Free stat points: 0 He needed fifty thousand EXP to level up, and that was a crazy high number, but not for him, as long as this ce had pretty strong monsters. [You have gained 500 EXP 50 SP]x [You have gained 500 EXP 50 SP]x [You have gained 500 EXP 50 SP]x Notifications started flooding Silva all of a sudd, which meant his clones had started. He had to mute all the EXP notifications this time because it was distracting. They hadn''t gone far before sighting their first oppont. It was a humanoid-looking being withrge scales down the cter of its back, like a crocodile. It had a greish body and was slder yet very ripped. It had a tail that looked like that of a scorpion, but Silva didn''t want to find out. Wh the creature saw Silva, it attacked like a deranged being, extding its des to almost a foot long. Dawn stepped in and blocked the attack, pushing the creature back, and th Silva fired a dark bullet through the head of the creature. The creature let out a shrill cry and died. The body disintegrated into dust and was absorbed by thebyrinth. [You have gained 500 EXP 50 SP]x [Level up: 6] [ free SP] Whatever this creature was, it gave good EXP, and Silva weed EXP at any time. So they started going deeper. Silva leveled up from all the EXP three times, bringing him to level 64. Finally, they came to a massive door. Silva could tell that a stronger beast was inside, so for the sake of safety, he summoned all his clones, and with his summons with him, he pushed the door and tered. To be honest, him alone was already too much, but Silva just liked being cautious. Wh he got in, he saw the same type of monster, only twice the size and strgth. He used his dragon eyes on it, and it had a total strgth of just 400, which made ssepared to all they had be fighting today. "Alright, I''ll take it out. You all just wait; after this, we''ll head to the second floor," Silva said and took out his sword. The creature saw Silva and charged at him, running towards him with its mouth op and its razor-sharp teeth showing. It dove at Silva for the first bite, but Silva sidestepped and stabbed it in the gut. However, he didn''t kill it, only punctured a lung, and th he drew his de and leaped away. The creature bled purple. It tried to use one arm to cover the wound, but it wasn''t working, so it decided to at least take down the one who stabbed it. It charged at Silva again, drawing a trail of blood. Silva stood, leaping from one foot to another. Wh the creature got within range of his feet, he st a kick to the side of its head and sheared half of the head off, but still didn''t kill it. The blood of the creature covered the g. The creature struggled to move, but half its head had be blown off. Finally, the eyes of the creature wt red, and Silva smiled. This was what he wanted. This was the berserk mode that monsters ter as ast-ditch effort. If they managed to escape death, they would use this method, which used their life force to give them two times more strgth, but it shattered their sanity wh they did it. Chapter 99: Gluttony level 2 This mode increased their stats by double, and that was what Silva wanted. The creature charged at him with twice the speed and strgth. But sadly, in the d, it still wasn''t impressive. Silva sidestepped and st a kick into the stomach of the creature, splitting it in two. [You have gained 0 EXP, 500 SP] x "I''ming to love thisbyrinth," Silva said with a smile. The body of the creature disappeared and left behind what looked like the scale on its back. Silva picked it up to examine it. [Scale of the Mangledon, forging material] "So, the name of this creature is a Mangledon." Silva stored the scale and looked a the room. There was nothing more, so it was time to go to the second floor. But he decided to distribute his stats before he left. Name: Silva Race: Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awaked) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: ,000,000 EXP: ,000/54,000 SP: ,000,000 Level: 64 Strgth: ,000 Defse: ,000 Speed: ,000 Agility: ,000 Intelligce: ,00 Free stat points: 80. It wasn''t arge amount, but it was something. He decided to add forty to each and stop wherever it stopped. Strgth: ,040 Defse: ,040 Speed: ,040 Agility: ,040 Intelligce: ,0 Free stat points: 0 "Alright, let''s head to the second floor," Silva said, moving his army of summons and clones to the second floor. Wh they arrived at the second floor, they were immediately greeted by arge army of Mangledons. Their number was more than a hundred, all gathered together like some meeting was happing. Wh Silva and the others arrived, the Mangledons all noticed them and turned their atttion to Silva. They immediately became hostile and started rushing at them. Rather than be serious, a wide grin was stered on his face because he was about to farm a massive amount of EXP here. He would most definitely make it to level sevty by the look of things. He decided that he needed to get serious, so he took out the Minotaur''s axe, which was still his go-to weapon for more strgth. With the buff of the Minotaur''s axe, his strgth rose, closing up to twty thousand in all stats. He stepped forward and raised his hands. "I''ll handle these ones, you all just rest," he said with confidce. Dawn, Gan, and Fang didn''t question him; they all stepped back, and so did the clones. Silva tered battle mode. He brought out his dragon wings for added speed, and th he pped them at the same time as he charged. He also activated sh step, basically making him move at teleport-like speed. His body vanished, only to reappear with the heads of several Mangledons flying in the air. In one step, he had killed over fifty, but he didn''t stop there. He initiated Gate of Hell. The spell activated and swallowed up all the remaining Mangledons. He th used Gluttony and absorbed their souls, turning them into EXP. [Level up, free stat points] [Level up, free stat points] [Level up, free stat points] [Level up, free stat points] [Level up, free stat points] Sadly, he only made it to level 69 and couldn''t break into level 70. But it was not all bad because another notification came in. [Congrattions, your spell, Gluttony has evolved into Gluttony lv] [Gluttony lv: Consume the souls of your emies, as well as certain skills and abilities within them. Gluttony must be fed with life at regr intervals. Failure to do so will lead you into starvation, causing you to go berserk, doubling all your abilities and power but losing sanity until you are satisfied.] x. Silva cried and celebrated wh he saw this skill. The reason was that his t-times buff made it so that he would reap the best possible befit from the skill. But th again, it meant his hunger would be t times as strong ande t times as fast. It also meant that if he wt berserk, he would be twty times stronger, and ev with the currt Silva, being twty times stronger and going berserk did not sound like a good thing. "A double-edged sword. This is the first time that I have a skill this terrifying," Silva said. But he didn''t need to worry because his mind had already made a solution for him. The Gate of Hell captures souls, and that was what he needed for Gluttony. Ev the skills and abilities would be tied to the souls. All he needed to do was continuously store souls in the Gate of Hell. And he had t clones, so he could sd all of them out secretly to hunt and gather souls. And ev if he couldn''t find many good ones, he could take some from hisbyrinth wh thebyrinth was about to make more. He could also take humans there that were at death''s doorstep. He didn''t really care; his moral code was not human anymore. With all that nned out, he would have a steady supply of souls that his Gluttony would feast on. The System also followed up to show Silva the timer before he starved. ording to the normal time scale, it would take thirty days, a full month. But for him, it was only three days. That was a crazy drop. [ days: 3 hrs: 3 mins: secs] "Let''s gather the crystals and head deeper," Silva said. They gathered all the crystals and put them away before heading deeper into the second floor. Unlike wh they first tered, the number of Mangledons reduced to packs of two or three, at times five. Silva didn''t see the use of the clones for now a him, so he st them out again, giving them the order to simply store the Mangledons'' souls in the Gate of Hell. Silva also tried to use Gluttony. He activated the spell as he took out a Mangledon. He was hit with a wave of ecstasy so high that he didn''t want it to stop. It felt so good as his body absorbed the souls from this creature. [You have gained ,000 EXP] [There are two skills from this Mangledon. Choose one: Night Vision Vibration Ssing] Chapter 100: abomination heart Wh Silva took a look at the skills, it was a tough choice betwe the two because one was night vision and the other was vibration ssing. He could only pick one, and that made things difficult, but after running it through all his minds, they decided to choose vibration ssing. Unlike night vision, he could use this both day and night, and that was gerally better. After selecting vibration ssing, he started feeling the vibrations a him for close to a kilometer; he could sse the Mangledons that were a as well. Silva faced his summons and spoke. "Fang, Gan, both of you, go ahead and fight, I''ll move with Dawn, this is a good ce for you to gather more experice." Silva said. Both of them bowed their heads and ran in differt directions. "Alright, Dawn, let''s go." Silva said, but as he took one step, Dawn held his hand, interlocking their fingers. He looked at her, but she looked away immediately, not wanting him to see her face. "Dawn, can''t this wait for another time? We are currtly in abyrinth; it''s dangerous." Silva said. "There isn''t anything here that is a threat to you, and ev if there is, I''d take care of it." She spoke while still looking away. Silva decided to allow it, he tighted his grip a her hand and started walking. They walked quietly for a while, but th Dawn decided to start a conversation. "Silva, why do youy low? It''s like you have some sort of n, and because of that, you don''t show your true strgth." Dawn said. "Yeah, there is a n, it''s something to do with the goddess Ophelia, but ev I don''t understand it fully yet. That''s why I can''t rush headfirst into things or flex my power excessively. I just need to keep growing strong while deceiving my emies. I allow them to believe that I am strong, but still within a believable range. But I hide the true strgth, and that is because if it came down to a fight, an emy that underestimated you will be easier to take out." Silva said. As they spoke, he ssed a group of Mangledons headed their way. "Dawn, some Mangledons are headed this way, take them out, you need to gather experice as well." Silva said. She nodded and waited for the emy. Soon five Mangledons showed up, but thest one in the back was twice as tall and looked devilishly ferocious. But the Mangledons were nothing to Dawn; she ripped through them easier than cutting through butter. But before she reached thest big one, it started transforming. The transformation caused a massive release of chaotic Mana that mmed into Dawn and st her flying. Silva ran over and caught her so that she didn''t hit the g. He helped her stand. Both of them stood looking at this creature; it was transforming into something, and the ergy a it felt very familiar. It was turning into an abomination. "I see why no one has ever made it past the tth floor, thisbyrinth is unpredictable as hell. I wonder how many studts have actually died here." Silva said. "Should I take it down?" Dawn asked. "No, I want to fight it in its final form. I want to see how strong it gets." Silva said. So both of them watched as this already grotesque-looking creature turned ev more hideous. With misproportioned body parts and slimy interior showing on the exterior, it was simply gross. Silva took a look at the stats of this abomination to see what he was up against. The abomination now had a stat of a thousand all a, aside from Intelligce, which had disappeared. "This should be fun, but I should fight it in my base strgth." Silva said and put away all weapons and everything. He took a boxing stance and waited for the abomination. "I don''t feel that it''s safe to do that." Dawn said with concern. "Don''t worry, ev if something goes wrong, I have you here." Silva shed an assuring smile. The abomination charged at Silva, squealing madly as it came. The theory that Silva hade up with about this abomination was that it was close to some sort of evolution, but wh it saw Dawn take out those other Mangledons, it panicked. It forced an evolution, and that cost it a lot, turning it into an abomination. The abomination swung its fist at Silva. Silva set his hands on both sides of his face and blocked the attack. The impact sounded like a loud gunshot. Silva acted quickly after that attack; he turned his arm and grabbed the hand of the abomination and pulled it in. The head of the abomination came low as Silva pulled it. Silva followed up with an uppercut that st the head of the abomination jerking back. Silva didn''t follow up after that; he waited for the abomination to reorganize before he wt in again. The abomination would attack, Silva would block and counter, and the process repeated until the abomination became raged and started thrashing about. But Silva still dodged all that and wt for the head. He leaped into the air and mmed his fist with all 000 worth of strgth. The fist passed through the head with a bang; the insides of the head spilled out as the fist made it all the way to the other side. The abomination fell to the g and died, th disappeared and left behind an actual beating heart. Silva picked up the heart, and the system spoke. [Heart of an abomination. A material that can turn anyone into an abomination and increase their strgth by several folds, just by drinking the blood it produces. The abominations are loyal to the one that holds the heart.] [Do you wish to own this item?] This was the first time the system asked him if he wanted to own a drop item, but he still said yes. [The heart has be bound to you. You can use it to make abominations.] [The t times buff has also be added to the effects of the heart.] Chapter 101: Silvas Mother Duke Terron sat at the dining table in his manor with his wife on the opposite side. There was no one else prest, as the kids were off at school. "So, how did the meeting concerning the new Mana stone mine go?" she suddly asked as they ate. "Ah, the mine. It is located at the border town of our two Dukedoms, and so it gave us both equal rights to it. But their main town is farther away from the border town, and we are closer. So, it would cost them more to bring heavy-duty resources to the town to mine. So, we have a deal that I will take care of most of the heavy-duty issues, and the cut would be 30 to 70. At the d of the day, that''s how it wt, and I have to say it was a good thing," he said while cutting into the steak. "I see, a Mana stone mine will really help the research developmt in the city. My team and I have be working on something very new, and it could help the military and daily lives. But the Mana cost requiremt is expontial in the testing phase," she said. "Hmm, you are one of the lead magical researchers in this kingdom. If you say something is worth it, ev the king would list. Wh the extra Mana stones starting in, I''ll make an allocation for your departmt," he said with a smile. Suddly, a knock came at the door. "Come in," Terron said. The door oped, and an armored knight with the Duke''s crest walked in, holding a letter. The knight walked over and handed the letter to the Duke. He saluted with a fist to the chest and th walked away, leaving the room. The Duke undid the seal, took out the letter, and started reading. His face frowned after a bit, and th shifted to somewhat of a shock. His wife watched him and became curious, so she asked, "What''s the issue, my Lord?" "It''s from the academy, Lady Matilda, the director of the academy. She is speaking of a first-year studt that is quite unusual. She said the studt scored the highest in the exams ever se and has already defeated two third years. I knew from the first day I met him long ago that he was talted because he was already a B-ranked advturer at the age of twelve. I didn''t think he woulde to the academy and be thisrge of a mace. He is upsetting the bnce," the Duke exined to his wife. "Such a studt exists? What''s his name?" she asked out of curiosity. "He is Silva from Ribest, a kid that stands out because he has hair, which is umon withmoners," the Duke said. His wife stood up with speed. "Did you say Silva?" she asked. "Yes, do you know him?" the Duke asked, surprised by her behavior. "No, nothing like that. It''s just that he seems unique. I''d love to research this child, so may I have your permission to?" she asked, the eagerness in her eyes impossible to hide. Thirte years¡ªit had be thirte years, so long. A part of her hade to ept that her child may have already died. The Duke saw the eagerness in her eyes and thought it was just eagerness to research, though that was misced. "Alright, I''ll sd a letter to the director tonight. You can go there tomorrow," the Duke said. "Thank you, my Lord. I''ll take my leave now to prepare ahead of time," she said and bowed. She left the room in hasty steps. If not for the Duke, she would have actually run out. She walked straight to her private room, walked in, and shut the door. She leaned against the wall and slid to the g, tears streaming from her eyes. She sobbed with a smile on her face, knowing that she would get to see her son again. But after a while, the realization hit her. How would she exin it? What would she say? She had abandoned her son before he could ev see properly. What right did she have to be his mother anymore? She had failed right from the beginning. But still, she didn''t want to be far from her son anymore, ev if it meant acting as his befactor or anything¡ªev if she could not tell him that she was his mother. She decided she would see him, ev if this would lead to issues along the line. She would still go tomorrow. She cleaned up her tears and got up. She left the room and wt in search of the maid she had handed Silva to all those years ago to take away. That was the person she trusted. --- Back in thebyrinth, Silva was about to test the abomination heart. He asked Dark to search for a Mangledon. Wh Dawn came back with the Mangledon, Silva took out the heart as Dawn forced the mouth of the Mangledon op, and Silva allowed a drop of the blood to ter the mouth of the Mangledon. Dawn let go of it, and it immediately started thrashing a. The sounds of popping bones could be heard, and ripping flesh. It continued for some minutes, and th it finally transformed into an abomination. It stood up and looked at Silva, doing nothing, just staring and making some growling sounds. "Alright, let''s go. I want you to hunt some of your former kind for me to see your strgth," Silva said and led the way while Dawn and the abomination followed. He used his vibration ssing to find their target, and he found one. Immediately, the Mangledon saw them, it charged at them. Silva pointed at it and spoke. "Take it out." Immediately, the abomination charged like an arrow that had be fired. It wt with a swing first with its fist. The fist connected andpletely disconnected the head of the Mangledon. Chapter 102: Silvas Mother After the abomination killed the Mangledon, Silva decided that it was enough testing, so he ordered the abomination to kill itself. The abomination began ripping itself apart, while Silva and Dawn walked away. "I think the second floor is enough for now, we should return to the academy," Silva said. He called back all the clones and unsummoned them before sending Gan and Fang back to thebyrinth to meet the guardians. Now it was only Dawn that was left. "Dawn, I need you to look into the Dark de, the group that caused chaos back at my home. I need you to check them," Silva said. They exchanged some small talk, and then he was about to send her back. She hugged him and pecked him on the cheek before she was teleported away. "If there is anything I love in this world, Dawn is definitely one of them," Silva said with a smile as he headed out of thebyrinth. When he made it out, the guards were shocked to see him back; they half expected him to die there. "Hey kid, you back already?" the guard asked. "Yeah, can you tell me where I can trade the drops I got for points?" he asked. "Wait, you killed monsters?" the other guards asked in shock. "Yeah, I wouldn''t just go and sit down inside abyrinth, right?" he said. "Well, that makes sense, but forgive me asking, what floor did you stop at?" the guard asked. "I stopped at the second floor," Silva said. "And you survived? Seems we looked down on you, kid," the guard said. "You just have to hand the drops off at the school store, show them yourbyrinth card, and they''ll know what to do," the guard exined. Silva bid them farewell and left the area. He immediately headed for the school store. He nned to y it safe and drop in half the crystals he got, which was about a hundred or so. Honestly, that was still a bad idea. When he arrived there, it was like a full store located on the academy grounds. It sold the basic things students would need. There were other specialized stores as well for different things, but this was the general store. The woman there didn''t pay attention; she thought it was a first-year student who felt like they could purchase good equipment with the small points they had. She had faced a ton of them already since they started attending the academy. Silva didn''t mind, though. He took out thebyrinth card and slid it on her counter. She nced at the card and looked away, only to look back in shock. She picked it up and looked at it; she was certain it was authentic. She looked at Silva, sizing him up. She didn''t believe that this kid would have such a card. "How did you get it?" she asked. "The director gave it to me, as well as a map to thebyrinth in the academy. I''m justing from thebyrinth, and I have some crystals to sell to you," Silva exined. She paused for a moment. Only a person who had really been into thebyrinth would know about it. She decided to just move along. If he was lying, she would inform the management; if not, then there were no issues. "Alright then, give them to me." She expected him to take out a few crystals, but then Silva poured out close to a hundred on the counter, making a small mountain. Her eyes opened in shock, and she froze while looking at it. Only the council members had brought her this amount after one dive into thebyrinth. "Is there an issue?" Silva asked. "No, not at all, I''ll get it calcted now," she said after waking up from her shock. She took a small square storage device and sucked all of them into the device. The small crystal screen at the side of the device showed how many points he made from selling these crystals. At the end, it came up to a whopping twenty thousand points. "Please hand me your ID card," she said. Silva passed it to her, and she took it in, taking out a card of her own to transfer him twenty thousand points. She handed the card to Silva, and after he thanked her, he left the store. "I''ll have to report this to the director or the student council. I feel it''s not something I should keep quiet about," she said to herself as Silva left. "Maybe I should have given only fifty. I feel from the way she reacted that a hundred was too much," Silva said as he returned to his room. --- The next day, the S-ss had homeroom. Silva sat with Fay and Lia on either side. Michael and Aaron sat by each other, and oddly enough, Leah was also seated close. This was the gathering of the serious power in the ss. There wasn''t a group that could stand up to this group right now in the first year. It was basically impossible. Their homeroom teacher walked in. She walked with her usual sensual movement; she was seductive yet fierce. "Hello students, today we have a special guest. She is from the Magic Research Organization and is a well-known person. She came here today because she wanted to observe, so be on your best behavior. If not, I''ll bash your heads into a wall. Now all of you wee the wife of the Duke, Mrs. Anderson Terron." Silva''s mother walked into the ssroom, and as soon as she did, his eyes were pinned on her. What was she doing here? Did shee to see her kids? Was it really for research, or had she discovered that he was here? She walked up to the teacher and faced the ss. Her eyes met with Silva''s, and she paused for a while. She couldn''t stop herself from looking at him. Silva looked back without a care, because he knew that, in her mind, he didn''t know who she was to him. Chapter 103: Meeting with family Silva''s mother finally broke her gaze away from Silva; it would be weird if she kept that up. "Alright, Mrs. Terron will be watching your training today, so we will skip homeroom and head to basicbat sses. So, everyone change and be at the training grounds in ten minutes. You are dismissed," Miss Elizabeth said. The students got up and left. Leah walked up to Silva as they left the ss. "I noticed you and the Duke''s wife staring at each other. Do you know her?" Leah asked. "Nope, this is the first time meeting her," Silva said. "I''d think otherwise, seeing as you have her hair and eyes. Quite the coincidence," Leah said with a smile and walked away. "She is way more observant than I thought. I''ll have to clear things up to avoid any unforeseen happenings," Silva said to himself. --- When they arrived at the training grounds, Silva sat to the side watching the students train. He couldn''t really learn anything from sparring with them, and they couldn''t learn from him since his skills were too high. Elizabeth would have been a good partner, but she couldn''t leave the other students for now. Mrs. Terron noticed that Silva was free, and she saw that as her opportunity. She walked toward him, her breathing got haggard with every step. It was as though she was summoning all the courage she could toe to Silva. Silva could already sense hering; he could feel the hesitation and anxiety in her, but he kept acting as though he didn''t know until she got to his side. "I hear you are Silva, the number one first-year." She used that as a way to start a discussion. "Yes, I am. It''s nice to meet you, Mrs. Terron," Silva said. "The pleasure is mine. So why aren''t you participating?" she asked. "We try to get stronger with every activity, but this activity doesn''t hold anything to make me stronger," Silva replied bluntly. He looked up at his mother and spoke, "There is something you want to say. I can sense it. What is it?" Silva asked. "Sigh, you are smart like they say. I''ll be straight with you. I''d like to study you and get to know you better. I''d like to be your benefactor, so what do you say about that?" She asked in a calm voice to mask her pain. ''Benefactor? That''s what she is going with? Nah, don''t worry, Mom, you''ll get to be my mother sooner than you expect,'' Silva thought. "That seems nice. I''d like to discuss it more, but I''ll need to meet your family as well. I already know your children, but we haven''t spoken much at all. So, I''d like to know the family that I am cing my life in. I mean no disrespect, but it has to be done," Silva said. "I understand. I''ll talk to your director. She will allow my kids and you toe to the Duke''s manor for dinner tomorrow. You can stay over and return the day after," she said. "That''s good. I''ll be looking forward to it," Silva said. He got up from the ce and walked away. He could still feel his mother''s eyes on him even as he walked away, and it took him some effort not to turn back. --- Evening came, and Silva was ready. His brother and sister had gone along with their mother to prepare, while a carriage was set to carry him to the Duke''s manor. Silva didn''t inform any of his friends that he was leaving; he simply left. He got into the carriage, and it took him to the mansion of the Duke. When he arrived, a butler met him at the door. "Good evening, Master Silva. The Duke and his family are awaiting you at the table. Right this way." The butler, who was a middle-aged man, spoke with eloquence and respect. Silva followed him into the house and to the dining hall. The dining hall was massive, with a table too big for a family of four. The Duke and his family were already there, with his wife to his right and his two children to the left. When Oliver and Sage saw Silva, a frown was stered on their faces. They were told that they had a guest and that their mother wanted them to be there. They didn''t expect that it would be Silva, of all people. Silva bowed to the Duke when he arrived. "Wee, Silva. This is the second time we have met. Please take a seat," the Duke said. Silva did as he was told and sat opposite the Duke. Soon after, the food was served by the maids, and they started to eat. The Duke looked up to begin a discussion. "So, Silva, how is being a student at the academy?" the Duke asked. "Let''s cut the crap here," Silva said, taking everyone by surprise. What the hell did Silva just say? "How dare you talk to my father like that?" Oliver got up and roared. "Keep your trash shut, you no-good piece of untalented crap. I''ve seenmoners better than you, you stupid little boy," Silva pped back in a way that Oliver was not expecting. What Silva did was so shocking that no one else at the table knew how to react. This was amoner talking to a Duke and his family rudely. Silva could see the surprise, and he decided to drive all this home. "Thirteen years. Thirteen bloody years I''ve lived as amoner because you, a piece of old shit under the name of a father, decided I was no good for living," Silva dropped a bombshell on all of them. It started getting hard for them to understand what was going on. "You are confused, right? Father? You are wondering what I''m talking about. Well, let me refresh your memory. Thirteen years ago, one night, a woman gave birth to a son. But that son seemed to not have good magical affinity. You ordered for that son to be killed, but his mother saved him and asked that he be taken away. Does this story ring any bells?" Chapter 104: Father Versus Son The dining hall became quiet after what Silva said; the kids didn''t know what was happening, but Terron and his wife knew. Terron stood up from his seat. He stood straight and asked Silva, "Are you telling me that you are my son from thirteen years ago? The one that was sent away?" he asked. "Ask your wife. She knew, and that was why she came to the academy. She named me Silva; she was the one that asked for that name to be given to me so that one day she would find me. She was the only one that cared if I lived or died. She was a mother, and she tried to fight for her son. You, on the other hand, decided to kill a baby. Isn''t that just great?" Silva asked with a smile. He took a bite of his food after he finished saying that. "This is impossible. Even if you are my son, you should have no recollection of what happened that day. It shouldn''t be possible," the Duke yelled; he wanted to prove this imposter wrong. "Well, that is all the work of my Legacy. It allowed me to have perfect memory, unable to forget, so I recalled everything that happened as soon as I left the womb. The pathetic look you gave me when you discovered that I had no affinities, everything you said, they are all burnt into my memory, Father," Silva said. As he spoke, he checked the stats of his father; he wanted to know what he was up against. Evolved Human Lv: 12 Strength: 5000 Defense: 4500 Speed: 7000 Agility: 6500 Intelligence: 9000 Mana: 10,000 His father was quite the man, but it seemed Silva had overestimated him; he could crush this man as it stood. "You mean to tell me that for thirteen years you have known who you are? Then why didn''t you ever tell me?" Terron asked. "Tell you? Tell you what? That I am your son? The one you tried to kill? No, that''s stupid, honestly. The stupidest thing I have ever heard. What the hell would I tell you for?" "Hey, don''t speak to my father however you feel like!" Oliver tried to be the perfect son and ran at Silva. "Oliver, stop!" his mother and sister called out to him at the same time, but Oliver had made up his mind. But before he could draw his sword, Silva was in front of him. "When people are talking, don''t interrupt, brother," Silva said. He grabbed Oliver by the face; the world seemed to go in slow motion as Silva threw Oliver with such speed that Oliver almost passed out from the force. Terron leaped from where he stood and caught Oliver before he could hit the wall. He ced Oliver down to breathe and then faced Silva. "I don''t care what sort of things you have in your mind, but you will not maltreat my child like that," Terron said. "Your child? Your child? I was your bloody child. Have you forgotten? I was a baby; I didn''t ask toe to this world. You couldn''t control that thing between your legs; you got my mother pregnant, and I had to be born. I didn''t ask for any part in it; I was a victim of your horny activities. Yet I was the one set to be punished. Does that sound fair to you?" Silva asked. Terron could not answer that; it was true that Silva had done nothing wrong. It was he, Terron, who, to preserve his name, decided to get rid of Silva. Terron took a deep breath and tried to think things through to handle this situation he had found himself in. "Alright, Silva, I was wrong. I didn''t make the right call then. You turned out talented and more powerful than I would ever expect. At such a young age, you have done so much. So, right now, I''m begging that you forgive me. It may not be much, but you can inherit after me," Terron offered to Silva. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you? Your wife, your kids, they are all here, yet you act shamelessly like you haven''t done anything wrong. How in the world do you expect me to simply forgive you? Are you insane? Is there something wrong with you, old man?" Silva asked. "Silva, please, that is enough," his mother finally spoke up. "Mum, allow me to handle this. This is an issue between father and son. If he feels that my behavior is so bad, he should try taking me down and punishing me. I want to see just how strong the man who decided that my life is worthless is," Silva said. "YOU WILL CLOSE YOUR MOUTH, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Terron roared. He unleashed his mana; it filled the room like a raging storm and caused the window to explode. Lightning began surging around his body as he charged at Silva; the ground underneath exploded as he moved. Silva smiled as he saw his fathering. He took out the Minotaur''s Rage. His father made a lightning de on his hand and stabbed at Silva. Silva used the axe to block; the collision caused the walls to crack and the room to shake. Silva''s mother used her light magic to create a barrier. His sister carried Oliver and took him into the barrier to meet his mother. Terron thought that strike would be enough, but to his surprise, his hand was stopped by the axe, and Silva was smiling behind it. "Dear father, is that the best you have? If so, then it''s my turn," Silva said and spun the axe, shing down to cut his father in two. Terron leaped back and dodged the attack, but before he could get his footing, Silva used the momentum of the moving axe to leap into the air and send a kick to Terron''s chest. Terron was thrown back and crashed into the wall. He got back up and was honestly pissed. He raised his hands and cast a spell. "Thunder Arrow!" his voice boomed in the room as a three-meter-long lightning arrow fired at Silva. Chapter 105: Family Reunion The lightning arrow shot at a crazy speed that would be impossible for any normal person to dodge, but not Silva. He didn''t even need to use sh step to dodge it, he used his normal speed and dodged the attack. The attack blew the entire wall, even the formations that were drawn into the house could not stop the force of the attack. Silva took the opening after Terron cast the spell, he used sh step, attaining a teleport-like speed and arrived before his father. He swung diagonally from down to up, his father did his best to react in time, covering his palms in thick lightning, and using his hands to parry the attack. He was able to deflect the attack, but the force sent him stumbling backward. "I see you are not called a great mage for nothing, your battle sense is very good, but I doubt it will be able to defeat me," Silva said. His father didn''t respond, he had acknowledged that Silva was a threat, a very strong one, he couldn''t speak like an elder or father at this point, he had to concentrate and win. But even that seemed to be far away, because he could tell that the difference in strength was great, even speed, and Silva was yet to even use magic at all. "How? How did you get this strong in such a short time?" Terron decided to ask, he couldn''t hold himself back from asking. "You want to know? Well, I''m just that talented, the reason you didn''t see it back then was because my body wasn''t strong enough to hold my talent, hehe," Silva said. "If that''s so, then it wasn''t my fault, how could I know that you would bloomte?" Terron said. Silva frowned when he heard that, he gripped his axe, and his body vanished and appeared behind his father. "You are making it worse, you old bastard," Silva said, he swung the broad side of his axe, mming it into his father and sending his father into the wall. After that, Silva stopped, he put away the axe, and picked up a seat, he sat down and faced his father who was getting up. All this time, no one hade into the room, and that was because Silva had done something before he entered, he sealed off the room with a dark spell, and no one could get close to a hundred meters of the room. Now he undid the seal and the running sound of the knights and guards could be heard headed this way. They barged into the room, holding their swords and spears, with a blonde man leading them as captain. Immediately they assessed what was happening, they all surrounded Silva and pointed their weapons at him. The captain came closer and drew his sword. "Don''t move, you have caused havoc in the house of the Duke, your penalty shall be death," the guard said in a righteous tone. "Are you dumb?" Silva asked. The guard got enraged and decided to attack. "Stop it, Damien!" Silva''s mother ordered. The captain stopped mid-air and immediately sheathed his sword. "All of you leave now," she said. All the guards bowed their heads and left the dining hall. After the guards left, the ce became quiet, even his mother watched to see what would happen next. "Duke Terron, or father, whatever you choose. I have cleared off my beef with you for now, I don''t need your name or anything else, I just wanted to meet my mother and say hi to my siblings. Now I can leave, and we don''t have to see each other again," Silva said. "Hahahahahaha," Terronughed as he got up from the ground. "I may have lost this fight, boy, but I don''t n to lose the war. No matter how strong you are, you can''t defeat the whole kingdom. The moment you entered here and dered that you were my son, you already made things hard for yourself. I''ll tell the whole kingdom that you were my son that went missing, and now you have been found. I''ll make you bear the name of Terron and be the pir that lifts me higher," Terron said shamelessly. Silva could already tell what game his father was ying, and his father was actually going to win. Silva didn''t have the connection and influence that his father had yet. Even though he was rich, he couldn''t buy the connections his father had. Even if he went and spread the truth of what happened thirteen years ago, no one would believe him over his father. But Silva was not one to go down easily, he had ways to make sure his father didn''t spill the lies. But as he was about to use this method, the system came online with a notification. [A special message from the goddess has been delivered.] [Silva, there are things only those of status can aplish.] That was the entire message, but it didn''t take all his brains to understand that she was telling him to agree to carry his father''s name. And as usual, Silva simply obeyed the goddess, she was the only person his dragon pride didn''t fight against. "Fine, do what you want, but let me inform you ahead of time, I''ll be making sure that I use your name and status to the max, regardless of what happens," Silva said and stood up. He turned around, and to his surprise, his mother had basically leaped at him with her arms open, she caught him in a bear hug. "It''s been so long since I wanted to do this, so, so long," she said and started crying. Silva hugged her back, they stayed that way for some time before she let go. "You''ll have to tell me everything tonight, I''ll have a room ready for you," she said and left the room, she pulled Sage to help her. Silva looked at his brother and his father. "I don''t n to take over this house, and I also don''t n on forgiving you. I understand why you did what you did to protect your name, but there is no way I''ll forgive you," Silva said and left the room. Today had been quite eventful for Silva, now how would he move forward? Chapter 106: Popularity Silva spent most of the night talking to his mother in the room she prepared for him. She hugged him all through and only finally let go when he said he had to sleep. But he didn''t sleep after she left. He used the window to get to the top of the roof and sat there. After a while, his sister Sage came to the roof as well, like she knew he was there. She sat beside him and they both looked at the stars in the sky. After a long while, she finally spoke. "I don''t know what to say at this point, I don''t know how to feel after everything that just happened. I don''t know what to say after finding out that I had a little brother and my father tried to get rid of him," she said. "You don''t have to feel bad. I overdid things on my side, even the way I reacted to you the first time we met," Silva said. "If so, then let''s start afresh. We may not know each other, but you haven''t done anything wrong to me or anyone. If I were in your shoes, I would have done worse, I''m certain of it. The issue now is my brother. He will hate you because he wants to be family head, and with you now, that dream got crushed," Sage said. "He will have to learn how to live with despair because he isn''t good enough to rule anything. I''d prefer if you were the one that had it. Not that it matters to me, I''m just thinking about how my life will be now that they will announce that I''m their son. I have a family back in Ribest, and honestly, I love them all. I have to meet them to exin things. I basically have two families now," Silva said. "Your sister, Lia, how do you think she''ll take it?" Sage asked. "Well, she may not say it outright, but she will be happy with the news. One of the reasons is that Lia is in love with me," Silva said. "Whoa, you sound certain of that," Sage said. "Yup, I know for a fact, and if word gets out about who I really am, it will give her a free opening to love me not as a sister but in a romantic way," Silva exined. "That makes sense. Your life and everything will change after this day, the way people react to you and everything. You may not notice it, but me and Oliver being the highest form of nobility in the academy makes it hard for us, but we try to cover it up. Well, I''m sure it won''t be a bother for you. You know how to handle attention since you have the entire third year against you," Sage said. "That''s the least of my worries. My main issue is those that will try to get under my skin from the political angle. They are the ones that will trouble me. But for now, I''ll keep watching and seeing what happens," Silva said and stood up and left her there. When he spoke with her, he felt like she was somewhat reasonable, and so he decided to make a small connection with her first. "This is just the beginning. The kingdom will ept a demon king candidate as one of their own, and as their prodigy. I feel like this is about to get fun," Silva said as he got into his room. --- The next day, Silva made sure he returned to the academy early. He knew today was about to be the most stressful day of his life. He found Lia as fast as he could and exined everything to her. He wanted her to know and digest it before the real announcement was made. The news took her by shock, and she felt it was a joke, but she saw Silva was serious. It took close to an hour of exining and more for him to make her understand. Later that day, word went out from the Duke about Silva. It became a hot topic all over the city and the kingdom as well. Many people started digging into the details of the person called Silva. Where did he grow up? What did he do? Such attention was good, but it also started calling enemies to Silva. Silva decided that he would stay in his room for the day, but those that knew him personally came to his room. Leah, Lia, Michael, Aaron, Fay, and Sage¡ªthey were all in his room, only Oliver wasn''t. "It all makes sense now, your abilities and strength, it makes sense," Michael said. "No, it doesn''t. Silva has the strength of an S-ranked adventurer. I don''t think him being a noble makes it reasonable," Fay pointed out. "That''s true. Even with noble blood, he is too much of an oddball," Aaron said. "Guys, now''s not the time for this. How is the outside looking?" Silva asked like he didn''t already know. "Well, you just got a fan club because the most good-looking first year, who is also the strongest, also turned out to be a noble, the son of a Duke," Leah said calmly. "Yup, and it''s made up of girls alone," Michael said. Immediately he felt the piercing gaze of Lia and Fay on him, so he quickly shut up and looked away. "The boys, on the other hand, now hate you to their guts for exactly the same reason," Sage said. "It''s only been four hours since the news got to the academy. To think it would go that far in such a short time," Silva said. "Well, you should start getting ready, young master, because duels will starting in from left and right. Many guys feel that if they beat you up, they will gain poprity and the attention of the girls," Leah said. "A seriously stupid idea, but guys have massive egos, bro, and they will do anything in that regard," Michael said. "Well, I''ll just keep a low profile for now," Silva said. They all gave him a look that said, "You couldn''t even keep a low profile if you tried with all your might, you walking overpowered machine." Chapter 107: Demonstration part 1 Advanced magical ss. This was the ss for those who wanted to learn more spells and better ways to use their magic in different situations. It was generally an open ss held in one of therge halls, but the S ss students were all rmended to take it; they couldn''t skip it. So over a hundred students sat in the hall, with Silva''s ss. They were a mix of all first-year sses. The instructor was a middle-aged man, Nick, with a slim build. He had a lot of grey hair and dressed in a minimalistic manner, wearing a white shirt and trousers. When he walked into the hall, he took out his books from his ring and ced them on the teacher''s table before turning to the board. He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote down "Magical Formations," then turned to face the ss. "Wee, all of you, to the first advanced magical ss for the semester. You are already ustomed to how this academy works, so we will skip right into the topic. Many of you, till date, use basic spells to cast magic, right? And some of you believe that this ss will teach you some advanced spells, but you are wrong. If you haven''t maximized the weapons in your hands, what''s the use of starting to teach you another one? It is pointless because you would reach an uncrossable teau. You have to first understand and master the intricacies of basic spells before you can step into advanced spells. In your first year, building up your basic spells is what we will be doing here. It''s when you get to the second year that you will start learning real advanced magic theory and some practicals. Now, before I start my exnation on magical formations, are there any questions?" he asked, and several hands went up. He picked a boy from the students, who got up and spoke. "Sir, are you saying we can''t learn advanced spells? Because I remember during the entrance exams, a student used an advanced spell." The boy asked. He was talking about Lia. "Oh, I did hear about that, and it is very much a normal situation. There is nothing out of the ordinary with that. I am not saying you can''t learn it, but it is better if your time is invested in making the most out of every spell level before leaping into the next. I have seen the files of the person that did that, and she received a lot of training beforeing here to the academy. She has probably touched on the aspects of formations as well." Nick answered. The boy raised his hand immediately again, and Nick picked him again. The boy got up and spoke. "Sir, what you are saying is purely based on assumptions. Can this person show us that they have really touched what formations are?" he asked, and his question resonated with the other ssmates, so they agreed. "Sigh, well alright then. Miss Lia, can youe and show us your knowledge about formations?" Nick asked, but before she could stand up, Silva, who was beside her, got up. "Sir Nick, what these people are asking for ispletely unreasonable. The knowledge that my sister has was gained through her hard work. Why should she show off to someone for free? ?#¦É#???@§à¦Í$?§Ô-* If he wants to see what she is capable of, he should be able to pay the price. Otherwise, she is not obligated to show anything to him." Silva pointed out. The students started talking, but not about the matter; rather, they were talking about the fact that Silva called her sister. People already knew that Silva was the Duke''s son and that Lia''s family had taken care of him. "He called her sister? Does this mean he still takes her family as his own?" one girl asked in a hushed tone. "Of course, he grew up with them. He only just met the Duke. He would be a monster to just throw away the family that took care of him." a boy answered her. These sorts of discussions were happening all around. "What''s your name?" Nick asked the boy who had asked the question. He may know Lia and Silva, but he couldn''t know everyone. "My name is Brian, sir, from ss 1B," he spoke. "Well, you see, Brian, Silva Terron is currently the number one student in the whole first year. On that note, his words are quite precious. Because if I decide to overlook what he said and force her to show off, I wouldn''t be in trouble¡ªyou would be. Imagine him wanting to make your life difficult; he has the resources, connections, and position to do so. I like to take life realistically. I don''t want to promise you that the academy would stop him, because we can''t. He has the privilege on so many grounds. So, that being said, do you have some sort of method to reward Miss Lia if she is capable of what we asked her? If she is not, then she will also reward you for wasting your time." Nick said. Brian started looking flustered after that, but he had his pride as a man. He couldn''t back down now; he could only step forward. "Yes sir, I have currently umted a thousand points, and if she is able to do it, I''ll transfer all my points to her." To Lia, who had already made over five thousand points through academy work in just a few days, a thousand was not too tempting, but Silva was the one who set the stage, and so she would dly take those points. To the other students, that amount of points was absurd to give away. Only S ss students could easily rake in thousands. Nick looked over at Lia and asked, "Miss Lia, are you alright with that?" "Yes," she said and stood up. She walked to the front of the ss. "Alright, Miss Lia, make any sort of magical formation or circle for demonstration purposes." Chapter 108: demonstration part 2 All eyes were pinned on Lia, but she didn''t panic. She had received the best types of teaching and resources from Silva, more than most nobles could ever see. She raised her hand, and without a spell chant, a magical circle formed over her hand, shocking everyone, but she didn''t stop there. discover-stories-on-MVLeMpYr The circle expanded quickly and covered the whole space of the hall, and then snow began falling from the circle. She looked at Nick with eyes that asked, is this enough? He nodded, and she stopped her demonstration and returned to her seat under the stupefied gazes of her mates. Brian only came to realize at this time that he had messed up; if he hadn''t been so egotistical, he could have saved himself the shame and also the points. But there was no use crying over spilled milk. He would have to go and meet her after this ss and hand them over to her; he dared not think of cheating her. "Now that that is out of the way, I will exin what magical circles and formations are. In this world, there exists Mana all around us. Magical circles use Mana from around us and items as well in order to amplify the effect of a spell. It is a build of intricate and carefully set up Mana lines and patterns that draw out the Mana around it to amplify the base spell engraved in it. Now we have wasted enough time, but your assignment for next ss will be to read on formations and try to create your best formation. I will be rewarding marks and points for it, so take it seriously," Nick said. He ran into some more details about formations that would help with their assignment, and then the ss was ended. Before Silva could leave, Brian ran to their seat, but when he arrived, his throat nearly leaped out. He saw Silva, Lia, Leah, Michael, Fay, Sage, and Aaron. These were all top tens of the academy, and their aura as they sat together made it hard for him to breathe. He struggled as sweat trickled down his face. "Are you here to hand over your points?" Silva asked. Brian managed to nod yes, but he was still shaking. "My sister Lia and I have discussed something that will help you. You see, I''ve decided to have eyes in all the sses and know what is happening. I can''t be the top student and be ignorant about those under me. So I need your help. A thousand points isn''t something you can recover from easily, right? It will take a toll on you. The food you eat will be the base cafeteria meal, and that doesn''t have the nutrients to really keep you going. Stale bread and water¡ªit sounds dreadful. You need the points for studies and feeding, so if we take them, you will have a very hard time, and your studies will suffer. I''m sure you don''t want something as bad as that to happen, right?" Silva asked. He pushed those images into Brian''s head, making Brian see how dreadful it would be if he actually gave all his points now. When Silva was certain that the idea had settled, he hit the nail on the head. "So I have a proposal to help you. A thousand points¡ªyou can pay it over time, but there will be a constant one percent interest every three days. So all you have to do is give her whatever you can, whenever you can, and it will slowly reduce, but be warned, the interest will still be the same. What I mean is, the one percent interest is 10 points, no matter how much you have paid back. Even if all you have left to pay is one point, and you miss three days, you will owe eleven because of the interest. Finally, for the mercy I have shown you, you will be my informant in your ss. You will update me and give me regr information about key happenings. How does that sound? It''s a good deal, right? You get to keep your points and pay back little by little, without any hassle. And you just have to inform me of happenings. That''s definitely a good deal," Silva persuaded. Because Brian''s head was full of thoughts of how dreadful it would be to give all his points now, he quickly epted the deal, thinking he had taken the best route here. If only he knew he was signing his soul to the devil right now. Silva took out a contract. It was a special type that bound the people by blood, and if anyone broke their part, they would receive a bacsh and die. He had bought a few from the stores the other day because he wanted to start making some moves. He could use a darkness contract spell, but that would be unorthodox. Silva wrote the details of the deal and handed it to Brian. Brian read it and found nothing out of the ordinary, so he took a knife from his ring, closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and cut his finger, allowing a drop of blood to rest on the paper. Silva did the same. He took a de and cut his finger with a smile, allowing his blood to drip onto the paper. The paper glowed and disintegrated into dust, meaning the deal was set. "You can go now. Your interest will start after three days from now," Silva said. Brian thanked Silva and left. After he left, Silva gave a happy chuckle. "He''s dumb," Leah pointed out. "He couldn''t see that Silva was making him a long-term ve, probably until the end of the academy," Sage said as well. "Howe?" Michael asked. "Allow me to exin," Fay spoke up. She had watched her father work, so she knew certain things about business and deals. "Ten points will be added to the points that boy owes every three days. I''m guessing that the boy would want to pay in at least hundreds. But to get up to a hundred, he would need a week or so, and he can''t just give Silva everything, so it will take two weeks for him to pay a hundred. What''s more is that there are fourteen days in two weeks, and when divided by three, we have a figure with a remainder of two. So that boy will have to give an additional forty points as interest, no matter what amount he brings. But there''s more. Let''s look at it realistically." Chapter 109: eleventh floor "When we look at it realistically, Keep won''t be able to even keep up the hundred points payment, that interest will catch up to him, and that would elongate the time of his service," she exined. --- Later that day, Silva decided that it was time to head into thebyrinth. It had been about three days, and today he needed to eat. Yes, gluttony was on itsst day. Though he had enough souls locked up, he decided to go; those souls could be forter. The guards already knew him, so they let him in as soon as he reached the gate. Silva decided not to call Fang, Dawn, and Gan. story-at-MvLeMpYr His clones would be enough if he wanted to get serious. He walked through the first floor like it was his house. The Mangledons that attacked him were too weak, so he got rid of them easily. He passed through the second floor. When he got to the third floor, he was immediately met with a massive Mangledon about twelve feet tall. The Mangledon charged at Silva. It swung its fist at him, Silva blocked it to gauge the strength. His hands trembled a bit after receiving that attack, but the strength was not impressive to him. He grabbed hold of the Mangledon''s arm and twisted it. The arm tore off easily, and he used the arm to swing it into the face of the Mangledon. The fist mmed into the face and sent it crashing into a wall. He followed up immediately, punching into the head of the Mangledon, crushing the head. Immediately after killing that one, he sensed a horde headed his way. Silva pointed his hand in the direction. As soon as the Mangledons showed up, he fired dark des rapidly, cutting through the horde. He wiped out half of them and then charged into their midst like a bullet. His speed was faster than they could react to, and he tore them apart easily. Silva had muted his notifications except for the level-up notification, so when he leveled up, it came through. [Level up, 2 free stat points] He finally leveled up to 70, but he didn''t stop there. After finishing the Mangledons, he headed deeper into thebyrinth when suddenly he heard a scream. He knew someone was about to get killed, but Silva wasn''t a hero. Still, he decided to check it out. The only people allowed here were fourth years, and if there was a Mangledon that even a fourth year couldn''t beat, then he wanted to kill it¡ªthat would be more EXP for him. Silva ran in that direction and saw a group of Mangledons, five in total, about to kill a female student. "Wow, this academy is shit, allowing students toe here and die," Silva said. He leaped into the air and fired a dark bullet, but the bullet didn''t pass through the head of the Mangledon, which was a shock. It did, however, draw their attention and caused them to face Silva. Silva used his dragon eyes on them, wondering why it was able to block that shot. They had stats over 600, and it was just the basic dark bullet that he used to shoot; he didn''t make it special. The Mangledons charged at him. They were faster than any he''d faced so far. He was sure these Mangledons were not supposed to be on the third floor. It was possible they had chased this girl from the lower floors. A Mangledon leaped at Silva, trying to bite his head off. Silva stepped back and grabbed the mouth of the Mangledon, ripping it apart. He used the body to throw at the other iing Mangledons, then gave chase. He took out his sword and shed, firing an abyss me arc. The mes burned through the Mangledons, causing them immense pain. They started thrashing around, trying to hit Silva before they died. "Not happening. Gates of Hell." Silva cast his spell, and the gates opened to take all their souls. He then used Gluttony on them. These were stronger Mangledons, and he was sure they would have some skills he could take. [Gluttony activated] [3000 EXP gained] x10 [You have gained Skill, Charge] [Charge: improve speed for a short distance Dash by 2 times] x10 The skill felt pretty useless to Silva, and unlike the other time, he didn''t get multiple choices. He already had sh Step and didn''t see the need for Charge at all. "Sigh, well, whatever," he said and started walking away. "Wait!" the girl called out to him, but Silva didn''t pay attention. He didn''t want her thanks or her questions. "At least tell me your name," she said. "Sigh, Silva Terron," he said and walked away. Silva immediately headed deeper inside thebyrinth at full speed. He wanted to see what level he had to reach to start seeing this as a real challenge. He went deeper and deeper, ignoring all the little fries along the way. But if any tried to obstruct him, he would simply smash them to pieces. Just like that, he made it to the tenth floor, thest recorded floor to be raided. After the tenth floor, there were mysteries beyond, and now he was about to find out. Silva stepped into the next floor, and the whole ce changed. It was pitch ck, and he couldn''t see anything at all. He started using his senses and Vibration Sensing to navigate. He headed into the corridor, and soon he found a group of monsters. They looked like Mangledons, but their skin seemed different¡ªlike metal. The monster immediately charged at Silva. With every step, it caused sparks on the floor. It suddenly extended a silver de from its arm and shed at Silva. Silva leaped back, dodging the attack, but before hended, the metallic Mangledon was already charging at him. Silva could tell without a doubt that this monster surely had stats over a thousand. The Mangledon kept shing and pushing Silva back. Its attacks were quite simple, relying mostly on its strength¡ªno technique or anything. After watching it for a while, Silva took out his sword and blocked the attack. The bacsh caused the Mangledon to be pushed back several steps. Silva then charged at the Mangledon. He stabbed for the head and forcefully tore through the hard metallic surface, killing it. The Mangledon disappeared and left a small metallic core. Silva took the core and then went deeper inside. Silva now understood why the Mangledons had Vibration Sensing and could see in the dark¡ªit was because they lived in ces like this. The ones on the upper floors were just weaker versions of these. Because of the ruckus he made during the fight, more Mangledons started heading his way, three of them. As soon as they were in range, they charged at him with their des. Silva dodged the attack of the first one and stabbed the gut of the Mangledon. Another one attacked immediately. Silva moved out of the way, and its de stabbed into the ground, stuck for a second. That second was all Silva needed. He leaped up and delivered a kick to the head of the Mangledon,pletely removing its head. He stepped on the body, used it as a springboard, and stabbed right into the head of the next Mangledon, killing it. The body fell and turned into a metallic core. Silva took the core and continued his journey inside. He decided to go as deep as the twelfth floor, and when he reached there, he would turn back for now. --- Back in a dimly lit room, a cloaked man sat at a desk watching a small ck bird in a cage. He stared at the bird for hours until finally, he took out a small pin and stabbed it into the bird. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then suddenly, the bird started screeching and thrashing around madly until it turned into a grotesque bird. The man reclined into his chair when he saw that the bird had transformed, and he started whistling a tune. After he finished, he burned the whole letter. "Silva, so he was the son of a Duke? He was a lost son? That story does not check out. That boy wasn''t lost; he knew what he was doing all the time. There''s no way he wouldn''t know that he wasn''t truly the son of the one he was with, and it would be easy for someone like him to find his parents. Something is being hidden by the Duke. It''s probably a ploy to stop things from escting. But that aside, this Silva has be way more interesting than before," the man said. He opened the cage and took out the bird abomination. The bird writhed and thrashed around, and the man simply snapped its neck and killed it. From the darkness of his cloak, the outline of an evil smile showed on his face Chapter 110: Something good When Silva finished with the eleventh floor, he felt a strange energy calling from the deeper floors. He decided that he wouldn''t go now. When he had more time, he would enter and spend enough time searching thebyrinth. Right now, a few things had to be fine before he could be free like that. There was the issue with the monster wave that was headed for Ribest. Then there was the issue of him being the son of a Duke. He was yet to personally go and tell his mother and father in Ribest the news. He was sure that they had already heard about it, but that didn''t change anything. He decided that this weekend he would go to Ribest with Lia and talk to them, also probably bring them to the city to meet the Duke and his mom. As Silva thought about going, he remembered that Mike was in the city; he would have to check on Mike and take him back as well. The whole family needed to be there. The weekend started the next day, so it was the best time for him to go. Silva left thebyrinth and headed to the store. The woman was a bit surprised to see him back so soon, but she said nothing. Silva took out all the basic core drops and handed them to the woman. It was as much as thest time, which still shocked her. Then he took out the metallic cores and dropped them. When she saw those, she froze in shock, staring at them with wide eyes. "Ho-how did you get these?" she asked, stammering as she spoke. "In thebyrinth, of course," Silva responded. "Sigh, sorry, but I won''t be able to award any points for them until they are shown to the director. These cores are extremely precious and very expensive; only the director can decide on what to do with them," she said. "Oh, is that how it is? Well, no problem then. When I return from the weekend, you can hand over the points to me after your discussion," Silva said. check-out-MvLeMpYr "That will be good. I''ll still give you the points for the basic cores, so hand me your card." Silva handed his card to her. She took it and transferred over twenty thousand points to him. He collected his card back and left the store. "Good thing I didn''t take out all, she might have just passed out," Silva said to himself as he left. On his way back to his room, through a corridor, Silva spotted a group of second years standing and waiting, a total of five boys. Silva had only really had interaction with the third years of the academy; he was yet to meet the second and fourth years, so he had no business with the second years. He simply walked by. But then, they stepped forward and blocked him, and a white-haired boy began talking. "So you are the Silva that''s got the whole school heated. Prodigy student defeats not one but two third years, also turns out to be the son of a Duke. You''re the hot topic across all years. The girls are all about how good-looking and strong you are. All that must be getting to your head, right?" the boy asked. Silva gave him a look that said, "Are you stupid?" "Don''t you have anything better to do? Like seriously, is there nothing you''d rather be doing right now than be here spewing rubbish?" Silva asked. "You bloody bastard!" the boy roared. He nearly threw a fist but managed to stop it in time. "Your hand would have been crushed into bits had you hit my face," Silva said with a devilish smile. "So that''s how it is, eh? You''re getting cocky. You might be the son of a Duke, but within this academy, that doesn''t matter at all," the boy said. "Son of the Duke? You think I care about that? I was already a B-ranked adventurer by the age of twelve. I have more wealth than some noble homes, and that was long before I knew anything about the Duke. I don''t need the Duke to change the shape of your face in one punch. So you want to test that out?" Silva asked. He decided to be proud. He decided to shove his sess into this boy''s face and show him how little he was. All the boys had started getting pissed at what Silva was doing. They really wanted to beat him up. Silva walked closer to him and spoke. "If you don''t like what I''m saying, then I''ll duel all of you, all of you at the same time. In fact, I challenge all of you to a duel at the same time. You can''t refuse since I am the junior here. The duel will be on the first day after the weekend. You have enough time to prepare because I will be going all out, and I''ll make sure that I show all of you what hell can look like. The rules of the duel are that there is no giving up, and the only way to lose is when the person passes out." Silva said as he walked past them, leaving them stunned. Silva bounced out of there feeling triumphant. What better way to boost his poprity than to take out five second years at the same time? Silva wanted one thing: to take over the academy. His dreams had led him to the academy, but they hadn''t shown him what to do now again, so he decided to do anything that came to mind. It was possible that he would be on the right path, and he would understand why the goddess wanted him to be here. [Congrattions, you are on the right path to understanding your task. The goddess Ophelia has rewarded you with a question ticket.] [A question ticket allows you to ask one question to the system and receive an answer. Ensure to think about your question properly before asking.] "Ohh, something good has arrived." Chapter 111: Blue haired boy Silva spent the night thinking about what it is that he would ask. This was a ticket that allowed him to break the Order and ask whatever he would like. But Silva understood that whatever he asked, the system would try to give an answer that would answer him and still not answer him. He was smart enough to know that. And so, the parliament of the minds was called into session, and in the end, they decided that the best question was not to ask what his task is, but to hit a very specific issue and not go broad. "System, I want to ask my question now, and my question is, what is my importance to this world now." This was a very simple and basic question, but it allowed Silva to see if he was really needed and if all his actions were important. [Answering, your existence is needed to a very high degree. If Silva Terron is removed from this world, there will be no next generation, and the definition of peace would cease to exist.] Silva was right, it gave a vague answer that answered and left more questions, but it at least made Silva know that he had a serious role to y. And as a prideful dragon, that made him feel happy. --- The next day, Silva and Lia left the academy to head back to their town. They would only be able to stay there for a day before they had to starting back due to the length of the journey. They headed early to the adventurer''s guild to ask about Mike. Luckily, they found out Mike''s location without issue; he had found a ce to live in the city. Silva and Lia headed there. They knocked on the door, but there was no response. It seemed he wasn''t inside. Silva decided that they would leave and head back home without him, but as they turned to leave, they saw himing towards the house. "If it isn''t the son of the Duke," Mike said as he approached. "Seems the news got to you as well, Mike," Silva said. "I would have to be living under a rock not to know what happened. You are basically the talk of the town. Many people don''t even know your face, yet they know all about you," Mike said. "I didn''t expect it to be that big of a deal, but that''s not why we are here. Sorry to spring it up on you, but we want to take you back to Ribest to see Mum and Dad. They deserve some exnation as to what has happened," Silva said. "That makes sense, but I would have preferred a heads-up. Either way, I''m sure you would have informed me if you could. So, do you have a carriage ready?" Mike asked. After waking up, the contrast that he showed from his former behavior was daylight clear. It was as though the evil spirit that had been making him act that way had left him. "Yeah, that''s not an issue, it''s waiting up the street. I''ll show the way," Silva said. --- By the streams of a beautifulke, a young man sat on a rock, sshing his legs through the water. He looked like he was only twelve, his face smooth and young, with soft blue eyes. His long blue hair covered his bare back as he sat wearing only a simple short. The air in the surroundings was very clear, and the Mana that had soaked the entire environment was very high. This would be paradise to any person who had Mana. The boy sat quietly without saying anything for a while, but then a man came out of a shadow and knelt behind the boy with his face down. He wore ck tight clothes like that of an assassin, only his head was open to be seen. "Young master, I have news for you. Another demon lord candidate has been found as you asked us to do. But there is an issue, this candidate is said to be very strong, and aside from that, he also stayed with the humans. We do not know if he knows that he is a candidate yet, but Laura was able to find out with her special ability," the man spoke. -content "Is she the one that told you of his strength?" the boy asked without turning. "Yes, she said she tried to pry into it, but all she got was a slight glimpse, and from that glimpse, she could tell that he was strong. It is the first time I have seen her speak of any of the candidates she has seen like that. It seems he is really different from the rest," he said. "Different? That''s intriguing. If this is so, then we will have to find this person and bring him here. Remember the n: to be the one that controls the other demon lord candidates and lead them to finally crush the humans. We can''t let one of our own live with the humans; we have to save him and raise him to be the demon lord that he ought to be. As a disciple of one of the demon lords, I take this as my responsibility," the boy said and stood up, walking towards the man in slow steps. "The ce this boy is, where is it?" he asked. "It is a kingdom not too far away from here. Laura said that. She didn''t tell me the name, though. The young master will have to ask her that himself." "So, it is neither the Holy Kingdom nor the Empire, just a small kingdom. Then it should really be no issue. We should get ready to head there. I''ll have a word with Laura and ask about the details. You, on the other hand, will send the word to my elites and also to my master. You will inform him that I will not be around for a while. I''ll go to that kingdom myself and find the person who is to be one of the demon king candidates." Chapter 112: Quin is getting married When Silva arrived at Ribest, the word of his arrival spread like wildfire. Everyone in town knew the boy Silva, the anomaly that they had alle to love. So when the news that he was the son of a Duke reached them in Ribest, they were hit with many feelings. Would they ever see this boy that had grown with them? They also felt that his absurd talent made sense. But even with all this, they never saw him as an outsider; he was still one of the rising stars of Ribest. As Silva, Mike, and Lia walked through the street, they were greeted by everyone, with people being all friendly with Silva. No one wanted to care if he became the son of the Duke. Silva also didn''t care. The name Terron was just for formality, he knew nothing about being a noble, and he was not ready to learn. He had enough on his te as it stood. As they headed for their home, Silva saw Quin and his party. Immediately Silvaid eyes on Quin, he could tell that something was different. He didn''t know what it was exactly, but he felt the essence of a power in Quin, one like that of a legacy. But it didn''t feelplete; it felt as though it was a legacy, and yet it was not a legacy. But he could tell that whatever that thing was, it made Quin a whole lot stronger than thest time. He wanted to use his dragon eyes to check out Quin''s stats, but then he was tackled by the one and only Roxy. She hugged him with so much force that they fell to the ground with her on top. She buried her head into Silva''s chest like a puppy looking for warmth. The others just watched in shock. They were used to her clinging to Silva, but they didn''t think she would be this happy to see him. Silva decided to respond to her hug and wrapped his hands around her. He could feel Lia''s gaze on Roxy, but he acted as though he couldn''t. "I missed you so much," Roxy said with her head still buried in his arms. "I know, I''ve been busy, that''s why I''ve not been able toe," Silva said. "Hmph, you have to make it up. I know you will only be staying here today, so take me out on a date tonight to make it right," she demanded. Everyone watched silently at the two of them, the only sound being Lia struggling to control her breath, trying not to get mad. "Fine, I''ll do that, but for now, get off me, please," Silva said. Since she had gotten what she wanted, she had no issues with getting off him. She stood up and helped Silva stand as well. Silva dusted himself off a bit and walked up to meet Quin. "It''s been a while, Quin," Silva said with a stretched-out hand for a handshake. "It''s been quite long, bro," Quin said and hugged Silva rather than shake him. Though it had only been weeks since they left, it felt like it was years, because they all grew together and were used to seeing each other every day. Mike also walked up to Quin, but before he could say anything, Quin hugged him. "It''s good to see you back, you mischievous idiot," Quin said. "Well, it''s good to be home for a bit, bro," Mike said. During his time as an adventurer in cklight City, he had enough time to think, and he really thought about all that he had done. He had almost thrown away his loving family, a family that didn''t care if he was less talented or more talented. At first, it was because of Lia, but very quickly, it stopped being about her and was simply about his pride. And the more he tried to protect his pride and make it look like Silva was the evil person, the more he fell deeper into his delusions. Before he knew it, he could no longer see anything else but the truth. Everything became his warped perspective that he created. And that perspective was that everything would have been okay if Silva never showed up. If Silva was never brought into his life, everything would be okay. But that was a lie. Silva was what the family needed. Silva allowed the family to have a fancy life; he allowed Lia to chase her dreams of bing a mage. And all while doing this, Silva never asked for anything in return. Even though they weren''t his real family, he never showed them disrespect. Mike took in a deep breath and let the air go with a smile. He would have sumbed to the abomination that day if it hadn''t been for Silva and his cringe lines. Quin let go of Mike and looked at the group. "Let''s go to the tavern first and have a small talk before we head home to mum and dad. There is something I have to tell you all," Quin said. The group agreed and headed to the closest tavern. They all headed in, and their presence drew attention as expected. Silva wasn''t at the legal age of drinking yet, which was fourteen, so he didn''t partake in the ordering of drinks. Though nobody would care or try to stop him if he wanted to. Silva was more well-known and loved in the town than even the mayor himself. The drinks arrived, and those that wanted to started drinking. "The reason I wanted toe here is simple: I''m getting married," Quin said. Silva, Mike, and Lia froze immediately when they heard that. They ran it through their heads multiple times to be sure that they weren''t wrong. "Did you say getting married?" Mike asked. "Yeah, I am. I''ve been nning on writing you all letters to inform you, but I''ve been a bit busy," Quin said. "How? When? You never looked like you had any romantic rtionships happening," Silva said. "Not everyone can be like you, Silva. The amount of people that love you is quite high, so you have to do things in general to not cause issues and mislead anyone. For me, I was able to do what I wanted in secret until we were ready to let people know," Quin exined. "Hey, you basically called me a yboy just now. I''ll have you know I''m still single," Silva said. "Ha, let''s check that theory," Quin said. read-this-on-MVLeMpYr "People who love or adore you, Silva: right here at this table we have Lia and Roxy," Quin said. Lia immediately went tomato red when Quin said that. She squealed and covered her face in embarrassment. Though it was evident from the very beginning that she had some feelings for Silva, her status as sister wouldn''t allow her. She was terrible at hiding that type of stuff. Roxy, on the other hand, had already made everyone know that she loved Silva, so she had no reaction to what Quin said. "Now, aside from these two, there are also Fay, the Viscount''s daughter, and that beast-woman adventurer as well. Only the heavens know how many you have found in that academy," Quin said. "Silva is a real yboy," Rock said, and everyone at the table nodded in agreement. "Ohe on, I''m only thirteen. Stop making it look like I''m some guy that chases women all around," Silva cried out. "The issue is your face. Have you tried leaving just bed head and a dirty face for once a day?" Rock asked. "Silva sleeps like a rock, he doesn''t toss, so his hair doesn''t get too scattered. Also, his mana is way too high; it would eliminate any dirt after some time," Quin said. They all burst intoughter after that. "Hey hey hey, we are going off-topic right now. It isn''t about me now; it''s about Quin and his marriage," Silva said, bringing their attention back to what had started the discussion. "So Quin, have you told mum and dad about it?" Silva asked. "Yeah, they gave us their blessings. Mum was eager for a grandchild already; she said we grew too fast and all left her at the same time," Quin said with augh. "Alright Quin, now the most important question of all: who is she, what''s her name, do I know her?" Silva asked. "Oh, I haven''t told you who she was yet. Well, she is here with us, Tera Linsword," Quin said, and for the second time, Mike, Silva, and Lia froze. They slowly turned their eyes to look at Tera, and she immediately looked away. "How long has this been going on, Tera?" Silva couldn''t stop himself from asking. She didn''t answer, though; she just looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. "Sigh, either way, bro, you have the eyes of a god. I don''t think it gets better than her, and with how she is, you guys would match effortlessly. You have my go-ahead," Silva said with a real smile. Chapter 113: Back Home After they finished and left the tavern, Quin split up the party, so now only he and his siblings were headed to their house to meet his parents. The walk was not too long, and they made it in under ten minutes. When they arrived, his mother was outside. Immediately she saw them, she ran and grabbed Silva, Mike, and Loa in a group hug. "Wee back," she said, filled with excitement. "Mum, you didn''t wee me," Quin said and pouted. "You are yet to give me a grandchild, so there is no wee for you," she said. She dragged Mike and Silva inside, Loa and Quin followed behind. When they walked in, they saw their father using a rag to clean a sword. When he looked up and saw his kids, he dropped the sword and stood up immediately. "Whoa, what''s happening, to see all my children at the same time," he said and hugged each of them. After he greeted all of them, they all sat down. Lia and her mum went into the kitchen to make some tea and snacks. "You three are still so young, yet all I can see right now are men sitting down," he said with a smile. "Well, one of us is bing a man after all," Mike said. He and Silva nced at Quin, and Quin looked away to avoid their eyes. story-at-MvLeMpYr "Oh, it seems he has informed you about his marriage. It came as a shock that he wanted to marry that nobledy. But she is really a great girl, and I feel she will be a great match for Quin," their father said with a smile. "Dad, stop, you are embarrassing me," Quin said. "Shut up, boy, I''m not old yet. If you talk again, I''ll whop your ass," he said and then burst intoughter. "In the case of Quin, she was the prince, and he was the damsel," their mother said as she and Lia brought out the snacks. She ced them down and took a seat beside her husband. Lia also sat down beside Silva, as expected. "She was the one that made a move on him. Your wimpy brother couldn''t do anything. Not long after you guys left, she asked him out, and some weekster, he asked her to marry him," their mum said. "So she was the one who asked you out?" Silva asked. "Well, yeah, but I was the one who proposed," Quin said. "Yeah, you got lucky. I would have probably attacked you if I found out that she also proposed to you," Silva said. "Hey, calm down, Silva. I always wanted to ask her out, but I wasn''t sure if she would ept. And before I could get the courage to ask her, she did," Quin said. "The best swordsman in Ribest can''t ask a girl out. That''s really something," Mike said, and they allughed at Quin''s expense. After they all calmed down, Silva sat up and spoke. "I''m sure that you all know about what happened and that it was found out that I was the son of the Duke," Silva said. "We heard about that, but you don''t have to worry, Silva. You are still our son, my little child. And I''ll not allow even the Duke to monopolize you," his mother said. "I know, Mum. I was never going to stop being your son. I don''t care about the Duke and all. They are my family in name. But still, I now have two families, and I want both to meet and get to know each other. So I want you and Dad toe to cklight and see the Duke and his family. My real family to meet my biological family. It can be anytime, but I''d like it to be soon," Silva said. "You don''t have to worry, kiddo. We will go there as soon as possible. I have to give that Duke a piece of my mind about what happened," his dad said. Silva actually knew the truth about what his father wanted to say to the Duke. Silva was delivered to their house, and it didn''t look like he had gotten lost. It was as though someone had asked that he be taken away. So Silva''s father wanted to ask the Duke what really happened. But he didn''t want Silva to know about his ns at all. After their discussion, they spent time talking and catching up until some time passed. Silva left the houseter and decided to head for thebyrinth. There was a lot he had to discuss with the guardians, especially on the matter of the beast wave. He got to thebyrinth. Outside, it was filled with tons of stalls selling lots of things and other businesses, from armors to potions and more. Everyone who knew Silva immediately greeted him with respect as he passed by. Some tried to get him to shake their hands, and others hailed from afar. Those that didn''t know him began asking. "Who the hell is that kid? Is he the son of some noble or something?" "Well, technically, it was discovered that he is the son of the Duke, but he was a little prodigy that grew here. He is hailed as the strongest of the town, Silva Terron." "So he is the one that everyone has been talking about, the lost son of the Duke. Honestly, I thought that story was bogus, but it seems I was wrong about that." Silva didn''t pay attention to them. He walked into thebyrinth unhindered. From the first floor, he began seeing a lot of adventurers, young and old, fighting. He simply walked through without care and made it to the second floor. He kept going until he was at the fifth floor and then teleported when no one was there. Immediately after he appeared in the throne room, he was jumped by Elsa. "Daddy!" she called out as she leaped on him and sent him to the ground. "That''s the second time today, dammit," Silvained as hey on the ground like he had given up. Chapter 114: Handling the Beast wave issue Elsa finally got off Silva. He got up and stretched his body before heading for the throne. He sat there, and E sat on hisp. All the guardians and his summons, aside from Dawn, bowed before him. "Alright, let''s get straight to business. The beast wave, that was the reason I came here," he said. "Well, my Lord, the reason is really simple, to be honest," Drake said and came forward. "Lily was scouting the area for certain materials for her study, and then she noticed an upset in the beast movements from a forest and mountains to the north. It seems that something has awakened, and its presence is causing the beasts to start moving. If it is not stopped, all of them will head in this direction," Drake said. "I understand the situation then. How about we head to that ce and have whatever it is killed? I''d like one or two of the guardians toe with me to the location to battle whatever is there. We can''t openly protect Ribest, well, not yet. And this town is like my safe zone, so it can''t be damaged at all," Silva gave his take. The matter seemed to be less confusing than he had expected. He thought he would have to make ns and everything to stop the wave. He grossly underestimated how powerful his team was. "Alright then, let Lily and Zack go with you. Lily is the one who found out about the beast wave, and Zack has been in search of a real battle. The rest of us have been busy and unable to help him out. This should prove useful to him," Drake exined. "Alright then, I''ll go with both of them. We will leave in half an hour. You all can leave. Zack and Lily, let''s meet here in half an hour. Drake, Gan, and Fang, you stay," Silva said. They all nodded and teleported away except for the three he mentioned and for Elsa, who had rested on hisp. "Gan, Fang, the reason I asked you to stay is unrted to the ce I am going. I''d like for Gan to get stronger. So, I am asking that you, Fang, engage in battles with him from today, push him with all you have, and force him to evolve. If you understand, then you can both go," Silva said. They both nodded quietly and left the throne room. Silva dropped Elsa from hisp and walked to the back of the throne. "I''d like to pick some high-grade weapons, mostly one-time-use weapons. We don''t know what we may face there, so we have to be ready for anything," Silva said as he opened the door to the library. Drake and Elsa followed him inside. He headed for a section where some explosives were stored. All of them were above Advanced Tier, and one of these would cost hundreds to thousands of gold. He stocked up with a lot of them for a while and then he was ready to leave. "Master, you should take this as well," Drake showed him a wooden doll. always-on-MvLeMpYr "What does it do?" Silva asked. "If you drop blood on it, the doll will grow and activate. It will use exactly the same power as that person. It will fight with the power of the person whose blood touched it. So if you face a strong enemy, all you have to do is make their blood touch the doll, and you''ll have a fighter that canbat the enemy. The only thing to take note of is that it has a one-hour duration, and it will turn to dust after that. But not to worry, there are hundreds of them stored, and the method to make more exists here," Drake exined. Silva immediately fell in love with the ability of that doll. He took it from Drake and ced it with the other things he had collected. After he finished, they left the library and waited for Lily and Zack. After half an hour passed, Zack and Lily finally arrived at the throne room. "Alright, we should get going. I have a date this evening, and I have to be back before then," Silva said. Lily activated a magical circle that would drop them close to the forest. Silva walked into the circle, Zack carried his massive axe and walked into the circle. The circle shed, and they appeared at the edge of the forest. The reason she couldn''t teleport them in was because the mana of the being that had woken up was interfering, and that could cause a lot of issues. Silva could already feel the presence deep in the mountains, and it got stronger by the moment. He could understand why the beasts would have a hard time here. When it got too much for them to handle, they would all start running away, and that would be the beast wave. Silva walked into the forest, and they started running. Lily flew close behind, and Zack ran as well. Their aura was enough to ward off any beast as they made their way to the mountains. The mana got stronger as they went. The amount of mana had already surpassed that of Silva, and that was rming. The only person he had seen with mana this high was Lily. Though hers was still much higher byparison. They got to the base of the mountain, and there were no beasts; the environment was no longer safe for them. Silva could tell whatever it was, it was deep underground. "Zack, make a crater as big as you can," Silva said. Zack nodded and then took his axe. The axe began glowing blood red, his eyes also began glowing as he lifted the weapon above his head. Silva and Lily gave him some space. He roared as he struck down. The axe hit the ground, and the explosion that followed was extremely loud and massive. And when the dust and particles died down, there was a massive crater with a hole at the center. The attack had broken into the underground chamber. Chapter 115: Clone Army Because of the sound and force of the explosion, whatever was underground got furious, and its mother exploded out like a raging typhoon. This spike in Mana was what the beasts needed to start the beast wave. They couldn''t take it anymore and all started leaving the forest, heading for the town in the hundreds. Silva immediately telepathically contacted Elsa. "Elsa, the beast wave is iing. We need to stop it before it goes anywhere. Get Gan and Fang to handle it, along with one of the Guardians and as manybyrinth beasts as you will need. The beasts are at least five hundred or more, so I''ll leave it to you. Make sure that you ensure the battle is fought away from human eyes; we don''t want word of it going out," Silva informed her. "Alright, daddy," she said and then ended their connection. Silva turned his attention to the hole that was before him. The Mana was violently rushing out, and whatever was in there wasing out soon. "Let''s be battle-ready. We don''t know what will be there, but we have to ensure we take it down quickly," Silva said. Suddenly, faster than he could react, a massive burst of chaotic energy exploded from the ground. Lily darted to his side and used her magic to form a barrier and protect him. Zack also used his axe to split the energy, but you could tell from the way his feet dragged that it was tough. When the energy explosion died down, Silva asked Lily, "What energy was that? I have never felt something like that." "I think I have felt this energy before. It is a very special one that is only born from the merge of all elements. It is called chaos energy. It is said to be capable of doing anything as long as the person has mastered it. Many races have the ability to sense more than one element. Fairies, elves, and spirits are the ones who are capable of learning a lot. Some people learn all the elements and then merge them into one, a very difficult thing to do, and from thates chaos energy," Lily exined. "So whatever is in there is a being that has learned all the elements and has merged them into one?" Silva asked. Suddenly, a figure sted out of the ground and flew into the air, shining brightly in a red light and exuding Mana that Silva had never seen before. Even Lily was a little bit less when it came to Mana. "That being possesses more Mana than me," Lily pointed out immediately. Silva tried to use dragon eyes on her, but he was hit with a bacsh that caused a splitting pain to hit his head. "Arghh!" Silva cried in pain as he held his head. "Whatever happened?" Lily asked. "I tried to check her stats, but she was too strong. It bacshed," Silva said. The glowing chaos around the figure died down and revealed a beauty that rivaled the goddesses. Her waist-length red hairplemented her eyes. She donned beautiful armor with gold and white. She was like the goddess of war and beauty all in one. But her looks were not deceiving anyone, because as she looked at Silva and his group, a rushing bloodlust hit them. Silva could tell that she wanted to fight them, and this was not going to be an easy fight at all. "Zack, Lily, give it your all. Let''s take her down," Silva said and transformed into his dragon Newt form with full wings. His power surged, but he didn''t stop there. Even with his wed hands, he still wielded his axe and buffed his power more. The woman in the sky saw that Silva and his group wanted to fight her as well, so she made the first attack. She shot down like a rocket, making a sword appear and covering it with a ridiculous amount of chaos energy. She went for Silva, who was at the center, but before she could get close, a barrier from Lily blocked her sword. "Zack, go now!" Lily said. Zack charged, leaped into the air, and shed with his axe. The woman quickly countered with her sword and blocked Zack''s attack. Zack refused to back down easily. He channeled his Mana through his axe, and it glowed red. The woman didn''t know what he was doing, but she knew she had to stop it. Her chaos exploded and sent Zack flying. Zack had done his piece to distract the woman. Silva had made his way into the sky and wasing from above at a crazy speed. She noticed him a bitte, and his attack was in motion. With his buff from his dragon form and his axe, his attack carried a strength close to seventy thousand or more. He swung the axe at her, and she covered herself in a thickyer of chaos. The axe collided, and an explosion happened, sending Silva flying and the woman to the ground, but she was unhurt. She got back up immediately and began smiling. She looked at them and finally spoke. "You are the ones that woke me up? You may be strong, but you have no power against chaos," she said in a cocky tone. Silva, who was flying in the air, heard that, and his pride was hit. He knew he could defeat this woman; he had just wanted to see her strength, yet she imed he was weak. "Zack, Lily, stand back," Silva said and dropped to the ground. He began walking toward the woman in steady steps, and with every step, he brought out one clone, and then the clones transformed into dragon forms. She saw this and scoffed. "Do you believe ten clones can stop me?" she asked. When Silva heard that, he was then hit with a thought. His clones were overpowered replicas of him, and they had all his abilities and skills. Though he was the one supplying Mana to them, he had enough Mana. So he had an idea. What if his clones made overpowered clones of themselves? The only drawback of that would be that all the Mana woulde from him. But his Mana was growing at an astonishing rate, and he would only use this idea when he seriously needed it. So Silva gave it a try and passed the instruction to all the clones, and they all made clones of themselves, making an army of a hundred who were ten times stronger than the original clones. But the Mana consumption was crazy. Silva could feel the Mana flowing out of his body like crazy. This skill was not something he could use whenever he wanted. But for now, he was going to burn through all his Mana because all the clones also transformed into the dragon Newt form, and that on its own ate a lot of Mana. At this point, not even Drake could hope to stand against Silva. This was a hundred-man army of Silva, and some had stats ten times the original, and most had stats ten times the clones. When the woman saw this, she froze because she could feel the strength from a hundred of them. She was already internally shaken when she saw the first ten that he made, and she was bluffing when she spoke. She didn''t expect that Silva would actually summon more clones that were even more powerful. "It''s not possible to have such a skill; it must be a bluff!" she yelled and started dashing for Silva. She fired a massive beam at a group of the clones, but they all used their swords to counter it easily. She was shocked when she saw that, but the other clones had already circled her and were moving in for an attack. She became unsure of what to do. She tried to fight, but one clone parried her sword, and three more ced their swords near her neck. Another three went for her lower body with their swords around it. She froze in ce at this point. There was no way out. She had lost. "I give up. Please call back your clones," she quickly said. source-at-MVLeMpYr Silva was shocked that she gave up so easily, but he was happy because he had used more than ny percent of his Mana already. He unsummoned his main clones, and that caused all the clones to disappear. He bent over and huffed and puffed. He couldn''t hide that he was very much spent. Lily and Zack, on the other hand, were shocked. They didn''t expect that Silva was actually this powerful. They knew he had potential and was going to be great, but it seems they underestimated things. He was already crazy strong. The woman walked to Silva, but all her bloodlust and killing intent had gone away. She looked at Silva and spoke, "My name is Aris, a chaos spirit. Form a pact with me." Chapter 116: From Beyond Sx, Fang, and Gan charged into battle. They were teleported by Elsa to the battlefield. They had to handle the beasts that were headed for the town. But they weren''t alone. A host of over a hundredbyrinth monsters of all sorts followed behind them, charging into battle. Elsa wasn''t there with them because she and Jade had to create a deception barrier that made sure no one on the outside could see what was happening. Jade carried Elsa on her back as they slithered around the battlefield, while Elsa dropped the nodes needed. The nodes looked like her scales with shiny red tips. When she nted all the nodes, she stopped, made a hand sign, and all the red tips activated, creating a veryrge veil that made it look like nothing was happening inside the veil. --- Meanwhile, the battle in the veil hadmenced with both sides shing. Even with a lesser number, Sx was able tomand her army, unlike the chaotic beasts. "Fang, Gan, you two are free to fight however you want," Sx said. Immediately, Fang''s fur exploded with lightning. He dashed like a bolt and broke into the enemy line. His body was like an overcharged fury ball, moving so fast that one could not follow him with their eyes. read-this-on-MVLeMpYr Some beasts encircled him and tried to attack. Fang roared, and a mighty bolt struck from the sky and decimated them. The beasts were immediately terrified of him, and they retreated from him. Gan walked up to him with augh. "You scared them away, but now it''s my turn to get busy," Gan said and took out his daggers. These ones had been made by Zack the Minotaur, an excellent cksmith who decided to gift Gan since they got along well. He used his Mana technique to make the de even sharper and then charged at full speed. He leaped into the air and came down with a spinning sh. He easily decapitated several beasts. Hended on the ground and started to massacre. His de movements were fierce and precise; he wasted no excessive energy. In the span of minutes, the beast wave had been cut down to more than half, with Fang and Gan contributing a massive chunk. The beasts started trying to run away, but Sx ordered her army to give chase and cut them all down. Her army had also suffered losses; about ten had died, but it was still a dominationpared to what the beasts had lost. "That went easier than expected," Gan said. "I alone could have handled it, but the master loves to be careful. It''s like he doesn''t understand the force hemands," Sx said. They watched as thebyrinth beasts killed all the remaining beasts. They all regrouped after the ughter, and Elsa made her way to the center with Jade. She deactivated the veil and then cast a massive teleportation circle that teleported all of them back to thebyrinth at once. --- "My name is Aris, a chaos spirit. Form a pact with me." "Huh? A pact? What brought that up? Weren''t we just fighting right now? How did it go from that to forming a pact?" Silva asked. "You defeated me, basically, meaning you are stronger. What''s bad in wanting to form a pact with a strong person? Also, you are astonishingly good-looking, and you have a strong body for such an age. Who wouldn''t want to have you? If you had lost this battle, I would have turned you into mine. I''d shower you with care and everything." "No, no, no, no, cut, cut, that''s too much." Silva stopped her. What the heck was she saying? They just met, and she was talking about intimate things. "Are we shy now? Don''t worry, you''ll get used to me," she said and ran her finger on Silva''s cheek. Lily held her hand and pushed it back. "That''s enough touching. He is still a child by current standards, so tame your lustful eyes away from him," Lily said. "Ohhh? Could it be that you want him too?" Aris asked. "Don''t ask dumb questions. I only stopped you because he is my master. I can''t have a chaos spirit touching him however she wants," Lily said. "Alright, that''s enough. Aris, tell me about this pact and what it entails," Silva asked. "Well, it''s like a contract we sign, binding us together. I''ll help you with all you need and listen to you. The pact may look equal, but the stronger side is normally the boss, which is you in this case. I know you want to ask why I want to do this, but don''t worry about it. I have personal reasons for wanting to form a pact with you. The fight with you also yed a role in making me decide this," Aris exined. Silva thought about it for a while and decided to go with it. He couldn''t see any real risk, so he decided to try and take the risk, whatever they may be. "Then how do we do it?" Silva asked. "A drop of your blood and a drop of mine need to touch first, and then both parties must agree." Silva took out a knife and shed his palm. She did the same with her sword, and they shook hands. Their hands glowed, and a pattern of a drop of blood appeared on the back of their hands and faded away. That meant the pact was sessful, and toplete it, a notification came up. [You have formed a pact with a chaos spirit, Aris] [You have gained a new dragon skill] [You are on the right path] [A powerful ancient being from beyond has seen you and your actions. Yourtest action was the nail in the coffin] [The being has decided that you are dangerous] [He will starting to stop you.] [Survive] [Message from the goddess Ophelia] [I''m sorry, Silva, but the being that ising for you is something else. I can''t help or give you details. Order refuses, please survive. It might take a while for him to arrive, but he may send minions ahead of him.] Chapter 117: Black knights A being that even the goddess and the system recognized as powerful, this was arge issue, a veryrge one. But Silva knew that immediately worrying and jumping about would not change anything, he simply had to get stronger. He didn''t know how long it would take to face this being, for all he knew it could be the next day, or it could take ten years. Either way, he could only give his best when the time came. What was on his mind now was the fact that he had gained a new dragon skill, he quickly checked it to see what it was. [Astral Dragon Form: A semi-invisible dragon form that you can control and use to battle, all stats will be increased tenfold when activated.] [The drawback of this skill is extreme strain on the body.] This skill was awesome, if it increased his strength by ten times, his buff would then help him get to a hundred times. The only skill that could match up to it is the Joker of the Abyss. Even though it had a drawback, and the effect of the drawback was buffed as well, it didn''t matter, because the gains far outweighed the cons. "I want to talk to you about a lot of things, Aris, so will youe to mybyrinth to talk?" Silva said. "Well, I''m not going to leave now, you are officially stuck with me," she said with a smile. Lily gave her a cold stare and then activated the teleportation to thebyrinth. They vanished and left all the destruction of their fight there. Even the beast corpses outside the forest were left there, all of them. --- A few minutes after Silva and everyone had left, a group of horses with armored people on them came to the site of Silva''s fight. There were about twenty horses, and about five of the riders were female, each of them wearing ck armor with the crest of the king on it. The one leading them came down from his horse, he walked a bit and looked at where the fight seemed to have taken ce. The crater that Zack left, as well as the small damage caused by the fight. "Captain, what happened?" a woman asked. "There seems to have been some sort of fight here, it didn''tst long though. I''m seeing the prints of hundreds of people, but I can only sense that there were no more than four people here," he said and returned to his horse. "Could it be that one had a cloning spell of some sort?" she asked. "Probably. We should head to the other side, that''s where Sharon sensed the beasts. Let''s find out what happened to the beast wave," he said and got on his horse. They rode through the forest, and when they made it out, they were shocked to see the corpses of beasts littered everywhere. They all looked in shock, not knowing what to think at this point. "That''s a pretty intense scene, right?" a voice said from behind them. They all turned around quickly while pulling their swords and getting defensive. And then they saw, seated on a tree, the most fancy-looking clown there could be. The clown held a deck of cards and was shuffling it rapidly at an incredible pace, but only his fingers moved. The captain pointed his de at the clown and spoke. "Who are you?" "Well, it''smon courtesy to tell others your name before asking," the clown said. "I am Rogers, the captain of the Venom team of the ck Knights," the man said. "Oh, I think I''ve heard of the ck Knights, one of the most elite chapters of the kingdom''s knighthood. Well, you can call me the Joker of the Abyss," the Joker said with a smile. "What are you doing here, Joker? Speak now or we will have no choice but to take you down," the captain said. The Joker started swinging his legs after hearing that, and then suddenly he dropped from the tree andnded on the ground. The group immediately came down from their horses, marched forward, and took a defensive stance. "Stop where you are, and tell us what you are doing here," the captain said. story-source-NovelFire "Well, you see, I was walking through here, and then suddenly all these beasts jumped out and attacked me. So I decided to take care of them, but I got too tired after that and decided to rest, and then you guys showed up." "You killed all of them by yourself?" Rogers asked in shock. "If that''s true, then we will have to take you down. A stranger capable of taking down a host of beasts by whatever means is crazy. We will have to investigate you and be certain of who you are first. Venom, into formation one." Rogers gave an order, but before they could carry it out, the Joker drew a card and looked at it. He smiled after looking at it and spoke. "To think my luck would be so good." He flung the card into the air, and the card exploded into a massive purple magical circle. It expanded over the whole field and then, the dead beasts started rising into zombies one by one. The ck Knights looked at this in shock and some in fear. "Captain, I''ll be seeing you more often, so don''t die here. Your squad should be able to handle this without trouble." The Joker said, then he pulled out a card and used it to vanish. "That motherfucker!" the captain roared, but now was not the time for him to lose his head, he had to fight. --- Back in thebyrinth, Silva was about to get into his discussion with Aris at a dining table in the massive dining hall. He felt his clone return to him, meaning it had done the job. When he was about to leave that ce the first time, he sensed peopleing, knights to be exact, so he sent his clone to handle it. Chapter 118: cloaked man Silva and Aris talked to themselves for a while, and Silva got to know her better. She was over hundreds of years old, but she engaged in battle with a hero once upon a time, and that severely injured her. So, she went into hiding for many years and only woke up recently. Silva was shocked when she exined the fight to him because the hero she fought was one of the weakest, ording to her. Yet that hero had easily injured her, and Aris was unable to put up a fight. All she could do was run. This gave Silva a small gauge of the strength of the heroes. He had to get stronger because he was certain that a sh was inevitable. After getting to know Aris, he left her to Elsa and the guardians. Aris had taken a liking to Elsa and started treating her like a younger sister. And, of course, Elsa loved it. Silva hade to understand that Elsa just loved attention. Silva left thebyrinth after that. It was getting dark, and he had made a promise to Roxy. He quickly got to his house and cleaned up. He left his room to see Lia standing outside his door. She looked at him, like she was scanning him, and then spoke. "You are going for the date with Roxy?" she asked. "Yes, I promised her," Silva said. She looked at him and pouted, "Then promise me that when we are back at the academy, you''ll take me out on a date as well," she said. Silva didn''t see an issue with that, so he agreed immediately. She let him go. He left the house and headed for Roxy''s house. --- Silva and Roxy headed to a restaurant for dinner first, but as soon as Silva ced his hand on the door, he felt something strange behind him. He turned around and saw a ck portal; a seven-foot abomination was stepping out of it, about to attack Roxy. Silva sh-stepped and took her out of the way, while sending a kick to the head of the abomination and killing it immediately. He dropped her down carefully, his eyes still trained on the portal, but then Roxy started tapping him. When he looked at her, he saw her pointing. So he looked and saw more than twenty portals opening all over. Silva was not someone that could be frozen in shock because he had enough minds to quickly analyze things. "Roxy, sorry, but our date will be called off. Head to Quin and tell him. Gather your party and fight." Silva said and charged in the direction of the abominations that wereing out of the portal. He didn''t even draw his sword. He leaped into the air and pointed his hands down, firing a thick stream of abyss mes. The abominations screamed in pain as their physical bodies and souls were being torched. Silva then took out his sword and started shing, shooting out dark de arcs, finishing off the abominations. Hended on the ground, but he couldn''t rest as more portals had started forming, and for some reason, the abominations had taken him as their main enemy, and most of them were headed for him. Silva looked at the horde headed his way and realized something. Many of the abominations running towards him were once humans. He could still see their features a little, and he could tell. It was rare to hear about human-based abominations unless they were created. Someone had used these humans to make abominations. Not that it mattered to Silva, he would cut them all down the same. When thergest abomination got to him, it swung its hand. Silva blocked the attack with his sword, but he had to leap back as another abomination tried to get him while he was focused on the first one. He pushed off the ground as soon as hended, getting as high as the one that had just attacked him, then he shed out a dark de arc and decapitated it. Immediately hended back again, he was surrounded by more abominations. He thought about ending this fast. But then the thought of trying out his swordy and martial arts filled his head. An abomination attacked fiercely, and Silva parried the attack, but still allowed himself to turn quickly. brought-to-you-by-NovelFire He turned very fast and his sword cut through the stomach of the abomination. He grabbed hold of the body immediately and chucked it at some abominations. Silva moved faster, dodging attacks and cutting down abominations, regardless of what race they were before. But such a waste of time was too much, because the town had now entered an uproar and was fighting against the abominations. He looked over towards his house''s direction, and he could see smoke. Something was up, and he needed to find out. He decided to charge through the abominations and kill all of them. His movements became way faster, and he started one-hit killing them all. "I have to be faster," Silva said. He ran as fast as he could, but the constant fights on the way there slowed him down more. "This is definitely the n of someone, so many abominations. What am I even saying, of course someone is the cause of this, the abominations are appearing through portals. And they can''t build or create anything, so someone is definitely behind it." Silva set his mind straight and ran fast through a dark alley to get there faster. But then, in the alley, the cloaked man appeared. He was that person from the Dark de. He was the man that knew how to turn people into abominations. It all made sense for this man to be the one causing this. Silva should have known that this man would certainly be back. The cloaked man faced Silva but refused to show his face, as expected. "We meet again, Silva Teron, the prodigy of the Duke that got missing," the cloaked man said. Chapter 119: The cloaked man Silva didn''t even allow him to talk more. "You said you would nevere to this town again, why are you here?" Silva asked. "Oh, that was before I found out how special you are. Now, I want you. So what will it be? Come with me and I''ll spare the town, or stay and fight me, and the town gets destroyed," the cloaked man said. "Haha, hahaha, hahahahah." Silva started cackling like a madman. The cloaked man was confused as to what was happening. "DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO GIVE ME OPTIONS?" Silva roared in rage, his mana and aura exploding from his body like a typhoon. The windows and doors of the houses within a hundred-meter radius took damage. When the cloaked man saw this, he understood that he had made a veryrge mistake; he had grossly underestimated how strong Silva was. But this cloaked man was a scientist, a mad one, seeking the creation of new life and the best life. That was why he worked on abominations, trying to perfect them. So right now, more than anything, he wanted to test, to find out how strong this boy was. "Hahaha, are you angry? There is nothing you can d---" Boom. Before he could finish that statement, Silva''s fist connected to his face and sent him rocketing into a wall, breaking through itpletely. story-source-NovelFire Silva charged at the hole, but his vibration senses picked up something shooting out of the hole. He sidestepped and dodged. A ck tentacle-like limb shot past as soon as he dodged. He immediately grabbed hold of the arm, pulled it with full force, and drew the cloaked man out. The man flew into the air and rolled on the ground, his hoodie falling off his head, revealing his face. He was a middle-aged man with deep dark circles and hair that had all gone gray for some reason. His skin was extremely pale, as pale as that of Drake. One of his limbs was transformed into a ck tentacle-like limb. He got up and faced Silva with a mad smile on his face, thenshed out with the limb. It crackled through the air as it headed for Silva. Silva dodged easily, but the limb whipshed and came back. Silva still dodged it and then charged at the man. The man quickly reacted. He took out a ck ball and crushed it. A purple smoke formed, turned into an arrow, and shot at Silva. Silva immediately covered himself in abyssal mes. The arrow hit, but the mes canceled it out. He rushed at the man, grabbed him by the neck, and then mmed him into the ground before chucking him out of the alley. Silva summoned his clones, and they all used a skill to change their appearance, then went in all directions to help the town fight the abominations. Silva then left the alley with slow, steady steps. He got to the man and spoke. "We aren''t done yet. So get up!" Silva stomped the ground and caused the ground to explode, throwing the man into the air. He leaped into the air, spun, and then kicked the man to the ground. The man was half-conscious, but he still tried to do something. He pulled out a needle and was about to inject himself. But Silva grabbed his hand and twisted it, forcing the needle to fall out. "Do you think I''ll let you just transform into one of those things? I have uses for you, and I n to work you to the bitter end," Silva said. "Haha, to think it would end this way. I should have just run away, but my obsession with creating the perfect being has caused me this. I was a simple child until my mom died at the hands of a sickness. That was when I realized that humanity was wed." "Hey, cut the stupid backstory, no one wants to listen to that crap. Your mom died, boohoo, cry me a fucking river. Do you know how many people have lost their parents to worse tragedies? If they thought like you, would they be any good person? If you want to kill and experiment, for fuck''s sake do it for yourself and by yourself. Don''t use your poor mother as an excuse. Think I''d sob with you and say you did your best? You don''t get a participation award, bro," Silva scolded the man. The man couldn''t say anything after that. He just looked at Silva, in his mind thinking, what sort of human was this? Silva squatted beside the man and continued speaking. "I want to take down the ck des. You guys have pissed me off. I could simply brute-force my way and destroy all of you, but that would cause too much of a ruckus. So I need to get into the system first. After that, I''ll snatch all of you up quietly and kill you all. Now, you alone can save yourself because I''ll be using you, whether you like it or not," Silva said. He ced his hand on the man''s head and forced a dark contract on him, like he did with those A-ranked adventurers. --- It took a while for the town to be cleared up. After Silva captured the man, more portals stopped spawning, and the adventurers, with the aid of the clones, took care of things. Sadly, there were still deaths, four in total: three men and a female adventurer. Their bodies were properly cleaned and kept. They would receive a funeral from the whole town that they fought to protect. Because of all that had happened, Silva and Roxy could not go on that date. But Silva took her to the top of the viscount''s roof, and they sat there watching the stars. After some time, Roxy slid her fingers and intertwined them with Silva''s. "Silva, I know that you''ll be going ces, doing great things and lots more. And I can''t keep up with all that; you are just too fast. But I want you to promise me that no matter how far you go, that I''ll have a ce with you," she said in a calm voice. Silva could tell that she was serious. "Roxy, there maye a time when the world will be against me, and those that stand with me will be at risk. If you still decide to stay with me even after hearing this, then for sure you''ll always remain special to me." Chapter 120: Five versus one part 1 [Sorry for putting this up here, but hey, if you can, please drop a review] Silva, Lia, and Mike could not stay for the burial of the four who had died, he couldn''t even brief the Viscount about what happened, he was only able to tell it to Quin and let Quin handle the issue. They got into their carriage and left town. Silva looked through the windows, observing Roxy''s sad face as he left. He took a deep breath and put that to the back of his mind. The carriage soon entered the forest. They would be arriving early the next day before sses start, as long as there was nothing to hold them back or waste their time. "Yesterday, when the abominations suddenly attacked the town, I didn''t see you," Mike said. "I was searching for the person that caused the abominations to appear. I did find him, but he put up some crazy resistance, so I had to kill him. Obliterated him," Silva said. "I see, it''s good to know that you were there to help. Also, was that what you were telling Quin?" Mike asked. "Yeah, I needed to brief the viscount, but I had to leave, so I left it up to Quin," Silva exined. After their small chit-chat, they stayed quiet for most of the journey, only talking from time to time. ________ ________ Silva and Lia finally arrived at the academy. They had dropped Mike off a while ago beforeing to the academy. They got out of the carriage and headed inside. It was still a bit early, so they had enough time to get ready. "I''ll see you in a bit," Lia said before heading for her dorm. Silva did the same as well. He got to his room, but Aaron was already out. He quickly took his bath, wore his uniform, and headed for the sses. He arrived a bitte, eventer than Lia, which shocked him. He took a seat at the back quietly. Miss Elizabeth was up there already, but she was yet to start. After Silva walked in, she began the ss. Because of their small number, she could tell when a student was not around. She was also informed as his homeroom teacher that he would be going home for the weekend, so she understood histeness. "Alright everyone, before I go on to teach, I''d like to make an announcement that I was asked to. Every year, the royal family hosts the Elitepetitions. I''m sure all the nobles have heard of this. But for those that haven''t heard about it, it is apetition that spans first years to fourth years from all academies in the kingdom. The winners of thesepetitions are given the tag of Elite. There exist other rewards to it, but those will be decided by the royal family. cklight Academy has two Elites in the fourth year; they are both part of the student council. But we haven''t won anymore after that. Hopefully, this year there will be some change," she said and nced at Silva. ''So this is what that director wants, she wants to use me. Not a bad idea, but I''ll have to really think about the benefits of thepetition. I''ll need more information for this,'' Silva thought. -chapter "So, our academy was given ten slots for every ss, from the first year up to the fourth year. That means we can only take a total of forty students from the academy. The director and the board, with help from the council, have decided that the best way to get those forty would be to have a small-scalepetition in the school to choose them as well. So, the date will be informed to you, and maybe some details about it. You all should keep yourselves in the best state for when thepetition starts." After that, she taught on basic magical concepts. Though most of the students didn''t have their minds on the lesson because of the announcement she had made. Another thing on their minds was the fact that Silva was having a duel today, a five versus one match. When most of the students got this information, they felt that Silva was prideful and needed to be put down. Others believed that he could pull it off. They had witnessed his fights, and they felt like he hadn''t even put his all into it yet. With the time getting closer, things like bets were being ced. When it was time, the five second years were already in the arena, but Silva was fashionablyte. He walked into the arena like he didn''t care. The arena was packed, from first years to third years, even some fourth years. The reason for the third years being there was because they wanted to see the downfall of the dude that disgraced them. "It''s wise if you give up now. I don''t know what made you choose to duel us, but we will not take it easy on you just because you are alone," the boy spoke, but Silva started picking his ear with his pinky finger like he hadn''t heard anything the boy had said. The boy fumed with rage; whatever it took, they had to take Silva down. "Get into formation," the boy said, and he took out his sword. There were three sword users in their team and two mages with staves. They took a V-shaped formation. The boy was at the front, with the mages next on either side, andstly, the two sword users behind. "You guys even made a formation to fight me? Sadly, I have to y with you. I want to show everyone who I am," Silva said. "System, are there any spells simr to what that man I fought in the alley used?" Silva asked the system. It had been quite a while since he bought spells. [Dark tendrils, 20,000 SP] "Purchase it." [Purchased] "You five cane at me anytime," Silva said. The boy frowned and gave the order. "Move forward!" "Dark tendrils," Silva said in a calm voice. ck liquid-like tendrils shot out of the ground. Chapter 121: Five versus one part 2 The boys were taken by surprise by the tendrils. They hade to know Silva as a sword fighter, and although they knew he had magic, they were not expecting him to start with such a spell. Before they could react, the tendrilstched onto them, throwing all of them at the walls. They mmed into the walls with so much force that they cracked. "Sigh, fighting you all with even ten percent will kill you too easily. I want to feel some thrill from this fight, so I''ll take it easy, just to have fun," Silva said to them. "Don''t insult us!" The leader got up and charged at Silva with his sword. The sword began releasing a cold energy; it seemed his element was ice. He got close to Silva and shed for the head, but Silva took one step back and dodged the attack. The de passed by one inch, and Silva stepped in and headbutted the boy. The boy''s head swung back with full force, and Silva followed with a punch that lifted the boy into the air. He then used his dark tendril to grab the boy, pulled him down, and spun, sending a kick to the boy''s face. The boy coughed out a huge amount of blood as his body shot through the air, rolling on the ground before finallying to a stop. The other four saw what happened to their leader. Three of them charged at Silva, while one went to heal the boy. The mage who was charging at Silva shot a fireball, which suddenly exploded when it neared Silva, blocking his view. The two swordsmen nked from each side, hidden by the me. One went for the head, the other for the stomach. Silva smirked. He found their tactic nice, but it was far from enough. He dodged the one aimed at his neck by bending backward. He shifted to the side as he bent, allowing him to dodge the strike to his abdomen. Using his superior physique, he recovered from the bend immediately after the swords missed him. find more stories on mv|lempyr He stood up straight and grabbed both their hands, pulling them close to each other and smashing their faces together. The mage tried to attack quickly, but Silva threw both of his teammates at him. They collided with the mage just as the fireball formed, causing an explosion that sent them flying with burn wounds. At this point, everyone watching knew Silva was going to win. They had underestimated him, and those who bet against him were weeping over how many points they would lose. But what worried them more was the pain those five boys would endure. Silva had yet to go serious on them, yet he was dominating. The leader had received a healing potion from his friend, so he was able to stand again. He pointed his sword at Silva with conviction. Silva watched him and sighed, then took out his own sword. "I''ll honor you and fight you with a sword as well. But I''ll warn you now, the de of my sword leaks a very potent poison, so if you get cut, the pain you''ll feel will be overwhelming." Silva said. The boy said nothing in response. He simply charged at Silva, going for a stab. Ice formed on his sword, quickly increasing the length to hit Silva, but Silva leaped back just enough to dodge the strike. Silva then went in for a sh, shattering the ice on the sword and returning it to normal. He ran at the boy full speed, reaching him in a second before the boy could even react. When the boy finally reacted, he tried to block, but he was toote as Silva stabbed his arm. The poison spread faster than the boy had expected, and he was suddenly hit with a dreadful amount of pain. He fell to his knees, screaming in agony. Thest mage saw this and wanted to help his leader, but Silva was standing right there. He had to do something. "Earth Golem!" he called out and stabbed his staff into the ground. An earth golem started forming, but Silva didn''t let it. He charged at it and shed through the golem before it fully formed, then sent a kick into the mage''s chest, shattering some ribs. The mage went flying,nding roughly. The whole fight was in Silva''s favor at this point, but he had yet to knock anyone out. All five of them were still conscious, but in heavy pain. The fight would not end until someone was knocked out. Silva knew this, as he was the one who set that rule. He used the dark tendrils to pick all of them up by their necks, choking them until they passed out. Then he dropped them and walked out of the arena. After Silva left, the arena was quiet for a while. Even when medical practitioners came to take the boys, the audience remained silent. Finally, those who supported Silva burst into cheers, the majority of them being girls, which pissed the guys off more but what could they do? Silva had just proven he was a terror. No one would want to pick a fight with him. He didn''t even need the Duke''s backing; his personal strength was enough to make him a feared entity in the academy. The audience slowly left the arena, most of them discussing the duel. Silva, on the other hand, was getting happy outside in one corner because a notification came after he finished the fight, and it was a crazy good one. [You havepleted a hidden mission: Establish Dominance] [Rewards: one ticket to a Void Labyrinth x10 [Void Labyrinth: a specialbyrinth that contains void beasts, offering massive rewards to those who enter, but with equal danger] This was abyrinth he could use to get stronger, and his buff allowed him to have ten tickets instead of one, he would reap greater rewards everytime he would go because he would have knowlegde from thest entry Chapter 122: Oliver and the president After the duel, most things had returned to how they used to be, but the memory lingered in their minds for days. It was not something that would be easily forgotten. But regardless of all that, Silva had better things to do. Aside from sses, he was to meet Dawn and see the mercenary group. He also had the void tickets, the schoolbyrinth, and a few other things. He even waited through every ss so that he could head to his room and get into the voidbyrinth. Silva had noticed one thing, though: his brother, Oliver, was not in ss all through today. He didn''t know why that was, but he had a bad feeling. --- Inside the council lounge, Oliver stood before the president, the number one seat of the council. "Oliver Terron, the son of the Duke, the first son to be precise. I know you are wondering as to why I called you here; it''s weird for the council president to suddenly ask for a first-year in private. But I feel there is an issue that both of us can align with. And that issue is Silva Terron, the one who walked into your life and caused things to go from worse to worst. I understand that your position as the heir to the Terron name was already in doubt because of your sister and her crazy talent. But even then, you could survive; you could still hope that all would be okay, and you just had to work hard to prove that you are the right one for the name. You dedicated your life and all your strength to be the one that would be the heir, and when you were catching up, Silva shows up in the picture. And I understand your pain and how you feel because he is not only disrupting your life, he is also disrupting this academy. I understand that he is a special case, one that the director favors, but I am the council president, I am the number one student here, and my words are to be gold to the students. I refuse to allow Silva, no matter how important he is, to take a position I toiled for. And I know you feel the same way about it as well. He doesn''t deserve toe and take what is yours. Where has he been all those years, yet he wants toe and take control? The issue is that the director has asked the great council not to move against him. My hands are tied, and I can''t stop him, so that is why I need your help, your help to stop him." The president said. "What can I do? Silva is strong, there is no way I can stand against him. I did it twice and lost twice, and he wasn''t even taking me seriously. No matter how much I want him gone, I don''t have the strength to do that." Oliver said. "Hmm, let me tell you a bit about Silva and his brother. I looked into him and got to know the person Mike. Silva came into their lives and took away Mike''s sister. The attention and love she was to give Mike were shifted to Silva. Mike strived to fix this, toiling away with all that he had, trying to get his sister back to himself. But the imposter Silva didn''t let him. This drove Mike to the brink, and word was that he almost turned into an abomination. Then Silva went ahead and saved him. After saving him, Mike now sees Silva as a benefactor and no longer strives for his first goal. Now, this may look like a normal cheesy family story of forgiveness and such. But I can tell you that it was a plot from Silva. He knew that if he pushed Mike, his biggest enemy at the time, to the brink of death, and then saved him, Mike woulde to see him as a gracious hero, who despite being his enemy, decided to save him. And with that n, he took total control of that family. Mike was thest line of defense, and Silva tore it down. Get thetest from m-vl-emp _yr. He will do the same to you." The president said and leaned back, using his hands to hold his head up a bit. "How do you mean, what will he do?" Oliver asked. "Oh, that is simple. You will hate him, and hate him, and hate him. And that will cause you to lose focus on being the heir, and your sister will ascend. You will be miserable and want to go rogue or kill yourself, or even kill Silva. But then he wille with a solution for you, an unexpected yet extremely tasty solution. He maye and say something like, ''She is your sister, if you asked, she would give you the position.'' And she will, because she and Silva would have made the plot together as a team, and she will let you be the heir, but not without signing several contracts. And you will sign, because you are at your lowest, and they have offered you redemption at the price of some little conditions. That''s what you will think, little conditions, though they aren''t little at all, but you will be unable to see them. And after you sign your soul away, you be the Duke in name, but you will never really have real control. You will be their puppet, and they will control you. At this point, Silva has won. He has manipted you into bing his puppet and shield. Whatever shit happens will be put on you, and you will be their scapegoat. This is the reality that may befall you if Silva''s ns fall into ce for you." The president finished. Oliver was petrified and shocked. He was scared of what the president had said because all these were his worst nightmares. He had to make up his mind now and do exactly what the president said. That may be his only way out of such a dark future. Chapter 123: Family meeting Family "So what do I do now?" Oliver said. "Thepetition, the one that will be used to decide who will go for the Elitepetition, ising up in a few days, and you have to use that. One of thepetitions will be to scale through a particrbyrinth, not too far from here. I have a map of thatbyrinth, and there is an inescapable room marked on it. What you need to do is decide on a method to trap Silva inside. Exclusive content from m-vlemp _yr. The room can only be opened from the outside, so all you have to do is get him locked inside and leave him there. He will either slowly die or stay there for all eternity. Do you understand? You will reim all that you have lost if you do that. I don''t know how you will do it, but that is up to you. I''ll provide the resources and opportunity to do it. If you understand, then we can move on," the president said. "I understand, president. I just have a few questions. You said that Silva is favored by the director. What did you mean by that?" Oliver asked. "That is beyond what you need to know, Oliver. Just do what you need to do without questions, and you will be able to get what was yours back into your hands. Remember, you must be ready. You can only do this once. If you fail, it''s all over for you. He will catch on to the scheme, and at that point, he will try to get rid of you since you have be a threat. He will do what you n to do to him. He will kill you in thebyrinth and leave you there to die, so be careful. Your brother Silva is smart, and his plots run deep. If there is one shaky part, he may try to get rid of it, and that''s why you need to take him out once," the president exined. "President, how do you know so much about my brother?" Oliver asked. "Because he and I are simr in a way¡ªalways trying to be a few steps ahead of people. That is the reason I see him as a threat. But he has yet to understand the world like me, and so he is not fully mature. That''s why I''ll be able to take him down before he bes too strong," the president exined. --- Silva''s parents from Ribest, as well as Quinn, finally came to cklight to see the Duke. It had been days since Silva had visited them, and today was the day they came. For those reasons, Silva asked permission to leave the academy and take his parents, as well as his siblings, to see the Duke. Jade and Oliver had also gone home from the academy to host Silva''s parents when they arrived. Their mom had spoken to the director on their behalf. Silva and Lia were about to leave the academy after telling their friends where they would be and why they were going there right now. Their parents were currently at Mike''s house, waiting for Silva and Lia. As Silva and Lia headed for the gates of the academy, Silva saw someone he hadn''t seen since he came to the academy. It was Fay''s brother, Ray, who was a third-year now. When he saw Silva, he was a bit surprised, but then he came to meet Silva. "Silva, it''s nice to see you," Ray greeted. "Same. I haven''t seen you at all," Silva said. "Well, the S ss of the third years has had to do a lot of things, and I have to top them to remain in the S ss. But I have seen you and heard about you. You are basically the hottest topic in the academy. The whole third and second years hate you, mostly the guys, but all the same," he informed Silva. "You don''t hate me now, do you?" Silva asked. "Not possible. You are a friend. I won''t start hating you because you beat some of my ssmates. But in all honesty, you are something else, defeating third-years like it was nothing. You guys seem to be headed somewhere, so I won''t dy you further. But I''ll leave some info with you. You should watch your back very well and be wary of everyone. Not only the third and second years have issues with you. I am certain that by now even the council will have their eye on you," Ray said. He bid them farewell and then left. Silva didn''t think much about anything Ray said. He would handle the issues no matter how they came. But Lia was a bit worried about it, so she asked, "Will you be okay?" "Are you worried about what he said? You don''t have to worry. Even if they ganged up on me, they would still all lose in the end," Silva assured her and continued walking. They finally got to the house and met with his parents and Quinn. Since all of them had arrived, they got into the carriage that had been waiting and headed for the Duke''s mansion. When they arrived, the guards tried to stop them, but when they saw Silva inside, they immediately opened the gates and let them through. "Seems you are quite important, haha," Mike said. "Well, he is the son of a Duke," Quinn followed up. "He is still my baby boy regardless," Silva''s mom said and hugged him tightly. The carriage pulled up, and the same butler they had met that day, as well as some maids, were already waiting for them. As soon as they stepped out, the maids and the butler bowed. "Wee, young master," they all greeted. "That''s enough, you guys should raise your heads," Silva said. "The master and family are waiting for all of you. Allow me to lead you to them," the butler said before leading the way to the dining room. Chapter 124: Discussions When they arrived at the dining hall, Terron, as well as Silva''s mum and siblings, were already seated. As soon as they stepped into the hall, the air became tense. Silva''s parents looked at the Duke and his wife, and their rage could be felt. "It''s an honor to meet the Duke and his family." Silva''s father swallowed the rage and greeted with a bow. "Please, raise your heads. You are the parents of the son of the Duke, even if not biological." The Duke said, emphasizing the ''not biological'' part. Silva noticed that and shot a look at his father, the Duke. The Duke felt the sudden killing intent, and his palms became sweaty. He was unable to forget that fight with Silva. He, one of the greatest mages, was utterly defeated by his son, whom he had tried to kill. Everyone took a seat, and then the food was served. Regardless of etiquette or any noble rules, they all began eating. Then, finally, Silva started the conversation. "I understand that currently, my parents are very angry with the Duke and my mother. So I will reveal a few things that I have hidden. Mum, Dad, Quin, Lia, and Mike, I''ll beg that you forgive me for hiding the information that I am about to reveal. You all know that I possess a greater memory, mostly due to my Legacy. So I can remember everything that happened from the moment I was born. Yes, I know all the details, and so today, I''ll tell you in detail how I came to meet you, my family," Silva said, and the air grew chilly and tense. His family never knew he had such an ability. They didn''t expect that his ability to retain memories was so deep that he could remember that far back. "When I first opened my eyes in this world, I was surrounded in what was my mother''s room. Maids were helping her after she had just given birth. Someone then left to call the Duke, my biological father, and he came rushing to see the child. When he arrived, he was informed that his soncked the natural talent he should have, and my father could not take it, so he ordered my death. Yes, he ordered that I be killed to not sully his name, but my mum spoke. She knew there was no way I could stay there with her, so she took the risk of letting me go. She asked her husband to let me live, but I would be taken away and given to another family. My father, nonchnt about the issue, allowed her to do as she wished. And so, I was given the name Silva and handed to a maid to be taken far, far away and given to a family. And that was when I was taken to meet you, and you became my family a day after I was born. Those are the details that led to my current family." Silva finished. When he was done, all eyes at the table were pinned on Terron. "You decided the worth of a child on the day he was born?" Leon asked, his anger slowly seeping through. "And now you see that he has made something of himself, and you decide that it''s the best time to walk back into his life and give him your name?" Leon asked in rage, mming his hand into the table with force, not caring if he was in the presence of a Duke. "Do you know how my wife and I dreaded the day that we would have to exin to him that he wasn''t just abandoned at our door, but rather he was given to us? They chose to give him away; they decided he wasn''t what they wanted. Are you crazy?" Leon yelled. A guard barged into the room when he heard the noise. He intended to quiet Leon, but the thick killing intent emanating from Silva, Lia, Mike, and Quin suffocated him. He fell to the ground, struggling to breathe. Another guard came in and quickly pulled the first one out to save him before he passed out. "I understand your anger, Mr. Leon, I really do," Terron tried to say. "Don''t act like you know anything," Sarah, Silva''s mother, spoke. "Do you know the horror you put your wife through all those years, the pain of having the child she birthed snatched away? All you were searching for was potential, and when the child with the greatest potential was right in front of you, you couldn''t see." Nobody said anything for a while after that. They had expected things to be a bit bad, but now it was worse, and the instigator, Silva, also behaved in a solemn way. After a while, he got up. "Enough of the sad mood. All your hate toward this douchebag of a father that I have is naturally normal. But the only reason I agreed to take his name is because there''s a lot I want to do, and his status will make things easier for me and also give me a certain level of protection. I simply want to use his name, so I chose to carry this name of his. Now I do hope that everyone gets along, especially you, Mum, and you, Mum." Silva pointed to both his mothers, causing their hearts to skip. "As for Dad and Mr. Terron, I beg that you don''t get into a fight and try to kill each other. As for the rest, do whatever." Silva said and left the table, waltzing out of the room. Terron stood up before anyone else could leave, and then he spoke. experience mv,le,mp,yr content "I know I don''t deserve Silva. In fact, if word got out of what I did, I would be punished heavily by the king. That was why this story of him being lost was made up. I''m not asking for forgiveness, but I''m also pleading that all of you go along with the story as well." Chapter 125: Minion ENovelFireerything calmed down, and Terron invited all of them to stay for the night. Both of Silva''s mums hit it off great and began to chat with each other. Silva took Quin out for a walk in the city. He still recalled Quin''s rapid growth and the strange energy that was in Quin, and he wanted to know more about it. As they walked, he used dragon''s eye on Quin and looked at his stats. Quin''s level was now at thirty-five, which was already stupidly high for someone without a legacy. Even Silva, with an SSS-ranked legacy, was at seventy. Aside from that, he had stats in the 200s, and that was really crazy. He was basically a monster at this point. But all that paledpared to the one piece of information that Silva saw. [Quasi Legacy Awakened] Silva didn''t understand what that was, but he felt there was something about it that was probably the reason for the energy he felt. Quasi meant that it was in an iplete state, and this was the first time he had heard of an iplete legacy. So Silva decided that it was best to ask; he just had to ask. "Quin, has there been anything out of the ordinary with you?" Silva asked. "No, why do you ask?" Quin asked. "I sensed an energy from you, a sensation simr to a legacy. Did you awaken a legacy?" Silva gave it to him straight. "I guess nothing gets past you. Well, I had a dream one night. There was a warrior d in ck and gold armor. The warrior stood in a void, and only his presence brought light into that darkness. He stood with his mighty sword, his concentration unwavering, his eyes locked on the distant void. And then, all of a sudden, rips and tears began to appear, and some dark-winged entities started flying out and attacking the warrior. But with every sh, the warrior tore down hundreds of them. The light his sword exuded was like a purifying light that cleansed the void and rid it of the vermin that were those winged creatures. But the battle dragged on. For how long, I don''t know. Maybe years, maybe months. But it was beginning to wear him down. When he was much weaker, a great rift tore through the void, and a great being came through. It was like a never-ending, snake-like flow of dark energy with red glowing eyes as big as the moon. Compared to this being, the warrior was less than dust; he was an ant, iparable. But he still decided to charge with what little energy he had. And before they shed, I suddenly woke up. When I woke up, I felt a warm feeling in my chest, and it caused strength to flow through my body. And the more I train and attempt to cultivate this feeling, the stronger it gets. I know this may all sound crazy, but that''s what happened," Quin exined all the details. ''So Quin gained his own legacy? From the dream? That dream must definitely mean something, but for now, we can''t know. But I''ll look into it.'' "Don''t sweat it, bro. I believe you," Silva said. [The ancient being has sent a minion after you. Leave any popted area now. The fight will not be easy.] Silva suddenly received information from the system about the minion. If the system was telling him to get somewhere clear, then he better do it before the city got destroyed. "Quin, I''m sorry. I have to go. An emergency just came up," Silva said and turned around, running toward the city gates. He activated sh steps and pushed his speed to the limit, making it out in less than a minute. He immediately headed into the forest at top speed. When he was in the forest, he thought it would be best to talk to Elsa and tell her what was about to happen so that she could ready some backup. But as soon as he contacted her, something disrupted themunication. The space around him started distorting and shifting. content hosted on m _vlempyr [The minion has arrived.] A portal opened, and a being walked out of it. It looked like it was made of ck marble. It resembled some sort of angel, with two dark marble wings on its back. Its head was covered in a marble helmet, and its blue eyes shone through it. It held a sword of the same material and wore armor of the same material. When it came out and saw Silva looking at it, it stopped moving and became like a statue. Silva was confused. All his minds were confused. What was this being doing? Even the eyes of the being went dim. He tried to use his dragon''s eye to see what was going on, but it was like he was looking at a normal statue. It didn''t have stats or anything, not even an energy flow. All his minds found this weird. They decided that he should just attack and try to end this quickly. Silva took out his sword and charged at the statue. But when he struck it, a massive force exploded and sent him flying through trees, smashing them to bits. He rolled and rolled for a good distance before finallying to a stop. He tried to get up, but then he noticed an energy close to him. It was almost toote¡ªthe sword of the minion came for his chest from below. He immediately transformed into his dragon newt form. He survived the attack, but he was thrown so far that he brought down even more trees. This time, he paid more attention and looked up quickly to see the being almost on him. But as soon as he looked at it, the being stopped and became a statue again. This pissed Silva off. He took out his axe and charged at the being again. This time, he struck with even more force, and again, an even stronger force sted him away and sent him flying through several trees. Chapter 126: Defeating the angel SilNovelFireay on the ground, trying to catch his breath, but then he sensed the angel again. He quickly got back up and flew into the air, dodging the sword at thest moment. This angel was fast, and it covered so much distance in the blink of an eye. Silva stared at the angel, and it froze again, but on his way down, he blinked, and the angel moved, reaching him in a second. The angel swung for his head before his eyes opened; his head would be cleanly lopped off. All Silva could rely on was his senses. He snapped his head back with speed faster than any human. The sword missed his neck, and then he opened his eyes, and the angel froze. This time, Silva refused to blink. He immediately had a meeting of the minds, and they immediately came up with a theory. This angel never moved when you looked at it; in fact, it turned into a non-living being. But when you looked away, it moved. So what would happen if Silva had clones looking at it while he closed his eyes? It would stop moving. "Argh," a n wasn''t forming, even with eleven minds. Silva was confused. If the statue was not moving, he could not attack it. The defense was imprable, but if he looked away, it would kill him. After a small moment of thought, Silva had an idea that would possibly work. And that was to use vibration sensing with his eyes closed. He activated the skill and then slowly closed his eyes. As soon as his eyes closed, his vibration sensing picked up the movement of the angel. It vibrated out of the statue form in milliseconds and then charged at Silva. Silva took his axe and swung it at full force to counter the angel. But as his axe hit the sword of the angel, they got into a short stalemate, but Silva could already tell who was winning, and it was not him. Silva was thrown back, rolling through the forest until he stopped. He got back up quickly and blocked the next attacking from above, which brought him down to his knees, creating a small crater underneath him. Silva used the small time that he had to check the stats of the angel. Now that it was a living thing, it should be possible, and it was. Name: ###### Level: ####### Strength: 200,000 Defense: 200,000 Speed: 200,000 Agility: 200,000 Intelligence: 200,000 ''What in the world are these stats?'' Silva asked himself. If these were the stats of this minion, then it was evident that it was holding back. He had to do something before the minion got serious. Silva immediately summoned his clones in that state. All of them closed their eyes and used vibration. They all transformed and attacked the angel. The angel recognized the new threats and turned its attention away from Silva to the clones. All the clones tried to jump him at the same time. But then, the angel stabbed its sword into the ground, and some snap of energy exploded out, and all of them were caught inside. They all suddenly slowed down, slowing down to one-tenth of their original speed. This was the ability of the angel. Now that they were all slow, it started walking to each one of them to attack. Silva, who was still kneeling, had to make a quick choice. This was the first time that he had faced a foe that put him in such a situation. He had never faced someone who dominated him this much. But he was far from over; he still had a lot of things to use and win. While the angel walked to the first clone and stabbed him through the chest, Silva started transforming into the joker of the abyss. He let the clones work as bait to buy him time while he transformed, because right now he was also in slow motion, and the transformation was slow. By the time the transformation wasplete, five clones had already been killed. Silva slowly took a card off the deck and flipped it, and it was exactly what was needed, as expected. A time speed-up card. He activated the card, and his body sped up back to normal speed. He quickly drew another card, the shooting star card. The card transformed into a beam of light, shot at the angel, and sted its arm, damaging it badly. Because of this sudden attack, the time dome stopped, and the clones could move freely. They all immediately activated the abyssal mes and covered their swords, quickly attacking the stunned angel. The me de arcs rained on the angel''s body heavily, cutting into the hard marble body. They managed to bring the angel to its knees. Silva then transformed back into human and used sh step to get to the angel quickly, and then he activated the spell, gate of hell. But not with just his blood, but all the clones donated blood to create the biggest gate he had ever created. The gate formed, and from the depths of the gate, chains shot out and wrapped around the angel, pulling it inside, forcefully pulling it. When the angel was pulled into the gate, the gate closed. It stayed quiet for a beat, but then the gate refused to disappear and started shaking. Silva knew that the angel was about to break out. But he knew that the gate would still have damaged the angel, so it would be really weak now. Silva summoned the clones that were dead back to him. They all lined up ten meters away from the gate, holding their weapons. They all gathered the dark mana into their weapons, making sure to use all of Silva''s mana. And when the gate shot open and the angel shot out, they all attacked, and the darkness arcs hit the angel, cutting and destroying the angel''s body into pieces of stone. [Congrattions, you have killed a ####] [2 level ups] [50 free stat points] [You have sessfully survived the minion] Chapter 127: Demon King candidates Silva leaned against a rock to catch his breath. What he had just gone through was the first serious battle he had in a while; that angel was on another level. "Stats," Silva called out. Name: Silva Experience magic on m|v|l|e|m|p|y|r. Race: Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: 1,100,000 EXP: 10,000/63,000 SP: 1,000,000 Level: 73 Strength: 2,040 Defense: 2,040 Speed: 2,040 Agility: 2,040 Intelligence: 2,220 Free stat points: 700 He had well over seven hundred stats to add, and he had five stats to add them to. So he decided that a hundred would go to each one, and the rest would be saved for any emergency. Strength: 2,140 Defense: 2,140 Speed: 2,140 Agility: 2,140 Intelligence: 2,320 Free stat points: 200 Silva dusted himself off and got up. This fight today had shown him that while he packed strength, there were more and more strong beings lurking around. If this was just the minion, then how would the master be? He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and decided to head back to the city. --- A distance away from cklight, on a mountain path, a portal appeared. From the portal, a blue-haired boy, a catdy in a maid outfit, and a golden-haired elf in pure white and gold armor walked out. "You seriously followed us. Your father will not be happy with that at all," the blue-haired boy said. "You don''t have to worry about it. I informed him that it''s training for being a demon lord. He has been my encouragement, so he couldn''t stop me," she said. "At least hide your ears. We don''t want anyone finding out. And you, Rei, make sure you use the ring I gave you; it will help you conceal yourself." He spoke to the maid, and she simply nodded in response. "Why didn''t Laurae with us? She was the one who sensed the new demon king candidate. She should be here," the elf said. "Laura was called by the demon kings. They had something to discuss with her," the boy said. They changed their appearance to look normal and headed for the city. When they arrived at the gate, they identified themselves as travelers and got temporary passes to enter. As soon as they entered, they began their search. There was a special energy that a demon king candidate gave off, and that was what they were looking for. After a while of no sess, they entered a tavern. As they were entering, they brushed shoulders with a guy who was leaving with another guy. They didn''t notice anything until they sat down, and then it hit them. They felt the energy they were looking for on the person who brushed past them. They all got up immediately and left, leaving the waitress stunned as she was bringing a tray of water. The three of them came outside and started looking around for the person they had touched, but they couldn''t find him. "I can''t believe we got close and then lost him," the blue-haired boy said. "We should look more; at least we know that he is here," the elf said. On the roof of the tavern, Silva was seated with a piece of barbecued meat on a stick, watching the three as he sat up there. He had just arrived back in the city and met with Quin to have some food at a tavern, but then Lily contacted him and told him that someone had entered the city and they were powerful non-humans. Normally, people entering the city was not important, but because she was heavily attuned to magic, she noticed when a portal was opened even at that distance, and she checked it out. The only reason she didn''t know that Silva was fighting the angel was because the angel had more advanced ways to disrupt and hide things. When she told Silva of their presence, he decided he would find themter. But he never expected that as he finished eating, they would walk into the same ce. So he bid Quin farewell, bought a steak, and went to the roof to watch. What could they possibly want in this town? He followed them from the roofs until they decided to split up, and then he made two clones and had them follow the maid and the elf, while he followed the boy. He kept following as they searched different ces and entered different ces, but it seemed that whatever they wanted, they couldn''t find it. Silva got tired of waiting and watching, so when they finally converged at night to end the day, he came down from the roofs and started walking toward them, making his presence known. When the three noticed his presence, they all turned in his direction as he came out of the shadows into the crystal lights. "Hello!" he greeted with a smile. The blue-haired boy looked at Silva keenly, and then he felt the energy, the energy of a demon king candidate. "You, it''s you. You are the one," the blue-haired boy said. "What do you mean, bro? I''m not anyone," Silva said. "You''re not human, right? You are a demon king candidate," the boy said. As soon as he said that, Silva silently alerted Lily and Elsa to be ready to teleport the whole squad here. "No wonder you guys are here. A spirit, an elf, and a beast woman," Silva said. It shocked them that he knew what they were, as it was supposed to be hidden from everyone. "I don''t know how you knew our real races, but let''s skip that. I am called Aqua, a water spirit and a demon king candidate. The maid beside me is Rei. The elf is called¡ª" "I''m Amber Greenwood, daughter of the king of the golden elf tribe, the ruler of all elves and a demon king candidate," she introduced herself enthusiastically. Aqua was shocked because this was the first time he saw her do something like that. "I see, so you are demon king candidates. Well, my name is Silva Terron, and as of now, I''ll have to take you to my hold to talk." Silva said, and then multiple portals opened with the Guardians walking out, all armed. Another portal opened behind Silva, and he pointed at the portal. "Please, this way. Let''s not have conflict." Chapter 128: spirit form Aqua was shocked when he found himself surrounded. He could feel the power emanating from the Guardians, and he knew they were strong. He didn''t believe that he would lose in a fight, but the cost of winning would be very great. So he decided to go with the flow. He didn''t know how Silva had such powerful backup, but he wanted to find out. So he headed inside the portal without argument. As the three of them passed through the portal, Silva checked their stats as they went inside. Aqua Lv: 1 (evolved) Strength: 3000 Defense: 3000 Speed: 3500 Agility: 3500 Intelligence: 4000 Amber Lv: 95 Strength: 1000 Defense: 1500 Speed: 1000 Agility: 1000 Intelligence: 2000 Rei Lv: 90 Strength: 800 Defense: 700 Speed: 1000 Agility: 1000 Intelligence: 1500 They all had high levels and outstanding stats. It seemed they had amazing legacies that allowed them to get to this level fast. Silva became eager to get to know what they were about. He wanted to gather information on the demon kings. Everyone walked into a portal and returned to the Labyrinth, into the throne room. Aqua, Rei, and Amber looked around the ce in shock; they didn''t expect to be brought here. But that was not the main issue for them. The main issue was why Silva brought them here. They looked up at Silva, who was seated on the throne already,pping Elsa. The Guardians stood alert, watching. Even Gan, Aris, and Fans stood watching. Silva felt that this was really important, so he summoned Dawn. It had been a while since they saw each other. She wanted to leap and hug him, but then she felt the dense atmosphere and knew that something was up, so she quickly gathered herself. "What is this ce?" Aqua asked. "Well, this ce is my home, my Labyrinth. But those are unimportant details. Tell me about you and the demon kings and also why you came here," Silva spoke. "There is amanding tone in your voice. Why should I respond to such impudence? I havee here to take you back to the ce where I and the other demon king candidates are. And you wille with me, even if it is by force. Do you understand that?" Aqua said. "Hmm, you may be a demon king candidate, but you are still a candidate. You are still weak and a nobody as of now. And right now, you stand in my home, and I can kill you in a second," Silva said. "Amber, it seems we will have to force this one back," Aqua said to Amber, but Amber raised her hand and waved it, meaning she wasn''t going to be a part of it. "Huh? Why will you not fight?" Aqua asked. "Because I have interest in him, and also, you may have not noticed, but some of these beings here have power levels that only the High Council has," Amber said. Silva was confused about what she meant by High Council, but now was not the time. "That''s impossible, they can''t be that strong. If you don''t want to fight, just tell me," Aqua said. He took out a staff and pointed it at Silva. "Rei, back me up if things go sour," Aqua said. He was about to cast a spell when suddenly, a hand was ced against his neck. He looked up and saw Drake looking at him coldly. Aqua didn''t see him move, he didn''t, so how was this man here? Amber shifted away as soon as this happened, to show that she was not interested in the fight. But Rei immediately charged at Drake. Drake swung his arm like he was swatting a fly and sent her flying. She hit the wall very hard and passed out. "Is this the demon king candidate? Is this how pathetic you are?" Silva asked. Aqua was pissed at that, but he couldn''t move or he would die. "This is because the demon curse has yet to be bestowed," Amber spoke up. Silva immediately turned his attention to her to hear what she had to say. "When the demon king candidates are chosen, they must head to a ce known as the Gates of the Demons. Within, there are the statues of several demon kings before us. In that ce, on a blood moon, you will receive your curse, which will be a huge part of your power. ording to what is known, a single curse can raise one''s level by tens and hundreds. That is when the true demon king candidates are born. Currently, there are eleven, and you are the twelfth. Only two remain to be found. If they are found, we must all converge at the Gate at the blood moon," she exined to Silva. This was the first time that he had heard this, but it did make sense. Heroes and demon kings are the ultimate beings. Discover secrets at m-vl-emp _yr. There had to be something that differentiated them from mere mortals. "I see. So you will be weak until then. Well, I understand. Now, as for leaving with you, that will be a no. In fact, tell your demon kings and king candidates that I have a lot to do as of now. I will not be going anywhere," Silva said. "You must," Aqua yelled, but Drake gripped his throat, forcing him to stop. "When is the next blood moon?" Silva asked. "ording to the Watchers of the Stars and Skies, they say in a year''s time. There is still an entire year until the blood moon, the period for the awakening. On that day, both heroes and demons will head to their respective ces to receive their blessings and curses," Amber exined. "I see. I''d love to ask some more questions, and Lady Amber seems to be more understanding. So I and she will have a talk. As for Aqua and Rei, take care of them. We can''t have a demon king candidate dead, it would hurt," Silva said before getting up from his throne. "Lady Amber, pleasee with me," Silva said as he walked toward the door. She looked at Aqua, who was extremely pissed. She smiled and walked away. He had expected toe here and show his dominance. He didn''t expect that Silva would have such people under his wings; it took him by surprise. Aqua couldn''t take this humiliation, hismon sense went out the window, and he transformed into his water spirit form and slipped out of the hand of Drake, shooting for Silva. But before he could cross half the distance, a massive ck fireball shot through the hall. Aqua, in his liquid form, only managed to notice it when it was almost hitting him. He tried to dodge, but the fireball was so fast that it still evaporated half of him, causing him excruciating pain. The fireball continued until it hit the wall, exploding and leaving a very massive hole. The Labyrinth immediately started closing up the hole. Aqua turned back into his human form with his arm bloodied and battered. Normally, when he was attacked in his liquid form, it would only weaken him, but not damage his physical body. Then how? How did that attack just now do it? He asked himself in dread. "If you ever think of attacking Father again, I''ll destroy your existence," Elsa warned, her eyes glowing in pure anger. Silva and Amber paused at the door to look at Aqua. "You should be careful, Aqua. When you are here, my word isw," Silva said and walked out. "See youter, Aqua," Amber said with a smile and left as well. Aqua tried to heal himself. He tried to produce more water to regenerate his arm, but it wasn''t working, and he was bleeding. He existed in two forms: the form of the spirit, his water form, and his physical form. Each one workedplementarily. He could escape physical attacks by turning into water, and he could regenerate limbs using water. But now, it was as though his two forms had been separated from each other and he couldn''t regenerate. "The mes that touched you are not normal. I will not exin what they are, but you can''t use your ability to regenerate for now," Elsa said as she walked up to him. "I am a demon king candidate, you all can''t do this to me!" he yelled. "You are extremely lucky that Elsa left you alive. You tried to hurt Silva. If I were the one, I would have killed you where you stood," Dawn spoke. "How can you all follow him? I can tell that he is weaker than all of you. I may have underestimated you all before, but now I know that you are all strong. Why then are you all choosing to follow him? Whatever it is that you have, I can offer you¡ª" Drake ced his foot on the mouth of Aqua to stop him from talking. "You are wrong about many things. One, you have nothing to offer us. Two, Silva is stronger than all of us if he goes all out. He doesn''t even know his own power yet. Andstly, we chose to follow him because we deemed him worthy," Drake said. Chapter 129: Delusions Silva took Amber to another room, they sat across a table and started talking. "Before we start, let me ask, why are you helping me out?" Silva asked. "Well, I did say I was interested in you. I like you, it''s as simple as that," she said with a smile. "Huh? We just met, are you ying a prank?" he asked. "No, why would I?" she responded. Silva was confused at this point; it sounded so unreal and unbelievable that a girl would like him just like that. He wasn''t that good-looking. "I know I may be slightly good-looking, but that shouldn''t be enough to make you like me so quickly," Silva said. "You underestimate your face, Silva. You see, in the elf race, the closer the blood is to royalty, the more beautiful they are. I have siblings and rtives that have the highest royal blood history-wise, and they all look beautiful, but I do dare say that you have them beat," she said while leaning forward. Silva backed up a bit, he looked at her suspiciously. Like why wouldn''t he? Elves were the most beautiful race, how could he be better than the top elves? "You must be joking. No human would believe that they have a royal elf beat in beauty," Silva said. But then she got up and leaned across the table with her face almost reaching his. In this moment, Silva, who was a really powerful dude, felt weak. He felt like he couldn''t move or do anything. "I am assuring you that you are very much better than they. Since Iid eyes on you, your energy, your face, it has the charm of a proud and almighty being. And that attracted me, so I want it, and I''ve always had the habit of having what I want," she said in a hush tone. "This is mybyrinth, you can''t have what you want," Silva said. "Hahaha, don''t y with me, Silva. You may be stronger and have a lot of resources, but I''m dead serious about having what I want. I can stay years watching you, and when I find a girl that even slightly loves you, I''ll kill her. I''d even fight you to kill her," she said. Silva could see the crazy in her eyes; she wasn''t lying at all. "Well, sorry, but I already have a few people that love or like me, and if youy a hand on them, I will never love you," Silva said with a smile. She frowned at that because she could tell he meant it as well. "Silva, why not leave them and choose me?" she asked. "Well, because I don''t know you, and also because everything you''re saying sounds like a fictional novel written by a lonely Otaku virgin at twenty years old that sits in his room beating his rod eight times a day," Silva said. She looked at him confused, like what the hell did he say? Silva saw her confusion and spoke, "It sounds too good to be true." "Oh, is that the issue? Then let me show you that I''m serious," she said and immediately wrapped her hands around him and tried to kiss him. But then the door mmed open with Dawn and Saros standing there. Silva looked at them in shock; he was seen in an awkward situation, how would he exin this? "Now this is not a happy sight, you tried to take his first kiss," Aris said. Dawn pulled out her sword and charged without saying a word, headed for Amber. Silva immediately got up and spread his hands wide to block her. "Stop, Dawn, she didn''t do anything to me," Silva said, managing to stop her. "Well, not yet," Amber said. "You aren''t helping at all," Silva said. "Well, it''s true, I wanted to take his first kiss. Does that upset her? You two may be stronger, but I will kill both of you and have Silva," she said clearly and straight. "Stop talking like I''m some sort of property," Silva said. "So what''s stopping us from killing you now and preventing you from ever having the chance to kill us?" Aris said. "Well, there would be one less demon king candidate, and when the heroes find out, that would lead to the war of this generation," Amber said. "Like I would care about that. If youe for my life, you will die," Aris warned. "Okay, enough of the crazy death bickering. Tell me what Blue Hair wants bying here," Silva said to Amber. "Oh, his n? Well, he wants to kill all the heroes and have the demon kings rule," she said. "Huh? How? If they are equal, demon kings and heroes, there should be no war," Silva said. "Well, there is a prophecy about a being called the demon lord. The demon lord will take all the demon kings under his wings and will be the greatest and will end the wars," she exined. experience NovelFire,le,mp,yr content "Aqua believes that if he gathers all the demon kings under him, he would ascend to be the demon lord and he will kill all the heroes to stop all wars," she exined further. ''Fuck, I have never seen a very clear prophecy be so misinterpreted in the worst possible way,'' Silva thought to himself. It was as though Aqua was intentionally forcing himself to believe that his interpretation was real and made sense, because it didn''t. The people that allowed him to walk around believing this interpretation are as guilty as well, because there is no way there was no one there that knew his interpretation was shit. "So Aqua simply has a case of delusions of grandeur," Silva said. "So do all the other candidates just go along with his stupidity?" Silva asked. "Well, the candidates are all entrics that love getting stronger. The only person who seemed ready to lead was Aqua, and so they let him lead. But he seems to think that he was the one that recruited us all, and he is the only one to be the leader," she exined. "Poor guy," Silvamented. Chapter 130: Formation presentation Silva returned to the throne room with Aris, Dawn, and Amber. Aqua and his maid had been healed up and were waiting for him. He got on the throne and then looked at Aqua. "You three will go back to wherever you came from and tell them that this demon king candidate is busy, so I can''te, and I don''t n toe for a while. If that doesn''t sit well with them, they cane see me. I''ll be here in my little corner of a kingdom," Silva said. "Why do I have to go? I want to be here with you, Silva," Amber said. "No, no, I don''t want to get on the bad side of the elves yet; you have to go. Maybe after you go, you''ll realize that I''m not what you like," Silva said. "It''s funny how you think you''ll make me go away. I''ll be back, Silva," she said with a smile. "Lily, send them to the surface as far from here as possible," Silva said to Lily quickly. He was tired, and he didn''t want to stress himself further. Lily did as he said and teleported them. They would handle themselves there. --- After the meeting with the families, the next day, they all had to go to school, and today was the day they would have to show their magical formations that they had been working on. Everyone in the ss of advanced magic would have to show their formation. They had been given an ample amount of time to work on it, so if they failed, they would lose points. story source m vl e mp yr Silva sat in the ss with everyone. He could notice that Oliver, his brother, was ncing at him from time to time. He knew what was happening. He understood that Oliver was up to something, but he couldn''t say when Oliver would do something. The ss kickstarted, and the teacher came into the ss and asked all of them to head to the training field. Some people would be showing off some destructive formations, and so they didn''t want to have the sses destroyed. Simple formations were getting shown, well, until the S ss started getting called, with the first person from S ss being Aaron. He walked out of the group and stood a few meters away from everyone. As a fairy, he had good ess to a good amount of elements, but the one he decided to use today was air; it was what he recorded as his main element. He raised his hands into the air, and a massive green formation started forming, with intricate circles and designs. It finished forming, but did not stop there. A smaller one formed under the bigger one, and then a smaller one, and then another smaller one. Until there was a total of five, and then they shifted into the open field. The formations began rotating. The first and third ones rotated in one direction, and the others rotated in the opposite direction. And then, like a ck hole, the biggest formation sucked in a mighty amount of wind. It passed through the first formation, powering up and bing morepressed. Thepressed air shot through the next formation at high speed and got morepressed. The same thing happened until it shot through thest formation. It became a very small, highlypressed beam of wind. It sted into the ground with a very loud bang; the ground exploded in all directions. The teacher immediately made a massive barrier to block the debris from hitting the students. Aaron turned and faced the teacher after he finished his presentation. He saw the look on the teacher''s face and smiled wildly; he knew that he had done well, the pride of the strong. "Uh-huh, the next person is Michael." The teacher shook out of his stupor and called out the next person, who was Michael. Michael passed Aaron as he got to the clearing. He spoke to Aaron as they passed each other. "I''ll surely beat yours," Michael said. Michael stood, and like Aaron, he started. A zing red formation formed up in the sky, and then a fireball starteding under it. The fire was not ordinary, because it looked like liquid fire swirling around, creating a massive ball that still grew in size. It kept growing until it was over three meters wide. When it reached that size, a formation appeared underneath it, and it sucked the fireball in a stream-like method. Converting it and firing it as a me beam, it was like aser beam made of fire, tearing through the floor and melting sand and rocks. Like with Aaron, everyone was shocked at the sight. But this would not be the best presentation yet, because up next was the one who wanted to prove himself at all costs, Oliver Terron. His formation was the tripleyered me formation that created a very massive me tornado. At the top of the tornado was one formation, at the center was one, and at the bottom was one. These three formations were what he used to control the heat and direction of the tornado. His presentation was perfect as well, and he received a smile and approving nod from the teacher. Up next was someone Silva had not really paid attention to, because she just turned out to be a normal genius. She was one of the girls he saw during the entrance exams, but he lost interest in them. She came and used a wind-type formation and did a very massive and beautiful wind formation that fired a massive wind sword from the sky into the ground, creating a massive crater. This was what a genius could do, but sadly for them, people like Silva existed in their world and stopped their genius from shining. The best person up was Lia. And everyone knew she was number three in the ss and the first year. They had seen her present a peaceful formation once, and so now they wondered what she would do this time. Chapter 131: Prince Alvin Lia raised her staff into the air, and the temperature dropped immediately. A massive magic circle formed under her feet and spread out until it almost reached the students who were standing. She turned around and looked at Silva. "Brother Silva, please try to attack me in the circle," she said. Silva could tell what would happen if he stepped into that ce, but for the sake of the presentation, he charged into the circle. Immediately he entered, five massive icences formed and fired at him. He quickly dodged all of them, but as soon as that round finished, another five fired at him. He kept trying to dodge until he had to step out of the circle, and the attacks stopped. His presentation might not have been the shiest, but it was without a doubt the best that had been shown up until now. An automated defense formation that attacked and defended at the same time. All she had to do was give the circle her mana, and the automated mechanism would do what it needed to. The teacher was surprised to see such a presentation. He couldn''t believe that Lia was actually amoner; she was beyond genius. After her turn, the next person turned out to be Silva. Once his name was called, everyone paid attention. This was Silva, the most popr person in the academy as of now. He was loved and hated by the students. There was no middle ground when it came to him; you either hated or loved him. "What do you think he will do?" Michael asked. "He is well-versed in darkness magic; he will probably use that," Leah said. They all watched closely to see what Silva would do, and Silva was ready to put on a show as well. Since he had decided to be the number one in the academy, he might as well do it with all his heart. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A dark purple web spread from his feet, twisting and contorting into a magical circle. When the circle was fully formed, it looked grotesque and twisted, shifting and writhing. Suddenly, from the circle, a dark me erupted from the formation andpletely covered Silva before starting to form into a massive me dragon. They all looked in awe as Silva was floating at the center with his eyes closed and his body in a restful state. The massive ck me dragon struck fear into the eyes of onlookers as it roared into the sky, a pir of mes so thick that the heat could be felt all around the school. The ground vibrated as the gigantic being stood there. If only Silva had known that day in the academy, his father, the Duke, and one of the older princes of the kingdom were at the academy having discussions. It was a secret meeting known only to a select few. But when the massive beam of me reached the sky and the wave of heat washed over thend, the prince ran to the window and opened it to see what was happening. He was a thirty-year-old magic enthusiast. He had ck hair, but his eyes were gold, a feature inherited from his mother. They were known as the goddess''s eyes. They allowed the user to see energy flows, perceive things that others couldn''t, and much more. Explore m,v,l,e,mpyr today. With his eyes, he had pursued magic and how to understand it. He had created the best team of magical analysts and researchers. "What was that now? That beam of dark me, that wave of heat... I can tell it''s not a very advanced spell, but it contained so much power and beauty." The director sighed; she knew it was only a matter of time before the son of the Duke started getting involved with the Royal Family. When that beam of mes shot into the sky, she immediately knew it could only be Silva, as she knew that the first years would be practicing formation in that field today. "Well, that beam of mes came from a first-year called Silva Terron," Matilda said. "Wait, you mean the son of Sir Terron? I have heard about his exploits. The king has been talking about how he would love to see this person. Since he is the one, my eagerness to meet him has risen even more profoundly," he said. Matilda didn''t say much. She just used her magical crystal to ask someone to bring Silva to her office. --- Back on the training grounds, before everyone could wrap their heads around the grandiose presentation by Silva, a man entered the training ground. He met the teacher and informed him about what they asked him to do. The teacher nodded and spoke. "Silva, that''s enough. Head back down; the principal wants to see you." When he mentioned the principal calling Silva, everyone started specting as to what the reason could be. But Silva wasn''t worried in the slightest. He had a feeling his presentation yed into this situation. He returned to normal and walked out of the training grounds, heading for the director''s office. He got there, knocked once before entering, and then saw his father, Matilda, and the little squeak sitting there. But it didn''t matter; he didn''t like seeing two people he didn''t care for. He didn''t know that he woulde to hate the prince even more. "I''m Prince Alvin. I''ve heard a lot about you," the prince spoke. As soon as Silva realized that it was a prince, a prince of this kingdom, he got pissed. "You both have tried to drop me at the center of a political issue right now. Knowing fully well that I hate it, yet you decided to push your luck," Silva said with a growl. "We just wanted to introduce y¡ª" Matilda tried to use her usual method to make it seem like she was making sense, but Silva cut her off. "Shut the hell up. There are still things I have to handle in this academy, so you better know not to make things difficult for me." Chapter 132: Strike Three Matilda was shocked by Silva''s response. She knew he was a touchy person, but she didn''t expect he would behave this way with his father and the prince present. "Silva, you need to calm down," Terron spoke. Silva shot a look at him, and Terron shut up immediately. Matilda was surprised by this. Why did one of the greatest mages suddenly keep quiet when his son looked at him? "Prince Alvin, I''m not interested in what you have to say right now. I am a thirteen-year-old first-year student. No matter what it is, I should not have been sought out at all. You are distracting my education," Silva said and walked toward the door. "Wait! You can''t walk out on me, I am your prince," Alvinmanded. Silva gave out a heavy sigh, snapped his head back, and looked at Alvin. "With all due respect, Your Highness, I have something important to do. I beg that you allow me to go," Silva said. "Not until I have had my talk with you." Alvin stepped closer to Silva. Silva turned around and faced him. "Sadly, I only listen to people who are stronger than me. As it stands, you can''t be a threat to me," Silva said. "Huh? No matter how much of a prodigy you are, it''s impossible for you to be stronger than me. Do you even know what you are saying?" the prince snapped. "My prince, sadly, my son has spoken the truth. Even I, the Duke, know that magic of the highest order failed when it came to him. I was utterly defeated by my son. This is information I intended to take to my grave, but as it stands, my son is a walking threat, and he is baiting the prince into a trap," Terron exined. Alvin''s eyes opened wide in shock. He knew he was not as strong as the Duke, and if Silva had defeated the Duke, then he was here talking rubbish when this person could eradicate him in seconds. The prince stepped away from Silva to avoid pissing him off further. He turned to Terron and spoke. "If your son is that strong, could it be that he is a hero candidate?" Alvin asked. "Sadly, no. Silva possesses great power and potential, yet he isn''t a hero. I would know if I saw one. There is one currently in this academy. I''ve been asked to look after her, but her information is ssified. Twelve hero candidates have been found, and our kingdom managed to produce one. Silva is not that one," Matilda said. "Then how, how can he be this strong?" Alvin asked. "Hahaha, you don''t have to worry about it, prince. One day, you''ll know who and what I am. For now, stay away from me, or there will be issues. Those eyes of yours can be dangerous when I least expect it, so I don''t want them looking at me at all," Silva said and walked out of the door. "Did you tell him about my eyes?" Alvin asked. "Not at all. This was the first time he has ever met you," Matilda said. "He has the ability to see my eyes and their uses. This boy is scary. Duke Terron, I am sorry, but I''ll have to inform my father about all this. Your son may need to be contained," Alvin said. "Sigh, to contain him may take a lot, but I believe the king''s forces will be able to. I have already harmed him by letting him go missing when he was young. And now I am plotting to have him contained. He would definitely not forgive me if he heard this. He already sees me as trash, but now I will break whatever connection he has to me. But still, I understand how big of a threat he is. He may offset the bnce if he is left to keep growing at this rate, so we must do it," Terron said. Silva, who was outside a few meters from the door and had hidden his presence, listened to the whole thing using his vibration sensing. "Terron, Terron, Terron, this is strike three. Strike one was attempting to kill me as a baby. Strike two was attacking me when we reunited. And strike three is plotting to trap me. How disappointing can you be? I believed you could be something of a useful father to me in even a little way, but even that was too hard for you. Sadly, my mom and siblings will have to be fatherless in the future," Silva said, determined to get rid of his father. Some may say Silva was a hypocrite because Mike had done the same thing to him, attempting to kill and cause him issues, yet he chose to let Mike live. But Silva didn''t care. Mike was his brother and was a child who actually had some reason to hate Silva. But Terron, Terron was a grown man without reason to even hate Silva at this point. He should be begging for forgiveness, yet he is still plotting his capture. The best thing now was to kill him. Silva walked through the corridor with slow and steady steps. He could smell the trouble in the air from all directions. It was all aimed at him. So it was time to get serious. It was time to begin his movements. His mercenaries had grown close to a thousand well-armored and trained people. They had received a whole lot of benefits and rewards and were very loyal to Dawn. The three A-ranked adventurers had been his ears in the city, gathering information and intel. And then there was the man in ck de, who was feeding Silva all the information about the group. And he discovered that the group stemmed from the capital, and that was where the majority of their people were. Silva decided that he would take over this cult, kill the master, and seize rulership by force. They woulde in handy for sure. Chapter 133: Void Labyrinth The day for the internalpetition for the selection of those that would go for the Elitepetition drew near. Many students trained as hard as they possibly could, wanting to improve even if only a little; they needed all the help they could get. On the night before the day, Silva decided to go into the voidbyrinth. He was yet to test it out and was curious as to what it was. So he headed out in the night into a dark corner and then activated one of the ten tickets. A swirling portal appeared before him, and he walked inside without hesitation. The inside of the portal was a corridor made of what looked like crystals and ss. Outside the ss was an empty void filled with stars and clusters of dust. It created a beautiful scenery, but Silva was not bothered by the scenery. He could sense a lot of strong beings headed his way. He decided that tonight, he would evolve. No matter how long he had to grind and kill, he would make sure he evolved tonight. When the beings came into view, they looked like they were made of ck crystals, their bodies held together by strings of energy that felt like Mana but were more potent. Six of them faced Silva, their great eyes glowing red, and theyunched at him. Their speed was unbelievable as they reached Silva in a very short time. Though it was notparable to the speed of the angel he fought. He leaped back and dodged the powerful punch of the first one. The fist mmed into the ground and caused a crack which fixed up instantly. Another one leaped over the head of the one that had punched and charged at Silva, its hand turning into a sharp de that went for Silva''s throat. Silva pulled out his sword and immediately parried the attack. He stepped in and pushed the hand of the being aside, then went for a sh from down to up. But his de hit the crystal body, and nothing happened, only sparks flew. However, the force of the attack still sent the being flying. Silva didn''t have time to chase that one because two of them tried to nk him, both aiming for his head with their attacks. Silva flipped and dodged the attack. His hand was ced on the ground, and he used his dark tendrils. They shot out of the ground andtched onto the legs of the two that had attacked. But they immediately deactivated the connection between their main bodies and their legs, allowing them to escape. The legs that were tied then suddenly moved at great speed toward Silva. Silva immediately created a tendril wall. The legs hit the wall and were repelled back. After they were repelled, they returned to their owners. "These things have really good fighting abilities," Silvamented. The six of them charged at Silva again, running in formation toward him. "I can''t let them keep that formation. I have to break them apart." He used the tendrils again, and the tendrilsshed out with full force, forcefully hitting them and spreading them apart. When there was an opening in the formation due to his intervention, he charged through the opening, got behind them, and then took out his axe. The axe glowed bright red. "Have some of this!" He roared and swung the axe down. The axe hit the floor, causing massive vibrations and cracking in the ground. The energy that he had gathered into the axe exploded out and mmed the beings into the walls. Using the opportunity, he charged at one of them and swung for the head. His axe met with the head, and this time it dug deep into it. Silva then channeled his abyssal mes through the axe, and they erupted from inside the head of the being. [Congrattions, you have killed a Crystalline. 1000 EXP, 500 SO] When Silva saw the amount he got from the Crystalline, a smile formed on his face. If he killed all six, he would level up. And if there were lots of them, he would be able to actually evolve. A smile formed on his face as he looked at the remaining five, eager to kill them. The other five Crystalline also seemed eager to kill him. They all got in formation and were about to attack. The one he killed turned into a crystal the size of a fist. But Silva left picking it up forter; he had to handle the enemies that were in his face now. The five of them charged at him. Silva swung his de and released a massive abyssal me arc that pushed them back but didn''t do much damage. [You haven''t consumed in three days. Gluttony rage mode has started taking effect. Your increase in strength and loss of sense will begin now. You will lose all control after five minutes.] Silva suddenly felt a heavy pang of hunger. His eyes glowed red, and his strength started surging as the hunger in him grew. He had decided to turn off the gluttony timer. He felt that he would not have to worry, as he could consume at any time. But he had totally forgotten that in thest three days, he was yet to consume anything. He thought about eating from the gate of hell. But with what little consciousness remained, he decided to allow the hunger of gluttony to take over him for the meantime. He had five minutes. He wanted to see how much stronger he could get before he lost control. So he attacked the Crystallines with the hunger biting at him. His veins bulged, and his eyes glowed crimson red. He swung his axe with even more strength this time due to the hunger. The axe hit one of the Crystalline, and in one swift move, he managed to cut through it and kill it. [Congrattions, you have killed a Crystalline. 1000 EXP, 500 SO] Silva huffed and puffed as Gluttony automatically absorbed the soul of the Crystalline. It gave him a sweet feeling, but it was far from enough. Chapter 134: Two plots The crystallines attacked Silva all at once, but because of the hunger of Gluttony, his strength was increased severalfold. He took them down without issue. [Level up, 2 free stat points]x10 He finally leveled up after he killed the remaining crystallines, and his hunger had also subsided after he killed all of them. Silva picked up all the crystals that dropped on the ground one by one. He kept them in his ring as he headed deeper inside thebyrinth. He walked for a while without sensing any crystallines, but soon, a team of ten crystallines came his way. Silva decided not to waste a single moment. He summoned all his clones, and they went into battle, one versus one. After he killed all of them, he leveled up again, finally reaching level 75. The progress was fast, but he needed it to be faster. So he picked up his speed and started rushing through thebyrinth floor. He moved quickly, using his dragon Newt form to take them out quickly and also using his clones. Finally, Silva made it to the floor that led to the second floor. By now, he had reached level 80. He decided not to distribute his stat points yet. Silva walked down the crystal stairs and into the second floor. When he arrived, he immediately saw two crystallines, but they weren''t like the ones he had fought. These ones were red crystal in color, and they gave off a stronger aura than the ck ones. Immediately they saw him, they charged at him; their speed was evidently greater than that of the cks. Silva didn''t care, though. He blocked the first one with his axe and pushed it back. The second one leaped into the air. Silva turned to face it, and he aimed for the head. But a red forcefield appeared and blocked the attack. His axe managed to break through, but the forcefield blocked it enough for the crystalline to make a retreat. "So these ones have abilities," Silva said. The two crystallines regrouped and charged again, one in front and one at the back. They moved from left to right, interchanging to confuse Silva. But Silva was bored by their movements. He transformed into his dragon form and threw his axe at top speed. The forcefield appeared to block the axe, but the axe managed to break through. Silva chased after it with sh step. He grabbed onto the axe and swung at the head of the crystalline at close range, killing it. [Congrattions, you have killed a Crystalline. 1500 EXP, 700 SO]x10 This one gave him far more EXP than the ck ones. A smile formed on his face as he looked at the second one. He used sh step, getting behind the crystalline and lopping off the head before it could react. [Congrattions, you have killed a Crystalline. 1500 EXP, 700 SO]x10 Silva picked up the crystals they dropped and started heading deeper into thebyrinth. He had fallen in love with thisbyrinth. If he kept up the pace, he was sure to finally evolve. --- In the director''s office that night, Terron, the prince, and Matilda were seated inside the office discussing. The topic of their discussion was, of course, how to capture Silva. Terron pulled out a cube and ced it on the table. "This is called the eternal cube. I, along with several mages, have been looking for ways to seal powerful beings and ensure they never leave. The cube is yet to be perfect, but it can very much seal anyone for a period of time. During the time that Silva will be sealed inside, a ve cor will be made avable, and a very imprable prison. The cor will be put on him, and he will be locked inside and will only be allowed to leave when he is needed by the kingdom. He will be studied and also trained to make him a very useful weapon for the kingdom," Terron finished exining his n on how they would capture Silva. "I see. So how do we go about capturing him and putting him into the seal?" Matilda asked. "That is also simple. We have two people in the S ss that work for the kingdom, right? The hero candidate and the other one, right? We will ask them. They possess enough magic to activate the cube and also seal Silva. They just need to be in a ce where no one will see them. And the best time for them to do that will be during thebyrinthpetition tomorrow. It will be the best opportunity, and I''m sure they will bepetent enough to carry out the task," Terron exined. "I see, that all makes sense. So we just have to inform them on what to do, and we will be able to capture Silva," Matilda said. "Thank you, both of you, for agreeing to do this for the kingdom. Sir Terron, I understand that he is your son, but what must be done must be done. And besides, your family will receive a lot of rewards from this as well," Alvin said. --- In the council office, the president sat at the table having a midnight snack with Oliver seated on the opposite side, reading some papers. "This is theyout for how you can get Silva into the room and lock him inside. You have to carry everything out the way it is here. If you do, everything will fall into ce, and you will have gotten rid of Silva for good," the president said. "I understand. I''ll do my best. But I''ve wanted to ask, what if Silva escapes from the room? What will I do then?" Oliver asked. "He won''t. Even I can''t escape from there. It is impossible. No matter how special or strong he is, he won''t be able to get out," the president assured. That night, two ns were being made for the boy who was happily cutting down crystallines in a voidbyrinth. Which side would actually prevail over Silva when the timees? Chapter 135: Evolution [Congrattions, you have reached level 99] Silva plopped to his knees, his breathing was haggard, his mind was in disarray; it took every ounce of mental strength to keep Silva functioning. This was the first time he had fought until he burned out. He struggled to get back on his feet. Despite the exhaustion he felt, there was still a smile etched on his face. He was so close, so very close to leveling up. His current stats looked like this: Name: Silva Race: Human (50%), Dark Dragon (50%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: 1,500,000 EXP: 50,000/89,000 SP: 1,000,000 Level: 99 Strength: 2,140 Defense: 2,140 Speed: 2,140 Agility: 2,140 Intelligence: 2,320 Free stat points: 1,420 He had yet to distribute any of his stat points, so his stats remained the same. But he was far more experienced now, and his fighting had entered another level. When he had finished with the second floor, he arrived at the third floor where he met the orange crystallines. They were significantly stronger than the red, faster and more coordinated as well. But he still managed to win even when they ganged up on him. As Silva tried to catch his breath, another orange one came for him. And this would be thest battle for his evolution. A tired Silva, and a strong crystalline. Silva had the recovery rate of a dragon, so all he needed was a bit of time to get everything in order. His body was at sixty percent now. And if he stayed for one more minute, he would be in tip-top shape, but the crystalline wasn''t ready to let him. It charged at Silva like a rocket. But Silva had fought enough of them to know their ability. It was a sh-step type of ability that boosted their speed to double. They used it unexpectedly, normally in the first charge to try and get behind you fast and take you out. Silva leaped into the air and brought out his wings, staying in the air, and then from above, he came shing down. The crystalline saw the attack and tried to use its ability to dodge, but Silva was smarter. He used his own sh step to move faster as well, canceling out the crystalline''s. The axe connected, and using all his strength, he decapitated the crystalline easily. Hended on the ground. He wanted to celebrate his kill, but the system had better ns for him. [Evolution starting in thirty seconds] Silva panicked when he saw that. There was no way he could attempt an evolution here; he had seen it take Fang a while. He had to go somewhere safe. This was a very important moment in his life. "System, take me out." Silva said. The portal to take him out appeared, and he leaped into it immediately. When he got out, ten seconds were already gone. He had to move fast. The only way to go now would be to activate a teleport straight into thebyrinth. It would take a lot of mana to force teleport there, but he had to do it. He didn''t have the time to contact Lily or Elsa. He did what was needed, and a ck hole formed under him. He fell right through into the main throne room of thebyrinth. He saw Drake and Elsa talking, but before he could say anything, the timer hit zero. Silva fell to the ground unconscious. All his minds were turned off. And so, his evolution began after thirteen years of being in this world. --- [Congrattions on your evolution] [Your ten times buff aided in your evolution] Name: Silva (evolved) Race: Dark Dragon (80%), Human (20%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: 5,000,000 EXP: 10,000/1,000,000 SP: 2,000,000 Level: 1 (evolved) Strength: 15,000 Defense: 15,000 Speed: 15,000 Agility: 15,000 Intelligence: 20,000 Free stat points: 1,420 [You have attained full dragon form] These were the first things that Silva saw when his evolution was over. After he finished reading them, another notification came to him. [A vision from Ophelia is ready after your evolution, it will be streamed into your mind directly] Suddenly, he began seeing something. It was thebyrinth¡ªthebyrinth inside the academy. The vision kept taking him lower and lower into thebyrinth, even through ces that he had yet to reach. After about a hundred floors, it finally reached the end, where there was a mighty door heavily sealed. After Silva saw the door, the vision ended, and his eyes opened. When his eyes opened, he saw Elsa looking down at him. "Daddy!" she called out when he woke up, and immediately he was surrounded. The guardians and everyone else looked to see if he was okay. Silva struggled to stand up from Elsa''sp. He immediately realized that he was naked and only a small piece of clothing covered hisher region. "Uhm, Elsa, where are my clothes?" he asked. "You were covered by dark dragon mes, and they burned them all up. I was the only one who was able toe close to you due to my high resistance," Elsa exined. Silva nodded and pushed himself up to stand, and that was the point he realized there was an issue. He felt really different, so he asked for a mirror immediately, and when they brought a full-sized mirror for him, he couldn''t help but ask, "Who the hell is that?" He refused to believe that was him. The person that stood in the mirror was way taller than Silva before. Silva had a fit body, but it was never as chiseled as what he had now. His face as well¡ªit was like it just doubled in looks. It gave off cute and handsome vibes all at the same time. But those were the least of his troubles. Now, he had his dragon wings out without even activating them, and also two ck horns that perfectly flowed into his hair and made him look more stunning. "I won''t lie, even I would date me," Silva said. He felt chills run down his spine. He turned around to see way too many hungry eyes from the females of the group. "I have to remind you all that I am still thirteen, dragon or not," he said to clear their minds of any thoughts. Chapter 136: Beginning of the first competition Silva looked at his wings and horn; he couldn''t walk around the human world with this, that would be crazy. He tried to control them, and they actually retracted into his body like they were never there. He took out some clothes from his ring and put them on quickly. He didn''t remove the small piece of cloth that was covering him until he was fully dressed; he didn''t want to show his assets to all of them. "How long was I unconscious?" Silva asked. "A few hours," Elsa replied. "I see, so it didn''t take as long as Fang. Well, then I have enough time to make it to the academy. Aris, Lily, I need both of your help. Today, there will be attempts on my life during thepetition. I will give you the details of the nter, but we have to get everyone involved," Silva said. "We understand, but I want a reward after it," Aris said. "What sort of reward?" Silva asked. "A kiss." "Not happening," Silva refused. "After thispetition and the Elitepetition, I''ll try to clear thebyrinth in the academy. After I have cleared it, we will discuss the next move, whether to raise our own city and kingdom or to continue hiding. It has been on my mind for a while now, and I figured we should discuss it," Silva said. After speaking with them, he had Lily teleport him inside his room; he knew no one would be there, so he decided to rest. He had to head to the assembly hall quickly because thepetition was about to start. On his way there, Silva kept getting looked at by not only his mates but even seniors. Everyone knew he was good-looking, but this time they couldn''t peel their eyes from him. Silva increased his walking pace; he didn''t want too many eyes on him. But the issue was that most of the students were also going to the assembly hall, so he couldn''t get away from them. When he arrived at the hall, everyone was seated, and more wereing in. He spotted his friends there and headed the same way; they had also kept a seat for him. "Hey guys," Silva greeted them. They all looked to greet him as well, but they were also stunned by how different he looked. "Silva, what happened to you?" Michael asked. "Huh? What do you mean? I am the same person," Silva said and took his seat. "Oh, you are definitely not the same person. It''s like you got polished. Like, what the hell, dude?" Michael pressed. "I don''t really get what you are talking about, Michael," Silva still denied. "You have to tell me what methods you use, bro. This is not fair," Michaelined. "What''s he talking about?" Silva asked the others, but he could see a frown on Lia and Fay. "What''s happening, guys? Why are you two angry?" he asked. "It was already hard stopping all those fangirls from getting to you, but now how can we stop them? Who goes and gets a glow-up overnight?" Fayined. Before she couldin even more, a teacher walked into the hall. "Good day, first years. Today is the first part of yourpetition. Thepetition will be held in thebyrinth east of the city. Only those who make it to thest floor will win. The rules of this are simple: fight until you make it to thest floor. If you can''t make it, or you want to give up or call for help, check your cards. You will be able to call for help or give up using the cards. You just have to spend all the coins you have, no matter the amount, and you will be saved." The students burst into murmurs when they heard what would happen if they wanted to give up or be saved¡ªthey would lose all their hard-earned points. It was a crazy payment, but they understood that one could die in thatbyrinth, and their points were nothingpared to their lives. But still, the academy was being ruthless, but what could they possibly do? "I''m sure you all already know that death is possible in thebyrinth. It is a B-rankedbyrinth, and it has enough dangerous monsters and unpredictable uncertainties. Now, this is thest but very important rule: you aren''t allowed to fight or kill each other. Your enemies are the monsters inside there, not your ssmates. If you are caught sabotaging your ssmates or trying to kill them, you will be punished so severely that you will cry for death and not receive it. You can all enter thebyrinth alone or in self-formed teams. Whatever route you choose, best of luck to you. Thepetition will be starting in an hour; you all have an hour to get to thebyrinth. I will see you there." The man finished and left the stage. Immediately after he left, everyone got up and started heading out of the academy. Silva could still feel the gazes of his friends on him. He would have to find a way to exin things to them, but that was an issue for another time. What was on his mind now was how he would kill Terron. --- Inside the Director''s office, Terron sat on a chair with a worried expression, while Matilda looked through the window of the office. "Today is the day. Did you give the cube to the students?" she asked. "Yes, the ones we talked about," Terron said. "You don''t regret this at all? He is your son, after all," Matilda said. "It''s for the best. Besides the fact that he is already one of the strongest people in the kingdom, he is also very smart and cunning. I may have produced the seed that birthed him, but that child is a demon without a doubt, and if I let him, he will be something else," Terron exined. "You left out the part that talks about how you feel inferior to your son, and that hurts your ego," Matilda said with a smile. Terron frowned but said nothing. Chapter 137: The Past Inside a study room, two men argued loudly. "How could you not tell me about this until now? How could you hide the fact that your wife was a fairy?" one man asked, yelling at the other. "Because of this. Because of things like this. Because you all would see it as a crime. You would see it as treason when all I did was fall in love. I have served humanity for many years, poured out my blood and sweat, but I had to hide the fact that my wife was a fairy for many years just because she was a fairy. I couldn''t be happy because every day I wake up knowing that people like you would take her away from me. You would castigate her and make her feel like a criminal, and all she wanted was to have a family with me and be happy with our son. But now she''s gone, and I decided that you, who have been my friend for so long, should know the truth. Because I don''t know when I''ll die. If I die, I need someone who will take care of my son, knowing who he was as a half-fairy. That''s why I''m telling you now," the man said. "This is dumb. How could you be so dumb? With your status and everything, it would be a great issue if word got out." "I know, but it has happened, and now Aaron is part of this world, and he is growing, and I want him to be able to live a normal and happy life. If he is incapable of living a happy life here, then I''ll take the risk and head into the fairy country. Even if they kill me, I''ll beg them to take Aaron. Because he is my world and my only joy. He reminds me of the life I had with his mother. He reminds me that I was happy and alive, even if it was just for a short while. So, to me, Aaron is not just a son; he is my heartbeat. I don''t care how you see it, I don''t care how the world sees me, but Aaron must have a happy life. So, Duke Terron, you, as my friend and a man like me, tell me, is that so much to ask? Should I throw away a child because of status?" Aaron''s father asked. "I''m not one to be asked that question, because I fell victim to such a choice. You remember when my wife was pregnantst, and it was said the baby died? That was a lie. I have been thinking about how to tell you this for years now, but now seems like the best time to. He was a beautiful boy, with eyes like his mother and a heart like hers as well. But as I held him in my arms, hecked talent. Hecked whatever it would take for him to be a noble under my name. I, the Duke known for my mastery in magic, having a child that would be talentless. That was not something I wanted; I didn''t want my bloodline to be tainted," Terron exined. "Terron, tell me you didn''t kill your child," Aaron''s father said, grabbing Terron by the cor. "No, I didn''t. I wanted to, but my wife pleaded on his behalf, and we sent him to another town to be raised by whatevermoner family would take him." BAAM! Aaron''s father''s fist connected with Terron''s face, sending him staggering and mming into a wall. "What the hell did you just say? How could you with a straight face tell this to me? You threw away your son, not caring if he lived or died. Have you no humanity, Terron? Is status and name all that matters to you?" Aaron''s father asked. "It had to be done; there was no other choice. My father was amoner, an orphan; he was nothing, a young man named Terron, struggling to survive every day. He would work and work, and at the end of the day, thugs would take whatever he worked for. That was until he met a man. That man gave him words that changed my father''s life. The man said: ''Living a good life makes you a saint, but those saints go unrecognized. Living a true life, filled with conscious decisions, good or bad, to make progress, and covering it with fake goodness also makes you a saint, but this saint is recognized.'' This meant that my father should do whatever it took to grow and survive. As long as he covered his tracks, he would be a saint, loved by all. These words stuck with my father, and he ran with them. My father had a legacy, a high-rank one, but it was just at the level of a basic noble. If he wanted to give birth to children that would be the greatest in the kingdom, he would need to marry a high noble. So my father decided he had had enough. He would no longer waste his life and legacy. So he trained alone for many years until one day, a knight saw him and felt he was strong enough to be a knight. And so my father became a knight. He grew, through evil and good methods, while covering his tracks. He grew in magic and in swordsmanship. Soon, a great war happened, and my father, who had be a captain through blood and walking over others, became the hero of the war. His status rose, and soon, the former Duke, who couldn''t get a son, asked my father to marry his daughter. My father reached his goal; he had finally be who he wanted to be, but with a trail of blood behind him. So my father imparted all these words to me. He told me his whole journey and told me to make the right decisions, good or bad, and cover my tracks," Terron finished his backstory. Aaron''s father went and sat down. He looked at the ceiling and spoke. "I don''t know how to process that story, but you trusted me, the same way I trusted you. We take both of our secrets to the grave," Aaron''s father said. Chapter 138: what will you choose? Terron left Aaron''s father and exited the study. As he walked out of the house, he saw young Aaron holding a wooden sword and looking at him with wary eyes. "Hey, Aaron, why are you standing here?" Terron asked. "I heard you and Dad arguing. Will everything be okay?" Aaron asked. "It will, but you''ll have to be a very good boy. In the future, I may being to ask you for a lot of things, and you''ll have to do them to ensure your safety. If you don''t, people may find out the truth, and that would be bad for you and your father," Terron said and patted Aaron on the head. Those words impacted Aaron. He was scarred after the loss of his mother. He didn''t want anything bad to happen to his father and didn''t know how he would live with himself if anything did. And so from that young age, he taught himself to listen to Terron, doing whatever Terron asked of him just to keep his father safe. He was a young boy, yet he had done so many despicable things, things even his father knew nothing about. He swore to himself that he would keep his father safe, no matter the cost. --- All the first years stood before therge doors of thebyrinth. The area was crowded with a lot of stalls and shops because the area around thebyrinth was seen as a good business spot. The students waited for the teachers to finish up some details and then open the gates for them to enter. As they waited, Leah, who was behind Silva, looked at him and folded her fist tightly. She suddenly recalled her past. A seven-year-old girl fixing her bow in the mirror of her room with the help of her mother. And then suddenly, her father knocked on the door and came in. "Leah, they are here to check if what we believe is true," he said eagerly. Her mother carried her out and down the stairs, where a group of people waited. Among these people were some in white armor and white cloaks with golden designs. There were those in ck and purple armor as well. And then there were those with the armor of the kingdom. Some ordinary people stood there as well, a few she had known from a young age, like Matilda and Terron. Matilda came forward and spoke. "Leah, it''s nice to see you again. These people with me are from the empire and the holy kingdom. They want to help us find out if you are really a hero. We can already tell, but they would like to confirm," Matilda exined. Leah nodded, because she felt she was something special. She would be a hero, one of the great people that stood at the top of humanity. One of the cloaked men came forward and stretched his hand over her head. A light shone from his hand onto her, and her body responded by glowing as well. The man stopped and nodded at everyone. "She is indeed a hero candidate." That was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, the day she became very special, but that was only a pipe dream. Because after that day, day after day, she was taught magic from the age of seven. She was worked to the bone, casting and casting. Whenever she finally got a break, she would be given a sword to train, swinging and sparring. These were the instructions given by the empire and the holy kingdom; they asked that she be trained nonstop. She would copse at the end of every day, and her mother would have to bathe her and clean her body, massaging her to soothe the pain. Information was forced into her with countless sses and lectures, things that a girl her age would never have to face. But whenever she tried to give up, her father and mother would encourage her, telling her to push through the pain and everything. Because of this, she started to hate them. She slowly grew detached and despised them. By the time she was ten, she no longer spoke to her parents; she only trained and trained. But in all this, there was one person who showed her love and cared for her, and that was Matilda, who helped to make the whole thing easier for Leah. But deep down, Leah knew that Matilda was also ying her. They needed someone who could control her when she became a hero, and since she was already detached from her parents, they weren''t the right choice. That was why Matilda was used; Leah knew this. But her hunger for someone to care for her didn''t allow her to stop meeting and listening to Matilda. She didn''t want to go through this alone; she didn''t want to pass through this pain with no one to cry to, so she kept obeying Matilda. But recently, Matilda had given her a mission, one that caused her heart to be conflicted. She had never been conflicted when it came to doing things for Matilda, but now, she felt a great struggle. "Hey, Leah, wake up." Silva tapped Leah. She finally woke up from her thoughts and looked at Silva, who was looking at her with a smile. "You can''t be daydreaming now. We have to enter thebyrinth. You have to watch my back, remember?" Silva said and started walking towards thebyrinth with the others. Aaron passed by Leah. They nced at each other, and their eyes met for a moment, and in their eyes was hesitation. Silva, who was ahead, could see all that was ying out. "What will the two of you do? Will you allow them to control you and be my enemy, or will you break free? I really hope you make the right choice and be my real friends," Silva said in his mind as he walked into thebyrinth. Leah and Aaron also entered at almost the same time, and so did the others. Chapter 139: Brotherly fight When everyone was inside thebyrinth, thepetition had officially started. Silva''s group consisted of Fay, Lia, Sage, Michael, Aaron, and Leah. But before they could start moving, Oliver walked up to them. "Can I join you guys? I feel there''s no team here that I''d really fit in with," Oliver exined. ''So this is how you start your own approach, Oliver. Well, all good,'' Silva thought. "No problem at all, you cane with us," Silva said. They all started moving through the first floor with ease. They could hear the sounds of battles around, but they were yet to get into any fight. Thispetition was not exactly expected to finish in a day; it could take two days for some, and that was totally allowed. After a while, their first opponent attacked them, but it was a pathetic little goblin. Silva was irked at the sight of the goblin running towards them. He crouched low, snatched the sword from its hand, and used the broad side to knock it out. "I can''t kill it; it feels wrong," Silva said and continued walking. He couldn''t consider the goblin a threat, so he didn''t want to dirty his hands with its blood. So like that, the first floor of all twenty floors was useless, so they headed to the second and then to the third. It was on the fourth floor that some stronger goblins began to attack, and they used minimal effort to take them out. Silva could sense something with Oliver. Oliver was about to do something, and it was time to find out what. As they swatted the small fries, Oliver pulled out a crystal and cracked it. The crystal released a frequency that caused the ground to tremble and copse. It caused a lot of dust to rise. In that short time with the dust rising, Oliver ran to Silva and pulled him down into the hole from the copse. This was Oliver''s n to make it seem like it was an ident and they had been separated. When the dust cleared, everyone was there except Oliver. "Seems Oliver fell into the hole. We should head to the next floor quickly to find him," Silva said. "Why don''t we just use the hole?" Michael asked. "We can''t be sure where he fell; there might be a trap there," Silva said, so they all rushed through the fourth floor. As they left, Silva appeared where they had just been. "So, one clone each. Oliver thinks he''s with me, and Leah and Aaron think I''m still with them," Silva said. He turned around and summoned Lily and Aris. "Lily, Aris, I need you both to go and dig up all the dirt you can on Prince Alvin. Make sure you get a lot of dirt on him. After that, kidnap the prince, Terron, Matilda, and the council president of the academy. Keep them in thebyrinth till Ie back. You can torture all of them, but ensure you don''t break them," Silva said. It was the first part of the n he discussed with them. They nodded and vanished from thebyrinth. "Now to go and watch if my friends will betray me," Silva said and started heading for the fifth floor. --- On the fifth floor where Oliver and Silva''s clone had fallen through, they got up from the ground and cleaned themselves. "Sorry, Silva, I was trying to stop myself from falling and ended up pulling you into the hole," Oliver said with a fake sad face. "You don''t have to worry about that. Let''s just get moving; we''ll meet up with the otherster," Silva said, and they started moving. Oliver took the lead, and soon after, they got to arge door. Oliver immediately pointed at it. "That may be a treasure room. We should check it out," Oliver said and ran to push the door open. Inside was a circr room, and sure enough, a treasure chest was inside. Silva walked into the room and headed for the treasure chest. When he reached the chest and was about to touch it, Oliver spoke. "You actually fell for it. I expected it to be a lot harder. Seems I gave you too much credit." "What are you talking about, Oliver?" Silva asked. "This room¡­ it will be your end, the ce where you''ll rot and die for all eternity. Did you really think you would walk free aftering into my life to ruin it? You came to take everything away from me, and I refuse that. I refuse it, I refuse it! So you will die here, rot, be one with the dust, gone forever," Oliver yelled like a madman, then stepped outside, and the door of the room shut with Silva inside. "I did it. I can''t believe I did it," Oliver said in disbelief. "Did what exactly?" Silva asked from behind Oliver. Oliver turned around and jumped in fright after he saw Silva. "How? How are you here?" Oliver asked, already breaking out in a cold sweat. "You are pathetic, elder brother. Not only are you weak, you''re also a coward who tried to capture me to get rid of me. How pathetic. I guess it''s like father, like son. Whenever you face slight problems, your first thought is to use underhanded methods to get rid of the problem," Silva said with a smile. "Don''t talk about my father like that!" Oliver yelled and charged at Silva. "Who gave this dog the right to bark?" Silva responded and pped Oliver across the face, sending him flying into a wall. Silva walked to him and picked him up by the neck, lifting him off the ground. "Oliver, you''ve made your bed; now you will die in it," Silva said and sent a punch into Oliver''s guts. Oliver coughed up blood that spilled a little on Silva. "You good-for-nothing piece of shit, how dare you get me dirty," Silva said. He poured dark mana into Oliver''s brain, causing Oliver a world of pain he had never seen. He screamed and cried until he passed out there. Chapter 140: Real Friends Silva and the group walked through the fifth floor looking for Oliver, but they didn''t make any progress. So Leah brought up a solution for them. "Let Aaron, Silva, and I go one way to search for him. Lia, Day, Michael, and Sage can also go search another way." They didn''t really see any issue with this idea, and they didn''t think about it too much¡ªthey just did as she said and split up. Silva walked in front of the two of them, while still monitoring them closely. He decided to strike up a conversation, sensing the tension. "You know, life is really shitty. People controlling others, forcing them to do what they want, brainwashing them. They damage your psyche, cause you pain, and make it seem like they''re helping you, while slowly pushing you into a wall and taking away your life. Some may give you the false hope that they will protect you or someone dear to you, while in reality, they can''t really protect anything." Silva''s words hit the spot, causing Leah and Aaron to feel bad. So they decided to get this done and over with. Aaron pulled out the cube and pointed it at Silva. "I''m sorry, Silva," he said. Silva turned around with a smile. Aaron quickly activated the cube, and Leah ced her hand on his shoulder, pouring mana to help him. The box opened up into several parts, and a powerful suction force pulled Silva. Before Silva was drawn in, he said with a smile, "We make our own choices, and we bear our own consequences; no one else will help when the karma hits." Silva was pulled into the cube, which immediately locked up and fell to the ground. Immediately after, Aaron fell to his knees and started bawling his eyes out. He felt a huge pain in his chest, so intense that he felt like he would die. Leah slowly slid to the ground and covered her face. Silva had never wanted to be in her life; she was the one who approached him and became close to him. He never asked for theirpany, yet they got close to him. He never needed them; he was strong enough to fend for himself and be the number one. Yet he epted them with a smile, even though they knew he was cold and emotionless. But he still had fun with them and showed emotions. They had grown close after over a month with him, and Silva was a good guy. He was their friend. Yet they had backstabbed him. Never had they ever questioned the missions they were given, but this time they hated it to their bones. After a while of staying like that, Aaron got up and took the cube. "I can''t do it. I don''t know about you, and I''m ready to fight you, but I can''t betray Silva. Whateveres after this, I''ll find a way to survive," Aaron said. "Sigh. All my life, Matilda had been the one I listened to. I listened to her because she showed me care and attention. But Dimca did the same. He paid attention to me and cared about what I had to say or do. Yet he never asked for anything in return like Matilda. I know he might hate us after this, but I can''t betray him. Even if it is just once, I''d like to carry myself like a hero and do the right thing," Leah said. So both of them decided to free Silva. No matter what happened, Silva didn''t deserve any of this; he was a friend. "You guys made the right choice," Silva spoke as he walked toward them. They were shocked to see him, but they didn''t sense any hostility. "How are you here? We haven''t released you," Leah asked. "The fact that you two believed that cube could even begin to hold me was where your first problemy. What you captured was a clone, and the person you actually captured was that clone. I wanted to see what decision you would make. Would you choose to follow my stupid father and Matilda, or choose me? It seems I was right to trust you both. So, on that note, I''d like to tell you that your taskmasters will be punished¡ªboth my father and Matilda." "How? How do you expect to do that? Your father is an evolved and has mastered magic," Aaron said. "Funny, I beat my father even before I evolved. See, everything will be exined in detail to you. The most important detail I have to tell you as my real friends is that I am a demon king candidate," Silva said. Leah was taken aback by that statement, like, what the hell was Silva saying? Silva saw the disbelief in her eyes, so he allowed his horn and wings to appear, his eyes changing into dragon eyes. "I''m a ck dragon. Before you ask¡ªyes, I was born by two humans, but my legacy took over my body, the legacy of the dark dragon. It changed my racepletely," Silva exined. "Wait, I''ve heard of the dark dragons, but they should have gone extinct; their power reduced the rate at which they could reproduce," Aaron said. "I''ll exinter, but first, let me talk to Leah. Leah, you are a hero candidate, and I only found out recently. I know heroes and demon kings are enemies, but I don''t want it to be that way between me and you. We were friends before hero and demon king. And I want to keep it that way. Today, you proved that you have my back for sure, and you broke out of Matilda''s crazy control. And that assures me that you can be a friend that I can lean on. I may not be human, but still¡ª" Before Silva could finish, she ran up and hugged him tightly. "I''m not sure of how I feel now, but Lia and Fay might soon have to contend with me for you." Chapter 141: The plan Silva walked through the portal, followed by Leah and Aaron. As soon as they stepped into thebyrinth, Elsa ran to him. "Daddy!" she called out and leaped into his arms. "Daddy?" Leah and Aaron asked at the same time. "Don''t think about it too much; I''ll exin itter," Silva said as he carried Elsa toward the throne and sat there. But Leah and Aaron could not even move; they stayed put because of the beings they saw here¡ªthe Guardians, the summons, and Dawn were all here, even Aris. Even though they all hid their presence, Leah and Aaron could still feel their mighty presence. "Silva, where are we?" Aaron mustered the courage to ask. "You will address him as Master Silva," Drake said in a calm tone, but Aaron felt like his guts would spill from the pressure. "Drake, don''t worry, they are going to be ourrades after today," Silva said and then turned his attention to them. "This ce is mybyrinth, my domain. It was left by the several dark dragons that have lived here before. Elsa is thest of the dark dragons¡ªwell, before I came around. She inherited thebyrinth, and when I arrived, she handed it to me as the keeper, carrying the legacy of the first dark dragon. There is more that I''ll have to tell you about myself and my past, and I will tell you all that. But for now, I have to finish the case of those that tried to manipte us all." As Silva said that, the doors of the room opened, and some snake women and Minotaurs dragged people into thebyrinth. The people were battered, covered in blood, and devoid of any spirit. When Leah and Aaron saw who they were, they froze in shock. The Duke, Matilda, the president, Oliver, and the prince. Why did Silva have all of them here? These were people of status and power. But looking around, they could understand¡ªSilva could do whatever he wanted in this kingdom. They could easily tell that all the people standing here with him were national-level threats. If Silva went on a rampage, this kingdom would fall. "It''s nice to see all of you here; it seems Aris and Lily have done quite a number on all of you. But what can I say, you all deserved everything that you got. But I am not heartless. I''ll offer all of you a chance at salvation. I will state your crime, and you will have two choices: either be killed here, or get up and fight me. I''ll let you believe you can fight, of course. If you manage tond one hit, all will be forgiven. But I do not n to hold back even in the slightest," Silva said, and he stood from his throne and walked toward them. "I will exin your crimes from smallest to biggest, starting with my dear brother Oliver. You let a slithering serpent into your mind, and he filled you with lies." Silva lifted Oliver''s battered head and looked into his eyes coldly. "You are really stupid. You thought I wanted to fight for the family name with you? Do I look like I need that name? I have all I could want, and this little kingdom is nothing to me. There is only one reason I still stay here. But all that aside, brother, let us have our fight," Silva said and moved aside. Lily came and healed Oliver until he was in tip-top shape. "Oliver, now you will fight for your chance to live," Silva said. "Why do this? You are way stronger than me; you have proven that to me," Oliver said, not wanting to attack. "Oh, it''s for fun. You see, I believe that you should all go down in battle, so show me what you''ve got. And do not think of giving up," Silva said. He was about to move, but then his mind spoke to him. While he had been busy doing whatever he was doing, they cooked up a n that Grey felt was the right n for the situation, and when they told Silva the n, a smile formed on his face. "Aris, Lily, did you gather all the dirty information on the prince?" Silva asked. "Yes, we did," they replied. "Great, great, great. The only person I really want to kill here is Terron, my father, and I have found the method I can use to kill him as well as make all their lives miserable. So here is the n. The well-known Duke, known for his good works and honesty, finds the dirty little secrets of the prince. He discovers that the prince has been involved in all sorts of evil and illegal activities, and so the Duke makes up his mind to expose the prince. But the prince finds out, and he can''t really kill the Duke since the Duke was very powerful and he couldn''t defeat him. So the prince meets with the son, Oliver. He understands that Oliver is trying to be the new family head at all costs. So the prince gives the young Oliver an offer he can''t refuse: to help him find his father''s weakness and kill the father. After that, the prince would make sure he became the family head. Now Oliver is unsure as to how to do this, but the prince has made ns for this. He contacts the council president, who, after some research, I discovered was mentored by the prince some time ago. So now the prince asks the president to help Oliver, and so the n came into ce. They plotted to kill Terron, they cornered him and sealed his magic. And in that ce, they murdered Terron. But Matilda saw this, and she became the witness who reported the case to the king. And so, that is the end of my n. The only safe person is Matilda¡ªI n to use her before killing her. Now, if there is anyone that has something against it, speak up," Silva finished. Chapter 142: Killing Terron "Silva, isn''t this too harsh? That man is your father, after all," Aaron said. "Father? No, that''s not true. He''s a sperm donor, sure, but he isn''t my father. And living in a world where I biologically resemble this man sounds like hell. Therefore, I''ll do what needs to be done and get rid of him now," Silva said. Aaron could tell that nothing he did would change Silva''s mind, so he let it be. He felt all this was extreme, but it seemed like the best option at this point. "So, how do you ensure none of them will go outside the script?" Leah asked. "Simple. I use a dark curse on them, and the day they think of spilling the truth, their heads will explode into a fine paste, and their souls will be trapped in a void for all eternity with no hope of rebirth," Silva responded. Leah knew that Silva was a decisive guy, but today she realized he could also be very brutal and emotionless. "Leah, Aaron, there''s a lot you want to know, and I''ll tell you, but for now, we have to finish up thebyrinthpetition. The others must be waiting for us. I''ll have Lily get our captives ready for when the n kicks in, but we should get going," he said, and Elsa opened a portal for him. "Let''s go," he said to Leah and Aaron. They both nodded and headed into the portal to thebyrinth. When they arrived back in thebyrinth, Silva started sensing around for the rest of the team, and luckily they were still on the fifth floor, looking for them. Silva led the way, and soon they found each other. "You guys were gone quite a bit. We began to think you had gone to the lower floors," Michael said. "No, we just kept looking for Oliver, but we couldn''t find him," Silva exined. "We don''t have to worry about my brother. There are very few things in thisbyrinth that can pose a threat to him. We should keep going," Safa said. They all agreed and started heading into thebyrinth to finish thepetition. The whole twenty floors became a walk in the park for Silva and the group, and they finished in record time. They got to thest floor and killed the wolf beast that was there as the final boss. Silva simply one-shot the wolf. After they used the teleportation stone inside, they were sent to the surface and reported to a teacher what had happened to Oliver. The teacher told them they would head in and take a look at what happened to ensure Oliver''s safety. "So, are we heading back to the academy?" Michael asked. "I have something to do. You all can leave without me; I''ll be back," Silva said as he turned in another direction and left. Leah and Aaron watched him go and knew that it was to thebyrinth he was headed; he wanted to go and finish what he had started. --- When Silva arrived at thebyrinth, all of the captives had been healed uppletely. They were chained down in the throne room. "Alright, now to begin. We have to kill Terron, and the way to do that will be to first poison him. This poison will weaken his magic to a level where even the prince can kill him," Silva said. "Silva, don''t do this. I am your father. Please, I know I''ve been wrong to you, but find a ce in your heart to forgive me," Terron cried out. "Sorry, Terron, I am a dragon, and dragons have no pity for useless beings like humans, especially those that overestimate themselves. You should have never tried to kill me. I was barely leaving you alive, but you forgot that I have your life in my hands. Today, we end what is known as you; your memory will fade into the void," Silva said. "Lily, the poison, give it to him," Silva ordered. She nodded and immediately administered the poison through his skin, forcefully pushing it through the pores, causing Terron a lot of pain and making him scream. Silva, on the other hand, walked over to the prince. "You met me one day and decided that you wanted to capture me. Who does that? Who the hell do you think you are to attempt to capture me? Because your father sits on the throne? A throne that I could remove him from if I so wish. Once upon a time, I was under the government of you and your father. But now, I have grown past that level; you are just the sand beneath me that I walk on. You don''t qualify to be a threat to me." "Stop this, please, Silva. It may not be toote," Alvin tried to persuade him. "Seriously? Are you dumb? Do you think you have some sort of upper hand somewhere? Do you think the empire will chase me, or the holy kingdom will attack me for your sake? Those are the only human powers that threaten me, but your small, worthless country is nothing but waste, and I can do whatever I want." Silva ced his hand on Alvin''s head and forced a dark curse on him. Alvin could feel as if there was a chain wrapped around his heart, the information of the curse filled his head, and he knew what to do and when to do it. Silva took an average sword, freed the chains on Alvin, and handed him the sword. Then he went on to loosen the chains on Terron, who was already getting weaker by the moment. Immediately after he freed them, he looked at Alvin. "Fight and kill Terron here and now." Alvin looked reluctant, but he had no choice; it was his life and soul versus Terron''s life. "I am sorry, Sir Terron," he said and charged at Terron. Terron was weak and dizzy, but he still tried to react, pointing his hand and casting a little lightning bolt. Alvin''s sword glowed brightly, and he used it to deflect the lightning. Now that Terron was no longer at full strength, Alvin could take the attacks and deflect them. He got in close range before Terron could cast another spell and shed Terron across the chest, leaving a deep gash and blood spilling around. Terron fell to the ground in pain, and Alvin stood over him and stabbed through his chest without hesitation, killing Terron. Matilda and the president watched in shock, but Oliver beganshing out and screaming. "You bastard! How could you!" Silva walked over to his brother and gave him a clean p across the face. "Are you dumb? Do you think we are here to y? There is no moral conduct; my word isw here. Boohoo, your father died in front of you, cry me a river. That filthy man had no right to walk this world I am on, and as for you, I have not killed you because, well, you are a stupid kid easily swayed by rubbish, and youck the brains to think things through for yourself," Silva said, breaking Oliver down with every word. Silva went ahead to use the dark curse on all of them, and after that came the interesting part. "Now, I''ll teleport all of you to the locations you need to be. First location: Matilda''s office, where she is hiding behind the secret wall and watching Terron get killed. The guards and knights are on the way to your office now because they believe they received a crystal call from you, Matilda, from behind the wall. They will burst in and capture the prince immediately. Oliver will be too scared to run, and President, you will jump out the window and run, and they will chase and catch you. I aim to make it an authentic scene, so follow your lines, or you will die," Silva exined, and they were teleported from there right into the office. Alvinid down Terron''s body and held the sword over him. Matilda hid behind the wall, and the president and Oliver just stood. After a while, the guards broke through the door and tackled the prince. Everyone did as they were told and acted their part, with the president reluctantly jumping out of the window. But then he started trying to really get away, but the dark curse kicked in and caused his heart to feel like it would explode; he fell to the ground, unable to move. The guards gathered around him and arrested him, carrying him back to the academy. The news reached the whole academy in a few minutes, as only the first years were out today for theirpetition, so the other students were around to witness this. Silva, who was hidden and watching the whole thing, had a smile on his face. At least he was a little bit soft on all of them and only killed Terron. Chapter 143: Silvas mother snaps The news of the prince killing the Duke was impossible to hide; word got out in hours, and before a day, it reached the ends of the kingdom. It was a shocker, but what made people far more shocked was the fact that the Duke''s son, Oliver, had yed a role in this; he had aided the death of his father. And people could already guess the reason. Someone put out news that Sage was always better than him and stood a better chance of inheriting the family. Oliver had always felt inferior, yet he still staged to get the position no matter what. But then Silva walked into the picture, the unrivaled definition of a prodigy. His presence led to heavy insecurities in the heart of Oliver, and in desperation, the prince stretched out an olive branch to him. Oliver was too far gone to think and so epted this deal and sought to help kill his father. No one knew what woulde to happen. The king refused to give a statement, saying that he would speak on it and give his verdict after the Elitepetition. In that time, he would have the matter looked into in detail, and the Duke would be buried in grand style. The culprits would be locked up in a heavily confined prison and punished every day until the day of the verdict. They would be stripped of all status and rights until the verdict. Regardless of if Alvin was a prince and his son, the king needed to make the right decision, so he had to do what he had to do. Silva and Sage headed to the mansion when they got back and heard about the news. When Sage got home, she saw her mother crying, with other guests there, but Sage didn''t flinch. Silva could see her hand trembling, but she didn''t shed a tear. "Sorry, Mum and Sis, I had to do what had to be done; you are better off without those two," Silva thought. He found a way to calm his mother down and take her to her room. Silva sat on the ground in her room, while Sage sat on her bed with her mother''s head rested on herp. "What was the reason for Oliver to do such a thing?" Sage suddenly asked. "The answer to that is really simple, Sis¡ªme and you. He let his inferiorityplex eat him up. I''ve seen it once with my brother Mike. He even attempted to kill me once. You see, we bear a burden as people with talent, you and I. I haven''t known Oliver much, but I could tell he felt inferior, and in the end, it''s us who feel bad. Because we should have noticed and tried to help, but how do we help what we can''t control? It''s not our fault we were born the way we are, and whatever we told him would seem like we were looking down on him. In the end, all this has led to this. Oliver made a mistake, that''s all," Silva said. When he said that, his mother sat up and snapped. "Mistake? Are you joking? He decided to help his father get killed because his siblings were a little better than him. But I don''t me Oliver; he is my son, and I love him. It''s your father and this filthy society I me. They made him feel like he needed to be the strongest to matter. Your father fed him with words a child should never have to hear. He broke my son mentally. I''m not crying for that bastard anymore; I''m crying for the fact that he ruined my son. And the verdict for killing a noble is death, the verdict for killing your parent is death, and the verdict for attempting to cover the crimes of a noble is also death. Your father''s teachings and obsession have brought my son to death. He will be executed publicly; I know that is what will happen. The king is only using the Elitepetition as a way to buy time and find out from his son what really happened. Just like me, he is hoping to find one thing, just one thing that would save his son from execution. Now everyone feels that Terron was a good man who tried to reveal the secret of the prince. But I know the man I married; his trails are covered with the blood of those he used. If there is any secret, then your father must have been a part of it and wanted to double-cross the prince, so the prince had to kill him." "Mum, are you saying Dad had dark secrets?" Sage asked. "He does, a lot of them, but that is a story for another time. He is dead now, so I can tell you that all the good father act and good Duke act he put up is all a facade. When I met him at first, I loved him, and though I was told by my father to marry him, I also wanted to marry him. But soon after, I got to know your father deeper, and he was the devil. I learned about all that his father had taught him, and his father was far worse than him. Their rule was to get ahead by any means, and your father, even though already a Duke, followed that teaching like his life depended on it. I did everything possible to stop him from teaching it to Sage and Oliver, but because Oliver spent more time with him, he managed to instill it in Oliver. And now, the teachings have sprouted into this." She finished what she had to say andy on her bed. Silva got up and headed to the window. He opened the window to let air in and took a deep breath. "I should feel bad after this, but like always, I don''t really care. Seems my emotions will never be the same. Oliver, Terron, I''ll see you all in hell one day." Chapter 144: four winged angels parts 1 Silva and Sage had to return to the academy after a day with their mother. Their friends asked questions concerning the matter, and Sage exined what she could. The only two people in the group that knew the truth were Leah and Aaron. As for the rest, they were yet to prove that they were real friends with Silva. The issue had also made all of them forget about Silva''s sudden change physically. For Leah, Silva simply didn''t want to bring her into all the conflict, but he would soon tell her the truth about the whole thing. Since the king had said the elitepetition would have to hold even after the news of the crime, the date was moved closer. Now it was simply a week away, and the academy was yet to choose those who would go. So, they suspended all school activities and decided to hold duelpetitions. The people who had sessfully made it out of thebyrinth would be the ones to participate, and the winners would be taken to the elitepetition. The duel was set to happen two days after it was announced, and the selections would be made randomly starting that day. Since the duel was two days away with nothing to do, Silva decided to head to thebyrinth. His mission was to get to the bottom. Whatever that vision he got after he woke up was, it was telling him that something was in thebyrinth, and he had to find it. When he was finally done with thebyrinth, he would know what real next step to take. So he headed to thebyrinth and entered the first floor after greeting the guards, who were now familiar with him. "Alright, time to see what thisbyrinth holds." Silva walked through thebyrinth like he owned it, without regard for anything. The Mangledons that saw him refused to attack; it was like there was an aura about him that made them not attack. Silva headed deeper, passing all the floors all the way to the ninth floor. That was the only floor that had some Mangledon that tried to attack him. But when they attacked him, he allowed his aura to spill out, and the magic amount suffocated them and killed them in seconds. "So, magic in high concentration can be brutal to a weak body, or should I say radioactive to their body." He didn''t bother picking up their crystals and only continued moving; he also didn''t allow the kill notifications toe as they were very little to him and pointless. Sure, they added some experience to him, but he needed a whopping million exp to level up, and those Mangledons gave too little exp. Silva was getting ready to enter the dark levels of thebyrinth, but then a very dreadful notification came through. Dreadful not because it was scary, but because this was not the image he would want to have such an issue. [The minions of the greatest being are arriving] As soon as he read through the notification, the space started twisting and distorting more than it didst time. A portal appeared, and the minions walked out, but this time it was not just one angel. No, there were a total of six. Four of them had two wings like the first one he had seen, and the remaining two had four wings and looked regal and menacing. Just by looking at them, Silva could tell that they were very much stronger. Unlikest time, they disrupted the area and stopped signals from passing, so Silva would not be able to send a message out. Silva made a mental note to buy a skill that would help him deal with this particr issueter. The angels stopped moving as soon as they walked through the portal; they turned into statues. Silva didn''t waste time; he first took out his axe, which gave him the much-needed boost. He would fight them one on one first, and if it got too hard, he would summon his clones. He closed his eyes to use vibration sensing, and immediately the four two-winged angels attacked at the same time, moving at the crazy speed that he remembered. But he wasn''t as weak as back then; he had changed a lot and was a whole lot stronger. So Silva was ready for them. The first one stabbed at Silva''s head; he took a step back and parried the attack gracefully before stepping in and headbutting the angel. He leaped back to dodge the attacks of the two that had tried to nk him when he was dealing with the first angel. As hended, he changed his sights to the one that wasing from above in the air. He swung his axe upwards, and it hit with the sword of the angel; the force pushed it up and mmed it into the ceiling. Silva immediately used sh step to approach the first one he attacked while the other two were trying to divert and chase him. The angel he was charging at decided to use its ability; it stabbed its sword into the ground and caused time to slow down inside a dome. Only the outer angels could move freely; they thought they had captured him, but to their surprise, Silva was still moving at that speed. "I knew all I had to do was make you underestimate my speed. Your dome can''t stop my real speed," he said and sped up more. He cleanly lopped off the head of that angel. [Congrattions, you have killed a ######] [You have 20,000 exp, 10,000 Sp, 1,000 Stat points] After seeing this notification, Silva came to a conclusion: these angels must be really special. In the past, when he fought that one, it gave him several level ups. But now, it wasn''t able to give him the level ups due to his level up cap, but it gave him a lot of exp and stat points. He immediately turned and faced the other three, charging at them¡ªit was time to level up. Chapter 145: four winged angel part 2 Silva charged at the other three angels at full speed. They tried to attack simultaneously, but he was too fast and got behind them. With one powerful sh, he got rid of the three of them in one go. [Congrattions, you have killed a ######] [You have 20,000 exp, 10,000 Sp, 1,000 Stat points]x10 [Congrattions, you have killed a ######] [You have 20,000 exp, 10,000 Sp, 1,000 Stat points]x10 [Congrattions, you have killed a ######] [You have 20,000 exp, 10,000 Sp, 1,000 Stat points]x10 With that, Silva had simply made 800,000 Exp. He was really close to leveling up. But Silva had no time to think about that because the four wings had started moving. The two of them charged at a speed that was not just double the first angels, but up to ten times more. Silva immediately leaped back and dodged both their attacks that hit the ground and exploded, but the debris didn''t fly all around; it was as though they had been suspended in time. No, they weren''t suspended in time; they were slow, but very slow. From the slow-motion dust, the two angels charged through like rockets. Silvanded on the ground, spun his axe, and then shed down to attack. The first angel blocked the attack, and it caused a sonic boom that cracked the walls of thebyrinth. Thebyrinth was trying to heal up as they fought, but they were busy causing even more damage. Silva managed to block that attack, but he could tell that the base strength of this angel was way more than he could handle alone, even with the buff of the Minotaur''s rage. But Silva was not yet even using twenty percent of all he got; he decided to end this quick and head for the depths of thebyrinth. As the two angels charged at him, their speed caused cracks along the walls, but he wasn''t worried about their speed. Silva summoned two clones; each one had a strength of over a hundred thousand, since they were times ten of him, so he only needed two. The two of them appeared and shut their eyes while taking Silva''s most expensive and powerful swords. They charged at the two angels. Silva, on the other hand, decided to try something that he was yet to try, and that was his ck dragon form. He was now more dragon than human, and so he wanted to see how powerful he would be in that form. And with only a thought, his body began transforming, increasing in size and changing color. He rose to be over five meters tall and over twenty meters long. Thebyrinth was quite big and allowed his full transformation, but he could not move around how he wanted inside, but that was not what he needed now. His ck scales shimmered, his entire aura changed, and he looked like a great and powerful being. [Infant dragon formplete.] Silva was shocked to find out that this form was simply an infant form; he wondered how big his full form would be like when he matured. Silva felt his power soaring. It kept going until he hit an average of three hundred thousand, the highest amount of strength that he had even gotten to. But even though this was his true dragon form, he was still burning through his energy at a crazy rate, and he would not be able to keep this form for long unless he consumed enough food that would keep him energized. And what he was craving was flesh, as any dragon would. Now that he was in his full majestic form, Silva unsummoned his clones that had been holding off the angels. He opened his mouth, and a huge amount of his mana began transforming. They turned into a powerful ck me in his chest. The mes rose and rose until their heat could be felt all around even as it was in his mouth. And then he fired a thick stream of dark mes, sorge and so magnificent, unlike anything that he had ever seen before. Right now, this was the most powerful attack that he had ever done, or even ever witnessed. The mes consumed the statues'' bodies and souls. [Congrattions, you have killed a ######] [You have 40,000 exp, 20,000 Sp, 2,000 Stat points]x10 [Congrattions, you have killed a ######] [You have 40,000 exp, 20,000 Sp, 2,000 Stat points]x10 [Congrattions, you have leveled up, 100 free stat points]x10 [Special item unlocked, check inventory] Silva realized that a lot changed after his evolution. In the past, he never got free stat points from killing anything, and also he got only two after he leveled up, but right now, he got a hundred. He would be able to increase his strength by a lot after. That was not all, he also got a special item. He wondered what it could be. He transformed back human and put on some clothes before opening his inventory. [Special item ready, would you like to ess?] "Yes, give it to me," Silva said. [After defeating multiple #####, your body has slowly absorbed the universalw of time.] [You have gained a new ability, time.] [You have basic understanding and control of time]x10. [You have unlocked your first time spell, "cronos lock."] [Cronos lock: create a one-meter dome where the flow of time is under your control]x10. Silva nearly leaped for joy at the sight of this spell; he had gained the ability to control time as well. Today had been massively fruitful for him. He decided to try out the cronos lock. He took out a sword and threw it forward and then activated the cronos lock around it. Rather than a one-meter dome, it created a ten-meter bluish transparent dome because of his ten-times buff. The sword was caught in the dome, and Silva immediately willed for the time to stop, and it did. The sword froze right there in the air. He then sped it up to ten times its speed, and the sword fired with crazy speed. The sword couldn''t handle that speed and broke. Chapter 146: The Sword After testing out the time dome and getting satisfied with the results, Silva decided to distribute the stats that he had gotten. From the first four angels he killed, he had gotten a thousand free stat points each, which came to four thousand. With the ten times buff, it rose to forty thousand free stat points. And then there were the other two four-winged that gave four thousand together. With that, it came up to eighty thousand, and with the hundred he got from leveling up, that brought it all the way to eighty-one thousand. Silva was certain that he only got this much because of the angels; he had killed Mangledons, but no free stat points were given, so it meant that only special beings like the angels could give him that. In all honesty, he was thankful to them for attacking him and giving him an opportunity to increase his strength. Name: Silva (evolved) Race: Dark Dragon (80%), Human (20%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: 5,000,000 EXP: 10,000/1,000,000 SP: 2,000,000 Level: 2 (evolved) Strength: 15,000 Defense: 15,000 Speed: 15,000 Agility: 15,000 Intelligence: 20,000 Free stat points: 82,420 Silva just gained another crazy increase in strength; he had enough stat points to push himself up even more now. He decided to add fifteen thousand to all of his stats first. Strength: 30,000 Defense: 30,000 Speed: 30,000 Agility: 30,000 Intelligence: 35,000 Free stat points: 7,240 The rapid increase in stats caused Silva to feel drowsy; he managed to stop himself from fainting. "Alright now, my base strength is now simr to the guardians." Silva said, picking up the crystals that the angels dropped and heading deeper into thebyrinth. Silva understood that he had wasted a lot of time here, so he started rushing, unleashing his mana to ward off the Mangledons as he went floor by floor. And there was nothing brave enough to stop Silva, so he reached thest floor with ease. Standing before the great door, Silva felt a strange energy calling to him. He pushed the door, and it slowly opened. As soon as he stepped into the ce, torches on the wall lit up brightly, illuminating the circr hall. Silva looked around therge hall, but there was nothing¡ªnothing except the sword that was pierced into the ground at the center. It had a ck de that pulsed with some sort of energy. Silva used his dragon eyes to look at the sword, but he couldn''t understand anything about it. "It''s a pretty sword, isn''t it?" Suddenly, he heard Ophelia''s words from behind him. Silva immediately turned around and saw an astral form of her standing. "How are you here? Doesn''t it break order?" Silva asked. "Normally it should break, but not in this hall, and I''ll exin to you why. This hall disrupts order. Order can still infiltrate, but the best it can do is stop me from revealing too detailed secrets. As for the basics, it is all allowed, and the reason for this is because of that sword. There once existed a dragon that loved taking a human form due to his love for swordsmanship. That dragon was the first ck dragon, and that sword belongs to him, a treasure stolen by humans thousands of years ago and ced here because no one could wield it due to the strong will of the dragon. Thisbyrinth was then created using artificial methods to keep the sword safe and protected, while still allowing youngsters with potential to try and find the sword and pull it. But for all those years, no one was able to. That sword carries the will of the first mortal being to defy Order, which is the dragon. He was a being that rose above gods and all, and went against order, and in a battle against order, he almost won. What happened next I can''t tell you, but you will find out soon. But this battle against order was long after he left this world as the demon lord. He grew so powerful that this world was not enough for him, and so he left. But after he died for some reason, the humans infiltrated his former domain and stole his sword. And because of how much he disrupted order, that will seeped into the sword he loved the most, and so the will that exudes from that sword is what disrupts the order here. Now, to the reason I led you here from the beginning. That sword is needed for the task I have for you. It is the only thing you need from this kingdom. After you take the sword, you can do as you please for a while until the next stage of the task begins. Honestly, I''m grateful that you made it this far. Even though I hide a lot of things from you, you managed to trust me and follow my words." Ophelia expressed her gratitude. "Now is not the time for that. How do I get the sword? Do I just pull it out?" Silva asked. "No, you must defeat the will that is in the sword; you have to grab the sword and battle the will," she exined. Silva nodded without hesitation and walked toward the sword. He grabbed hold of the handle, and immediately the scene around him changed. He was in a white ce, absolutely white. And then a ck human-shaped being appeared, holding the sword of the ck dragon. The eyes of the ck being were glowing red. It looked at Silva, and Silva heard a voice right in his head. "How dare you try to take what is mine¡ªmy sword that I love." "Well, I am the one who inherited your legacy; it only makes sense that I take your weapon toplete the set," Silva said. "Liar, no man can bear my legacy," the voice boomed in Silva''s head. Silva tried to use dragon''s eye on this will. ############ ############ That was all he saw; he couldn''t read the stats at all. "If that is how you see it, then I will prove to you that I am indeed your heir," Silva said. Chapter 147: Big fish, small pond Silva decided that he would test the strength of this will first. He took out his sword and charged at the will. The will felt the threat from Silva. It moved, but only a bit¡ªa mighty ck me arc. The arc was several meters tall and massive. It moved at a speed that Silva didn''t expect. He managed to leap out of the way at thest moment, but felt the searing heat of the mes. Silvanded on the ground and rolled for a bit beforeing to a stop. "If that attack had hit me, I''d be dead for sure." For the first time, Silva felt dread facing a being. The will had yet to seriously attack him, yet he had almost gotten burned to ashes. Silva got up again and faced the will, but the will didn''t move. Instead, the surroundings started changing. It transformed into a battlefield with only the two of them in it. "Seems you''re taking me seriously now. I don''t know why you would do that, as you clearly just showed me you''re stronger than me," Silva said. He took out Minotaur''s Rage and got into a stance, ready to fight. The will didn''t move from its position. It simply raised its sword and pointed it at Silva. The sword started firing ming des at Silva. Each one was the exact size of the sword and moved faster than the speed of sound, causing ripples in space as they traveled. Silva swung his axe to block the first one. The collision caused an explosion, and Silva was tossed back. Hended on his feet just in time to block the second one. The same thing happened, and he was tossed back again. He managed to survive the first three easily, but as the will increased its firing pace, Silva was pushed back and hit with multiple me des. He rolled across the ground and finally came to a stop; this was the first time in a while that he had taken damage. Silva got back on his feet and wiped the blood from the side of his mouth. "Damn, I didn''t think the will alone would be this strong. How strong is the real Dark Dragon, then?" Silva wondered. He recognized that there was no way he would win if he tried to do this alone, so he summoned his clones. The clones charged from all directions, trying to nk the will. All of them now had stats over three hundred thousand, and Silva was sure even Drake might not be able to take one of them. Yet as the clones got close, the will swung its sword in a circr motion. The force from the swing sted and hit all the clones, sending them flying. The will immediately charged at the real Silva. Silva couldn''t even react to the speed with all his senses working at hyper-speed. The will got behind him and was about to stab, but a clone managed to use sh Step and intercepted, parrying the de to the side. However, the attack carried such force that it still mmed into Silva and his clone, throwing them meters away. Silva got up from the ground, bruised and battered, his healing factor already working to heal him. Silva''s eyes opened to the reality that there were beings beyond hisprehension, and he was still weak. This will now was only a small fraction of the real deal, yet he couldn''t stand against it. "Ophelia, I don''t know if you can hear me, but tell me, what is the strength of this willpared to the Dark Dragon at his peak?" Silva asked, hoping she could hear. "This is less than five percent, could be less, but I am certain it is less than five percent," she responded. When Silva heard that, he didn''t know how to take it. What was this being? What was the Dark Dragon really¡ªa world destroyer? "Last question, how does this willpare to the current Demon Kings and heroes?" Silva asked. "It is thirty percent of the weakest of them," she responded. "I see, so I''m just a big fish in a small pond." Silva felt a wave of anger, anger at his weakness, anger at the fact that he was nowhere near the strongest. So, to change that, he would defeat this will and take that sword. All the clones, including Silva, charged at the will. When they were close, they all activated Chronos Lock at a safe distance. All the Chronos Locks activated, and caught the will, but then it vanished¡ªit was only an afterimage. Silva looked up and saw the will descending from above. He immediately moved out of the way, and so did all the clones, putting as much distance as possible between them. The will stabbed into the ground, causing a massive explosion that left a huge crater. When the dust settled, it was no longer there. Silva heard another explosion and saw his clone flying through the air after being attacked, with the will chasing after it. "Support him!" Silva yelled, and all the clones, including himself, charged toward the will. They all shot dark bullets at it to try to take it down. But it was as if the will had eyes at the back of its head; it dodged all of them with grace and ease. Silva decided to try something else. He threw his axe with all his strength, and then made a n with one of the clones. The will saw the axe and simply dodged it, but unexpectedly, a clone brought out its dragon wings and used sh Step to get up there quickly and grab the axe. The clone immediately swung it down, and for the first time, they made contact with the will. The will still blocked it with the sword, but the force sent it rocketing into the ground and created anotherrge crater. Yet, immediately after it fell, it got back up like nothing had happened. Chapter 148: Defeating the will "Even with all my clones, I can''t stand against this Will; it''s way out of my league, but that doesn''t mean I''ve given up," Silva said and decided to pull off a move that would help him. All his clones created one clone each, which was ten times stronger than the former clones. His mana would burn faster, but he could handle that at the very least. Those new clones then transformed into the tail dragon form, while Silva and the other clones used the joker transformation. This was a massive burn of mana, so he would have to win this fight quickly. The dragons all flew into the air and charged at the Will, their stats well into the millions, their speed beyondprehension. They all opened their mouths and fired thick streams of ck mes at the Will, but the Will was too fast; it dashed out of the way, managing to deflect the attack. Then it countered by lifting its sword and causing a massive me tornado toe from the sky in their midst and push them back. Immediately, Silva charged at it with the other clones, and each of them drew the same card, the card of binding. They cast their cards, and glowing chains shot out of the ground in their hundreds to bind the Will. They all chased the Will, but it flew very fast. Still, the chains kept catching up until they were close enough to bind it by wrapping around it. They drew it down and mmed the Will into the ground. Immediately, as it was down on the ground, all the dragons fired a thick stream of mes at the Will. The Will forcefully shattered the chains and used the sword above its head to block the mes. It pushed back against all the mes with all it had, but this was not its full strength, so there was only so much it could do. The mes continued in a constant stream until the Will did something none of them were expecting¡ªit used abyss magic. A ck skull covered in abyssal mes appeared and started consuming the mes. It grew in size as it consumed the mes, which gave the Will time to retreat far from the skull. Silva wondered why, but when he and all the clones looked at the skull, which had increased in size, they noticed that it was about to blow for sure. They all moved away at their top speeds, and the jokers pulled out cards that formed a barrier over them. The skull exploded, and the explosion was so massive that the barrier cracked and shattered. Immediately after the explosion, the Will was already charging at Silva, and Silva was getting low on mana, so he decided to make a gamble. He ordered all the jokers and dragons to go into self-destruction very close to the Will, and they all did that. The Will was not expecting this; it thought they would attack normally. But when they came close, they started exploding one by one. The power of each explosion from overclocking their mana was immense, and by the time they finished, the Will had taken heavy damage. It was flickering and struggling to stay in its form. Silva, on the other hand, was also out of mana and was tired as well. He carried Minotaur''s rage, mustering all his strength, and charged at the Will. Even in this injured state, the Will was still powerful. It charged at Silva as well and went for the attack. Boom! Their weapons collided, and Silva was pushed back several steps, but the Will stood strong. It immediately charged in again for another attack. Silva blocked it this time by parrying the attack to the side, allowing him to take a step closer. But to his dismay, the fighting abilities of this Will were something else. The Will threw its sword over Silva''s head from the deflected hand into the arm closer to Silva. It immediately blocked Silva''s attack and pushed him back before kicking him in the chest, throwing Silva backward. Silva got up from the floor and immediately charged at it again. The two of them crossed des in an explosivebat. But Silva was still the one getting pushed back with every sh. Yet, he wasn''t without progress; as they fought on, the Will was getting weaker due to the injuries it received and the strain Silva was putting on it. Silva was also getting a good grasp of its fighting style, so he was formting a n that would take hisst mana and ensure that he took down the Will. The Will continued attacking while Silva constantly defended, watching closely until it was the right time. Then he activated the spell, Chrono Lock, and this time he actually caught the Will. He coughed up a mouthful of blood immediately afterward from the amount of mana he had spent. Using this spell had scraped almost all his mana, but he wasn''t done yet. He forced himself to stay awake and then cast another spell immediately by using his de to draw out blood. "Hell''s Gate," Silva said, and the gate opened, immediately consuming the Will that was frozen in time. The gate shut, but Silva knew it wasn''t over. He didn''t have a potion or anything to restore his mana and strength, and he was about to faint. He hardly carried any in his inventory, so for thest attempt, he decided to use his dragon transformation onest time, as it only consumed energy, not mana. As the gates of Hell were forcefully opened, Silva grabbed the Will with his ws and opened his mouth wide, consuming the very weak Will whole, before reverting to his human form and fainting. When he opened his eyes, Silva saw that he was back inside the hall, and Ophelia was gone. The sword of the dragony on the ground there. Silva stared at it for a bit and then bent down to pick it up. As soon as his fingers touched the de... [..... ] Chapter 149: plans for a kingdom de have acquired Abyssal de] Silva felt a surge of power flow through his body as he held that de; it was like nothing he had ever seen before. The system didn''t say anything else about the de; it didn''t tell Silva that he had gained additional stats or anything else, but Silva knew that by holding the sword, he was at the very least ten times stronger. "System, why are there no notifications or messages in the details of this sword?" Silva asked. [Current system level is incapable of calcting the value of this sword or giving even an approximate level.] [System requires an update to be able to understand this de. Do you wish to update your system for a million SP?] Silva had never known that the system was capable of even upgrading, but today he discovered it was, but the price was half of all the SP he had. He felt the upgrade would be useful; the system might be a cold boss over his life, but it had helped him reach where he was currently. It only made sense to upgrade it to get a better experience. "Alright, upgrade the system," Silva said. [System upgrade has begun; it will finish in forty-eight hours.] [All base system activities will be turned off; you can still ess your inventory.] The system upgrade began soon after, and the system went off for the first time since he had gotten it. Silva gazed at the sword in his hands with his eyes glowing in anticipation. "So this was the goal: to get the sword that belonged to the dark dragon. Finally, I have finished what I came to this academy to do," Silva said and started walking slowly. "What is the next step? I can''t continue to hide the fact that I am also a demon king candidate. I have reached a level where I should not be bothered by humans anymore. I should show myself for what''s toe, and what better ce to do that than the Elitepetition," Silva said as he walked through the corridors. "Why not simply rise yourbyrinth out of the ground and turn it into a city? You have resources and all that anyone would need," Mind Two suddenly spoke. "You asked Dawn to create a mercenary group, so let''s use that group as the first connection to the human world after you announce yourself. We may be strong now, but we must be cautious. The best course of action will be toy im to thebyrinth and the extensions of the fields and other forests that surround thebyrinth. You will dere them yournds and tell the kingdom that if they choose to fight against you, you will go into battle with them. But you must show them your military strength to let them know what they are up against. You havepleted the task of the goddess for now. Rather than go around crazily, it would be best for you to simply create your own kingdom and home and grow your resources with the help of the system. You only have to wait for her to give you the next instructions; it may take years or months, whoever knows," Mind Two exined. "What about the holy kingdom and empire, the other small kingdoms as well? Even our kingdom will not take it lightly," Silva said. "Indeed they won''t, but we have enough resources to ensure that we trample most of them and survive most of them. In thebyrinth, there exist thousands of intelligent races; we can have those intelligent onese out whenever they are born and be part of your new home. This kingdom also has a very crazy amount of very happening in the shadows¡ªbeast men and the like. We can save them and give them a home. Train them and feed them, making them a very loyal army to us," Mind Two exined. "I see. Now there are a lot of people that I need to tell my truth to before I go public: my moms, my father, my siblings, and my friends. We should gather all of them in thebyrinth and reveal the truth to them. Those that choose to go can go, and those that choose to ept me as I am can stay. I would like all of them to know who and what I am," Silva said. "Then why waste time? Order for them to be gathered already; the earlier, the better," Mind Two said. All the other minds agreed to this n, and so Silva contacted Elsa. "Elsa, I want you to do this for me," Silva said and went ahead to exin to her exactly what he wanted from her. After that, he headed out of thebyrinth with the sword in his hand, but because it had been a thousand years, no one recalled the sword and thought it was a special sword that belonged to Silva. When Silva headed back to his room, he saw that Aaron was not there; either he was out, or Elsa had done what he asked. Silva didn''t have much time to waste; he created a dark portal and walked through it, getting out in Dawn''s office for the mercenaries. When she saw him, she leaped from her desk and hugged him tightly. "Silva, I''m so happy to see you," she said. "Same here, but we can leave all that forter. The important thing now is to head to thebyrinth. Several guests are waiting for me, and I''d like you to be my right-hand woman," Silva said. Dawn eagerly nodded, and Silva contacted Elsa to make a long-distance portal right into the library of thebyrinth. He and Dawn stepped into the portal and walked into the library, where Elsa was waiting for him. "Daddy, the people you asked for are all waiting for you in the throne room," Elsa said. "Good, thank you, Elsa. Now can you help me get Dawn into nice armor, the best that you can?" Silva said. Elsa nodded and dragged Dawn deeper into thebyrinth. Silva, on the other hand, already had what he would wear. Ever since he came to the library, he had seen armor that he loved. It was a light armor made of dark dragon scales and Orichalcum, one of the strongest metals in their world. It shrunk and expanded using very high-end magical technology. There was also the cape; the cape was made of pure scales that had been tempered by dragon''s breath for years and beaten into a fine material. Very light and flexible, yet almost indestructible, it had a very nice engraving in the heart¡ªthe sideways head of a dragon made of dark purple. The whole outfit came to fit his new sword; it was perfect. Silva wore the armor and hung the sword at his hip. He allowed his horns to grow out toplete the look and let his dragon eyes glow. He was finished in his getup, and now it was time to wait for Dawn and Elsa. After a few more minutes of waiting, Dawn walked out wearing a new ck and silver armor. Her mighty sword was hung on her back; she looked like the kind of warrior men wouldn''t mind getting killed by. Her curves were perfectly matched by the armor, and all her assets; Silva couldn''t help but swallow. "You look great," he said, getting his head out of the gutter. She blushed in response and looked away immediately. Silva gave her a slight smile and then headed for the door; it was time for him to meet the guests. The door opened, and he walked out with Dawn and Elsa behind him. It was like the world entered slow motion as they passed. Everyone stood in the throne room, watching in confusion as Silva walked out. Fay, his father, both his mothers, Aaron, Sage, Leah, Michael, Mike, Quin, Roxy and Lia. All of them were there, confused at what was going on. They had all been going about their day when they were suddenly sucked into portals. They appeared here and were surrounded by powerful beings that could kill them easily, so they quietly waited for what was toe. But then, after waiting for so long, they all saw the one person they were all familiar with. Or was he not the one? Was it some different person that looked oddly simr to Silva? But was such a resemnce even possible? Those who knew Silva from Ribest saw Dawn behind him, and they all knew for sure that it was Silva. The others who had seen his growth spurt knew exactly what he looked like currently, so they knew it was him. But the air around him was so serious; they always knew Silva was far from normal, but it was because of anything serious. But right now, he was exuding a certain pressure that made all of them hold their breaths while looking at him walk to the throne. Chapter 150: Still our son Silva sat on the throne, Dawn stood on one side, and Elsa stood on the other. "It''s nice to see you all here. There are questions in your minds right now, like what''s happening, where am I, who is that, and lots more. Well, I''ll get into the details as to why you are here, all of you. So listen closely, this is about to be a long story. I am Silva Terron, a boy born with the legacy of a dark dragon. A legacy that changed who I was, making me be the heir to a dragon. I''ve grown up part human, part dragon for all my life, keeping this secret hidden. This ce where you are all standing is the home of the dark dragon, and as the heir, I inherited it. Now, the most important part, I am a demon king candidate as well. Oh, it seems the story didn''t take as long as I expected," Silva said with a smallugh. "Silva, what are you saying? You can''t be serious here, right?" Michael yelled at Silva. "Oh, but I am, Michael, I am. I''ve lived hidden because I had things to do and things you set up. But now, it''s time toe out of the dark. To my parents, to my siblings, and to everyone who cared for me and is standing here. The Silva you know is half a dragon and also half a demon king candidate. I am sorry that I never told you, but I feel that you can already understand the reason why I would have to hide something like this until it was the right time. The questions that are boiling in all your minds are valid, but if you think about it truthfully, you will find the answers," Silva said. "So, are you a spy for the demon kings?" Michael asked. "Nope, I couldn''t care less about them. I am simply the demon king candidate in name; I have no connection or friendship with them. Sure, I met with one demon king candidate who tried to drag me there, but I beat him up and sent him on his way," Silva exined. Silva''s mothers stepped forward, and Sarah spoke first. "Silva, are you still Silva, our son? That''s all we need to know. If you say yes, then whatever you are or im to be has nothing to do with us," Sarah said. Silva looked at them for a while, then he smiled and responded, "I''d never change a thing about myself. I''m still the child you both know." "Then that is enough for the both of us. We will learn more about youter. We are both sorry that we couldn''t see the real you despite being your mothers," Sarah said and tried to bow her head. Silva used sh Step, moving with almost teleport-like speed, and held her head up, not allowing her to bow. "You both are my mothers; there is no way I''d let your heads go down when I was the one who hid it from you all. I beg your forgiveness," Silva said and bowed his head to them. Immediately after he raised his head, he saw Lia''s fisting for his face. He saw the blow and didn''t react; he even reduced his defenses. The fist connected, and his head shot to the side like it would snap. "Thirteen years, how could you keep this from me for thirteen years?" she asked and threw another punch, but this time he dodged by stepping forward and grabbing her in a hug. Like butter, her defenses melted and faded away. He started whispering into her ear, "Because you are dear to me, the things I''ve had to do and carry out are things I don''t want for you. I wanted you to enjoy a good andfortable student life, learning magic happily, making friends along the way. I was going to tell you one day, but whenever I thought about it, I decided not to. I just couldn''t make you stop smiling by telling you," Silva exined while still hugging her. "Idiot, you idiot, why would I lose happiness when you are my happiness? My life changed from the day we met as little kids. You started off as the brother I loved, but now, you have be the man I love, and there is nothing you would do that would keep me away from you. If you wanted to burn the world, I''d stand by your side and do it," she said, then released him from the hug and walked back. Silva stood there a bit stunned by what she had said. ''She confessed so easily? She hadpletely thrown away the notion of brother and sister that we once lived as,'' Silva thought. "Hey, kid." Silva''s father spoke, and Silva looked up at him, waiting to hear what he would say. "The sword on your hips, what do you swing it for?" he asked. Silva subconsciously touched the sword, looked up, and spoke. "I am no noble hero. I wield my sword not for the good of the world, but to protect what''s dear to me, like the people in this room. And to be honest with you, I would set this kingdom aze to save one of you. I don''t care if you see me as a devil, but I''d reap as many lives as it takes to save even just one of you," Silva said. "You have a smart head on that neck, kid; you always did. Everyone can swing their heroism around, wanting to look like the good guy that saves all. But in reality, we are all selfish and self-centered, but still, selfish people make good heroes. I love the fact that you stated the truth about what you would do. But I want you to hold this little piece of information and add it to your mindset: saving the happiness of the person you lovees before saving their bodies. So you must learn to also listen to that person. Would he be able to live a guilt-free life, a happy life after finding out that hundreds of lives were taken for his sake?" Silva understood what his father was saying, though his pride was hindering it, not allowing it to really take root. Chapter 151: Micheal "Silva, it doesn''t really matter who you are. I still don''t understand everything properly, but I know you are still the same person you''ve always been," Quin said. At this point, everyone had basically epted Silva, but Michael suddenly stepped forward. "Traitors, all of you, siding with the enemy," he spoke. "Michael, this is Silva, the Silva you know," Aaron said. "And so what? I have sworn to myself that I''ll rise to be like the heroes and destroy the demons and all races attached to them. Yet now you expect me to ept one like that? If I had known his true nature, I would have killed him long ago. There was only one reason I approached you, Silva: I felt that with you, I could rise high enough to battle the demon kings and fulfill my dreams," Michael said and walked towards Silva. "Michael, I am the same person. Race and status don''t change who I am; you have to see me for who I am, not based on what you''ve been told," Silva said. "Told? Told? I wasn''t told anything. When I was only eight, my brother was attacked by beast men. He hid me in the bushes before they came. They tore him limb from limb right before my eyes; his blood spilled before me, his shouts reaching my ears. I was frozen in fear, unable to do anything¡ªI watched him get mutted by those evil creatures!" Michael yelled. "And so what?" Silva snapped. "Do you know how many beast men are killed daily? How many fairies, spirits, magical beasts, and other races? Do you know the brutality that humans have put them through? No race is inherently good; you just happened to see the bad side of one. Do you think your sad story justifies hate against a whole group of races? Are you dumb? Do you think the world revolves around humanity? Do you feel I am less of a human because I have dragon blood in my veins? You carry a hypocritical stance and stand against me," Silva said. From the very beginning, he knew there was something off with Michael. He could never really see a real connection, and now the truth had shown itself. Michael gritted his teeth in anger. He didn''t want to admit that what Silva said made sense, so he decided to block out Silva''s words and do what he wanted. He took out a sword and pointed it at Silva. "I''ll cut you down right here and now." "Michael, stop this. You can''t even scratch Silva, and you know this," Aaron tried to persuade him. "Silva, don''t fight; your mother is here," Silva''s dad said. Silva turned his head to look at his father. "Dad, everyone must grow. There are decisions I have to make as a man, and I can''t back down from this duel," Silva said, then looked at Lily. "Lily, create a space around me and Michael; no one is allowed to interfere with our fight," he said. She nodded and did just that, giving them enough space and pushing the rest out. "Michael, with the stance you''ve taken, there may be noing back from it. If you attack me with that sword, I will not hold back against you," Silva warned. "Go and fuck yourself, demon scum," Michael cursed. "WHY ARE YOU SO DUMB? Just let go of your hate and anger¡ªI had nothing to do with what happened to your brother," Silva yelled. The yelling seemed to piss Michael off even more, and he charged at Silva. Silva did exactly what he said he would do; he didn''t hold back. He pulled out the Abyssal de and charged at Michael. All Michael saw was Silva disappear from his position and reappear behind him. Silva''s base speed was already faster than Michael''s eyes could follow. Silva mmed the broad side of his sword on Michael''s back; the sound of bones cracking filled the air. Michael shot through the air and mmed into the wall of the dome. Michael fell to the ground, unmoving. The scene shocked everyone watching. Silva''s parents wanted to stop him, but they understood that there were things that had to be done¡ªMichael was the one who raised his de. "Heal him," Silva said, and Lily healed him. Michael got back on his feet after being healed. "Why didn''t you kill me?" he asked. "Kill you? No, I can''t kill a friend. I''ll beatmon sense into that dense head of yours until you give up," Silva said. "Don''t mock me, Silva!" Michael charged again. "I''m beginning to think you are too stupid," Silva said before kicking Michael across the face, sending him flying again. The back-and-forth process kept happening. Michael would get hit, thene back again, and Silva would smack him down repeatedly. Finally, Michael couldn''t take it anymore and gave up, but he refused to forgive or ept Silva. So, a portal was made for him to leave after Silva was begged to let him go. "Michael, it may have been short, but I appreciate the friendship we had," Silva said to the departing Michael. "You''ve made a mistake allowing me to leave here alive, Silva. I will inform the kingdom about you, and they wille for you. I''ll make sure you die," Michael said. "Haha, Michael, you have no depth. Do you think you''ll be special by doing all this? Do you believe you''ll get some reward? I give your kingdom twenty-four hours to attack¡ªthat''s the only time you''ll be able to catch me off guard, because I''ll be making ns after that. If you don''t kill me in the next twenty-four hours, you will never get that chance again. Your time is ticking," Silva said, and Michael walked through the portal. --- Immediately after Michael appeared in the forest, he wanted to start running to the kingdom, but he saw Silva standing before him with a sword. Michael didn''t know how to react, but before he could even react, his head was already flying in the air. The clone caught the head and burned it with Abyssal mes; he did the same to the body, then vanished from there. Chapter 152: Making plans With the issue of Michael dealt with, Silva could proceed with his ns. He took his seat on the throne and spoke to them all. "The kingdom will be enemies with me at first, and so that would mean you all will have to choose one side, either for me or against me. But I''ll let you know this: the kingdom will never be able to defeat us, not even in their wildest dreams, so the best choice is for all of you to join me. I have decided that the day we will announce our rise will be on the day of the elitepetition, so we will return to the academy for a bit," Silva said. He got up from his throne and walked down. "Family and friends alike, if you have someone you hold dear and want them safe, bring them here immediately after the announcement on that day. I will win the entirepetition, and that will give me enough attention and fame to make my move. Let''s take over this whole ce," Silva said. --- After the main discussion, everyone was amodated, and food was made avable without limit. Rooms were prepared as they would be staying here for a bit. Silva went to look for Sage and his mom; the Duke had died, and he had some things to discuss with them. When he found both of them, he took them to a separate lounge, and they began talking. "Mom, Sage, after what I am about to do, you can no longer be the nobles of the kingdom you used to be. You were supposed to receive the family name since Terror died. Now you may not be able to get that name, and you may bebeled an enemy to humanity if we aren''t careful," Silva said. "You''re worried about that, bro? I, for one, will follow you because you are the perfect leader, and I want to get stronger," Sage said. "My kids are the most important thing to me now. If both of you are staying here, then I don''t need the status or nobility. After all, when you establish your country, I will be hailed as the mother of the king," his mother said with a smile. "Phew, thank God. Then, Mom, I''d like you to meet with Drake and start drafting out our current wealth and resources. You have good knowledge of running things since you were noble, so I''d like you to help with that," Silva said. "I will do my best to help you, son," she said with an even brighter smile. "What about me? What will I be doing?" Sage asked. "Well, we will be returning to the academy soon, but I want you and the others to start talking about saving every beastman, fairy, elf, and other races that have been sold to the kingdom. They deserve their freedom and a ce they can call their home, and this will be the ce, so we will gather them," Silva said. "That''s quite arge venture; we need to know where all of them are to be able to save them all," Sage said. "Yes, indeed. That''s why I have two A-ranked adventurers who have been gathering information. I have also created a veryrge mercenary group that has been working while secretly collecting the information that we need. When we are ready, we will do what we need to do. Oh, and there is also an organization called the Dark des; I''m sure you may have heard about them. They have a lot ofworks to buy ves and have been keeping ves for a very long time to use for their experiments. I have gained information about all their brokers and business partners, the locations used to hide each and every ve they have bought, and much more that will prove to be useful," Silva exined. "Hmm, it seems you have thought about most of it. We can easily finalize thest details and have everything done. But for this, we will need a massive force throughout the kingdom to aplish what we need to do," Sage pointed out. "Indeed, and that''s why the hob goblins, orcs of thebyrinth, and other races have been gathered and are getting trained. They have been getting stronger and better, and they will be ready for the task," Silva exined. "I see. Then there is nothing much to talk about; we should round up and head to the academy," Sage said. "Yes, I just need to finish some things," Silva said and left the room. He found Drake, Lily, Jade, and Elsa, and then they followed him. "The number of beasts created by thebyrinth has always been the same, right?" Silva asked. "Yes, father, the number doesn''t change too much; it is always around the same amount," Elsa said. "Yes, but you have all noticed that thebyrinth keeps making races like goblins and orcs, but we can''t keep treating them as monsters; they are our brothers now. The kingdom we will establish is going to be a home to them. And so, because of that, the beasts that currently roam thebyrinth will be thest of their kind to be made by thebyrinth again," Silva said. "Master, does that mean you n to stop thebyrinth from making monsters?" Drake asked. "No, that''s not it," Silva said and took out the heart from his inventory. This was the heart that was used to make abominations. "This heart is capable of turning a ce''s living things into abominations," Silva said. "I see, so you n to infuse the heart into the core of thebyrinth, and that will make future spawns into abominations that even we can kill to get stronger," Lily analyzed. "Exactly, Lily. Every currentbyrinth dweller is now part of our new home, but as for the new spawns, they will be abominations that will keep thebyrinth running," Silva said. They finally got to a veryrge metal door, engraved with the drawing of a dragon. Silva pushed the door, and after a small creaking sound, it budged and opened. Chapter 153: competition The door opened to reveal a massive floating orb. It was bright white and the size of a small house. Silva was led toward the orb but didn''t get too close. "The core of thebyrinth. We will infuse it with the heart, and for that, I need you all to use your mana to suppress the mana of the core for a second," Silva said. "Thebyrinth works on this core. If we are to stop its mana, wouldn''t that cause issues?" Jade asked. "It will, but only for a second. All we need is one second; before the disconnect reaches all thebyrinth, the core will have been set back in ce," Silva replied. They all agreed and took their positions around the core, ready to go. The reason Silva had to do this was because the core''s mana would reject the heart. The heart needed to be inside the core, and the mana would be allowed to flow again, then it would assimte the heart, and the heart would do what it does best. Thebyrinth was generally a living thing, and so it could also turn into an abomination. That was exactly what Silva was going for with this stunt right now. "All right, on the count of three, all of you suppress it. One, two, three." When Silva called three, they all immediately did as he said. Their mana collided with that of the core and immediately suppressed the flow. Silva instantly used sh step. He ced his fist against the core, and the heart dissolved right into the core like it was made of butter. Immediately after he pushed it in, they all retracted their mana, allowing the original mana to flow. It came in contact with the heart, which immediately began changing it. The body of the core changed color, turning deeper and darker shades of purple, with several ck pulses. It gave off a new and more powerful mana form, and Silva could sense the mana of an abomination, meaning his n had worked. "Seems it is a sess. I''lle and check the next set of monsters that are spawned," Silva said. With that out of the way, he made sure to settle certain things in thebyrinth, briefing everyone on their roles to y. He also needed to have a one-on-one talk with Fay in secret. She was the only one not present, and that was for a reason. She had much to lose in this; her brother was in the academy, and her father was now a viscount. He wasn''t sure how she would take it if he suddenly told her the whole truth. There was a high chance she would have to side with the kingdom and be against him. If that came to be, he would hate himself, but whatever must be done must be done. A private talk would allow them to speak without any pressure or interruptions, and he would be the only one to know her response. This way, she wouldn''t need to worry about someone harming her for what she would say. --- The day of the school duelpetition kicked off, with several fights scheduled for the first day. Among the first fights of the day, Lia was paired against someone from ss A. Her opponent was also an ice user, so this was about to be interesting. Silva and the rest arrived at the arena and took their seats. The only person missing was Michael, but no one really paid it any mind. Soon the duel time arrived, and both students walked to the center of the arena. Lia''s opponent used a wand with a blue crystal at the top. She had dark brown hair and eyes and was a bit taller than Lia, with a well-endowed chest and back. It wasn''t that Lia wascking, as she was steadily developing as well, but this girl had already reached a level some adults never attain. Even with just her breathing, her chest heaved up and down, drawing the eyes of most of the boys. "You think because you grew up with Silva you can just cling to him always?" the girl suddenly asked Lia. "Huh? What do you mean?" Lia asked, confused. "I''ll make Silva see me today by defeating you. I''ve had my eyes on him for so long, waiting and praying for the opportunity to catch his attention. So when I heard I was paired against you, it had to be a heavenly sign that this was my opportunity. This is the time I''m supposed to take you down and take Silva''s attention. I will show you that my ice is not inferior to yours in the slightest, and you being in S ss was a fluke. I should be the one there with Silva," the girl said. "Hmm, I don''t think my Silva has a thing for delusional girls. You might as well give up now," Lia replied. "You! I''ll kill you!" The girl gritted her teeth and charged at Lia, flicking her wand and firing about ten icences at once. "Ten at once, pretty impressive," Aaronmented. "Indeed, but that is far from enough to stand against Lia. She is her own monster," Leah added. And indeed, Lia was her own kind of monster. She stomped her foot on the ground, and arge ice wall rose to block the attack. After blocking the attack, the ice wall shattered and reassembled into over a hundred ice des, all pointed at her opponent. The girl looked at the ice des and was filled with more hate, because in her eyes, Lia was only showing off to draw Silva''s attention. "I won''t let you have your way!" the girl yelled. Liaunched all the des at the same time. The girl tried to cast a spell to block the attack, but she was too slow. At thest moment, a teacher who was acting as the referee dashed into the arena using wind magic and deflected the most dangerous des while pushing the girl out of the way. The attack was so powerful that the teacher was not able to stop it all. Chapter 154: Taming the Guardians Lisa''s opponent got up from the floor, realizing that the referee had stepped in, and that meant she had lost. She snapped. "Why did you stop me? I could have handled it," she yelled at the referee. "I''m sorry, but there was no way you could have dealt with that attack. I''m trained, and I could see that you would not have survived it," the ref said to her. The girl began fuming, but there was nothing she could do now. She bowed her head in anger and left the arena. Lia also left the arena, and the next duel was ready to get underway. But after her duel, Silva had no interest in the others, so he decided to leave and deal with something. He told the others he was leaving, and then he exited the arena. Once he was in the hallway, he vanished into a portal. He walked into the room of the man from Dark de. He had let the man live by gathering information for him all this time. When the man saw Silva, he stood up from his desk and bowed. "No need to do that. Just give me all the information you have gathered on what I asked you to. After you give me it, I want you to run, run as far as you can, because today I''ll be wiping your organization off the map," Silva said. The man looked up in shock when he heard that, but he could tell that Silva was serious. He took off his spatial ring and handed it to Silva. "This ring contains all the information you asked for, down to the littlest details," he said in a shaky voice. Silva took the ring from him and wore it on his finger. "You can leave now," Silva said. The man got up and ran out of the room at top speed, not looking back at all, scared that if he looked back he would die. Silva walked to the chair and sat down on it. He leaned back and ced his feet, crossed, on the table. He started humming some tunes he remembered from Earth. As his mind drifted to Earth, he started thinking about Earth''s technology. If he incorporated some technologies from Earth into this magical world, he mighte to have the strongest kingdom. "Elsa, bring the guardians and all my summons to the throne room. I''ll be there in a few seconds," Silva said to Elsa telepathically. "Alright, I''ll get them there," she said. Silva stood from the chair and created a portal. With how much mana he had now, entering thebyrinth was not an issue anymore. He walked through the portal and arrived there, and everyone was already there waiting for him. He walked up and took his seat. He pulled out the ring that the man had given him. From inside the ring, he pulled out several documents and stretched them out to Lily. Lily came forward and took all of them. She skimmed through them at a crazy speed and then handed them all back to Silva. Silva took the documents and then asked her, "So tell us what you gathered from it." "The Dark des have over twenty branches spread across the kingdom. They created a spiderweb sort ofwork. It allows a fast method for them to transfer resources from ce to ce. It''s not very safe because the routes remain the same for every transfer. They have fixed storage points and fixed bases. But ording to this, the master of this organization is the only thing that is really secured. His location changes weekly to ensure no one knows his location. But even with that, there are ten locations where he is moved to weekly. Though the movement pattern is very well mixed to ensure irregrities, it seems the person who gave you this information was really high up the ranks. He was able to gather the movement pattern of the leader for thest three years, and now using that information, I was able to easily know that he would be in the location tagged number eight as of today and will change in three days'' time. The location is in a small town, Ariuim. Now about the ves that were bought, the ones that are yet to be sold are kept at three major storage points. One is located in the capital, and the second is at the city of Aston. There are several smaller groups spread across their bases, but these two locations have more than a hundred ves captured. Also, ording to his reports, the leader is evolved, and there are also three evolved people in the organization, so you should be cautious of them," Lily finished what she had to say. "From the breakdown that Lily has given us, it''s safe to say we can easily crush this organization and get rid of them. But let''s leave that till tonight. The main reason I came here today is to remind you all that I have evolved, and that means I can make all the Guardians my summons. You are all very powerful, but with my legacy, you will all gain a tenfold buff. Like I said, I want to create the strongest force on this. Still, I''d like all of you to put limiters on your powers whenever you fight. The greatest way to win is to make the enemy underestimate you. Many of you wille to fight the demon kings and heroes and even more in the future. So we must be stronger. I will not be forcing anyone. If you want to be my summon, step forward, and we will make the contract," Silva said. Sx came forward first and bowed her head. "We are already yours to use, so this is an opportunity for us if nothing else." "Thank you, Sx," Silva said and shook her hand. The system was not yet upgraded, so he would not receive any notifications about the summoning, nor would he be able to see her stats. But summoning was his magic, so he would be able to use it without issues. Silva also made a mental note to buy spells from the systemter on summoning. The only summoning he had really done was taming, and that in itself wasn''t really a summoning. The light of the summoning ritual shined, and the mark appeared on Sx. She felt a burst of power rush through her body, unlike anything she had felt before. She became ecstatic and hugged Silva. She knew that his summoning would increase her strength, but she never expected it to be this much. "Sx, you will crush my ribs," Silva said, and she finally let go of him. After her, all the guardians came to him one by one and became his summons. When it was the Wyvern, Silva gave him a smile because he was the one he had fought first, who taught Silva that there were stronger people in this world. The demi-leviathan, or human-snake Jade, did the same as Sx and wrapped her tail around Silva to embrace him. When it was time for Drake and Lily, they both gave Silva a smile, and then Lily spoke. "To think we could still have the chance to grow stronger, you were always the right choice." Silva didn''t know how to respond, so he carried out the summoning on them as well. It was after he finished their summoning that Silva realized his mana was dropping heavily. Summoning was magic, and magic used mana, and the beings he was taking were really powerful. He felt dizzy after he finished the summoning. He wanted to sit down, but then Elsa and Aris called him at the same time. Silva looked at them, and all his instincts were screaming that he shouldn''t do it; they would definitely consume his mana. Aris was as strong, if not stronger, than Drake, and then there was Elsa, who, without anyone even telling you, you would know she was the strongest here¡ªa pure dark dragon. "I''m not sure I have enough mana to carry out the summoning for the both of you now," Silva said. "You will survive for sure," Aris said. Silva still wanted to refuse, but he looked at Elsa, who had puppy eyes looking at him, so he decided to do it. He activated the summoning for Aris first, and it worked, but he burned almost all his reserves. He staggered towards Elsa. He cast the spell, and like a ck hole, it sucked all his mana. Luckily, he seeded, but he fell backward and immediately fainted. --- Silva''s eyes opened up, and his ears were filled with the sounds of cars passing at high speed. Silva was confused immediately; these were sounds he had not heard for years now. He looked around and realized he was seated on a bench in a town that resembled one from Earth, by the side of a road. "What the hell is going on?" Silva asked. Chapter 155: White Figure As he sat on the bench wondering if he was dreaming or what, suddenly there was a rip in the fabric of space, and apletely white human figure with four arms walked out. Immediately Silva saw it, he got on his feet, ready for anything. "You do not belong here. I will exterminate you, outsider." Silva heard the voice right inside his head; he could tell it was that being speaking. "I didn''t n to be here. I don''t even know why I''m here. I''d like to go back to where I was, but I don''t know how," Silva said. "You do not belong here. I will exterminate you," the figure repeated and stretched out its hands. Before Silva could say anything, it fired a very thick beam of bright light. Silva leaped out of the way. The beam struck the ground and dug tens of meters into it, almost a hundred meters long, destroying the sidewalk and immediately sending all the humans around into panic. It seemed they couldn''t see the being firing at them, and Silva looked like a normal human; there was no way he did that. After Silva dodged, the being became enraged and used all four arms to fire beams at Silva. Silva immediately took out the Abyssal de and used it to block the attacks. The attacks were sessfully blocked, but the force threw him into a building, smashing through the walls. He rolled and tossed until he came to a stop, but before he could even stand up, the top of the building was ripped offpletely. The white figure was levitating over the house, and as soon as it spotted Silva, it immediately fired another four beams, regardless of the people in the building. Silva didn''t have time to worry about their safety. He used his sword once more to deflect the attacks, this time holding the sword even tighter and taking a stance that allowed him to withstand the attack. The ground underneath him cracked, but he kept standing. When the attack finished, he used sh Step to leave the building and run as far as he could. He stopped and turned around to see the white figure flying toward him at a crazy speed. He covered his sword with Abyssal mes and charged at the figure. His wings emerged as he flew into the air and shed, firing a massive me arc. The figure paused mid-air and fired four beams that collided with the me arc, causing an explosion sorge that houses and buildings around were blown to smithereens. The two faced each other in the air. Silva was trying to understand what exactly was going on, but he was getting nowhere. So he decided to kill whatever this thing was and figure it outter. He summoned his clones, and they moved to nk the white figure. The white figure began firing beams all around, trying to hit the clones, but they dodged and flew around him, distracting it enough for Silva to charge at him and plunge his sword into the chest of the white figure. But Silva didn''t feel like he struck anything; it was as though his sword passed through air. He looked at the figure, and it suddenly teleported a good distance away. After teleporting, two rips in space appeared, and two more of the white figures emerged. Silva could immediately tell he was in a lot of trouble now. The three figures charged at the real Silva, ignoring the clones. All the clones used sh Step and created a blockade in front of Silva. The figures fired their beams at the blockade, and the clones started deflecting them. Silva, behind the wall, was busy trying to figure out how to battle them, but his clones telepathically told him to run. When he looked up to see why, he saw the figures had worked together to form a veryrge ball of their power and were about to release it. Silva could tell that if he was caught in that attack, it would not be funny. He immediately retreated with the clones as well, and everyone covered themselves with scales to take the st. The figures released the attack, and it fell to the ground and exploded. The explosion was so great it cleared a full one-kilometer radius and leveled all the houses there. After the explosion, Silva undid his scales. Even from behind them, he still felt the brunt of the explosion. It was no joke, but it was not enough to kill him. When the figures saw that Silva and his clones were still alive, they charged at him again. Silva took his sword and flew towards them as well, with his clones close by. Some of the clones tried to enter the Joker of the Abyss mode, but for some reason, they couldn''t; something was hindering it, so they had to rely solely on their strength. Silva transformed into a full dragon and handed his sword to one of the clones that sat on his back. When they were close, he fired a thick stream of dragon''s breath to slow down the enemy. The clone on his back leaped into the air and through the mes. It cut the three figures in half simultaneously. And like before, it felt like he was slicing nothing. The clone immediately retreated back to Silva''s back, and they all retreated. As expected, there was a rip in space, and six more of the figures came out. Silva didn''t know what to do anymore. If he attacked, they would summon more, and if he didn''t, they would kill him. But he still had to move. He would let his minds think of a solution while he fought. He was about to go in again when a portal appeared behind him, and a hand came to pull him in. When he came through the portal, he looked for who pulled him and saw the goddess Ophelia. Chapter 156: godly assassination attempt "I''m lucky to have discovered you quickly; you would have died in that ce today," Ophelia said as she headed to her chair and sat down. Silva walked toward her and began asking, "What the hell is happening? How am I here?" he asked. "Sit down, I''ll exin what happened¡ªall the details. Normally, I should not be able to, but the actions of the person that did this have distorted order a bit, so I can tell you." Silva took a seat as she said and waited for her to exin. "I was watching things from here. I saw you make the guardians your summons, and then you fell unconscious. I thought it was something normal, but then I slightly detected a shift in reality and decided to check it out. That was when I discovered that someone was tampering with reality. The power was grand, so it must have been a god or someone at that level. They shifted reality in a way that made two of you and sent one of you back to Earth." "Wait, created two of me? How is that?" Silva asked. "Gods that have the power to shift reality can create dual realities for a person. The weaker the being, the easier it is. For you, the system has been protecting you from such things for a very long while; it stops interference and much more. But the system was on update, and you were unconscious. Your entire security system was down, so whoever did this used the perfect time to create a second reality for you back in your first," she exined. "Why would anyone do that? What do they want to achieve by sending me back?" Silva asked. "Your death. They want you killed. You see, if they sessfully get you killed in any of the two realities, you die in both. When you enter a world through such means like reality cloning, it is considered illegal by Order. One being should not exist in two worlds normally. And so Order will seal or remove you from the world that is not yours, and that is where those white figurese into the picture. Those things you saw there are the most feared beings¡ªeven we gods fear them. Whenever one attacks you, you have to find a way to escape as fast as possible. Because they can''t die, they can''t be killed. They are the physical form of Order; they live to ensure that Order remains intact. When you arrived at the world, one was sent to see what you are and how strong you are. If you managed tond an attack, it would not die. It would onlye to see you as a higher-level threat, and it would send two more to fight. If you manage to hit them again, it will not take damage, only send more to attack. If I had note, you would have battled thousands of those things to no end, until millions, and even more. They would keeping until you die. And no matter how you fight, you will not be capable of killing even one, yet they can kill you. Many gods who broke Order had to fight those things, and they all died in the end," she finished her exnation. "So Order is this dreadful. Whoever did this knew that I would incur the wrath of Order, and my death would be certain," Silva said. "Indeed. It seems, for some reason, a god or evil god has set their sights on you, and they want you dead. Luckily, we survived this one. You can''t stay here much longer, so I''ll help you go back. All I have to do is make the real you wake up. Once you have woken up, the cloned reality of you will shatter without issues," she exined. "What about what we discussed here? Will I be able to remember it?" Silva asked. "You will. Your cloned reality will only be going back to merge with your real body. I''d advise you to find methods to protect yourself from such things in the future. I''ll do my best to look into who did this. I''ll find the culprit, no matter what; no one will tamper with my world," she said resolutely. She snapped her fingers, and Silva started fading away from there. When he opened his eyes, he was back inside thebyrinth, lying on Dawn''sp. His head ached a bit but stopped after a while. He immediately sat up, which seemed to make Dawn unhappy, judging from the frown on her face. "Sorry for causing you trouble, Dawn," Silva said. "It was nothing; I''d prefer if you had stayed longer," she responded. "Sadly, I can''t, Dawn. I have a duel today. Tell the others I woke up and left. I''ll thank you properly next time," Silva said. He created a portal and jumped into it. When he arrived on the other side, which was his room, his face was flushed red, and his heart was racing. When he woke up and saw her face looking down at him, his body felt hot all over, which was why he ran away quickly. "Will I keep running away from all of them? Every time I find a way to escape from them," Silvained. He let out a sigh andy on his bed to think. He had a few hours until his duel, so he decided to take this time to analyze what had happened. What god would want him dead all of a sudden? It didn''t make sense, but he hadn''t believed inmon sense since he came to this world. ording to what he knew, the Dark Dragon was a being that even the gods knew about. It could be that one of the gods had discovered he was the heir of the Dark Dragon and wanted to end him quickly to avoid the rise of the second Dark Dragon. Still, all these were baseless hypotheses. He needed to wait to hear from Ophelia, and that might take a very long time. Chapter 157: opponent When it was time for his duel, Silva made his way to the arena, but his opponent forfeited and refused toe out, which made Silva win. He didn''t really care about the duel; however, he was fine with it, so he left the arena. As he was moving out, one of the instructors met him in the hallway. "Silva, all your fights have been forfeited, except for one. He is a boy from B ss; he didn''t forfeit," the instructor said. "Okay then, it would be best if I go over it, right? Can I please fight him now if it is alright? The next duel has yet to start, and it is still basically my time now," Silva said. "Alright, I understand. I''ll pass the word; the fight will be ready in five minutes." Silva nodded, and the man left. Five minutester, the fight was announced, and the two of them walked to the stage from opposite sides. As soon as Silva saw this dude, with jet ck hair, pale skin, and sunken eyes, he felt that something was off. He used Dragon Eyes to watch the energy flow of this boy and saw that there were two flows of energy: one was blue, which was the normal one. But then there was a red, ominous one that felt dangerous and powerful. This boy had definitely put his hands into things that he was not meant to. "You believe that you are a big shot just because you have been slightly more talented than others? Well, today I''ll show you that everyone can be just as good," the boy yelled and took out a wand. "Vine Bind." He cast his spell, and thick vines shot from all over and attacked Silva at the same time. Silva let out a smirk. The vines covered him entirely, but the sound of shing was heard, and they all fell to the ground. He spun the Abyssal de a bit in his hand before stabbing it into the ground and using it as a crutch to lean on. "If you are going to fight me, you bettere at me with all you have, or you may end up severely injured," Silva said. "Don''t mock me!" he yelled and stretched his wand again. This time, the vines were longer and dark purple. Silva shed through them to clear the way, then he used Dragon Eyes and saw that the energy that had taken over was the red one. It made the boy''s attacks faster and more powerful, and from the dripping purple liquid that Silva saw as he cut them, he also knew that they were poisonous. "Whatever that power is that you are using, it is eating away at your life force. You may not be alive for very long if you keep this up," Silva said. "Shut up," the boy said. He threw away his wand and started charging at Silva; his entire arm transformed into thick, twisted purple vines. When he was close, heshed them at Silva to hit him from both sides. Silva used Abyssal mes and shot out an arc that collided with the arms and caused an explosion. The boy yelled in pain as the tops of his vine arms exploded, but they grew back in seconds, and he attacked again, with even more speed. He kept attacking, but Silva kept blocking and dodging, and that pissed the boy off. "Arghhhhh!" The boy fell in anger, and the power inside him responded. Four twisted vine limbs shot out of his back, giving him six arms in total. With this, the boy felt more confident and charged at Silva again like a beast. Silva responded by shing downwards and firing another me arc. The boy used all his limbs to block the attack, causing another explosion and pain. When the explosion cleared away, Silva had vanished from the boy''s sight. The boy immediately tried to look for Silva, but his danger senses screamed, and before he could even react, Silva was at his neck with his sword. "It''s over; I win," Silva said, and that seemed to be the button that pushed the boy over the ledge. The boy snapped. "Get away from me and die!" he yelled. Several more vine limbs shot out of his back in an attempt to grab Silva, but Silva had already moved. Using sh Step, he got right in front of the boy again. Using Dragon Eyes in that instant, he saw that the red energy hadpletely taken over the boy''s body. His face began distorting into some sort of wood-like demon with two horns made of dark wood growing on its head. The vine arms spread apart to form demon-like wings. His entire body was then encased in vines, throbbing and pulsing. "Hahahahaha!" The boyughed, but it sounded like there were two people inside rather than one. "You puny human, I''ll rip your heart out of your chest," the boy said and bolted towards Silva. Its speed was crazy, and it got to Silva in a sh and threw a punch at him, but all it hit was an after image. Silva appeared in the air above and came down with his sword, stabbing through the back of the boy, through his heart and into the ground. His purple blood filled the ground in no time as Silva drew his de. The teachers immediately rushed to the scene. The moment they saw him transformed, they knew something had gone wrong. Luckily, Silva made it quick. Yet how could Silva choose to take a life so easily, a person that was his own age, yet still stand like nothing happened? Silva didn''t bother himself with anything else; he walked off the stage under the gazes of his mates. How they would see him after this didn''t really matter to him because it was only a matter of days before the whole kingdom knew who he truly was. Chapter 158: Matildas plot When Silva left the arena, he quickly went through a portal back to thebyrinth and into Lisa''sb. "Lisa, there is something I need you to take a look at." Lisa was busy working on something, but she turned her attention to Silva as soon as he walked in. Silva handed her his sword, covered with the blood of the boy he killed. He was suspicious of the energy that was in that boy. It wasn''t to the extent that he would have cared to find out, but when he saw that the teachers didn''t try to apprehend him for killing, he understood that they knew something. They knew what energy that boy was exuding, and they knew it was a risk¡ªand Silva had stilled the risk. Now, Silva''s curiosity was piqued, so he decided to find out what exactly it was. The blood had begun to dry, so Lisa scraped some off into a small crystal te and infused her mana into it, breaking it down to understand theposition of the blood. Then she paused for a bit, looked at Silva, and then looked at the te again. She dried the te and moved to a cab to take out a bottle with blood in it. "Demons are said to be the ancestors of vampires, and it was the demons who created the vampire from a human. So vampires share very simr energy and blood structure with demons. Because it''s impossible to get a sample of demon blood, I decided to take some from Drake and study it. It was so I could have a general idea of what demon blood would be like. Now, when I checked this sample, it felt simr to that of Drake. The bottle I''m holding now contains Drake''s blood." She put a drop on another te and did the same thing she did to the first sample. "As I thought, it is simr. The only difference is that the sample you gave me is far less potent, but it does have the same qualities as Drake''s blood," Lisa said and ced the te down. "So what does it mean?" Silva asked. He already had an idea but needed confirmation. "It means that somehow, this kid got his hands on some demon blood, vampire blood, or something simr. He ingested it, and it gave him more power, but slowly consumed him. It should be impossible for a child like him to get his hands on something like that. Demons do not exist in our realm as of now, and the closest things are vampires. But when the blood of a vampire leaves its body for too long, it turns to ash. You would need a special device to capture the blood and keep it in a good state. There is no way a child would be able to get his hands on something like that unless he was given it by somebody powerful," Lisa exined. "I see. Then this has to be the work of the academy, and from the way the teachers reacted, it means they must have been informed a little," Silva said. "Thank you, Lisa. I''ll be going now; I need to deal with this issue and understand what is going on," Silva said and left herb. He immediately returned to the academy, appearing right inside Matilda''s office. She was shocked to see him walk out of a portal, but she tried to hide it and wee him. "Silva, it''s nice to see¡ª" "Cut the crap. You and I both know you hate me right now," Silva said, taking a seat. "I''ll be straight with you. I know you know what happened during my duel, and that a student died. I went ahead to do a little research and discovered that this boy had taken something dangerous. Now, you know you can''t lie to me, so tell me, what did you give that boy, and why?" Silva asked. Matilda was reluctant to talk, but if she didn''t want to die, she would have to spill everything here. "It was synthetic demon blood. Not many know the truth about demons, only a select few¡ªeven among the top people of this kingdom, only a few know. The Empire has been conducting an experiment to create synthetic demon blood. They sent it to us to test, and the king allocated some to me to test its efficacy. That was when I thought this could be my chance. It was impossible for me to hatch a n against you, so I started observing the first-year sses. And there, I met the boy you fought, with his hatred for powerful people in the S ss. So I thought he would be the best fit for the blood. We gave it to him, saying that if he took it, he would be able to fight the strongest in the S ss. And so he did, and then he was matched up against all of the S ss, starting with you," she revealed everything to Silva. "So, even after I put a dark curse on you, you still found a way to plot against me without the curse detecting it. Seems I''ll have to make my curses better in the future, but that''s beside the point. I find it funny that after knowing who I truly am, you still thought that boy had a chance to kill me. Even if he ingested a whole gallon of the blood, he woulde nowhere near me," Silva said, allowing his aura to explode out of him. The windows shattered, the building began shaking violently, and Matilda struggled to breathe. "Your days in this office areing to an end. Soon enough, I''ll finish using you and finally kill you," Silva said, then got up and left through a portal. The doors of Matilda''s office swung open as teachers and guards ran there immediately after feeling the shaking. They saw her sitting there like nothing had happened, with a smile on her face as well. Chapter 159: Fang and Gallan Silva returned to Lily''sb after leaving the academy. "You''re back already?" she asked. "Yeah, I found out what was happening. It seems the empire is somehow making an artificial demon blood and they are sending it to lesser kingdoms," Silva exined. "So that''s what is happening, it''s the empire. They are tampering with powers that are beyond them," Lily said. "I know, but that''s not the main reason that I am here. We have things to talk about, all the Guardians, so let''s head to the throne room," Silva said and left. When everyone was gathered in the throne room, he began the meeting. "The first order is the wiping out of the organization called the Dark des. They shouldn''t prove to be tough seeing we have all the information about them. We will move out tonight, and I ensure that we leave a mark as we move. But ensure that no witnesses survive. I''ll be going to find the leader first, while all of you take care of the rest and rescue the ves from there." --- Later that night, Silva was walking through a forest path with Fang, Dawn, and Gan, his first three summons. After a bit of walking, they spotted a town, their destination in the distance. "Master Silva, shall we begin?" Gan asked. "The town is fifty percent owned by Dark des. Whoever holds a de up to you is to be considered as part of the Dark de, and you have the right to strike them down," Silva said. Gan and Fang nodded before charging towards the town. Immediately they got into the town, they split up, and the massacre began. The guards noticed Gan charging through the town and they immediately moved to stop him. They drew their swords and charged at him. "Let''s see how well you fight, humans," Gan said. He used his mana technique to coat his des and then stabbed the des into the ground. Arge crack scored from where he stabbed; some of the guards were unlucky and got stuck in the crack. Gan immediately dashed toward the trapped ones, he swung his de in a beautifulbo and easily sent all their heads flying. The guards that had escaped the crack watched in shock, but they had no choice but to bring Gan down, so they tried to encircle him, but Fang had already moved. He appeared behind one of the guards and stabbed the figure through the back, then he lifted the guard up with his des and tossed it at two iing guards before running towards them. They both dodged the body of their fellow guard, and then they tried to move towards Gan, but Gan was already behind them, he spun around and shed them in half. Their blood painted the sky, and before the drops reached the ground, Gan had moved once more. He leaped into the air, and then used a spinning move to rip through another guard. A guard tried to attack him from behind; Gan flicked the blood on his de at the face of the guard and some entered his eyes, forcing him to close his eyes. Gan followed up to stab through the head of the guard, killing him easily. But now, only about six guards were standing, but their fear didn''t want to let them move out of fear, so Gan moved to them. He stomped his feet into the ground and vanished from their sight again; when he finally reappeared, all their heads started falling off, dropping to the ground with loud thuds. Their bodies also followed as well, falling to the ground lifeless. "That was a good workout, now make the citizens run from the town." He opened his mouth and let out a resounding roar that woke whoever was sleeping. The humans soon began to panic when they discovered that they were getting attacked. --- At the other side, a group of guards encircled Fang, with their swords pointed at him. They all charged at the same time to pierce him through. Fang lifted his forepaw from the ground and hit the ground, causing a massive explosion of lightning so powerful that it ripped most of the guards to pieces. The ones that had managed to survive were on theirst breath, about to die. "It''s disappointing, I expected more," Fang said. "You evil beast!" Fang heard a voice; he turned to look and saw a man running towards him with a sword. He was dressed simrly to the guards, but there was some difference on his own armor. Fang wanted to deal with the nuisance quickly, so he tried to swat the man like a fly, but to his surprise, the man flipped over Fang''s paw, andnded close to Fang. He immediately tried to stab Fang, but Fang had already gotten behind the man. "You actually shocked me there, I didn''t expect you to be that skilled," Fang said. The man turned around with a sh, but Fang vanished again; he turned again and saw Fang standing right in front of him. "Sadly, that''s all you have, just some skills," Fang said, he swung his paw, but this time twice as fast, and it mmed into the man and sent him flying into a wall. The man collided with the wall and died. Fang let out an ear-deafening roar after that, in order to cause panic and make the humans run away. And just as he nned, people started leaving their houses and running for safety. But there were those that believed that they could take Fang down, they all charged toward him with their own spears and swords. Fang felt sorry for them, but he had no choice; he let out another powerful roar, but this time infused with so much lightning that it ripped through them like butter. Their blood painted the sky as it sprayed like a fountain and dropped to the ground like rain, their mutted bodies littering the ground. Fang walked through their corpses as he headed deeper inside toplete his task. Chapter 160: Aaron and his father Aaron took permission to leave the school after winning all his duels for the day. Though it waste, he had already made reservations at a diner to meet his father. When he arrived at the diner, he took a deep breath before stepping inside. The person at the counter checked for his name, and when they confirmed it, they let him in. He spotted his father already there and headed to the table. He pulled out a seat and sat down. His father had yet to order anything and only had a ss of water. He knew they didn''te here just to eat; his son wasn''t like that. There must have been a reason good enough for Aaron to call him here. After Aaron sat down, the waitress came by and asked them what they would have. Aaron''s father opted for some wine, and that was all. Aaron, on the other hand, ordered some steak. The waitress took down notes and went to get their food and drinks for them. "So, what is it, Aaron?" His father went straight to the point. "Before I go into the main reason, Father, I''d like to confess something to you. For many years now, I''ve been carrying out jobs for Duke Terron behind your back," Aaron came clean. "Oh, I know," his father responded and sipped his water. "You knew?" Aaron asked in shock. "Of course, Aaron. I''m a magical researcher; it''s my job to observe. I know the first day he spoke to you and nted that seed inside your head. But Terron had control. It was either I tried to stop you and risk him exposing the truth about you, or let you do what he says and guide you from the shadows. One way or another, I always followed you whenever you went on those missions¡ªthrough tracking crystals and whatnot. I cried every night I watched a kid carry out such missions, but I had to be silent." The wine and steak came, but at this point, Aaron had lost his appetite. "You watched me do all that? Why did you not do anything? Why didn''t you tell me, and don''t give me any bogus reason like you were trying to protect me. I was a child going through all that. I cried myself to sleep every night, but whatever gave me the will to go on was the thought that I was keeping you safe." Aaron slowly started raising his voice. "This is not the best ce to tell you, Aaron. I can''t tell you now," his father said. "Why? Why can''t you tell me now?, if you weren''t going to tell me, then why even let me know that you knew about it." Aaron asked, on the verge of snapping. "I can''t tell you here!" his father said. "WHY?" Aaron yelled the question. "Because they are always watching. The king knows about my wife, your mother, and they have been watching me for all these years to ensure you don''t find out," his father said. Immediately after he said that, a massive beam of light struck through the walls and obliterated his father, leaving only half of his body remaining. Everyone in the diner began shouting and running. Aaron just stood there looking at his father''s remains. Suddenly, he sensed a huge amount of mana locked on him, and he instinctively leaped out of the way. The same beam that killed his father broke through the wall again. Though he tried to dodge, the heat from the st seared his shoulder and destroyed his skin, but he survived. He got up on his feet after that and looked around; there was no one there anymore. Then he sensed people heading for the front door, and from their movement pattern, he could tell they weren''t normal civilians. Just as he expected, five guys burst through the door wearing ck, slight armor and holding swords. Immediately they saw Aaron, they moved into formation and charged at him. Aaron quickly used a wind spell that dealt little damage but was fast to cast and would be able to push them back. "Wind Burst," he called out, sting them with a huge gust of wind that pushed them back. Using the small chance he had created, he ran and broke through the window,nding on his back outside. "Arghh!" he groaned in pain as he struggled to stand. When he looked up, he saw several armored men with swords pointed at him and mages with their staves ready. "What did I do?" he yelled at them. "I didn''t ask to be born this way. Why do you all have to make my life miserable? I never asked for any of this. I have never been a threat to you all, even though I wasn''t fully human. So why? Why am I being treated this way?" Aaron asked. "All mages ready to fire," the person leading spoke. He didn''t even care for what Aaron had to say. The mages readied their staves to attack. Aaron looked at them, a teardrop falling from his eye. "Fine. If I''m going to die here, I''ll bring all of you down with me," he said as fairy wings grew from his back and his whole demeanor changed. A star-like mark appeared on his head, and his eye color changed to gold. "Fire at will," the man gave the order, and all the mages cast their spells at once. There was no way Aaron could dodge all normally, but in his fairy form, he could. He raised his hands up, and a huge gust of wind picked up, turning into a tornado that blocked all the attacks. The man who gave the order saw this and decided to handle matters himself. He pulled out his sword and charged at the tornado. He shed through it and created a gap big enough for him to enter and try to drive his sword into Aaron. Aaron was shocked that anyone could get through his defense. He did his best to react fast, but the sword dug into his shoulder. He ced his hand on the man''s head and sted it with me magic, killing him. He pulled the sword out with great pain, pped his wings, and shot into the sky to get away. A mage still spotted him in the sky and fired an icence that dug into his abdomen. Though the wound bled like crazy, Aaron kept flying, pushing himself to go as far as possible. Chapter 161: Beginning of war Aaron flew as far as he could, but soon he couldn''t keep flying and fell unconscious mid-air. Then a shadow leaped into the air and caught him. The personnded on the ground with Aaron. It was Drake. "When Master asked me to watch over his friend, I didn''t think anything would really happen to him, but it seems I was wrong," Drake said. Silva had given Drake a job to do while the others took down Dark de. Silva had discovered that Aaron would be meeting with his father today, so he decided to send Drake for safety. Drake had watched the whole thing. He would have stepped in and helped, but he saw how fiercely Aaron resisted, so he decided to let Aaron fight. He would only step in if Aaron was about to be killed. He took Aaron through a portal and returned to thebyrinth. When he arrived, the others were all out doing what they had been asked to do to take down the Dark de. The only person there was Elsa. Immediately, she saw Drake walk in with Aaron so beaten up. She ran to him and asked what happened. Drake exined every detail to her, recounting what had happened. "I need you to project the current image of Aaron to Master and tell him what happened before we heal Aaron," Drake said. Elsa nodded and began telepathically connecting with Silva. --- Silva was walking from the forest with Dawn toward the town. It was now time for him to find the leader of the Dark de, as Fang and Gan were doing their job. "Daddy, something bad has happened," Elsa spoke to Silva telepathically. She immediately showed him a mental image of Aaron and exined what had happened. Silva balled his fist when he heard the details of what happened; his veins bulged. Dawn saw this and was worried about what he had been told that made him so angry. "Dawn, stay in the forest. I''ll be sending Fang and Gan back as well. Do note near the town," Silva said, then started walking. She wanted to ask what was going on, but she could tell Silva was not ready to talk. His steps were heavy, and his bloodlust was leaking out of him. "Gan, Fang, you both have one minute to evacuate that city and stay in the forest with Dawn. If you are still there after the one minute is up, you might die," Silva spoke to Gan and Fang. They didn''t know what was happening, but as soon as they heard his voice in their heads, they knew it was serious, and they immediately ran out of the city. They passed by Silva, who was walking toward the city, but they didn''t stop because the killing intent he was leaking scared them. They simply ran past him. "You think you can do what you want? All of you think you can do what you want? How dare you touch what''s mine? I''ll burn it. I''ll burn this whole kingdom to the ground, foolish people trying to tamper with what is mine. I''ll burn everything, every single thing, down to the ground." Silva spoke as he walked. When he was close to the town, he used mana to amplify his voice. "If you don''t want to die, you have ten minutes to leave this town. After that, your death is on your hands." After speaking, he paused and counted down the time. Some people listened and ran out of the town with whatever they could. But not everyone heeded, and soon the guards of the city charged out as well to deal with the threat. "It seems the rest of the people here have made the decision to call my bluff," Silva said, and right before everyone, he transformed into a dragon and shot into the air. When the people saw a dragon in the sky, they all fell into panic, trying to evacuate the town as fast as possible. "It is toote for that now," his voice boomed. He opened his mouth and fired a stream of dark mes into the city. The raging mes began devouring everything and killing everyone there. He circled the town and made sure to burn all of it into a crisp, without regard for age or status. Whoever chose not to evacuate would pay with their life. After a while, more than half the town was burnt, and Silva noticed a figure escaping through the dark. The leader of the Dark des. When he saw the dragon above in the sky, he immediately knew that there was nothing he could do, so he decided to run. But Silva contacted Dawn and Fang to take care of him. Fang carried Dawn on his back, and they rode to the ce outside the town where the leader had escaped. When the leader saw them, he tried to fight his way out, but his head was already floating in mid-air by the time he blinked. Silva was no longer interested in making anyone''s death long and painful. He simply wanted to wipe the kingdom off the map; this was the beginning of their war. When Silva returned to his human form, the whole town was up in mes; there were no survivors. Those who had listened and escaped looked back in terror, d they had listened and left. Silva returned to the forest where the three were waiting for him. "Today we forget our humanity. They dared touch one of mine; I''ll send all of them to hell, regardless of who," Silva said before making a portal for them to return. When they got into thebyrinth, Aaron was already healed and waiting for Silva. When he saw Silva, he bowed his head in thanks for sending Drake to follow him and for healing him. "I''m d to see you''re fine. Ready yourself, though. ns have changed because of you. I''ll be erasing a kingdom''s government now; they brought it upon themselves." Chapter 162: Final Preparations Now that Silva was pissed and had decided to start the war early, the only two things he had to do were to talk to Fay. So he returned to the academy and snuck into Fay''s room. He took her and then went ahead to her brother''s room. He kidnapped both of them and left the academy that night, taking them to their house in Robert, where their father was already waiting since Silva had gone to him ahead of time and told him to wait. When Fay and her brother woke up, they were shocked to find themselves inside their father''s office. But before they could ask what was happening, Silva began exining. He told them the whole thing, keeping only the important parts secret. "The reason I have told you all this is because you three have an important ce in my life, most especially Fay. I''d like for you to leave and join my side now, and I can promise that Robert will be safe, and I will not harm it. The people of Robert have been my family, and I have grown to know them. So, I''d like them to be a part of us. I don''t know how you''ll pass the news to the entire town, but please do. I trust you, Viscount. You know I would not say what I am incapable of doing. So when I say I am taking down the kingdom, I seriously mean it. I''ll be burning everything to the ground; the decision to join me belongs to you. I''ll leave you to discuss, but for now, I''ll be taking my leave because, at daybreak, the war begins," Silva said and then created a portal. Fay stood up and held his hand. "Allow me toe with you; my father and brother will deal with the nning," she said. Silva nodded and allowed her to follow him back to thebyrinth. When he stepped in, the guardians Dawn, Fang, Gan, and Aris were there. They all got on one knee to greet Silva. "Fay, the rest of the group is here. I informed them about changes in ns and brought them here. You''ll be with them for a bit. "Elsa, take Fay to meet the others," Silva said. Elsa nodded, took Fay''s hand, and led her out of the ce. When she was gone, Silva began speaking. "Today, we will be moving into the kingdom at the break of dawn. Our march will be from here to cklight first. I''d like all of you to gather the citizens of thebyrinth with you as troops. We will crush any smaller towns on the way to cklight. When we destroy cklight, we will be setting base in the academy as the new rulers, and from there, we will begin a full-powered assault. Use whatever you need from the storage; ready your weapons. We will show no mercy," Silva said. "Master Silva, are you going to send a message to them, to tell them about the war? It''smon policy, or do you wish to eradicate them all before they know what hit them?" Drake asked. "I don''t really care, but send it to them. They''ll take it as a joke either way until we move. ording to Lily''s report, we have over three thousand beasts well over level seventy. They are our force. Delegate them amongst yourselves; we leave this morning," Silva said and walked away. He headed for the room where his family, friends, and everyone was gathered, the same room he had asked Elsa to take Fay to. When he walked in, the whole ce became quiet. They all looked at Silva, as though waiting for him to say something. "The war will start tomorrow, and before you say anything, none of you can help. You will all stay in thebyrinth, away from the war. I don''t care if you feel that you are strong or that you can help; you aren''t allowed to," Silva said and left the room without saying anything else. "He seems different," Aaron said. "It''s simple. He is about to take thousands of lives in a war. He knows there is no way his parents would want him to do such, so he has to keep a cold demeanor to avoid wavering," Leah exined. "What she said is true. Honestly, seeing this side of Silva makes me sad as his mother," Sarah said as she looked down. "There are things one must do in life, no matter what. His destiny is to be a demon king. There''s no way the humans will ept him. And so there must be fights and wars. Also, the pride of a dragon exists in Silva, and his friend was hurt by the kingdom. No dragon would sit still after his person was hurt," Leah spoke. Though no one said it, they all agreed with her. "So what about you, Leah? You have your parents, and you are a hero candidate. What will you do?" Aaron asked. "My parents are out of the question. I have none. I went to my home and disowned them. As for being a hero, I''m going to do the same as Silva, live for myself. I''ll no longer carry the banner for anyone. I prefer to walk with Silva because he is joining no sides but rather building his own. So I''ll be the hero who stays with a demon, fighting against heroes and demon kings," Leah said. "Leah, you don''t have to worry. We will be here with you and Silva to fight them all off. After all, we have all deserted humanity. Since we chose to follow Silva, we are no longer part of humanity, and we can''t run to other races because we aren''t one of them. The only ce that is for us is here, so let''s help Silva build the greatest ce in the world," Lia spoke enthusiastically. Silva had never left; he was just outside the door and had heard everything. He let out a deep sigh of relief after hearing all they said. He walked away from there with a smile to go and inquire about the ves they saved that night. Chapter 163: Towns Captain fivehen Silva discussed the issues of the ves with Drake and Elsa, they had saved over three hundred of them that night. Ranging from several races, sexes, and ages, Silva decided that he would address them after the first wave of the battle where they would take down cklight. So that morning, with an army of five hundred, a hundred hobgoblins, a hundred and fifty Minotaurs, hundred spiders, and a hundred and fifty demi-snakes, led by Drake, Jade, Sx, and Silva himself. The first wave was only hitting one manor town, and so Silva decided that this would be the appropriate force. At the break of dawn, Sx and Jade led the army towards the town, while Silva and Drake followed at a distance behind. Drake wore a unique ck ankle-length coat with a hood. He also wore a mask, and with his glowing red eyes, he looked striking. Silva, on the other hand, wore his armor with his sword hung at his side. Silva looked at Drake and couldn''t help but ask, "Drake, you are a vampire; doesn''t the sun affect you?" "It does, but it only acts to weaken me, not kill or damage me. That''s why my gear is like this; it stores darkness and allows me to walk under the sun without a power reduction. But even without this gear, I would be able to walk under the sun and use about fifty percent of my power," Drake exined. --- After a while of marching, Jade and Sx got closer to a small town on the way to cklight. When the scouts of the town saw the iing troops, one immediately dashed into the town and informed the captain of the city guards. The captain, a burly man with slightly gray hair and a rough appearance, was drinking beer when the man barged into his office with the report. He got up from his seat immediately when he heard that a non-human troop was headed for them. "Go, tell the Baron about this immediately," the captain said in his rough, cracked voice. The guard nodded and ran out. The captain grabbed his sword, which leaned against the chair, and ran out as well. He immediately went to their base and made a town-wide announcement using a voice-amplifying formation that was normally used for emergencies like this. "Listen, citizens of Lagium. An enemy troop is headed this way. All citizens are to prepare for evacuation. If we are unable to stop the enemy, you will be evacuated to cklight. As for all town guards, return to base now to prepare to counter the enemy." After saying that, in less than ten minutes, the guards returned to their base and were ready to move out. They had close to five hundred men as well, and they hoped it would be enough to stop the enemy. The only guards that were left behind were those that would help with the evacuation if the battle was to be a loss. The entire troop marched out towards their enemy with vigor. "It seems they areing to us," Jade said. "Humans are impatient; they couldn''t even wait for us to get to them first," Sx said. "Let''s make Master proud, and then maybe we will get a reward from him personally," Jade said. She raised her hand to signal the troop and then brought it down. Immediately after, the spiders began firing Mana-infused web bombs toward the town guards. The guards didn''t know what wasing towards them, but they would still try to stop it regardless. But as their shields and swords touched the web bombs, they exploded into a very sticky solution, making them unable to move freely at all. Jade pointed forward again, and all the troops aside from the spiders charged into battle, with the Minotaurs taking the front line to break the enemy''s defenses first. They were like an unstoppable wind, mming into the enemy and sending bodies flying. Using their brute strength, they hacked at the enemies, who were unable to fight back at all. The hobgoblins and demi-snakes used the gaps created by the Minotaurs to attack, moving through and striking enemies down. In less than a minute, the humans had lost a lot of their soldiers. The captain of the guards looked around in confusion. The enemy was massacring them; this was no battle. But he was a warrior, and he would fight until his dying breath. So he charged at top speed despite the sticky webs. Roaring from the bottom of his lungs, he set his sights on one Minotaur in front of him and went for the kill. The Minotaur noticed him and swung his axe as well. Sword and axe collided, and the captain was pushed back. But he refused to yield. He regained his footing, and with an even louder roar, he attacked again. The Minotaur blocked his attack and countered with a swing faster than the captain could see or react to. The axe dug deep into his chest, leaving a gash several inches deep and blowing his body away. But despite this, the captain stood up. He stood with a smile. The Minotaur saw this and couldn''t help but speak. "I admire your strength, warrior. You are indeed a fighter. And so, to respect you, my next attack will be thest. You will die in battle as a great warrior," the Minotaur said. The captain didn''t reply. He was too focused on keeping himself conscious. He ran towards the Minotaur, ignoring the pain. The Minotaur shed down, and time seemed to freeze for the captain as both sides of his body fell in different directions after being split in half. With the captain dead, there was no hope in this battle for the guards. But even then, they couldn''t retreat from the battle as the enemy pressed them tightly. One of the guards took out a tube and shot red smoke into the air before a goblin stabbed him and he died. But the smoke still went up high into the sky. Chapter 164: entering blacklight The smoke that was shot into the air signaled to the people of the town that they had lost the fight and should retreat. But Jade and Sx were not going to allow that to happen. With their speed, they reached the town in a few seconds, before the evacuation could even start. "Jade, I''ll handle this," Sx said before entering the town. The guards that remained immediately charged at her. She pointed her finger at them and made a bang sound with her mouth. A bright light, made purely of mana, shot from her finger. The light consumed all of them, reducing them to nothing. After she finished, she turned away and left the town. For now, they had finished with the town. All that was left was the Baron, and she would allow the troops to capture him. As for the civilians here, they would be held in custody for the time being. --- After capturing the Baron, they decided to leave about twenty goblins and five Minotaurs to handle the situation and secure the prisoners of war. The remaining troops immediately moved toward cklight. Luckily, the Baron had sent word to cklight that a powerful troop was headed their way before he was captured. But the government of cklight was currently under the control of Silva''s mother and Matilda, two people now against the kingdom, willingly or not. So Matilda was the one who gave the order to march out. She asked that they use all the military force in the city to fight against them, bringing up to three thousand soldiers. They all lined up outside the city and were ready for war, but they weren''t expecting what happened next. A massive formation appeared in the sky. It began spinning at a crazy rate, and from the formation, massive bolts of lightning started firing into the army. The sts could send twenty to fifty men flying and fired in very fast session. The army immediately fell into chaos. The captains tried to control the situation, but more and more men were dying each second. And from the forest, Silva''s army charged out at full force. This time, Drake and Silva led the front line, while Jade and Sx controlled the lightning formation from the forest. Silva wasted no time. His wings emerged, and he took to the air. They didn''t have to worry about the lightning, as Jade and Sx were very skilled at controlling it, ensuring they wouldn''t get hit. From above, Silva shed out with his sword, and a massive me arc fired out. The heat of the me arc was so intense that it began burning people immediately after it was released, and by the time it was halfway there, many had already died from the heat. When the me arc hit the ground, it caused more devastation than the lightning formation, wiping out over three hundred people in one strike. This was the difference between Silva and an ordinary human; it was iprehensible. He was like a god to them, and they had angered a god. After his attack, Drake moved to attack as well. He formed a blood sword and then vanished. He didn''t truly vanish; he was just running, but his speed was far above what any human could see. Not to mention that, now that Silva had made him his summon, he was on another level, beyond theirprehension. As he vanished, blood began to spatter all around, and by the time he stopped, over three hundred soldiers had died as well. With this, the force that hade to meet them was already close to being halfway exterminated. So Silva left the rest to Drake and the troops while he flew toward the academy to meet Matilda. He wanted to have a final talk with her, one that would determine if she would serve him or if she would die. As he flew toward the academy, the system came online. [System updateplete] [Here are the details of your sword] --- Inside the throne room of a majestic pce, the king sat upon his throne, speaking to his council on a certain matter. Suddenly, a knight barged into the throne room. Everyone was shocked at such rudeness, but they said nothing, as there had to be a very good reason for the knight to do so. The king was a man past middle age, with a face full of pride and the aura of a true ruler. He was fit for his part; even the way he reacted to the knight was calm and regal. "My king, forgive my interruption," the knight said, bowing to the ground. "Speak what made you barge into the throne room, and we will know if you are worth forgiving," the king said. "Your highness, it is war. A mighty troop of beasts and monsters ising against the kingdom. With only five hundred men, they destroyed a town, and now they are taking down cklight. They have almost seeded, and the entire army of cklight is unable to do anything against them. It is a one-sided massacre," the knight reported. When they all heard this, everyone became tense, even the king. "Are the followers of demons making a move? Could it be that they have information we don''t? There should be equal numbers of demon kings and heroes this generation. What would make them start attacking, and why would they begin with our little kingdom? Do they want to take out the weaker kingdoms first?" the king asked several questions at once. "My king, I think it would be best if we find a way to send a message to the empire or holy kingdom about this situation. If the followers of demons are making a move, we must not take it lightly," one of the council members said. Another member got up and spoke, "Could it be that this is just a beast wave? We shouldn''t say it''s the followers of the demons just yet. Chapter 165: Destroying the academy labyrinth Another council member quickly got up and spoke to counter the person who had just finished speaking. "It''s impossible for it to be just a beast wave. A beast wave would be more chaotic and not a well-nned army. From what the knight just said, it seems to be an army, coordinated and attacking together. They aren''t moving carelessly or recklessly." When everyone considered the council member''s words, it made a lot of sense. "Whatever they are, we will have to respond to them in full, obliterate that little army, and ensure that theye to fear us. We will send a troop of ck Knights and our best mages from the mages'' association and army. I want a number of two thousand, and they will go and crush the enemy," the king decided. --- [Abyssal des: A sword used by the dark dragon, a de filled with the will of the dark dragon. The de is sealed with seven seals. Each unlock increases the power of the de severalfold and gives new abilities to the de.] [You have the base sword: increases stats by double when using the de to fight. Possesses the ability to enforce your will, creating a powerful sword field.] [You must reap the lives of two hundred intelligent beings to unlock the first seal.] [With every seal unlocked, the will of the dark dragon merges with your will, making the de far more powerful.] Silva read through the details, and he was happy with what he was seeing. This sword was something else. Sure, he wasn''t happy that most of it was sealed, if not all, but at least even without unlocking any seal, the sword was already very powerful. --- Silva arrived at the academy and flew to the window of Matilda''s room. He knocked on it twice, and she opened it, allowing him toe in. He took a seat and rxed immediately after he was in, taking a look around for onest time. "Matilda, have you evacuated your students? This is war, you know?" Silva spoke. "I know. The teachers have informed them and asked them to start leaving, but do you really have to do this?" she asked. "In this world, the strong make the rules, the strong decide what goes and what doesn''t. Your king thought he was strong and so he made the rule and harmed someone dear to me. So now, I, who am stronger, am going to shatter his belief and destroy his understanding of strength. I don''t n to hurt the humans here. In fact, I''ll build a kingdom where beasts and humans can easily coexist. It will be the first of its kind," Silva said as he reclined further into the chair. "The holy kingdom, the empire, they wille for you. Even if it''s just a smaller kingdom you''ve taken over, they won''t allow a demon to rule for long," Matilda said. "Let theme. I do not fear them; I''ll crush all of them beneath my feet when the timees. I n on creating a country far more advanced than the empire and holy kingdombined. A first of its kind with otherworldly technology that would leave jaws dropping. By the time the empire or holy kingdom decides to make a move, I would have built defenses that even their strongest would not be able to break through," Silva exined. "You sound so certain, like you know for sure it''s happening," Matilda said. "Oh, I do. I very much do," Silva said with a smile. "I can tell you for sure that I''ll seed in what I''m about to do. Will it be easy? Nope. It will be hard as hell, because I''ll be fighting many people who are considered the strongest and most powerful. But the question is if I would lose to them, and that is a hard no. I''d never lose to any of them. If I fail to win the first try, I''d escape and return. And when I return, I''d probably be a dozen times stronger, and I''d take care of the person that caused me trouble. It''s really simple, actually. Call it pride, but I''m also a dragon and one filled with pride. At the end of it all, there''s no one I know of or have heard of that has my growth potential," Silva said as he got up and walked to the window to look outside. "My troops have made it into the city; now we will dominate. I have an offer to extend to you, a chance at standing with me and living. I have looked into your details¡ªyou have nothing to lose. No kids, no family, nothing whatsoever; all you have is yourself and your life. I''ve thought about ending you, but your potential is beyond what you know. You possess a great ability to plot and n; you only need a little polishing and training, and you might be the greatest tactical mind. So this is an offer in that regard. I want you to take that role and learn from some of my best in order to be even more useful. I''m extending this olive branch to you now, in good faith that you are an investment worth it. Will you take it and walk by me, or should I kill you and end it here?" Silva said, stretching out his hand to her. She gazed at his hand for a moment before shaking it. "I have no choice. I either die here for the kingdom or follow you. Sadly, this kingdom hasn''t done enough for me toy my life down for them, so I''ll take the deal," she responded. "Great," Silva said and walked back to sit down. He reclined on the chair and crossed his legs before he started speaking. "By now, the information about the war must have already reached the king''s ears, and he must be thinking that the demon kings are behind this in some way or another. His belief would be that they want to wipe out the smaller human kingdoms first before they take care of the big dogs. And honestly, everyone would think that way. And so that brings us to his n to stop me, because he has to have a n to stop me. And that n would simply be to send elite fighters toe in great numbers to chase us from the city. This is where youe in. You have to make them believe that the enemy is inside the academy and is using it as a base. You are currently the most influential person in this city, so all you have to do is speak to the king through a magical crystal and inform him about the situation and what your n is to defeat them. While in reality, your only n is to lure them into the academy, where my men will be waiting for them, hidden. It will be a war inside the academy, one we will win with ease, because they believe that only about five hundred of my forces are here. But they don''t know one little detail. And the detail is the fact that when we reach the academy, we will be using a teleportation circle to mass-teleport five hundred more men. With that number, the king would need at least five thousand to stand a chance at a decent fight. But considering this kingdom''s military situation, they can only afford to send two thousand to three thousand. That would normally be enough, but that won''t be the case here, as all of them will meet their doom," Silva finished his boration. "You put a lot of thought into everything, every detail. It''s scary to think about it. The king honestly does not stand a chance against you and your plots," Matilda said. "It''s not just me. I have a powerful team of high-level strategists behind me, helping me and guiding me through every decision. Some of them are in my head, while some are real people who walk and talk to me," Silva said. "What do you mean, ''in your head''?" Matilda asked. "It''s not something you would understand, so I won''t exin. I''ll be leaving in a bit. Just remember your part and y it right," Silva said and left the office. The whole academy was already quiet, as if everyone had left due to the information about the battle that was happening. Silva peacefully headed for thebyrinth at the bottom of the academy. He wanted to destroy the whole ce because this ce was made artificially, and he had a feeling that this artificialbyrinth used human and other race experiments. It would exin the humanoid form that the Mangledons took. He finally arrived at the gate, and there were no guards there, so he pushed the gate open and walked into thebyrinth. He took out his sword and raised it above his head with both hands. Chapter 166: Code zero Here is the edited text with only spelling, punctuation, and grammatical corrections. The word count remains the same: --- Silva shed down with his full strength; his sword ripped through the space inside thebyrinth. The force of the attack tore through the walls and caused them to shatter. The shockwave created a powerful chain reaction that led to the copse of the first floor, killing all the Maglendons inside. The chain reaction continued, moving down to several floors below. Silva levitated in the air using his wings while watching the entirebyrinth copse. The copse caused the entire academy to shake violently, and after thebyrinth fully copsed, the core of thebyrinth was exposed for Silva to attack. He didn''t even hesitate. He took out one of his normal swords and threw it with all his might at the core. The sword stabbed into the core and caused it to explode, destroying everything and killing the remaining Maglendons. When he was done, the entire ce was now rubble inside a veryrge hole. The hole itself wasrger than thebyrinth. It made him wonder why they would dig arge hole like this yet only use a smaller part to build the artificialbyrinth. He decided to take a look around thebyrinth with his dragon eyes, and that was when he saw a small wisp of energying from a spot. He decided to check it out. He covered his sword with abyssal mes for light, and then he fell downward. When he got there, he noticed a cave big enough for a full human to walk in, so he walked in without hesitation. He kept going for minutes until finally, he came to a split road. He used his dragon eyes again to check, and he saw that the energy flowed into the left path. So he took that path and walked while paying good attention to his surroundings. After walking for some more minutes, he saw some light. When he got to where the light was, it was a small crystal illuminating a cave room. He could see that there was a trap formation in this room; you would have to move correctly to avoid activating the trap. But Silva just walked in, and when the formation was about to activate, he stomped the ground and destroyed the entire formation. After leaving that room, he entered the next passageway and into the next room, and he was stunned by what he saw. There were canisters filled with liquid and Maglendons suspended inside. "Is this where they make them?" he asked, looking around in surprise. "So this is how the artificial Maglendons are made, but if they are still in production, shouldn''t there be someone making them?" As he thought about that, he heard a plea for help. "Help me." It was subtle, weak, and quiet, but it also sounded pained. Silva immediately dashed into the next cave room when he heard that voice, and there he saw it, a massive red dragon chained to the ground. With multiple sharpnces pierced into the dragon''s body to keep it stuck to the ground, a tube was connected to onerge wound on her body and was sucking out her blood. "Who are you?" Silva asked. The dragon moved her head to look at Silva, ready to get mad at a child for being here and talking to her like that. But when she looked at him, she could sense the power of dragons inside him. She thought for a bit before responding. "I am Agler," the dragon spoke. Silva immediately began to wonder about this academy and this kingdom in general¡ªhow they were able to get their hands on so many things like this. He had a feeling that this kingdom was not as it seemed; there was something that he didn''t know yet, and he was sure of it. There had to be a secret in this kingdom that would exin how they were able to take the abyssal sword and also capture a dragon. No matter how weak this dragon could be, capturing it would be ten times harder than killing it. --- The king took his youngest son, the one who would inherit his throne after his elder brothermitted some crime. The youngest son was only eleven and was hailed as a magical prodigy. They walked through a dim corridor with torches at the sides of the walls. "Father, where are we going?" he asked. "To awaken the Zero code," his father replied. "What''s the Zero code, Dad?" the son asked again, as this was the first time he had heard of it. "Hmm, you''ll be king soon, so I can tell you about the Zero code. Our kingdom had always been among the normal kingdoms, with nothing special and no power. One of our ancient ancestors, a master in biological magic, decided to change this. He wanted the kingdom to be the most well-known, even above the empire and the holy kingdom. And for this purpose, he began experimenting, trying to find a way to create the most powerful being that would walk the earth. And he actually seeded; he made Code Zero. Code Zero is the reason this kingdom is still alive, carrying out the most dangerous missions for the kingdom. But that wasn''t the best part of Code Zero; the best part was the fact that he could evolve to get stronger by merging stronger genes into his body. Because of that, we created the elitepetition to groom the best and most talented youngsters for Code Zero. Normally, it would be at least five years after thepetition, and the winners would begin to vanish with a ten-year interval, or seven years, or even twenty. Anything to ensure no one suspected. The winners who grew to be great would die in service to the kingdom. But all that is a setup; we created the false danger scenario that kills them. And when they die, a fake is buried, and Code Zero can easily consume the body and be stronger. It''s been so for long, and you will also continue it in your turn. The goal is to evolve Code Zero to make him into a being stronger than heroes and demon kings. Code Zero once captured a dragon, and with the merge of Code Zero''s genes and the dragon''s blood, we created a new race called Maglendons and stored them in abyrinth for future purposes. Now, as to the reason you and I are going to awaken Code Zero, that is because it seems a mysterious enemy hase to attack our kingdom. I have sent a massive force against them, but I have to be careful, so I''ll unleash Code Zero as well, and if the enemy defeats our forces, we will have Code Zero take care of them," the king exined. The prince didn''t react to all his father said because, from a young age, he had already known about the dark side of ruling. He was only curious about certain things concerning what his father said. "Dad, how exactly was Code Zero created?" he asked. "Through the muttion and death of many races¡ªhumans, elves, fairies, and lots more. Their eyes were stolen and merged into the creation of Code Zero. ording to the records passed down from king to king, it has cost over seven thousand lives to make Code Zero as strong as it is. An investment that is constantly made by every king in every generation, our secret weapon." They finally arrived at a massive door. The king took out arge key and put it into the keyhole before twisting. The door made a loud ping noise before finally opening. The king walked in, followed closely by the prince, and torches on the wall came on. There was a human-sized box at the center of the room made from very good wood. The king went over there and pushed the cover off, revealing a being that waspletely ck, with no eyes or nose, only a mouth. Not even an ear; its body was slender, and though it was naked, there were no genitals on its body. The king took out a knife and cut his palm, allowing a drop of blood to fall from his palm onto the mouth of the creature. After a few seconds, its tongue came out and licked up the blood, then it sat up in the box. "Son, this is Code Zero, the greatest weapon our kingdom has, something that will tear through all our enemies," the king said. Code Zero suddenly looked up and opened its mouth, a ck fluid pouring out as if forced out with high propulsion. --- Inside cklight City, Drake paused and looked up, frowning deeply. Elsa teleported out of thebyrinth into the sky; she flew so high, her eyes looking toward the capital. And so did all the Guardians. Silva, who was underground with the dragon, turned around when he felt something, something would being soon. Chapter 167: Fighting code zero The army of the king finally made it to cklight, but their arrival was greeted with silence. The city was empty, as though no one lived there. The signs of war had been cleaned up, and everything looked normal, except for theck of people outside. ording to the information Matilda sent ahead, the army had made their way to the academy and had taken over, so now the army that was sent had one priority. And that was to storm that academy and take the enemy down. The ck knights were known for their fierce battle style, and so they were the absolute best for this sort of thing. The entire army marched through the city until they got to the gate of the academy. The middle-aged knight who seemed to be the one leading raised his sword. "Take them down, everyst one of them!" he roared, boosting the morale of the soldiers as they all charged into battle. They stormed the entire academy in less than a minute, breaking windows, doors, and everything in their path. But suddenly, when all of them had entered, a dome covered the academy, one that let no one in or out unless the caster was killed. Immediately the dome covered the academy, Silva''s army, which had now doubled to one thousand, started jumping out of the shadows to begin the battle. For the first five seconds, the army of the kingdom was confused. All of them were taken by surprise, and so they wasted five seconds trying to get themselves together. And in that time alone, Silva''s army had cut through a ton of the enemy, the beginning of the true battle. --- Silva, Jade, Sx, and Drake sat in Matilda''s office; she, on the other hand, was not here anymore. Silva sent her to thebyrinth, as her role here was done. "You all felt that strange energy too, right?" Silva asked. Drake nodded and took on a serious expression. "The energy I felt from that thing... I think even I would have a hard time dealing with it," Drake said. "How could this kingdom afford to have a weapon like that? Could it be that the empire sent it to them?" Silva asked, but that was highly unlikely, as the empire would not give something that powerful to a low kingdom like this. Silva pondered on it for a bit before deciding to let the issue go. Whatever that weapon was or wherever it came from, he would deal with it. The battle within the academy was reaching its climax, as Silva''s army dominated, but they were beginning to take damage. "We should go and help them; we can''t start losing men now," Silva said and got up to leave, but then he felt the presence again, and this time it was close. "Master," Drake called out. "Go, help the soldiers. Whatever this thing is, it''s no match for me," Silva assured them. They all believed his words, so they left and went to fight the enemy. Silva waited as the strange force got closer. He was counting the seconds down until the time was up. After a bit, the being arrived, floating outside the window. It was an all-ck figure with wings on its back. There were no eyes to look at; the only thing on its face was its mouth. Silva took out his sword and got into stance. The figure saw the sword and immediately charged at Silva. The force of the air around the body caused a sonic boom that destroyed the wall. The figure stretched out its hand to grab Silva. Silva retreated several steps back and went for a counter. He shed upwards, but the being sidestepped to dodge. The force from the attack shattered the wall, crumbling it to the ground. Code Zero also moved in for a counter, throwing a powerful punch. Silva blocked the punch, but the impact caused the ground beneath them to shatter, making them fall to a lower floor. Silva got up immediately and hacked down at Code Zero. Code Zero rolled out of the way, then leaped into the air and came down with a punch again. Silva set his sword over his head and blocked the punch again. The ground underneath him cracked but didn''t break through. "You seem strong enough; it means I can let loose," Silva said with a wide smile. His entire body became covered in abyssal mes, the mes extending to cover the de. With a mighty burst of mes, he shot into the sky while pushing Code Zero up, smashing through the ceiling until they made it out into the sky. "Today, I''ll let loose. Don''t disappoint me," Silva said. Code Zero suddenly vanished, but Silva could still see his energy with dragon eyes, so he knew where the next attack wasing from. He spun around and blocked the punch, pushing Code Zero back. Then he shed with his sword and fired a thick me arc. Code Zero crossed its arms, and a ck fluid came out of his back and formed a shield, tanking the attack. But Silva immediately moved after the attack, and as soon as Code Zero blocked it, Silva had used sh step to get behind him. He struck from behind. Code Zero did his best to react quickly, moving out of the way, but his arm was sliced clean off. But that was nothing to celebrate, as his arm grew back immediately after, and it seemed that cutting off his arm had angered him. He charged at Silva like a ferocious beast, throwing a flurry of punches. Silva parried and blocked the attacks as fast as he could, but one managed to graze his shoulder. When Silva felt that one graze him, he couldn''t control his smile. There were few beings that could hit him on the spot¡ªmostly the angels from the portals that kept attacking him. But today, another being hadid hands on him, and that made him happy. Sadly, he was only at twenty percent and was yet to really get serious. He prayed that this ck figure would have more in store. Chapter 168: fighting code zero Silva managed to find an opening through the flurry of punches, and he immediately used it to strike a counter. His de cut through Code Zero''s chest. But just like that arm, it healed up as well in no time. Code Zero recognized that Silva was a threat tougher than anything it had faced, but its nature was to destroy, so it would keep fighting, adapting, and fighting more. Its hand transformed into des, and it flew toward Silva, activating abo of attacks. Silva parried the attacks easily, then he forced an opening and stabbed through Code Zero''s chest. He didn''t stop after stabbing; he lit his sword aze with abyssal mes, engulfing Code Zero from the inside out. "Arghhhhhhhhh!" Code Zero screamed in pain, grabbing hold of the de and trying to pull it out, but Silva pushed it in deeper and deeper. The struggle continued for a bit, until Code Zero tried something¡ªit shot ck tendrils from its back to hit Silva and make him let go. Silva saw the tendrils and increased the intensity of his mes, making it impossible for the tendrils to pass. Code Zero couldn''t do anything. And that was when Silva heard the sound of cracking inside Code Zero. After the cracking sound, its entire energy changedpletely. Code Zero started transforming, its new tense muscles forcefully pushed Silva''s de out of its chest. It became twice its original size, with extremely long arms and legs. Its teeth were sharper and far more numerous. Silva could feel its power swell; he tried to use Dragon Eyes to see the stats, but it didn''t work. It seemed this being wasn''t supposed to exist, like an abomination, yet not quite one. Also, the power didn''t seem constant, so it was likely these things that made Silva unable to see the stats. Now that it was bigger, it charged with even more speed and attacked Silva with a swing of its hands. Silva blocked the attack, but the force sent him flying into one of the tall buildings of the academy, smashing through the walls. Silva got up from the rubble and dusted off his clothes. Code Zero had already approached and was attacking again. Silva smiled when he saw this and spoke. "You may be strong, but you still have to know your bloody ce." Silva roared and used Will Enforcement through the sword. The sword elongated by several meters as he swung it. Code Zero was not expecting that and had to create a shield to block the attack, but Silva''s attack was too powerful¡ªit tore through the shield and shed right through Code Zero. Though it didn''t kill him, it was a good attack. Silva immediately followed up and used Cross Lock. He pinned Code Zero in ce. But it seemed Code Zero had powerful will and strength, as the Cross Lock had started cracking. But Silva didn''t mind; he wouldnd his attack long before it shattered. He used sh Step and stabbed Code Zero inside the time lock, then activated his abyssal mes before releasing the lock. Code Zero burst into another set of grotesque screams, but it managed to regain control and charged at Silva. It raised its arm above its head as it charged toward Silva. A ck energy ball formed over its head and grew in size until it was asrge as a human, then it fired it at Silva. Silva could tell that this energy ball would be deadly, so he immediately transformedpletely into his dragon form and sted the ball with a huge stream of mes. The mes consumed the energy ball, but immediately after Silva transformed back, Code Zero was already behind him. It stabbed its hand through Silva, but it didn''t feel like a real body¡ªand it was right. The afterimage vanished, and the real Silva was already behind Code Zero. Silva ced his arm on Code Zero''s shoulder. "You''re really not giving me enough," Silva said, then he released a powerful burst of mes on the shoulder, destroying it, but code zero still reacted after that Code Zero grabbed onto Silva and threw him over its shoulder. Silva spun in the air and broke out of Code Zero''s grip. He spun around and sent a kick to Code Zero''s head. The head snapped to the side, pushing it back, and Silva immediately charged at Code Zero. He prepared for his final attack. Silva transformed into the Joker, and all his clones emerged to finish off Code Zero. All of his clones entered the Joker of the Abyss state and drew cards¡ªall eleven of them drew the same card. Card of Chaos. A surge of chaos exploded from the cards all at once and flew toward Code Zero. Code Zero couldn''t react at all; the chaos mmed into it and caused a mighty explosion. Code Zero''s body shot out of the chaotic mes caused by the explosion and flew toward the ground. It mmed into the ground and created a massive crater. But Silva knew this wasn''t over, as he could still sense energy flowing through Code Zero. So Silva and all his clones transformed into their full dragon form, and all of them sted their mes at Code Zero. The mes ate through it faster than Code Zero could heal, burning it into ashes. In the end, Code Zero was indeed strong and a terrifying weapon, but to Silva, this weapon was nothing more than a slightly strong monster. It was a toy to Silva, and after he toyed with it for a bit, he decided it was time to destroy it. A toy that had lived through many hundreds of years was destroyed by Silva with such ease. "At the end, this kingdom had nothing to offer. Imend their greatest weapon, but it''s far from enough. It might have been able to steal the sword and also capture a dragon, but that was all it was good for," Silva said. He remembered that he left that dragon underground and immediately flew there to check on it. He had left the dragon after he met it, he wanted to finish his battle first before he would release the dragon and question it. Chapter 169: He is a demon king candidate Inside the throne room, the king slung a wine cup at the floor. His breathing was erratic. As the king, he had a connection to Code Zero, so as soon as Code Zero was killed, he was first shocked, then filled with rage. He wanted tosh out in more ways than one, and at that moment, a guard ran in and knelt before the king. "Your Highness, the force sent to cklight has been wiped out." When the king heard that, it was like a cable had snapped in his mind. He took out a sword, and in one swift move, he appeared behind the guard and shed his head off. The king tried to calm his nerves, but nothing was working. He charged out of the throne room and got on a magical wolf beast known for speed. He rode the beast through the capital to the main base of the army. Immediately upon his arrival, everyone gave way, and the general was called immediately. He met the king in arge lounge. The general was a duke and a man of renown. He didn''t lord over anynds, but rather stayed in the capital and handled the issues of the army. He was well over fifty and had a lot of gray hair, with the demeanor of a calm storm waiting to explode. He was like the calm before the storm, a mystery to the eyes. "My king, what would make you rush here?" he asked. "Ronald, there is no time for much talk. The enemy we sent two thousand men to is stronger than we estimated, and our forces have been destroyed," the king said. "I know, Your Highness. Word came to me before it got to you. I was shocked that we faced such a strong enemy. As much as I''d like to give you hope, there is no hope unless we use the secret weapon," Ronald said. "I already sent Code Zero. It was destroyed as well," the king replied. As soon as Ronald heard that, his eyes opened wide, and the shock was evident. "He was destroyed? What sort of enemy have we provoked? I fear that we alone can never survive this. We would be crushed into nothing. We have to reach out to allies if we want to survive," Ronald said. "What do you mean, reach out? The enemy will make their way to the capital faster than any ally can. And aside from that, aren''t you the greatest tactical mind we have? You should be able to make a n that would help fight the enemy. You should be able to save us from this cmity. You control the Royal Knights, the Dark Knights, the elite squad, the Shadow Unit. You control everything that is a fighting force in the kingdom. And the reason, the reason for that is simple¡ªyou are believed to be the best. You are the one we turn to in situations like this," the king said. "What the hell do you want me to do? This is beyond belief. Our kingdom had four thousand warriors in the capital, as well as mages, and you sent about thirty percent to help cklight. You didn''t consult me then. You used your kingly right to send them. Now they all went, and they all died. They were crushed to the ground like nothing. You also went ahead to send the greatest weapon known to this kingdom to fight the enemy, and the enemy dealt with it. Doesn''t that make you understand that the enemy is beyond what we can handle? Even I, a battle veteran, can tell that we are in a serious situation. The best I can do is to make a n to hold the enemy back and buy us time while you reach out to whoever you can to send backup. If you can do that, I can hold the enemy back for some time. So, what do you say?" Ronald asked. The king paused for a bit and fell into thought. Then he looked up at Ronald. "It will cost us greatly to get their help. To stop such an enemy, we must empty our treasury to get this done. So I have a better solution. Let us feed all the soldiers and mages the blood of the demons that was sent by the empire. We will tell them this is an opportunity to gain power and earn rewards. With the aid of the demon blood we have, we can transform all of them with the amount of blood we have. This way, we will have a super army that can take down whoever this enemy is," the king said. "You want to turn all our men into demonized monsters who stand the risk of losing their sanity, falling into depravity, and dying in the end?" Ronald asked. "It is for a good cause. Unless we want this kingdom to be wiped off the map, we must take that risk. So you have to do it. We must set it up in one day and have all of them take it to begin the transformation," the king said adamantly. "You trust the blood so much, but I heard that a child from one of the academies was killed even after taking the blood," Ronald said. "Indeed, word of that reached me, but that was only a child. And ording to what I heard, the person he faced was a prodigy greater than even the hero candidates. In fact, thank you for reminding me. The son of Duke Terron, Silva Terron, his talent is something else. If we give the blood to him, we might be able to create something close to the level of Code Zero," the king said with eagerness in his voice. "Sigh, it seems word has yet to reach you, but ording to our spies, Silva Terron is not the child you think he is, but a demon king candidate¡ªand he was spotted in the enemy army," Ronald dropped a bombshell on the king. Chapter 170: Ronald versus the king Silva walked into the cave of the dragon with a stool, set it down, and then sat down. The dragon saw him but didn''t say anything. "Heyo Agler, I''m back, so let''s talk now. Tell me about yourself, Agler. And if I find you truthful and interesting, I''ll release you, and we''ll know what to do from there." "Well, I''m Agler, a dragon that has lived for over five hundred years. I was captured when I was only a child. My mother was tracked by the hero just for fun and training, and she was beaten up badly, almost to death, and then the hero left. But she didn''t get the time to rest because a ck figure suddenly came and fought her in her dying breath and killed her. After killing her, it took me away, and I was brought to this ce where I was sealed for all these years. Blood was constantly drawn out with my mana as well. So I would never get strong enough to break free of the seal. The seal was reinforced every year, for all the years I''ve been here without fail," Agler exined. "Alright then, your story wasckluster and really boring, but it was truthful. But that''s beside the point. I have an offer for you. I will make you my subordinate, and you will be under a pact with me. What I want you to do is fly to the dragon country. I will show you how to get there and also give you a very believable backstory. I want you to be my spy and watch for me. You may not know anything about dragons, but you just have to tell them your backstory and act the part," Silva exined. "But why? You are a dragon yourself; I''m sure you can easily go there yourself," Agler asked. "Well, that''s because I am a dark dragon, the rarest of all dragons to exist. As of now, only two of us exist. If the world knew now, there would be a great issue. Because dark dragons are known for their power and growth potential. Most people would see it as the rise of a new and powerful threat. They would start plotting against me and making attempts on my life and all that. Also, I have a kingdom to build, and I can''t be jumping all around, not now, until I am done," Silva exined. "I see, so you want me to go on your behalf," Agler said. "Yes, Sherlock, I said that from the beginning. Now, I don''t really know how you were connected to this thing, and I don''t know how to get you out of it. But I have people who will be able to do it, so I''ll go and get them. You just sit tight and pass through some of the pain for a bit. I''ll be back," Silva said and got up to leave the cave. --- The king stared at Ronald after hearing him say that Silva was a demon lord candidate. The veins on his head bulged and throbbed. "Are you messing with me? I will have his head and the heads of everyone around that brat. Gather the army; I don''t care, call them all. We will march now and camp, and at midnight, we will attack cklight and destroy the enemy," the king said. "I don''t think that''s a smart choice, my king. This will lead to the destruction of our army," Ronald said. The king walked up to Ronald and looked him in the face. "Ronald, you will get the demon blood ready, and you will march the army down to the enemy''s location. You will use whatever means necessary, and you will cut down the enemy, or you die trying. There is no option; there is no turning back," the king said. "Your highness, I beg you to reconsider," Ronald said. "You will do as you are told, Duke Ronald," the king said. Ronald took a step back and drew his sword. "Sadly, I will notply. You have be enraged, and you are making rash decisions that will cost the lives of thousands," Ronald said. "You dare raise your sword against me?" the king asked. "You have left me with no choice. I can''t allow you to lead the army in such a state. I will take whatever punishmentes to me, but I will not back down on this," Ronald said. "Then you die," the king said and drew a sword, a sword covered in runes that glowed as he held it. He charged at Ronald with such speed that he caused a small sonic boom. Ronald''s face changed into a serious one. He took a defensive stance. The king shed at Ronald, who stepped back and parried the attack with one arm, while his second arm created a ball of ice. He fired it, and it mmed into the king''s chest, sending him flying. The king stood up immediately and raised his sword. Lightning began crackling around the sword. He shed down, and a lightning serpent shot out of the sword at Ronald. Ronald leaped out of the way. The serpent dove into the wall and destroyed it. Ronald got up immediately and charged at the king. The temperature of his sword dropped until ice formed around it. He shed, and the ice on the sword extended, increasing the length of the sword by several meters. The king blocked the sword, then charged at Ronald, leaping into the air and stabbing down. The de was covered with lightning and came down super fast. Ronald leaped out of the way. The king''s sword struck the ground, and the ground exploded, creating a massive crater that shook the entire building. Ronaldnded and immediately ran out through the hole in the wall. He needed space if he was going to battle the king. The king''s lightning was wild and explosive, and Ronald needed more spacespace in other to fight full strength. Chapter 171: Final Battle part 1 The king chased after Ronald at top speed, going in for another sh. Ronald spun around and blocked the attack. Immediately as the swords shed, Ronald used an explosive ice spell, with the sword as the wand. Ice exploded from the sword and sted the king away. Ronald may not have been as strong as the king, but he was a battle-hardened veteran and knew how to fight better than the king, so he was trying to use his experience to take down the king. The king stood up after the attack, royally pissed at Ronald. He raised his sword into the air; dark clouds formed immediately, and lightning struck the sword. The king channeled that lightning and fired it at Ronald. Ronald made a quick decision and created a thick ice wall. The wall rose up to twelve feet before the lightning hit, but the wall was unable to stop the attack fully. The lightning broke through the ice wall, mmed into Ronald''s chest, and sent him flying. Ronald rolled across the ground for a long while beforeing to a stop with arge wound on his chest. The king walked up to the struggling Ronald. "Your experience is worthless in the face of overwhelming power. You could have joined hands with me and brought the enemy down, yet you fought against me," the king said. Ronald struggled to look at the king, opening his mouth and forcing himself to speak. "Fuck you," Ronald said. The king, enraged by this, stabbed Ronald in the heart, killing him. The king walked away to go andmand the army to feed them the demon bloodblood and go to war --- On the other side, Silva was already preparing to attack the remaining major towns. He spread his army out, each unit led by a guardian. While he and Aris headed toward the capital, Aris insisted on following him, so he agreed. Silva and she would take out the entire army and finally destroy the kingdom. When they got close, a watchman saw them and ran to report, as Silva didn''t hide his wings or horns, making it clear that he wasn''t human and was probably an enemy. But they couldn''t be certain, so after the watchman reported, an army of twenty came out of the capital on horses and rode toward Aris and Silva. They surrounded them, and their leader asked a question. "Who are the two of you?" "I am Silva, a demon king candidate, and a dragon. This is Aris, a chaos spirit," Silva said. When the knights heard this, they all pulled their swords and pointed them at Silva and Aris, but before the swords evenpleted the motion, they crumbled into nothing. Confused, the knights looked at Silva and Aris, noticing a red glowing from Aris''s palm; that must have been the reason the swords copsed. "Aris, how many people are needed to deliver a message?" Silva asked. "Just one," she replied. "Good," Silva said and drew his sword, shing in a circr motion. Neen of the twenty knights were shed through their guts all the way to their backs, and they fell in two pieces, dead. Only one knight remained, frozen and scared. Silva looked at him and pointed. "You, run as fast as you can to your king. Tell him that Silva Terron, the demon king candidate and the bringer of this war, hase to kill him. Report this to him and tell him that he has one hour to prepare himself against me. If he isn''t ready by then, I''ll stille for his head and take it off," Silva said. The man was still frozen even after what Silva said. "Do you want to die too?" Silva asked, snapping him back to reality. The knight turned his horse and rode as fast as he could, his entire body covered in sweat as he rode away. "Does he need a horse to move?" Silva asked. "Not at all; he does have legs, after all," Aris responded. Silva pointed at the horse and fired a small bullet that struck the horse, instantly killing it. The knight was thrown to the ground, but he got up and started running toward the city without even looking back. When he passed through the city gates, he didn''t pause for a second. He charged through the city at top speed, going for minutes without stopping. After thirty minutes of brutal running, he made it to the king''s castle. The guards tried to block him, but he was a trained knight, so he threw them aside easily. He barged into the throne room where the king was seated after killing Ronald. The knight fell to the floor, huffing and puffing. He looked up at the king and forced himself to speak. "My king, the demon king candidate named Silva Terron is outside the city, and he threatens to take your head if you don''te out to fight him within an hour. I''ve already spent much time getting here; you have less than thirty minutes, my lord," the knight said. The king stood up upon hearing this. He had been expecting to go and fight at night today, but the enemy hade to him, their leader alone approaching. If he managed to take down the leader, he would win the war and keep his kingdom. The empires would reward him for being the one to kill a demon king candidate. His greed andck of information got the better of him. He took out his public announcement crystal connected to all knight and mage bases in the city. "Every knight and mage in this city, take in all the blood you were given and march out of the city to kill the enemy leader, who is currently approaching. Whoever kills the leader will be rewarded with the status of Duke." The king threw out an offer very few would refuse, and now he would sit back and watch the results. Chapter 172: Final Battle part 2 When an hour passed and the army was yet to attack, Silva decided to give them a warning, so he cast a formation with only a snap of his finger. The formation formed above the castle and was pure ck in color. From the formation, a ck ming ball was released, and it fell straight for the castle. But the castle was not undefended¡ªa barrier covered the castle and attempted to block the attack. The fireball mmed into the barrier, and the barrier trembled before melting. By the time the barrier was melted through, the fireball had died down. But Silva didn''t attack again; he could have used the hole in the barrier to release a second attack, but he only did that first one as a warning. And it seemed the warning worked, as troops began rushing madly out of the gates of the city, mages and warriors alike. When Silva saw them; he felt the same energy he sensed from the boy he killed that day. It was evident that the king had fed all of them demon blood. "To think a king would use his soldiers like this. Well, that''s none of my business," Silva said. He bent down and ced his hand on the ground. "Ever since I got my summoning, I''ve only been using the taming part of it, but today, mixing summoning and abyss magic, I brought out a spell: Advanced Necromancy." A spell with multiple levels of necromancy summoning. "First level, summon the army of the undead," Silva said. A ck shadow spread from his feet, and skeletons with weapons beganing out until they numbered about five hundred. "This is a pretty clich¨¦ thing for a demon king to do, summoning skeletons, but it gets the job done," Silva said. "What are you saying?" Aris asked him. "Something you wouldn''t understand," Silva responded. The army of skeleton summons charged into battle at top speed, and Silva''s skeletons shed with the army at the midpoint, and the battle began. The skeletons were getting crushed from the get-go; the kingdom''s army, reinforced with demon blood, fought fiercely and destroyed the skeletons. "Your summons are getting destroyed," Aris said. "That''s the n. The spell is an unusual one. When the skeletons get destroyed, theye back twice as strong, but because of my legacy buff, they be twenty times as strong. So the aim is for the enemy to destroy them as much as possible, making them stronger and stronger until the enemy is incapable of defeating them because of how strong they''ve be. The only thing needed to keep this going is my mana, which will keep flowing through them, and as long as that continues, they will keeping back stronger," Silva exined. And in the time he used to exin, the skeletons had turned the tide of the battle and were now winning, killing the soldiers despite their increased powers. It was slowly turning into a massacre, and the numbers of the army were steadily dwindling. "Aris, I think it is time for us to head to the castle. My summons will handle everything here," Silva said. Aris nodded, and they walked through the battlefield unhindered toward the city, casually walking in as there was no security left. They walked through the quiet town toward the castle. Suddenly, three little boys, no more than around ten, jumped out holding rusted swords. Silva was only a few years older than them, but the way he carried himself and his physical appearance would confuse anyone and make them think he was close to sixteen. "We will not allow you demons to take our city," the boy in the center spoke. Silva looked at them, unsure whether tough or cry. "Please get out of the way; I seriously don''t have emotions and will kill a child without thinking twice," Silva said. The boys refused to move, and Silva got annoyed, but all the people in their houses ran out when they noticed Silva might kill the boys; they all pointed weapons at Silva. "I have no ns of killing anyone; I only want to move them, so all of you get out of my way," Silva said as he released his aura. The force caused walls to crack and doors to break. Everyone around immediately passed out because of his aura, and he continued on his way to the castle. He turned back to look at the unconscious people, then continued. When they arrived at the castle gate, a formation activated, and a huge crystal golem rose up and attacked Silva. But Silva was too bored to even block; he let the punch hit him, and fine gold shattered from the bacsh. "This kingdom is boring," Silva said and walked into the castle. He opened the doors and headed for the throne room. When he pushed the door, he saw the king seated with his sword and full armor, but that was not all¡ªit seemed he, too, had taken demon blood. And the amount he took was substantial; his aura had changed, and his body was pulsing rhythmically. "Silva Terron, you are a traitor. You lied to us all and tricked us," the king said. " , old man. Honestly, I was waiting until you killed your son and my stupid brother before I destroyed your kingdom, but you just had to go ahead and touch Aaron, my friend. Honestly, that was a ballsy move, and I apud you for that. But now, you''ve caused the downfall of your kingdom. As we speak, all the dukes are getting killed or captured, all the major cities are getting torn to shreds. And I am here to finish off the biggest fish in the kingdom," Silva said. "You think I''d let you!" the king yelled and charged at Silva with all his speed. He stabbed through Silva''s chest, and a smile formed on his face, but the afterimage disappeared, and he realized he hadn''t really stabbed Silva. He turned around and saw Silva in the throne. Silva looked at him and said, "I''m king now, sucker." Silva pointed his finger at him and fired a dark bullet right through the king''s head, killing him on the spot. Chapter 173: Taking Over "Well, that was anticlimactic," Aris said. "Well, I wasn''t expecting anything from him, to be honest. His greatest weapon was that ck man, and it didn''t work out. If he were smart, he would have bought time and sent to other kingdoms for help. Not that it would have changed anything, but that would have been the best route to take," Silva said as he stood up from the throne and walked toward a window. "Honestly, I can''t be bothered with that kingdom in the first ce. But I need a home and a new ce to create my dominance. I want to create a ce never seen before, while still making it the strongest," he said. "All this will attract attention. Even the fact that you have taken over this kingdom will reach the ears of the empire and the holy kingdom. They wouldn''t want a demon king candidate staying in humannds, so for sure they''lle for us," Aris said. "Yup, they wille for sure, but they won''te too fast. You see, the issue withrge countries and empires is their governance. Everything passes through several people before it is established, so it makes the whole process slow. Even with the veto power of the emperor or holy pope, it will not be fast enough. Another thing that will slow things down is the scale of importance. Where will my issues fall on that scale? It might be the twentieth thing, even the hundredth thing. So they''ll have to handle the most pressing needs until they get to us, and then they''ll begin the discussion about what to do with us, which will take time. "At the very best, I give it a full year before they fully move against me. Surely they''ll send some spies and warnings during that time, but when they''ll get really serious is probably a year from now. And that''s more than enough time for us to grow too strong for them. Honestly, this estimate is very shaky and could change to half the time depending on certain situations," Silva exined. "Hmm, so our main and current issues are the closest kingdoms. They will surelyunch attacks when they get the news. They will want to take advantage of the change in power and use the reluctant human to cause us issues and sabotage us. Then they''lle themselves to finish the job," Aris said. "Yeah, you make a lot of sense in that regard. We will have to hold a meeting about this issue. But then, about the humans that were with us¡ªmany of them will not want to stay with a demon king candidate. And honestly, I don''t care; we need space for the kingdom we are going to build. Some of the humans also have nowhere to go, so they''ll stay. But it''s still possible that they''ll sell us out, so we have two options to deal with this situation as best as possible. "The first option is to threaten them and be strict, a quick and effective method but not safe for the long run. The second is the show-of-love method: we make their lives better than they were under the former king. The second method has a lot of issues, like the time required for it to work and the generational enmity against us. These will factor together to make them unreasonable and stubborn," Silva exined. "So what method would you be using for handling them?" Aris asked. "Both, both of them. For the quick and effective way to handle the short-term issues like the close kingdoms that will attack, we will use force and threats. Then, as we begin to fix the kingdom and develop it, we will slowly start showing them the care and love they want, and all that stuff," Silva exined. "And what if it doesn''t work? What will you do?" Aris asked. "I''ll kill all of them. It''s that simple; everyone would just die, except for those close to me, and then we will build a kingdom for monsters like ourselves," Silva said calmly. "I see. So now that you have finally taken the kingdom, what is your next step?" she asked. "Taking out the stragglers. I had Lily run a search through the kingdom for any hidden army base or security organization with ties to the kingdom. So now, we will quickly deal with them, taking out every one of them. After that, we will address the kingdom and then immediately begin developing newws, rules, and all that," Silva exined. "I feel the guardians will be able to handle all of that," Aris stated. "Yup, I''ll be leaving it with them and you. As for me personally, I''ll be going to train," Silva said. "Train? Where? What ce could you possibly go to that has the resources to train you?" Aris asked. "I have a ce; it''s called the Void Labyrinth. I''ll tell you more about it on ater date," Silva responded. As they spoke, a portal opened, and Drake walked out with Elsa. Elsa ran and hugged Silva immediately when she saw him. "I missed you a lot; you''ve been gone for almost a day," Elsa said. "I''ve been gone for longer, Elsa," Silva said and patted her head. He looked up at Drake. "So what''s the status of things?" he asked. "All the dukes were captured; their families were allowed to go. We have basically captured the whole kingdom," Drake said. "Alright, I don''t want to kill the dukes; they didn''t really do anything to me, so we will seal their mana connections and release them," Silva said. Elsa suddenly looked up. She looked at Silva and spoke, "Daddy, didn''t the king have two sons and a wife? Where are they?" Silva immediately realized he had overlooked that and used his sense to scan for people in the castle. After a few seconds, he found them hidden in a small secret room in the king''s bedroom. Chapter 174: Kill Silva Up in the sky above the castle where Silva was, a golden eagle with emerald green eyes circled above the clouds. As soon as the king was killed, it shot into the distance with incredible speed. But its presence hadn''t gone unnoticed, as Kratos shot into the sky and flew after it at breakneck speed. The eagle saw the wyvern chasing after it and pushed to move even faster, but Kratos was incredibly fast. He picked up speed and was catching up. Kratos fired a stream of purple mes to take out the eagle. The eagle made a quick turn to the side and dodged the mes, but that was exactly what Kratos wanted. As the eagle moved to the side and dodged the attack, it was open in that moment, unable to change direction quickly enough to dodge the second attack. So Kratos shed with his ws, and three w arcs shot at the eagle, shing into its wing and damaging it badly. The eagle immediately began to fall, and Kratos dived to catch it, but as he got close, the eagle exploded in his face. The attack was not very lethal, but it was painful, so as Kratos flinched in pain, a golden light shot out of the explosion mes and continued in the direction the eagle had been heading. Kratos shook off the pain and flew after the golden light, elerating wildly and causing several sonic booms and ripples in the air. He managed to catch up with the light and opened his mouth to swallow it, but as he closed his jaws, the light exploded again, forcing Kratos''s mouth open. Another, smaller light shot from the explosion and traveled faster than the other two had. By this time, Kratos was royally pissed off. He opened his mouth wide, and arge fireball began forming, which he thenpressed. He keptpressing it over and over until the fireball was so dense it weighed his head down, and then he fired it. The fireball traveled at incredible speed despite its weight and soon caught up to the smaller light. And it exploded. The explosion was sorge and powerful that it cleared out the clouds in the sky, scorching the buildings and nts below. Kratos flew closer to the spot where it exploded; the air was very hot. He looked around to see if the little light was still there, and when he was sure that it was gone, he turned and flew away. A minute after he flew off, the light surfaced from the ground below and started flying again, only to be suddenly caught inside a thick crystal ball. "Seems your idea for me to turn back was smart," Kratos said to Lily, who was on his back. She was the one who had captured the light in the crystal. "You''re just dumb, Kratos. This is a light that kept escaping you, and you thought one shy attack would kill it? Also, don''t use those kinds of attacks carelessly. If you''d gone any stronger with that attack, you could have killed people below." Lily cautioned Kratos. "Sorry, I''ll be more cautious," Kratos agreed. Lily nodded and snapped her fingers, teleporting them away. --- Back inside the castle, Silva walked through the corridors, headed for the king''s room and towards the secret room. He used force to open it, and immediately the queen leaped out with a short sword aimed at Silva''s throat. Silva simply grabbed her hand, twisted it, and the de fell to the ground. "Let go of my mother," the king''s son said. Silva saw the kid and turned his attention to him. "Hey there, little brat. I''ll keep this short and to the point. Your father is dead; I killed him with my own two hands. Now I''m taking over everything, and you and mommy have to leave. Now, let me warn you¡ªwhatever it is that you''re plotting in your mind, stop it. Because I''ll kill you a hundred times before your finger can even flinch. And I don''t hold back, even against children," Silva said. The boy stood his ground and looked Silva in the eye. Silva smirked and released some pressure on him, causing the boy to fall to his knees. "Bravery can get you far, but the distance it can take you won''t be enough. You need power to back up bravery. So, leave here now with all that anger and rage you have towards me, and as you pass the throne room, look inside and see your father''s body. Let that image be drilled into your mind, and let yourself hate me. Let it drive you to dedicate your life to training so that one day, you mighte to defeat me. Never forgive me for as long as I live, and hunt me down until the day you die. Take your mother and leave, because by the time three minutes are up and you''re still here, I''ll kill your dream of revenge by killing you." Silva said. He patted the boy on the head and turned to leave. The boy red at Silva with rage and anger, ncing at the short sword his mother had dropped. "Don''t do that, kid. I''m giving you the chance to walk away from all this and be happy with a new life training to kill me. But if you use that de to attack me, you can kiss your mother goodbye." Silva said and left. The prince looked at his mother, who was still in pain from when Silva twisted her arm. "Mom, I''m going ahead. You can stay here and die if you want." After saying that, he walked out of the room. In his mind, all he could hear was, Kill Silva, kill him, devour him. And those voices reached his heart, making it all he wanted to do. He may not be able to do it now, but he silently swore that he would get strong enough to take out Silva. Chapter 175: Dark Dragon Kingdom The war was settled, and Silva had won a victory by andslide,pletely dominating and winning in only a day, faster than he had anticipated. And that was because of the impatient and crazy king. Now, Silva needed to address the entire kingdom and set things into ce. He asked for all the ves that he rescued to be brought to the capital, and for kingdom-widemunication crystals to be mounted. It took a day, but everything was ready, and he was finally prepared to address the whole kingdom. "I don''t want to wear that," Silva, who was in his underwear, dashed out of the king''s room, which was now his own. Immediately, he ran out, Dawn chased after him from the room, with Lia and Roxy behind her. He had taken a bath and came out to get dressed and address the kingdom, but when he saw them inside the room, seated and waiting for him with a purple kingly robe, he panicked. "You don''t have a choice!" Dawn yelled. Silva didn''t care, though, as he dashed down the stairs and was about to create a portal, but another portal opened, and Elsa walked out with Lily. Lily and Elsa looked at Silva, then at the three chasing him and the clothes in Dawn''s hands, and they immediately knew what was going on. "You have to dress the part," Lily said. She used wind magic to lift Silva into the air, but Silva immediately shot out a shadow tendril andtched onto a corner. He pulled himself toward it and was about to make his getaway. But that was when Elsa moved. She was way faster than he expected. She reached him in an instant, grabbed his hand, and used his momentum against him. She spun him around and mmed him into the ground. "Sorry, Daddy, but I want to see you in the clothes," she said. "Not happening," Silva said. He spawned a clone, and the clone lifted Elsa off him and held her back. Silva continued running, thinking he had gotten away. He tried to take some clothes out of his ring to wear, but suddenly he couldn''t move. "What the hell?" Silva asked. "It''s called blood control. With your strength, I can hold you at best for twenty seconds, but that''s more than enough." Drake appeared in front of Silva. The twenty seconds bought enough time for the others to catch up, but before they could reach him, Silva still broke out. "Fine, fine, I''ll wear it," Silva said. He looked at Drake. "But tell me how that blood control worked," Silva asked. "Well, when the youngdy Elsa leaped on you, she managed to use her fingers to draw some blood. But because of your healing, you didn''t notice a wound. And so she passed the blood to me, and with that, I was able to initiate the move," Drake exined. "Alright, that makes sense. See you allter," Silva said, still nning on running despite his words. But all of them immediately got ready to attack if he moved. Silva knew he could tank their attack, but it wasn''t worth the pain. So he gave in and dressed in the clothes they picked. It was a fitting ck inner shirt and pants, with a purple robe to cover. When he was fully dressed, he headed to the throne room, where the mini transmission crystal was set up. He walked up to it, and the crystal activated. All over the kingdom at that time, holograms of Silva were projected by the crystals for all to see. "Good day to you all¡ªhumans, beasts, beastmen, and all other races. My name is Silva, a demon king candidate, and as of today, your ruler. Before I move on further, I dere today that the name of Gnos Kingdom will be the Kingdom of the Dark Dragon, and I will be its first king. This kingdom will follow the rules set by me, and everyone can live in this kingdom regardless of race. I know many humans hate me for taking over their home and nowing to rule them. But honestly, I don''t care what you think for now. It is totally normal for you all to hate me and want to kill me. But I beg that you refrain from such acts, or even being an aplice to such, because you will be killed. I n to build this kingdom into the most advanced and captivating ce where everyone can benefit, and everyone can live to their fill. But for those of you humans who feel beasts are for the demons, and humans are heroes, to those of you that will hate other races irrationally due to a stigma that has refused to die for many years: Better get control of yourself because you will all be living together now. The kingdom will be shut off from the world, and if you want to leave, please do. Leave us and go to the human side. But if any of you choose to stay, you better be cautious. If you try to sell us out, you will be executed. To all of you, join me in making Dark Dragon into the greatest kingdom," Silva said. He turned around and whispered into Drake''s ear. "You know what to do. Kill everyone that chooses to leave this kingdom¡ªchild, adult, old, and young, female and male. Kill them and let Lily handle the bodies." After he finished telling Drake, he walked away from the crystal. The announcement of a new king and a change of governance caused widespread panic, and a whopping eighty percent of humans started moving. And that eighty percent were hunted down, one by one, and when night fell, all had been killed. The roads and the forest were covered in blood, and that day would be recorded as the purge. As for those who stayed, they were the poor and sick, the ones who had nothing in this life, and those were the ones Silva actually wanted to stay. He would help their shattered lives and make them see him as their savior. Chapter 176: Six wings Silva left the castle; he wanted to have some alone time, so he headed into the forest swiftly. As he walked, stepping on sticks along the way, two notifications suddenly came in. [You have a message from Goddess Ophelia.] [The pawns of the Great Being are headed your way.] Silva immediately drew his sword when he read the second message. He didn''t even have the time to read Ophelia''s message, as that could wait for now. A portal opened, and Silva expected about four or so angels to walk out, but only one emerged an angel with six wings. It held a thick spear, and when it stepped out, it stopped. Even as it stood still, the pressure Silva felt from it was immense. Suddenly, a purple like shadow spread from the angel''s feet and expanded until it reached under Silva. Then, suddenly, the entire ce changed. Silva was transported onto a devastated small that seemed to have exploded or been destroyed, yet its fragments were frozen in time by some force. "What the hell is happening here?" Silva asked. He looked at the angel, and to his shock, it was moving, the eyes were open and they were locked on Silva. This had never happened before; the angels never moved when he looked at them. The only exnation was that this ce allowed the angel to move freely. The angel pped all six wings and vanished instantly. It appeared behind Silva and sent a powerful stab for his back. Silva spun around as fast as he could and blocked the attack. But the force sent him flying into a suspended rock, which shattered upon impact. He rolled through the ground for a bit beforeing to a stop. He got to his feet immediately and used Dragon Eyes on the angel to see what the stats of the angel looked like. [####################] [Destroyer of Worlds.] All of the stats refused to disy, but Silva saw something at the bottom: Destroyer of Worlds. Finally, this ce began to make sense. This angel must have the power to destroy worlds, hence the name. That made Silva cautious. He gripped the Abyssal de and summoned three clones alone. One transformed into a full dragon form. The second transformed into the Joker of the Abyss, and thest one used the Minotaur''s Rage,wielding the axe. With all four of them ready, Silva charged at the angel. The angel spun its spear around and stabbed into the void. A powerful spear st shot out of the tip, spinning like a crazy vortex. It tore through the space as it reached for Silva. Silva and his clones scattered to avoid the attack. The st hit a floating boulder, turning it into fine sand granules. The angel, seeing it missed, shed horizontally, firing a massive de arc at them. Silva stepped forward and shed down with full force, splitting the de arc in half and dissipating it. The three clones immediately charged forward after Silva deflected the attack. The dragon flew high above the angel and unleashed a torrent of purple mes. The angel stabbed its spear upwards, countering the mes with a single move, the single stab sted the mes away. It shot towards the dragon, aiming to stab through its heart. But a card appeared before it, depicting arge ming meteor. Out of nowhere, the meteor from the card materialized and shot toward the angel at high speed. The weeping angel wasn''t flustered though. With one vertical sh, it split the meteor. However, as the meteor''s fragments fell, Silva appeared with a fully ignited ming sword. At the same time, the clone with the axe used dragon wings to approach from behind. The angel had to make a choice, as both were closing in rapidly. Sensing more danger from Silva, it decided to handle him first. Using its incredible speed, it darted toward Silva. Silva shed, and the angel blocked, but the mes on Silva''s sword exploded, pushing the angel back¡ªjust enough for the axe-wielding clone tond a blow on its back. The axe dug deep into the angel''s back, causing it to lose bnce and crash to the ground. The angel rose slowly, its expression dark with anger. "I am a soldier from the Army of the Weeping Angels. You lower life forms will not kill me!" the angel dered. Its aura erupted like a bomb. It spun its spear and shot toward Silva, its speed reaching levels Silva had never seen. It moved so quickly that it appeared as if there were three of it attacking from different directions. But it was an illusion, a trick to confuse Silva. Silva stood watching, his instincts kicking in just in time to dodge a spear aimed for his head. The spear grazed his neck, drawing blood. Silva retreated quickly, trying to n his next move, but the angel gave him no time to rest, it moved to attack again, but the dragon moved. The dragon clone swooped down to attack the angel with its ws. The angel countered, stabbing its spear and creating a vacuum that exploded when the dragon clone reached it. The clone tried to avoid the vacuum, but its momentum from the dive made it impossible. It entered the vacuum, triggering a sharp explosion that damaged its limbs. The clone roared in pain but didn''t stop. It charged the angel again, dodging multiple spear strikes before unleashing apressed fireball. The angel used its wings to block the fireball, but the explosion pushed it back. Undeterred, it immediately countered with another charge. Silva intercepted the attack, parrying the spear and countering with a stab aimed at the angel''s heart. His sword was about to strike when, suddenly, his movements was slowed by fifty percent. The angel had slowed the time, so it had just enough time to evade the strike. As Silva''s speed returned, he gave chase again, with the Joker clone right behind him, they both chased the weeping angel. Chapter 177: The True power of six wings The weeping angel nted its feet in the ground as it beat the retreat. It spun its spear so fast it sounded like a whip and shed for Silva''s head. Silva ducked low and dodged. The joker behind threw out a card that summoned an explosive crystal that flew towards the angel. The angel didn''t know what the crystal was. He quickly drew his spear back and stabbed the crystal, and it exploded immediately, sending the angel flying. Silva and the clone with the axe charged from the right and the left to nk the angel, while the dragon flew from above to cover the top. The angel understood the n and knew what would happen if he didn''t move out of the way. He spun around mid-air and stabbed his spear into the ground, sting some strange energy through the tip. The force sted him forward with more speed, fast enough to put some distance between them so that he could turn,nd, and activate a swift counter. He shed up with full force, and the ground exploded due to the strange energy. Silva became curious as to what energy this angel was using. It didn''t feel like mana, and it felt more potent than mana, but now was not the time to be worried about that. He leaped into the air, same with the other clones, to escape the attack. But the angel was not done. It stabbed into the ground and caused a sonic explosion that spread like a dome. Silva and the clones had to think fast, and his joker clone pulled a shield card that covered all of them, but even with that, they were still sted in all directions. Silva managed tond on his feet, and so did the clones. They all took their stances immediately. So far, this was the hardest fight that Silva had been in¡ªthe first fight where he had to think deeply about his every move. His minds were all working toe up with solutions as they fought. "It seems there is no way I will be able to win this if I don''t go all out. This will be the first time," Silva said. "Let''s start with the gates of hell!" Immediately after he said that, he shed his arm, and so did all the clones. The blood poured from them and seeped into the ground, and then the angel felt a sinister vibe. When it turned around, it saw arge gate. Because of Silva''s evolution, the gates of hell had advanced as well. The gate now stood at twenty feet tall, oozing dark energy. The gates opened and immediately began pulling the angel in, but the angel fought against it with all that it had, refusing to fall into the gates. "Make sure that it falls into the gate!" Silva yelled, and all four of them charged at the angel. They began releasing attack after attack. The angel blocked and parried their attacks, but it was losing focus, and the pull of the gate was now dragging him. "Keep pushing," Silva yelled and shed with a massive fire arc. The angel blocked it but was tipped off bnce, and the pull of the gate had a final hold on him, pulling him into the gate. The gates shut after that. But the gates didn''t disappear, which meant the angel was still alive inside. Silva expected that would be the case and that the angel would break out of the gates, but it would receive a tangible amount of damage, and that was what Silva wanted. Silva stood back while the three clones stood upfront. He was about to ready an attack for the angel when it came out. He shut his eyes tight and began using the special skill of the sword. Enforcing his will, he slowly created what seemed like a domain around them and the gate. His sword lit on fire. The purple mes this time were different; they held onto the sword tightly and didn''t spread out from it. He kept his eyes closed as he waited for the angel, and it finally happened. The gates burst open, and the angel slowly walked out, but it was riddled with severe injuries all around and looked close to death. Yet the aura that the angel gave off at this time was something else¡ªit was on a new level. The angel looked up, its eyes glowing with rage, and it vanished in an instant. A secondter, it appeared near the dragon. Faster than the dragon could follow, the angel drove a spear right through the head of the dragon, exploding the dragon''s head. Silva, who still had his eyes closed, felt the whish from the death of his clone, but he kept his concentration. Silva was shocked at the current strength of the angel. It seemed the angel had not gone all out all this time. The angel had most likely seen Silva as something it could crush easily, but the opposite happened. Now the angel was going all out like it was crazy. The angel immediately charged for the clone with the axe, but the joker intercepted and pulled a card. Before the joker could activate the card, the angel was already behind him. It stabbed the joker through the heart from the back. Thest clone took this opportunity to make a move, but the angel was already in front of him. The angel decapitated the clone without pause. Finally, Silva opened his eyes. He smiled and spoke to the angel. "You should have shown your true strength from the get-go. Maybe then you would have stood a chance at winning. Honestly, I''m shocked because each one of the clones had a base strength ten times mine, yet you killed them with such ease. "Sadly, you should havee for me¡ªthe original¡ªfirst," Silva said and moved his sword. That movement alone made the space inside the domain he created start twisting and rumbling. The angel could tell that if Silva finished his attack, it would die. It immediately shot toward Silva. But the will enforced by Silva made it impossible for the angel to reach him. "Enforcing my will to destroy!" Silva yelled and shed his sword, and everything went silent, a light as bright as the sun shined. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 178: Amber returns The bright light spread all over and devastated the already destroyed, also consuming the angel as well. [You have killed a weeping angel] [You have gained 5000 SP] x10 [You have leveled up, 100 SP] Silva finally killed it. He had spent so much energy to kill that angel and had even sustained serious damage for the first time in a while. Silva fell on his butt, tired and exhausted, his breathing haggard and forced. As he sat there on the shattered world, he suddenly felt a great pressure on him. He looked up quickly and saw a figure in the distance. It was an eight-winged weeping angel. It released so much energy and aura that Silva could not breathe. His heart rate increased, and he started sweating. "Why? Why does it feel like I am about to die right now? Why does it feel like that angel could kill me in one move?" Silva asked himself. He tried to stand up, but the pressure increased severalfold, mming him into the ground. Silva couldn''t believe that this angel suppressed him with only pressure. Howrge was the difference in their strength that would enable this? "I fail to see why the generals asked us to take you down, you puny human. You may have managed to kill a six-winged, but he was of the lowest level of six wings¡ªa newly evolved six-wing. If it had been anyone higher with more experience, you would have died. This dimension is vanishing since the owner is dead; hence I can''t kill you. But in due time, your head will be taken to the Great One." The angel spoke from a distance, and Silva heard it. A portal formed behind the angel, and it went in. When the portal closed, Silva could finally breathe well. The dimension vanished, and he returned to the forest,ying on the ground. He sat up and dragged himself to a tree. He sat there for a bit, processing the fight and everything that had happened. He came to realize every day that there was a bigger story outside this world, and he was yet to finish the issues of this world, yet he was engaging in things beyond. "Well, whatever happens, I''ll be ready for it. I''ll get strong enough to deal with all the issues..." Silva recalled that he had received a message from Ophelia, so he checked it there. [Some information on the weeping angels] [Your next task] Silva was shocked to see that Ophelia had managed to send him information on the weeping angels. They were his biggest threat, and Ophelia knew that. Silva wondered what methods she used to bypass Order. He decided that he would read the task first. Then, he would read the information on the weeping angels. [Congrattions forpleting all tasks so far. As usual, the information I can pass to you is limited, but at the very least, I can tell you a bit more than before. Now that you are stronger, you are closer to godhood, and the time for discussions that Order allows me to have with you is a bit deeper than before. Now about the continuation of your task: The empire¡ªyou have toy a very strong foothold in the empire and watch them, or else they might end the world.] The message ended there, and Silva read thest one with a bit of understanding as to why the empire would cause the end of the world. The empire was carrying out reckless experiments with powers they knew nothing about. An example was the synthetic demon blood. "I guess I''ll have to start making moves soon," Silva said. He went ahead to check the information on the weeping angels. [The weeping angels are a race created by the powerful being ####### to serve its selfish purpose of bing more powerful. Weeping angels are neither alive nor dead; they exist on a spectrum that no other race can. They are well-versed in speed attacks and can cover great distances in split seconds. They are statues when looked at, yet they are indestructible in that state. But when backs are turned to them, they move very fast and end the enemy. Their power level can be roughly estimated using the wings on their backs. The higher the number, the more powerful they are. A two-winged angel is regarded as the foot soldier, the weakest of the angels. A four-winged angel is several times stronger than the two-winged. You would need about twenty two-winged to take down a four-winged. After the four-wingedes the six-winged, known as the captains. Their strength is truly recognized. Beyond them is the eight-winged, the elites that only move under the direct orders of the generals, the ten-winged. And thest angel, known as the primordial weeping angel, is one of the first¡ªthe twelve-winged angel, the only one who speaks directly to the #######. Even within these levels, there still exists massive power differences due to the time and experience gathered in that level.] "What a set of terrifying beings. So there exist more above that eight-winged angel¡ªten and twelve. If they hade for me, I would have ended up dead for sure. There''s no sugarcoating that," Silva said. He got back on his feet with a determined expression. He had to get stronger. He had to get strong enough to take out the being that was sending pawns against him. Silva was about to head back to the castle, but a portal opened in front of him, and Amber leaped through it, grabbing Silva in a hug and pushing him to the ground. Silva looked confused. He looked at who had jumped on him, and when he saw Amber, he immediately moved to remove her, but her arms held him tight. "What the hell are you doing here, and how did you find me?" Silva asked. She let out a little giggle and spoke. "Give me a kiss, and I''ll tell you." "Forget it," Silva said and turned his head away. Chapter 179: Elaine "No fair, you haven''t seen me for a long time, and you can''t even give me a kiss?" Amber asked. "I''m still a child, and also I don''t want to let you just have my first kiss like that," Silva said. Amber let out an evil smile. "Hu hu hu, so I can be your first kiss?" she said with shining eyes. "Hell no, not happening," Silva said. He transformed into his full dragon form. Maver held onto his back still, but he transformed back to normal immediately. Because of that, she fell from the height. Though shended on her feet, she still pouted due to the fact that Silva pulled off that stunt. "Will you tell me how you found me exactly?" Silva asked again. "Fine, fine. When we first met, I ced a very good tracker on you that allows me to find you anywhere," Amber said. "What the hell? How are you able to put a tracker on me without me knowing? That should be very impossible. I''m very conscious about my body," Silva asked. "Hehe, this is a special one that only I can create. It uses my touch. As long as I touch you, I set the tracker and can track you anywhere," she said while smiling. "Get it off me," Silva said. "Nope, I won''t. I need to know where you are all the time. Now, let''s go somewhere private, where all those whores will not find us," Amber said. "Do not call them whores. I chose them to be around me, unlike you who forced me," Silva said and started walking. She ran up to him and wrapped her hand around his tightly while leaning her head on his shoulder. "It doesn''t matter. Even if they are still with you, I''ll make myself the only person you will be able to look at," Amber assured. "I doubt that. Now, tell me why you are here," Silva said. "Well, I started missing you but decided toe. But there''s more to it than that. I was sent to you by the demon kings. They sent a message to you. You will see it when we arrive, but first, I''ll tell you all that happened so far. When we arrived back, Aqua reported what happened to the demon kings, and a long deliberation started about you and what to do with you. You are an anomaly of sorts, something that would not normally exist. It''s unheard of for a demon king candidate to be born in the human world. This is the first, so it brought a whole lot of issues to the table. Aqua tried his best to make them see you as a threat that needed to be contained. But I came to find out about what he said, and I spoke to the demon kings and told them the truth. So after all that, they decided that they would send me to be the one to monitor your actions for the time being. They understand your want for independence, and as long as you don''t be a threat, they are willing to let you live a free life until the blood moon," Amber exined. "I don''t need their permission. I only listen to one person, and her instructions are what I follow because she was the one who allowed me to have the life I am currently living," Silva said. "It''s a woman? A woman? Who is she? Tell me. Is it a new one that I am yet to know about?" Amber asked, pulling Silva''s arm. "Stop pulling my arm, and no, I won''t tell you about her. She''s not a love interest, but more a guardian to me. She has saved my life a lot of times, and I owe her a lot. Unlike onedy that jumps on me and tries to kiss me even when I am underaged," Silva said and nced at Amber. She pointed but didn''t say anything. "So will any of the demon kings being to see me anytime soon?" Silva asked. "That''s possible, though I doubt it. At the end of the day, you are only still a candidate. But if you begin to make grand moves, they will definitely move," Amber said. "Oh, grand moves like taking over a kingdom?" Silva asked with a smile. "Wait, you didn''t do that, did you?" she asked. "I did. We are returning to the castle now. I killed the king, arrested all the dukes, and took over the whole thing. Now that you are here, you can even join meter to go and pass the final verdict on all the dukes. It will be fun," Silva said. "I''m still stuck on the fact that you took over a whole kingdom. How does that even happen?" Amber asked. "It''s a long story. I''ll tell you about itter, but for now, let''s head back and see the message that you said was sent for me." When Silva arrived at the castle with Amber holding his arm, a silent war began, and Silva could feel the rumbling. So he tried to calm things down by bringing up a discussion. "Amber said the demon kings have sent a message for me, so let''s check it," Silva said and looked at Amber. Amber pulled out a crystal from her ring and ced it on the ground. The crystal glowed and then started a projection. A being appeared in the projection¡ªa Fenrir. This was the first time Silva had seen any. Her fur was white as snow with blue streaks flowing from head to tail. Her eyes were crystal blue and very beautiful to look at. When she saw Silva and the others, she transformed into a human form, which was as beautiful as her real form, with blue and white flowing hair. Silva was shocked to see that she was capable of transformation, but he didn''t say anything. "I figured this form would be better to speak to you, Silva," she said, her eyes going to Silva. Silva didn''t know how she knew him exactly, but he didn''t say anything. He just watched. "I am ine, one of the current demon kings. I was nominated to be the one that would speak to you. I''ve been waiting for Amber to deliver the crystal so that we can have our talk. It is a pleasure to meet the person that made Aqua enraged," ine said. "Is Aqua someone you care about?" Silva asked. "Not at all. In my eyes, he is only a candidate, and that is the only value that he has. Without that, he wouldn''t even be a being worth talking to. Sure, he has good potential, but looking at you right now, he pales inparison. The fact that a demon king is looking at you, and you are capable of hiding your true strength from her, speaks volumes. You are not a normal dark dragon, are you? Even dark dragons do not have such growth rates as he reported you to have. I''m sure there''s a lot about you, but I can''t pry for now. I have to pass on the message to you. The demon kings have decided that, for now, you are not to be considered a threat, and they will only observe your growth and actions in the future. We believe that your presence might bring some unknown changes to the equilibrium that has existed, though it is only a spection. Still, you are a demon king candidate staying in human territory. We can''t allow them to have you and destroy the bnce. We believe you are able to take care of yourself, but Amber is there with you to help and to also report in case there''s anything that needs our intervention. That''s basically all that I have to tell you. Is there anything you''d like to ask or add?" ine asked. "Nope, all I have to say is that I don''t need you guys to watch over me. I don''t n to be under anyone, demon kings or heroes. I''ll do my own thing when I want and how I want. All you have to do is watch because if you choose to intervene, you''ll be my enemies regardless. I have my own personal mission and task, and because of that, I will not be taking any instructions from you or the demon kings," Silva said. ine had a shocked expression when she heard him, but it soon shifted into a smile. "I see. So you are a crazy one. It''s been a while since things were stirred up. I believe you''ll be doing a lot of that, dark dragon. I think all dark dragons are like that. Based on history, the first dark dragon also caused a lot of issues during his time," ine said. It was then that Silva realized something. How did they know he was a dark dragon? "How did you find out that I was a dark dragon?" Silva asked. "I know that Aqua and Amber know I''m a dragon, but I never told them what type exactly," Silva said. "Well, you see, the demon kings have always been informed about dark dragons because of how powerful they were. So even Elsa, we have known about her for a while." Chapter 180: Kingdom Meeting part 1 "What do you mean that you have been aware of Elsa?" Silva asked. "That''s nothing to be worried about. The Dark dragons have always been in touch with the demon kings, but for some reason, Elsa''s mother never allowed her to contact us. However, we knew about Elsa. And judging by the fact that you and Elsa give off the same energy, it''s easy to know that you are a dark dragon," ine exined. "I''ll take your exnation, but with a grain of salt," Silva said. "That''s more than enough. I''ll leave you now. I do hope that you''ll be on good terms with us in the future," ine said, and the connection was canceled. "It seems the demon kings are more informed and powerful than we expected," Drake said. "Howe you never told me that the salt dragons have been in connection with the demon kings?" Silva turned and asked Drake. "Because we never knew. There was no way any of the dark dragons that lived before would tell us anything about such. We were merely guardians; our importance was not that high. The only time we were treated well and as partners was during the time of Elsa''s mother, Elsa, and then you. Dragons are innately prideful, and the most prideful are the darkness dragons. They view all life as nothing beneath them. There''s a reason why you make decisions without flinching. You can eradicate thousands of them without care. And that reason is your dragon blood¡ªit heavily suppresses any signs of weakness, as a dragon can''t have that at all," Drake spoke. "Alright, that makes sense. We shouldn''t dwell on the message we received. The most important thing for us is to start building our kingdom. I have lots of things that I have thought about and am ready to discuss with you. So everyone that is here, head to the council room of the castle," Silva said. The council room was a room that much resembled a ssroom, with Silva sitting at the front and everyone facing him. It was used to hold high-level considerations and discussions for the betterment of the kingdom. It was a very impressive room, and Silva wondered why it was not built elsewhere as a building of its own. As they were about to move, Amber ran to Silva. "Can Ie, Silva?" she asked pleadingly. "You work for the demon kings. I don''t think I want you listening in on my ns," Silva said. "But I love you, and love goes over all that. If you ask me to stay quiet, I wouldn''t utter a word to them," Amber said. "They could exile you for betrayal, you know that, right?" Silva said. "Then I''lle and stay with you. I think that would be even better," she said. "Fine, do whatever you want," Silva said and left. When all the Guardians, siblings, friends, Dawn, Gan, Fang, and the forcefully included demon candidate Amber were seated, the meeting could start. The only people that weren''t here were parents, because why would he let that emotional lote here? The things he had begun doing were out of the realm of normal, and it churned their stomachs every time, even though they knew he had to do it. He was tired of seeing the forced smiles on their faces all the time. Silva took his seat facing everyone. He cracked his knuckles and then spoke. "Wee, everyone, to the first official meeting of the Dark Dragon Kingdom. There''s a lot I''d like to exin to you, discuss with you, and also tell you. Firstly, in all honesty, the takeover of this kingdom was rushed due to certain reasons, anger being the most crucial one. I had wanted it to be a slow and well-thought-out n, and though we won, we still suffered some casualties¡ªlives lost before they could see what they fought for. But their sacrifices have allowed us to sit in this room without any issues at all. At first, I was taking my time, plotting the takeover with well-detailed ns and nting the needed people. Like, for instance, not many of you know this, but I started a mercenary group, and they were handled by Dawn. They grew to be a big deal in a short time. They were supposed to be the soldiers I''d brainwash and use against the kingdoms, though they are dissolved and most of them fled to another kingdom. Though we won this, we are still a very disorganized and small group, and so we have to fix that early. So I had a discussion with the two smartest minds in the kingdom, Drake and Lily. With their help now, we drafted what we will be doing. Now I''ll read the first document wepiled concerning the poption and the amount of space we have," Silva said and pulled out a group of papers. He ced them on his desk and began reading from them. "ording to data, our kingdom has over fifteen small towns, with each one capable of holding up to five hundred people and a thousand for the bigger ones. That may not seem like a big number, but when added together, we have a poption that hits ten thousand from the small towns alone. The kingdom is not a veryrge one, and so this is already a big number, to be honest. Then we look at major cities. There are six major cities, the capital excluded. And each of those cities holds a range of five thousand to fifteen thousand people. Putting all that together brings us close to eighty or ny thousand people. Due to the war and everything, the exact details have been lost. Also, the humans have left, so we can''t count, and it would be a hassle to start a full calction to get the real number. Hence, we will use the estimates. Now, all this brings us close to a number of a hundred thousand in poption, of people ranging from different works and spheres of life. The next is the capital. It alone housed over thirty thousand people due to the size and opportunities that filled the capital. So this brings us to a total of a hundred and thirty thousand in estimated poption for this kingdom across the board." Chapter 181: Kingdom Meeting part 2 "Now, we lost more than eighty percent of the poption, and that leaves us with about twenty thousand people spread throughout the kingdom. And then we have the ves and the beasts from thebyrinth. This brings us to about thirty thousand. Now, this is rtively small for a kingdom, so we can''t utilize all thend space that we have for keeping people. So what I''d like to do is extend the capital, making it capable of easily holding fifty thousand people. And then we will move all citizens into the capital. We don''t need to be so spread out if we are so few in number. To that end, I''ll begin to talk about the innovations and remodeling we will be doing. The capital will have a wall, at the very least twenty feet tall, heavily reinforced with magic and high-quality materials. Those materials can be found inside thebyrinths in the kingdom, the mines, and the rest. We will prioritize the safety of everyone first, making sure that they are secure in this new capital. The wall will be the first line of defense for the capital, but that does not mean we will abandon the rest of ournds; we will get to that soon. But housing in the capitales first. As of now, there is no working person in the kingdom at all. Jobs have been dissolved. And some buildings take up more space than they are worth. Such buildings were erected by rich nobles for no good reason. And we don''t need that; they are a waste of space. I know it sounds like too much to tear down every house in the capital, but we will not be tearing all of them. Only houses that are deemed useless and a huge consumption of space. As for those who don''t have a house, they will have one built by the new government. But these houses will note free, as you will have to sign abor contract. In the future, there will be jobs and upations created by the kingdom. All those who have taken a house and signed abor contract must receive one job, and if there were two who signed for one house, then the two of them will take jobs. From the wages, ten percent will be cut every time to pay for the base cost of building their house. That''s besides their bills and taxes." "Wouldn''t that cause them to have little after paying the ten percent and also paying taxes?" Aaron asked. "A good question, but you don''t have to worry, as there will also be a minimum wage scheme in ce that ensures a worker, regardless of the job, will get paid the minimum wage. The minimum wage would be a calcted and well-deliberated amount that will allow a person, even with a family of three or four, to livefortably," Silva exined. "Then wouldn''t the government go broke? We would have to generate more than we spend, and that will be hard in the starting years," Aaron pointed out. "Indeed, but to battle that, I already talked out certain ns with Drake and Lily. For the first few years, the kingdom will be working strictly on a government-controlled market. We will not be allowing any privately owned businesses for the beginning years. The kingdom must have a major share and control over every business. And everybody will be working under a wage. I know this may not sit well with many who want to spread out and be tycoons, but it will only be for a while. The reason I chose to make this setup is simple: all the money stays in cirction, and the losses are reduced. Sure, due to things like development and other factors, there might still be losses, but they are limited, and our reserve can keep us until things stabilize. Now, there can be no one hungry since prices are kept low and subsidized for the people, and with the minimum wage, they''ll be able to survive easily," Silva said. This time Leah raised her hand and spoke. "You made mention of the fact that the minimum wage will be effective for a family of four. Then what of bigger families?" she asked. "Well, I''d like to assume that such families have at least one or two people that are above the age of fourteen, besides the head of the house. And so they should also be able to look for a job that fits them and earn money to help. This offer is also for men and women, as everyone is capable and there''s always something anyone can work on," Silva replied. "I understand then, but now, can you tell us about these jobs? It will be very hard to create jobs for thirty thousand people of diverse races," Leah said. "No, it''s easier than you think. The range of jobs never ends. We have teachers, caretakers, ountants, hunters, adventurers, painters, builders, magicians, knights, farmers, tamers, and a whole lot more. Not to talk about the fact that we will be entering an age of industrialization and magic. Before you ask me what that is, I''ll go ahead to exin. Industrialization is when activities be mechanized. For example, golems¡ªthey are products of magical industrialization. So imagine having metal golems where people can enter and carry out heavy jobs without being trained or being mages. This mechanism will enable faster construction and better aid the security of the kingdom," Silva exined. "Is all that even possible?" Mike asked. "It is. It will be a new innovative age in this world. It sounds impossible, but I''m the boy that rose to the level of capturing a kingdom before he turned thirteen. Not to brag, but if I say it''s possible, then it definitely is. But to get there, you''ll needbor, and that opens jobs up for people. So on the matter of jobs, that''spletely handled. Now, before we move further, are there any questions or additions?" Chapter 182: Aragon Bait Silva threw open the opportunity for input, and hands were raised to speak. He chose Quin to speak first. "I was thinking, the concepts you want to initiate¡ªmost kingdoms must have had such ideas in the past, yet they were unable to carry them out," Quin said. "Before I answer your question, where is Linsword now? I haven''t seen her since the whole war stuff happened," Silva said. "Oh, she is in Ribest. She managed to get her family and even her noble father to stay and believe in you. I was initially panicked that she would leave after discovering the truth, but everything worked out well," Quin replied. "Phew, that''s good," Silva said in relief. If she had left with her family, then she would have died during the purge. Silva was not there to watch, so he would have never known if she was killed that night. It seemed her love for Quin was real enough for her to abandon her own kingdom. "Alright, now to the point you brought up. I''ll talk about how it won''t be an issue for us. Currently, we can''t buy anything anywhere because we are enemies to all the kingdoms now. So, import and export arepletely frozen. We will have to be self-sufficient, but that is not an issue. In the dark dragon library, there is an almost limitless number of resources, gathered over a thousand years. These resources span from crystals to ores, to coins, and to very valuable information. It''s sorge that even if we throw away the n I spoke of before to keep money flowing, we would still have resources. But that is beside the point. The point is that we have enough resources to pull it off. Secondly, the brains. We have Lily, basically the smartest mind in our kingdom. And then there is Drake¡ªas a vampire, he personally engineered all the gear that allows him to move under the sun. And they are very effective, allowing him to move without hindrance and do things at full power. That is indeed genius. There are still more like Aris¡ªshe may not show it, but she is very smart. With such minds working together and with my guidance, we will be able to pull it off," Silva concluded, confident he had answered all the questions on the matter. The next issue that arose was security and defense. As of now, they had no real army, and they had to build one. "Alright, the next issue is on the matter of security. Everyone in this room has evolved or is near evolution. We may all be strong, but we will not always be able to fight all the enemies thate for the kingdom. We will be turning two of the major cities into military academy cities. They will bolster a setup to train the elites that will fight for the kingdom¡ªwell-trained and well-equipped. I n for us to give them the highest possible training and facilities. We may not be great in numbers, but I want us to have the highest quality of soldiers that this world has ever seen. We will be investing a huge chunk of resources into the army and ensuring we produce the best. The two military cities will be close to each other because I want them to have apetitive atmosphere against themselves. The only reason I want only two academies is that we don''t have the numbers for more. Simple. Moving on from the military aspect, we have a lot more to discuss." "Silva, an enemy force of two thousand just entered the city borders¡ªmostly a ground force, but there are some beast riders," Lily suddenly spoke up. "Have they entered, or is this your ability to see the future?" Silva asked. "I didn''t use my abilities; I was just sensing from the beacons I set up," she replied. "I see. Then can you tell which kingdom''s crest they have on their armors? It has to be a bigger kingdom if they can easily throw a force of two thousand towards us on the first attack," Silva said. "Taking all that into consideration, the only kingdom in that direction capable of such would be Aragon. They are known for taking impulsive action. If they got word of the kingdom takeover, they would be the ones to attack first," Lily said. Silva had known that even with the purge and all actions taken, word would still go out, but he never expected it to be this fast. It seemed someone was able to slip under the radar. Silva might have eyes and ears everywhere in the kingdom, but that didn''t mean he was incapable of slip-ups. After all, he was only human. Even Amber was able to ce a tracker on him, and he still couldn''t find it. He made a mental note to ransack his bodyter and find that tracker. "Alright, Aragon wants to take advantage of the instability after the switch in power, but that is fine. I personally want to make them suffer as our first victims. The humans aren''t ready to fight, and the same goes for the ves we freed. So that leaves us with thebyrinth army. What I want to do is bait them. I want to capture as many of the soldiers as possible. So, Quin, Mike, Dawn, Gan, you four will be leading an army of five hundred. This army is not meant to win, but you are also not allowed to lose soldiers. But in order to bait the enemy, we have to make it look like they are winning. So, one hundred soldiers from this army will not be real. They will be clones made by me and will be transformed to fit in. Those hundred will take the front line. I can hold the clones up for an hour or so with my current mana¡ªthat''s a rough estimate. So, what the clones have to do is die at the beginning of the fight. When they die, you, the leaders, get scared and call for a retreat. Phase oneplete." Chapter 183: King of Aragon "The enemy will surely give chase when they see you retreating. Your target is to run in a way that gives them the idea they will catch up. All you have to do is make it to the town closer there; you will be given the exact location. That town can hold the whole army that will chase you. When they enter the town or get within proximity, it''s game over for them¡ªthat is phase two. While you are doing that, we will have evacuated anyone in that town. Then, the guardians, the others, and I will follow and set a full barrier over the town. The barrier will be fully unbreakable, and it will serve as the prison that traps the enemies. That will be phase three, and that is where the n gets nice. I will be inside that dome with the enemies, with a recording crystal following me. The receiving crystal will be sent to Aragon by Drake. We will use the two thousand people as bait. We will make demands, and every time they fail to do what we say, I''ll hunt down ten or twenty soldiers and kill them," Silva said with a sick smile on his face. "I doubt the king will yield that easily," Drake said. "I know. He will attack again through other methods, but we will deal with all that as well." _______ ________ The army led by Gan, Dawn, Quin, and Mike headed for the enemy army. They used a portal to get to the town near the border so they would know its location. From there, they marched toward the enemy army to initiate the n. When they came in contact with Aragon''s enemy, they immediately charged at them, and the Aragon enemy did the same, wanting to crush the small army of five hundred. In less than fifty minutes, the Aragon enemy was massacring the dark dragon army with loudughs and joyous roars. But when they were close to killing a hundred, Gan yelled out, "Fall back!" With his shout, the army turned around and started running away. The Aragon army was ted when they saw this¡ªtheir enemies were wimps. They would take them all out like a hunting game. So, they gave chase fiercely,ughing as they ran, slowly catching up to the army. After five minutes of chasing, they shockingly hadn''t killed a single soldier, so they started speeding up. The town appeared, and the dark dragon army ran into it. The Aragon soldiers saw no issue with following them in. In their minds, the dark dragon army was weak and wimpy monsters. They didn''t even think of the possibility that it was a trap. So, they all charged in, and when they were all within range, a dome suddenly formed over the town. To their shock, they didn''t see a single member of the army that had run inside. Suddenly, they heard a voice echo throughout the town. "Wee, all of you, to my personal death game for fun," Silva said. ____ ____ When Drake saw that the dome was fully established, it was his turn. He had memorized the route to the capital of Aragon. After calcting, he estimated it would take five minutes to get there at his top speed. Heunched out like a bullet; the sonic boom caused the ground to explode, forming a crater. His speed was so fast that wherever he passed by, it seemed like he was causing ripples in space. Within two minutes, he had arrived at Aragon. But his target was the capital, so he continued running. In almost five minutes, he arrived at the gates of the capital and bolted through. Nothing from their security could even detect him. He easily made it to the castle. The doors were shut, but he sted through and ran into the throne room. Luckily, the king was there¡ªa barbaric-looking man with a thick beard and tan skin. The king wore armor rather than royal robes. The moment Drake stopped in the throne room, he gave a fright to everyone present. But the king, a serious warrior, immediately pulled out a massive sword and took a fighting stance. The guards pulled their swords and pointed them at Drake. The whole air became tense, and everyone stared at the intruder in their throne room. "Calm yourselves. I am a messenger from the Dark Dragon Kingdom¡ªthe one you sent your soldiers to. My master and king have asked me to show you this." Drake pulled out the crystal, ced it on the ground, and it projected Silva holding an Aragon soldier by the neck. "What the hell is this?" the king roared. "The current situation. But my master will exin more," Drake said. "Thank you, Drake. The connection is set, so I can talk now. King of Aragon, whatever your name is, all two thousand men that you sent to us have been captured. I''ll start killing them one by one if you don''t meet my demands. Oops, I forgot to tell you who I am. I am the Demon King candidate and king of the Dark Dragon Kingdom. Back to what I was saying¡ªtheir lives are in your hands," Silva said and crushed the neck of the guard, killing him instantly. "I will reach out to you with the first demand in an hour. So, all of you, sit down and wait," Silva said and turned off the connection. The King of Aragon was already seething with rage. He pointed at Drake and yelled, "Capture that man now!" The guards moved to capture Drake, but he smirked. He stomped on the floor, causing the marble to explode and scatter in all directions. Then, he moved and knocked out all the guards. When the dust settled, the king saw all his guards on the ground. The king roared in anger and leaped into the air, his sword glowing red as he shed down. But Drake used only a finger to block it. He smiled at the shocked king and vanished. Chapter 184: Demolishing the wall. After they informed the king of Aragon, Drake returned and Silva waited for an hour like he promised, then he initiated contact with the king again. And it seemed that everyone was already waiting for him in the throne room. Silva smiled when he saw this, and then he began his demand, and one could easily know how unreasonable Silva could be. "I want you to hand over your best martial techniques, the one the king uses." Silva said. His reason for asking was not to make trouble, or anything like that. He had made his research into Aragon, and he knew that they had good martial arts. Sure, he had a ton of his own, but those were written by dragons, only those that became Elites would learn them. But he could use that from Aragon as a foundation builder for his army. "How dare you? You brat. I will have your head." The king roared in anger, there was no way he could hand over something like that to an outsider and enemy. "It seems you don''t understand it yet. I am not human; I don''t care about your men." Silva said, he dashed into the open, where some Aragon soldiers were seated, evidently stressed out. They had all tried to break the dome they were trapped in, but they couldn''t. when they saw Silva, they became enraged, seeing an enemy. They all took their des and charged blindly at Silva, over twenty of them. Silva smiled and took a simple fighting stance without a weapon, the first soldier got within range, Silva stepped forward and dodged the sword thrust. He drove his fist into the chest of the soldier and it came out of the other side. Silva pulled his hand out with speed, he dodged the next attack and grabbed the wrist of the soldier, he used the soldier like a whip to hit another soldier. The force he used caused the arm of the first soldier to be ripped out. But he caught the body before it could fly away, he grabbed the second arm and still used the body like a whip on the same soldier, and also ripping the second arm of the first soldier. He held onto the arm he ripped out and used to attack the other soldiers. The force in his attacks made necks spin in wrong angles, killing them in an instant. When he was finished, the ground was littered with bodies and blood. And at the center was Silva covered in blood, he smiled and looked at the crystal that was following him. "I''m not done yet you know." He said and transformed, shooting up into the air, using his perfect sight to spot a group of soldiers again. He let out a stream of mes and burnt all of them into ashes. When he finished, he flew back down and transformed back. "You wanted war, right? Now you get what you want." Silva said. "Ten minutes, I''ll contact you in ten minutes, so make your choice." Silva said and disconnected. "That went well," Silva said and walked into a building and sat down. "System, stats" he called out, he had some stat points that need distribution, so he thought now would be a good time. Name: Silva (evolved) Race: Dark Dragon (80%), Human (20%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: 5,000,000 EXP: 10,000/1,000,000 SP: 2,000,000 Level: 2 (evolved) Strength: 30,000 Defense: 30,000 Speed: 30,000 Agility: 30,000 Intelligence: 35,000 Free stat points: 58,240 He had gathered over 50 thousand stat points, so he can finally distribute and get his next power increase. He decided to add ten thousand to each one, and then dunk the remaining eight thousand into intelligence, because now he was going into more mind games against a lot of new enemies, so he needed a faster processing mind. Strength: 40,000 Defense: 40,000 Speed: 40,000 Agility: 40,000 Intelligence: 53,240 Free stat points: 0. With each increase, Silva was getting closer to bing stupidly strong, he couldn''t wait for the day he would meet the heroes and demon kings. After assigning the stats, Silva got up, he wanted to meet up with Drake to discuss the wall, but he had to contact the king of Aragon in ten minutes. So, he did what he always did, he dropped a clone and left the dome. When he stepped out, Drake was already there. "Master." Drake greeted with a bow. "With the help of wide spread teleportation, every citizen has been teleported into the capital and temporal housing is being made avable, your brother''s fianc¨¦e and that girl Fay are pretty good with government and management. They have managed to take control of everything and are doing pretty well, their parents are also assisting, seeing they are also nobles. But they are trying to not do too much to not anger you." Drake gave Silva an update of what was happening. "Alright, it''s nice that everything is going well. But we have to start extending the capital. The first operation is to bring down the current wall. Contact Elsa and have them ensure that no one is near the walls." Silva said. "Alright Master." Drake said, he immediately passed on the message telepathically to Elsa. Silva transformed into his dragon. "Climb on Drake." Silva said and Drake climbed on his back. Silva shot into the air towards the capital. His speed was staggering, faster than when Drake was running. They arrived at the capital in a minute. Silvanded just outside the capital, he transformed human and asked Drake to tell him when they had moved everyone from the wall. After five minutes, Elsa told them they were good to go, So Silva took out his sword. "I''ll demolish in this direction; you go the other way." Silva said. Drake nodded and created a blood sword. They nodded at themselves at the same time and sted of, they stabbed their swords into the walls as they ran, their sword coated in mana, making it explosive, they demolished the entire wall in seconds, meeting at the opposite side of where they started. Chapter 185: mysterious sword The king of Aragon sat on his throne, the anger in him evident. He was breathing hard, and his fists were tightly clenched. His council and nobles were all scared to talk, as they looked at him, waiting to see what he would do. "That brat! I want his head, I want his head!" the king said, mming his hand down on the throne and cracking it. "How dare he kill my men? How dare he disrespect me like this?" the king said in anger. One of the councilmen gathered the courage to speak. "My lord, we were the ones that attacked first, and that makes this a legal war. And what they are doing now is part of the war. None of our men have tried to surrender, so that means they are still warriors in war. Surely the king of that kingdom wants to spite you and make you enraged, and it is working to his advantage. We have to take a step back and think. We have realized that our enemies are not as weak and disoriented as we expected them to be. They are smart and evidently have some powerful people among them. To be able to trap an army of two thousand, they must have expected them andid out the trap. That makes us know that we aren''t dealing with careless people. I know that our method of attack has always been to force through everything with superior power. But it seems we have met an enemy capable of countering this method. So what we need to do is step back and n. If not, we will lose two thousand men. Even with our forces, losing two thousand men will be a very heavy blow to us," the man said. "You mean to say that I am unable to manage my men?" the king asked in anger. "No, not at all. Why would I dare say that? What I am saying is that if we spend a little time thinking things through andy out a solid n, we might be able to save more men that way and also take down our enemies along the way," the man said. The king walked up to him with heavy steps and looked the man dead in the eyes. "Do you have a n?" the king asked. The man could hardly breathe with the king''s overbearing aura pressing down on him. "Yes, I do. I have a n. It may take a little time and resources, but I believe we can pull it off," the man said. "Fine, tell us," the king said as he returned to his throne. The man let out a deep sigh of relief. "My king, if we were to use the wyvern army to attack, it would be far better. If we send out the whole wyvern army and they flew above the clouds, we would be invisible. From up there, we swoop down and cause havoc all around. By then, our best men would havee close to that town and started breaking the dome from the outside. The enemy will be focused on trying to stop the wyvern army while we release the men. When the men are released, that would mean we have extra forces to push more. We can then push with the soldiers and fight alongside the wyvern army, taking down the enemy with such force." The man finished his n, and it made a lot of sense to all of them. The king groaned, stroked his beard, and kept groaning. "This n actually seems decent. I believe it might work now that I think about it," the king said. "Send word to the wyvern army and make them ready to fly out in one hour. We must move fast because we are losing my men every few minutes. I can''t allow the enemy to take out my army like that. You are all dismissed. Go and make our win happen," the king said. Everyone got up, bowed their heads to the king, and left the hall. After everyone left, the king stood up and walked to a door to the left of the throne. He walked through the door and then took a turn into another door that started leading downwards. As he passed, the torches on the walls started lighting up. He walked with a steady pace and got to a metal door. He took out a key and unlocked the door. He went in, and at the center was a sword on a tform. The sword was veryrge and one-edged, pulsing with purple veins. The man walked close to the tform and looked at the de. The glow of the sword shined in his eyes, and his arm stretched out to touch the de. He held the handle, and his head shot back immediately. His eyes glowed purple, and his veins bulged with a purple color. He began shouting like he was in pain, but the shout shifted toughter. After a minute or so, he let go of the de. His breathing was heavy, and he let out augh again, his eyes still glowing. He finally calmed down and walked out of the room, shutting the door and locking it with the key. Inside the quiet room of the sword, a high-frequency sound filled the air. From the de of the sword, a grotesque eye popped out. It looked around for a bit, then focused on the door for a while before disappearing into the de again. The king walked out and headed back into the throne room. He took his seat, feeling all-powerful and refilled. The sword had been a source of growth for him. Whenever he went in there and touched it, he became stronger and more refined. He received that de through mysterious means, he wasn''t even sure how himself, until the first day he touched it and was filled with power. Since then, he kept it safe and used it every time. Chapter 186: Wyvern army Ten minutes passed, and the clone connected to the king of Aragon, but to his surprise, the king was not pissed off; he was rather calm. The clone could not understand why the king would be calm under these circumstances, but the clone noticed that there were fewer people in the throne room. The clone, being more intelligent than the average Silva, could piece things together, and so he knew what was happening. The king must be nning something, and that n had given him the confidence to believe he could turn the situation around. The clone didn''t say anything yet; he quickly sent a message to Silva, telling him about what he detected so that Silva could prepare a countermeasure. After that, the clone disconnected and faced the king. "From the look on your face, you will not be giving us what we asked for, right?" the clone asked. "Indeed, we will not negotiate with you on this matter. The martial arts techniques that you have asked for are impossible; they are something we can''t give you," the king said. "Fine, then to show you how serious we are, I''ll be taking down two hundred of your men," the clone said and started heading to fight. The expression of the king tightened when he heard how many men would be killed. He could barely rein in his rage at this point; he wanted to capture Silva and make him pay right now. The clone charged into the midst of the enemy and began shing down with a simple sword. His speed was beyond what any of the guards could see. Blood sprayed through the air as the clone cut through them easily, killing over two hundred men. But it didn''t seem like the clone was ready to stop. It went ahead and started killing even more, totaling about three hundred men. When the clone finished, he smiled and disconnected from the king. The king raged in the throne room; he couldn''t believe that Silva had killed over three hundred men. He was at his wits'' end. Silva didn''t even tell him when they would connect again; it could be ten minutes or even an hour. --- In the capital, Silva asked Drake to bring all people with knowledge of construction. He wanted to begin the n for building the wall immediately. Silva and Drake stayed inside a tent while the people gathered outside. Silva was drafting the design of the wall. With the help of his eleven minds and Drake''s expertise, he was able to make a very detailed design. The base material that was chosen was a metallic alloy reinforced with Orichalcum and Mana. The alloy would be created with powdered Orichalcum poured into it, and Mana infused into the alloy. Its bars would have to be made in a special chamber. That chamber would be a new design that Drake worked on. It would take some hours to build, and they would need over fifty of them. The machines would be spread all around to make the metal bars. Then, using the bars, the skeletal structure of the wall would be erected. After finishing the design, Silva handed it to Drake. "Take control of everything. Make sure that everyone who works here signs the contract. They should be paid fully and fed for the duration of the work. We have to work around the clock, so split the workforce into shifts and give equivalent breaks as well," Silva said, then left through the back of the tent. He had received the information from his clone, so he knew that the king was nning something, and he wanted to find out. He brought out his wings and shot into the air. --- The wyvern army was ready to move out from Aragon. An army made up of a hundred wyverns¡ªtheir captain was a man with dark brown hair. He had a pompous expression on his face, like one that was unshakable, someone who knew he could walk over the whole world. On some of the wyverns were two people: the rider and a mage. The mages were ten in number, and they were the ones who would remove the barrier. The leader of the wyvern army raised his hands, and every rider got ready. The leader dropped his hands, and the wyvern riders lifted off and flew into the air. They shot above the clouds and immediately flew toward Dark Dragon. With their current speed, they would reach their location in thirty minutes. They flew in formation to avoid any unexpected happenings. --- Silva sat on a mountain, facing the direction of the Aragon kingdom. He held steak in his hands and a cup of fruit juice. He sipped the juice, took a deep bite from the steak, and then looked up again. "It''s a good attempt to use wyverns, but the issue is that a dragon rules over a wyvern. And aside from that, I have a wyvern of higher ss myself," Silva said. "Kratos, head this way. I''m waiting for you," Silva contacted Kratos. Kratos immediately flew toward Silva from wherever he was and got there in less than a minute. "That was pretty fast," Silva said. "Well, my master called me. I can''t dy," Kratos said. "I understand. Now tell me, what happens when a wyvern meets a dragon?" Silva asked. "It depends. A dragon is a rank higher than a wyvern, so wyverns are looked down upon by dragons. But if a wyvern meets a weaker dragon, for the sake of evolution and improving their abilities, the wyvern will kill the dragon and consume it. But if the dragon turns out to be stronger than the wyvern, the wyvern is biologically structured to obey that stronger dragon. Or they can show some defiance and fight against the dragon, but the penalty for losing is death. For you, master, you don''t have to worry. Very few wyverns can be as strong as you. So you will be able to control almost all wyverns," Kratos exined. Chapter 187: Off with your head "I see. Then it seems the enemy''s n is already wed from the start. You see, they are sending an army of a hundred wyverns toward us. The issue is that theyck information and don''t know I am a dragon. Now, seeing the information you gave me, it simply means my presence will take control of them," Silva said. "Sadly for them, they are up against one of the most powerful dragon races," Kratos said. "Well, that will be all, Kratos. You can head back and continue what you were doing," Silva said and dismissed him. Kratos bowed his head and flew away. Silva focused back on his meal, eating slowly and waiting for the enemies. After thirty minutes, the enemy arrived within range. Silva smiled and transformed into his dragon form. He shot into the air, far above the clouds. He flew toward the enemies who had just entered the border. He got there but flew far above them so they could not see him. He flew in circles, watching them. After a while, the wyvern army was ready to start their attack, but that was when Silva intervened. He roared so loudly that it shook the skies. His voice boomed across the area, and all the wyverns, as well as their riders, could hear it. Immediately, all the wyverns stopped, then they started shaking and throwing down their riders. The riders fell, screaming. But one of the riders refused to let go¡ªthe captain. He struggled with the wyvern and refused to allow it to throw him off. He took out his sword and stabbed it into the wyvern''s neck. The wyvern let out a loud cry, unable to shake its head or fight back, so it obediently obeyed. The captain forced the wyvern to fly up toward Silva, but Silva could not be bothered with him. Silva roared again, and that made all the wyverns attack the captain. It was as if Silva had taken absolute control of them. The wyverns mmed into the captain, knocking him off the wyvern. The captain fell to the ground, but due to his high level, he didn''t die or take much damage. Silva flew into the midst of the wyverns, and all of them surrounded him. Silva could understand all that they were saying, and all of them were simply saluting him. "This is quite funny. Aragon''s people are truly clowns," Silva thought. He gazed down at the men on the ground; some were injured, and some were able to stand back up. But Silva had no ns to let them go at all, so he made all the wyverns start attacking the men, killing all one hundred of them. Even the captain, who was much stronger, could not hold out and was turned into meat paste. When all of them were killed, Silva had the wyverns stay on the ground and wait for him. He came down and transformed back into human form. He took out his recording crystal and connected it to the king of Aragon, using the one with the clone as the intermediary. Immediately, the hologram of the king appeared. Silva shed a smile¡ªa smile of victory. "It seems you underestimated me gravely, Your Highness. You had the audacity to send your wyvern army against a dragon. Did you not consider the possibility that I, a dragon, would take control of them? Did that thought not cross your mind, or were you just stupid? Not to mention the fact that they are all weak wyverns under level one hundred. They haven''t evolved at all. A single word from me, a higher dragon, would surely warp their minds and make them obey me," Silva said. He didn''t know if what he was saying was entirely true, but he added it to make his words more impactful and powerful. He controlled the crystal and used it to video the entire group of wyverns so the king could see. When he was done, he brought it back to himself. Silva could see the king seething in rage and about to explode. This was not part of the n at all. The wyvern army was one of their most elite forces, a unit gathered and trained since they were little, specifically to control wyverns. Each wyvern was taken at a young age and raised to full maturity. The wyverns had been part of their kingdom for many years, so losing all of them in one day was a heavy blow. And then there was the look on Silva''s face. The king hated that look; it made his blood boil, but there was nothing he could do. "You see, King of Aragon, wyverns are beasts, and like all other beasts, they will obey a being of a simr race rather than humans. You should do more research. I''ll send you the next video of your men in the dome as I kill three hundred of them to prove a point¡ªa point that says, don''t attack the dragon," Silva said as he disconnected. Immediately after he disconnected, the king rose from his throne. Using his immense strength, he pulled the throne from its ce and hurled it across the room. He roared in anger and punched the wall. The council, who had returned some time ago, remained silent, scared they might lose their heads if they spoke. The king turned suddenly to look at the man who had proposed this n. He pointed at the man. "Bring him to me," he said. The guards moved immediately, surrounding the man before he could even think of running or moving. They dragged the man and threw him before the king. "You are the one who suggested that n, and so you will bear the punishment for its failure. Your head will bepensation enough," the king said. The man immediately started trembling. He tried to plead, but the king kicked his mouth and sent him flying. The king stretched out his hand, and a guard gave him a sword. The king approached the man. The man tried to back away and beg, but before he could, his head left his shoulders. Chapter 188: Inevitable future Now with a new Wyvern Army, Silva had easily made a powerful air force for himself. Powerful because all he had to do was make them all his summons, and then their power would boost. He also nned to leave their training to Kratos; rear was the best setup. Now that the whole issue of the wyverns was done, Silva wanted to get serious with the king of Aragon, and so he devised a n. "Lily, meet me at the dome where we captured the Aragon army," Silva told Lily telepathically. After telling her, he headed that way to wait for her. He arrived at the dome before Lily did. After some minutes, she arrived through a portal. "What did you need from me?" she asked. "I wanted to see if there was a way to broadcast what is happening to the whole of Aragon. I want the kingdom to see what their king was doing and the sort of decisions he was taking, risking the lives of their brothers and sisters, fathers, and lots more. To show them that he had the opportunity to help them, yet he refused to take it, and decided to let them die," Silva said. "Sometimes I wonder if you are just purely evil," Lily said in response to what Silva said. "Well, I was never good. I am a hypocrite, to be honest. I live based on my whims; I just do whatsoever I please," Silva said. "You are really something else," Lily said. She then paused and thought about what Silva asked. "There is a way, but it will take some engineering from Drake and some good magic. It might take us about five hours toplete enough to project in their capital. But we won''t be able to show it to the smaller towns and cities," Lily exined. "That''s enough for what we need to do. You and Drake should please work on it," Silva said. "There is also something I have to tell you, Silva. I see a future; it just came to me, and it was not good. When I saw the future, I began running through several types of futures to see if there were alternates. But no matter how far I dug, the same thing always happened in different ways, and at the end, there was always one result," Lily said. "Tell me the details," Silva asked immediately. "I saw you fighting a being that was fixed on destroying this world because of you. The being was powerful enough to copse the sun and shatter worlds. You fought it, but every single time, you failed and failed and failed, dying and letting the world get destroyed. I have told you of my abilities before, but I''ll exin some more about it. If there is a future that takes up about ny percent of all the parallels, it is called a fixed future. And it is a time that you must pass through. But this is not what makes it scary. The main issue is about the first future that I told you about. The future where you die and all of us die as well, that future is the key to unlocking this brutal fixed future. If you die in the first future, the second will never happen, but if you manage to survive the first, it will unlock the second and cause a disaster," Lily exined. "I see, I understand what you are saying, and this is indeed a dreadful future. But if that future is inevitable, we will face it head-on and win," Silva gave her a reassuring smile. Lily could tell easily that he wasn''t really okay with what he just heard, but he had to be a leader and take it with calmness. It made his image in her mind shine brighter. Who would not be scared of inevitable demise? Who would not shudder and hide from such a future? But to ensure that his men and everyone that followed him would not lose hope, he had to smile through it. She decided to leave, and immediately she did, Silva found a tree and sat, leaning his back on it. He gazed up into the sky and fell into thought. No matter how strong he got and how fast he got strong, there was a stronger threat lurking around. And this was not the type of threat that he could level up and defeat. He could already tell that the being Lily spoke of was the leader and creator of the weeping angels. A being capable of creating beings that could destroy worlds alone¡ªwhat sort of power would the creator have? All those thoughts troubled Silva internally, but he wasn''t going to shy from it. He was going to bolt his way through regardless. He got up from the ground and gave a middle finger to the sky. "You all can go fuck yourselves. This dragon will rise above all, and you all will be my stepping stones," Silva said, cheering himself up. He thought about how to entertain himself, and what better than to make the Aragon soldiers fight against themselves? They had not eaten for close to a day now, and their rations were only little. They had not expected to be captured this way, so they didn''t pack enough. The stress they were going through had also caused insane hunger. And so Silva would be using that to his advantage. He headed back to town and gathered some roasted meat, well-seasoned and prepared in the kitchen of the castle. He didn''t even know who made it; he just took it. What''s the worst that could happen? Well, that''s what he thought. He left the castle and flew back to the dome. He arrived, walked in, then flew towards the center of the town, and that is where he ced the food. He flew up and watched. It didn''t take long before some men saw it and ran towards it, and then soon the smell reached others, and they ran towards it. And soon, a fight broke out over food while Silva watched with a grin. Chapter 189: Quins Dream Quin was helping arrange people for the construction of the wall. It was going well, but then suddenly, a voice began repeating over and over in his head. "Save me, save me." Quin couldn''t focus with that voice in his head, so he ran away. He found a secluded corner and tried to stay there to focus. But then he passed out right there. When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a vastnd where the sand and rocks were charred ck. The sun was blood red, and the skies were blotted by some sort of fog. Confused, he looked around, trying to understand where he was, but no matter where he looked, there was nowhere he could recognize. He started walking after a bit, trying to see if he could possibly find a way out of there. But after walking for a while, he still didn''t see anything. Then, he began hearing a voice, the same voice he had heard before he passed out. But this time, the cry for help was louder, and the direction it wasing from was clear. Quin felt the urge to run in that direction, but he tried to fight it. The urge was stronger than his will, though, and he soon took off in that direction. He moved at top speed, running with all his might. He kept running, but there was no destination; all he could follow was the voice that kept calling out for help. And with every call, he increased his speed, slowly surpassing the threshold of his own body. He was moving at a speed he could not attain on a normal day. Yet he kept going faster until he saw something, or somethings. Those winged creatures he had seen in his vision before, they filled the field in front of him. He wanted to retreat because he knew how powerful those beings were from the vision. But the urge to save whoever was there grew even stronger. So he shut his eyes and took a deep breath. By this time, the winged creatures had already noticed him, and they were running toward him. Quin didn''t know what he was doing, but he knew he had to do it, and so he dashed toward them. "Call for the sword." Quin heard another voice telling him to call for a sword, but Quin knew he didn''t have a sword, so what could that voice mean? As he got closer to the enemy, the voice kept repeating those words over and over again. So Quin decided to try. He thought about a sword, and then a sword of light formed in his hand. He gazed at it in shock, but there was no time to admire it. He immediately shed out with the sword, and it fired a sword light arc that cut through the winged creatures, killing some of them. The winged creatures screeched after seeing one of their kind die. They now took Quin as a serious threat. Quin, on the other hand, was breathing heavily. That single attack had taken a lot of energy from him. He looked up and saw the winged creatures staring at him, waiting for the right time to attack. Quin charged at them again, raising the sword that consumed his energy every second. He was a master swordsman, and with the help of the sword, he could take out the winged creatures himself. He began slicing and attacking with full force, and with every sh, he killed one of the winged creatures. But he was getting more and more tired. Yet Quin did not stop because the voice was still yelling out for him to save her. He kept moving on, but then a figure appeared from the group, covered in long ck robes and holding a purple-looking sword. Suddenly, an eye came out of the sword and looked in Quin''s direction. Immediately, the figure charged at Quin. Quin tried to hold his ground, blocking the attack of the figure, but he was thrown back with so much force that he tumbled for some distance. He got back up, but before he could react, the figure had leaped into the air and shed down. Quin tried to block, but he was suddenly sucked out of the ce. Quin opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a bed. It was his bed in the castle. How did he get here? He got up from the bed and walked to the mirror. He looked clean and refreshed. The door to his room opened, and Silva walked inside. He saw that Quin was awake, so he smiled at him and came over to the bed. Silva sat down on the bed. "You''re up. Someone from the town found you passed out on the ground behind a building. When I heard, I rushed here because I knew it would have to be something really serious for my elder brother to copse," Silva said. "Sorry for stressing all of you. I didn''t mean for any of this to happen. I just started hearing a voice calling out to me. It called me repeatedly. So I ran to somewhere secluded, but I didn''t expect to pass out. I was inside a dream when I passed out. The dream was simply me trying to get to that voice that was calling out to me, but I couldn''t reach her because those winged creatures I told you about before were all there, fighting me. I was able to defeat them, but then a figure came out holding a sword that had a grotesque eye. The person was far too powerful, and there was nothing I could do, so he killed me." Quin told Silva everything. "I see. I think this has something to do with your legacy awakening. It might be a warning as well, so be careful. I may be wrong, but I''m certain this dream has great importance, so don''t forget it." Silva said. Chapter 190: Words of a devil Silva had a feeling that Quin had something special in him. In fact, Silva had begun to think that there was something in his parents'' history that would exin this. Lia was a talented mage; she could cast the most sophisticated spells at such a young age. Aside from that, she had a legacy¡ªand a high-level one at that. Even though Mike and Quin weren''t born with legacies, they were talented¡ªmore talented than the people you would see around, and even more talented than people with basic legacies. It was really unusual for Silva''s parents to give birth to all talented kids. Silva was not directly rted by blood, leaving his three siblings, and all of them were talented. He made a mental note to look into the family history and see where his siblings were getting their genes from. --- After waiting for a while, the device to broadcast to the whole of Aragon was prepared. Lily walked through a portal with one of the devices. It looked like a metal cube with a button on it. Silva pressed the button, and the cube opened up into segments and spread out like a screen. It began projecting from the screen, covering a wide distance. Silva smiled when he saw this. It was exactly what he needed to broadcast to the people of Aragon. "Alright, this is what we need to make the king break. Get it around the capital of Aragon; in one hour, we will start the broadcast," Silva said. Lily nodded. She pressed the button on the back of the screen, and it returned to being a cube. She took it and walked into a portal. After she left, Silva walked into the dome and got ready to ckmail the hell out of the king. --- Lily flew around the capital of Aragon without anyone knowing or detecting her. She mounted the cubes, floating and facing the capital. When she was done, she made a connection through mana that would allow her to link to all the cubes. When she finished, she contacted Silva. "Everything is set up; you can begin the broadcast," Lily said. "Alright," Silva responded, and then he activated his crystal. Immediately, all around the capital, the projection of Silva appeared. The king sat on his throne, and the projection came into the castle. He thought it was the usual discussion again. But then a guard ran into the throne room. "My king, the whole capital¡ªeveryone in the capital can see it!" The king stood from his throne, dashed out of the room, and headed for the balcony. He got there and saw the projections. His blood boiled, his veins bulged and throbbed, and he squeezed the balcony railing, breaking it. [Hello everyone, I am Silva Terron, the first king of the Dark Dragon Kingdom and a demon king candidate. We are your neighbors. However, your king didn''t wee us on good terms and decided to attack us with not just a force of two thousand soldiers, but also a wyvern army of a hundred. Sadly, all members of the wyvern army have died in battle. About one thousand soldiers remain after the battle. We have asked the king for something in return for your children, fathers, and brothers. We have offered a reasonable method by which some of you can have peace of mind. As for the bodies of the lost, we have kept them, and we will be returning them so you can bury them. Sadly, your king has refused to allow that to happen. He has chosen to refuse an amicable resolution. He chose a little object above the lives of all those people that could have been saved. What sort of king does that? He throws away the lives of all the men who swore their lives to the kingdom. He chose to throw those lives away. They have families, friends, dreams, and futures, yet he has decided to let them die. I am an enemy king, and so I will have to kill all of them now because they are my enemies. All one thousand of them¡ªand you will watch them die one by one. Don''t me me, don''t me my kingdom, because this is war, and in war, people will die. me your king for not valuing the lives of the people he sent out to war. It''s sad that you all have to see this, but it must be done.] Silva said. He immediately charged into the town and started massacring. Everyone he saw, he shed his de through. He totaled over three hundred men before he stopped. The entire capital¡ªyoung and old¡ªwas forced to watch this gruesome scene. Parents covered their children''s eyes; many people vomited, and some simply passed out. When he finished, he faced the crystal again. [Some of you may now hate me and see me as a demon, but think about it well. Who was the one that caused all this? Who was the one that allowed all your men to fall into this situation? It was your king¡ªthe person you allowed to rule you. I will stop for now, but if, in thirty minutes, your king does not give us what we want, the remaining men will die, and all the bodies will be destroyed. There will be no body for you to bury, no body to mourn¡ªonly hate and anger in your hearts. So the ball is in your king''s court.] Silva disconnected. He turned around and saw Lily waiting for him. Discover exclusive tales on m,v l''e-NovelBin "A demon is not a bad enough name to categorize what you are. You are simply a devil. To make them all redirect their hate from you to the king with just some words¡ªthat is the work of a devil," Lily said. "Well, we have to do what we can to get what we want. I don''t want to destroy his kingdom; I can''t handle another kingdom for now. But I want to make him a loyal dog that needs me to survive. So I will break him and make sure he licks my shoes," Silva said. Chapter 191: The Kings last resort The people of Aragon were all enraged; they were angry at Silva with all their hearts. But what Silva said made sense¡ªtheir king was the one who sent their people to die in the war. The king was the one who gave the order they followed, and now that they were being captured by the enemy, he didn''t want to free them. What could Silva ask for that was greater than the lives of all their men? They couldn''t think of one thing. Even if it was the head of the king that was asked for, he should submit it to atone for his sins. This was what was going through the minds of everyone in the capital now. They had to do something. This unanimous thought sparked the fire for a riot. People, young and old, flocked to the castle. They took stones and sticks, swords and farming tools. Adventurers andmoners alike, mercenaries and merchants¡ªevery soul that lived in the capital rushed to the castle. They threw away all regard forw and order. Their king had decided that their lives were worthless, so today they would make him see that they had the strength to change things as well. The royal guards and knights barricaded the castle, standing with shields to block the angry people while the mages cast a dome around the castle to protect it. "Can you see? Instead of facing us and telling us what he ns to do, the king locks himself inside the castle!" one man from the crowd yelled out for everyone to hear. His words roused the people even more, and soon they began fighting with the guards and knights. At first, the knights tried to make things peaceful and only block the people, but then one guard mistakenly stabbed a man in the heart. As the man''s body fell to the ground dead, the crowd stopped, and the people close by looked at the body. They said nothing. Four men lifted the man off the ground, and his body was passed through an open path, raised high for everyone to see what had been done. With the death of that man, all hell broke loose. The people threw away all regard for their safety and for peace; they all wanted to take out their anger. With a loud wave of roars, everyone there beganunching attacks at the guards¡ªswords and magic, all were being used in that instant. In an attempt to protect themselves, the guards started fighting back, and lives were being lost on both sides. The entire situation spiraled out of control, and blood was spilled everywhere. About tenmoners had died at this point, with many more injured. As for the guards, they had already lost more¡ªover twenty guards had been taken down. The sheer number of themoners allowed them to overwhelm and cooperate effectively. --- Inside the castle, the king sat with the council, and the panic on his face was evident. He never expected Silva would do this. Everything was now out of his control. What could he do now to stop all this? If the people kept this up, a coup would happen, and he would be killed and his throne taken. He tapped his feet on the ground as he tried to think about what he would do. "Your Highness, themotion is beyond what we can control. The guards and knights have already made it worse because they''ve killed somemoners. This would have been alright if it was a small protest, but almost the entire capital is against us. What do we do?" one of the council members said. "Do you think I don''t know that?" the king roared at the man, his eyes bloodshot. He facepalmed himself and let out a deep groan. "We will have to do it," the king said. "You don''t mean that you will hand over the technique to him, do you, my lord?" one of the council members asked. "We have no choice, or else we will lose all control over our people, and we will be removed. But still, the Aragon pride is something that must not go down, and so I have a n to handle this. You all just have to believe in me," the king said. He got up from the throne and headed to the balcony where all the rioters could see him. When he walked out, someone saw him and yelled, "There is the bastard king!" Everyone looked up and saw the king. The fighting stopped¡ªthey wanted to see what would happen now that the king had stepped out. "People of Aragon," the king started, his voice loud enough for the thousands of people standing there to hear him. "We are faced with a difficult situation as it stands. The reason I decided to find other routes to fix the issue was because the enemy asked for something that was a treasure to us. I didn''t want to hand this over to them, but now I will, and we can return the rest of our men home." The king finished talking and left the ce. "You bastard! You had to wait for things to get bad to make a decision!" someone yelled. "You don''t deserve the throne! You are the worst excuse of a king we have ever seen!" another person yelled. "Your father would have done better than you! You are worthless!" someone else shouted. More and more shouts like this reached the ears of the king, but he didn''t look back. He just took the rage of everything and directed it towards one person¡ªSilva. It was all Silva''s fault. He may have bought some time now, but to take back his name and position as king, he would have to bring down Silva. He walked into the throne room and dismissed everyone. When they all left, he headed through the door at the side of the throne room and toward the metal door. He opened the door and walked to the sword. He grabbed the sword and removed it from the stand. His entire demeanor changed, and his eyes glowed dark purple. Chapter 192: The sword part one The riot was calmed down after the king said he would do something, but the people were far from happy. How could they be? They had lost ten people in total. That king didn''t deserve the throne, and so they all decided he would be removed after their brothers were brought home. There was no way they would sit and watch an evil murderer rule them. Today was a sad day for the capital, and the only joy that coulde was the return of their people. While they waited for the people to be returned, the adventurer guild mounted their best adventurers, warriors, and mages around the castle. They watched the castle like hawks, and the moment the king tried to escape, they would kill him. The rest of the people carried out a mass burial for those who died in the riot. With their bloodshot, teary eyes, they chanted against the king. A unison built by one goal¡ªhis removal from the throne. A chaos brought about by one person, and one person alone: Silva. Silva had taken the position of a devil. He hadid the seeds, and now it was growing into something else. He was indeed a demon. After thirty minutes, everyone was watching, waiting to see what their king would say. They wanted to know if they would kill him immediately or allow him to finish bringing back the people who were trapped there. The projectors came on, and the image of Silva seated on a throne was shown. He had a serious expression on his face as he began talking. "It is now time to know what your king will do¡ªthat being that you ought to rule over you. What will he prioritize right now?" Silva said and made the view show their own king inside his throne room. His face was stressed, and it was evident he was tired. Well, that was to normal eyes. Silva could see something was draining his energy¡ªsomething was eating their king. "I have decided that I will hand over what you have demanded. But this is not something I can send someone to give to you. I have to handle it myself and also be sure that you release my people, which is why I will being over to your kingdom to meet you," the king said. "Thank you for finallying to your senses. To honor that, I will meet you halfway. I will head to my border, and you will meet me there. I will have my people prepare to release your men so you can have them back," Silva said. With that, some people could finally take a breath of relief, but the whole journey was not over. Silva disconnected the connection. The king headed for where his wyvern would be. He mounted the wyvern and shot into the air. The adventurers saw this, but they all knew where he was going, so they let him. --- Silva arrived at the border earlier than the king, but after waiting for some time, the wyvern arrived with the king on its back. The wyvernnded in front of Silva, and the king came down. "Nice to see you actually came. Now before we continue, what is your name?" Silva asked. "I am King Ezra," the king said and walked toward Silva. He took out arge book from his ring and handed it to Silva. When Silva stretched out his hand, the book suddenly turned into a sword¡ªthe same sword that he had taken¡ªand then he drove the sword forward to stab Silva. Silva reacted fast and leaped back, escaping the attack. He looked at Ezra and spoke. "A warrior king will never go down without a fight. You are that perfect definition. But do you know that sword is killing you?" Silva asked. "It is a sacrifice worth your head," the king said without pause and charged at Silva. His body was looking sickly, but he was immensely fast¡ªtoo fast even. He shed at Silva diagonally, but Silva sidestepped and dodged. The de hit the ground and caused an explosion that left a crater. Silva quickly used Dragon''s Eyes on the king to see what was happening. [King of Aragon] Level: 10 (Evolved) Strength: 1,000,000 Defense: 1,000,000 Speed: 1,200,000 Agility: 1,200,000 Intelligence: 40,000 Immediately Silva saw the stats, he knew something was not right. The king should not have any stats in the millions. Then there was the fact that his intelligence was falling far behind¡ªit was way too little. "Whatever it is that sword gave you, it is taking away something. That sword is weakening your intelligence as time goes on," Silva said. "Shut the hell up," the king roared in a double voice¡ªhis normal voice and a deep resounding voice. He charged at Silva and shed for his neck. Silva took out his sword and blocked the attack. With the buff from his sword, it was not an issue to block the attack, but it still shifted him a couple of steps. When he stopped, he used sh Step to put some distance between them, but Ezra was already charging toward him again. "That sword is taking over the king. I wonder what that sword really is," Silva said. He knew he had to deal with Ezra fast, or the sword would consume him. So he dodged the next attack and summoned a clone. The clone took the Abyssal des, and its stats entered the millions. The clone was able to use more refined techniques and skills than the king, who was slowly losing his mind. But the king still had some muscle memory. The two shed and exchanged blows. The clone moved swiftly and gracefully, but the king fought in a barbaric manner. After a while, it became clear who had the upper hand¡ªit was the clone. The king saw that he would lose, and like a remote control, the sword tried to pull him away from the fight. But the clone used sh Step and immediately shed off the hand of the king. The remaining hand connected to the sword fell to the ground, and the clone caught the king. But it wasn''t over yet. Chapter 193: Parasite The de on the ground suddenly popped out a grotesque eye. It looked around and locked its gaze on Silva. When Silva saw the eye, he recalled what Quinn had told him. There was no doubt in his mind that this sword was simr to the one Quinn had seen. It couldn''t be a coincidence that just some time after Quinn told Silva about the eye sword, he suddenly saw an eye sword himself. The sword released wet, tentacle-like limbs that stuck into the arm that was cut off, and then the arm began pulsing and changing. It looked like the birth of an abomination, but Silva could tell that it wasn''t. This was something different. The sword was increasing the mass of the arm and forcefully creating a humanoid shape. The shape looked like a pile of flesh and was disgusting to look at. It had a purple pulse flowing through the meat, adding to the grotesque sight. "Where the hell did this asshole find this sword?" Silva asked as he stood on guard, shifting away from the unconscious king. The king had passed out as soon as the sword was disconnected from him. It had eaten a huge chunk of the man''s vitality and intelligence, almost rendering the king a retard. Silva decided to attack the creature before it fully formed. He dashed at it with his sword ready to sh, but as he went in for the strike, the creature used its arm to swing the eyed sword and block the attack. Their attacks easily canceled each other out, neither stronger than the other. Silva took a step back and then used sh Step, getting behind the creature and going in for a stab. But a thick piece of bone shot out of the creature''s back at Silva. Silva deflected it, but that gave the creature enough time to sh with the sword. The eye locked on Silva as it moved. Silva parried the attack, but tentacles shot out of the sword andtched onto his weapon, pulling him in. Silva dug his feet into the ground and pulled back. It became a tug of war, and the creature was not ready to lose. Neither was Silva. His de became engulfed with abyss mes, burning the tentacles away. The creature let out a loud screech from a mouth that was nowhere to be found. Now that Silva had caused damage, he had enough time to go in for abo. He used sh Step to move faster and started tearing into the creature with one sh after another. The strength of this creature was far weaker than when the king was using it. It was probably only in the hundred thousands. Readtest stories on m_v-l''e|-NovelBin This meant the creature worked well only in a parasitic way, consuming its enemy and taking over their body. When it took over a body, it became a lot stronger. This made the sword a real threat because if it managed to take control of a hero or a demon king, it would spell havoc. Silva guessed that the reason it was much weaker now was the fact that it only had a hand to use and limited resources, restricting what it could do. But still, it was a reasonable threat. Silva wanted to capture the sword and research it. He wanted to know the origins of this creation. Afternding hisbo, Silva took a step back and looked at the messed-up mass of flesh on the ground. Even though he had cut it up so much, he had a feeling it wasn''t dead. And it wasn''t dead. The flesh reconstructed and refined into its grotesque shape and form. It immediately attacked Silva after it was reformed. Silva blocked the attack and pushed the creature back before firing a me arc that tore it in half. But it started rebuilding soon after. As Silva looked at this, he realized something. Back when he was fighting Ezra, the King of Aragon, the sword had tried to pull Ezra away and help him escape. It prioritized its life over a fight. But now, it wasing back repeatedly, only to get shed again. There had to be a reason. Silva threw the question into the court of his minds to have a discussion about it. "It''s a parasite. It needs a living, breathing being totch onto to survive," one mind stated. "Yup, that makes sense. With Silva here, it is unable to get a new body. It knows that even if it tried to run, Silva would give chase and cut it down," another mind exined. "Yes, so it''s giving its all at this point to take down Silva, or at least hold him off long enough to enter the body of the king again," another mind said. Mind Two took all the responses and brought a conclusive result from the discussion. "It means that our enemy here has a time limit that is fast running out, and it is trying to get into a body," Mind Two concluded. "Is that so? Then what about a n to suppress the creature? I think we can trap it inside the body of a clone. I can make the clone look weak and vulnerable during the fight, and it will mistakenly grab hold of the sword, allowing the creature totch onto the clone. But with eleven minds of massive intelligence, the clone will definitely be able to take control of the sword," the OG mind said. The minds agreed on that, and so the n was a go. Because of Silva''s high level of intelligence, this whole discussion had happened in two seconds¡ªbefore the creature even finished regenerating. Immediately after it regenerated, Silva made a clone. The clone charged at the creature and fought in a sloppy manner with a basic sword. And just as predicted, the creature was not all that smart. It saw the clone as a prime target, and the clone also tried to grab the sword. Thus, both met. The clone held the sword, and the creature tried to take over the mind of the clone. Chapter 194: Demon Sword The clone''s mind was tooplex for the sword to immediately take over. It would have to tear throughyers andyers of mental barriers, so the clone was safe for a very long time. Silva picked up the king and made a portal back to Lily''sb in thebyrinth. Thebyrinth was pretty much empty now, with only the abominations in the upper floors. He arrived at herb and contacted her toe. She arrived in minutes. "You seem to have been calling for my help more often these past few days," she said as she arrived. "Indeed, I have, but what choice do I have? I can only depend on you for certain things," Silva replied. "Well, with your brain, if you just studied a bit, you would easily surpass me. So, what do you want me to do?" she asked. Your next journey awaits at m v|l-e''-NovelBin Silva pointed at the sword in the hand of the clone. The moment she saw it, her face grew serious. "Release the sword at the count of three," she said. The clone nodded and waited for her count. "One, two, three," she counted, and the guard immediately let go. The sword tried to attach back to the clone, but Lily created a ball of water that surrounded the sword. The sword tried to shoot out its tentacles, but the tentacles kept getting stuck inside the water and could not pass through. She kept it that way for three minutes until the sword went dormant. She controlled the water ball and let it drop the sword onto the table. She ensured that the sword touched nothing organic. "If the sword doesn''t touch any organic life, it will go dormant after three minutes to save its energy," Lily exined. Silva unsummoned his clone and then asked, "We fought it for more than five minutes, and it didn''t go dormant." "Was it in contact with biological matter?" Lily asked. "Well, yes. It was in contact with the arm of this idiot," Silva said, looking at the king. He ced the king to the side to continue his sleep. "Well, that exins why it was able to stay active for so long. It was fueling itself from the arm. Sure, it wouldn''t be able to stay out for too long and would be looking for a new host, but the arm can allow it to stay active for a bit," Lily said. "Hmm, you seem to be very knowledgeable about the sword," Silva noted. "Well, that is because I know what it is. You know that the dragons have been around from the time when even the demons and celestials walked the world. And so, the dragons amassed a massive amount of knowledge, much of which you see in the library. During my readings and studies over the years, I came across details about this sinister de. It is a demon sword, one of the many types of demon swords¡ªa very deadly one. It was made to be wielded as ast resort for demons, pouring their lives into the sword and causing havoc. Even the demons themselves fear this sword, and its use is very limited. The sword''s name is the Soul Eater, and that is self-exnatory. When a demon pulls out the Soul Eater, it is theirst resort, theirst moment to show themselves. And so, they throw away all their sanity and be barbaric beings built for killing. The journey of the Soul Eater doesn''t just stop when the demon is killed. No, it stops when the sword is forcefully returned to a dormant state. When the wielder of the sword can no longer bear its brunt, the sword takes over and erodes their minds. They be mindlessbatants controlled by the sword, fighting until their bodies can no longer hold on. This weapon was seen as the pinnacle of evil, and so were the other weapons simr to it," Lily concluded. "Whoa, so this sword is something real demons use?" Silva asked. "Then how the hell does this idiot have one?" "That is what I don''t understand. Such a weapon should not be here. Even if someone managed to take a sword from the demons, they would either be a corrupted being that everyone knows about and fears. And if that somehow didn''t happen, there''s no way the sword wouldnd in the hands of a low-level king. If it did, the empire and the holy kingdom woulde to get it by force. There''s no way to know how he got this until he wakes up," Lily said. "Hmm, it''s disturbing to think that something from the demon realm would somehow spew into ours. Whatever means it came by, I feel it''s a bad thing. I had a dream where I fought someone using the Soul Eater sword, and that was before this idiot brought it here," Silva said. "I understand. I''ll look into the sword more and get back to you. You should take your guest and handle him, but before you go, shouldn''t I regenerate his arm?" Lily asked. "Nope. I''ll have it healed up and turned into a stump. It is a memory of his battle. I want him to wake up every day and gaze at his missing hand. And when he gazes at his missing hand, I want him to recall that it was Silva he pissed off, and this was the result of his actions," Silva said. He grabbed the unconscious king and created another portal into a room in the castle. Immediately they arrived, Silva didn''t wait for the man to get enough rest. He threw him on the bed and wrapped the bleeding arm of Ezra. Then Silva found the bathroom, took a bowl of cold water, and doused it over Ezra, forcing him to wake up. When Ezra looked up and saw Silva, he felt a shiver down his spine and quickly backed away. Silva had automatically be the scariest thing the king had ever faced. Chapter 195: Forced portal Ezra tried to leap out of the bed and run away, but his entire body screamed in pain, and he was unable to move. He fell back on the bed with a loud groan. "Your body is pretty much useless for the time being. You allowed that sword to suck you dry. Look at you lying down¡ªpitiful, weak. You have be nothing in less than a day. But this is a talk forter. For now, I want you to tell me about the origin of the sword," Silva said. Ezra hesitated, but he could feel Silva''s bloodlust pressing down on him, so he spoke immediately. "Years ago, I had just be the king. Young and vibrant, looking for ways that I would better the kingdom. It was a foolish endeavor, and I understood that soon, because in the depths of our kingdom, the evil and the bad walk around. And whenever they make their presence known, all peace is lost. I was a victim of this as well, because my best friend was murdered as he tried to protect me from a surprise attack during a public speech. After that, I vanished and left the running of the kingdom to the council. I told them I would seek out a weapon or power that would help us rid the kingdom of the lowly vermin that walk around. Continue reading at m|v-l''e -NovelBin And so I set out and went for days. Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months as I pushed through town after town, training myself and gathering knowledge. I wanted that when I returned, I would be a king worthy of leading¡ªa powerful man that none would try to stop. On this journey was where I met him. In a bar, I had decided to drink myself into a stupor, but as I took my drink, a man cloaked in mystery sat beside me. The man didn''t wear any serious clothes to hide his identity, but even as I looked at him, it was like there was some sort of distortion. I could see the face yet not see the face. The man reached out and called the bartender. The bartender came over, listened to the man say what he wanted, and then left to go and make it. The man then looked at me and spoke. ''It may take you years and years to realize that some things are out of our control. You can''t change the mistakes of the past, but you can fix the results of that mistake in the future. And to help you fix your future, here is a gift.'' The man took out a sword and handed it to me¡ªthe sword that I used. When I saw the sword the first time, I was heavily against touching it, but the man left it for me and walked away. After a while, it was like the sword was calling out to me, and soon I finally grabbed the sword, and that was the first day that I felt the power the de had to offer. I became addicted. At first, the de was never more than an item I used to get stronger. It was like it had an in-built manual, and I followed it without knowing. I didn''t know that the sword was something else lying dormant. It tainted my mind andpletely took over me. Luckily, you were capable of stopping it. I owe you my life," Ezra said and bowed his head. "Hmm, this is all good and that, but let me tell you about the sword a little more first. The sword is one of the demonic swords used by the true demon army. It was an artifact that had survived in our part of the world for many years. A sword like it can''t be unintentionally left for thousands of years. No, it had to have been brought here. And that means, that means someone has some sort of ess to the demon realm and is tampering with things. The demon realm and the celestial realms are not just prisons to keep them locked away. They are walls to protect us from them," Silva said. "Because the day these realms open, reality will shift, an external war for dominance will begin, and all life forms will be swept by its wave," Lily walked into the room and spoke. She walked over to them, nced at Silva, and continued. "The sword is not at full power, though. It is, at best, half a soul eater, and the reason is because of damage. And this damage is not just any damage. It is damage caused by the rough and chaotic space, time, and reality. The sword must have been forcefully dragged through a very unstable and chaotic portal. Now before I step forward, for the sake of the king Ezra, I''ll exin. A portal is a door, created to make two distant locations meet. Now this seems like easy magic to a good number of us, but there are so many intricacies that it is shocking. When a portal is opened, no matter what, space, time, and reality are bent in order to connect two ces. This bending or folding of space, time, and reality has to be very neat and precise to ensure a good flow. But it''s like clothes¡ªthe bigger and longer the clothes, the more difficult it gets to fold them evenly. Now this is talking about portals on the same ne, not on another ne. This sword was pulled through a portal that somehow connected to one of the most highly sealed ces. The demon realm. It should be very inessible to anyone. Not even I should be capable of tearing a hole into the realm. Yet somehow, whoever took this sword did it. He forced his way in. And though I want to say that it is a great thing, and as a scientist, I want to take a closer look at his work and try for myself... But I can''t, because that person has weakened the walls that keep us safe by punching a hole through it. Portals close after being opened, but when it is one as chaotic and dangerous as the one this person opened, they leave cracks. A single crack would not be an issue, sure. But then we start counting a couple, maybe ten, or fifty, or a hundred. Well, it seems there might be more. There is a residual energy that leaks from the sword, a stain from the portal that it came from. And so that made me think, if I could sense this stain, I could use my abilities to try and sense where cracks with simr energy are. Going all out with my crazy experiment, I found several cracks¡ªnumber just about fifty in the nearby kingdoms. The distance I covered was due to my limitation, and yet we were able to find this much. It all goes to show that whoever this is, he is on the move, and he is opening fierce portals from time to time. Though it may be that the cracks are from many years ago, they are still there, and many people are at risk every day they wake up. Because these cracks are growing bigger and bigger. We may not notice this, and based on calctions, it might take a thousand years for the issue to get serious. But that is if it was natural and not caused by someone for God knows what reason. There''s more to this issue, but for now, I can say it''s not something we need to worry about. Though we will still have to start looking into who this person that gave the sword could be. Also, I''ll have to study the sword now and understand it," Lily finished. "Thank you, Lily. You''ve managed to catch us up to speed on the matter. I didn''t think I''d have to deal with anything rted to true demons so soon. I feel the best way to go for now would be to allow the demon kings to handle the issue. Even if they are incapable of handling the matterpletely. They can buy us more time for when we are ready. They are the ones carrying the blessings of the demons and the ones that understand why the seal on the demons must remain. And so, they will know how to treat the matter with urgency. Lily, you will be sent to them with your findings, only withholding key and important information that you think is the most valuable. Even if we are about to let them take the lead on this one, it doesn''t mean that we are friends with them. I can''t have them holding back on me when they have their findings as well. So we will utilize the data we held back as currency to collect what they are finding as well¡ªa simple give and take," Silva finished. Lily nodded and left the room to get to work. Silva looked at Ezra, who had been patiently waiting and listening to Silva and Lily. Silva walked to the side of the bed and sat down. "Now, let''s talk about you and your kingdom," Silva said. Chapter 196: Teaching a Dragon "So, now that you are in this state, you are pretty useless, and if I return you to your kingdom, you will surely be killed and your throne taken," Silva said. Ezra said nothing because he felt that what Silva said was true. He had failed to do what he said he would do, and that was something worth death. "What do you want me to do?" Ezra asked. "Oh, so you areing along, that''s good. Now I can fix all these things, every issue. I can fix it for sure and make you the king that you need to be. The issues and the evil that you havemitted against me and your kingdom¡ªI will fix everything. I''ll make sure that all your wrongs are right," Silva said. "Is that really something that you can make happen?" Ezra asked. "Oh, that''s a super easy task. It''s a step-by-step process that will make the people love you back and maybe even more. First, the king of Aragon is kept in custody in order to allow the captured men to go free. You see, this setup will send a message that you value your men. It may not be strong enough to change the thoughts people have against you, but it is a start, a good start even. With that start, we can change the perception of you. But that change will not be enough to secure your position back. So, what we will do next is the treaty. We will make your people believe that even in captivity, you are now working out a way to create peace between the two nations. It may not really mean anything to them in the first few weeks, but soon, when the advanced items that wille from us to your kingdom in the name of peace start arriving, the perception will change. These items will easily and very quickly change a whole lot of things and make life easier in less than a month for the capital of your kingdom. That change is all that we will needpletely because we will let the people know that you are the one fighting for these new things they are getting. They will know that you have put them first and have now made sure that you are using the opportunity to better their lives. Then, after thates the final and most important stretch¡ªthe well-thought-out and executed apology. Normally, I would say improvise this when the timees, but in your case, no. You will have to memorize a full script and know how to act it out. The reason I said I won''t let you improvise is because you are not truly sorry for what you have done to your people. You may lie to yourself and make yourself think that you are truly sorry, but in the depth of your heart, you aren''t, because to you, the path you walked was the right one. So, you will be taught how to act, and you will do it very well, down to the littlest details and the smallest information. You will learn how to show emotions through the slightest body movement and take the right tones that will allow the people to believe in the authenticity of your apology. After that apology, you will choose to resign as king and will want to pass the baton to the next person who will rule the kingdom. But then we intervene, and we say that we have found you to be the perfect king and a trustworthy man who sticks to his word. We will say that we do not despise the actions that you took in that war, as you were only trying to protect the pride and heritage of the kingdom. So, we have decided to endorse you, and you will remain their king, unless we withdraw all the services we have provided and stay away from your kingdom. Now you see, the people may not still trust you, but they have been getting a ton of good stuff, and it has made their lives a whole lot better. So, if they still choose to change you, they will lose all that. Now, who knows if the new king will be capable of giving them a life close to what they just got in a few weeks? That uncertainty is what we will feed on because they will begin to think about you and what you have done deeply. Now they''ll try to find the good things, and the good things will start shining brighter and brighter in their minds. And now that it is shining, it will begin to overshadow the dark. Now they might say you allowed thousands of men to die in the war, but then they will think about what you have done after that, and also your apology. And with all thatbined, the rest will be swept under the corner in due time. Everyone will decide that you are worth the risk, and they will allow you to retake office. You will be the king they want, and with my help, you will make them happy and dependent on you," Silva said. He looked at Ezra to hear what he had to say. "Your n is really detailed, and it leaves little room for issues. I have no problem with it at all. If you can pull this off, then I will surely take my crown without issues. Experience tales at m v|l e''-NovelBin But I can smell an underlying plot. You want me to be your dog and follow yourmands," Ezra said to Silva. "Hahahaha, underlying plot? There is no underlying plot. The thing you mentioned is the whole reason I am doing this. I am not doing this for the charity of my heart; I am doing this because I want to control you. I need you to be my puppet. I will control you and make you do what I want. And if you don''t want that, you have a few options out. The first one is to fight me and kill me, and even the goddess knows that''s impossible. The second option is that you die in the most embarrassing way possible, as the king who let all his men die and died himself. So you better pick wisely. Are you going to be my puppet?" Silva asked as he grabbed the mouth of Ezra and squeezed it. Ezra tried to shake him off or shout away, but the grip Silva used was extremely strong. Ezra had no option but to nod his head in agreement. "Great, I''ll draft the contract after this. But before we get into that, I want to talk about the matter that I know should already be disturbing you. You are about to partner with a kingdom filled with all sorts of races. What will the heroes think of this? What will the empire and the holy kingdom say? But guess what? I don''t give two fucks about them. If theye for you, you will have no option but to support me because that is what the contract will say, so be ready. Though I doubt that they will move anytime soon, so you have enough time to do what you want and enjoy your life," Silva said. He patted the man on the head and then stood up. "Make sure that you do all that I''ll tell you, or else you, your family, and your whole kingdom will be a in," Silva said and left. Immediately after he left, he headed for the ce where he would see Drake, and that was the administrative building in the castle. Drake was busypiling files and data from everything that was happening. It was a job he took because of his speed and high intelligence, so it allowed him to work a lot faster. When Silva walked into the room, Drake immediately stopped. He looked up at Silva. "Master!" Drake called out. "Great to see that you are working hard, Drake, but I need your help with something. The dragon that we will be sending to the dragon continent has little to no knowledge of dragons. He can''t go there and act all confused. Sure, his story says that he was taken away at a young age, but not at a very young age. If not, it would get suspicious, because how can a baby dragon safely stay alive for all those years without teaching and still survive this hard world? Sure, there is the possibility of that happening, but it''s low. So rather than stressing ourselves with what might actually fail, I need you topile from the library aprehensive amount of books that will give him the information he needs. As a dragon, he has a very powerful mind, so it shouldn''t take him long to understand it. And if he doesn''t, you have the full right to give him a good beating," Silva said. "I understand. I''ll get to that right away," Drake said. "Thank you, Drake. It''s good to be able to count on you all the time," Silva said and left the room. He honestly felt spent, and it had been a while since he slept well. Chapter 197: Hero candidates The sounds of swords shing filled the air, followed by the crisp footsteps of shoes with hard soles. The sound of the footsteps walking through the hallway overshadowed that of the swords. But as they approached the room where the shing swords could be heard, the sound of the swords started getting louder. Finally, the person walking arrived at the door of the room. She was a beautifuldy, not more than sixteen, with white hair and silver eyes. She was dressed in ckbat body armor and carried a fine sword on her back. She pushed open the door and walked into the room. It was an arena, with two fighters battling at the center. One was a bald boy dressed like a monk and using a metal spear, and the other was a boy wielding two swords. He had ck hair and a cold expression on his face. Thedy didn''t say anything as she walked to the seats and sat down. She didn''t do anything for a while, but then the monk spoke while parrying an attack. "There is no way you''re here just to watch us, Meg. What brought you here?" he asked. "I wanted to ignore her for as long as possible, but you just had to talk," the ck-haired boy said and went in for a double sh. The monk flipped in the air and dodged the attack. He stabbed his spear into the ground, stood on the base, and then flipped off it while simultaneously pulling the spear out. "If I had left her, she would''ve watched for a long time and then interfered with our sparring," the monk said and went in for a stab. The ck-haired boy sighed and blocked the attack, pushing the spear back. "Fine, that''s true," he said. Meg allowed them to finish speaking and then she spoke. "An issue arose in the Empire and the Holy Kingdom some time ago, and it has be a matter of serious deliberation," she said. "And how does that concern us?" the ck-haired boy said as he went in for a multiple-shbo, but the monk blocked all of them. "Well, it does concern us because even the heroes were informed about the matter, and they considered it worth their attention," Meg said. "The heroes? Then this must be serious. Tell us more about it," the monk said. He was about to attack, but then Meg spoke. "It has to do with a Demon King candidate taking over a kingdom in human territory." Immediately, they stopped their fight and turned to face her. "What did you say?" the monk asked. "Well, a Demon King candidate has taken an entire kingdom. He destroyed their armies, killed the king, ruined the whole ce, and is now rebuilding it as a mixed-race kingdom¡ªfilled with beasts, demi-beasts, and the humans who decided to stay with him," she said. "That is vile, to force people to coexist with lower life forms," the ck-haired boy said. "The question is, who could make a Demon King rise over a kingdom? The blessings and curses won''t happen for a whole year," the monk said. "Well, you see, ording to what I''ve heard, he''s not the normal Demon King candidate. He possesses immense strength and resources. Readtest stories on m_v-l''e|-NovelBin He has powerful followers as well. He is considered an A-rank threat, while most of the other Demon King candidates are considered C-ranks, except for the elf, who is B-ranked, almost A-ranked," Meg said. "Hmm, why was the elf B-ranked again? She''s not as strong as the others from what I''ve seen," the monk asked. "Yes, she may not be the strongest, but that''s only on the surface. There''s a reason she''s ranked that high, and it''s simple. The Yggdrasil tree, also known as the World Tree, is located at the center of the elf empire. It is the greatest treasure of the elves and something they all love and, to an extent, worship. It''s truly like a god because within the World Tree is a spirit¡ªthe greatest spirit. A spirit that didn''t walk the path of other spirits but rather became the source of life for the tree. That spirit is born with the tree and grows with the tree. It is the tree. But that spirit must have a vessel aside from the tree, and that vessel is chosen. The vessel allows the tree to see the world and learn new things to help the elves. That elf is currently the Demon King candidate. The reason she has a higher risk rating is because she carries the spirit of the tree within her, and if she releases its power, it will be catastrophic. However, we don''t know the extent of her power. She might be super strong or not all that strong, so they allowed her to stay in the B ranks. But as for the one who took the kingdom, he''s already graded based on the information we have on him, and we can say for sure that he is really strong and has enough influence," Meg said. "Well, that''s a lot of information. So, what do they want to do about this Demon King candidate? We can''t let him take a whole kingdom for himself," the ck-haired boy said. "For now, they can''t rush into action. They have to discuss with the Demon Kings first and try to get them to make him withdraw from theirnds. If they move without the consent of the Demon Kings, it will be considered a deration of war, and the Demon-Hero War will officially start for this generation. But that is all beside the point, because we have our own task. ording to what we''ve heard, the Demon King candidate might be keeping a Hero candidate in hisnds, and we are to try and retrieve her. If he refuses to let her go, it will be a deration of war against us. So right now, we might be at the brink of a great war," Meg said. Author [A thousand power stoned give an extra chapter] Chapter 198: tears of a hero "They want us to go? All of us?" the monk asked. "No, the three of us. We can''t send all the hero candidates there; it would be stupid," Meg said. "That makes sense. I want to see this new demon king that is causing the issues, and if he is as strong as they say," the ck-haired guy said. "Well, we leave tomorrow, so get ready," Meg said and left the ce. Discover stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin As soon as she left the room, a middle-aged man stood there. She stopped when she saw him, looking forward. "You know the main part of the n, right? Assassinate the demon king candidate. If he dies, we can have an upper hand in theing generation," the man said and slipped a small bottle of liquid to her. "It took all the best poison practitioners and mages to craft a poison powerful enough to even knock out a hero. For this kid, it will be very lethal. You just have to find a way to make a little of it get into his body. He will slowly weaken and die soon after. There exists no cure to this poison, and by the time you return, that demon will be dead. They will want to start a war, but when they check him, the poison would have left his body using a mana-vanishing method. So there''s no proof that you killed him. You have to do this, and if you seed, your chance of being the leader of the heroes will rise," the man said. She nodded her head and walked away, not looking aside or away at all. Her steps resounded at night as she walked away. --- Meg returned to her room. It was a simple-looking room, but with the snap of her finger, a formation activated, and the room changed into a very spacious, metal-walled room. There were weapons and armor lined all around, mostly staves and spears. The space in the room seemed to be where she practiced. She walked to one rack and took out a simple staff. She spun it around with ease and flexibility. When she was all warmed up, a door slid open, and three wooden dolls walked out with their own staves. They immediately charged at her at the same time, but with an unphased look, she spun her staff andunched at the first doll. "Every fucking day!" she yelled and mmed the staff into the head of the first doll,pletely removing the doll''s head. "Do this and do that!" she yelled, driving the staff into the chest of the second doll. She leaped off it and spun around, hitting the third doll and sending it flying. "Your father is the leader of the heroes; you should be too. You have to live up to his standard. Bullshit," she said in an angry voice. The door opened again, and five dolls ran out this time. She charged at them, using brute force to break through them. "So what the fuck do I care if he is the leader? I, for one, never wanted to be a hero candidate. But curse my luck; I had to be chosen. And to fuck it all even more, my father just had to be the leader. Fuck all of this. Why would I give a fuck that some demon king candidate took a kingdom?" She destroyed another doll and immediately moved on to the next. "Why should I care that he has a hero hostage or whatever? Those are all irrelevant to me, yet every day I have to live this shit of a life, trying to match up to Daddy''s standard. The same bastard that doesn''t even give a shit if I live or die. All he cares about is that I am a hero candidate and I have to be the best. He doesn''t remember the day I was born, or the things I like, or my hobbies. Ever since the day it was confirmed that I am one of those shitty heroes, he became a different monster." She finished destroying another set of dolls, and no more came out, so she started mming her staff on the ground. "Fuck it, fuck it all. All I want is to find Mum and live happily with her, but he refuses to let me know where she is, covering and destroying every piece of information that seems to be about her. Hero my foot. I''m just a miserable human that never wanted this, dedicating my life to training and serving their will." She struggled to control her breath as tears poured from her eyes. She stayed there for a while before finally getting up. She snapped her finger, and the room returned to normal. Shey on the bed and gazed at the ceiling in loss. --- In Dark Dragon, Silva was busy going around to see where and how they could begin to establish certain things. The first thing was the army. Now that all the humans were in the capital, they needed to start training some sort of army that would aid them. But most of themcked any sort of training, and even the beasts that he called part of his army were not really trained enough to be a real army. All the humans that had stayed here had epted the beasts and demi-beasts because, after staying some time with them, they hade to realize that they were simr. They weren''t some sort of barbaric life forms as many stories portrayed. They could be civilized and also live normally and cleanly. Under the leadership of a dragon like Silva, no one wanted to cause any trouble. They all knew that Silva was very much a ruthless person who would eradicate them in a second. The recruitment method allowed for both males and females, and they were going to be trained in a method that was vastly different from what this world knew. Silva wanted to make soldiers and not just warriors. He wanted to make his force elite and well-trained because they werecking in numbers, so he would make it up in quality. Chapter 199: Birthday boy A month went by, and Silva had fulfilled his part of the deal to Ezra. He had provided the capital with expensive amenities like teleportation tforms that anyone could use at a very affordable price. The money collected was all to maintain the teleporters, and no one actually ate from the money. He also gave the capital of Aragon a new way for them to stay safe. Recording crystals that were so small they could be ced on any part of the body. They could record sound and a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view around the person, even seeing through the user''s clothes. This and more were the things Silva made possible and gave all credit to Ezra, and because of this, Ezra was returned to the capital as a hero. Silva had healed him up better than he was before and given him quite a few things that could help him out. But Ezra was far from being a free man because he signed his soul away before he left. Silva would never allow someone to simply walk away from him like that. So he used a new binding contract that was far more vile and evil than the ones he had used before. Ezra had no choice, so he signed and allowed Silva to be his master. Aside from the gifts he gave in Aragon, Silva hadpletely changed the capital in just one month. After dumping immense resources andbor into it, the new great wall for the capital was made. It stood grandly and domineering. The wall had two gates, but only one was opened for use. After they concluded the wall, the next thing he began was the building of houses. Though they possessed many talented individuals and a lot of manpower, they still couldn''t get it done by the current date. That being said, they had done about eighty percent, and the people who were stranded in tents soon started moving in, but only after signing the agreement that stated they would start working and slowly pay off. Silva used every bit of manpower he could find in the whole capital, from Orcs to Wyverns, fairies, and spirits. Everything that could lift a fork was put to work, and the pace was outstanding. But in all, today was very special, not because of several inaugurations that would be taking ce, not because of the development and happiness that a single month had brought. But because it was the birthday. The birthday of the king, the leader, the bored Silva Terron, the Dark Dragon. It was the day he finally stepped into adulthood. To many, they were happy because he was growing. To others, especially somedies, he was now allowed to carry out adult things. It seemed like thedies who had control over themselves all lost it on this day. Silva woke up after resting from the day before. He got up from the bed and immediately felt a faint presence. Normally, he would have sensed this presence in his sleep. But the presence was not hostile, and it was well hidden, so it didn''t bother him while he slept. But now that he was awake, he could feel that the presence, though not hostile, was sending shivers down his spine. And then he remembered, it was his day, his birthday. He was now fourteen, he was an adult, and that meant¡­ When he came to that realization, he immediately understood what was about to happen. He leaped out of the bed and changed clothes from his ring. Immediately he came out, he saw Jade appear in the room. She was the one that had been hiding. She licked her lips, and she didn''t even move towards him. Experience new stories on m v|l e''-NovelBin Silva used sh step and dashed for the door. She reacted fast and used her tail to try and catch him. Silva leaped over her tail and left the room. Outside, Drake was headed toward Silva''s room. He stopped when he saw Silva dash out of the room. "Already active, I see, master," Drake said. "Not really, just recalled that today was my birthday, and I''m now an adult," Silva said as he walked to Drake. "Hmm, so one of thedies tried to get with you first. Seems this will be an issue," Drake said. "Hm, I don''t think so. Not everyone will act like Jade," Silva said. "Oh, they will, master. They definitely will. Fay, Dawn, Lia, Amber, Roxy, even Lily. The list goes on. You better be wary," Drake said. "Lily? Nah, Lily is the only one that I know for sure doesn''t have that type of rtionship with me," Silva said as he started walking with Drake. "Ah, naive, I see. Lily is the one you should be wary of more. Even the crazy Amberes nowhere close to Lily. Do you know the fate of the people that tried to harm you and were left in Lily''s hands? Their horror would make a devil shiver in fear. She gets enraged when ites to you, and she would go the extra mile or two to ensure that all your enemies eat the dust of the earth," Drake said. "Huh? Then why am I only hearing about this now?" Silva asked. "Because she never wanted it to distract your work, so she made sure I didn''t talk. But I feel today is the best day for you to know. But you can''t fall into thought now. There is a lot for you to do on your birthday. The first on your agenda is finally to rid the world of the prince and your brother. Ever since we took over the kingdom, we made everyone believe that they had already been killed. But they''re there, and you asked me to wait till now. But now, we must remove them, there is the risk of Sage mistakenly finding out that they have been alive. To her, Oliver is dead, and it''s good to stay that way," Drake said. "All right then, take me to see my brother and the prince," Silva said, and Drake led the way. Chapter 200: New army They arrived at the dungeon deep underneath the castle; it was a lot deeper than the normal dungeons, void of any light. Silva had to walk there with a torch, and so did Drake. They walked through the short, dark hallway until they made it to the door of the dungeon. Inside were two people chained to the walls, Oliver and the prince. They looked weak and malnourished, even though they had been eating. Silva knocked on the iron bars to draw their attention. They both tried to look up but were too weak to do so. "Oliver, and what''s his name. It''s been a while since we have seen each other. I''m sure you must have been expecting me by now," Silva said. "Cough, cough. Silva?" Oliver managed to ask. He looked up and saw Silva''s face under the illumination of the torch. "There is no need for talks or for sentiments. Normally, I would have made you sign a contract in service to me. But sadly, I have no use for you. You bothck talent, and also, you have been nuisances to me. So today, your pain and torture end, but I''ll not be as evil as to also destroy your soul. I''ll let you have the chance of reincarnation. I do hope that in your next life, you''ll make the best out of it," Silva said and turned away. "Drake, deal with them," Silva said. Drake faced them and created two blood spears. He shot them into the dungeon and into the heads of Oliver and the what''s-his-name prince, instantly taking their lives. The blood spears transformed into blood lotuses and covered both of them, degrading their bodies into nothing. Drake turned away and walked out of the dungeon. Thest people that had been an issue to Silva in thest kingdom were finally dead. Now, it was time to look to the future. Drake caught up to Silva, and they both left the underground. "Master, we have to head to the capital square. Today is the day we inaugurate the first army troops for the kingdom," Drake said. "Yes, I forgot that was today as well," Silva said. In one month, they had managed to extensively train over one thousand people and made them elites in their fields. Using resources like thebyrinths and other things, they were able to go through the best sort of training. Though in the future, Silva had ns to extend the training time to better inculcate what was needed into the soldiers. But for now, the new soldiers would have to make do with whatever they had learned and then learn more through the experiences they gathered. It was amazing that over one thousand people joined the training, and only a few dropped out, while the rest battled it out till the end. --- Silva and Diane left the castle, with the new maids and butlers of different races bowing and paying their respect to Silva, even also wishing him a happy birthday. Silva was dressed casually, but it didn''t really matter to him, and Drake also thought that it would connect to the people more, so he let Silva be. They got into a carriage that took them to the venue, where seats were already set up and people were already seated. The new soldiers were already sitting down as well, with their new uniforms¡ªck with the crest of a dragon on it. This crest was the new crest of the kingdom, created by Elsa herself. When Silva arrived and came down, all the guests stood up and bowed their heads to him. He walked straight to the chair provided for him, sat down, and everyone else followed suit. Silva saw Dawn, Lily, Roxy, Lia, his brothers, and Aaron there as well, seated close to him. For some reason, he felt ufortable from the way Dawn and Roxy were looking at him, but he pushed the thought to the back of his head. The person anchoring the asion immediately announced the presence of Silva and asked that hee to the stage. Silva got up from his chair and walked up to the raised tform. He looked at the crowd and cleared his throat. A special magical formation allowed his voice to reach everyone. "A month. It has only been a month since the creation of this training program, and a few more than a month since Dark Dragon was created. At first, many of you were skeptical, not sure how your lives would be living close to other races. Would a goblin attack you? Would an ogre steal your child? All those thoughts crossed your minds. But when we came together, we came to see that things aren''t as we were told. These beasts only fight us because they, too, want to survive, the same way that you want to survive. I''m grateful for everyone that has lived here and is now happy living here. It may not be perfect, but we have made a change that has been seen nowhere before. We have created a ce where all creatures can live and be free. But for such a ce to keep going, we need the best security that we can get. We need those who will stand and fight for the sake of keeping this new world we have created. And on that note, today, we are graduating the first set of soldiers, trained and prepared for battle. They have been through hell for the sake of giving you happiness and safety. They have been through fire and water, proving that they are real fighters. They didn''t allow their race or gender to cause them issues. They carried themselves as brothers in arms. And now today, on this special day, which is my birthday, they will be the army that fights for us. So, in every year thates, when it is my birthday, everyone will recall the day that the army that fights for Dark Dragon was created. You are all great soldiers, and as a king and demon king candidate, I am happy to see all of youe this far. Thank you." Chapter 201: Really Stupid After the inauguration of the new army, Silva was partly done for the day. But more jobs found their way to him. He had to head somewhere with Lily immediately, as they were building their first majorb in Ribest. In fact, he decided that the white tower of Ribest would be used as the powerhouse of research for the kingdom. "So are we teleporting directly into the town?" Silva asked as they both left the lights and started walking. "No, I''ll teleport us a good distance away from the town. You should take a look at the outside before heading inside," Lily said and made a portal. The two of them walked in and arrived in the forest near the town, then started walking toward it. "You know that you are an adult now, right?" Lily asked. "Yes, I do," Silva replied without thinking much. "I''m sure you already knew this, but all actions have cause and effect. Everything you have done so far has caused one thing or another in return. Your goodwill and your bad will have floated around and given results. Life as an adult is harder and different. It''s not all about the fight and the power; you now have a responsibility¡ªa responsibility to be a leader to the young. Let them look at you and aspire to be you. You and I know that you are a merciless being, but to the kids that run the streets, show them a smile. You might not have had the privilege of a simple childhood, but you should allow them to. That is what an adult would do." "But I am not that type of adult," Silva said. "Oh, I know. I know that you are not like normal people. You would kill a child if you needed to. But what I''m saying is what people expect from an adult. You should still try to get some of that into your actions. But all this is really not why I asked us toe from a distance, neither is the reason to see the town from afar. All that was bullshit that I cooked up to make it look like a good reason to walk with me. What I really want to talk about is love, and don''t try to change the topic, Silva," she said in a threatening tone. "Cough, why would you want to talk about that?" Silva asked. "Hmm, you see, Silva, many people are pretty, and many are handsome and cute, but there are few that can reach up to you. Do you even know how many love letters from young girls of all races we send away? You attract them without needing to speak. That is how attractive you are. And then there are those that know you. They have lived around you and can tell how much of a wonderful guy you are. You are a walking piece of hotcake, and every girl wants you, especially those that are close to you. Normally, a guy like you would be filled with pride, feeling like he was on top of the world. But you act like you don''t know, like you are not aware that you are that attractive," she said. "Oh, I''m not clueless. The issue is that I havee to build arge circle of women. Picking one person to date would be an all-out suicide. I know the situation around me, so I''ve decided not to worry about rtionships and keep my eyes closed to all of that. I don''t know how I''ll handle them all in this case, so I''m running away." "I see. Well, there is only so much you can run," Lily said and suddenly turned, trying to grab Silva. Silva dodged her and put distance between them. "What the hell are you doing, Lily?" Silva asked. "Nothing much. I just want you to know that there are more ways to handle an issue like this," she said andunched at Silva again. Silva dodged her attack once again and put more distance between them. "What the hell is going on, Lily?" Silva asked. "Well, I heard that you are yet to have your first kiss or any serious contact with ady. I am not one to struggle with others, and that''s why I have brought you here so that we will be alone," Lily said. "Huh? What about the ce we''re going to?" Silva asked immediately. "That can wait. I''ll have to hold you down and do what I need to. I refuse to use my abilities so that I can feel how the kiss would be," she said. "Lily, you are always so calm and collected. Why are you suddenly like this?" Silva asked. "It seems there is a little more about me that you''ll find out soon. Though I still don''t care about how I look and how I behave, all that matters now is getting that kiss from you," she said and charged at Silva. Silva leaped backward and dodged her attack. Before going in for a counter, he went behind her and hugged her from the back. "Let''s settle with a hug, alright?" Silva asked, his arms still around her. "Fine. I''ll let you be for now. Though I don''t know what the others will do. Unlike me, they won''t hold back. Jade told me she was going to your room, and I am certain she went, right? You see, whether you like it or not, you have created a harem. Everyone that is a part of it is open to you loving other women, aside from that little brat elf. She feels she can have you all to herself. It''s a stupid idea, to be honest, because dragons are polygamous in nature. They have an extreme pride and power system, especially the males. And that is something that shows in all of them and makes them want to have more than one lover and assert dominance. So that elf is simply dumb to think she can have you. Me, on the other hand, I''ve decided to be the one guarding you and controlling the others. I have already been doing this for quite a while. You don''t understand why none of them have actuallye for you in full force? It was because I always kept them in check. But from now, I''ll let them do what they want because I''ll be doing what I want as well," she said. Discover hidden tales at m,v l''e-NovelBin "My question is really when you started liking me because I didn''t expect it to go that way at all," Silva said. "Well, it started¡ª" she paused and looked away for a moment. "We have guests," she said. "Take me there," Silva replied. She nodded and opened a portal. They walked in and came out at a ce near the border of their kingdom. "Lily, let me meet whoever it is that ising. You wait for me, okay?" Silva said. She nodded and let him go alone. Silva headed in the direction where he felt three presences. When he got close, he saw three figures headed his way. Ady and two men. After some time, they stopped a few meters away from Silva. "Who are you?" Meg came forward and asked. "I should be the one asking that," Silva said. "A cocky brat, huh?" the ck-haired guy with a cold expression said and stepped forward. "Ron, it''s not time to do this," Meg said. "Yes, Ron. We didn''te here to start trouble, at least not until we make it to the capital," the monk said. "He is just one kid, Riker. I''ll take care of him quick and gather information," Ron said and took out his sword. Silva internallyughed at the stupidity. Who just sees a person and decides to attack out of nowhere? Ron dashed at Silva. He sent a clean sh at Silva''s chest, wanting to quickly take him down in one move. His strike hit the target, but it didn''t feel like it. After half a second, the afterimage of Silva faded away. "Seriously, who are you all?" Silva asked, standing to the side, looking at Ron, who had just attacked. Ron looked at Silva in shock. How did Silva get there? "It seems you have some tricks under your belt," Ron said. "No, dumbass. I''m simply stronger than you. Use your head. But no, you will not use it. You will rather call my bluff and still attack me," Silva said. Ron gritted his teeth when he heard that and charged at Silva. Silva let out a tired sigh and dodged the next attack again. Ron looked at Silva in disbelief, his anger rising. "Now, rather than agree that I am stronger than you, you will believe that when you activate your power, you will somehow be able to hit me," Silva said. And just like he said, Ron channeled his mana into his sword, and it erupted in blue mes that were very hot. "Sigh, you are really stupid," Silva said. Chapter 202: Smack Ron didn''t stop even after all Silva said. He charged with his ming sword, smashing out and releasing a massive me arc. Silva easily leapt over the arc, but it kept going, destroying many trees and setting them aze. Silva faced Ron with a pissed expression. "You are destroying my home, you pig-headed bastard," Silva said and took out his sword. With the sword out, the whole atmosphere changed. The air became thinner, and all the mana began swirling around Silva in a calm motion. Meg sensed an indescribable feeling inside her, but she could tell it was telling her to run. She looked over at Silva and then came to a realization¡ªthis might be who they were looking for. "Wait! Are you by chance the demon king candidate that rules here?" Meg asked. Silva looked at her. "Yes, why are you asking?" Meg was shocked that it was actually Silva. She expected someone a bit older. She asked but didn''t believe it would be true. When Ron heard that, his face crunched even more. "You bloody bastard, do you think we''ll believe that someone like you will take over a kingdom?" he asked. "Do you drink piss for breakfast? How does your mind work in such a stupid way?" Silva snapped. "When I saw the way you look, I thought you were some sort of cool, calm dude, but now you''re just making noise like a wild animal," Silva said. Ron didn''t respond to him. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, his calm demeanor was back. He simply sheathed his sword and walked away, leaving Silva confused. Meg saw the confusion and stepped forward to exin. "Uhm, forgive Ron. He has a dual soul in him, meaning two personalities. The original thought it would be too much of an issue to be the one in control of his body throughout the journey. So he let the second take control, and it has been the second that you have been engaged in battle with," Meg exined. Silva easily understood. "Oh, so the stupid impulsive one is the second, and the one that took control now is the first?" Silva asked. "Even if he is stupid, you don''t have the right to call him that," Ron said in a calm tone. Silva looked at him. He also noticed that the calm one was way more powerful than the impulsive one. "I''d like to know more as to how you contain two souls, but that will be forter. My name is Silva, and it seems you already know that I am a demon king candidate and the one ruling this ce," Silva said. Now that he confirmed it, he felt killing intent from Riker and Ron. "You should know that if you make even the slightest move against me here with the intent to kill, you would be dead before you take that first step," Silva warned with a smile. And as if to reinforce what he just said, the three hero candidates felt a terrible pressure from different directions. They instantly knew that Silva was not alone and that the people watching them were very strong. "You know, it''s cowardly to rely on so many people despite being a demon king candidate," Riker said. "You see, they are not really here to protect me. They are here to give you quick deaths if youe against me. Because if I am the one thatys my hands on you, you would face eternal torment. And then one day, I''ll just choose to consume that soul and increase my power. It''s been a while since I fed my gluttony," Silva said. They didn''t understand half of what Silva said, but for sure, they could feel he wasn''t bluffing about the parts they understood. "Now that I have told you who I am, it''s time for you lot to tell me who you are and what you are doing here," Silva said. He was smiling, but the pressure he exuded was crazy. "We are hero candidates. I will not lie because I feel that if I should, you would know right away," Meg said. "Hmm, it seems you areing to understand your position here. If you had lied, your heads would have already long left your bodies," Silva said. Riker and the second Ron were very pissed at all Silva was saying. He was nothing but amon demon king candidate, yet he was acting so high and mighty. He was acting like he was at an untouchable level and they were just ants before his eyes. "Alright then, my name is Meg, the monk is Riker, and the one you already know is Ron," she said calmly. Find more adventures on m-v|-NovelBin "Hmm, so three hero candidates are here in my kingdom. This can''t be a normal visit. It seems the empire and the holy kingdom have found out what I did and rted it to the heroes. But rather than risk starting a war, they sent you three toe and see. Am I right?" Silva asked, looking into Meg''s eyes. She tried not to look directly into his eyes as she responded. "Well, you took over a whole kingdom and are building your own. It''s only normal that they will try to find out what''s happening. This is our territory, after all," she said. "Wrong. This territory has been removed from your map. It belongs to me now¡ªnot the demon kings, nor the empire, or anyone else. But that aside, there is something more to why you are here. In fact, there are a few more things you want to do here. I can guess that one is to find the hero candidate that stays here," Silva said. Meg looked away immediately because it was true. "You can''t just take someone hostage like that," Riker said. "Who said I took her hostage?" Silva asked. "There is no way she would stay here otherwise," Riker said. "Riker is right," Ron added. "You are a vile creature that is forcing her and thousands of humans to live with you to fulfill your selfish desire of creating a new ce where all races are equal," Ron said and took a step forward. His calm face was still there, and his cold eyes stared straight into Silva''s. "You live in a delusion where you think humans should coexist with lower life forms like you that do not even qualify to be the dirt beneath our feet. Even now, you face us with pride like you are some sort of godly being, and that pisses me off to no end. But we will let this slide if you follow our conditions. One, you release the hero. And two, youe with us back for questioning," Ron said. [Smack!] The crisp sound of a p resounded. Ron''s face snapped to the side. When he looked up, he saw a girl standing beside Silva. Leah looked at the person she had just pped in anger. She had just been teleported here by Lily and heard thest part of Ron''s statement. Ron wanted to draw his sword, but he felt a simr energy from this person, and then he realized she was the hero candidate. Meg and Riker also felt it and knew she was the hero candidate. The person they came to save had just pped one of them across the face. "Leah, what are you doing here?" Silva asked. "Lily told me that you were facing off some hero candidates, and I had toe," she replied. She then turned to face Ron, who had straightened up. "I don''t know why you hero candidates are here all of a sudden, but the next time I see you get close to Silva, I''ll make sure I kill you," Leah said. Meg, Ron, and Riker looked in confusion. Why was the person they came to save acting this way? They could tell she was a real person and not under any binding they knew of. So the only options that came to mind were that it was a binding they didn''t know about or that she was really happy here. But they didn''t want to ept that she wanted to be here, so their minds shifted away from the second option. Well, the two boys actually, because Meg could actually see herself wanting to run away from this whole hero thing. If she got the opportunity to live in a peaceful ce, she would do anything to use that opportunity. "What did you do to her?" Riker asked. "Huh? Nothing. But I''m tired of standing and answering all your questions. If you wish to talk like humans, then follow me," Silva said, and a portal opened. He walked into it with Leah, who didn''t even look at them anymore. The three hero candidates looked at each other, unsure what to do. But Meg just said, "Screw it," in her mind and walked into it. So did the boys. The portal closed after they went in. Chapter 203: Getting interesting When they walked out, they were in the throne room of the castle. The three heroes looked around in shock. "That was a long-distance portal just now; it carried us from the edge of the kingdom all the way to your capital," Meg said. "Yes, is there something wrong with that?" Silva asked. "No, it''s just that it takes a lot of Mana, so only powerful mages do it for long distances. There''s also the fact that you are bending space and time, so it is very delicate," Meg said. "Hmm, I get what you are saying, but it''s different for us. Also, you are not only using space and time in a portal, you are also using reality. It is a long topic, but reality also ys a very delicate role in portals. You see, in a portal, you have to bend space to make it possible for you to travel. But if you enter without bending time as well, you''ll have a disordered time, and that can cause your body to copse on itself. Then there is reality, and that is the belt that holds the two together. That portal that exists is not supposed to exist. So when we do it, we are tampering with reality as well. It is a very long discussion, and there are intricate details that can be talked about for days unending, but that is not what we are here for," Silva said. He walked to his throne and sat down, while the heroes stood before him. "Before we get into what it is that could have brought you here, I''d like for my guardians and a few other people to be here," Silva said. "That''s not an issue, as long as you trust them with what we will be discussing," Meg said. Silva snapped his fingers, and portals started opening, the whole ganging out in their domineering forms. The summons: Dang, Gan, and Dawn. The siblings: Lia, Mike, Quin, and Sage. Also, Roxy, Aaron, and Fay. Then Aris and Amber. Finally, the Guardians and Elsa. The presence of the throne room changed immediately. The heroes looked around and were simply shocked at the beings they were seeing. Their instincts screamed at them, telling them how dangerous the ce they were in was. They had to swallow that feeling and try to speak. "You seem to have quite the force here," Meg said. "Well, most of them are my summons, and the rest are friends and family. They are all the people that I trust and for sure I can leave my life in their hands. Each person here is a story of my life; each person tells about what I''ve done for the past fourteen years of my life. So that''s why I wanted them to meet you, for you to know the faces behind the kingdom that is the Dark Dragon Kingdom," Silva said. "So this is your council, I guess. Well then, I won''t waste any more time. You already know one of the reasons that we are here, and that is the hero candidate over there," Meg said. When they heard this, everyone in the throne room had a confused face. They wanted to take Leah? Why? Explore more stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin Silva leaned forward and then spoke. "Look at the faces of everyone here; they are confused because they know that Leah would never actively try to leave here. Now take a look at Leah standing here. She is genuinely pissed at you lot. Does this seem like a person that wants to go with you? She looks like she wants to kill you. She left her family and all she grew up with and decided to stay with us. Do you think she wants to go with you?" Silva asked. Meg froze up a bit after she heard all that. She couldn''t process an answer fast enough, but Ron could. "You have done something to her, and to all the humans here as well, else there is no way that a hero candidate would choose to coexist with a demon like you. This is not to insult or spite you, but this has been the setup for generations," Ron said. "Hmm, so you think I have mind control on them? That''s a pretty crazy idea, but sadly I don''t. The reason all of them are here is because they believe in what we will build. You don''t even know the story of Leah and what she went through because of the tag ''hero candidate.'' She was chosen at a young age, and she had to bear pains because of it. Her parents were only concerned about her training, wanting her to get stronger and be a hero. They detached from her and made her a loner. Because of her loneliness, she found sce in the arms of a crazy woman that used her and made this little childmit still crimes. All this because she bore a tag, but she no longer wants to be defined by that tag. And so she decided that she would walk with me to the end as we go against everyone. I have no ns to be a demon king, and the status is but a name to me. I will not stand for the demon kings nor for the heroes. I choose to be for myself and beyond. I do what I want and go where I want. And Leah has allowed me to be her leader. You think just because she carries the tag ''hero'' she should be like you? Your decisions are made by a group of old farts called the heroes. Leah, not anyone here, is under control. They have all chosen to stay here and live here, and if you decide to try to take them away, there will be no body part left to bury you," Silva said. The heroes kept quiet after that, but then Riker stepped forward. "I refuse to believe that a hero candidate will forgo humanity and choose to walk beside a demon like you. Let''s have a deal: fight us, and if we win, we get the opportunity to talk to her ourselves," Riker said. "Oh, this is getting interesting," Silva said with a smile. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 204: Going all out "You saw your friend Ron over there fight me and barely do anything. What suddenly makes you think that if you fight me again, you would win?" Silva asked. "Well, the reason is simple. The soul of Ron that fought you was not the hero candidate. Only one of his souls is the hero candidate, and that is the one that will fight you this time. I can tell that you are quite strong, but against the three of us, we would surely win, and that''s a fact," Riker said. "Ohh, so three versus one. I didn''t know that was how heroes yed their games. How do you expect that I''ll fight the three of you at the same time? Sure, I can do it, no hassle, but why should I? It''s unfair on a numbers basis, and you are insulting yourself and the heroes that sent you. You are saying that the current generation of hero candidates is incapable of handling one demon king candidate. Not that I care. I''ll still take all of you and easily defeat you. So, when do we start?" Silva said and got up from his throne, starting to walk down. "Fine, we will fight you one on one," Riker said. After he said that, Meg raised her hands and spoke, "I would like to opt out of this fight. My purpose foring here is to talk to you, not throw des. I understand why the boys would want to solve this through a duel, but that is not for me," Meg said and shifted away. Riker and Ron didn''t think much about it, though, and were getting ready to battle. When Silva was close, he looked at them and smiled. "You know, today is my birthday. I just turned fourteen," Silva said. "Wait, what? You look at least sixteen," Riker said. "Well, I matured faster, but that is beside the point. The point is that today is a special day, and on this special day, a lot is happening, some with my knowledge and some hidden from me. But honestly, there is a lot of happiness in the air, and I like that. So your presence here is to obstruct that happiness, and I won''t be having that¡ªnot by a long shot," Silva said and drew his sword. Lily immediately created a transparent dome to iste them. Ron and Riker looked unfazed by this. "I would advise you to take your first choice and fight me together. If you don''t, you will regret it very much," Silva said. "Oh, shut your trap," Riker said and spun his staff. He took one step, and his body vanished. He appeared behind Silva, everything moving in slow motion. Riker located where he would hit¡ªthe back of his neck. Silva followed the movements with his eyes, though, and as the spear was about to hit his neck, he bent forward and dodged. Silva spun around while being low to the ground and used his leg to sweep Riker off the ground. Riker flipped in the air and managed to stand, but as he looked at Silva, he was not there anymore. Riker panicked a bit. He tried to sense where Silva was, but he couldn''t. Then suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine. He leaped into the air. ck tendril-like arms shot out of the ground and tried totch onto Riker. Riker spun his spear in the air and struck the tendrils with a massive wind explosion from the staff. The tendrils burst into pieces, but then they spun around and created a swirling ball around Riker. Riker could not see anything. He attacked with his staff and forced an opening. But as that opening formed, he saw Silva right outside, flying. Silva shed, and a powerful ck arc shot from his sword. Riker had to react fast enough, but the sheer size of the arc wasrge, and dodging would require a very high amount of speed. Luckily, he used wind, and that allowed him to reach higher speed. He shot out of there with full propulsion, managing to escape by just an inch. But immediately as he stopped on the ground, Silva was already standing in front of him. Riker leaped back in fear. "Why are you so scared, hero? You should be able to take this," Silva said and charged towards him with a stab. Riker took a quick step back and stabbed his spear into the ground. "Wind wall." Riker called out, and a powerful wall of wind rose and blocked Silva. But Silva was unhindered. He shed through it easily and dashed towards Riker. "This is impossible. How are you this strong?" Riker yelled and started a flurry of powerful attacks, not wanting to give Silva any attack space. Silva blocked all the attacks with a smile on his face. "A monk should not show such chaotic emotions, or is it not so here?" Silva asked. "Shut up!" Riker yelled and stomped the ground, shooting at Silva at his fastest speed yet. Then he spun his entire body like a drill, creating a horizontal tornado with the tip facing Silva. It was like an iing spinningnce. Taking a single hit from this would destroy your insides and outsides. "I have to say, you are way, way too weak for me, but I''ll humor you," Silva said. He used the broad side of his sword and blocked the tornado. He was pushed back from the attack initially, but after taking that attack for a second, he stopped moving and simply stood in one ce, blocking the attack. Riker finally stopped his attack and leaned on the floor. He looked up at Silva, who was standing there undisturbed, and his heart filled with rage. He didn''t understand why a demon king candidate would have so much strength, far more than him, yet he was a hero candidate. Discover more stories at mvl Riker got up from the floor and took another stance with an emotionless face. "I don''t know how you are doing all this, but I can see that defeating you won''t be a walk in the park, and so I''ll go all out and take you down now," Riker said. Chapter 205: Chef in the wilderness The sound of fire crackling and sizzling oil filled the night air of the wilderness, as a soft, warm glow of the mes could be seen from a distance. Closer to the me was a blonde-haired man seated on a rock, tending to the thin cuts of meat that were ced on the pan above the mes. From sight alone, one could tell that very few ingredients had gone into the pan, yet the aroma filled the air. It was a beautiful scent in all ramifications. The man took the stick he had ced beside the rock he sat on and used it to slowly flip the pieces of meat over, revealing the sides that had been cooking for a while. He began humming a tune as he flipped them, nodding his head to follow the rhythm. He kept going for a while until everything was well-cooked and the insides were tender. He took the pan off the pot and ced it on the rock beside him. He took out a small knife and used it to pick slices of meat from the pan and eat. "Hmm, the outskirts of the dragon empire belong to the wyverns, which act like watchdogs for the dragon. All I was asked to bring was their blood. The dragon would be very hard to get, but wyverns will be a lot easier. The scent of the meat should be reaching them soon. They''ll attack in a group, maybe up to five. I''ll have to take every one of them down first. But still, that is rtively easier than taking on a full dragon. Come to think of it, don''t we have tamed wyverns and also modified wyverns? But those stupid researchers want untamed ones. Like, who the hell makes such absurd requests?" the manined as he took his next bite. After a while, he heard the loud, piercing roar of a wyvern, and then more followed. He listened closely to find out their number. "Seems I was a little off. There are six of them. I have to get ready," he said. He took out a metal string and a very thick leather glove. He put the glove on and spun the wire around his arm, then waited. After thirty seconds, the wyverns came into sight andnded close to him, six in number. But the man noticed that there was something wrong with the first wyvern. It was bigger than the rest, and it exuded a different pressure. "Sir, are you the one cooking out here?" the first wyvern asked. Immediately, the man''s face changed. "Oh shit, oh shit." For a wyvern to reach a level where it could speak humannguage, that meant it was either really strong or really intelligent¡ªand in this case, it seemed like both. The man took a step back slowly, but the wyvern noticed it. The wyvern let out a small roar, and all the wyverns except him flew into the air and charged at the man. The man turned around and ran. As he ran, he slowly loosened the wire. When it was loose, he turned around and waited for the first wyvern that would reach him. The first one reached him and tried to use its leg to grab him. The man timed the attack well, and when it was about to hit his chest, he very quickly tied the wire around the leg. Immediately the wire touched the leg, he released a st of lightning into the wire. The electricity ran through the body of the wyvern and temporarily paralyzed it. The wyvern fell to the ground with a loud thud. The man wasted no time; he undid his wire and got ready again. This time, the wyverns didn''t just jump in. They recognized that this man was a threat, and so the four flew into formation. "Shit, these wyverns are too smart. If I don''t take them down in time, the first one I took down will be able to stand again," the man said. He never expected that they would be this coordinated. He chose the very outskirts of the empire, where the weakest wyverns stayed around. These wyverns he was fighting now were wyverns that should be closer to the main empire, not far out here. "Fuck it," the man said and charged at one wyvern. He took out a small de and threw it into the air. The de suddenly shined brightly and then exploded. But the explosion was not to hit anyone. It was all a misdirection because the man was already near a wyvern. Due to the explosion, there was a small gap in their formation. He used the wire again and leaped into the air, managing to get it around the neck of the wyvern and shooting a crazy amount of lightning into its neck. The wyvern fell to the ground, paralyzed. The man was about to get up and move again, but before he could, the tail of another wyvern mmed into his chest and sent him flying. He rolled across the ground while coughing out blood. He lost when it came to strength, as the base strength of a wyvern was far greater than that of a human. When he finally came to a stop, he pushed himself up while coughing blood even more. He got back to his feet and faced the wyverns. "God, I hate this job. Why can''t I just be a chef alone?" he asked himself. He took out about five small des and threw them around him in a pattern. Then he bent on one knee, waiting for the wyverns. Explore more at mvl "You all might be smart, but when you start winning, your dragon pride¡ªor should I say wyvern pride¡ªwill kick in, and you''ll make some rash decisions, like one of youing this way," the man spoke, but not loud enough for them to hear. And just like he said, one wyvern decided to finish the job and flew towards the man. As soon as the wyvern got inside the pattern created with the des, The des activated and created a powerful lightning cage. But just before it fully formed, the man leaped out and let the wyvern be caught inside. Chapter 206: it cant be him right? The lightning hit the wyvern with ferocity until it was paralyzed there. "That''s three down, but how long can I keep them down for? If I''m not fast enough, all this will be for nothing," the man said. He decided to go all out right now so that he wouldn''t die here. He took out two slim swords and took a stance. He charged at the two wyverns. When he was close to them and they were about to snap at him, his feet fired lightning, and he moved faster, getting past them. To stop his speed, he turned around and stabbed into the ground, forcing himself into a stop. Then he leaped from there, his entire body covered in lightning. The wyverns turned around and shot out a stream of mes. The man shed through it, forcefully cutting through the stream of mes. But the heat was very unbearable. His skin was getting burnt, and his clothes as well. But he didn''t stop; he managed to push through their mes andnded in the middle. Before they could move to attack, he threw both swords at the same time, and they managed to pierce the bodies of the wyverns. "Remote lightning st," the man called out, and the des infused tons of lightning like an explosion into the bodies of the wyverns, knocking both of them out. The man stood breathing heavily, struggling to catch his breath. He bent over and ced his hands on his knees. "It seems you are more than just a mere human," the leader of the wyverns spoke. The man looked up at him with a tired expression. "Fuck, I forgot that you were here," he said. The man stood up straight, walked to the two wyverns to pull out his swords, and then started walking toward the wyvern. "Let''s get this over with already," he said. "Indeed," the wyvern said. He opened his mouth and let out a powerful stream of mes thatpletely towered over the man. The man started running with the help of his lightning. The wyvern chased after him with the mes like a whip. The man dodged and dodged, but the temperature was reaching a seriously high level. He couldn''t see any opening, and it seemed like the wyvern had more mes to pour out. The wyvern saw that his mes were not hitting, so he flew into the air. When he was above the man, he opened his mouth, and a bright orange formation formed outside it. The wyvern shot his mes into the formation, and the mes increased into a massive ball of fire that shot toward the ground. The man knew he couldn''t take that attack directly. He pulled out a crystal with runes and smashed it into the ground. It created a barrier around him before the attack hit. The mes hit and exploded, but the barrier stopped the mes from reaching him. However, it didn''t stop the temperature from rising. When the attack was over, the man fell over, his body red and covered in sweat. His breathing was scattered, and he could barely keep his eyes open. Still, the man managed to get up. He wanted to keep the fight going and win, but when he got up, he saw that some of the wyverns were finally getting up. Seeing this, the man lost any hope of winning. His mind immediately shifted to escaping. He looked around and picked a direction to move in. Then he took out all his des from his ring and allowed them to activate. It caused a massive explosion of lightning, so bright that it looked like day for an instant. When the light died down, the man had vanished. The leader of the wyverns looked around, but he could not sense the man. However, he wasn''t willing to let the man go. {Find him now!} he spoke in their tongue. All the wyverns flew in all directions to search for the man. The leader also looked around again to see if the man could be hiding. When he was sure the man was not there, he flew off as well. --- A far distance away from where the fight had happened, the man was seated behind some rocks, breathing heavily. When he had used the bright light distraction, he used a talisman for speed. With his own speed, he was able to get out of there. Experience exclusive tales on mvl "I feel like crap," the man said. He took a bottle of water, gulped it down quickly, and threw the bottle aside. His eyes were trying to close forcefully, but he knew that he couldn''t sleep here. He couldn''t sleep now. It wasn''t over, and until he was far out of their territory, he couldn''t rest. As he sat there, a ck crow flew toward him with a little piece of paper on its leg. The man immediately knew what the bird was for, so he stretched out his hand, and the birdnded on it. He pulled the paper out, and the bird flew to his shoulder and waited for him to read it. He opened the paper and started reading the contents. [Spark de, this is from the head office. You are to leave your current mission. There is now an urgent issue that you must help take care of.] The letter went on to tell him about how Silva took over a kingdom and everything he had done so far. They asked him to go to the Kingdom of Dark Dragon to infiltrate it, slowly find a way to deal with the kingdom, and give them the information so they could take action. At the end, they included a drawing of Silva. It was a wonder how they got his image, but they did. When the man looked at the image, he recalled the boy who had eaten the slime jelly he had made way back for a restaurant in Ribest. "It can''t be, right? It can''t be him." Chapter 207: Chronos Lock Riker''s aura changed, wind began swirling around him, and then he stabbed with his spear. A powerful st of wind shot at Silva. The wind moved like a serpent, coiling and moving irregrly. Silva dodged the st of wind and then ran toward Riker. Riker was unfazed. He raised his hand into the air, and a magical circle formed, firing wind spears at Silva. Silva dodged all of them easily. Then, he added his speed and made it behind Riker, with his sword going for Riker''s neck. But before the de reached, another de blocked Silva''s attack. Silva looked at the person and saw that it was Ron. Ron grabbed Riker and pulled him back from Silva''s range. "Really? You feel you have watched me all through and now understand my range and fighting abilities?" Silva asked. He knew from the get-go that Ron was studying him, and now Ron felt like he could fight Silva. So Silva decided to show them that they were not of the same league. As Ron stood there, his shoulder was suddenly shed open, with blood spewing in all directions. Ron stared at the wound in shock. He was certain that he was out of Silva''s range. He looked up and saw that Silva was not even moving at all. His de was still where it had always been. But then Silva took a step. As his feet touched the ground, the two of them were sted with a pressure so strong that they were sent flying into the walls of the dome. Silva started walking toward them, and with every step, they were pressed against the walls even harder. Ron knew he had to break out, or else they would die, and so he struggled and cast a spell. A formation formed above Silva and shot a de of mes at Silva. Silva dodged the attack, and the pressure on the heroes weakened, allowing them to escape. Immediately, they escaped, charging at Silva, trying to nk him. "Riker, use your legacy," Ron yelled for the first time since they came here. Riker nodded, and suddenly his eyes glowed white, and he vanished. Ron also activated his legacy, and a massive me warrior formed around him, wielding two swords. The mighty blue me warrior looked very powerful. Silva looked at the me giant and used vibration sensing to find Riker. "Your legacies look great, but they won''t change anything," Silva said. Legacies were part of a person and influenced their strength on a normal day, but they also had a special ability. For Silva, it was his dragon and abyss magic. So right now, what they were showing was the max power of their legacies, and that meant they were going all out. But Silva was tired of their tantrums, so he wanted to show them dominance. Silva waited for them to attack. Riker came with so much speed that he almost reached half of Silva''s base speed, while Ron came in with a sh. "Chronos Lock!" Silva said, catching them in his time control field. The both of them froze and were unable to move at all. Silva walked to Riker. He used the broad side of his sword to whack his head with so much strength it shattered his nose and some cheekbones. Then, he walked toward the ming giant. He flew up to where Ron was and passed through the mes, doing the same thing to him. Silva came out and walked out of the cross field and the dome. He released the Chronos Lock, and the both of them immediately passed out. No one was shocked at the oue of the fight aside from Meg. She could tell Silva was strong, but she didn''t know he was this strong. He wiped the floor with them easily, and it seemed like he was still not trying at all. Would she be able to kill Silva? "What sort of being is he? So young, yet already so powerful," Meg said. Lily healed the heroes before everyone left, and then she showed them to their guest room. --- Stay tuned for updates on mvl "I don''t get it. How can he be that strong?" Riker asked. He was seated on the bed with his back leaned against the top of the frame, looking up at the ceiling. Meg and Ron sat at the edge of the bed as well, their faces showing that they were thinking. "He wasn''t even trying," Meg said. "Huh? What do you mean?" Ron asked. "He wasn''t going all out. I could tell. Even thest move that locked you all in ce seemed like it was nothing to him. It''s as if he could have taken you all out with a breath," Meg said. "Come on, Meg. He isn''t a demon king; he is only a candidate," Riker said. "You still feel it''s impossible after getting your ass kicked so bad? He didn''t even break a sweat. He was casually fighting like it was nothing," Meg said. "Whatever. Well, it seems like the people that are here are really staying with him of their own will," Ron said. "I still don''t believe that. I know for sure that something is up here, but we won''t be able to get it in the castle. So let''s get out of here and check his city. We might find one or two clear-headed people who will tell us how he has managed to keep everyone here. There is nothing a little money and persuasion can''t fix," Riker suggested. "Hmm, it''s a good n, but I feel it won''t be that easy for us," Ron said. "Why do you think so?" Riker asked. Ron looked at Meg, and Meg answered Riker. "It''s really easy to notice. Everything in this ce seems to revolve around Silva, so he has to be watching everything somehow. It''s possible he will have eyes and ears everywhere, and they might have been informed to watch us and report to him. And if he has proof that we were causing issues, it can be used against us to ckmail us and lots more," Meg exined. Chapter 208: Rage Bait The atmosphere in the capital was bright and filled with joy. The humans, the ogres, the gonliks, and everyone else mixed and were having a st while preparing for the capital-wide party to honor Silva. This was the birthday of their monarch, and they wanted to make it the best they could. In only one month, Silva showed them that they could coexist and also live happy lives. With the basic amenities and life he had given them, they had all been happy. Most humans that had felt like life would take a sour turn saw Silva enable them to live like nobles. Meg, Ron, and Riker left the castle unhindered and entered the city, which was buzzing with excitement. They watched as people and beasts moved around, doing different things. "Is all this because of his birthday?" Riker asked. "It does look like it," Ron said. "It seems he is really loved, to a suspicious amount. For a kingdom that has existed for just a month, what would he have done to actually make them love him this much?" Meg asked. "Well, that''s what we are about to find out, and the best ce to find out anything is the bar," Riker said. "Remember, we have to be cautious and make it seem like we are just asking random one or two questions, letting the discussion happily drift toward the direction we want," Meg said. "We should go. Ron is getting all pumped up since you mentioned the bar," Riker said. "You shouldn''t allow him to drink so much; it ends up putting a toll on your body," Meg said. "That is why I let him bear the stress by himself, and I''lle out after the hangover clears," Ron said and started walking. Meg sighed and followed behind with Riker. They strolled through the town, with people greeting them, and the beasts capable of human speech also greeting them. "For most of them to be able to use human speech, it means they have high intelligence. Well, that makes sense seeing as they are coexisting," Meg said. "Doesn''t change anything. They are filthy followers of demons, vile creatures," Ron said. "Doesn''t matter, Ron. Until we are able to defeat the top vile creature, we just have to ept them as they are," Meg said. They made it to the bar. There were a few people inside, which was abnormal for a bar, but it didn''t matter to the three. They headed to the counter, where the bartender was a seven-foot-tall Minotaur. They didn''t say anything about that and just came to sit. "Oh, good morning, guests. What can I get for you lot?" the Minotaur asked. "Uhm, just give us three beers," Meg said. "Alright," the Minotaur said and went to get their drinks. He served them and was about to turn and leave, but then Meg spoke. "Your ce is a bit empty," she simply stated. "Oh, that is to be expected. Today is the King''s birthday." He carried a rag and a cup and started cleaning it. "From your statement alone, I can tell that you are not from Dark Dragon. If you were, you would have understood the hype behind his birthday. "Oh, by the way, my name is Lawrence. You see, the king to the people here is not just a figure of rulership; he is the hope of a better world. "The crazy part is that he doesn''t even know he is. It''s like he is automatically made to make the right decisions. He believes they are selfish decisions, but in all honesty, every one of them has made life better for us," Lawrence said. "You speak so highly of him. I can understand since I''ve met him face to face. But for you, what exactly has he done for you?" Meg asked. Ron and Riker were already gulping down their beers while trying to follow the discussion. "For me? That''s really simple. I have a family of five, and giving them a good life would entail me hunting other beasts and humans as well for sustenance. "But rather than let me do that, he offered me a work contract that stated I should choose from one line of work, and so I chose to be a bartender, as that sounded fun to me. "So I was taken for a two-week ss on how to run a bar, equipped with the best knowledge. I and lots of others now have bars at specific locations set by the king. "He built this shop and let me own it under the contract that he takes thirty percent, and I can keep seventy to run the ce and have my profit. "The ce might still belong to the kingdom, but it''s still mine, and he made it possible for me. So I no longer have to swing an axe to have food; I can simply buy what I need," Lawrence finished exining. "Hmm, I have another question. What do you eat for meat? Because it would be weird for you to eat goblin meat with goblins living here," Meg asked, trying to at least catch him in something. "Oh, that. There are those who are against the killing of any beast, but they are really few. You see, not every beast is a part of us. "To us, they are still beasts, or should I say animals. They have no chance of any evolution of intelligence, either due to a biological factor or something else. "We have pigs, goats, wild bulls, and more. They have no ess to evolution, and so they are reared. "It might seem evil in its own way, but to those that have had to eat each other for years, this is a sweet relief, and we are happy. "No one can ever bepletely good; we all have stains," Lawrence said and took Ron and Riker''s cups to fill them again. Meg stayed and watched a bit. This was what humans did¡ªeat beasts and animals they thought were just animals. And she didn''t regret that. She just felt it would have a different effect on this Minotaur, but it didn''t. Chapter 209: Weak and the strong The trio chugged on, beer after beer, while still trying to pull what information they could. Lawrence answered everything with a smile. After thirty minutes or so, Ron was wasted, and Riker was also getting there. Meg knew it was time to get anything useful out of Lawrence. Everything he said was just a song of praise to Silva, and that wasn''t what she was looking for. She wanted something that would pull Silva down, something that would expose him. "Thank you for the drinks," she said. She got up and ced a gold coin on the counter before dragging Ron and Riker out. The amount she dropped was quite muchpared to what she and her friends drank, but Lawrence knew she was seeking information, and the extra was just a payoff. Luckily, he didn''t even know anything that could implicate the king. As Meg pulled the drunk duo through the town, she thought of a solution to all her issues, and she came to one answer¡ªSilva was the only answer to her questions. She would have to meet him and have a one-on-one talk. She wanted to understand the mind of Silva, even if she had to kill himter on. She still wanted to know. When she arrived at the castle, the guards helped her friends since they knew they were guests of the king. She, on the other hand, went in search of Silva, and she found him seated alone on a balcony, looking at the kingdom, though she knew that Silva was not alone. It was basically impossible for him to be truly alone, especially with three heroes here. "It''s a great view, seeing all thise together one piece at a time," Silva said when she came close. "It is indeed a beautiful city, and it makes it feel unreal," Meg said. "Every new invention felt unreal at first. Our minds are not capable of easily epting grand new changes. It feels like it isn''t supposed to be, and yet it is. It makes us anxious, makes us worried, makes us scared. The world is simply scared of the concept of several racesing together. It hasn''t been seen for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and that makes it difficult to ept. I, on the other hand, am the first person to live the best of both worlds. Being a human and also being a dragon, I have lived the two, and now I''m living them both all at once. Because of this, I have friends and family that are human and also friends and family from different races. In such a case, what do you do? Pick one? Because of an ancient system that I don''t give a shit about? No, there is no way I''ll throw away my happiness for the screwed-upws of this world. I have said this to many, and I''ll keep saying it. I am selfish and a hypocrite. I do what I want, when I want, and if I should die trying, I''ll die with a smile. No matter how you look at life, it is built by the memories that you make, the smiles you give, and the smiles you take. And honestly, I have taken away so many smiles that even the devil would bow in respect to my evil. But I don''t want the story of my life to be all ck and filled with blood. I want there to be a time in my story where I smiled, where I made dreamse true. Even if it will never save me from the person I am, it still allows an escape. Because when I walk down the streets, and I see orc, ogre, human, and all smiling because of me, it makes me feel a little bit better," Silva finished talking and then faced the kingdom again. "I see. So, to have seen part of you good and bright, you created a home for many and gave them all they need. If half of the world could think like you, there would be a reduction in pain. Because, unlike you, people choose evil, and they never let the smallest amount of lighte from them. They just dish out evil and evil and evil, making the world darker with every passing day," Meg said. "You are right and still wrong at the same time. I don''t want a part of me to be good and bright. I only want a ce where I can find some peace, and that''s why I built this ce. Don''t forget, I am a dragon and a demon lord candidate. Life is fickle before me, and I''m sure it is to you as well. Heroes and demon kings are just cut from the same fabric and then given different names. We have no love for most people because we see them as beneath us. Tell me this: if a man takes a staff and hits you, even if he had a good reason, what would be your response?" Silva asked. "If there are few witnesses and I can get away with it, I''ll chop his head off," Meg said. "You see, it''s the same. We can''t view them as people to worry about unless they are really close to us. So, on that note, let me tell you an even better thing. If this city should one day turn against me, even in the slightest, after all I have done for them, I''ll kill everyone one by one and feed their blood to the earth," Silva said. "Hmm, it makes sense then. You simply want to be happy, and helping them in your own way makes you happy. But if they turn against you, you end them. Honestly, I see the fault in your mindset. Lesser beings should always remain grateful to those above, whether they like it or not. As long as you provide for them. But if they want to be free from you, they must find their own strength and escape you. Else they''ll die. It''s the same thing with my father. Ick the strength to escape him, so I listen," Meg said. "Your father? Can you tell me more?" Silva asked. Chapter 210: Almighty Paradox "My father is a hero, the strongest of the group. He is renowned and well-known for his swordy and magic. Normally, it''s nearly impossible for the child of a hero to be a hero, but I turned out to be one, and the immediate pressure came on me. My father is a man who works based on results. He doesn''t care about the stress and strain that is put on me, his child. But I have to follow, and follow, regardless of what I feel. All I have to do is be a hero that will match his reputation. So, like the people here, you offer them a good life, and they just have to listen to you. But there''s a difference: you actually give the people here genuine happiness, so they can easily follow you. But my father¡ªmy father just chooses for me. I have no happiness in it," Meg said. "You are facing a lot, but then again, life''s hard until you step up to fix it," Silva said. "So you''re saying if anyone is against you, they should just step up and fix it, which can mean killing you," Meg said. "Well, if they can kill me, that is. No one is stopping them. But remember that I am the worst hypocrite in the world¡ªI do what I want. The faster people understand that, the quicker they would know that I''m the least unpredictable thing. There is only one person I listen to. She is a being that I respect, and if you ask me why, I don''t know. Maybe it''s because I feel indebted to her. She saved my life, and I have always felt good towards her," Silva said. "She sounds like a seriously great person," Meg said. "I can''t say she is great; that''s because she uses me as she will. She tells me what to do all the time. Normally, for a dragon, they would never do that¡ªlisten to anyone else. But I do for her," Silva said and looked up. "So, what''s your dream? What is it that you want to do¡ªall these adventures and everything you have gone through¡ªwhat do you do them for?" she asked. "Freedom, just freedom. All I want is to be able to do what I want, when I want, and where I want. But to do that, I need power, real power. Beyond everything that already exists, and that''s why I''ll keep going every day, trying to find a way to be free. No one should have the right to tell me what to do. No one should try to cage me. If there were no one trying to cage me, I would have no need to kill, no need to waste all the lives I have wasted," Silva said. "I also want this, but if we do this, there would be chaos and destruction. There would be no order, and people would do what they want," Meg said. "If that''s what it will take for me to be free, then I''ll do it," Silva said and stretched out his hands to the sky. "I''ll break the order, break the chaos. I''ll break everything that exists to chain me. And then I''ll float in the nothingness of freedom. I''ll be free. I''ll be unchained. I''ll be truly all-powerful," Silva said. "You sound crazy, yet I like it," Meg said. "Haha, well, that''s what it is. Have you ever heard of the paradox of the Almighty? It''s a fun statement that tickles the brain¡ªa paradox with nearly no answers. Can an all-powerful being make a sword so strong that even it cannot lift or break it? If it can, then it''s not truly all-powerful because it can''t lift or break the sword. If it can''t, then it''s not truly all-powerful because it can''t make the sword." When Meg heard the paradox, she paused and processed it. Then it started making sense and still not making sense at the same time. The Almighty making the sword no one can lift¡ªbut if He lifts it, He is not the Almighty because He couldn''t make a sword no one could lift. But if He can''t lift the sword, then He isn''t the Almighty because He can''t lift the sword. Meg thought about it for a while, but she could not find an answer, so she looked at Silva for an answer. "So, what is it? How can the Almighty be truly Almighty?" Meg asked. "By existing outside order and the times of reality. Until the Almighty lives in an image outside order, then He can never be truly Almighty. So, in essence, the only Almighty being is order itself, and that''s just what it is. There is no real answer that you can understand. In fact, there isn''t a real answer that a human mind can understand for this paradox. But me hoping that there is an answer to that makes me want to keep going because then¡ªtrue freedom," Silva said. He got up and walked a little distance, then looked back at Meg. "Hero or demon king, if you choose to be an ally, I''ll stand and help you fight. Also, what they asked you to do is risky. Think twice before you make that choice. I might be a nice guy at times, but I''ll never look back if I kill an enemy that came for my life," Silva said and walked away. Meg was shocked when she heard that. Was that Silva telling her that he knew what she wasing to do? If he did, then why didn''t he kill her already? Was she just acting paranoid? It was possible that what he was talking about was an entirely different thing. She stayed there for a bit before getting up and walking away. Her mind in turmoil, she headed back to her room. She just wanted to rest now; she didn''t want to be bothered by all the things she had to digest. But there was still a thought in her mind, and that was: just who was Silva? Chapter 211: Hells Domain Night came, and it was finally time to kickstart the birthday of the king, Silva. All preparations had been fully made to make the night special. But Silva wasn''t there even as the celebrations began. Everyone was looking for him, but he was deep in a forest, about to buy a new spell. For so long now, Silva had been saving his system points, waiting for the day when he would buy a new abyss spell. SP: 2,000,000 He had 2,000,000 points, and that meant he could buy something really good. And the spell of his choice was: **[Hell''s Domain: Create a one-kilometer domain replica of hell, a domain fully under your control, a ce where souls cry and mes are let loose. But this domaines with a ruler, the Everme, and in the hands of the Everme is the power to rule the domain. Price: 2,000,000 SP]** Silva had already long read the description of the spell, and he had made up his mind to buy it. The reason he came out here before heading back to the party was to deal with the Everme. "Purchase the spell, and let''s take over this," Silva said, and the system bought the spell. Immediately after he bought the spell, the ground beneath him started changing. It began turning into a rocky floor with gaps filled with ck and purple mes andva. It spread out for a full ten kilometers, filled with mes,va, mountains, and pools ofva. The skies darkened, and a purple moon sat in the sky. Silva knew that from outside, people would see only a ck ten-kilometer dome. The domain was easy to enter but nearly impossible to leave without the creator''s permission. Now that he was inside, Silva could already sense the Everme at the center of the domain¡ªa humanoid me spirit that was waiting. "No holding back. We take down the Everme," Silva said and summoned all his clones. Immediately, he charged towards the center with all the clones, each one wielding a sword, their speed so fast that their legs looked like a blur. The Everme noticed the intruders. It turned around and sted a huge stream of mes at the Silvas in a sweeping motion. One of the clones stepped forward and created arge wall of darkness. The mes mmed on the wall but didn''t get through. The clones leapt from behind the wall, all nine in different directions. The Everme didn''t know which to follow, so it found a way to attack all at once, using an explosive me spike attack. The spikes of mes shot from the body of the Everme at all the clones. They all blocked the mes, while the real Silva and another clone had moved to nk the Everme. The Everme didn''t expect them, and as Silva and the clone used sh steps, they arrived at the Everme quicker than it could react. Silva and the clone went for their attack. The Everme intensified the mes around it in an explosive manner that pushed Silva and the clone back. But Silva didn''t want to let his chance go. He shot out a dark tendril just as the mes lessened, and hetched onto the Everme. Silva pulled closer with the tendril and went for a strike with full force. The Everme had to react fast and block the attack, so it used its arm. The sword cut through the arm but didn''t reach the chest. The Everme immediately put distance between them after surviving the attack. It quickly regrew the arm that had been cut off, but Silva immediately noticed that the mes of the Everme dimmed a bit. Silva smiled when he saw that and immediately spoke to all the clones. "You have one job and one job only: hit that me with everything that you have," Silva said. With that, all the clones immediately moved to attack. The Everme tried to escape the encirclement by sting its mes again, but the clones were already ready. They all transformed into the dragon Newt, which allowed them to counter the mes and get near the Everme. The Everme was shocked but couldn''t do anything as hit after hitnded on it, weakening its mes. When all the clones had ended their attacks, the mes of the Everme dimmed to a dangerous level, and it could not even move anymore. Silva walked to the Everme. He bent down, looked closer at it, and noticed a red me at the core of the purple Everme. He stuck his hand into the mes and pulled out the red me. Immediately, the mes sunk into his hand. [You have gained the key of Hell''s Domain.] [You have gained control over the domain.] Silva smiled and stood up. He took his de and cut through the head of the Everme. That attack killed the mes, and the Everme died there. After that, Silva took a look around his new domain. He raised his hands, and a mountain rose, changing the entire area. He now had control over this hell and could do whatever he wanted for an entire ten kilometers¡ªa world where all enemies lost their power against him. This would be his trump card in case he ever went against the heroes or the demon kings. He could tell that a fight of this level wasing, and it was going to be on another level. He was still cautious about the future that Lily had seen. He wanted to ensure that he was as ready as he could be. Because he wanted to fulfill the dream of true freedom, he couldn''t allow himself to die or his world to crumble. [Congrattions on gaining an A-ranked unique spell.] [You have gained the skill, Synthesis.] **[Synthesis is a skill that allows you to merge spells and skills together. New spells created from merged spells can either be stronger or weaker than the base spells, depending on theirpatibility.]** Chapter 212: Laws When Silva read the new synthesis skill, ideas immediately began popping into his head, but before he could even think of doing anything, two people walked into the domain. Drake and Lily. Immediately they entered, Silva felt their presence and went to meet them. "I told you it would be Silva," Lily said as soon as they saw each other. "Yeah, yeah, I should have known that a ten-kilometer-wide dome would be the work of Master," Drake said. "Hmm, so you guys just walked into a dome you saw. What if it was an enemy''s dome?" Silva asked. "Then we would fight our way out," Drake said. "Not possible. Even with your strength, this is called a domain¡ªa ce where my rules reign supreme," Silva said. "So what you are saying is that inside here, there is nothing we can do to you?" Lily asked. "That is exactly it. I am untouchable here; rather, you would be the ones trying to survive," Silva said. "Hmm, there is some time before we need to head to your birthday, and we''ve asked that no one enters the dome until we''re back¡ªor in two hours if we don''t return," Drake said. "Yes, and so in that time we have, we will try to see what this domain can do," Lily said. "Oh, my two strongest guardians are about to go all out against me? That is something I''d love to do anytime," Silva said. Drake didn''t speak anymore. He just raised his hand into the air, and a hundred blood spears formed and shot down at Silva. "Nice start, but you''ll need far more than that to even graze me," Silva said and snapped his fingers. Theva inside twirled and shot up, consuming the spears. Drake looked at this and analyzed it a bit before making his next move. "You can control everything here, aside from external bodies like us, right? So we just have to ensure we are faster than your controls," Drake said. "That sounds absolutely stupid, Drake, but I''ll go ahead with that n as well," Lily said. She suddenly vanished. Even Silva could not follow her with his eyes, and oddly, he could not sense her. She had shifted the space and, in an odd way, removed her presence. Lily was like Aris. She had mastered all elements except time, so she knew space as well. That was why she was able to create shifts and distortions in space. With the absurd amount of mana she had, she could do whatever she wanted with the elements. When she finally reappeared, she was behind Silva, about to attack. She fired a huge fireball at close proximity, but a wall rose and blocked her attack. After blocking her attack, the wall turned intova, shaped into ance, and shot at her. But she wasn''t fazed. She created a wall of ice to block it, then pped her wings and moved at a teleport-like speed. While she was with Silva, Drake had readied his attack. As the strongest guardian and a vampire, he wanted to show his mettle. Blood poured from his body and covered him entirely. It shaped up into full body armor, and a spear of blood appeared in his hands. He stomped on the ground and shot at Silva. A huge explosion happened as he moved, leaving a crater in the ground. Silva saw himing, and while he pushed back Lily, he allowed another mind to focus on Drake. Ava hand formed from the pools around and moved to grab Drake. Drake shed through the hand in an explosive move and destroyed the arm. He pushed toward Silva, but ten moreva hands were created, all moving toward him at the same time. He had to stop to fight them. He spun the spear around, and a flow of darkness formed. Like circr des, they cut through all theva hands. This was the first time Silva had seen Drake use anything other than blood. It seemed Drake was getting serious. "I guess holding back against Master is suicide. I''ll fight you at full strength," Drake said, and his eyes suddenly glowed. A red diamond mark appeared on his forehead. Right then, Silva could feel Drake''s power rising endlessly. Drakeunched at Silva with so much speed that space twisted. Bursting through all theva hands and walls, Drake was getting close to Silva. But this was Silva''s domain, and his will made thews. The gravity of the domain increased tenfold and mmed the two of them into the ground, stopping them entirely. "You guys are strong, but the issue is that inside here, I am thew," Silva said. "Master, today we will teach you one reason the heroes and demon kings are feared," Drake said while standing up, shocking Silva. Lily also started getting up with much struggle behind Silva. "How the hell are you two getting up?" Silva asked. He increased the gravity more, pushing them down, but they started getting up again. "Master, your domain seems to use the concept ofws. Laws are the things that run the world, but every being can create or harness aw when they reach a certain level. Lady Aris tapped into thew of chaos and is able to cause untold chaos. Lilly is also trying to gain thew of chaos, but right now, she can''t because of her special ability¡ªthew of time," Drake said. "Wait, I never thought about it, but Lily can see the future. So that means she should be able to create chaos because the only thing she said she was missing is time, but she has it," Silva said, still increasing the gravity. "Yes, Silva, I have the ability to see the future, which is advanced time magic, but I can do that because I was born with the ability to control thew of time. But to gain chaos, I must be able to merge all the elements together, right? But I don''t have the element of time¡ªI only have thew of time." Chapter 213: Betray me? The topic immediately intrigued Silva. He stopped the gravity and then faced Lily. "You have thews, but not the element? How does that work?" he asked. "That''s really simple," Lily said and got up. She cleaned herself a little since they started talking. "Thew is something above the elements. An element can be aw, but aw can never be an element. It is a permanent growth that can''t be offset. I was born with thew of time, which means my understanding of the concept of time is way higher than that of my other elements. Do you know what that means? It means that I can''t use it to create my chaos. Chaos can only be born when all the elements are merged together in perfect harmony, and for that to happen, there needs to be a bnce. You must master all the elements in an equal amount; then, and only then, can you use the elements to make chaos. But I have mastered all elements almost equally, and I will not be able to use them to make chaos because they aren''tws; they are only elements. Time is already aw, so for me to be able to use it and make it into chaos, I must advance all my elements intows and then merge thosews to create chaos. But the chaos birthed from the merge ofws is not the normal type of chaos; it is something referred to as the primal chaos. The primal chaos is a different type of chaos. It is a chaos that can even destroy destinies and more. That is why to get it, it takes a lot of time and training. Even with my power, race, and other things, I might not be able to live long enough to actually gain the primal chaos," Lily finished exining, and Silva understood her concept. "I see. But then, I have to ask, why were you able to stand? That gravity should have held you down," Silva said. "That is also simple," Drake said. "It took two things: our own strength and then the use ofws. Remember when I said the domain uses the concept ofws to an extent? Well, whenws sh, they can repel themselves. Even if thew of the other person has nothing to do with thew of the opponent, and thew of the other person is weaker than that of the other person, it will still have a repulsion effect, no matter how weak. So when we internally started circting ourws, we were able to weaken the hold of your gravity, and then we used our strength to do the rest. Still, thews within here are all in your control, and that made it a lot more difficult because it is as though we were going against the natural order of things. And when you go against the naturalw, it really fights you and makes life hard," Drake exined. "Oh, I see. All this finally makes sense. Drake, whatw do you have?" Silva asked. "Well, thew of Darkness. I have mastered it to the letter," Drake said. Chapter Enjoy: "Wait, if you have mastered that, shouldn''t you be able to walk without your gear?" Silva asked. "I can, but it won''t be easy, because what you just asked brings us back to the thing I said about the use ofws to fight against the naturalws. The sun is a naturalw that has been set, and if I use aw to directly fight the sun, I will be under a huge amount of pressure from thews of this world. I can only use myws for things that don''t directly conflict with thews of this world too much, like in a fight, for instance. But hopefully, if I grow stronger in the future, I should be able to defy even thews of nature and do whatever I want," Drake said. "I get it. But still, on that, if we kept fighting, who would have won, that is, using my domain alone?" Silva asked. "That''s not even up for debate. We are at your mercy here. We saw that after fighting you for a bit," Drake said. Lily walked behind Silva and patted his shoulder. "You have really be strong." She smiled and walked past him and then looked back. "Now let''s go back. We have the whole kingdom waiting for the arrival of their king to his birthday celebration," Lily said. Silva nodded, deactivated the domain, and the three of them headed toward the capital to join the celebration. But deep, deep, deep away in another dimension, an eye watched Silva and all he did this night, even the domain and the fight that happened inside. When the fight was over and the three left, the eye closed again, vanishing into the darkness. --- The capital was filled with joyous noises, with people eating and drinking. It was a massive celebration that epassed the whole capital. All work was stopped, and everyone had to be either eating or drinking, making merry and dancing. Silva himself only appeared at the birthday once. Using a broadcast, he spoke to everyone and thanked them for celebrating him. After that, Drake informed him that Ezra arrived that night and was waiting for him, so Silva headed to the castle to meet with Ezra. When he got in and took his seat on the throne, Ezra was brought in with his entourage. They all came and bowed to Silva, even Ezra, the king. "Happy birthday, Lord Silva. The kingdom of Aragon decided to celebrate you how we can, and so we brought this gift to offer to you," Ezra spoke and stretched out his hand, and one of the men behind him quickly brought arge box. Ezra opened it up and took out a sword from inside. It was an elegant sword, one well-crafted and infused with several pseudo-cores for channeling magic. But when Silva saw that sword, his face changed. "Ezra, is this an attempt to betray me?" Silva asked. "No, my Lord, arghhhhh!" Ezra yelled out in pain and fell to the ground. Chapter 214: Gruesome song Silva got up from his throne and walked closer to Ezra. "Remember that you belong to me now. I own you and everything that is you. Lying to me is the worst sin that you canmit," Silva said and grabbed Ezra by the neck, raising him up. The entourage with Ezra tried to do something, but Drake appeared out of nowhere and blocked them. He immediately tied them all up with blood binds. Silva looked Ezra deep in the eyes as he spoke. "Ezra, tell me the truth, the unfiltered truth. Were you trying to betray me?" Silva asked again. "I-I didn''t mean it. I was forced," Ezra said. "Is that so? Tell me all about it then," Silva said. He let go of Ezra so that he could talk. Ezra immediately got on his knees and started talking. "The Empire... The Empire got word that I had joined with you, and so they came to my castle secretly to kill me. They gave me a few options: to give them all I know about you or to die. But I told them of the bind I have with you and why I am unable to say anything. They tried to find and break the bind, but nothing worked. So they decided that they would still find a way to use me against you. They asked me to give any information that I was allowed to give, and so I told them about your birthday and the fact that you were celebrating it. It would be the best time for them to strike since the whole capital would be jolly, and the defenses would be dropped. But I told them that you are strong, and that was the best information I could give. So they had to find a way to weaken you. Then they handed me this sword as a gift for you. They didn''t tell me what the sword could do because if I knew how it could harm you, it would read as betrayal, and the bind would attack me. So I took the sword blind to what it could do. And that brings us to today, where I am holding the sword here," Ezra said. "Hmm, I see. Take the sword and pour some mana into it, Ezra," Silva said. When Ezra heard that, his eyes opened wide in shock and fear. He knew that something was up with this sword and that if he poured mana into it, something would definitely happen. He looked up, trying to reason with Silva, but Silva looked at him with cold, distant eyes. There was no way he would ept anything that Ezra would say. So Ezra swallowed hard, and with shaky hands, he took the sword and slowly poured mana into it. "Go faster," Silva said. Ezraplied and poured mana into the sword more. Immediately after that, spikes protruded out of the sword and pierced his palm. They kept growing like vines and stabbing into Ezra, but not in ces that could kill him. The vinestched all over him and tied him up as he bled. "Crazy, to think this is the sword that I almost held," Silva said. When he had seen the sword the first time in the box, he immediately got a sense of danger. That sword surely had something in it, and that was how he knew that Ezra was trying to harm him. Silva could tell that Ezra was still alive, but he wanted him to feel the punishment more. There were more important things to do. There was a part that Ezra missed in his story, and that was the fact that some assassins wereing for him, hidden in the crowds. They would attack when they were certain that Silva would have received the sword, and that would be game over. But Silva had ns to make their lives a living hell, and that would start with capturing them, which was easily done using Lily''s ability to see the future. She looked into the future and saw each person that was an assassin. After that, she sent the guards to pick them from the crowds. He had telepathically told her to be on guard when he saw the sword with Ezra. Now that those people were captured, he wanted to torture all the information out of them. He left the throne room and went down into the dungeons where the assassins were kept. His footsteps echoed through the narrow dungeon. It was like a sound in heavy contrast to the in-between silence. The torches there allowed his shadow to be cast in a scary way. When he arrived at the depths of the dungeon, he started talking. "All the way from the Empire, you came to my town, and you''re trying to kill me. Isn''t that crazy?" Silva asked, but there was no response. "I always wondered when I woulde in contact with the Empire. I have a mission there, a task. So today, even if I have to squeeze it out of your cells, I will," Silva said and used a key to open one of the doors and went in. That assassin saw this as an opening to attack and charged Silva, but immediately he took a step, a dark bullet pierced through his chest and mmed him into a wall. "Think you are fast?" Silva asked. He walked to the man and sent a punch to his gut, a punch so powerful that the man coughed up the pill he had kept inside his mouth. It was simr to a pill that assassins from the Empire used as well. They would crush it and immediately die. It was called a suicide pill and was used to ensure they didn''t give out any information. Silva stepped on the pill and crushed it, then grabbed the man by the neck and started squeezing tightly until the sound of crushing bones could be heard. "Tell me why exactly they sent you. I want all the details. I want every little detail," Silva asked, but the man was still struggling not to talk. But Silva was a dragon, a dark dragon at that, one that was very powerful, and his intimidation factor was no joke at all. His eyes glowed as he stared at the man. The man began shivering in fear, trying not to look at Silva''s eyes. But no matter how he turned away, he still looked back at Silva. After some seconds, he could no longer endure it, and he started spilling the secrets. "We were sent to analyze the demon king candidate and, if possible, take him into captivity. We heard reports that you were strong but not at the level that you were. We estimated that you would be a newly evolved being with a powerful legacy capable of fighting lots of levels ahead, but we didn''t know to what extent. So we estimated, at best, that you would be able to fight a normal evolved human at level five or six. Then we brought the sword as what we would use to get you because the sword is capable of capturing anyone below level ten evolved. Since you are here, I can say that you were not caught by the sword. That is all I know. We never ask questions, we never say anything, we just take the mission that is handed to us and do it," the man said. "No, there must be more that you know, like future ns. What do they have in store for us? When will they move against us? All those details¡ªI want them," Silva said. "I don''t know really, I swear. But there is something I overheard. They are making numerous moves to kill you in hopes that they kill you and then weaken the next generation of demon kings. Not everyone is in agreement with this, and that must be why there hasn''t been a general move against you, only small assassination attempts at best. I believe that it is because half of the people believe that war will break out if you die. And even if we can hold out in the wars, innocents will die in this political war. Demon kings and heroes have been in peace for years, and many do not want the greed of the leaders to destroy that peace." "You turned out to be more useful than I thought. You have bought you and all your men their lives. I''ll find a way to release you all," Silva said and left the dungeon. He shut the door and left. He saw the guards of the dungeon outside, and he stopped. It was two Minotaurs in full gear. "Kill them in the most painful way. Record it on a crystal and send it to me. I want to send a message to the Empire," Silva said and walked away. Again, he was a hypocrite and a selfish dude. Those idiots didn''t deserve his honesty. As he walked away, the guards went in, and soon the shouts of men filled the air. The sounds of blood and the crushing of bones¡ªa gruesome song yed all night. Chapter 215: Endless torment It had be obvious that Silva had little time before things started getting serious. The empire had turned their sights on him and was now using some methods to attack him. It had only been a month since he took over, and their response was well within the specified time frame that he had set. He estimated that simple attacks and probings would start in months, but it would take at least a year before a real movement was made. But with the way Silva was reacting to all their attacks, he was shortening the time, and he had a very good reason for that. Thetest message from Ophelia said that he had to check something in the empire, and that was what he had to do immediately after he established his kingdom. His n was simple: use the Dark Dragon kingdom as a distraction, pulling the attention of the empire and the holy kingdom towards the kingdom. He would create such a menace in their back that they would have little to no time for some little things, and the real Silva would be hidden in those little things. He would be slowly infiltrating the empire and finding out their secrets one by one, hoping that Ophelia would guide him toplete the task as she wanted. It would be generally hard for him to do this normally, and he would have to pull all the stops on a normal day to gather the information he needed. But if there was a big enough distraction that no one could ignore, it would create a banner that Silva could run under and dig for the information he needed. But this would mean he had to do certain things for this to work. One, he had to be the ruler of Dark Dragon, the powerful demon king terrorizing the empire and the holy kingdom. And second, he had to be an unknown spy. He could take on the role of an adventurer that would start his journey in the empire and start digging for information. He would let his growth be outstanding, and he would begin to draw attention and create connections that would allow him to get the information he needed. With Silva''s strength and resources, it was a question why he didn''t just barge in, start a war with the empire, and use brute force to get what he wanted. But by a general consensus of all his minds, it was ruled out as a stupid idea. He didn''t know the full strength of the empire; if he moved against them, he didn''t know what to expect. Continue your saga on M-V-L Also, there was the holy kingdom, and he heavily doubted that they would let the empire go down by the hands of a demon king. Also, his job was to investigate what was happening while waiting for Ophelia to tell him what to do next; there was no ce where he was supposed to start attacking. In general, he had to do this carefully and not stupidly. He wasn''t the strongest yet; he couldn''t do whatever he wanted at any time. --- The day after the birthday, Silva had a few things to handle, and the first on his list was the king of Aragon. After they removed the vines from his body, they healed him up and locked him up for the night, allowing him to sleep on the cold floor with the rats. Silva walked into the throne room, where all four guardians were already stationed: Drake, Lily, Zack, and Kratos. Silva sat on the throne and waited. After some seconds, the doors opened, and an ogre walked in while dragging Ezra behind him. The ogre threw Ezra at the feet of Silva, bowed, and then walked away from the throne room. Silva looked at Ezra, who refused to raise his head, and then he smiled and spoke. "Smart move yesterday, a really great move to actually try to kill me on my birthday," Silva said. "I''m sorry, Master. I swear on my life that I''ll never repeat it," Ezra said while trying to get closer and grovel, but Kratos used his tail and mmed Ezra back. "Don''t ever get close to Master at all, you filthy creature," Kratos said, his face filled with genuine disgust. "Ezra, what makes you think that your life is worth anything anymore? Do you feel like I want to leave you alive? You should know by now that I am really not one to take things lightly. I have always looked at you as nothing but a rat that I could kill at any time. But do you know what I see now? A worm. A useless worm. I gave you something that the empire couldn''t: I gave you development, I gave your people happiness. Amenities and development¡ªall this was yours to keep and enjoy, but your greed, your greed stopped you from seeing the bright light, and you went after something fake. Then again, I am no hero, I am no helper; I only do things for my benefit. But you are the first person I didn''t really have much benefit from, yet I helped you, and you broke that trust. But rejoice, because I will not be killing you. That would be too easy an escape for you, so I have something better." Silva got up from his throne and walked towards Ezra. "I will restructure the bind I have on you, and I''ll make you suffer. A constant screaming voice in your head telling you to obey me. And whenever you even think of disobeying me, the voice will get ten times louder and faster. I also wanted to make sure that you never get used to the voice, so I have every shout stand on a different frequency, vastly different from thest one. An eternal torment in your head, and it will follow you until the day you die or kill yourself." Silva ced his hand on the head of Ezra. A small tendril of darkness passed from Silva into Ezra, causing Ezra to pass out immediately after. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 216: First Kiss After dealing with the issue of Ezra, Silva had to meet up with the hero candidates. They were already waiting for him in a lounge. Silva entered the lounge, followed only by Elsa. He took a seat across from the hero candidates. On the table in between, some snacks had already been set out for them with tea. "Hello, guys. Haven''t seen you in a bit. How are you doing?" Silva asked as he sat down. Elsa sat beside him. "It''s been alright. I asked the guys not to speak here. I''ll be the one talking with you, so let''s have some tea and rx," Meg said. Silva nced at the teapot, picked it up slowly, and started pouring tea into a cup. He set the teapot down and took a teaspoon to stir it. He picked up the cup, and as he brought it toward his mouth, he noticed Meg''s eyes following the cup eagerly. He paused and let out a sigh. "Ron, Riker, please leave the room. I have something important to say to Meg," Silva suddenly spoke. Ron and Riker were confused as to why Silva said that, but they left regardless. "Daddy, what''s wrong?" Elsa asked. "Nothing much, Elsa. Our guest just has to make a decision right now," Silva said and looked at Meg. "You spiked it, didn''t you? The tea," Silva asked. "No. What would make you say that?" she replied. Her ability to lie was quite good, and she could deceive a normal person easily. But Silva was not a normal person. He could sense the spike in her heartbeat, the subtle movements of her body, and much more. "We spoke on my birthday. I told you about it. Don''t do what they want you to do. If you stand as my ally, I will fight for you and help you till the end. But if you are adamant that you didn''t put anything inside my tea, I''ll drink it. But let me warn you: if there is anything inside this tea, your death will not be an easy one. It will be slow and painful," Silva said. He started bringing the cup toward his mouth, but Meg moved and stopped him. She held his hand and took away the cup. "Fine, you win. They asked me to poison you, but I can''t do it anymore. Your threat is one reason¡ªI would hate to die¡ªbut also, I can''t allow you to die. Look at the ce you have built, with happy people all around. I would be no hero to destroy this. I''m tired of all this. I''m tired of carrying this weight that I never asked for, numerous people dead by my hands, just because I was chosen as a hero candidate. But then I met you, unbound by rules and free to do what you want. In just a day that I have seen you and what you have done, I envy you. Being able to live how you want, unlike me. I am nothing but a caged bird being forced to be a dragon," Meg said. "We choose our paths, Meg, and we bear the consequences. Just like Leah, she decided that this hero thing was too much. And I also believe that we have our lives to live, and some ancient setup should not stop us from living our best lives. Meg, you have your own dreams, and whatever they are, I''ll help you and even fight your father for you and with you. So make your own choice now on how you want to live," Silva said. He looked at her, waiting for her answer. She looked at him, then bowed her head. "My mother. I want to find her. My father has made it so that I can never find her, but I believe that she is alive, and I want to find her. That is my dream and my goal, nothing else," Meg said. "Then let''s make that happen, and I''ll help. Are you in?" Silva asked with a smile and stretched out his hand. He could sense her heart rate increasing, and he felt like it was just because she was nervous and unsure. But she stretched her hand out and shook his. Before Silva could pull back his hand, she pulled him in. Silva, who was many times faster than her, suddenly could not react to her movements. He watched himself get pulled in. She wrapped her hands around his head and pulled his head in. It was all in slow motion as her soft lipsnded on Silva''s lips. Silva felt the world freeze as their lips touched. His eyes opened wide in shock. The kisssted only three seconds until she pulled away. But to Silva, it felt like a lifetime, as though he had been swimming in a cool stream. He sat there looking at her,pletely shocked. Meg got up after kissing him and walked to the door. She opened it and then looked back at him. "That was my first," she said and walked out. "Daddy, Elsa will tell the others that you kissed Meg," Elsa said and got up to leave as well. It was time for her to gossip. But Silva just sat there, not moving at all. He stayed for a minute before getting up as well. He walked out and saw Meg and the two still waiting for him. "I have discussed everything with Meg. She will fill you in. I have to go," he said without looking at Meg once and walked away quickly. He made it to his room, walked in, and closed the door. He activated all the formations there to ensure that no one could enter or hear him. "That was my first kiss. I don''t know how to feel. I feel confused. What do I do now?" he asked himself. "I have to ask the boys," Silva said as he contacted Drake to call the boys to his room immediately, stating that it was of the highest importance. Chapter 217: Jade out Drake and all the boys arrived at Silva''s room, and he let them in. It was Zack, Kratos, Mike, Quin, Drake, Fang, Gan, and Maru, who had not been around much. Maru had been actively training soldiers that would protect the kingdom, so he was only around when summoned. With all the boys inside his gigantic room, Silva started exining why he called them. He told them about the kiss, how it happened, and then asked for their input and advice on what to do next. But as soon as Drake heard what happened, he asked a question. "Master, was Lady Elsa with you when this happened?" Drake asked. "Yes, she saw all of it and thenter left. She said something about telling, but my mind was too out of sorts to¡ªoh, my fucking hell." Silva stopped mid-sentence as he realized Elsa had gone to tell the others. "Meg, we have to protect Meg, or she will die," Scary and Drake said at the same time. "Maru, Zack, find Meg and protect her with your life from the girls. Come up with a way to keep her safe. They will not just go after her; they wille to this room as well. We that are gathered here will handle them," Silva said. Maru and Zack immediately left the room after Silva deactivated the formations. "I doubt that will be enough protection, brother," Quin said. "Indeed, Master Silva, your brother is right. Lily and Aris are there as well, and also the youngdy Amber. They will defeat Zack and Maru easily," Drake said. "Their full force will not go after them. Zack and Maru would be the best to protect her," Silva said. He activated all the formations and waited for the inevitable. All because of a kiss, he was now out here preparing for some sort of small-scale war. --- Maru and Zack made it to where Meg was in their room, preparing to leave that day. Luckily, she was still alive. They barged in without warning and spoke. "Meg, Silva has requested for you to see him onest time before you go," Maru said. Meg thought it would probably be about what she did today, and she was right, but not in the way she expected. "I''ll be back, guys," she said and got up. "Yeah, whatever," the guys replied. They were tired of this whole operation and could not wait to leave. They had found nothing, and the whole thing had been a massive waste of time. When Meg left with Maru and Zack, Zack lifted her onto his shoulder. She tried to resist but couldn''t. "Miss Meg, you kissed Master Silva, right? Well, that is an issue because there will be some beautifuldiesing for you. After all, that was Silva''s first kiss. It had been a struggle as to who would get it, but then you came out of nowhere and stole it. War can''t begin to describe what will happen here. Your life is seriously on the line," Maru exined. When Meg heard that, sheplied. She didn''t think thedies here would go to that extreme, but there was no harm in being cautious. As they walked a short distance from the room into arge hallway, Maru and Zack saw Jade, Amber, and Dawn standing there. Maru and Zack immediately came to a halt and tried to keep calm. "Maru, Zack, what are you both doing?" Jade asked. "Well, Master sent us on an errand, so we are carrying it out," Zack said. "I do hope that this errand has nothing to do with the girl on your shoulder because I have something to discuss with her," Jade said. "Sorry, Jade, but she is the focal point of our errand. We have to get her to where Master said, so please, if you would be kind enough to let us pass," Zack tried to talk his way through, though he was sure it wouldn''t work. "Sorry, Zack, but that girl muste with me," Jade said and then suddenly vanished. Zack and Maru''s eyes darted around like crazy. Zack noticed the shadow, and he moved immediately, taking out his axe. He leaped in front of Maru and blocked the attack. Jade used her tail at full power to attack Maru, but Zack intercepted it. The power of the blow was so strong that Zack mmed into a wall but was unharmed. Maru realized this was a serious fight, and he wouldn''t get out if he kept carrying the girl, so he dropped her. "Run, run as fast as you can. I''ll find you when we are done here," Maru said. Meg could already see her life was on the line and that she would die if she stayed, so she ran immediately. Dawn and Amber didn''t want to let her go; they immediately charged after her. Maru moved to stop them, but he saw a bright light and then shining jade scales shooting toward him. Maru took out his great one-edged sword and blocked the scales, but by the time he blocked them all, the girls had vanished, leaving only Jade against the two of them. "I can''t believe you would protect that filthy hero who decided to steal the Master''s kiss. She deserves death," Jade said. "Jade, take a breather. Master Silva was bound to lose his first kiss one day, and she was just the lucky one. Killing her won''t erase the fact that she was his first kiss," Zack tried to reason with her, but it only seemed to make her angrier. She looked furious. "Jade, you might be one of the strongest, but against the two of us, your chances will be slim," Maru stated. "You think so?" Jade asked and vanished again. Maru blocked at thest moment as her powerful tail mmed against his sword, pushing him back, but he stopped it. From his left, Zack came out to seize the opportunity. He went for a horizontal sh, but Jade moved again. Even with her massive body, she was too fast. Chapter 218: At the end, Silva steps in [From author, this chapter is one word, chaotic, so enjoy] Jade moved swiftly, attacking with whip-like attacks using her tail. Zack and Maru took turns to block the attacks, but it was getting difficult. It was bing evident that the top guardians were not to be messed with. Maru decided to move in for a counter, so he parried her next attack with all the strength he could summon. Her tail moved and mmed into the wall, demolishing it. He pushed forward and went for a stab, but at thest moment, he changed the direction of the sword to her shoulder, and that was his mistake. She was able to dodge it, and then she grabbed the sword with her hands covered with scales. She looked Maru dead in the eye and spoke. "You should really go for the kill if you n to stop me and find the girl. Right now, she is running for her life, and the others might have caught up to her," Jade said. "The fuck is wrong with all of you? It was just a kiss," Zack said and ran towards them. He swung his axe, but Jade pushed Maru towards him, forcing Zack to stop. Then she used her tail and mmed the two of them into a wall. "It''s not just a kiss. It was his first, and the person that he kissed first will forever be stuck in his mind. Personally, I have no issue with who the master kisses first. But after seeing how devastated the girls were when they heard the news from Elsa, I knew that I had to do something to fix it, and that meant punishment for the girl," Jade said. She leaped again. Zack and Maru immediately blocked the path to hold her back. Zack channeled his mana through the axe, and the axe glowed red. He struck down on the ground with explosive force that destroyed the floor and pushed Jade back. Jade was undeterred, though. She pushed forward again and leaped over the hole. Her scales glowed green, and her speed increased as she spun around to m them with her tail. The tail mmed into the ground, causing a full explosion, throwing Maru and Zack back. They hit the ground so hard they coughed up blood. Jade came close and stared at both of them. "There is a reason we have rankings. You can''t stop me," Jade said. "Don''t be too sure," Maru said and tapped his hands on the ground. "Shattering Earth," Maru called out, and the ground started shaking violently, copsing on itself, with Jade falling into the hole. To think that the entire castle would be at risk of copse because Silva joined lips with a girl was a stupid thought, yet here it was, happening right before them. Jade tried to forge open a portal that would allow her to escape, but Zack came from above with his axe glowing red, aiming an attack at her. She had to stop the portal in order to block the attack. She blocked it with her tail, but Zack managed to push her deeper. --- As Meg ran, she felt the castle tremble. Because of that, she tripped and fell. She immediately got up, but Amber and Dawn had already arrived close to her. Meg saw them and knew that a fight was inevitable. She took out a staff and got into a battle stance. "You lot are really crazy. You would fight me over a kiss," Meg said. "No, we wouldn''t. We would kill you," Dawn said and charged with her dual des, going for her head immediately. Meg used her staff and blocked the attack. She skidded back a meter and then stopped. She pushed the swords back, but Dawn was alreadying in for another attack. Amber, at the back, was already pulling on her bow, about to fire an enchanted arrow. This would definitely spell the death of Meg. But before they could reach her, Silva appeared with several clones, all dragging everyone¡ªevery single person. He grabbed them by their ears and pulled them. Two clones jumped Amber and Dawn and grabbed hold of them. After the clones had secured everyone, boys and girls, Silva started talking. "Are you all shitheads? You are destroying my castle, and all because I kissed someone," Silva said. "Pretty bold of you to say that, though," Aris said, but the clone twisted her ear a bit. "We can''t allow the two dumb hero candidates to know what is happening here. That''s why I asked Maru and Zack to activate the formation in their room when they took Meg. So they haven''t heard or felt anything that has been happening. Also, the doors are locked. Meg has to leave today, and she will be leaving with her head. You all will not touch her," Silva said. "Master Silva, if I may ask, why are we, the boys, getting held by our ears? We didn''t do anything wrong except help you," Drake said. "I know, but for equality, I have made it so," Silva said. "Now, back to the main issue, you will not kill the first person that I kissed. And yes, I kissed her. Deal with it. But on that note, I have decided to set apetition and sell my body as a reward to satiate your anger. The winner of thispetition will get one kiss from the king, which is me. Thispetition will be selling my body as the prize, and so it will be harder than an S-rankedbyrinth. It will be more terrifying than anything you have seen. I''ll do my absolute best to stop anyone from winning, though I doubt that will deter you all," Silva said and then looked at Meg. "Go and tell those idiots that it''s time for them to go," he said. She nodded and left under the death stares directed at her. "Thispetition will be to have some fun before we begin Operation Infiltrate the Empire. So,dies, give it your best," Silva said, and then all his clones vanished, and so did he. It turned out that he was a clone as well. Chapter 219: Arch Bishop The Heroes'' candidates had finally left Dark Dragon and were on their way back to the ce they came from. But their leaving was in no way the same as when they arrived. Ron and Riker now understood that the people who were here chose to be here. The people who lived in the kingdom were the poor and forgotten, those who in the old kingdom had nothing to live off. Their daily lives had been filled with misery and unhappiness; food was hard toe by, and they had nothing to survive on. But Silva, Silva came and became their hero. He became the one who saved them and allowed them to live here happily. However, all this raised some thoughts in the minds of Ron and Riker: what happened to the people who decided not to stay? "I''m watching. It is a rule that innocents are left out as much as possible. So Silva wouldn''t have killed all of them, right?" But if he didn''t kill them, where were they? If neighboring kingdoms had received the survivors of war, for sure the demon king candidates would have heard about it. But they heard nothing, and that meant they might not have gone to another kingdom, or perhaps the kingdoms were keeping quiet about the matter. Still, whatever happened, it raised some concern, and they would need to talk about it. It might be the only thing they could use to hold Silva down. Because if he killed tens of thousands of people, then the empire and the holy kingdom would need to step into the matter. Meg, on the other hand, was not in the same state of mind as the boys at all. All she could think about was the promise Silva made to her to help her find her mother. All she had to do now was be his inside person, and he would be able to take her father out of the picture soon and help her find her mother. Silva was bing a bad influence on the heroes and demon king candidates. He affected the mental state of Aqua, stole the hearts of Amber, Leah, and now Meg. He created insecurity in Ron and Riker. Whichever demon king candidate or hero candidate met him, they never remained the same. And if it got too much, it would be an issue that would need fixing¡ªand that would mean killing Silva. --- After the heroes left, Silva could finally get back to work and look forward to the many things he had to do. Silva was no longer on the path of looking for crazy strength, because this world had little to offer in the way of experience anymore. There was nothing to fight on his level anymore, so his eyes had now shifted to the heroes and the demon kings, as well as every major power. The empire, the holy kingdom, the dragons, the elves, fairies, and all other powerful races. So what he needed to start with was first, the sending of the dragon to the dragon kingdom. The dragon would be his inside man and stay there as long as possible until Silva was ready to head there. --- Silva walked into the yard where Agler was waiting for him. Immediately, Agler saw Silva and bowed his head. "It''s been over a month now, Agler. You have learned all that there is to learn concerning the dragons. You have been given every piece of information that you would need to carry out what we asked of you. So now, you have to go and do what you need to: be useful to them, work, and gain their trust. You have no means of contacting us, so try to ensure that you keep yourself safe and alive. But every once in a while, I''ll contact you first to get updates on what you are doing and on what to do next," Silva said and patted Agler on the head. After Silva finished, Agler raised his head and looked at the sky. He pped his wings, and like a powerful rocket, he sted up into the air, causing a sonic boom as he moved through the air. Silva watched him go until he was so far away that even Silva''s senses could not pick up his position. Then Silva finally turned and walked away. It was time to begin his ns for the development of his kingdom and also the infiltration of the empire. --- Three luxury carriages pulled up outside a magnificent building. Their coachmen came down quickly, ran to the carriage doors, and opened them up. From the three carriages, one person came out of each. They wore white robes like priests, but the two on the sides had purple essories, while the one in the middle had gold essories and a gold cap. The guards of the magnificent building opened the gates for the three men, bowing as they came. The men walked without looking sideways. Every step was well calcted, even the weight they put on the ground was calcted. They made it to the door of the building, and a butler was there waiting for them. The butler bowed and said nothing. Then he opened the door and led them in. The butler didn''t utter a word to them and only led them until they finally made it to arge door that led to arge lounge. The butler opened the door, and seated inside the lounge was a middle-aged man with silver hair. When the man noticed the door was open, he looked and saw the three men. After reaching there, the butler withdrew and left them to their business. The three men walked in and sat down on the chairs across from the man. "Bishop Levi and Romero, I am d to see you. And Archbishop Robert, it''s great to see you strong and alive." "You won''t be killing me anytime soon, Duke Raze. But let us get into the business that brought us here today," Archbishop Robert said and leaned in closer to the table. "You know, Archbishop, the holy pope and the Council of Holiness would not approve of what you are doing. The empire is willing to partner with anyone to push their goals, but are you really willing to risk your life for this? If word got out, you would bebeled a sinner without redemption, and your soul would be corroded by the holy mes¡ªor so I''ve heard," Raze said. "What will happen to me is not your business, and the pope is a wimp. They can''t understand the mysteries that lie in the work I seek to do. To create the perfect human, one that will surpass the heroes and demon kings, and that one would be the one that will bring down the demons and restore the world to humanity. It doesn''t matter what path must be followed to make this happen, but we must sessfully get it done. The empire is filled with resources and smart people like yourself, and so I believe that this is the best ce to do what needs to be done," Robert said. "Then please follow me, Archbishop, though both bishops will have to stay here," Raze said and got up, heading for the opposite door. Robert got up as well and walked behind him. Raze opened the door and walked into a dark corridor. Robert did the same and locked the door behind him. After the door was locked, light crystals at the edges of the wall lit up and allowed them to see where they were. They began walking down the corridor. After a while, they got to a door. Raze opened the door that led into ab. Theb was filled with massive test tubes connected to several devices. The test tubes were filled with some red translucent liquid. At the center of those liquids were children, alive in suspended animation. "This is where the magic happens. The ce where I am attempting to gically create the perfect being. Each test tube holds a child not more than twelve, all in suspended animation. The liquid is working to alter their gics, using special materials that have been infused deeply into the liquid. Like the DNA of heroes, some beast features, and lots more. And of recent, the demon blood that the Royal Family is in control of. As a duke, I have ess to a certain amount in order to carry out research. I fused the demon blood into the liquid. After that, special rods are hammered into the body of children to allow the liquid to enter faster and perfectly alter their DNA. In theory, all that we have found should have worked, and we should have had our first weapon. But in thest six months, there have been three failed batches. But this is the fourth, where I have learned from my mistakes. Hopefully, in two months or so, we will have the first batch that shows some sess. And when that happens, we can push more to create the being you want, because we would haveid the groundwork." Chapter 220: Spark blade Dark Dragon, thepetition that would choose who gets a kiss from Silva, was on the way. It was a series of differentpetitions. Now, some of thedies had strengths that were higher than others, and that made it very unfair, but Silva had a solution for that. He and Drake worked on a device that would bring everyone to the same power level. That way, it would alle down to experience and skill to win. After that, he collected the names of thedies that wanted to participate in thepetition, and sure, he saw Lia''s name¡ªthat would be an issue for sure. He called her aside to his room to have a talk with her. When Lia arrived at his room, she walked in and saw him seated on a chair near the bed. He pointed at the bed for her to sit. She sat down, facing him, waiting for him to start talking. "Lia, I saw your name on the list of people that wanted to partake in thepetition. I know I have beenx about things, but you are still my sister. Kissing you would be something wrong. Seriously, Lia," Silva said. "Am I rted to you by blood?" Lia asked. Her face was down like she was trying to hold in her anger. "Well, no, by blood you aren''t, but¡ª" "No buts. That is all I needed to know, and that is enough for me. I won''t allow you to stop me," she said and got up, leaving Silva in the room. "Well, that didn''t go as I expected it to. She still wants to kiss me. It feels weird to me, but it is a different world with different rules," Silva said. --- While preparations were going on for thepetition, Silva received a notification. [The weeping angels are arriving.] When Silva saw the message, he immediately left the castle and fled into the forest at top speed. Immediately after he entered the forest, time in the entire ten-kilometer radius froze. Portals opened, and two six-winged angels came out. Right off the bat, Silva could tell that they were vastly stronger than thest angel he fought, even if they were all six wings. But there was another thing he noticed: they were moving, even though he was looking right at them. "How are they moving?" he thought to himself, and all his minds immediately went to work. In less than three seconds, they brought a solution. The issue was that the weeping angels freeze when they are stared at in time. Only when they are looked at in time would they freeze. But now, they had frozen time, and so they did not exist in the normal flow of time. At least, they could live as they wished. Silva wasn''t sure if this was the right answer, but it made sense, so he would go with it. The angels didn''t waste any time. As soon as they stepped out, they attacked. Their speed was beyond what Silva had ever seen before. He could barely follow them with his eyes. "I guess I''ll die if I don''t go all out today," Silva said. He immediately transformed into a dragon newt state and took out his sword as well. He pped his wings and shot into the air with teleport-like speed before the angels could get to him. Immediately he went up, they shot up into the air as well. He made a bend in the air and flew down as he attacked them with a sh, but they merely blocked it easily and even pushed Silva back. After pushing him back, one angel countered with a powerful sh. A sonic boom shook the air as Silva managed to block the attack. But for the first time, Silva''s hands trembled after blocking an attack. It didn''t stop there because the angels moved faster and attacked ferociously. Silva blocked every attack, but his hands got number with every attack that he blocked. Rather than make Silva scared, this made him feel excited¡ªexcited for what this battle had to offer. He fired massive dark bullets at them to push them back, and then he fired a massive abyssal me arc from his sword at the angels. One angel moved to block the mes. The sword of the angel glowed, and it cut through the mes. Immediately the me vanished, and the angel wanted to counter Silva. But Silva was no longer there. They both looked around and saw him right above with a formation above his head yet pointed at them in a tilted angle. The formation fired a thick stream of mes at the angels. They tried to block them, but the force and heat of the mes were really high, and they took damage. Unlike the first time Silva fought a six-wing, he had grown more and was a lot more confident, and that reflected in the way he fought. The angels became enraged, and they moved even faster and with more ferociousness. Their shes held full power, and with every attack that Silva blocked, the more he was pushed back. But this fight was just getting good. That was how Silva felt, and he wanted to go all out and see how strong they were. But after blocking a lot of their attacks, his hands had gonepletely numb. Even his scales could not help him. Silva summoned two clones to assist him. Immediately they appeared, they moved to attack the angels. They immediately got into a heated battle with each other. While Silva in the back was cooking up something, he first cast the Joker of the Abyss, transforming into the Joker. After that, he cast his domain. The domain spread out and covered the entire ten kilometers, which was the distance of the time freeze of the angels. And now twows began shing: thews of the domain and thews of the time freeze zone. This caused the angels to start glitching while fighting, stopping and then moving again. When they stopped, the clones could do nothing. But when they moved, the clones could attack again. The reason for this glitch was because the clones needed the time zone to be able to move freely when Silva was looking at them. But now, the domain was shing with the time zone, and the domain was canceling out the time zone. But the time zone was putting up a very good fight, and that was what was causing the fluctuations. --- Arge carriage made it to the gates of the capital of Aragon. The guards at the gate surrounded the carriage and began checking what was inside while asking the carriage driver some questions like identifications and other things. They asked about where he wasing from, and the man told them all he needed to while still showing them his documents. He came from a small farming town in the kingdom and was bringing his harvest to sell in the capital. The guards checked all his documents to ensure that he was legit, and then, when they were certain, they allowed him to pass and enter the capital. The carriage rose through the streets, and then it took a very odd turn into an alley. The carriage driver stopped the carriage and walked to the back. He knocked on one of the boxes, big enough to hold a human. He opened the cover and cleared out the crops on top to reveal Spark de. "We have made it to the capital of Aragon, Sir Spark," the man said. "Already? The ride was reallyfy," Spark de said and got up from the box. He came out of the carriage and stretched his body. "Be safe. Word is that the demon king candidate has a lot of influence in the capital. Many say that the king is his dog, doing his bidding," the carriage driver said. He got back on his carriage and used the other way to leave, leaving Spark de behind. Spark de turned around and left the alley. Immediately after leaving, he found a bar and walked into it. What better ce to start gathering information than the bar? The ce was brimming with untapped information and loudmouths that would say anything in their stupor. It was a spy''s paradise. He entered, and the ce was already pounding and noisy. He walked straight to the counter and took his seat. He waved to the bartender, a middle-aged man, and asked for some beer. The bartender served it up for him and ced it on the counter. "Business seems to be booming," Spark de said, and that was all he needed to start the conversation. "Well, it has been that way ever since the new Dark Dragon kingdom provided us with cheap teleportation. Since you don''t know this, I''m guessing you are from one of the outside towns and not the capital," the bartender said. "Yes, I work in a town not too far from here. I have heard about things getting better in the capital because of a connection to the new kingdom, but I never knew the details." Chapter 221: Breaking Order Silva pulled out a card from his deck and tossed it into the air. The card was a binding card because he wanted to bind the weeping angels. He wanted to see if that was possible, so he had the clones hold them still while ck chains shot out of the card at the weeping angels. The angels saw the chains and felt a deep sense of danger from them, so the angels started moving as they forced themselves to stop the glitch. They moved even when Silva was looking at them, and the fluctuation was still on. They dodged the chains at top speed. After that, everywhere suddenly became quiet¡ªtoo quiet. The time zone shattered, and the domain copsed. Silva was shocked to see his domain copse, but when he saw what came next, he immediately understood that he was in trouble. The skies tore, and over ten white figures came out¡ªthe enforcers of Order. If they were here, it meant order had been shattered, and they hade to fix it. Silva believed he would only have two enemies to fight, but as he looked at the weeping angels, he could see them trembling in fear. Both of them immediately tried to make a portal and run away, but as they made it, the portal shattered. They kept trying, and the portals kept shattering. It slowly began to sink into Silva''s head that even as he believed the white figures were powerful, he didn''t know how powerful. He thought that Ophelia was exaggerating a bit. But now he could see it¡ªthe genuine fear in the eyes of the weeping angels¡ªand so he realized that even the strongest have something they fear. The ten white figures pointed their palms at Silva and the weeping angels and all fired massive beams at them. Silva pulled a card as fast as he could to block the attack, creating a crystal wall, but it couldn''t take the whole impact of ten beams. The wall shattered, and Silva was sent flying, so were the angels. They allnded roughly and rolled for a bit beforeing to a stop. Before they could get back up, the white figures had fired another beam. Silva looked up and immediately used sh step to get out of the way. The st hit the ground and dug a veryrge crater. This fight was not a matter of strength but intelligence. He knew that no matter how much he attacked, he would only be causing issues for himself. So he wanted to try to keep them from calling any backup at all. He had to think and rattled his eleven minds for a way to fix this. Both angels had also gotten up from the floor, but just like Silva, they didn''t put up their swords to fight¡ªthey were only dodging and dodging. It seemed everyone who knew about the white enforcers already understood that it was impossible to defeat them in a fight. But Silva was not willing to give up. He kept using sh steps to dodge all the attacksing his way. At the same time, he was browsing his system to know what could possibly kill the white figures. He couldn''t find anything by himself, so he asked the system for help. "System, give me anything that can hold back or fight these white figures. I really need to win right now," Silva said. [This request goes against Order. Order has denied this request.] This was the first time Silva experienced this, and he finally understood that he was in deep trouble. He had no choice. He transformed into a full dragon and shot into the air. But the white figures saw this attempt to escape, and Silva''s danger level immediately rose. Five of the white figures chased after him, matching his top speed. Silva saw theming, but he didn''t want to stop, so he sped up. The white figures all fired beams at Silva. He started dodging, but one of the beams tore through his wings and sent him crashing at top speed. --- Spark de spent the whole day gathering information in ces like bars, restaurants, and even red-light districts. Every hotspot was a breeding ce for information, and as he retired to his inn for the day, he had gathered so much information that he could piece a few things together. As he sat on the bed, he began processing every bit of information he had received. Very few people could really describe the King of Dark Dragon, but from what they said, he was a small child no more than fourteen with white hair. Spark de could only think of one person that fit the description¡ªthe kid he met and the kid he saw in the image that was sent to him. "So that kid was a demon king? He seemed so human and happy. I didn''t think he woulde to take over a kingdom and also take out thousands of humans," Spark de said as he thought about it more. "Sigh, seems I might have to get supplies tonight. I''ll need to infiltrate Dark Dragon tonight," Spark de said and walked out of the room. He walked the night streets that were still very much active. He wanted to find the shop of the man that brought him here. The man was working for the empire and had been a spy for years, acting under the guise of a farmer. Actually, he supplied information and weapons of all sorts. Whatever you needed, he was the guy that would be able to get it for you. Right now, Spark de needed some extra supplies, plus he wanted the information the man had gathered as well. Though he was carrying out his own investigation, the farmer was doing the same, and Spark de knew the farmer would gather way more than him. Spark de walked into the alley behind the shop and, using a patterned knock on the door, was let inside by the farmer. Chapter 222: Order Silva transformed back to human after taking the fall. His dragon size and the force of the fall left a huge crater in the ground. Silva stood at the center of the crater. He looked up and saw the queen figures flying above him. They fired their light beams at him without a second thought. Silva used sh step to get away, running at top speed, while his mind began thinking about what to do. Only one solution came to mind, and that was Ophelia. He had to find a way to contact her. Then he realized, she was a goddess. Goddesses should be able to hear the prayers of their people, so Silva just had to pray, and it should get to her. But there had to be thousands of prayers lined up for her. How would she know it was him and check it first? The time he needed her to be watching him, she wasn''t watching. Silva was getting filled with rage as he ran. He felt like turning around and fighting. But that was a stupid idea, a very stupid one. This was the first time that Silva didn''t know what to do. But as he thought about it more, he decided there was something he could try. He took out a de and cut himself to draw blood, and as the blood poured, he activated the spell, Hell''s Gate. The gate opened and began pulling all the white figures into it, and to Silva''s shock, they didn''t resist and allowed themselves to be pulled in. Silva wanted to feel like he had won, but then the gate broke open, and they came right out. Aftering out, they doubled in number, making it ten that were facing him. "Shit, this is not good," Silva said and tried to run away, but the white figures seemed to be faster now. They circled him and were about to finish him off. But suddenly, a bright light shone from the sky in their center and epassed them all. At the center of this light was Ophelia herself. "I am calling for an overrule of this verdict on ount of wrong order enforcement," she said, and immediately, the figures stopped moving. "What? How did you do that?" Silva asked in shock. "That is not important now. What I have just done now is the same as challenging thew of Order, and now we must defend ourselves before Order or be erased from existence," Ophelia said. The ten figures flew in front of Silva and Ophelia in a straight line, side by side, and all at once they started talking. "YOU HAVE CLAIMED THAT WRONG ORDER HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT. PRESENT YOUR PROOF BEFORE ORDER." Their voices boomed together and created a creepy feel. Silva felt a heavy pressure from the voice alone; it was like a mountain on his shoulder. Ophelia turned and looked at Silva. "What we are about to do now is very risky, Silva. I have taken this risk to ensure that you didn''t die. Everything you say or do will be used by Order. If there is one thing that is known, it is that Order hates to lose, because every time it loses, it just makes some changes to the rules," Ophelia said. "So how will we know if we have won? Can''t it just choose to lie?" Silva asked. "No, Order can''t lie, nor can it cheat. If it does that, it risks the entire universe wiping away," Ophelia said. "YOU CAN NOW PROVE YOURSELVES," Order said. Ophelia stepped up and started talking. "Order, it''s an unfair enforcement because Silva was caught in it, and he wasn''t part of what disrupted the Order. It was the weeping angels that did it, the followers of Ragna. He has been chasing Silva, trying to kill Silva all this while," Ophelia said. She had finally said the name of the being that was chasing Silva, Ragna. Silva''s ears tuned in very much because it seemed he would learn a lot of things from this case. And if he survived, then he would be able to do certain things to avoid his terrible future. "RAGNA IS A PRIMAL, A BEING ABOVE EVEN YOU GODS. HE POSSESSES THE RIGHT TO KILL A PUNY BEING AS HE PLEASES," Order said. "Indeed, Ragna has that right, but what about his weeping angels? They aren''t allowed to break Order. And the sins of the servant shall be reflected on the master. Weeping angels are not allowed to move under the eyes of a living being. The only exception is inside special areas. But right here, they moved to save themselves, and Silva was watching them. So that means they went against Order. Which I believe is the reason you came here. So why is Silva being punished and attacked?" Ophelia asked. "SILVA IS THE CAUSE, EVEN IF HE IS NOT DIRECTLY LINKED TO WHAT HAPPENED. IF HE HAD NOT DRAWN THE IRE OF A PRIMAL, HE WOULD NOT BE IN THIS SITUATION. AND THE ANGELS WOULD NOT HAVE BROKEN ORDER. SILVA HAS PROVEN TO BE MORE TROUBLE THAN HE IS WORTH, ANGERING BEINGS ABOVE HIM. AND YOU PROTECT HIM. DO YOU NOT REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED EONS AGO? THE BEING YOU SO PROTECTED, AND HOW HE ALMOST KILLED ORDER AND UNRAVELED THE UNIVERSE? YET THIS SILVA SEEMS WORSE THAN EVEN THE FIRST. HIS EVERY ACTION GOES SO CLOSE TO BREAKING ORDER." Silva heard everything that was going on, and he finally summoned some courage to speak. "Yo, hello, uhm, Order. You see, I don''t know what your beef with me is, but you are a hypocrite," Silva said, shocking Ophelia. "HYPOCRITE? PLEASE EXPLAIN." "Well, when I was thrown into my homeworld without my permission, you came after me, saying I was the one that broke Order. You wanted to kill me, but it wasn''t my fault. Someone threw me there, and you, being Order, I''m sure that you know about it. Yet you will say that it was within Order, but you wanted to kill me for a crime that I was thrown into." The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 223: Ill pop your head "IS WHAT YOU HAVE SAID THE REASON THAT YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM A HYPOCRITE? IF SO, THEN YOU ARE HEAVILY WRONG. YOUR SIMPLE MIND CAN''T UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITY OF ORDER. IT IS NOT BUILT TO SERVE ANYONE. ORDER IS BUILT TO ENSURE THAT WHAT NEEDS TO BE WILL BE, HENCE ORDER CAN''T BE A HYPOCRITE, FOR IT IS ALL LAWS IN ITSELF," Order said. "So, based on what you are saying, you are right no matter what. Order can never be wrong, and all that it does is the right thing. That is what you are implying, and I understand that, because you are a mighty existence, standing above all and all. And you know what, I want to be mad at you, but I can''t, because I am a hypocrite as well, and I might as well do the same if I had your strength. But I just thought about something, and you should listen because it is important. If I die here, there are more than twenty very powerful people that would know. And if I die, they won''t think it''s the work of Order, no, they''ll say that it was the empire of the holy kingdom, or the demon kings. That is what they will believe, and when they believe that, they will begin a war, a war that will plunge this world into destruction. And because of Order, Ophelia or any god will not be able to interfere with the war easily. Many will die, and this world will be scarred forever. And all for what? All because Order was being biased. I don''t know if you have any emotions in you, but if you do, I want you to hear this: if the weeping angels die, two soldiers die. But if I die, this world dies along with it, and their hope for a future will be destroyed," Silva said and let it be. "GODDESS OPHELIA, IS SILVA AN ANCHOR BEING IN YOUR WORLD?" Order asked. "You already know the answer, Order. The current survival of my world stands on him, and if you should kill him, my world will be lost forever," Ophelia said. "THIS NEW ANCHOR, ARE YOU CERTAIN THAT HE WILL NOT BE A THREAT AS LARGE AS THE FIRST ANCHOR? THEY EXHIBIT SIMILAR BEHAVIORS," Order asked. "I can''t stand firm, Order, I am unable to see the future like that. The only thing that I can say is that Silva is my anchor. And in all honesty, he wasn''t the one that caused the break in Order. So here, I call forth my once-in-a-thousand-years plea. Remember, a god can stand on behalf of a lesser being that broke Order and save them, as long as that person is not as powerful as a god and not the God himself. So I want to use this plea along with all the proof that he isn''t at fault, to beg you to pardon him," Ophelia said. "HMM, BASED ON ORDER, ALL YOU HAVE DONE IS ENOUGH TO GET HIM OUT OF THIS SITUATION. SO THEREFORE, OPHELIA, YOU HAVE USED YOUR PLEA AND FOR THE NEXT ONE THOUSAND YEARS, YOU WILL BE UNDER STRICT OBSERVATION. IF YOU SLIP UP EVEN ONCE IN THE THOUSAND-YEAR PERIOD, YOUR WORLD AS WELL AS YOU WILL BE WIPED AWAY," Order said, and then the white figure vanished. The light beam died away, Ophelia and Silva stood there. Silva turned to face her, and then he bowed his head, something he would never normally do. "Thank you for all you did for me just now. I understand that you have used a very valuable thing to keep me alive. Once more I am indebted to you, and I don''t know how I''ll begin to pay you back," Silva said. Ophelia stretched out her hand and lifted Silva''s head by the chin. She looked into his eyes and spoke. "You have done a lot for me. This world has started moving on the right path because of you. If anything, I should find more ways to show you my appreciation. You just have to keep doing what you are doing. You have been on the right path so far, and I believe you''ll help me fix this world soon," Ophelia said. "So you aren''t angry about the killing and what I have been doing?" Silva asked. "No, there is a saying in your world: you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette. I don''t really care about all the little things; my eyes are set on the grand scheme of things. And so far, you have been doing exceedingly well in carrying out the tasks. Sadly, because of this run-in with Order, I will not be able to help you as I''d like and as I did before. Order will have a close eye on people from now on, and that will make things harder, but I''ll do my best tomunicate with you within the boundaries of what is allowed," Ophelia said. Then she pulled Silva in closer and kissed his forehead. "Thank you for helping me so far, Silva," she said after kissing his head, and then she vanished. Silva stood there for a bit, and then he kicked a rock and started walking, headed back for the kingdom. Luckily for him, Order had taken care of the weeping angels. --- As Silva headed back for the capital, he felt a presence, but the presence disappeared immediately after. Silva immediately found that suspicious, so he decided to follow and check it out. He moved to the location where he first felt the presence and looked around. But there was no one there; it didn''t even seem like anyone had passed through there in a while. He looked around still and checked for little details. When he didn''t find anything at all, he started trying to search farther away and to search more in-depth. After a few minutes of searching, he found the presence again. Silva immediately gave chase. He dashed through the forest like a bullet, yet it was as though he was light as a feather; his footsteps could not be heard at all. Finally, he got closer to the person, who was running towards the capital. The person was wearing an all-ck assassin-type outfit. The clothes seemed to be blocking his presence to make it harder to find him. But that was not going to work for Silva. Silva approached him from behind, being careful, so he was certain that the person would not be able to sense him. But to Silva''s surprise, when he was within range of the person, the person spun around with a de covered in lightning towards Silva''s throat. Silva leaped back and avoided the attack easily. "I didn''t expect that you would dodge that easily," the person said. "I didn''t expect you to sense me that easily. Seems you are experienced. But let''s not get into chit-chat. Why are you here, and why are you trying to infiltrate my capital?" Silva asked. "Your capital?" the person asked, and then he looked closer and discovered that this was the person that he was to spy on, Silva Terron. "Shit!" the person eximed. He smashed something on the ground, and smoke rose. He used the smoke to escape. But Silva could easily sense vibrations. He could tell where the guy was heading towards, so he immediately gave chase. Using sh step, he arrived right in front of the person. He threw a punch, one that the person would surely not be able to dodge. And for sure, he wasn''t able to dodge it. The fist collided with his face and sent him flying into a tree. The person got back up immediately after like nothing had happened. He took out his de and was ready to fight. "Are you dumb? That movement alone shows you that we are not of the same league at all. Just tell me who you are before I damage your facepletely. I just came from a very stressful day, and for fuck''s sake, it is already night, and I want to rest. There are people that will kill me when I go home. Because there was supposed to be apetition today, yet I missed it and will have to postpone it. So please, your jumping all around and throwing des is thest thing that I want to deal with. I''ll crush your head, I''ll pop it like a pimple, if you don''t start talking right now. So what is it going to be, you fucking asshole?" Silva stated, shouting. The person didn''t move or say anything. He just stared at Silva through his mask. And as the seconds went by, Silva''s rage increased. So Silva finallyshed out. He shot out tendrils and immediately wrapped them around the person before he could even move. He used the tendrils and mmed the guy into a tree and then forcefully removed the mask. When he looked at the face, he couldn''t help but feel that this person was somehow familiar. He tried to recall, and with his perfect memory, he did. "You, you were in that restaurant that day," Silva said. Chapter 224: Types of Love When Spark de saw that he was recognized, he knew he had to leave, so he slipped something out of his mouth and let it drop to the ground. It was like a marble. Silva used a tendril to catch it before it could reach the ground. He brought it close to his eyes to see what it was, but then it exploded right in his face. This caused him to let go of Spark de to protect himself. Spark de immediately turned and ran away, seeing that his n had worked. He got about a hundred meters away, but then he felt everything go cold. He looked up and saw a dark ming sword in the sky. The sword was asrge as a house and very long. When Spark de looked at it, he felt genuine fear fill his body. "I told you that I was pissed. Why the fuck would you stress me even more?" Silva said and released the sword on Spark de. The mes on the sword, for some reason, were absorbing all the heat, and the environment was getting colder. But right as the sword was about to hit, a powerful beam of chaos mmed into the sword and destroyed it. Immediately, Silva knew who had done it, and he became pissed. He looked up and saw Aris, Elsa, Drake, and Lily. "Why the hell did you just stop my attack?" Silva asked, already taking out his sword and ready to fight. Their next sentence would determine their lives. "Master, we understand that you have had a stressful day. We can already guess the beam of light that shot from the sky had something to do with you, and that''s why you are stressed. But master, you can''t allow your mind to be clouded. Immediately this figure came towards the city, we noticed him, and Aris imed to know him. So, on our way here, we saw you about to obliterate him, and that would waste valuable information that we could have gotten from him," Drake exined. "You blocked my attack, but I understand that it was for a valid reason. Just know that next time, I might not wait to listen to that reason," Silva said and walked towards a tree. He sat down and leaned his back on the tree, watching them. Everyone could tell that Silva was genuinely tired and pissed, and so his emotions were all over the ce right now. As for Spark de, he had literally pissed himself from fear. He would have died now, unable to fight back even in the slightest. Lily walked to his side and secured him. She created a portal and took him inside. Aris followed them through the portal, leaving only Drake and Elsa with Silva. Elsa walked to Silva and sat beside him. "Daddy, what made you so upset?" she asked. "Nothing much, just that I realize my life is still in the hands of many, and I have to keep running to someone for help. The goddess keeps saving me. Every time something goes wrong, I am unable to help myself. It is pathetic, it hurts my pride, and I don''t like it. I need to fix it," Silva said. "Well then, why don''t we start the move to the empire? They have overstayed their wee. Let''s bring them down," Elsa said. "What about thepetition?" Silva asked. "This is more important, Dad, but I want to advise you, Daddy. Pay attention to thedies that love you. All of them are willing to die for you and live for you. It might be a huge amount, but each of them deserves your care. Lily, Fay, Lia, Leah, Amber, Dawn, and Roxy, they all deserve it. As for the guardians, Jade and Serax, they aren''t really to be worried about. They just think you are cute and want to toy with you, even if that includes sex, but they won''t bear children or live with you happily ever after. That doesn''t mean they don''t love you; they absolutely do, but in their own way," Elsa exined. "I didn''t even realize how many they had be. Sigh. All of them could have followed whoever they want and loved who they want, but they chose me, and I have simply been making jest of their feelings. I think I''ll try to change that. Also, I can''t do it anymore. I''ll try to show the seven of them love, but that''s all. I will not ept the love of anyone else. Normally having two people to love is already crazy to me, and now I''m faced with seven. Even amongst harems, this is crazy," Silva said and chuckled. "You are a dragon, remember? Also, the least lovable person ever, to me, that is. You should also learn the types of love that they show toward you. You don''t want to start romantically loving all of them if they actually have a different love. Amber is obsessed with you, which I guess counts as romantic love. Roxy is between indebted to you and loving you. She will make a good partner, but she''ll never get over that indebted feeling. Fay only sees you. She shut her eyes away from other men for some reason; I have noticed it. Leah respects and reveres you. She sees you as her future and the right ce to be. She''ll never leave, but be careful with her, though. Lia is one that actually has pure love for you, no matter how you look at it. As for Lily, Lily sees you as something to protect, and she will burn the world for you. She is getting too dependent on you, and I really have nothing to say on that. As for Dawn, if all life was against you, Dawn would be thest one to stand with you. I don''t know why her mind is structured that way, but everything she does is targeted to help you out," Elsa finished. Silva was shocked after hearing that. He didn''t think she would be capable of watching so many things so detailed. Then Silva thought of something, and he asked, "What about Aris? What is your take on her?" "Aris, no matter what she shows you, she is only a partner to you. That''s how she sees you, a close partner and someone she can tease," Elsa replied. Chapter 225: Story of Spark Silva decided to rest that night; he didn''t even want to bother with the man they had captured. He slept like a log. When the sun rose and the day started, Silva woke up and noticed Dawn and Lia in the room, at the side of the bed. It seemed they had fallen asleep watching him. And for the first time, he didn''t jump out of bed or run away. He simply patted both of them on their heads softly and then slipped out of bed. He walked out of the room and stretched out his body, and then the look in his eyes changed¡ªit was time to start work. He immediately contacted Drake and Lily and asked them to set a ce for him to meet the man they had captured. He recognized that man as the person who had told him about the slime jelly, and for some reason, it pissed him off even more. It pissed him off that the person who told him about the jelly was also probably an enemy. Silva made it to the lounge and saw the man there already, along with Drake and Lily. Silva took his seat and looked at the man. "You already know all that I want to ask you, so tell me and survive. If you don''t, there are other means to get it out of you, but they won''t be pleasant," Silva said. "You have really grown since that day," Spark de said. "I didn''t bring up the fact that I know you because for some reason, it is really pissing me off, and I''ll probably kill you because of it. So be careful," Silva said in anger. "Fine, I''m tired of all this, in fact, so I''ll tell you a little story. Over thirty years ago, a young boy lived with his parents far on the outskirts of the empire. He yed with his friends in their small vige, happily. Every day, he would wake up and help his parents take care of the house, and then he would help his father prepare their crops for sale in the empire. After that, he would take time to y with his friends and cause all sorts of mischief all around the town. But because everyone knew that he didn''t really have bad intentions, no one really bothered him. But all that was not the highlight of the boy''s day. His highlight was about the sword when he could go into his hidden corner, where he had a rusted de that he swung all day. There was no one to teach him, no one to help him learn, but he still went ahead to learn as best as he could, swinging every day. Was he getting better? No one knew, but he was happy with himself. And so he kept going until one day, after he passed the age of twelve, he suddenly started emitting lightning. It wasn''t an element but a legacy, which may seem simr, but they are not the same. Now, with this new power, he felt happy. But he was unsure as to what he should do. He wasn''t sure he should show his parents¡ªthey just wanted a simple life, and if he showed them his legacy, that would be affected. So he kept it to himself and trained daily, going to his spot and learning how to use his legacy in the most effective way. Hecked mana, and that made his mana run out fast after every practice, but he kept going, and he was actually making decent progress. But that''s beside the point, as the life of the boy changed one day. He went to train at the end of the day, unknown to him, a small battle had started with a grey wolf pack and a fierce beast. That grey wolf pack was thergest around there, with an incredible number of two thousand wolves. The battle started, and the wolves suffered some losses and retreated to regroup, but they didn''t regroup in their home¡ªthey went to the boy''s town. They decided to rest there and regroup. The town was a very small town and didn''t have the type of defenses that would stop that sort of pack of wolves. They came into the town and tore through everything with ease. They killed everyone in sight, ravaged the town, and killed. They killed the mother of the boy. His father also returned to the townter that day, and the wolves attacked him and killed him. The boy returned to the town, but before he reached it, his higher senses, toned from using mana, sensed something was wrong. And so he snuck into the town, and somehow into his house, and on the ground, he saw his mother dead. He was shocked, but the wolves found him, and he had to run. He used his little sword practice and lightning to fight some of the wolves off and killed them, but not without a lot of injuries. But he managed to escape them, and he began running toward the empire, and that was where he found his father''s body on the road. But let me round up this story¡ªthe boy headed into the empire, filled with rage and anger. He joined to be a spy and assassin. He took out his rage every day, killing andpleting missions, but one day he met ady, and thatdy introduced him to cooking. And he fell in love¡ªin love with cooking and in love with her. And that started taking away his time, and he stopped caring about being a killer. But all that didn''tst long because he found out that she was a half-elf, and her people hade to im her back, and he could do nothing to stop them. But before she left, she asked him to always cook and never stop, because then they would always be able to be together." "Sigh, is there more to this?" Silva interrupted and asked. "Of course there is, so humor me," Spark de said with a chuckle. Chapter 226: Do you even love her? Silva let out a tired groan and leaned back into the chair. "Alright, you have three minutes to round up," Silva said. "Thank you. So the boy, now turned man, needed a way to find his love and follow his newfound dream of cooking. But hecked the resources to search for her, so he turned to the empire and his bosses for help." "No, no, no," Silva interrupted him. Standing up and walking up to his face, Silva looked him dead in the eye and spoke. "I know where this whole story is going, and I don''t like it. You want to tell me now that the empire asked you to carry out jobs for them, and they would help you get her back? What the hell do you mean that you didn''t have the resources to chase after her? She was the love of your life, the person that offered you a way to live and have a life. She saved you from the hell that you dug for yourself. She gave you an escape from the pain of losing your parents. She gave you another chance at life." Silva walked closer to him and grabbed him by the cor. "She didn''t care about the risk of loving you. If the empire had found out about her because of you, she would have been killed. She threw away all care and decided that, because of you, she would love a human and invest her time into giving your life light. Now, I''m not a good person, and I live how I want, but if there is one thing I never do, it is turn on the people that truly stand by me. I would burn the world for them, and I would kill anyone to make sure that they were happy, even if it meant going against gods. But you, you have the guts to say that you didn''t have the resources. You opened that trap of yours and said that the woman who invested her life in you was not important enough for you to go after." "No, I didn''t say she wasn''t important." "Shut your trap, you bloody idiot. You already said it, saying you didn''t have resources. Should that even be a question? Should that even be something you can say? You should have gone through the mud, through the heat, through the darkness, through everything. What is the point of iming that you have love for her if you sit down and don''t do anything? You think the empire will ever allow you to chase a half-elf? Are you dumb, or do you just want to be? Do you even have the brain capacity to understand what is happening? She is a half-elf. Have you thought about the hate she would be receiving from fellow elves? Or did you just believe that because she is a half-elf and they came to take her, then they would ept her easily? You should have thought, what would make the elves suddenly want their half-elf back? But no, you ran back to your old life, not knowing if she lived or breathed. And the worst part is that you didn''t even keep the promise you made to her. She told you, keep cooking; that way, we would be together. And being the asshole you are, you went ahead to start killing again. Wow, what a lover boy. Your actions show that you never cared. You never loved her. You lied to her. You used her and then threw her away and moved on with your life. To you, she was just a phase." Spark de got enraged by thest line. She rose up and grabbed Silva by the neck. "Don''t ever say I didn''t love her. She was my everything, so don''t say that. I loved her more than you could ever imagine," Spark de said. "Then why didn''t you show her that damn love?" Silva said and punched Spark de in the guts, sending him flying into the wall. Spark de mmed against the wall, passed out for a second, and then woke up. He fell to the ground and coughed violently. Silva walked to his side like the devil. He bent low and spoke. "The empire yed you through the love you have, but I have an offer, Spark de. I''ll make sure that you''ll be able to see your love in less than a week. If Iplete that, then you''ll work for me, and I''ll make it so that you can also finally be together, even if it means burning the elves that stand in my way. You have so much vital information about the empire, and you are also very talented, and the empire is wasting that talent. "So what do you say? Do you want to see her again, or was your love for her just a lie?" Silva said. "You have a way to let me see her?" Spark de asked to confirm. "Oh yes. The princess of the elf empire is my closest friend. She will be able to find your love easily and reunite you. But it doesn''te cheap. If I do this, you''ll have to sell your soul to me and be my person forever. But you also get more out of this bargain. I''ll protect both of you and also ensure that you are doing well. So now, the question lies with you: how much do you want to see her? How much do you want to show her that you love her?" Silva asked. Spark de looked down at the ground, and he sighed. "My real name is Gabriel. I take your deal. My whole life after her has been dark, and even if she doesn''t love me anymore, just getting to see her and know that she is fine is enough to sell my soul," Gabriel said. Silva ced his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder and spoke. "You have agreed to your part. Now let me show you that I''ll go above and beyond for my followers," Silva said and then turned to leave the room. The others followed as well, leaving only Gabriel. Chapter 227: Going to the Elvish Empire Since they had agreed to help Gabriel, Silva started putting things in motion. The first step was contacting Amber and telling her to meet in the lounge for a discussion. The meeting was between Silva, Amber, and Gabriel. When they were all seated, Silva began the discussion. "So, Amber, there is something that we urgently need your help with. You see Gabriel here, he has a lover, and she was a half-elf. Suddenly, after a long while of her living happily, she was reimed by the elves. Normally, I don''t think elves would im a half-blood, so we need your expertise on the issue first," Silva said. "Hmm, I see. Elves are a race that really loves the purity of their blood. It''s very rare to see mixed blood. In fact, pureborns with weak blood purity are also looked down upon and seen as waste. So it is shocking for them to take a half-blood. They even came to the human empire to do so. That means they took permission from the empire to take her. And that only tells me one thing: either she is a very important person, most likely the daughter of a high-ranking elf who couldn''t bear any more children and decided that the half-blood would be their heir. It''s rare, but it has certainly happened a few times that I know of, where elvespromise based on the fact that they can''t give birth to more. But her elf parent must be really high on the spectrum for that to work. They would need a crazy amount of influence. But then again, the half-elf, no matter whose daughter she is, won''t be able to live a happy life there. She has no say in what happens in her life," Amber said. Silva looked at Gabriel. "You are a grown-ass man, and you couldn''t figure these details out? Did you fry your brain while cooking? But that is beside the point. Now we know that she has ties to a very high-ranking elf. Normally, that would be an issue, but Amber is one of the most revered beings in the elf empire. So we already have the upper hand, and we might get back your love, but then again, I want you to have it at the back of your mind that she may have moved on," Silva said. "I understand that. I just want us to find her," Gabriel said. "Alright, Amber, can you help out?" Silva asked. "Yes, I can. Tell me the name, and I''ll try to see if I can recall her. If I can''t, we will have to use another method," Amber said. "Her name was Rose. I never knew if she had a family name; I only knew her name was Rose," Gabriel said. "I haven''t heard of any Rose that is a half-elf, but I don''t know everyone, so I''ll have to check it in detail. I think the best thing will be for us to return to the elf empire. That way, I can check in detail. I can contact my father and have him prepare to receive you," Amber said. "Hmm, going to the elvish empire. Seems I''ll have to leave myfort this once. It''s a good opportunity to see the world," Silva said. "Then it''s settled. I''ll go and tell my father about it," Amber said and left. Silva got up as well, but he didn''t leave. He tapped Gabriel on the shoulder. "I noticed you wanted to use some unusual methods to fight me that night. I think they might be able to help my soldiers fight better. I want to mix it with several other martial arts that we have. Follow me to the arena so that we can spar," Silva said. They made it to the small arena in the castle. Silva picked a wooden sword and pointed it at Gabriel. "Use all your weapons regardless of what I''m using. If you don''t, you might die by mistake," Silva said. Gabriel nodded and took out two slim swords. He charged at Silva at top speed, his swords crackling with lightning. Silva was ready to take the attack, but to his surprise, Gabriel threw one of the swords into the air. This distracted Silva for a split second. When Silva looked back at Gabriel, he saw the second sword had been thrown as well, and it was heading for Silva. Silva moved quickly and blocked the sword, but the sword suddenly exploded, scattering particles in all directions. Then, the electricity from them all linked and created a cage around Silva. Gabriel caught the second sword and dashed at Silva to stab him. Silva made a simple shing motion, and a powerful force shot out, destroying the cage he was in and sting Gabriel back. But Gabriel was not going to give up. He took out a metal wire with a de tied at the front. Hended on his feet and threw the de at Silva. The de didn''t seem to have any electricity inside, and that made Silva a little suspicious. But the answer to his suspicion came immediately after. He blocked the attack, and the tip of the de hit Silva''s sword. It exploded with powerful lightning. Gabriel had stored the lightning verypactly in the tip, and that explosion was the result. To be honest, Silva was impressed with this, but he still wanted to see what Gabriel could do. So he took a stance as Gabriel withdrew his de. Since his explosives did nothing to Silva, he had to bring a few methods to attack. But Silva wasn''t waiting at all. He charged at Gabriel, and Gabriel could not react. The blunt side of the sword mmed into Gabriel''s chest and sent Gabriel flying. But Gabriel didn''t let himself fall. He pulled out a sword,nded on his feet, and got into his stance. The sword had always been his true weapon, and so he was going to use that now and show Silva his true strength. Chapter 228: You arent going alone Gabriel attacked with more ferocity. He moved in a graceful manner, his feet barely touching the ground before he lifted off and attacked again. But Silva was blocking the attacks with ease, his de parrying them like they were nothing. He had yet to even move a step from where he stood. Gabriel went in for more attacks, trying to strike from different angles, but it was like he was hitting a wall; there was no space for him to get through at all. Finally, he took a step back and assumed another stance. His de crackled with lightning, and he charged in again. Now that he was using his legacy, he was faster and better, but Silva still easily countered him. However, the wooden sword was getting chipped little by little. And that was a sign that he was making decent progress, but it was far from enough to trouble Silva. "That is enough now. I''ve gotten what I need. You can rest wherever you want in the castle while you wait for Amber. She should be getting things ready, and that will take some time. I''ll be going to get some things done," Silva said as he dropped his sword and walked out. One thing had reached his mind, and that was the fact that he had started taking things too slow. Ophelia took a risk for him, and he had to repay her. All this investigation and trying to gather information was wasting time. He wanted to get things done; he wanted to break into the empire. Even if he still had to follow the normal n, he wanted to speed things up significantly. The first part would be to get stronger. But getting stronger now would either require him to take down the most powerful beings around, and he didn''t have ess to that for now. So he would use something he had obtained a few days back: the synthesis skill. It would allow him to create more powerful spells. He had a few spells that he believed would work well together and yield massive results. When he arrived at his room, he got in and locked the door. He sat on the bed and started sorting out the spells he would be merging in his mind. The first one was a good candidate: Chronos Lock and Hell''s Domain. The two just seemed to make sense together in his mind. His board of minds also agreed that it was the best idea. The system would not tell him if synthesis would produce a good result, so he had to wing it. The method he devised involved looking at the details of each spell and determining how they wouldplement each other. The domain was a ce that used the power ofws to create an area Silva could control. But while he could control the domain, he couldn''tpletely control the time within it. He could probably slow it down a bit or speed it up slightly, but that was all. However, if he merged Chronos Lock and the domain together, he would gain greater control over the time inside his domain than he had before. Sure, he would lose Chronos Lock, but in the long run, the risk was worth it. He would be battling some heavy hitters very soon. "System, I want to use synthesis to merge Chronos Lock and Hell''s Domain," Silva said. [Are you sure you want to synthesize both spells? There is no possible way to reverse the merge.] The system threw out a warning, but Silva ignored it and proceeded. "Yes, merge them," he said. [Beginning synthesis of Hell''s Domain and Chronos Lock.] It processed for a few seconds beforepleting. [You have sessfully merged Chronos Lock and Hell''s Domain. You have created a new spell: Hell''s True Domain.] [Hell''s True Domain: Create a 1km domain where even time falls under your control.] Silva read the brief description. There was no drawback; he had simply created a superior new spell. He didn''t care for the name, but it didn''t matter to him. He had merged his first spell, and that was a win. Now, he had to n what other spells he would merge. He had already made a list in his mind, but he needed to review and recheck it to ensure the merges would yield better and worthwhile results. He made his second decision and was about to proceed when there was a knock at the door, and Amber spoke. "Silva, I''ve prepared everything. We can go now," she said. "Alright," Silva said as he got up. He walked to the door and met Amber. "So, you told your dad I''ll being?" Silva asked as they started walking. "Yeah. He seemed eager for you toe. I don''t know why, but I don''t think your stay there will be a calm entry and exit," Amber said. "Well, the Elvish Empire is probably a ce where I''ll encounter a demon king or a king candidate. I think it''ll be fun to go there. See what the outside world looks like. I''ll have to tell Lily and Drake. They won''t want to let me go alone, but I''ll have to convince them," Silva said. "Convince us about what?" Lily asked as she and Drake walked out of a portal. "Well, you see, I want to go to the Elvish Empire to get someone, and Amber will be taking me there." "No," Lily immediately cut him off. "Even if you st off with all the rage and anger at me and Miss Lily for stopping you, we will not let you go without a proper escort. Sadly, Master Silva, this is not up for debate, as we would rather fight you than let you go to that ce alone," Drake said. "That''s all," Lily added. Silva was stunned by this. He couldn''t even be mad; he was just amazed at how they didn''t waste a second to refuse him, even willing to fight him. Chapter 229 The Elf gate Silva paused and looked at the two of them. He thought of a way to get out of them following, but anything would just lead to a fight, so he had to let it be. "Alright, you guys cane with me, but under no asion should any of you do or say anything without my permission. We will be closer to the demon kings than we have ever been, and that in itself could spell certain troubles for us. But since you both will be there, I''d like you to watch something. I want you to watch closely for powerful beings," Silva said and walked past them. "You should follow. We are leaving immediately unless you want me to simply leave," Silva said. They arrived at the main hall. Amber had set up a formation for long-distance teleportation. She would need high amounts of mana to teleport, and she nned for Silva to do that. But since Lily was here, she would be the one to do it. They all got into the formation, and Lily started activating it. The formation lit up brightly, and they were immediately teleported from the ce, and the light died down. --- The teleportation took them right to the gates of the Elvish Empire. But it was no simple gate. The empire was gated all around by trees so massive that even a dragon would find it difficult to fly over. "The gates are the only way to get into the empire. The empire is through the gates. The forest is the greatest defense that stands around the empire," Amber said, pointing to the cluster of trees. "Uhm, I can''t see any gate," Silva pointed out. Your next read is at empire "Well, it looks like there is nothing, but allow me to exin. Of all races, the Elvish Empire has the most advanced technology and the world tree. And this makes us want to protect them and make sure that no one would be able to steal them or a part of them. So they channeled the power of the world tree and created this massive forest around the empire. But the forest fence is not the only issue, as this forest serves as a home for monsters," Amber said. "Monsters? So they are keeping other races in this forest?" Lily asked. "No, not other races, real monsters, beings created from pure darkness and chaos. The world tree creates and destroys; it birthed the forest, but it also created the monsters to go with it. Powerful beings that even the strongest elves would not want to cross paths with. But they aren''t something to be worried about. The world tree made those monsters stay inside the forest, and they won''t be able to leave. But all that is beside the point; the tree still created a way for people to get into the empire. And that is what we call the gate, and the gate can only be opened from inside and outside at the same time." Amber walked close to the forest and ced her hand on the ground, and a magical circle lit up. "They have epted my request. The gates will open now, and we have to move quickly. The gates close as they open," Amber said. The trees started parting, and Amber walked in, followed by everyone. As soon as they got past any tree, the trees shifted back into ce and blocked their way out while the way forward opened up. As they walked through, Silva kept looking into the forest at his sides, and he could sense powerful life forms inside. The aura they gave off was something that he would only sense from the strong, like Drake and Lily. That meant there were beings worth fighting inside this forest, and Silva had the temptation to just jump in and fight. But he didn''t want to risk being trapped in the forest for years because that would definitely suck. So he kept walking. After over thirty minutes of walking, they arrived at thest segment, and the trees parted ways to reveal a small army of elves on white horses with gold armor. The elves had gold and green armor on their bodies, with bows and swords on their backs. They stood in formation, and when they saw Amber, they all came forward and bowed to her. "Wee back, Lady Amber. Preparations have been made for you and your guests to get into the capital in two days'' time," the lead elf said. Currently, the ce they arrived at seemed like a port city. It was a beautiful ce with lots of normal houses. Though Silva had half expected to see lots of tree houses, this looked like a normal city to him, with elves carrying out business. "Uhm, why does it have to take two days?" Silva asked. "The capital is quite the journey from here, and even in the Elvish Empire, we have bandits and thieves, with our own monsters and abominations. You are my guests, and the empire would love to keep you safe, so we will be using the safest and longest path to the capital," Amber said. "Yes, as Lady Amber has said, we will be starting from the portal center that has been prepared here, and it would take us to the wilderness to the north. We will move on horseback from there to the next city, where we will spend the day while waiting for the best portal to be prepared," the leader of the elves said. "Hmm, makes sense. I can already guess that the Elvish Empire is extremely massive, so traveling across would take time. Though I expected that Amber would be allowed to teleport straight to the capital," Silva said. "Well, alone I can, but with guests, I have to follow the procedure," Amber said. Some elves immediately brought some horses to them. As Silva collected his horse, his hand touched the hand of the elf that brought it. The elf immediately had a disgusted expression on his face after touching Silva, who looked at this and smiled. "This is about to be a fun journey," Silva thought. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 230 Elaine and Greenwood Silva and the group rode on the horses provided towards the first teleportation circle. As they moved, Silva could easily sense the gazes on him and the others. It made him want tough. Elves were the most racist beings in this world, and that was a fact. They loved their bloodline more than anything. So now, seeing their dear Amber with other races made them mad, but they knew they couldn''t do anything about it. There was also another issue, and that issue was mostly with the male elves, and it was against Silva. That issue was his face. His face put most of the elves to shame. He was the perfect guy. He was extravagantly cute like a girl, but not too masculine. He was a beautiful in-between. Silva hade to be aware of how good-looking he was, and he didn''t doubt it anymore. In fact, his pride as a dragon made it worse. Knowing that these pitiful elves were hating on him because of his face made him feel good.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om So he smiled through the journey, and that itself made the elves around hate him more. "Master Silva, forgive me for asking, but what has got you smiling so much?" Drake rode closer to Silva and asked. "Huh? Oh, well, I''ve just noticed something that is really funny. I''ll tell you telepathically," Silva said. "You see, all these elves already hate the outsiders that havee to be in the life of their dear princess, and that is not all. They also hate me because, well, I look better than most of them. And if there is one thing about elves, it''s the fact that they love their looks. To them, bloodline and looks are everything. They just have to be perfect pretty boys and girls. But now they can see a being from another race is actually threatening them. So their hate for me is way more¡ªway, way more. But it''s a good thing," Silva said. "Their hate is a good thing? How is that so, Master?" Drake asked. "Well, you see, rage and hatred blind people. It makes it so that they can''t see the bigger picture. Some people can''t handle hate, and the only way they know how to channel it is through destructive measures. Some will attack us; some will want to find other ways to hurt me. Really, the list goes on and on¡ªso many things that hate and rage will cause them to do. But do you know the one thing it will never let them do? Think straight. They will never be able to get over their rage, and I''ll make sure of that. Do you want to know how?" Silva asked. "I can make a guess, but give me the details, Master," Drake said. "It''s simple, honestly. I''ll be chummy as hell with Amber while we are here, and that will definitely throw all of them into a rage," Silva said. "Master, forgive me for asking, but why do you want to make them hate you even more? I''m guessing there is a reason, so what is it?" Drake asked. "It''s really simple. I want to turn the water. You see, the only way for me to start getting into the depths of the elves is by conflict and resolution. I''ll have to make myself into the victim in every situation, and then the elves will move for resolution. With that, I''ve nted the first seed that will sprout to control them. Before you know it, I''ll be knee-deep in the workings of the elvish empire, and that is when the real work starts," Silva said. "You have already thought so far ahead, Master, nning to use this little hate and conflict to spark something bigger. I also have an idea. Since we are here, I think Lily can move around to legally spread the hate for you. Like, say some things that would normally not be bad but would sound bad to the elves. For instance, we can say that you barely have enough time for Amber because you are always working. Now, that''s not something that is bad, but to the elves, it will probably sound worse. It will sound like you neglect Amber and use work as a cover-up. It will spark real hatred for you, and I can''t be certain, but I feel that if we spread enough of them, we will be able to ensure someone tries to assassinate you," Drake said. "Nice. It seems your millennia-old brain is still firing up, and that is why you are my personal assistant," Silva said. "Will both of you stop plotting against the empire already? It''s like you are just demons seeking out chaos at every turn," Lily interfered and stopped them. "Lily, this is a private telepathy discussion. How did you sneak into it?" Silva asked. "You both were getting carried away, and you allowed enough weakness for me to brute-force into the discussion, and so here I am. I do have to say, the n is a great one, but you''ll be taking a pretty crazy risk to do this. But knowing Silva, you have already made the nyout in your mind. That aside, we are about to arrive at the first teleportation circle, so stop talking and focus," Lily said. Immediately after she said that, the elf leader of the group spoke. "We have arrived at the teleportation center. The circle has already been made ready for us, so we just have to go through the back to the field. There is no need to pass through the main building." Everyone did as he said and moved to the back to find the teleportation circle ready. They all got into the circle with their horses, and without wasting a moment, the workers there activated the circle. The light shone brightly and enveloped all of them. It took some seconds before the light died down, and the whole group was teleported to the next location. --- The grand castle of the elf emperor was very massive; it was located near the world tree, a massive building that was not only for beauty but to also protect the tree as well. The emperor was the king of the Golden Elf tribe, the most powerful elf tribe that existed, and so they were the rulers of the entire elf empire. Amber''s father, who was the Golden Elf King, was the emperor. Amber''s father sat on a mighty golden throne in a courtroom, his beauty and glory filling the room. He sat with a slightly worried face. But as the grand doors of the throne room opened, he wiped that look from his face and took a formal look. ine, in her human form, walked into the throne room, her every step delicate and filled with intent. There was a smile on her face. It wasn''t one of someone who was happy; it was a smile of a devil about to do something. "Emperor Greenwood, it''s nice to see you after all this while. Seeing how busy I have been, I have not been able toe to your grand empire," ine said. She kept walking towards the throne in slow and steady steps. "But now, you have information that has forcefully made mee here, so it''s basically killing one bird with two stones," she continued. "Demon King ine, I thought you would send some Demon King candidates, not you yourselfing here," Greenwood said. "Well, you see, Silva is way stronger than every Demon King candidate now. So for what I have to do, I can only trust myself or one of the Demon Kings, not candidates. None of them can even stand a few seconds against Silva, so it''s useless for any of them to be here right now." She walked up to him and sat on the arm of the throne, but the guards didn''t even move when she did that. This person was a Demon King; she could wipe half of the elf empire if she went all out. Her sitting next to the emperor was not an issue. "You see, Silva is not your regr being. He is not under ourws. I feel there is some greater being that he listens to. And if that''s true, then he might be a very big issue, because he''ll do whatever that being wants. It''s either that or that he is simply a free spirit that wants to do what he wants to. And that in itself is a bad thing, because the kid took over a kingdom, and he has been running it regardless of what the empire or Holy Kingdom wants. Now, I admire his balls, but that is not the issue. The issue is the fact that he is a Demon King candidate, and that means everything he does one way or the other will be linked to us. And the humans might see it as a way to start conflict. Now, I am not against the conflict, but I have to be certain that Silva will also fight for us when the conflict that he started gets serious. That is all I need from him," ine said. Chapter 231 game on "I heard that your daughter is somewhat obsessed with Silva. She is a demon king candidate and also the carrier of the spirit of the world tree.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Yet she is in love and obsessed with a non-elf. What are your thoughts on this? I believe you already know what is happening," ine asked. "Sigh, I do know about Silva and my daughter. But what could I really do? From the rumors that I have heard, he is actually a dark dragon. And knowing the demon kings, you have been preserving the dark dragon all these years. And now you have not just one but two dark dragons, and one might be the strongest demon king of his time. My daughter is also a demon king candidate, and she will take over the empire. She needs more than the normal pure blood elf, because they will be too weakpared to her. She needs someone powerful that can actually help the empire grow, and Silva is the right person. But the leaves and elders are fighting against it because they believe it is against thews of the elves. But I call that bullshit. The elf race has stagnated too much, especially the golden elf tribe. Our clinging to ancient methods has actually kept the blood pure, but the birth rate has dropped over the years," Greenwood said as he got up from the throne and started walking in the throne room. "Staying stagnated for so long is going to cause us issues. Aside from the elves, the spirits, dragons, and fairies are the highest races. But what do the dragons do? Lavish and party, while living in their pridefulnds. The fairies are more focused on flowers and nature to care. Even we elves don''t focus on nts so much, and then there are the spirits. Yeah, they don''t do much either. The Fenrir like you have basically refused to be part of anything, living like holy beings. But the humans have been growing; their technology and lives have grown immensely. But we have been tied up in stagnation. With Silva, we will be able to move forward. I don''t know why, but he''ll be my ticket to moving forward," Greenwood said. ine got up from the throne and started heading for the door. "I can see that you have a ton of things running through your head, but please, when Silvaes here, make sure you alert me. It will not be a fun time if I don''t get to meet him as soon as he arrives. I should also warn you, all the demon kings have their eyes on Silva during his transit here. So they want results, and unlike me, who actually talks to people, they would rather use force than talk things out. So be careful," she said and walked out of the throne room. Pulling the doors as she left, they closed with a bang. Greenwood watched her go, then walked back to his throne and sat down. Things would be getting hard for him because the demon kings were the hardest people to deal with too much ego. --- Silva and the group arrived at the wilderness teleportation circle, and immediately after, they began their journey to the next city where they would stay for the rest of the day. They moved without much issue and arrived in the city, then headed to the hotel where they would stay. Immediately after they arrived, Silva vanished. --- Discover hidden tales at empire The sun was up, and elves were busy with their day, all eyes trained on the human walking through the city. Or so they thought. Silva decided it would be best to show that he was not a human, so he let his horns grow out and his wings as well. When he made the change, the way the elves looked at him changed; it became a look of slight disturbance. Dragons and elves might have a partnership or so it looked to outsiders but in reality, they didn''t really like each other at all. The sight of one another always caused difort. That was exactly what Silva was looking for. He wanted to cause as much slight trouble as possible. This city seemed like an elf only city. There were absolutely no other races aside from Silva, making him stand out like a sore thumb. The kids wanted to see him, but the adults tried to ignore him. Silva wanted more, so he walked towards a stall that sold fruits. But then he remembered he had no elvish currency on him. He turned back and was about to leave, but four elves blocked his path. "Hey you, what were you nning to do at that stall, dragon kin? It seemed like you wanted to take something," one of the elves said. "Huh? What sort of stupid analysis is that? I only wanted to buy some fruit, but then I remembered I don''t have the right currency, so I turned to leave. That''s the story, so I''d like to ask why you four are standing in my path," Silva asked. "No, that''s not what we saw. What we saw was you trying to see how you could rob this ce, you dragon or whatever you are," the elf said. "Ah, the sweet scent of trouble. It seeks you out for absolutely nothing, and I like that sort of trouble. So please, take the first attack, maybe punch me. I can feel that you want to do it," Silva said and walked closer to the elf. "Come on, pretty boy, punch me. Take out your anger on the handsome dragon that stands before you. Show how inadequate you feel and hit me. I can tell that you want to do it. Your body is tensing up, your fist is clenching. Come on, do it. Do it, pretty boy. Punch the kid!" Silva said right in the elf''s face. The elfshed out and punched Silva right in the face. "Ho ho, game on," Silva said as he checked for bleeding on his face. Chapter 232 Mayor Silva didn''t throw a punch back; he got up and started walking away¡ªanother segment of his n to really sink it in that he was only defending himself. And the four elves bit the bait and attacked him all together. That was when Silva moved faster than their eyes could follow and got behind one of the elves. "You know, you shouldn''t seek out trouble when you do not know what you are dealing with," Silva said. The elf froze in fear. Silva''s fist mmed into his spine, the elf arched backward in pain, and then fell to the ground. The remaining three elves were stunned after seeing this. How fast did one have to be to do what Silva just did? They started retreating, but Silva wasn''t going to let them walk away that easily. You see, all he was looking for was his ticket to do what he wanted, and they gave him that ticket when they attacked him, so he wasn''t going to waste it. He dashed at one of the elves, grabbed him by the wrist, and then flipped him over his shoulder, mming him into the ground. The third elf and the leader saw that there was no running away. They decided to fight it out. With the two of them, it should be possible, right? But their thoughts were absolutely wrong. They pulled out their swords and attacked Silva, but he parried the swords with his hands and grabbed them by their throats. He mmed them into the ground, causing them to pass out. Silva stood up and was about to walk away, but he was immediately surrounded by elves with bows and arrows.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Don''t move, dragon. You are being arrested for causing havoc in the city, so follow us quietly," one of the elves said. Silva looked around and then raised his hands with a smile. "Please, do what you need to do," Silva said, and the elves immediately grabbed him and pulled him away while others watched from the sides of the streets. --- Silva was locked up in a small cell while he waited for someone to determine whether he was innocent or not. After about ten minutes, an elf arrived and took him out of the cell into another room. He was pushed onto a chair, and then the elf sat across from him. "You attacked four elves and beat them up on the street. I don''t know how you found yourself in this city, but you are in big trouble," the elf said. "Well, they attacked me first, to be honest, so it''s not my fault. It was purely self-defense, and I have proof of that," Silva said and took out a crystal. He ced it on the table. The elf took the crystal and activated it with Mana. It projected the whole thing that happened, showing how Silva was only defending himself. But then the elf crushed the crystal right in front of Silva. "You see, there is no way you''re getting out of here, dragon. You have to be dumb to think that I''d support you just because you have proof," the elf said. He reached out to grab Silva, but the doors sted open. Amber walked in, seething with pure rage. Her eyes locked onto the elf, and she walked toward him in slow, heavy steps. The elf looked at her and could easily tell who she was¡ªthe princess of the empire. He could feel the killing intenting from her, and it sent shivers down his spine. She grabbed the elf by the neck and lifted him up easily. "You waste of space, how dare youy your hands on Silva," she said in rage, and then mmed the elf into the wall. The elf passed out immediately. She let the elf fall to the ground and ran to Silva, hugging him. "I''m so sorry, Silva. I''m sorry foring sote," she said as she hugged him. Silva patted her head slowly and spoke. "You came, that''s all that matters. But I don''t n to let this unjust setup slide. I was brought here as a special guest, and then thieves attacked me. I was unjustly arrested, and finally, the elf destroyed my evidence to make me take the fall. Normally, I would have been able to break out of all of this in seconds and gone home, but I wanted to follow the rules out of respect for you, Amber," Silva said. The more Amber heard from Silva, the angrier she got at the elves that captured him. Silva was holding himself back for her sake, yet those stupid elves had to treat him harshly. "Silva, I''m really sorry for everything that has happened. I''ll do my best to ensure that every one of them whoid their hands on you will be punished. If you want, they can all pay with their lives," she said. "No, no, you don''t have to kill them. I''m just angry at what they did," Silva said. What he was doing, to be honest, was a clever n to ensure his hate spread and people starteding against him, like today when he didn''t even do anything. Silva and Amber left the ce and returned to the hotel. Silva took the remaining time to rest while he waited for the news to spread. Knowing Amber, she''d probably find the people who arrested Silva and give them punishment. And that was exactly what she did. She found them all and gathered them right at the manor of the mayor. The mayor hadn''te to greet Amber since they arrived, and that could be seen as disrespectful to the Royal Family. But Amber, without issue, decided that she would visit first. So why not drag along all the people who daredy their hands on Silva and make sure that they got their full punishment? And if the mayor couldn''t give it, she''d give them the punishment herself for sure. Find more chapters on empire Chapter 233 Princess Amber and Zenit The Mayor was a middle-aged elf, but as one would expect, there was not a wrinkle on his face. The only way you would know was through the mature energy he gave off. In fact, it was possible that he was way, way older than that since elves could live for up to a thousand years if they had a good bloodline, and that is without leveling up. As soon as the Mayor heard that the princess wasing to his manor, he rushed to prepare things. He arranged a room for them to meet and got everything up to standard. When Amber arrived, she was led by a butler into the room. She took her seat inside the lounge, and the Mayor was not yet there. They served her some green tea and biscuits, but she left the tea there¡ªnot because she didn''t want it, but because she was using it to watch the time. Finally, after waiting a bit, the Mayor walked in wearing a ck elvish-design suit. He bowed as soon as he passed through the door. "You have my greetings, Princess Amber Greenwood," he said in a respectful tone. "Sit down," Amber said in a very emotionless manner, and the Mayor simply followed and sat down. "You know, when a fish begins to think that he is already too big, do you know what happens to him? He is pulled out of the water and cut up to be eaten. Or he will be cast into a bigger pond, where he will see bigger fish and realize how small he was. You are a prime example of that, Mayor Zenit," Amber said and then dipped her finger into the tea and took it out. The Mayor was confused as to why she did that, but he didn''t say anything. "This tea was searing hot when it was brought here, so hot that I would have to blow on it before I would be able to drink from it. Yet I can stick my finger inside. That shows just how much the temperature of this tea has dropped, and how much time it took before you arrived. I hate to throw around weight, but in so many ways, you and this city have crossed the line, Zenit. How dare you allow the princess and next heir to the World Tree to wait for you? You kept me in this lousy lounge and bided your time to improve your presence¡ªfor what? To make me feel intimidated? To make yourself look bigger? I deal with people a hundred times your status every day, so what made you think you could increase your standing by wasting my time?" Amber asked in anger. "My princess, please don''t be angry. I had a very pressing matter on my hands when you arrived, and I had to deal with it," Zenit tried to defend himself. "Do you really think I am stupid, Zenit? I am being groomed to be the next ruler of an empire, and you seriously think that lying to me in such a stupid way would work?N?v(el)B\\jnn Zenit, what matter could be more important than my presence? My presence is the presence of the empire, and you made the empire wait. The second issue is that if the matter was as pressing as you said, and you tried to rush to me by fixing it quickly, then you would have been a little unkempt, no matter the issue. Unless you had enough time to change your clothes as well as raise a bath. And that itself would be another issue," Amber said. Zenit wanted to counter, but what she said made it hard because now there was no excuse. Letting her wait was his way to increase his presence a little. But now it was backfiring on him because he didn''t think the princess would be this tough and interrogative. Whatever the hell did they feed her as a kid? "My princess, I understand that I should have done better, and I promise this will be the first and thest time that something of this nature will happen," Zenit said. "Huh? What are you talking about, Zenit? Do you really not understand that you have messed up grandly? I have been in this city for close to four hours already. And as the Mayor of this damn ce, you already knew about that; there is no denying it. I am very sure that you were informed about the hotel I was staying at. You knew about me being here, yet you sat in your manor. You disrespected the culture and the system of hierarchy. I am one of the highest-standing elves that exist. Yet I walked into your city, and you thought it was good to ignore me. You believed that would make you look better, but it just made you look dumb," Amber said. "Princess, please understand me. I didn''t have ns to ignore you. A few things came up," Zenit said. "Enough with the lies, you filth. I was already enraged when your peopleid hands on my man, so right now, I am burning with hate and anger. And if you say something that might piss me off, you might just die here. They were four men that started the fight with my man; I want them publicly executed. You have three hours to find them and make sure it happens. Also, there is the guard that I smashed against the wall. He too must be executed with them. Like I said, you have three hours to make this happen, or I will execute you publicly for disrespect to the empire and for being a traitor. If you understand, say it," she said. "I understand, Princess. I do," he said and bowed his head, mming it into the table. Amber got up and walked out, leaving the Mayor there. Find your next read on empire The Mayor stayed like that, wondering why he thought what he did would have been a good n. Because she was a girl? Because she was a child? What drove him to do this and almost end his life here? One word from her, and he would have died in a second, yet he thought it was wise to do this. How stupid was he? Chapter 234 Execution Zenit wasted no time carrying out the task Amber gave him. He moved his personal guards to immediately look into the matter, and in less than an hour, everything was set up. The culprits were captured and chained up in the center of the city, and then it was announced all around that five elves would be executed in an hour''s time. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire This was something that had not been seen in years, so when people heard about it, it caused a massive fuss in the city, so much so that even Silva got to hear about it. Gabriel ran into the room and showed a flyer about the execution. "Silva, look at this. Five people are about to be executed in the center of the city," he said, handing the flyer to Silva. Silva took it and looked at it. The images of the people that attacked him were all there, and that was when Silva realized Amber had gone wild when she arrived at the mayor''s house. "Amber, she must have been really pissed off. I should find her and talk to her," Silva said, got up, and left the room. He immediately headed for Amber''s room. Knock knock. Silva knocked on the door twice and then walked in. Amber was seated on the bed, looking out the window. "It was me. I know you want to ask. They deserve death, after all," Amber said. "I know it''s you, and I don''t want to tell you anything or make you feel bad, but I want to thank you. You stood up for me and even went to the extreme of making sure they get killed," Silva said and hugged her. Amber was taken off guard. She didn''t expect Silva to just hug her, but she would not let this opportunity go to waste. She hugged him back immediately and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You came to my home for the first time. There is no way I''d allow some elf to disrespect you and go scot-free. If it were left to me, this whole city would burn for even touching you," Amber said. At this point, Silva realized something: he had underestimated Amber''s feelings for him. It had reached the point where she would forsake her people for him. This led him to think: was there a point in him using backhanded methods to get information from the elves? He had her, and if she loved him this much, she would willingly give it to him. Silva pulled back from their hug and looked her straight in the eyes. "Amber, you understand that I am always going to have enemies, right? Even amongst the elves, so they will always be against me. I have a habit of making countermeasures before the time for using them, so what I''m saying is I''ll need your help to gather as much information from your people¡ªthe elves¡ªto be able to defend myself. I know this is a lot to ask of you, and if you can''t do it, Ipletely understand, and I''ll not disturb you about it¡ª" She ced her finger on Silva''s lips. "You aren''t. Don''t worry. I''ll follow you wherever you go, and I''ll help you do whatever you want to. Even if you tell me to forsake the whole elf kingdom, I would. After all, I can''t allow the others to get ahead of me. You are mine," Amber said. "Then I have nothing to worry about. Thank you, Amber," Silva said and hugged her again. --- The time for the execution came, and people trooped into the city center in huge numbers. Soon the ce was crowded, and there was no movement space at all. A massive tform had been set at the center, made purely out of wood, so that it could be taken down after what was about to happen. Five wooden beams were erected on the tform, made to be ten feet tall so that whoever was tied to them would not be able to remove their arms. Tied to the beams were the five people about to be executed. They looked battered andpletely broken. One could tell that they had gone through a lot of beatings before being put here. Some people held disgust for them, some held sadness, and some didn''t have any emotions towards them. Silva, Amber, Drake, Lily, and Gabriel made their way to the ce, and they saw the people tied up who were about to die. "Crimes worthy of death are rare already, but those that are worthy of public execution are far rarer," Gabriel said. "It takesmitting something unforgivable to get this type of death. There are a few things I can think of, though I don''t know how the elf system works. I''ve not had the chance to carry out any missions here," Gabriel said. "It''s simple, Gabriel. They made a move against Silva, which means they made a move against me," Amber said. "Wait, what?" Gabriel asked in shock. If what she said was true, then it made sense. Disrespecting someone of Amber''s status would surely call for death.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om After hearing that, their treatment didn''t seem so bad. In fact, he would say they were rushing the whole thing. If the emperor of the human empire was disrespected, or his child, Gabriel knew how much torture the offender would go through before being killed. After minutes of waiting, the mayor and the executioner came up. The executioner was a well-built elf wearing only ck pants. He had flowing silver hair that reached his back, and his skin was tanned. "Today, we say goodbye to these five men. They are brothers and children, but they did something unforgivable, and as such, their lives will be taken inpensation. These five disrespected and caused harm to the princess, daughter of the emperor, heir to the world tree, and demon king candidate. There is no more unforgivable sin than that, and today they shall all be punished, and their lives will suffice," the mayor said and stepped back. Two guards climbed up and immediately loosened the first man from his beam. Chapter 235 Monster attack The first man was dragged and forced to kneel in front of a small wooden stand, and his neck was ced over it. The executioner walked to his side and raised the sword. The sun shone and reflected off the great de. It hung in the air, leaving the people watching in suspense. Would the dee down? Would it not? So many thoughts filled their heads. Would this person truly die? Would someone save him? What would happen now? What? The de came down, the sound of it cutting through the air filled everyone''s ears, and when it bit the back of the neck, it cut through like butter. The head fell to the tform, eyes wide open. Murmurs filled the ce. They had alle to see the execution, but now, seeing it, it made them feel different emotions. The guards walked to the second person, and in the same way, they loosed him from the beam and dragged him to the tform. The man tried to struggle, but he was far too weak to fight back. They ced his neck on the wooden stand, and the executioner raised his de and brought it down, killing the second one. The process repeated for the remaining three until all of them were dead. Their headsy on the ground there for all to see. After the execution, Silva had nothing to do here again, so he turned and left, followed by the others. "It''s funny how easy it is to end a person," Silva said on their way back to the hotel. "You just take a de and stab it, boom, life''s over. But I think the person holding the de makes the death hurt more. Imagine if it was their parents that had to carry out the execution. The pain those five would have felt would have been monumental. They would probably have gone insane before the de even reached their neck. So it means the person holding the de can make the death hurt more. The executioner is a neutral person, and so the death feels the same to all of them. There is no extra torture," Silva said. Explore more at empire "Is there a reason why you are saying this, Master?" Drake asked. "No, just random thoughts," Silva said.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om --- The cold winds of night whistled through an open window of a dimly lit office. Zenit sat at the desk, and when he felt the cold wind touch his skin, he looked up into the darkness of his office and spoke. "What could I possibly owe this visit to?" he asked. "Silva, the one with the princess, we need your help to attack him tomorrow and ensure that he never makes it to the capital," a voice spoke from the darkness. "I see, but you understand that he is more than meets the eye, and taking him down will be difficult. There is also the fact that he is with the princess. I got on her bad side today, and five people died," Zenit said. "That is not for you to worry about. We will be the ones to take him down. The most important thing is for us to ensure that he doesn''t escape. Carry out your part to the best of your ability, and we will take it from there. Just ensure that you make it easy for us to get into the city tomorrow and push the guards away as far as possible. Remember what will happen if you don''t y your part¡ªit will be your head on the execution tform next time," the voice said. "I know what I have to do, so don''t worry," Zenit said, but the person had already left. Zenit stood up and walked to the window. He shut the window and walked back to his desk. He arched himself over the table and let out a long sigh, then he mmed his hand into the table. It was clear that whoever that voice was, he had a hold on Zenit, and there was nothing that Zenit could do. He kept mming the table, over and over again, until his hand started bleeding, and then he stopped. Heid his head on the table and slept there. --- Early the next day, it was time for Silva and the rest to head to the teleportation circle and continue their journey. But Silva had the feeling that all would not go as nned today, because at night he could sense some suspicious movements around, like something was being set up. "Master, I should already guess that you sensed the movements yesterday night, right?" Drake asked as they started heading for the teleportation circle. "Well, I did, and I''m sure Lily did as well, so it''s certain that something will happen here. So keep an eye out, protect Amber and Gabriel," Silva said. When they arrived at the teleportation circle and were about to get into it, Silva sensed an underlying formation. "Everyone stop, don''t walk into the circle," Silva yelled, but one of the elves had already stepped into it, and the underlying formation activated and immediately exploded. The st instantly killed several elves and injured the others. Luckily, Drake protected Amber, Lily, and Gabriel. Silva simply transformed into his dragon-kin form and took the attack head-on. After the st died down, a massive amount of magic-infused arrows came from the sky. Silva immediately transformed into a full dragon and spread out his wings, blocking all the arrows. They hit his scaly back and exploded due to the mana in them, but they weren''t able to harm him. After blocking all the attacks, he looked into the distance and saw an army of monsters he had never seen before. He transformed back and met Amber, then pointed at the iing monsters. "Those things, aren''t they the monsters that are in the forest walls?" Silva asked. "Yes, they are. The question is, how are they here and why are they here?" Amber said. "Well, it seems I''ll get to fight them. I''ve always wanted to fight them after passing through that forest, and now I get the chance," Silva said happily. Chapter 236 Start by melting his insides The monsters were pure ck creatures with lizard-like features and glowing red eyes. One of the monsters Laine saw was about two meters long, and that was the smallest size. Silva took out his sword and then looked at Gabriel. "You stay behind and protect yourself. Amber, you too. You''re strong, but I don''t want you to face danger right now. Drake and Lily, you guys stay with me. Let''s take out these monsters," Silva said. He brought out his wings and shot into the air. He flew towards the horde of monsters at top speed, his sword exploding in abyssal mes. He came down with so much speed that he caused several sonic booms. He mmed the sword into the ground as hended, and abyssal mes exploded in all directions. Find exclusive stories on empire The monsters were tossed in all directions, burned by his mes, but as soon as some were thrown away, more headed his way at full speed. But Silva wasn''t worried. He had a good feeling about this fight. He might finally be able to level up after so long; it had been a while since he gathered enough EXP. A monster came at him with full force, its mouth opening wide to bite his head off, but Silva vanished at thest moment and appeared on the monster. He stabbed through its head and into its brain immediately, killing it. Two monsters tried to trap Silva in the center, but his speed was too much for them. He leaped out of the way and killed both of them in a sh. The fight spiraled from there, with Silva taking the forefront. His speed was so great that it was hard for the monsters to get through. And for the ones that got through, Drake and Lily took them out. After some minutes, Silva got tired because the monsters were way too weak, but then something happened. [You have Leveled up, 100SP] [Unknown monsters bonus 1000SP] He had leveled up and also gotten extra stat points, and he had killed only a few monsters. "System, how did I level up?" Silva asked. [The amount of EXP gained from the monsters is high.] The system gave a simple and straightforward answer, but that gave Silva the gist. These monsters were a gold mine. Silva cloned himself and went full thrust. He didn''t let a single monster pass, and by the time he was done, he leveled up again. This was something that had been extremely hard for him to do for a long time. Then all of a sudden, he got the chance to level up twice. Silva felt the immediate temptation to enter the forest. He could tell that these monsters were the weakest of what the forest had to offer, so how much EXP would he gain if he went into the forest and fought the stronger ones?N?v(el)B\\jnn "Well, whatever just happened, it was an extremely lousy n. I expected better," Silva said. He kicked a body of a monster as he walked. "I feel this was an attempt on your life, Master," Drake said. "Could be me, could be Amber," Silva said. "I highly doubt that it was Amber they came for," Lily said. "That''s not an issue. Even if they came for me, they gave me the opportunity to level up. Also, I have a feeling that Amber knows who might have caused this attack," Silva said and pointed at Amber as she was walking away from there. "We follow her, right?" Lily asked. "Well, duh. Whoever it is, I want to know, and I want to punish that person," Silva said. --- Amber arrived at the manor of the mayor. Without saying anything, she entered. The guards didn''t even try to stop her; they could see that she was actually angry. She barged into the manor and found her way to the office of the mayor. The mayor, who was seated and working, looked up to see who entered his office, and when he saw Amber, he stood up in fright. "It''s funny how you would do something so evil and still have the guts to sit down and work. Didn''t you know that it was easy to figure out who caused that attack at the teleportation circle? Only you can allow someone to tamper with the circle, so I know that you were the one that caused the attack. "No, no, no, Amber, princess, I didn''t do anything of that sort! You have to believe me," Zenit said and walked closer to Amber. Then he suddenly took out a de and thrust it. Amber was not expecting such a move, and so there was no way she could block the attack. She would be stabbed here and die. But his hand stopped moving mid-air. Zenit looked at his hand and saw that someone had grabbed him. He looked up and saw that it was Silva. "Really ballsy of you, Mayor Zenit. To think you would attack me, and right after that try to kill someone really close to me. That is a real lot of guts," Silva said with a smile, but that smile held so much rage that it looked like the smile of the devil. Silva squeezed the arm of Zenit until all the bones shattered inside it. "Arghhhhhhhh!" Zenit screamed loudly, but Silva punched his throat, shattering itpletely, and threw him to the ground. "Hell is too fashionable a ce to send you to. I want to show you real torment here. Drake, take Amber back to the hotel and report what happened. Zenit caused the attack, and he ran away after that, fleeingpletely," Silva said. "Silva, why don''t you let me take him down? I want to be the one to do it," Amber said. "Amber, I know you do, but what I and Lily are about to do, even you won''t be able to stomach it," Silva said. Drake took her by the hand. They left the room and shut the doors. "Lily, start by slowly melting his insides. We''ll know what to do after that," Silva said. Chapter 237 Fate Lines With the help of Amber, the issue of Zenit was handled easily because, yeah, the works of the empire princess held more ground than a mayor. Also, the fact that the mayor vanished after the attack added to it. The search for him immediately started, with elves doing their best to find him. The magical circle was under reconstruction now, and it would take a full day for it to be fixed, so Silva and the others had to stay in the hotel. Butter that day, Silva sensed a powerful being headed towards their hotel. He got up and left the hotel in a rush, to already see Lily and Drake standing outside. "You felt it too?" Silva asked. "How can we not? The pressure is overwhelming. Even without trying, this person is making the whole ce tense," Drake said. Finally, the person that was causing this came into view. She was a woman, extremely beautiful. She was ine. "ine? How is she here?" Silva asked. He dropped his fears now that he saw who it was and headed towards her. "Silva, it''s nice to see you again," ine said.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I can''t say it''s nice to see you as well. After all, you are a demon king. There is no way a demon king woulde to meet me for no reason," Silva said. "Straight to business, I see. Well, Silva, I heard about what happened, the attack, and I came here immediately after I heard that. I''ll be the one taking you to the capital. It''s sweet¡ªthe amount of people that want you dead is far more than you think. Also, you and I have to talk. You are the cause of certain things, and you''ll have to start taking responsibility for them now," ine said. "The first time I see a demon king, and it''s because of this? Sigh, well, going to the capital is what we want, and I guess I can trust you to some extent," Silva said. "Yes, you can. We can go in an hour''s time, but before we go, I''d like to talk to you, Silva, privately," she said while ncing at Drake and Lily. "You think we will allow Silva to go away with you, alone?" Lily asked. "Oh, you have no choice, fairy. It''s either you let me have the talk with him, or you stand against me, and it turns into a fight. You might be strong, but standing against a demon king is way out of your league, so think wisely," ine said with a smile. "It doesn''t matter if we are incapable of fighting you, we will still go at it with all we have," Lily said, ready to attack. "Lily, it''s fine. Just let me talk to her. Even if she tries anything and I can''t win against her, I am certain that I''ll be able to escape from her," Silva said to convince the two. "Fine, but we will be close by," Lily agreed. Then she and Drake left. "Haha, you said you could escape me¡ªthat was funny, Silva," ine said whileughing, but as she looked at Silva''s face, she realized that Silva was not joking. "Ohhh, I love the confidence, but you don''t have to worry. I''ll not be doing anything to you. I just have some private things to discuss," she said and started walking, while Silva followed behind. "You see, when we arrive at the capital, I won''t be able to speak to you privately. I''ll have to show all the discussions to the other demon kings. So I won''t be able to dive into personal topics. You see, Silva, you may not know it yet, but what you are is no longer a demon king or a dragon. What you are is an anomaly, and only a few people know that. They all feel you are a very talented and blessed person, but I know the truth. The way I know that is by seeing fate lines. Fate lines are the fate of every being or thing. Some people''s fate lines are linked to those of other people, meaning that they will affect those people''s fate. Those links are called branches. A single person can have a fate branched to many, many people. Like demon kings, our fate is branched to millions and millions of beings. Experience tales at empire Heroes and demon kings are supposed to have the highest branches, but then you came along. It''s hard to exin how it is, but I can show you," ine said. She stopped walking and ced her hand on Silva''s shoulder. "Close your eyes when I count to three, and I''ll do the rest. One, two, three." Immediately she said three, Silva closed his eyes shut, and then he felt a force pull him quickly into a ce that he didn''t understand. The ce was an empty void filled with glowing threads that stretched out so far that he was not able to see the ends. "You see these threads? They are called fate lines. You might not be able to tell which one is which, but I can, just by touching it. I can see who and whose fate it is, but all I can do is see. I can''t tell anyone about their fates or even try to help them avoid it. It''s a never-ending stream that I can actually see, but I''m not allowed to tamper with. In the past, I actually toyed with some fates. I tried to help them and manipted their fate lines. The results were not funny. Their fate forced its way into existence, but that was not all. This time, it caused harm to more people than it was supposed to. I''ll say this, for example: if you were to die in a house fire and that was your fate, if I stood in the way and tried to stop it, you know what would happen? You would still burn in the house, and maybe this time with your whole family. Everyone would die. You see, me tampering with the fate of one person can create unwanted branches that will cause a lot of issues for other people. So all I can do is watch and watch but never actually help when it gets to it," ine said. "I see, so you are in a trap created by order. You have been given the marvelous ability to see whatever you want. You can see the fate of even your teammates and even my fate. Yet you''ll have to look at me like you can''t. You might even know how I die, but you can''t tell me. Isn''t order a bitch? Because he is, ying people like this," Silva said. "Hmm, you said something about me knowing your death, but that was why I brought you here. Thousands of fate lines, yet there is one that shocks me," ine said. She grabbed Silva and turned him around, and what he saw shocked him. There was a massive red fate line. The red line had so many branches that it was impossible to count them. It was like a massive tree. "What is with that fate line? It''s massive and connecting to more and more lines. What is it?" Silva asked. "Well, that''s your fate line. It appeared fourteen years ago when you were born, and every day since then, an extra branch hase out and has increased in size every day. It''s like it wants to keep going until it connects to all life. A serious anomaly¡ªsomething that shouldn''t exist. Yet you have branched yourself so much that if you are removed just like that, the entire system of the fates that are connected to you will crumble. It will be a domino effect, and it will be a very disastrous one at that. You have be an anchor to many lives," ine said. "So you mean this is me? Well, it makes sense now," Silva said. "What makes sense?" ine asked. "Nothing of much importance. What you just showed me confirmed some thoughts that have been in my head. It''s been a string of thoughts with no real reason or answer, and I have been trying to figure it out. But with what you said now, I understand. Still, that aside, tell me: are you capable of seeing my own fate? So you should know how I die, right?" Silva asked. "Actually, that''s another issue. I can''t see your fate¡ªnot one bit. Ever since your fate line came into existence, I have tried and tried to see it, but I have not been able to. I can see those that you are connected to, but I can never see your own, and that has led me to a conclusion. Your fate is not fixed, Silva. Your fate is not definite. You can change it. You can make it whatever you want. So what I''m saying is, you are an anomaly that can break the world or change it¡ªa wild card, something beyond control. So the demon kings can''t let you just exist like that, and so they want to ce you under very strict supervision." Chapter 238 The Ritual "You want to put me under supervision?" Silva asked. "That''s the n that the demon kings havee up with," ine said. "It won''t work," Silva replied. "Take me out of here," he continued. ine removed them from the space of the fate lines, but she didn''t let go of Silva''s shoulder. "It''s not up to you to decide, Silva. You are too much of a wild card to be left to do what you want. Don''t you understand that some of your actions have effects on multiple races? You are a demon king candidate, and you took over a human kingdom. If the humans wished it, they would have dered that a war move from the demon kings and all races under them. Your actions, your decisions, they reflect on us as well, and not just you. Your life is not for you to do as you wish. With poweres responsibility, and you need to show that you are ready for it and ount for what you do," ine said. "ount for what I did? Of course, I ount for everything that I do. It''s my decision and my choices. It is no one''s sin to bear¡ªonly mine. You need to understand that everything I do should be pinned on me, not the demon kings, not anyone else. I am my own person. I make my own choices, and I take the consequences of all of them. But to be tied down to any faction or group, I refuse that. Like you said, my fate is in my own hands, and I can make the choices that I want, and that is exactly what I will do. I''m not going to bend to any of thews and codes you have. I''d rather die than do that," Silva said. "Hmm, I see. I might not be able to kill you because of the importance you have, but that doesn''t mean there aren''t other ways to keep you in line. You will be having a meeting with me and the other demon kings. They won''t be here; they''ll only talk through crystals, but they will be able to watch you. I''m sure that after the meeting, you will not have any choice but toe under our supervision. Like I said, we don''t need to threaten you to make youply," ine said. "That sounds pretty much like a threat already, but don''t worry yourself too much about me, because I will not be listening to whatever you all have to say. I am not going to be controlled by anyone, but I will follow you to wherever it is that you want to take me. I''ll be in my room. Tell me when you are ready to take us to the capital," Silva said and turned around. ine watched him go. She had a smile on her face¡ªit seemed she had other ns, different from what Silva was saying. She wouldn''t be a demon king if she allowed a small boy like Silva to y around with her. --- An hourter, ine gathered everyone: Silva, Drake, Lily, Amber, and Gabriel. She took her real form as the magnificent Fynrir so that she could use her magic fully. She asked for all of them to ce their hands on her right outside the hotel. When they did, her fur began glowing, and in a bright sh, they had left. They appeared right in the castle of the emperor. Silva was shocked that she was able to directly take them to the castle. Stay tuned for updates on empire That sort of teleportation would take an absurd amount of mana. Maybe Lily would be able to do it, but it would deplete her mana greatly. But from the looks of things, ine was barely affected by it. It made Silva curious about how much strength she possessed. He used Dragon Eyes to look at her, but for the first time in a while, he couldn''t see anything. ine sensed what Silva tried to do. She looked back at him and smiled. Silva knew that she sensed it, but he didn''t care at all. He just kept a straight face while looking at her. "Alright, I know you all have something to discuss with the emperor, and I''ll let you get to that, but after you are done, Silva has something to do with me. So I hope you won''t try to run away after the meeting. The demon kings will not be happy if they don''t get to talk to Silva," ine said and started walking away. "We are finally here. Come, Silva, I''ll take you to my father," Amber said and grabbed him by the hand. She dragged him into the castle while the others followed. Because Amber was with them, no guards or elves tried to stop them. They just watched them pass. When they arrived at therge doors of the throne room, Amber eagerly pushed the door and walked in while pulling Silva. Her father was seated on the throne while talking to some elves about certain businesses. Immediately he spotted Amber, he dismissed them tillter. The elves left immediately, and the king came down from the throne.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Daddy, I''m back, and I brought Silva," Amber said. "You already informed me he would being, Amber," Greenwood said with a chuckle. He could see that his daughter was excited to show Silva to him. He sized up Silva with his eyes before stretching out his hand to shake him. "Demon king candidate Silva, it''s nice to finally meet you. You have been the talk of everywhere for a while now. I knew they said you were very young, but now seeing it makes me shocked." "I also didn''t expect Amber''s father to be this young and good-looking," Silva said and shook his hand. "Ah, a young tterer. I like you already. But before I get into knowing you and whatnot, Amber said that you wanted to find someone. Is that true?" Greenwood asked. "Well, yes. My friend here, Gabriel, had a love, a half-elf, but many years back, she was taken from him by elves. For some reason, they decided that they wanted her back and they snatched her away from him. But I made a promise to him that he will get her back, and that is why I am here to ask for a favor from you," Silva said. "Hmm, I see. The only reason for an elf family to look for a half-elf and bring them into their family is if there is no heir and she is the only one that can take the ce. Honestly, calling it an heir is quite a stretch. ve would be a better term to refer to her. You already understand that elves love pure blood. So there is no way they would allow a half-blood to taint their family, and they have methods to ensure that it never happens. Thedy will be kept to reproduce, and whenever it is time to conceive, they will first use a specific magical ritual to ensure that her human blood is suppressed. And trust me, it is not a nice procedure. It causes immense pain to her, and if she isn''t strong enough, it will break her mind for good. She will be slept with while undergoing this ritual, and after the seed is nted, she will undergo a constant magical formation for the duration of the pregnancy. She can''t move, she can''t go anywhere. She is cleaned once in a while, and fed whatever they want, when they want. It remains like that until the child is born, a forced pure blood. And she will have to go through this for as many children as needed. It is an evil process, one that I hate down to my bones, and I want to abolish, but stopping something like this is not as easy as it seems," Greenwood said. Silva nced at Gabriel after they heard what would have happened to his love. Gabriel balled his fists in anger, his body trembling violently. Silva ced his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder and spoke. "You don''t have to get too angry. Allow me to take that anger for you and deal with those that have done it." "Her name is Rose. Is it possible to find her?" Silva asked Greenwood. "If she is an elf or half-elf, we will be able to find her through the World Tree, but only Amber can ess that information. All elves, once they step here, have their memories tied to the tree. So if Amber takes what she knows about Rose and goes to the tree, she will be able to find Rose or any leads to her. I promise that when you find out whoever it is that took her, I''ll give you the unlimited right to do what you want to them. I have already done my best to abolish the practice amongst the nobles, so if it''s any of them, then they deserve to be punished for it," Greenwood said. "I couldn''t ask for a better privilege," Silva said with a smirk on his face. Chapter 239 Green Elves Greenwood led the group through a secret footpath in the castle and into a hallway, with glowing green tree roots passing through the walls. "The roots of the tree go through the entire empire, but not many know that. The heir of the tree is capable of seeing all life and knowing all memories," Greenwood said. "Hmm, with the power that this tree shows, shouldn''t it be capable of controlling the whole world?" Silva asked. "Well, it can. That''s why its name is the World Tree. It''s supposed to be the link to all life. The World Tree was known as the Tree of Life and Death, and the tree was located at the center of life, which is where the empire is now situated. The tree was run by the celestials and the demons, used to create and grant life as well as take it. But the demons had a n that changed everything. All of a sudden, the demons used the tree behind the backs of the celestials to create a new race, one so powerful that it shook the bnce.N?v(el)B\\jnn They created the ck dragons, a race filled with demon blood, dragon blood, and celestial blood," Greenwood said and looked at Silva. "Wait, three of their bloods? This is the first time I am hearing of this. You mean I have celestial blood? The demon blood I can understand, but celestial?" Silva asked. "Well, the amount of celestial blood that they put in your race is very little, but it acted as a way to increase the base strength of the dark dragons. But this is your question? I thought you''d be shocked that celestials and demons could make races," Greenwood said. "Well, why would I be shocked at that? You told me that the name was the Tree of Life and Death; the celestials and demons had control over it. So that simply tells me that they could create races, and those races could grow and be powerful. Ophelia seems ever so busy, so I can understand why she would allow the creation of races to the demons and celestials," Silva said. Greenwood stopped in his tracks after Silva said that. "You know about Ophelia? I know she has many worshippers, but you spoke like you know her personally. Not even the demon kings or heroes have that ess," Greenwood said. "There are things that, even if it meant death, I can''t tell you, because lives are tied to it," Silva said. "I can understand that. It makes sense," Greenwood said. "So back to the dark dragons. They became the most powerful race, and they ruled over the dragons, taking the seat of the red dragons. All this was what led to the demon and celestial wars, the war that changed the world. But during that time is when we found out that the celestials were prepping the humans the same way that the demons made the dark dragons. But theycked the time and the resources to make them extremely powerful. However, the humans were pretty powerful, and they helped the celestials in the war. While the demons had all other races under the leadership of the dark dragons. The war was almost shattering the world. But then, from what we know, Ophelia sealed the demons and the celestials. After they were sealed, the World Tree sought out a race that would take control of it. But the dragon races, which were to have it, were too chaotic. The next best choice seemed to be the elves, and so we took over. It has been like that for thousands of years," Greenwood finished his story. "So why are you elves incapable of creation? It looks like the World Tree is weaker than it was back then," Silva said. "We can''t, because to create a new life, you need the power of the divine, a power that demons and celestials have. So to us, it''s more of a loving protector that keeps the elf race alive," Greenwood said. They finally arrived at a wooden door with a glowing green crystal at the center of the door. Greenwood ced his hand on the crystal, and the door opened, revealing what seemed to be the inside of the tree. It was like a massive room, and there was twirling light that shot into the ceiling in a beautiful manner. "This is the deepest we can take normal people into the tree. Amber will also have to stop here. With her current level of connection with the tree, going deeper could kill her," Greenwood said. Amber stepped forward and stretched her hand into the light. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then ced her second hand. The lights shined brighter and enveloped herpletely. Discover more content at empire Amber''s mind was pulled out of her body and shot through the tree. She passed through the roots like a spark at a very fast speed. She could see the whole empire, the memories of people, the activities they were into. She could see the evil and the good. Every single thing was open to her eyes, even if she could do nothing to stop them. After close to a minute, she finally came across memories that seemed simr to Gabriel''s. She saw the beautiful young elf and a young man living together, cooking, and enjoying the joys of life. Then one day, she was taken away by elves. She was taken to a mansion, a noble of the green elves. Immediately, she got the information of where thedy was. Amber pulled out of the light. She was a bit drowsy. Silva caught her before she could fall and helped her walk to the side of the room. She took a few seconds to calm her head. "She is here. I found her. She was taken by the green elves, a noble house. It''s hardly half a day''s journey from here," Amber said. "That''s nice. We can finally get you your lover, Gabriel, and I think I''ll get a good fight when we arrive there," Silva said. Chapter 240 Killing the fairy After they left the tree, Silva got permission from the emperor, permission to fly in their airspace. So he transformed into his dragon form and took them on his back. Silva''s dragon had grown quite a bit over time, even though he hadn''t noticed it yet, but his size was bigger and his scales lustrous. He shot through the air like a bullet, but within the speed that the people on his back were safe. The whole empire underneath him were shocked to see a dragon flying freely, but all army bases had been told not to move against him. It took a few hours of flying and Silva arrived at the city that they needed to be, and with air clearance, he couldnd without a single issue. Afternding, he transformed back to normal, and then the main task started. "Well, wended and made quite the scene, so let''s get to business. Our guests are not expecting us, but they can''t really stop the princess from entering anywhere." Silva said and started heading in the direction of the manor. Every elf around kept staring at the princess and her entourage, and before Silva could even reach the manor, the word of their arrival reached all the nobles. "I have a question, Amber. Most elves have golden hair, maybe a few white and ck. So I wonder, how do you know if someone is a gold elf, green elf, or whatever?" Silva asked. "Hmm, it''s like human tribes, in the blood, not really many physical features to know, but we can tell immediately when we see another elf." Amber said. "Oh, that all makes sense, I think. Well, we have made it to the manor, and forgive me now, but I am not holding back at all." Silva said and took out his sword. "Wait, you want to just barge in there?" Gabriel asked. "Well, duh," Silva replied. "It''s too risky, what if they think you are here for Rose and decide to kill Rose or use her as a hostage?" Gabriel said. "Don''t worry about that, they won''t touch her, because they don''t know we are here for her. Also, there is the fact that Drake and Liy have already scanned this entire ce and they know exactly where she is. I won''t tell you though, because you''ll probably allow emotions to get the better of you, and that will not bode well for the n." Silva said and then kicked the gate of the manor open, without even pausing for a second. He sted into the house, broke the door, where a line of elves were waiting with swords. Silva stopped immediately when he saw them, the smile on his face still there. "Dragon, whoever you are, we implore you to stand down, or we will cut you down now." One of the guards yelled. "Oh,e on, I didn''te this far only to back down after a threat, pleasee at me with all that you can." Silva said. The guards saw that Silva was not backing down, so they attacked Silva. Silva shed with his sword with one swift motion. A thin line of an abyss me arc shot out, and passed through the elves, slicing their bodies in half. "That''s pretty boring," Silva said and walked past their bodies. But as his feet touched the steps, he felt a sudden chill and then he leaped out of the way. Right at the position that he was, a de passed through the air. Silva followed the de and then his eyes focused on an ethereal figure that normal eyes wouldn''t be able to see.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Even without dragon eyes, he could still see the person, due to the fact that he had far better eyes. "I can see you already, so kill the hiding." Silva said. "Well, you have a perceptive eye, but I''ll still have to kill you." A female spoke and suddenly appeared, she was oddly not an elf, she was a fairy, with a purple dress and purple wings. She held a light sword in her hand and it exuded mana. She immediately stabbed at Silva''s heart, but Silva had already moved out of the way. She was shocked at this, she looked around and could not see him. "Looking for me?" He asked and ced his hand on her shoulder. "I don''t know why a fairy is working for an elf, but right now, I want to get someone important to me from this house. And I don''t want to hurt a random person, but if you don''t stop, I''ll kill you without hesitation." Silva said. She leaped out of the way and pointed her de at Silva. "You don''t understand what I have to go through, and you being here is risking a lot of things for me, so I have to kill you." She said and attacked Silva, but Silva vanished again, and there was a crunching sound. Explore stories at empire She slowly looked down at her torso and saw that half of it had been sted out, her guts were all over the floor. She slowly fell to the ground, without a word, she died there. Silva walked towards her dead body and he noticed that there was a pendant on her neck. Silva reached for it, took it out, and opened it. There was a picture of a small girl inside, and that was when Silva realized, this fairy had been doing this for her sister, and he was certain that this elf family had something to do with it. Silva balled his hand in anger and then put the pendant into his ring. "I''ll find out where this girl is and I''ll keep her safe for you. At the very least, I should help you on that." Silva said and started walking up the stairs without looking back. The blood of the fairy poured out of her and under the door, dripping outside the manor, while the footsteps of Silva resounded through the manor, in slow steady steps. Having to kill an innocent didn''t make him angry, it only made him more determined about killing the people that put her up to this. Chapter 241 Mad man After taking out the main guards and the special attacker, which was the fairy, the entire manor turned quiet. Only Silva''s heavy footsteps resounded in the long hallway. He could tell that he was being watched, and they were strong. He had made some research into this family before he came and understood that they were a Viscount family¡ªnot too high, but also not low. In the Morning Elvish Empire, they might not have been at the top of the charts, but they had their influence and were well-respected. They also had well-trained elves under them, and those were definitely the ones watching Silva now. They didn''t want to attack carelessly after seeing what Silva did to all the guards. This was the first time the manor was being attacked with such power, and it was only one person¡ªor so they thought. "Come out and fight me, or I will have all your heads for myself," Silva said.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om And as if in response to what he said, a magical circle lit up under him. Silva leaped out of it, but vines shot out of the circle andtched onto him. They pulled him and mmed him to the ground. The vines wrapped around his entire body and rendered him immobile. After he was tied down to the ground, the elves that had been hiding leaped out with their swords, ready to attack. "Hahahaha, you all really thought those vines would be enough to hold me? Pathetic," Silva''s voice came from the vines. Then the vines were consumed with abyssal mes. The elves immediately stopped and moved away from the mes. Silva stood up, covered in mes from head to toe. The mes slowly died, revealing Silva. "I thought I would face a bigger challenge when it came to the elves, but I was overestimating the resources that a Viscount can have," Silva said and then vanished. When he reappeared, blood sprayed in the air, and bodies of the elves fell to the ground. Silva continued and walked into the main room of the house. Inside the room, Drake and Lily had already somehow entered and taken control of the issue. The Viscount was there on the ground with his two sons. "What about Rose? Where is she?" Silva asked. "Well, she is unconscious. For some reason, she has been that way, and life support has been used to keep her alive. Gabriel and Amber are in the other room with her," Drake said. Silva frowned when he heard this. He grabbed the Viscount by the hair and lifted his face up. "You bloody bastard, what did you do to her? Why is she like that?" Silva asked. "I will never spill the secrets of¡ª" Bam! Silva smashed the head of the Viscount into the ground with so much force it cracked the floor. His nose cracked, and blood began pouring like a stream, coloring the ground. "I''ll ask you this again. Tell me what you did to her, or I will make sure that you see hell," Silva said. He lifted the man up with one hand and threw him into a wall. Silva then picked up the two sons. They were very young, not more than eighteen. They were scared shitless and couldn''t even move. Silva kneeled them up and faced their father. "If you had these two, why did you take Rose? Tell me now, or you''ll know what the definition of pain is," Silva said. But the Viscount was still reluctant, so Silva immediately snapped the arm of one of the sons. The boy screamed like a pig about to die. He fell to the floor and writhed like a worm. His father didn''t expect Silva to take such actions. He got up and attacked Silva. He was an evolved elf with very good earth magic. He ced his hand on the ground and caused earth spikes to shoot out, but Silva lifted his other son and ced him in front of him like a shield. The Viscount immediately stopped the attack, as he didn''t want to impale his son. He fell to his knees, giving up. Silva dropped the boy on the ground and then kicked his head aside. Then he walked to the Viscount. "You are powerless. All that control, all that power that you possessed¡ªthey are all gone, vanishedpletely. You are nothing but an ant before me," Silva said and grabbed him by the neck. He lifted the Viscount off the ground and looked him in the eye. "Right now, I need you to spill all the secrets¡ªall the secrets that are in you." Silva used intimidation, and immediately it worked because the mind of the Viscount was already shattered. "I''ll tell you. I''ll tell you what you want to know. Rose is the daughter of one of the most skilled mages in the family. But the mage was a wild card and never listened, and so he got a human pregnant. Soon after, he died, without an heir or anyone to inherit his knowledge. But his daughter¡ªshe inherited the blood. She had it running through her veins. She was surely the one that would learn his teachings and master them with her exceptional talent for magic. But she is a half-elf. No way can she inherit the family, so we decided that we would find her. When we did, we would force-breed her to create the perfect next generation. And when we found her, we took her, and we tried to start the process. But for many years, it had been fail after fail. Something in her body always fought against her insemination, and when we managed to get her pregnant, that same thing would move and kill the baby. For years now, it has been a tug of war. Well, until a few weeks back, when one of the extended family members who was well-versed in the issue decided that it would be smart to make her fall unconscious andpletely turn off her mind. But when we did that, we discovered that her mana blocked out all passages, even the ce that allows insemination. She waspletely sealed off¡ªfar worse than what we had expected. But the issues didn''t stop there because we couldn''t wake her up. She was alive, but no matter what we did, we could no longer bring her back. She was stuck in aa state. All we could do was provide life support to keep her alive longer as we searched for a way to wake her up. That is the whole story¡ªeverything that we did and why she is in that state. I promise, I only did it because I wanted to help my family. I didn''t like it. I am not some evil person. I wouldn''t just do something so evil like that, but I had no choice. I''m sure you have had to make hard decisions. You should understand, right?" the Viscount asked. "Yes, I understand. I very much do. But I understand it fully, and you understand it partially. I understand that when you make a difficult decision, you should also take the consequences that follow it. And your decisions have finally caught up with you. But don''t fear yet; there might be some salvation for you," Silva said and took out the pendant. "This pendant belongs to the fairy that you used to attack me. There is an image inside¡ªthat of a little fairy. So I''m certain that the reason why this fairy would work for you had something to do with the fairy in this image. Your life depends on the truth, so tell me theplete truth, and your life will be spared. Who is the little girl in this pendant?" When the Viscount saw the pendant and heard who it was from, he began sweating unusually. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no words came out. Your journey continues at empire Then he finally spoke. "The small fairy got lost a long time ago, and I found her and took her in as a ve. After a while, her sister discovered where she was and tried toe for her, but I held the little fairy hostage and started using the fairy to carry out tasks, in the hopes that she would see her sister. But that was a lie because not long after the fairy came, I had killed her sister. Elf wings sell for a stupidly high price, and the little elf was useless to me as she was," the Viscount finished speaking. Silva''s grip tightened around the cor of the Viscount. He drew a deep breath and then spoke. "I have seen evil people, and I have no issues with them. But you¡ªyou are not meant to be alive. You are nothing but a madman," Silva said. Silva took his sword and immediately stabbed it into the head of one of the sons, killing him instantly. Then he shed off the head of the second one. "The sins of the father will be paid by the sons," Silva said as he looked at the Viscount, who was losing his mind. Chapter 242 True power of the emperor After killing both his sons, Silva walked to the viscount and pointed his de at his neck. "Those who take should be ready to be taken from. Life is that simple. Karma is a bitch," Silva said and was about to drive his sword through the throat of the viscount. But the viscount managed to summon hisst defense, and that was stating the obvious. "If you kill me, you would have killed an elvish noble. The elves will not let this slide; they will surelye after you," he said, trying to sway Silva to at least spare his life. "Hmm," Silva acted as though he was in thought, and a glimmer of hope shone on the face of the viscount, but it was immediately shattered by what Silva said next. "I don''t really care, you see. In this very house, in the other room is Amber, the daughter of the emperor, and right in this room, about to stab you, is a demon lord candidate. So you see, no one would care about puny you. You''ll vanish, and life will go on. But since you thought you were special, I don''t want to kill you the normal way anymore." "Consume." Silva activated Consume and devoured the man. As usual, Gluttony extracted the man''s abilities, which were earth magic, and added them to the ever-increasing abilities Silva had. So far, he had stockpiled so many of them, but he hardly used them because they weren''t his main elements, and they were not powerful enough yet. After the death of the viscount, Silva headed to the other room where Gabriel and Abler were with the unconscious Rose. Gabriel was slowly stroking her hair. The pain in his heart showed; he was barely holding himself together. He looked up at Silva when he entered the room. "Will you be able to wake her?" he asked. "Sigh, I''d love to promise you that I would, but I have little to no experience with this. But still, doing the impossible is what I am known for. I''ll give it my best and then some. I want her to be back with you as well. She has suffered more than her fair share of torture for a lifetime," Silva said. "Master, the city guards are outside the building. They want to know what''s going on," Drake walked up behind Silva and spoke. "I''ll handle that," Amber said. She got up and left the room. Silva walked to the window and watched what was happening. When Amber arrived in front of the guards, they all bowed to the ground. She began speaking and then took out a piece of paper and showed it to them. The guards took a look at it, and they withdrew from the manor. When Amber returned inside, Silva was curious as to what she did, so he asked her. "How did you get them to go that easily?" Silva asked. "I showed them a signed paper from my father that stated that this noble family hadmitted a grand crime and were to all be executed," Amber said. --- The news of the eradication of the noble family reached the whole city, and the reason for it was also known to the public. For illegally using a half-elf for forced breeding. It was a warning to the nobles in the city and beyond that the emperor was beginning to take action. But this action didn''t sit well with the elves that had been fighting it all this time. They were part of the parliament and council. They expected that the emperor would run something like this through them first. And then they would simply fight against it and make it a whole lot harder, but now the emperor made a move without telling anyone. It immediately caused an uproar, and in less than two days, several high-ranked elves began sparking riots, especially in the capital.N?v(el)B\\jnn While all this was going on, the emperor was seated in a lounge with Silva, reading the report of all that was happening. Silva took a sip of the fine tea that he was given and then ced the cup down on the table. "So what are you going to do now? The high nobles are undermining your authority as the emperor," Silva said. "Hahaha, it''s funny. What they are doing is funny. There is only one group of people that can question the emperor, and that is called the Grand Council. But every elf knows they exist. The Grand Council is made of elves that have ruled the empire and retired, heroes thatpleted great feats, and the wisest of all elves. They stay in the background, watching and helping. They are my father, my grandfathers, friends, and acquaintances. One day, I''ll join them. Aside from them, no one is allowed to tell me what to do. I hold ultimate power. This facade that they have as power was created by the emperors to make the people feel that the emperors could be controlled. I actually wanted to make this system work and give the people their voices, but I saw that it only allowed space for the nobles to carry out their evil and also hinder good ns. So today, I''ll remind them. I''ll remind them what it means to be the emperor," Greenwood said. Explore more stories at empire Silva felt the aura of Greenwood change. It became domineering, more powerful; it was like a raging storm. "Come with me," Greenwood said as he left the room. Silva immediately followed. Whatever Greenwood wanted to do, he wanted to see it. He found a balcony that faced the entire kingdom, and then he used some sort of projection magic, and his face was projected all over the capital. "When good is taken for granted, and people choose to apud evil, it breaks my heart. Seeing all of you take the sides of these evil nobles that only want to make gains. Well, I will not allow my people to be taken for fools by nobles that think they have power. Ipletely locked down the capital for the next seven days, and in those seven days, the shadow elite force will be looking into all nobles in the capital. And they will arrest and execute all those that are guilty. Starting now, there is no leaving or entering the capital," Greenwood gave the abrupt announcement and then raised his hand into the air, and an extremelyrge magical circle formed over the capital. It then transformed into a dome that covered the entire capital. Chapter 243 Talking to the demon kings "You straight up locked the whole capital," Silva said. "Well, I''m tired of allowing the nobles to run free. It took youing here for me to finally act," Greenwood said. "I guess. You also said the lockdown willst for seven days. I''m pretty sure I''ll want to leave before then. Your journey continues at empire The only thing I need to do now is talk to the demon kings and then leave. So how will I get out with the lockdown?" Silva asked. "As much as I''d like for you to stay longer, you do have a kingdom to run, and as a fellow ruler, I can understand that you need to leave. When the timees that you want to leave, I can easily tear open a spot for you to leave," Greenwood said. "I understand. Well, I have another question. Where is ine? I need to find her," Silva said. "Oh, I''m here." ine walked up behind Silva. Silva had not even felt her presence when she came close, and it gave him goosebumps. He turned and faced her. "How long have you been here?" he asked. "Long enough to know that the emperor will tear his lockdown for you to leave," ine said. "So you were here the whole time," Silva said. "Well, you can say that, but that is not important. The demon kings have been waiting to speak to you for a while, and I also want to get this over with, soe with me," ine said and started walking away. Silva followed her until they got to a lounge in the castle. She opened the door and walked inside, and Silva followed without hesitation. When he locked the door, ine snapped her fingers, and she transformed back into her real form. Then a formation of runes covered the wallpletely. "What is with the runes?" Silva asked. "Well, they''re to ensure no one hears our discussions. The things we will speak about are not something that anyone should hear," ine said. ine took out thirteen crystal ques and threw them into the air. They flew around in a circle and then stopped, forming a circle around Silva. "Now let the meetingmence. Demon kings, in front of you is the Dark Dragon Silva, the one that has been on everyone''s lips for days," ine introduced Silva. "So you are the Dark Dragon, the one that refuses to take a breather and calm down," a voice came out of one crystal. "I believe we didn''te for petty talk," Silva responded. "Cocky. I like you already," the voice replied. ine decided that she would be the one to ask most of the questions, so she stepped forward. "Silva, do you know the responsibility of a demon king?" ine asked. "To keep the bnce," Silva answered without giving it much thought. "No, Silva, not at all. Do you know how many races exist outside humans? We have the higher races like the elves, dragons, and more. We still have the lesser races, like the goblins and the slimes. And the life of those races lies in our hands. Do you know what would happen if one of the demon kings vanished one day? It would mean war, and an immediate breakout of war, a war that will very much shake all life. Innocents will die in millions. Kingdoms will fall. Even your loved ones will die, and I can assure you that you will not be able to save them, no matter what you do." When she got to that statement, Silva balled his fists, but he didn''t do anything. "The bnce is so delicate that the life of one of us could spell the destruction of the entire world as you know it. That is why we need to ensure everything goes as it is supposed to, and you, Silva, we need to ensure that you also follow certain procedures. We need to know where your loyalty lies¡ªwith us or the humans," ine said. "It lies with me, no one else. I refuse to follow any of you. I might be a demon king candidate, but that doesn''t mean I have to follow you guys and do what you want," Silva said. "Silva, we demon kings are not dumb. We can tell that all your actions have been calcted. It might look like you are doing what you just want to do, but that isn''t the case, right?" ine asked. Silva saw that this was not going to be an easy thing because they were not just intelligent, but they had lived long enough to see most of the world and how it works. "Fine, I''ll tell you. The actions I take are set up by the goddess Ophelia. I have a secret deal with her, and I have to do what she asks," Silva said. He believed that they would just think he was crazy and ept that he was doing what he wanted. "Hmm, that makes more sense. It all makes sense now," one of the demon kings said. "Wait, what? I just told you that I was speaking with the goddess, and you think that is normal?" Silva said.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Of course, it makes more sense now, but that does not mean we will let you do what you want. Ophelia is the goddess, and she can only speak to you in a limited manner, I''m certain of that. So we can say for sure that you are the one misinterpreting what she is saying to fit your own wants and desires. The best solution will be for us to hold you, and when she speaks, you''ll tell us, and we will help you interpret. You are too much of a risk, Silva. Look at the power that you possessed before receiving your curse. If we let you randomly interpret what Ophelia tells you, it will probably lead to the destruction of our world," the demon king said. "Not interested. You see, I have ns to fight all of you one day, so I can''t get too close. Also, I believe I have been interpreting what Ophelia wants pretty well. I know your next n after I refuse will be to have ine capture me, but it will not work, to be honest," Silva said. He cloned himself, and then the clone made another clone, and the second clone made a third clone. "You can already sense that the third clone is extremely powerful, right? I might not be able to keep it for long, but I can make up to ten of them, and with the strength of the tenth one, there is no way ine will be able to stop me without destroying the capital or the entire empire, and we all don''t want that, right?" Silva asked. "Smart move, Silva," inemended him. Chapter 244 Leaving the Elf Empire "It seems you are not as simple as we thought, Silva, but since you feel so strongly about refusing to be under us, we will give you time. In a few months, the awakening will happen, and you will take the actual role of demon king, while we will begin to teach you what is needed. In the time you have, round up whatever task the Goddess gave you, because you muste to start your work as the demon king regardless of anything, so keep that in mind," one of the demon kings spoke. Silva didn''t want to argue more about it; he had already managed to stop them from taking harsh decisions. He wasn''t confident that he would be able to escape ine. This was not a matter of stats and power levels; she had some things that he didn''t. For example, she had her curse. Silva had never seen a curse in action, but the fact that it was the thing needed to boost you and make you a demon king made it evidently clear that it was extremely powerful. And there was also the understanding ofws, which he was certain that she had a lot of. When people reach a certain level of power, it is no longer about strength, but more about techniques, styles, and abilities. Find more adventures on empire "Fine, I''ll use my time to do what I have to, but that being said, you are not to interfere with whatever I do within that period. I''ll be taking some movements that might not sit well with anyone, but as per our deal, you are to hold up until after the time frame," Silva said. "Fine, we all agree to that, but we will still be watching you. If whatever you do threatens the peace and stability of everything, we will stop you." "That''s fine by me," Silva said and walked out. He took onest look into the room and left. As he walked down the hallway, he started thinking. He had received a time frame. If he could get stronger before the curse, he would be the strongest demon long after he received the curse. And because he is the strongest, no one will be able to control him at that point; he will be untouchable. "I think I have to visit the voidbyrinth when I get back." Silva also wanted to go into the forest wall and fight some of the monsters, but he had been away from Dark Dragon for so long. He needed to get back and see how things were going. But he set it in the back of his mind that he would return here for sure, and he would enter that forest. He needed to fight some of those monsters; they gave good exp, and he needed that now. --- Later that day, he met with the emperor and informed him that they would be leaving today. The emperor was reluctant, but he had to allow it. He prepared a teleportation circle for all of them that took them right before the forest gate, and they would leave from there. The guards of the forest gate opened up the gate, and Silva, along with everyone, left the elf empire. The time he spent was short, and he didn''t get to do and see all that there was to the empire. But he did get to take out a noble, talk to the demon kings, and learn a lot about himself and the dark dragons. The emperor could not see them off, though, because of the lockdown and investigation. Silva was certain that there were going to be some changes in the empire because of this. As they passed through the forest path, Silva could barely hold himself from leaping into the forest to go and fight against whatever was inside. It was like they were calling to him, but he resisted. But that didn''t stop him from creating a n for itter. He had clones, and he could keep one in Dark Dragon and find his way here to sneak into the forest. The only bad side to this idea was the fact that he didn''t know what to expect and could probably get lost inside the forest.N?v(el)B\\jnn So if he wanted to enter, he would need to meet the emperor and discuss if there was a way that he could escape if he entered. If there was a way, then he would definitely take that gamble and enter. He would also have to prepare his own countermeasures in case the way that the emperor said he could get out failed. For now, it was not wise to rush it; he needed time to do it well. He had a lot on his te, and rushing it would absolutely do no good. --- "So what did you and the demon kings discuss with Silva?" Greenwood asked. He reclined into the couch while facing ine, who was opposite him across the table. "Nothing much. We just tried to assess his stand. I don''t know if he noticed that, but his answers were all well thought out. For one, I don''t think we have to worry about him siding with the humans. He is a prideful one, and humans¡ªthey know how to prick the pride of people. They are too prideful for their own good. They believe they are superior. It''s the cause of the celestials; they made that race feel special, and it became engraved into their DNA. Though their pride falls short when ites to dragons, and unlike them, dragons have the right to be prideful as one of the most powerful races. And humans hate that. It makes them insecure, and so they''ll try to make life hard for Silva rather than work with him. And with his pride as a dark dragon, he will hate that and always be against them. But then again, this is a spection on iplete data. Silva might be on to a far bigger and more creative n. All we can do is sit back and watch it unfold. It is bound to be a great show." Chapter 245 Meeting When Silva arrived back home, he was met with numerous questions as to where he went and what he did. He had to leave the answering to Lily and Drake. He had so much stress gathered up that he had to rest. But the next day, immediately after he woke up, he was in full drive, and he called for a meeting with those closest to him. His guardians, summons, siblings, and close people like Roxy and Aris all sat in the council room, waiting for Silva. Silva arrived in the room and took his seat. He looked around and was certain that everyone was present before he started talking. "It''s nice to see all of you here. It''s shocking how much we have grown since the first day I stepped out into the forest in Ribest. That was where I met most of you, where I had most of my conflicts, and the ce that became my home for a while. Honestly, it''s been a crazy ride, and we moved so fast that even I don''t understand how. I didn''t expect our growth to be so rapid or for us to be here. You know that there are ns I made in the past, like using the mercenaries or the Dark des or creating my own business ventures to help us take control of the kingdom. But we didn''t need most of them, and the ns just ended up being thrown away. I don''t regret making any of the ns, though. The only reason we never used the ns was because I grew too fast and made some rash decisions that actually sped things up more than we anticipated. But making all those ns and drafting them out on a daily basis was totally worth it. It was worth every second and every minute we all put into it. Now, I''d also like to address the war that we fought and won. Thousands of lives were taken in that war, and they were mostly human. So this is for Fay, Roxy, Mike, Lia, Quin, and Leah. You followed me despite the fact that I took away the lives of humans. I''ve nevere around to say it, but I''m beyond grateful that you stayed by my side and fought with me." Silva paused, took a deep breath, and started talking again. "All I have been saying is because we will be starting the move against the empire quicker than expected. The reason is that when I went to the elf empire, I had a talk with the demon kings, and they have given me a time frame to finish all that I have to do.N?v(el)B\\jnn And that includes finding out who is making the fake demon blood and why. There is also the issue of the person who has been ripping portals. All of these are threats to us in their own way, so we have to stop what we can when we can. That starts with the empire and the demon blood. Most of us have seen what that blood can do when ingested by a normal person. It gives them more power but eats their sanity and soon turns them into monsters. As much as I''d hate to admit it, Dark Dragon is nowhere near what I want security-wise. It is still very muchcking, and that is an issue. If someone were to slip into the kingdom with the demon blood, it would cause unwanted trouble. The empire and the Holy Kingdom are all looking for ways to destroy our little inter-race kingdom. Having rampaging citizens is not a good thing at all because it will give them the perfect excuse to jump the procedures and attack us. So while we are building our defenses, we also have to infiltrate and find out what the demon blood is and if it has anything to do with the portals. In the long run, we are still defending ourselves. Now, this brings us to how we will be doing all of this. We have a short time frame, and it would be crazy to leap into the empire without a n. So for that, over the next week or so, those of you who are yet to evolve will be going into a training camp that will be headed by Zack, Fang, Drake, and me as well. We will help you evolve as fast as possible because your strength is going to be needed¡ªall of you, that is. The empire is a ce crawling with the most unusual people, and we can''t know who is who or what they can do. We will be running in blind for sure. So having ourselves in the best condition is the least that we can do for our own sakes. Now onto the n for the training, and then after that, I''ll talk about the n for the empire. Experience more tales on empire The best way for someone to evolve will be by gathering experience, and thates through battles and hardships. So for the first week, Drake, Fang, and Zack will be hunting you inside a sealed-off forest. I''ll be hunting as well. But it doesn''t stop there at all. Inside this forest, we will take away sleep, and we will take away any sort offort. How will I do that? Well, by releasing an absurd amount of abominations from thebyrinth into the forest, and their only goal is to make life harder for you and try to kill you. While you sleep, while you ease yourself, during everything you do within that first week, they wille for you. This should all work together to boost your experience as much as possible. You will face countless battles that will probably break all of you, but you''ll have to push through if you want to evolve and help our ns for the empire," Silva exined to them. He let out a tired sigh, as he had been speaking for a while, and then he continued again. "Now, with that out of the way, I''d like to talk about the n for the empire. You see, the empire is a massive ce. I haven''t been there, but I have done my research. From my research, I have found out that the best way to rise is through adventuring. So yeah, we will be going back to our roots as adventurers. We will start with new identities and new information. Nobody really looks into the details of adventurers, and even if they did, the information that I would structure for us would be pretty concrete. We will start out like a normal adventuring party, and we will grow fast while watching and observing, trying to learn what we can in the short time that we have. While also building good connections that might take us to the demon blood. This empire is not like the kingdom, where we can wage war against them and win. I can say for certain that if we went against them, only the Guardians and Aris would be alive. What we have is quality and not quantity, but the empire¡ªthey have quality, and they have quantity. They can do whatever they want. So we will have to build our structure inside them to get the information that we need. It''s also a chance for us to learn other things and not only about the demon blood. When we are in there and we have risen to the highest rank in the shortest time, it will call the attention of many high-ranked people. Everyone would either want this new, powerful group of people or they will want to kill us. This will allow us to make progress. We will be able to enter the deeper sides of the empire and start getting closer to the blood. When we do find the blood, we will have to find out who is behind it and why. We also have to find out what they use to make it and if they are risking undoing the seal of the demons. That would be a very unwanted happening. So that is the summary of the n. We will give you a more in-depth nter with each of your roles clearlyid out based on what you do best. This n is estimated to take about two months to find the blood and uncover the secrets that the empire holds. It might seem like a long time, but to be honest, it is a very short time, and we might not be able to pull it off if we aren''t careful. Still, I believe that we will. We have all we need in terms of resources and people, so it should work out." Silva finally finished. The meeting came to an end with that, and there were no questions asked. Everyone knew the importance of this whole thing. After all, none of them wanted to bebeled as the person that failed Silva, so they were going to put in their all and make sure they made it work well. Chapter 246 Beginning the Training Lia, Quin, Fay, Leah, Roxy, Aaron, Mike, Gan, and Dawn. These were the people set to tackle the forest training and be evolved. Amongst all of them, Leah was the closest to evolving. She was a hero candidate, and her legacy made it so that she could level up faster. Now that all of them were set, they were immediately teleported into the forest that Silva had specially sealed off. There was no way for them to leave the forest. Before they had left, Silva took away their storage rings and gave them rings that carried the bare minimum that they would use to survive. And with that, the forest training began at that moment. Each of them was teleported to a different location so that they wouldn''t easily find each other and help each other.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om --- Leah was teleported into the middle of nowhere in a forest. She looked around a bit, and when she didn''t see anything, she decided that she could check her ring out what Silva gave them. But as soon as she opened the ring, she felt the presence of several abominations heading her way like a swarm of bees. She immediately drew out her sword, the only weapon she was allowed to add into the ring, and then she got into a stance. From the thick coverings of the trees, a seven-foot grotesque abomination leaped out and attacked her, but she reacted fast enough. She twisted her feet, spun around, and shed through the abomination. She cut it cleanly in half, but she was not done yet, because more had starteding out, so she charged at the next one. It tried to use its long arms to attack her, but she dodged to the side and cut the arm off. A small amount of purple lightning crackled under her feet, and her speed increased. She shed through the abomination in one move, then she used a tree to stop and continue her motion. She kicked the tree and shot in the opposite direction. More abominations came out and tried to get her, so she had to be faster. She was quick and decisive; she picked the smallest abomination that was about four feet tall and then she attacked. She ran full speed, and when she was right in front of it, she leaped into the air over the abomination and shed through its head. With that move, she was able to kill it and make a way out so that she was not encircled by the other abominations. When shended on the ground, she didn''t stop moving. She backed up and then shed with her sword, firing arge lightning arc. The abominations that were chasing after her ran into the arc and were cut in half clean. But more kepting. "It doesn''t seem like their actual number is reducing. This will be a serious pain," Leahined. She retreated a few steps and then started running in a circle. She found a good opening to take out multiple abominations and she took the opportunity. She charged into it with her sword crackling with lightning. She moved faster than normal and tore through them from the side like a wild wind. She killed close to ten in a swift move, which actually reduced their number by a lot, but not enough. It was as if the abominations now understood that Leah was dangerous. They started attacking with more ferocity, shing and biting. With their renewed vigor, they started pushing Leah back, but she wasn''t backing down. She kept blocking their attacks and with every opening, she would take out one of them. Over the course of a few minutes, the coordination and flow of the abominations seemed to be getting better. The ones that were here earlier had now understood what they needed to do to fight her, and the new ones were following their lead. "Yeah, trust Silva to make everything hard. Who the hell makes intelligent abominations?" she asked. But regardless, she decided to lock in and fight well. Her footwork suddenly changed, and her sword erupted with massive bolts of lightning. If there was one thing that she was good at, that was her mana. The lightning extended to cover her entire body, and in a sh, she vanished. When she appeared, the heads of over twenty abominations were blown off. She took a deep breath after doing that because it took a lot of energy out of her, but she wasn''t done yet. She stabbed the sword into the ground, causing a massive st of lightning moving like a wave. The wave caught almost all the abominations inside of it, electrocuting them to death. Only a few were left standing, and when that few came to attack her, she mowed them down with ease. She could finally take a breather. Now that she had stopped the abominations, she sat on the floor and leaned her back against a tree. "You shouldn''t let your guard down, hero." She heard a voice that she knew¡ªZack''s voice. And if Zack was here, then she was about to get her ass beat. She jumped on her feet, took out her sword, and pointed at him. "Nice reaction, though I would have already killed you before you made that move. That aside, you really did good work on all the abominations, nothing less from the hero candidate." "But sadly, I was passing through this side and I heard themotion, so I figured one of you had to be here fighting. So why note and make your life a thousand times harder," Zack asked. He took out his axe, ready to fight. Leah looked at the axe and swallowed subconsciously. She kept her straight face and spoke. "Don''t be so sure that you will beat me here. I am full of surprises, you know," she said. "It is highly unlikely that you will even touch me, but dare to dream," Zack said and then took a step, releasing his aura. It moved like a wave and mmed into Leah. His aura alone sent her to her knees. Chapter 247 Ill do my best Mike found himself walking through the quiet of the forest. He didn''t see any abominations of any sort, and that was making him a bit ufortable because he knew Silva, and whatever Silva nned could not be normal. And as if he jinxed it, he saw several abominations appear, but that was not all, because at the center of them all, he saw a figure, and that sent chills down his spine because that figure was none other than Fang, the Lightning Tiger. He might not be too high in the rankings, but his strength was undoubted amongst the others. He was naturally talented. When Fang and the abominations came into view, Mike took out his sword. Unlike Lia and Silva, he didn''t have a strong element, so he trained his swordsmanship and found a way to merge it with Mana. He created a very unique fighting style that fit him very well. That was how he had been able to level up and keep growing. The abominations immediately attacked Mike at full force, wanting to rip him apart. The first one made it to Mike and tried to grab him. Mike stepped back with one swift step, and then he took another step, vanishing in a second. The abomination exploded into chunks of cleanly cut meat that fell to the floor. Fang was shocked to see this. His eyes had followed Mike''s movement. Mike had taken one step to the side, and then his hands moved like a blur, shing through the abomination. At times the de didn''t even touch it, but it was coated in thick yet very sharp Mana, so it tore through the abomination with ease. What Mike did was not what shocked Fang; it was the fact that someone of his level could pull something like this off. It was a testament to how good of a swordsman Mike was. After Mike killed the first one, more came his way, but he was unfazed. He couldn''t use the move he used just now repeatedly, but he could still move very fast. The only issue here was Fang, and it seemed Fang was not about to make it easy for Mike. Fang watched like a hawk, as if he was waiting for the right opportunity to pounce on Mike. That meant Mike would have to fight while watching Fang and making sure he didn''t leave an opening for Fang to attack. That was harder than it sounded because the abominations wereing in hot, very hot. Your journey continues on empire A ten-foot-tall abomination came running towards Mike. It threw a very fast punch that took all of Mike''s speed to dodge. He dodged the attack, but before he could counter, the abomination came in with another attack. Mike blocked with his sword and was immediately sent flying from the impact, but he flipped in the air andnded on his feet. The abomination was already headed his way at top speed, but Mike had a second to respond before the abomination got to him. He used that second as best as he could. He used the same move he used for the first abomination, taking one step and then vanishing. But unlike the first abomination, he was only able to deliver one heavy attack, and that was all. The attack didn''t manage to kill the abomination, but it made it fall to the ground. When the abomination hit the ground, Mike moved to finish it off, but as he lifted his sword, a massive ball of lightning mmed into him and sent him into a tree, knocking him out for a second. It was his fault. He got too engrossed in fighting the abomination and had forgotten about Fang, who was eagerly watching for a chance to attack, and he gave Fang that chance. Mike struggled to get up. His stomach and chest were heavily burnt, and blood was dripping out of them. He held his de. His hands were shaky, but he forcefully stabilized them. "That was a powerful attack, but I could tell that you held back a lot," Mike said.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Well, it would be no fun if I killed you right off. I should at least give you a fighting chance," Fang said. "That is very appreciated," Mike said and took one step. He vanished, using the same technique, and went for Fang. But Fang could follow his movements. Matter of fact, he could react to them as fast as Mike made them. He moved out of the line of the sword at thest moment and then used his paw to hit Mike. Mike took the brunt of the attack and flew like a bird, mming into a tree. He got back up immediately and tried to use that technique again, but he coughed out huge amounts of blood and fell to his knees. "That technique of yours is quite good, but it pushes your body to its current limit every time you use it. I''m guessing that''s why you can''t use it repeatedly. Now, your body is seriously injured, and it is taking all your willpower to keep standing. So if you tried to use that technique again, it will cause your body to copse, which is what we are seeing here. Maybe you aren''t meant to be strong. Maybe this is your peak. You could give up now and walk away happily," Fang suggested. "Give up? Give up? No, I can''t do that," Mike said and pushed himself up slowly. "I have been putting all my failures on people for a good part of my life, ming people, especially Silva. Silva is a person that doesn''t care who stands in his way; he would kill that person, and for a good time, I stood in his way repeatedly. And rather than kill me, he actually saved me. He went into the unknown and saved me despite the fact that I antagonized him for no good reason. So right now, in my life, I want to do my best to show him that I changed after he saved me, and I will make sure I do that," Mike said, standing straight with his swords in his hands. Chapter 248 Give it your all Here''s the edited version: Leah struggled to get up, using all her strength to fight against the pressure that was pressing on her, while Zack just stood there watching. "Is this all you have to offer? The fight hasn''t even started, and you are already losing. Do you want to end up being the weakest hero of your generation? All the other heroes have probably evolved already, yet here you are on your knees, weak, pathetic." Zack spat out every word, staring her right in the eyes. She refused to let what he said get to her. She slowly pushed off the ground, her legs shaking, sweat covering her body, yet she kept going. "I don''t care about the whole hero thing, that can go to hell for all I care. But I want to be useful, capable of standing beside Silva. I want to follow him on his adventures, standing right beside him. So I refuse to stop here, I refuse to allow myself to lose. Even if it means I break every bone in my body, I will do it, and I will win." She yelled, her body erupted with lightning, and the lightning formed wings on her back. This was the first time she activated her legacy since she met Silva, and it was magnificent. She pped her lightning wings and shot into the air before flying towards Zack at top speed. "Your strength is still not enough!" Zack said and swung his axe at the same time that she swung her sword. The sword and axe collided, and a small explosion happened. Leah was thrown full force into a tree, but Zack remained standing. But she didn''t stay down long; she got back on her feet and flew towards him. Lightning covered her sword and extended to create what looked like a whip. She spun around andshed with the whip. The whip crackled as it traveled towards Zack. Zack moved to the side and dodged the whip, then he charged at her full speed. She could not react to his speed fast enough, and he rammed into her, mming her against a tree that copsed from the impact. She coughed out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground, barely breathing. She coughed out even more blood, then started getting up. "You have lost. Stay down for now and rest; you don''t want to die." Zack said. "Oh, fuck that." She said as she coughed up blood again. She pushed herself up; she was barely able to stand straight, but she managed to stay erect. "You have the spirit of a warrior, a fine spirit indeed. I have tomend you, hero, you are strong, but your fight ends here today. Try again when you recover." Zack said, as he punched her in the guts, and that was the final blow. She fell to the ground, unconscious. Zack walked away from the ce without looking back. --- Fang hit the ground with his paws, and a massive bolt of lightning shot through the ground towards Mike. Mike jumped up to avoid it, but the next second, Fang released a powerful st of lightning breath while Mike was in the air. Mike used his sword to block the attack, but he was sted back, breaking through several trees. He rolled across the ground for some time before finallying to a stop. His body riddled with cuts and burns, but he was still conscious.N?v(el)B\\jnn "I respect your desire to show master that you have changed and grown, but you are still too weak. What can you possibly do for Silva with that strength you have? Absolutely nothing." Fang said. Mike got back up, wiped the blood from the side of his lips, and then chuckled. "I might not be able to offer anything reasonable to Silva for now, but it doesn''t mean I''ll stop trying. I will keep pushing until one day I actually do something to help him out." Mike said as he charged at Fang again. His movements were sloppy and all over the ce, but inside hispletely scattered movements, Fang could see that Mike was actively refining his fighting style. He had started controlling his attacks and making sure that they were as effective as possible, still using only a little energy. To someone random, Mike was just a tired person swinging his sword crazily, but Fang could see the changes. Stay tuned to empire He stuck his feet on the ground again and called a wave of lightning. Mike shockingly didn''t jump this time like Fang thought he would. He ran through the lightning, taking the attack head-on. Fang saw him jerk back and almost go unconscious, but then he squeezed on something he had been holding. On closer look, it was a small shaped de. He squeezed the de, allowing it to cut deep into his palm, making him not lose consciousness. Fang was beyond impressed at this point. Mike was going above and beyond in this fight right here, doing all that he could to get to Fang. Fang saw this resolve, and he decided to fight back with more strength. No warrior wanted to be looked down upon by their enemies, and he was sure the same applied to Mike. "You have fought very well, Mike, but sadly you will not be winning this fight." Fang said. He opened his mouth, and lightning began forming inside. It grew in size until it could not stay inside the mouth, so it came out of the mouth and increased in size until it was the size of a basketball. Fang took one more look at Mike, who was running his way, and then he fired the lightning ball. The ball shone so bright that it blinded Mike. Mike tried to block it, but when the ball hit the sword, it exploded and Mike was sent flying. Hended on the ground unconscious and covered in wounds. Fang watched Mike for a few seconds before turning and leaving the ce. Chapter 249 Lias fight Lia, unlike the others, was not lucky enough to meet any abomination. Instead, she met Drake, casually seated on a tree eating steak. The moment she saw him, she attacked him with arge ice spike. Drake flicked his finger, shooting out a drop of blood that smashed into the ice spike and destroyed it. "Lady Lia, Master Silva wants to ensure that you have the toughest time here. He said that for some reason, your growth has stagnated for a while, and he would like to fix that. So do your best to survive, or you might end up dead," Drake said. Before Lia could answer, he made a blood sword and charged at her. Lia tried her best to react in a split second. She raised an ice wall, but Drake cut through it with ease. "Ice storm!" she yelled as she cast a wave of ice and snow, pushing against Drake with full force. But Drake walked through it without issues. "You''ll have to do better to make me take actual damage. Don''t tell me this is the best that the ice princess can carry out," Drake said. Lia frowned when she heard this. She spun her staff around and pointed it at Drake. A magical circle formed around the tip of her staff and started spinning. This was the issue with magic users: they were not the best in close range. Drake could exploit that if he wanted to, but he wanted her to have a fighting chance. She fired a powerful st of ice at him. It packed more power than herst attack, but Drake was too fast. He dodged the attack and walked toward Lia. "You possess an immense amount of Mana, but youck the capability to actually use it inbat. Sadly, I am not here to help you out. All I have to do is beat you up," Drake said and vanished.N?v(el)B\\jnn Lia looked around, trying to find Drake. Then she felt danger from behind her. She turned around and saw a blood swording for her head. She reacted as fast as she could, creating a small piece of ice to block the attack. It managed to slow it down for a split second, and that was all she needed to move her head out of the way. She fell to the ground but immediately stood up. She tried to put some distance between them, but Drake was already in front of her. She stopped running immediately. She didn''t know what to do. Drake was powerful in both long-range and closebat. He was her worst enemy, and now she had to fight him. This wasn''t a fight. He was toying with her, ying games with her to break her. "Young miss, the Master is a ruler of a kingdom, a very powerful being. What do you have to offer him?" Drake asked. "I might not be strong enough, but I will offer everything, everything that I have, and I''ll not stop!" Lia yelled. She pointed her staff at Drake, and ice fog exploded out of it, covering everywhere. It created a fog-like covering that allowed her to run while staying hidden. But she had forgotten that Drake was a vampire, and he could sense the heat of blood easily. Though, with his current level, he didn''t need to drink blood for years, it was still something that attracted him. So he could easily tell where she was at any instant. Lia ran deep into the forest, but she wasn''t moving fast enough. She had to try something. She pointed her staff at the ground, creating a path of ice and sliding on it to go faster. It took a lot of focus to do it well, but with her stats and level, it was doable. With this, her speed doubled. But when she thought she had gotten away from Drake, she saw him seated on a tree up ahead. She tried to stop but slid off the ice and fell to the ground. She got back up as fast as she could, but Drake was already in front of her. She tried to move, but he grabbed her hand and tossed her into a tree. She smashed through the tree andnded on the other side. She pushed herself up, sensing Drake attacking again, so she used a risky move in a split second. A circle formed under both of them, and a huge geyser of ice shot from the ground, pushing both of them into the air in different directions. She made this move because she had a higher resistance to ice and cold than normal people. She expected that such an attack would have an effect on Drake. She looked for Drake and found him unharmed, walking toward her. "You must have thought that the move you made would give you the win, right? You have a higher resistance to cold, and it would work to your advantage. But you forgot that even if I don''t have a resistance to cold, I have a higher resistance to everythingpared to you. Read new chapters at empire Even my resistance to cold is higher whenpared to yours because my whole resistance is higher," Drake said. Lia was out of ideas. She didn''t know what to do at this point, so she decided that the best route now would be to use her legacy. But before she could make the move to use it, Drake was in front of her. He punched her so hard in the gut that she coughed blood and fell to the ground. Drake stepped back. She tried to get up again, but as soon as she was on her feet, Drake sent a kick to her head,pletely knocking her out. He looked at her body, wondering if he should shift her somewhere safe. "Don''t do anything. Leave her be and head to your next person. We don''t have time," Silva said, appearing behind Drake. Drake nodded and left, and so did Silva. Chapter 250 Gallan Silva walked through the forest, his mind set on one person, and that was Quin. Quin was developing a legacy inside of him, and it seemed it had something to do with a lot of things that would be happening in this world. So Silva wanted to grow his brother as much as possible. He needed to be ready for whatever wasing. When Silva arrived at where Quin was, he could hear the sound of a de ripping through flesh. He went in closer and saw Quin fighting a horde of abominations. His sword skills were swift and very refined; it showed how long he had been fighting. As Silva stood there, he realized that his ns and everything had stood in the way of Quin getting married. Their marriage had been put off for so long now, and it made Silva feel a little guilty for it, so he made a mental note to actually make the wedding happen. Quin finally finished off the abominations, and he did that with ease. "That was quite impressive, Quin. It seems your swordsmanship hasn''t withered at all," Silva said. Quin immediately got into a stance when he saw Silva. He knew Silva was not here for chit-chat. "To think I''ll get beat up by my little brother here," Quin said. "You should have more faith in your strength," Silva said and vanished. Quin could not follow the movements at all. He looked around to see if he could find Silva, but he couldn''t see Silva at all. He only felt danger when Silva''s de was about to touch his neck. Quin leapt back as fast as he could, avoiding the attack, but Silva was like a flowing wind. He pushed forward even after missing his strike and then sent a punch into Quin''s gut. Quin arched back from the impact, saliva flew from his mouth, and his eyes rolled back a little. But he managed to keep himself from fainting. He grabbed onto Silva''s arm and pushed himself back. Hended on one knee and immediately got up. "I won''t be able to stand my ground if I fight you normally. My legacy is not fully formed yet, but it''s more than nothing," Quin said. Dark fumes began emitting from his body, his eyes glowed red, and his power started increasing. This was the first time Silva had ever seen Quin use his power. Quin shot towards Silva like a bullet. He shed for Silva''s throat. Silva blocked the attack, and his hand was actually pushed back. Sure, he didn''t put his full strength in it, but for his brother to actually be able to push his hand back, it showed how much power his brother had. "Since you are this strong, there is no need for me to hold back. I''ll have to beat into you the difference in power," Silva said and added some strength into his push. He immediately dominated and pushed Quin back. Silva went in for a punch that was too fast for Quin to follow. The punch connected with so much force that Quin was forced out of his legacy state. But Silva didn''t stop there. He grabbed Quin by the hand and threw him straight into a tree, then ran to grab him again. Quin tried to fight back, but Silva was too fast for him to do anything. Silva grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground. "Tell me, is this all you have to offer? Is this the best your sword can do?" Silva asked and then brought out his wings and shot into the sky.N?v(el)B\\jnn He then turned mid-air and flew down with Quin facing the ground. He mmed Quin into the ground, and a massive crater was formed. Silva walked away, feeling that would be enough to deal with his brother, but he was actually wrong. Quin got back up. He took his sword and charged at Silva. His entire body was covered in blood, but he still kept moving. Silva looked at him and smiled. He was happy¡ªhappy that Quin didn''t stay down. "It''s nice to see that your spirit is as strong as it gets, but you''ll have to stop here for now," Silva said and moved for ast attack. He didn''t use his sword, nor did he use a punch. He only used his palm to hit the back of Quin''s neck to knock him out. "He was pretty good, seeing he went against you," Drake spoke from a tree. "He actually did good. I thought he would give up after I ran him into the ground. But he held up pretty well," Silva said and walked away with Drake following him. "So what''s the n after we beat them up?" Drake asked. "Well, they will probably think of ways to better themselves with the knowledge of the fight they experienced. We have a week to frustrate them and make them force growth, and that is what we want. We want to push all of them to their breaking point. If they can seed to grow using this exercise, then that''s the best oue," Silva said. They left there and headed in the direction of Gan. "Gan should have evolved long ago. He was supposed to have evolved by now, so he is cking off. For his own, I want the two of us to handle him, make his training more torturous." When they arrived at Gan''s, he was struggling with a horde of massive abominations. The fight seemed to be going nowhere. The abominations were fast and powerful. It seemed like Silva had gathered all the stronger ones to take on Gan, and Gan was seriously struggling. Some of the abominations were about ten feet tall and held immense power, but Gan was able to hold his ground against them. With his dual de technique, it was as though two people were fighting at the same time, and they were both good at it. When Silva saw that the abominations were about to lose, he decided it was time to step in. Chapter 251 Dark Figure When Gan sensed that someone was approaching, he turned around quickly, wanting to deal with whatever it was, but when he saw Silva and Drake, he stepped back in fright. "You don''t seem happy to see me, Gan," Silva said. "Taking the fact that you and Drake are the onesing for me, there is no way I''d be happy," Gan said and got into a fighting pose. His eyes shifted from Silva to Drake every second, trying to see who would attack first. He shifted back slowly, trying to put a lot of distance between them. He wanted to assess his situation as best as he could before he engaged.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But then he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Gan leaped in actual fright. He turned around and saw that it was Silva standing behind him. He looked at the Silva with Drake and then the one behind him. "Seriously? Clones, master?" Gan asked. "I wouldn''t take my eyes off him if I were you," Silva said. The clone threw a punch. Gan crossed his de and blocked the attack. The impact sent him flying, though he received no actual damage. Hended on the ground a small distance away. He looked at Drake and Silva; they weren''t moving, which meant they weren''t fighting, but that was not helping him at all. He already knew that these clones were actually stronger than the base Silva. Gan saw that he had no choice, so he charged at full speed. His des were coated with very thin yet flexible mana that made them sharp enough to cut rock like butter. Gan moved like he was going for the head, but all of a sudden, he went low, attacking the legs. He cut through Silva''s legs and was happy for a moment until Silva vanished¡ªit had been an afterimage. He felt a chill run up his spine, but before he could react to anything, the clone came from above with a punch into Gan''s back. Gan arched forward, coughed out blood, and then mmed into the ground, forming a small crater. The clonended beside Gan and waited for Gan to get back up. Gan struggled to get back up, his hands shaking, and blood dripping from his forehead and mouth. He took his des and got into his stance again, his feet spread apart, one foot forward taking the weight of his body. He held both des in a reverse grip, his eyes trained on the clone. He shot forward with as much speed as he could. The clone coated his arms with dragon scales and threw a punch. Gan stabbed as well. The de and the fist collided, causing a bright spark. Gan was pushed back, but he quickly found his bnce fast enough to block the counter from the clone. The clone threw a punch, and Gan blocked it, but his hands went numb after blocking it. His grip on the des loosened, but he tried to keep hold. Gan was doing everything he could to not lose right now, though it wasn''t working. The clone was toying with him, showing him how weak he was. And that was making him enraged. His demeanor changed as he held his de. He shook his head as if trying to clear his mind and then got into a very low stance. He took a deep breath, very slow and very heavy, and in the next second, his body vanished. He ran so fast that the normal eye could not see him. He found an opening on the clone and went in for his attack, but as his de approached the clone, the clone turned to look at him and used his palm to block the attack. The impact was so much that the ground beneath them cracked, wind rose like a tornado, and then sted outward in all directions. Gan and the clone were locked in a stalemate, but the next moment, the clone smirked, and his fist erupted with purple mes. Gan knew what that me was, so he leaped back immediately, but the clone pushed forward. With his hands in a w form, the clone went for the neck. Gan tilted his head back to dodge, but he wasn''t fast enough. The tip of the clone''s finger touched Gan''s neck and ripped through it, drawing a lot of blood. Gan still refused to give up. He took several steps back, but then he realized he had stepped into a magic circle that Silva had set up. The circle glowed and was ready to activate. Gan jumped out before the pir of mes shot into the sky, but the heat still charred his skin. He fell to the ground, feeling immense pain. He rolled and got back to his feet, and then he started running. In battle, knowing when to run away was an asset that everyone needed, and Gan had seen that death awaited him if he kept fighting, so he ran. But he didn''t make it up a few meters before the clone was already in front of him, and with a sword in his hand this time. Gan hit the brakes and tried to change directions, but the clone moved faster, with a kick right into his chest, sending Gan flying through several trees. He hit the ground with so much force that he shattered some ribs. His eyes rolled back, but he tried his best not to fall unconscious. The clone was in the air, flying with dragon wings. He spotted Gan and then flew down like a falcon about to catch its prey. His sword was pointed downward like the beak of a bird, about to stab into Gan. Gan tried to move out of the way, and at thest moment, he managed to shift a bit, causing the de aimed for his chest to go into his shoulder. Blood poured from it as he yelled in pain. The clone twisted the sword and pulled it out before kicking Gan so hard on the head he passed out. "That was brutal," Drakemented. "Yeah, well, he needed it. He is close to evolving, but it''s like he''s stuck at a bottleneck, so a push is needed, no matter how painful that push turns out to be," Silva said. They left Gan''s body there and walked away. There were a few more people that had yet to get beat up, and Silva had to make sure they got beat up, pushing them past their other limit. --- Ophelia sat on a chair with her eyes closed. She was inside what looked like a human-style living room. A portal opened inside the room, and a dark figure walked in. It waspletely ck without eyes or any features. It walked around the room as though it was enjoying the aesthetic and decorations until Ophelia finally spoke. "What do you want?" she asked. The figure stopped moving for a while and then continued walking. After making a few more rounds, it stopped again, and then a male voice sounded in the room. "It''s getting loose, the seal. I went to check on them, and it is getting weaker. You have to do something about it." "I know, but ever since the issue with the first dark dragon, Order has refused to allow me to tamper with my world to that extent. I can''t remake the seal, and only I can actually fix the seal, or someone that can act as a channel. That is why Silva is there," Ophelia said. "Oh, your little puppet," the figure responded. "He is not a puppet. He is helping me fix things in my world. The mistakes we made and the ones we let happen have gathered up. Silva is our only chance at survival as it is," Ophelia said. "You can say what you want, but it doesn''t change the truth, and that is the fact that he is a puppet. If he wasn''t a puppet, you would tell him all the truth and not hide the important information from him. He is running around not knowing what truly awaits him, especially about the demons and the celestials. We both know that those two races are not what you let the world know. They are far, far more than that, and they''ll probably end up killing that boy," the voice said. "No, look at his growth. If he keeps this up, then everything will be fine. I''m certain of that," Ophelia said. "I don''t know when you got this delusional, but this kid is not the first dark dragon, and he can''t reach that level. Even the first dark dragon failed at his endeavor in the end. This boy will not make it. That''s all I came to say. I have to go and monitor the seals, since that''s all we can do. I pray it doesn''t break," the voice said and was about to walk into a portal. "He will be better than the first dark dragon, I''m certain," Ophelia said just before the figure walked in and vanished. Ophelia looked up at the ceiling; her face looked worried. Chapter 252 Commitment The first day passed like that. Silva made sure that everyone got a very good dose of beating. Dawn, Fay, Roxy, and Aaron all had the fight to survive but ultimately lost against their opponents. When night came, Silva decided to watch everyone. The first person he went to was Dawn. She had faced off Fang that day, and he absolutely dominated her. In speed, technique, and strength, she was absolutely helpless against him. Silva noticed how much she hated that. She fought Fang with all she could. Her sword movements were perfect, and her fighting abilities showed that she was indeed a warrior. But the gap in strength was too much, and Fang won. Fang simply used his speed to get into her blind spots and attack her with a bolt of lightning. Even if she sessfully blocked the attack, he would use his speed to counter andnd a hit. But her build was a tough one. She took attack after attack but refused to go down. No matter how much Fang punished her, she would still pick up her sword and attack again. When Fang finally used more strength and knocked her out, Silva saw the anger in her eyes, so he knew that she hated that loss to her bones. Silva found Dawn under arge tree. She was bent over, leaning on her sword that had been stabbed into the ground. She was sweaty, her breath was unstable, her body was red and trembling, but there was something that stood out¡ªsomething Silva noticed. The fire in her eyes burned brightly. She wasn''t done; she could still keep going. Dawn pulled the sword out of the ground. She took a basic stance and started swinging her sword. "Go faster, go faster," she said after every swing, forcing her sh to be faster. The sweat on her body scattered in all directions every time she swung the de. Her muscles tensed as the sword came down and stopped right before hitting the ground. She would take it up again and then sh down, repeating the process over and over again until her feet gave out and she fell to her knees. "How will I show my worth if this is the best that I can do? How will I be able to protect Silva when the timees?" she said to herself and started pushing herself up. Silva watched in simple amazement. A smile formed on his face as he looked at her, and his thoughts and feelings toward her deepened. She wasmitted to serving and even ready to wreck her body just to get to the power level where she could protect him. Silva was genuinely happy with this, but he could not let her cause herself permanent damage, so he decided to knock her out. He moved at top speed, expecting that he would go unnoticed and knock her out. But as he was closing in on her, she suddenly moved and shed at him. Silva changed direction at thest minute and ran into hiding. His heartbeat actually spiked due to the experience. He looked in her direction. "I thought I felt something. Guess it''s just my imagination," Dawn said and continued her shes. Silva watched from his hiding spot. What had just happened now? How did she notice him? How did her sword actually move that fast? It moved so fast that even he was scared of it. If that de had actually touched him, the injury would have been serious. Dawn was not supposed to show such strength and speed. It was impossible, especially taking her current level into ount. The thought worried Silva for minutes. He watched her, but he couldn''t see that speed again. She was back to normal. So how did she pull that move off? How did she make her sword move fast and not take any damage? It didn''t make sense. He had the feeling to walk to her and talk to her about it, but he decided that it was not a good idea. So he finally decided to leave for now. He would take a lot of time to watch Dawn and figure it out soon. After Dawn, the next person he thought would be best to see now was Mike. Mike, just like Dawn, didn''t take his loss well. He hated the fact that he was that weak and that his sword style, which he polished for all that while, fell short. He would definitely take the loss hard. Silva wanted to see how he was coping with it, but what he saw when he arrived there was not what he expected one bit. He had simply expected that Mike would be training his mind out, but it was far more than training. Mike had chopped down several thick branches and sharpened them all. He dug holes and put the spikes inside at different angles, creating a very dangerous ce to be in, as one wrong step and the spikes would rip into his flesh badly. Mike was running through this spike field at top speed, gracefully dodging the spikes. His eyes were focused as he moved, struggling to move faster and more agile. Silva could understand why Mike would choose this training. His sword style focused on speed and agility. But in his fight, he fell short, so he wanted to get better. But Mike was getting tired, and as he got tired, his movements became sloppy, and the spikes started tearing into his skin. Yet he didn''t stop. Silva watched this and was a bit worried for Mike, but he wasn''t going to stop him. From what he saw with Dawn and Mike, they didn''t want to stop. They wanted to go above and beyond. So he decided that he would leave them to train till they couldn''t move. The aim of this program, after all, was to help them all evolve.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Theirmitment would y a massive role in helping thate to pass. Silva left Mike alone to continue his training. He hoped that it would pay off in the end. Chapter 253 Forced Evolution Silva spent the night watching everyone, and there was one thing that showed: all of them were pissed, angry at losing their fights. So they trained through the night, trying to get better, using what little health potions Silva provided to heal themselves. Finally, the second day arrived, and they were all active and ready to fight. Sleep-deprived, but ready to move. But no abominations came, and nothing else. So the day went on through morning till noon, and nothing happened. But all of them knew Silva; there was no way Silva would allow them to rest. So at every single moment, they could not rest, their minds thinking about what could happen next or what attack would be next, and that was exactly what Silva wanted. When it was a few hours past noon, their panic had reached the peak. All of them could not even sit down to fake a break; they felt like someone was watching them. They used all their senses to try and find something, anything, but they couldn''t. But then, all of a sudden, they started seeing a very fast shadow moving through the forest. It moved so fast that they couldn''t identify what it was. But its presence made them uneasy. They all started looking around to find what was moving in the forest. The more they searched, the less they saw that figure. But whenever they rxed their minds a little, they would see it run past. The process went on slowly for hours, and their minds began to shatter due to it. Silva was capitalizing on their wasted minds to make this a mental torture for them, and it was working. They had started to break down, trying to hide themselves, though the figure kept showing up. The first person to snap was Roxy. She yelled and took out her des, screaming at whatever it was toe outside. She screamed in all directions. And finally, the figure responded: apletely faceless man in tight ck clothes. He walked in a crazy pattern, and an irritating giggle came from the man. The giggles seemed to have snapped what little sanity Roxy had. She charged at the figure blindly, swinging her de like crazy. The man dodged her like he was dancing, whilst still giggling, and at every opening, he would throw a punch straight into her face. The punch didn''t really hurt to the point of a knockout, but it was persistent and irritating. She got pissed every time hended an attack, and her attacks got more and more erratic. The figure kept doing this for half an hour, and then suddenly, it split into two. Theughs got louder, the fight got harder, and Roxy was close to losing her mind. It got so bad to the extent that she fell to the ground on her knees, buried her head, and started sobbing. She couldn''t go on; whatever wanted to happen should happen. "Your mind is your strongest asset, Roxy. A fighter and a warrior must have a stronger mind. Your mind was not strong enough," Silva spoke into her ear, but when she looked up, she didn''t see him. --- After Roxy, the next to crash out was Mike. Ever since the Silva incident way back then, his mental state had never been top-notch again. He knew that he wasn''t really okay, but he had managed to keep himself above water. But today, everything crumbled with this test that Silva had set up. Mike started chasing the figure in the forest, and when he couldn''t find it, he was starting to lose it. It got to the extent that he started cutting down trees to clear out space and ensure that there was nowhere for the figure to hide. Finally, the figure surfaced, and without a word, Mike started fighting against it, but the figure was too fast and too crazy. So he kept blindly fighting until hepletely ran out of all energy possible and fell to the ground, limp. His body refused to move at this point. The faceless man stepped on his back and kept giggling. He started stomping on Mike like he was a carpet. Mike was filled with rage, so much rage that he forced his body to move. He grabbed the man by the ankle and pulled him to the ground. Mike got up and started kicking the man repeatedly, but the man keptughing andughing. It changed from giggling into a wild cackle. The more that Mike hit him, the more he cackled like a wild maniac until the sounds got so loud that it was echoing in the forest. Mike could not take it anymore. He started to stomp the face of the man. He kept going and going until the face shattered and blood spilled everywhere. Yet despite that, the figure was stillughing crazily. And Mike could not take it anymore. He fell on his butt and moved away from theughing figure.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He leaned his back on a tree and watched as the man keptughing. The man then stood up and started walking towards Mike whileughing, and that was the final straw. Mike immediately got up and ran into the forest without looking back. He ran like his life depended on it, and the man chased him with apletely broken face. Mike started getting dizzy as he ran, and his coordination dropped. He tripped on a stone and fell down, striking his head so hard that he passed out. "It seems Mike''s mind is still a heavy cluster," Silva said as he walked up to Mike. "Don''t you think this is going a bit too far? I think they might have all forgotten that this is training and are now seriously fighting for their lives," Drake said. "That''s the n, Drake. I want them to not see this as training. I need them to forget that they are training and believe that their lives are at risk. Forced Evolution isn''t easy. We have to go above and beyond to get it done, even if it means causing some temporary damage," Silva said. Chapter 254 Helping Rose The test of mental fortitude broke everyone. The only person who actually made it through was Quin; he managed to survive without having a full breakdown. Silva also didn''t want to allow them to just sleep after the mental breakdown, so he sent abominations to fight all of them. Through the night, they fought with what little energy they could until they all copsed. But the training showed some actual results because all of them leveled up a few times and were now closer to evolving. That made Silva happy, but it also meant that he would buff the difficulty. He was going to break them even more since he now knew that the training was working. "Drake, give me ideas. The whole fighting abominations and us is making it boring. I want something really striking that will force a very good amount of leveling up," Silva said as he sat on a tree. Fang, Drake, and Zach were there listening to him. "There are a few ways, Master, and I can actually help with this one. There is something I know from the vampire race. It''s a ritual used to choose the best and strongest young vampire; it''s called the Tower of Drac. For this, a tower is set, and the vampires have to climb to the top to win the prize. But the way up is filled with any and every obstacle possible. It is a really terrible experience. Because to get to the top, it would mean they have to fight not only the monsters and obstacles, but they would have to deal with the tower trying to get rid of them, and also lots of other things. We can replicate this and tell them they can win freedom from this hell if they make it to the top or something like that," Drake said. "Hmm, that is an amazing idea, but it will be better for a trial for something else. Remember that we are trying to make them forget that this is training. But I have an idea. It might not be anything special, but a full-powered dragon flying through the sky, raining mes and all on the forest. And not just mes, also thunder and blood spears. All of you will be on my back as I fly around, and as I pour mes, you also use your powers to attack how you can. But we will not stop there. We will make it more and more terrible because Lily and I spoke just now and she is on her way to actually help me. She will being with Aris and they have a n that would make chaos gas spread all over the forest. So while they are fighting the mes and attacks from above, they will be struggling with the gas that is burning their insides. They will have to go above and beyond to actually survive," Silva said. "Can I point out that your n is straight diabolical?" Drake said. "Nah, they will survive it. It''s not like they will die, just be pushed to the brink of their existence," Silva said. He came down from the tree and started walking. "So let''s get going. We have aplete group of people to scare shitless," Silva said. "Master is having too much fun with this," Fang said. Silva smiled in return and continued walking. --- Aaron was walking through the forest, tired and exhausted. He was on hisst leg at this point. After a while, he noticed red fog pouring towards his direction. He hadn''t even taken in a breath, and his lungs were burning up. And that was his sign to run. He turned away, but right in front of him, a huge pir of mes came from the sky. He managed to react faster and change direction. Using his wing magic, he took out his wings and tried to fly away immediately. But a massive bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck him, injuring his wings. He fell to the ground. He looked up into the sky and saw that a dragon was passing over, and then he understood a bit of what was happening. If this was Silva''s doing, then he would have to run now, or he might as well end up dead. He got on his feet and started running, but the red fog rose higher and higher. His lungs were burning up because the more he ran, the more breathing he had to do, and the more fog he took in. It was like a fire was lit in his chest and he was burning. He tried to use wind to part a way for him to get through, but nothing happened¡ªthe fog was too thick. He tried to push through and fight, but with every step, it felt like he would turn to ash. He strived and took more steps, hoping that he would see a ce that didn''t have any fog. But the fog soon rose up to his shoulder level, and if things couldn''t get worse, another pir of mes fell from the sky and sted close to him. The impact force threw him right into a tree. He fell to the ground and struggled to catch his breath, but that caused even more harm. He started bleeding from his mouth and nose. His eyes turned red as he took in more of the fog, and in a few minutes, he passed out on the floor. "Master, he is out cold," Drake said on Silva''s back. "Yeah, I''ll ask Lily to clear the fog around him so he doesn''t die," Silva responded telepathically. "Master, I feel like you are simply toying with them at this point. He stood no chance of winning. Right off the bat, he was going to end up like this," Drake said. "The important aspect, Drake, is that their bodies will register it as experience and they will level up faster.N?v(el)B\\jnn Let''s move on to the next person. We don''t have a lot of time; we have to deal with the others," Silva said and pped his wings, sting off. --- Lia was faced with huge amounts of fog all around, so she created arge ice dome around her to keep it away. But she was quickly running out of oxygen and didn''t know what to do. She thought of different ways to get out, but all would lead to her taking in some of the fog. Her choices were limited, and so she was beginning to think about taking that risk. But before she could make a move, a spear made of blood stabbed into the ice dome and then exploded, destroying the dome. What followed was a massive pir of mes. She created another ice dome quickly to block the mes, but the mes were too intense, and the force sent her flying with several burns all over her body. She struggled to get back up, but as she did, she inhaled the fog and her lungs screamed out in pain. She rolled on the ground while holding her neck. She struggled so much that her legacy kicked in, creating an ice coffin around her to keep her safe. But the red fog was locked inside the coffin with her, and it got into her lungs more. She could no longer take the pain and passed out right there. The coffin melted after that, and she was left on the floor. --- Back in the castle, Lily finished setting up what Aris would need to make the fog. Then she left her for a bit toe check on Gabriel and Rose. Rose was still on the bed, in aa, and nothing much had changed. "Any changes?" Lily asked Gabriel, who was sitting beside the bed. "No, her breathing is normal, but I have not been able to talk to her. She is like a breathing corpse, and that scares me," Gabriel said. "I see. Her heart is still beating, and that means there is hope. I''ve taken her blood and done some research into what could be wrong. Nothing had reallye up, and I''m running into nks at this point. I even tried to look into her future, but whatever it is that is blocking her from waking up is also blocking me from seeing her future. I tried looking into yours to see if there is a parallel that you and her are there together, but nothing came up. I''ll be going into the main library to see if there is anything on what is wrong with her, so you''ll have to hold on for much longer. I know it''s hard. She is right here, and yet you can''t seem to connect with her. But we will do all we can to make her wake up. After all, Silva has chosen you and has promised to help. But you have to remember, the Empire is your enemy now and you are our way in," Lily said. She walked out of the room, then headed to meet Aris to continue helping Silva. Chapter 255 Throwing a Tantrum The days passed with Silva cooking evil after evil and making sure he pushed the group beyond their limits, but the whole thing wasn''t without results. Because at the end of the week, most of them had all leveled up several times and were very close to evolving. But then there was Gan, Leah, and Quin, who had finally evolved during the wild training. It had happened almost simultaneously, and it made Silva crazily happy that they leveled up. Gan looked the same, but his aura had changed immensely, and his size increased a bit. As for Quin, after leveling up, his legacypletely formed, and it was a darkness type.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Leah didn''t have any major changes as she was already on the right path, but her power grew immensely. After the week ended, all of them were teleported to the edge of the forest where they saw Silva and the rest waiting for them. "I''m d to see that all of you are alive and not dead," Silva said. "With all due respect, Silva, you are sick," Aaron said and sat on the ground, and so did all of them. Even with the progress they made, their souls were near crushed. "Hmm, seems whatever I did hit harder than expected, but you will shake out of it, or better still, you have to break out of it because I am not done with those that are yet to evolve," Silva said. When he said that, they all looked at him in fear. What he was saying was simply that their training was yet toe to an end. "In this week, I have hit your mind, hit your body, hit your souls and everything else. I''ve pushed you all to the brink of your very existence, And you all survived and actually grew from it, but now you all must cross thestp. Still in that, congrattions to Quin, Gan, and Leah. You all managed to rise above the near-death experiences and actually evolve. You have stepped into a world different from what you know normally, you stand at the pinnacle of your race, and you''ll be seen as a powerhouse from now. Such aplishments didn''te because of the training; it was because of the effort you put in the training, and now you can walk with your heads high," Silva said, and then gave a slight bow as a sign of respect. "Now, let''s move into the details of the training that will follow. Starting now, for the next seven days, you all will be fighting me. You have to keep fighting until you manage to touch me or evolve. If you manage to touch me, I''ll take it that your strength is enough even if you haven''t evolved. I have to force you to evolve, and that means I''ll not be holding back against you all in the slightest. I''ll be goingpletely all out. You don''t have to worry about injuries and near-death wounds because Lily will be here, and she will be healing anyone that is down, and you''lle back to the fight. It''s going to be a very painful process, so I hope you''ll try to not get hit by me, or you''ll be in for a world of pain," Silva said. "Seriously? I don''t think I can take this, Silva," Lia said. She waspletely exhausted; she wanted out. "Sadly, there is no choice. You''ll have some time to rest before we begin, and I hope that you all will give your full efforts to showing me your strength." As he spoke, Drake came to his ear and said something. Silva frowned a bit, but then a smile showed on his face. Drake told him that the surrounding kingdom had sent an envoy to see Silva and discuss some things. Silva could already tell that things would not go smoothly, but he decided to go and see what this was about. "Alright, I''ll be back soon. Take that time to rest, and when I am back, we will start the training," he said and turned away. Drake and Lily followed behind him. When he arrived at the castle, he headed towards the lounge where the envoy was. He opened the door and saw the man seated, while facing Elsa. "Elsa, what are you doing here?" Silva asked as he walked in. He asked her first for a few reasons. One was to show the envoy that Silva didn''t care about him, and he was a nobody. The second was that he really wanted to know why Elsa was looking at the envoy. "Daddy, I caught a whiff of a foreign smell, so I came to check it, and then I saw him. None of you guys were here, so I decided to watch over him myself," Elsa exined. It was after her exnation that Silva finally turned his eyes to look at the envoy, and then he spoke. "You must be the representative of the kingdoms. Nice to see you," Silva said. It was a middle-aged nobleman with a very fat body. He looked grumpy, like he ate sour fruits. "Why the hell do you people keep sending kids to meet me? Do I look like a joke to you all?" The man suddenly yelled and grabbed Silva''s arm tightly. The room fell quiet. Drake, Elsa, Lily¡ªthey all looked in shock. It was as though time froze. Silva slowly turned his head to look at the hand grabbing him. Rather than say anything, he let out a smile, and his bloodlust and killing intent poured from him like a raging river. Immediately the man felt this, his body broke out in sweat, he started trembling, and he hurriedly let go of Silva''s hand and moved away. Silva walked to the chair on the opposite side and sat down, still filling the room with his killing intent. The man struggled to breathe; he gasped for air every second. "You don''t walk into a ce and throw a tantrum. If not for the fact that I want to know what you have to say, your blood would have painted the floor, so be careful next time," Silva said. Chapter 256 Distraction When Silva finally pulled back his bloodlust, the man could finally breathe. He took in deep breaths as he struggled to steady himself. "You disrespected my daughter in her own kingdom and disrespected me, the king. You have already fallen to my bad side. Everything you say now will be held to a very strict standard, and your life might depend on it," Silva said. "Cough, cough. Please forgive me. I had no idea that you were the king. The information I was given was limited," the man said. "Why are you starting off with lies? What''s your name?" Silva asked.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "John, sir. John, and I can assure you that I''m not lying, sir," John said. "John, let''s not start with lies. I know you have all been looking into my kingdom, and I know that you know who I am. Lily, please introduce John to us. I''m sure that you have gathered information about him," Silva said. "His name is John, like we have already established. His surname is Racan. The Racan family are a high noble family in the kingdom of Olen. His father is currently a marquess, and John is going to take over after he dies. That is the information I gathered on him, Silva," Lily said. John was shocked to hear this. When was all this information gathered? He had only gotten here half an hour ago. "You see, John, you are a high-ranked noble, and yet you lied to me that you don''t know who I was? John, there is no way that is true. Because my image has formed everywhere, people know what I look like now. They know my name, and they know who I am. So you telling me that you didn''t know? That was a lie. You lied to me right off the bat, so how am I supposed to believe whatever you have to say? You knew who I was, but you wanted to see if you could best me, see if you could intimidate me. You wanted to get a lot out of whatever bargain we would have. You tried to lie right off the bat, so I wonder, how do I decide to listen to whatever you want to say now? You lost your bargaining chip before the game even started. John, John, John, you are not really smart, are you? No wonder your father refused to hand over the family to you even in his old age. You are dumb and fucking fat as hell. What do you bring to the table except your exceptionally big stomach? It''s a wonder why they would choose you to be the envoy. Unless, unless you are a distraction. Yes, that is it, you are a distraction for something else. What is it? Tell me now, John," Silva said, getting up and grabbing him by the neck, taking out his sword. He pressed the tip of the de against John''s chest. John trembled, staring at the de filled with fright. "John, tell me now, what are you a distraction for?" Silva asked again, but John was too scared to look. "Lily, Drake, something or someone might have slipped into the kingdom. Find them, search the whole kingdom for anything unusual. Take as many people as you need and find whatever it is that this idiot has allowed into the kingdom," Silva said. Drake and Lily nodded at the same time and left the room to do what Silva said. Silva then looked at Elsa. "Elsa, fly over the city and check for anything unusual as well. Report anything to me." She nodded and left the room as well, leaving Silva with the man. "Now you tell me. Tell me whatever it is that you have nned, or I''ll drive this de through your heart so slowly that you''ll scream in pain as you die in a puddle of blood," Silva said to him. The fear in the man''s eyes was evident, but he refused to talk. He only opened his mouth and said, "If you kill me, you''ll not be able to get the information you want," John said. "Why do people use such a stupid thing as an excuse or a way to survive? Do you understand that if I kill you right now, it doesn''t matter what happens to me after? You are dead already, gone, protecting rubbish. Right now, you are pushing really close to getting yourself killed. So tell me what I want to know, or else I''ll crush your skull," Silva said, using intimidation to help him, and finally, John spoke. "We had a way to sneak in undetected, as long as you were not in proximity, and so I was to be the distraction that kept you in one ce. When you were in one ce with me, they would sneak in and start destroying one of your industries to weaken you for the main attack," John said. As he was speaking, Drake called Silva through telepathy. "Master, there was an explosion at one of the new majorbs outside the capital. I haven''t reached there yet, but I can sense that there are many casualties." Silva balled up his fists in anger and then suddenly punched John so hard he shattered his face all the way to the brain, killing him. Silva dropped the body on the floor and stepped out of the room. He didn''t know if it was coincidence or a nned happening, but the enemy had to make a move during the time when security was less. He was focused on the training, and that made him neglect certain things. He didn''t know how they were able to slip in without Lily knowing or something, but he was certain about one thing, and that was the fact that he was going to bash the faces of everyone that did that. He left the castle and immediately transformedpletely, shooting into the air. The wind sted on his face as he shot through the sky, breaking several sound barriers as he went. In less than two minutes, he got to the location, and he could see smoke in the distance. Chapter 257 White Fang Silva transformed back and started walking toward the burningbs. His every step was heavy; the smell of chemicals, smoke, and blood filled the air. The closer he got, the more the rage inside him increased. He tried his best not to rush there. It got to the point where he started humming a song he recalled from Earth: "Highway to Hell." He took out his sword, and soon after, his speed increased. Finally, he arrived at the scene. Using his vibration sensor, he could sense all the fights happening inside. He could see the dead bodies littering the floor¡ªhis own people lying dead. His heart tightened as he saw this. "Quin, Gan, I want all of you to leave where you are. The training has been paused. Find Drake, and he''ll fill you in," Silva said to them telepathically and disconnected. He walked into the massiveb. The immense heat from the burning buildings touched his skin, but it did nothing to him. He looked up and saw a group of people running toward him. They were not his people, so he knew these were some of the ones responsible for this. He gripped his sword tightly and didn''t even wait a second. He shed, releasing a massive arc of abyssal mes. The mes cut through the people like a hot knife through butter, killing everyone on the spot. But Silva was not satiated yet. Killing them that quickly was not satisfying, so he decided that whoever he saw next would endure a gruesome death. He headed deeper inside, and an enemy spotted him. The enemy, a young man with a sword, immediately charged at Silva. Silva faced the enemy and then stretched out his hand. The man tried to cut through Silva''s arm without thinking, but Silva caught the de easily. The man was shocked when this happened. He tried to pull the sword away, but Silva''s grip was too strong. In the sh of an eye, Silva grabbed him by the neck and lifted the man off the ground. Silva took the iling man and brought him close to the mes. He brought his face so near that the man started screaming. "You decided to take away the peace of my home, so I''ll make every one of you suffer the worst pain before you die," Silva said and then shoved his face into the mes. The mes burned the man''s face. He screamed like a dying pig, but Silva refused to let him go. He kept his face in the mes until it melted, yet the man was still alive. Silva pulled him out and threw his body to the ground. Then he stepped on the head and crushed it. He walked away from there like nothing had happened, not even looking back once. He was already on his way to find his next victim. Until all of them died, his rage would not calm down. Even after that, he would turn his sights to the kingdom that sent them and burn it to the ground. --- By the time the others arrived at the location, they saw Silva seated outside the burnt-outb. To his left was a pile of the bodies of his people that had died there. To his right was a pile of the bodies of the people he had killed. When he saw them, he got up with a smile. He walked to them like there was nothing wrong with him, but they could all sense that he was filled with rage. "You know, it takes a lot to piss me off, and I mean a whole lot. But just attacking me or people close to me? I can actually forgive that, to be honest. But touching people who serve me of their own free will and are not rted to me? That''s crossing another fucking line. It''s a different line. It''s a whole fucking issue, and it''s something that churns my stomach. None of them deserved it. They were not close enough to me to be victims of my own fight. Yet look at all of them on the ground now, dead. They just woke up and came out to help our kingdom be a better ce, but a group of people decided to end their lives. You see, I think I know the issue¡ªor I''m sure I know the issue. Do you know what the issue is? We haven''t set a proper fucking example. Just because I decided to take things slow, they thought it was a sign of weakness. They believe we can be taken down. Humans¡ªthey have fucked with my life for thest time. So I''m drawing a line here today. Today, I''m looking at all of you, and I''m telling you: I hate humans. I hate every human that is not a member of cklight. I don''t know your thoughts toward humans or if you are human yourself, but I''m not. And I don''t give a fuck about them. But you¡ªyou are my family, regardless of race. So I want to know where you will stand today: with me or with them? And I promise, with my pride as a dragon, that I will let you go, and I will not touch you at all.N?v(el)B\\jnn So what''s it going to be? Will you stand with me, or will you say goodbye today? Because if you stand with me now, then you are going with me to burn that kingdom. If you want to leave me, leave now, and I won''t hold it against you," Silva said and looked around. But no one budged. They all stood, looking at Silva with readiness in their eyes. Silva looked at them, and when he was certain that no one was leaving, he spoke. "Thank you. We meet in an hour''s time for a nning meeting," he said and brought out his wings, taking to the sky. --- Inside a meeting room, a group of people covered in dark cloaks sat around a table. Their heads were covered and bowed low. They stayed that way until the doors of the room opened, and another ck-cloaked person walked in. The man took a seat at the top of the table, and everyone finally raised their heads. "Wee, brothers. It''s nice to see all of you here, even if it was on short notice. The people above have decided to ask me to take care of the new pest that has shown forth in ournds, and I have already set ns against them. The issuees from the new kingdom that has emerged. But it''s not a normal kingdom like we all know¡ªit''s run by a demon king candidate, our enemy. And so we can''t allow that to go on. Even if those in the empire and the holy kingdom have refused to make any serious move, we will act against them. The people that live in the kingdom are actually in love with the ce and want to stay. I believe that is some sort of brainwashing. So I decided we have to show all of them why they can''t trust that demon and why they all have to leave that ce. So, I decided to set up a fake peace treaty, using the kingdoms as bait. From that, we can attack them. When we attack, we will destroy just one of their major ces and kill some people. It will cause a break in trust, and people will revolt. That is how we will take him down. Why should we allow a small demon king candidate to have a ce in ournds? We must remove him. The n is already in motion, and the reason I''ve called you all is because we must n for thest part of the demon king''s downfall." "Why are you all ganging up on a child?" a voice suddenly sounded in the room. They all looked at the person. It was a man with white hair and white clothes. His eyes were blue, and he was extremely handsome. "Hero White Fang, why are you here?" the leader asked. "Oh, I heard about this kid you''re all interested in, and I went to seek out his picture. He looked like a smaller version of me. And that interested me, actually. So I want to meet him and find out all about him. But the demon kings would surely not let me do that. So I can''t have him dying too early. I''m here to warn you all¡ªno matter what n you have, make sure you don''t kill the boy. If you kill or even harm him, you will have me to deal with, and I''ll wipe out your little cult from the face of the world. Don''t make me remind you of what happened to your leader when he crossed me. I''d hate to have to do sane to you, after all, your cult is on itsst leg, one more death from your top and that''s all." Chapter 258 Underground channels Silva and everyone he held dear sat in the meeting room, even his mums and his dad, Fay''s brother Ray and her father. They were all seated because they had been informed about what happened. Silva also took his seat, scanning the hall to ensure that everyone was there. When he was certain, he started speaking. "They attacked for a reason; they had a n at the back of their heads, and they attacked. It''s really not hard to know what they had nned. Dark Dragon is an anomaly, a kingdom that stands against everything that is beloved in this world. It shows that every race can live together in harmony. It shows that we can all stop the wars that have been brewing for many years. So they attacked it. They wanted to cause issues in the kingdom, make the people lose trust in the kingdom so that the kingdom would fall. But they don''t understand who rules this kingdom because if they did, they would understand that I am ready for war. And I''ll burn their homes to the ground. They went too far when innocents that belong to me were hurt. So I''m going to make sure that I show them my rage. We will not go blindly into war. No, we will make it the best strategic and destructive war that has been recorded in years. We will use them to show the world¡ªa spectacle for everyone to see and for everyone to know. I have spoken to Drake, Lily, and Elsa, and they said it would be best for the n to be discussed here and everyone to know their role. Just so you know, the n to enter the empire is still ongoing, just shifted till after the war. The empire is the most important thing on our schedule. I''ll not let my anger and rage make me forget that. It''s too important," Silva said. He paused and then signaled Drake to speak. Drake stood up and began speaking. "Our enemy is the Olen Kingdom. They are a slightlyrge kingdom with a huge poption, and they are well known for their raw materials. Mostly the mines that give crystals used all over for many things. They make up ten percent of the crystal mining in all the humannds. Their military strength is nothing special, as most people dive into the crystal business since it has a lot of money. Olen is a two-week journey from here on foot, and that''s all the little details about them. We are not certain that Olen is the only one that initiated the attack, but we are certain that they were at the forefront of it, and that makes them the target now. As per proper protocol, we will be sending them word when we are about to attack. They can surrender to us to be taken over. We will be using a full sweep force and full strategies, making sure we make them see how weak they are. The ns are simple. While we are away at war, Ari and Lily, along with Lady Elsa, will be protecting the kingdom. We have made ns for a barrier strong enough to stop a dozen attacks from a hero or demon king. And it will be used to protect the people while we are away. We will take every ground force, fully armed and ready to go, but that''s not the main part of the n. Like we said before, it will be strategic. We will be making use of abominations and, like Master''s necromancy, talking more. It will be a wave-after-wave attack using portals from all directions. We will make it seem like we areing at them wave after wave, but in reality, we areying a trap, especially for the king. You see, there is something in Olen that very few know about, and that''s the underground channel. Olen was once used to heavily smuggle ves to other kingdoms. They had underground channels hundreds of feet into the ground, and even normal magical scanning could not find them. There was one in our kingdom as well, but it has been closed for years now. Now, what I''m saying takes us back to the attack. The attack was not only to cause panic; it was also to use the panic as cover to open the channel that passes through our kingdom as well. That way, they would be able to start entering unnoticed and cause more damage. We didn''t know this at first, but Silva asked Lily to look into things more, and she found the closed passageway in the same town where theb was burnt down. Now, why are we talking about the passage? Well, it''s simple. We will attack Olen like our lives depend on it, making use of all our people. Then we will carefully rat out ourselves that we used all our forces to attack. That will lead Olen to think they can turn this against us by sending their best men into our kingdom using the old passage. Sure, it''s blocked, but they''ll have to force it open from the inside. There is a high chance that their king would be there as well.N?v(el)B\\jnn But a trap is already there waiting, one that we would have set, allowing us to capture their most important figures. Using them to get more information on everyone that was in on the attack on our kingdom, then we publicly execute all of them, sending a message before we finally burn their whole town to the ground. It''s a simple strategy but very delicate. The truth of the issue is that with the underground channels that exist, the king and his family could easily run away, and that would not be good. So we have to bait him in, pull him, and make him believe that he stands a chance at winning. Then he''lle to us, and we can easily capture him. This is the basic n asid out by Master, Lily, and Lady Elsa, but it''s still open for your input." Chapter 259 Random Man Everyone thought about it for a while, but no one stood up. Finally, his father got up. He looked at Silva and spoke. "Son, is this what you really want to do? You might be making the whole of humanity your enemy and going into a life of war if you do this," he said. "I''m not the one doing anything, Father. They are the ones that did it¡ªthe moment they decided to attack us. There is no way that I''ll allow the lives that have worked for me to be in vain. They died in mynds, under my watch. If anything, my conscience would not allow me to live without revenge for them and for me. A life of war? I ept that. After all, I''m supposed to be a demon king. Get all your affairs in ce. If there are no questions, we move out tomorrow. I''ll be heading out to do something," Silva said and got up. He walked out without turning back. He left the castle and walked through the city. He could see that the ce was generally quieter. Everyone had heard about what happened, and they didn''t know how to react. Silva could feel the tension in the air. After all, their brothers and sisters had died inrge numbers, and Silva was yet to do anything. "Master, it would be best if we hold a mass burial, and it will serve as the opportunity for you to speak to them. You need to address them. They need their king to exin all that happened and ensure them that actions would be taken," Drake said as he got behind Silva. Read new adventures at empire "That''s true. Prepare a mass burial and announce it to all. Wherever they are in the town, they should stop what they are doing and watch the burial," Silva said. Drake moved away immediately to start preparing. That evening, Silva would have to talk to all of them. --- That evening, everything was set up. The bodies of the people that had died wereid down on the floor, covered with cloth. Silva stood on a raised tform with arge crowd gathered around, everyone eager for answers. The only person that could give them those answers was Silva. Silva looked at all of them, and the feeling he got was weird. All these people, all of them were looking up to him for answers. He was the one in charge of them, and whatever he said now could break or build them. "Thank you all foring here," Silva started. "And to those watching from their homes and jobs, thank you as well. Yesterday, our kingdom was attacked, and many people lost their lives. Many brothers and many sisters. They left their houses with the belief that they would work and go home. But someone¡ªsomeone who was not happy with the beautiful life that they had found¡ªattacked and killed them. Now they lie here as corpses, lifeless, and their story hase to an end.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om I know many of you want me to give you apologies, and many of you want me to hold myself ountable. You all want me to say it was my negligence that caused this. That''s what a king should do. That is the character of a king¡ªhe takes the me, and he carries the weight of everything on his shoulders. Sadly, I am not that type of king. I am a vastly new and different type of king, so I will not apologize. I will not say sorry, and I will not say it was my fault. My pride as a dragon refuses it because if I apologize, I take it that I have epted a loss, and I don''t lose. So, therefore, I''ll tell you all this: I''ll take revenge for all of the people that have died, and I''ll burn down the people that caused this and everything that belongs to them. I''ll make sure that I burn them all to the ground. We will take the war that they started to them and make sure that they feel our wrath in the rawest form possible. I might not be able to rece those that you have lost, but know this: I''ll keep my word and bring them all to their graves." "That''s bullshit." A voice suddenly sounded from the crowd. Then a man slowly started pushing his way to the front so that he could speak. "Why should we believe what you have to say? You refuse to apologize to us. You put your pride before us. What sort of king are you? You should be on your knees begging us. You should bury your head in ashes, and then we will believe that you want to change something. Now you want to wave it off and refuse to give us an apology? We refuse that," the man said. "Huh? Apologize to you? Why? For what? Because of what? I gave you all a life. I gave you all a ce to be. Why would I apologize to you?" Silva asked, his aura surging and choking the man. "Why the hell would I apologize to you? Answer me. Did you ever have the guts to go up to your former king when he did something wrong? Did you have the guts to go up to him when people died? Did you? Tell me. Answer me. No, you stayed in your small house, scared and hungry. But now you have the mouth to speak? What do you think you will gain from making the people hate me? What would any of them gain? I am a demon king. Have you forgotten that fact? I could have chosen to be a dictator, but I didn''t, so don''t question me when I make my decisions," Silva yelled, and the man was already shivering. "You know what? This man will be part of the forefront army that will take our revenge. But if he dares to refuse, he will be publicly executed for refusing to serve the kingdom," Silva said and looked at the man, who looked like his ghost had left him. Chapter 260 Out for blood The burial went without issue after Diego dealt with that man, and everyone left. That night, Silva sat in an office writing a detailed war letter to Olen. And when the sun was about to rise, he handed it to Drake and told him to deliver the message. Drake went ahead at top speed, while Silva headed for thebyrinth. His entire army was already set and ready to move out, but they would have to move behind the abomination army. Silva made sure that all the abominations were ready in thebyrinth. When he arrived at the gates of thebyrinth, Lily was already there; she was the one that would initiate the teleportation. The n was simply to teleport all of them around the kingdom of Olen. Teleportation circles had already been set up and were ready to go. When Lily saw Silva, she took it as a sign to start. She ced her hand on thebyrinth and started the process. Immediately, all the abominations were teleported away from thebyrinth. Silva gave her an approving nod. "Head to the main army now. I''ll be there soon after Drake returns with word," Silva said. Lily nodded and then left the ce. "I think it''s time I finally assign those stat points. Can never be too careful," Silva said to himself. When he fought the monsters in the elf empire, he had leveled up and gained quite a good number of stat points. With them now, the increase in his strength would be massive. "Stats," Silva called out. Name: Silva (evolved) Race: Dark Dragon (80%), Human (20%) Legacy: Dark Dragon Legacy (Awakened) Magical Affinities: Summoning, Darkness, Abyss Magic Mana: 5,000,000 EXP: 50,000/3,000,000 SP: 2,000,000 Level: 3 (evolved) Strength: 40,000 Defense: 40,000 Speed: 40,000 Agility: 40,000 Intelligence: 53,240 Free stat points: 110,000 Strength: 60,000 Defense: 60,000 Speed: 60,000 Agility: 60,000 Intelligence: 73,240 Free stat points: 10,000 Without much thought, he put twenty thousand points into all of them, and that was all. Drake returned to Silva and met him at thebyrinth. "So what did they say?" Silva asked. "They didn''t take it seriously. They didn''t believe that a small kingdom like us would make any moves. They also demanded that we send back the envoy they sent, or they would make use of harsh methods to get him back," Drake said, rying everything they told him. "This is stupid. Drake, let''s go. It''s time we release the abominations," Silva said and started walking. "Master, how many abominations do we have for this? It''s a whole kingdom that we are after," Drake said. "Well, I forced thebyrinth to make over ten thousand and cramp them up. So we have ten thousand of them ready to tear into the kingdom," Silva said. "I tend to forget the terrifying things that you can do, Master, and then youe around and surprise me even more," Drake said. "Honestly, Drake, you have no idea what I can really do, not even close. The me you see now is my weakest form. I''ve never shown anyone the real me," Silva said. Silva decided that he was going to add some spice into the war, so he contacted Kratos and told him to fly the wyvern army over to Olen. When they arrived at the battlefront, Silva came with the man from yesterday, d in full armor. The man was shivering as he stood there, but Silva refused to let him go. The man looked around and saw abominations lined up, waiting to fight, and he felt terrified. "Master, the kingdom has been surrounded in key locations. Do we make the move?" Drake asked. "Begin the attack," Silva said, and immediately all the abominations ran into the kingdom, their target the capital, but they would destroy all cities and towns on their way there. The abominations ran through the smaller towns, wreaking havoc. The people in the towns were thrown into a panic as the hordes of abominations came to them. The war broke out, and those that were to protect them could not hold up at all. They were torn apart limb by limb, and bodies of both fighters and the innocent began littering the floor. Their blood soon covered the ground as the abominations mutted them, but the guards of these towns fought with all they had, pushing themselves not to give up. They never expected this war. It took them like a storm, and that was what Silva wanted. He wanted to burn them all to the ground. "Kratos, begin your move. Burn them into cinders," he said, and a few secondster, the wyvern army with their riders flew above the kingdom, and they began releasing hell over the towns and cities. Silva looked at the man that he had brought. The man was shivering at the sight of this war, but Silva didn''t care. He grabbed the man and leapt high into the air, took out his wings, and flew away. Hended in a town that was locked in battle against some abominations, but they were slowly pushing the abominations back and winning. "That''s a perfect ce for you," Silva said. He took out a helmet and ced it over the man''s head. The helmet would note off no matter what, and it would make it seem like the man was hostile and a raging beast. But the man didn''t know about that. Silva tossed his body into the battle. Hended on the ground roughly, struggled back to his feet, and looked at the human soldiers that were before him. Immediately, he felt hopeful that they would help him, but in the next second, someone charged at him with a sword. The man had little to nobat ability, but his hands moved on their own. He blocked the sword with his own sword and then kicked the man in his guts, sending him flying. The man was immediately confused as to what was happening, but his body kept moving. He shed and blocked, tearing down the people that stood before him. He screamed as he did it, trying to say he was not the one doing it, but his screams sounded like victorious war cries. He charged at the people and fought harder against his will, opening the opportunity for the abominations to attack the humans even more. Finally, a mage found a clear shot and fired an icence at the man. The ice stuck into his chest, and he screamed in pain, but it sounded like a war cry, and the armor made him fight even more. He ran toward the mage under the control of the armor. He leapt into the air tond a hit, but someone stabbed him from beneath with a spear and tossed his body to the ground. The armor made him get back up immediately and attack again. He was bleeding badly, but his body kept moving regardless. He managed to get behind another person and stabbed him in the back and through the heart. But that left him open, and someone used a spear to stab through his chest. He screamed again, and it sounded like an even louder war cry. The armor forced him to pull out the spear and snatch it from the person wielding it. He used the spear and drove it into the neck of the person, killing him instantly. The man''s body was now riddled with holes and nearing his death. But the armor somehow kept him going, pushing him to fight even more. He attacked the remaining humans in a final frenzy and killed over ten of them before he was riddled with too many holes, and his body could no longer sustain life. So he fell to the ground and died there while Silva watched the whole thing from above. "Drake, the Puppeteer Armor worked as you said it would. But I would have loved it if it were able to keep the person inside alive longer than it normally would. Even if it means scorching their minds and turning them into zombies, make sure you gather some test subjects from this war. Leave anyone less than fourteen out of it; the rest are allowed," Silva said. "I understand, Master, and I''ll get to that soon. Also, Master, Lily informed me that the troops are ready to move out and join the war. Also, the king of Olen has started countering with full force," Drake said.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "That''s fine. Send in the full force, the Guardians as well, even Aris. Make sure they give it their all. Burn this kingdom to the ground and make it forgotten. The abominations and the wyverns have started clearing out the little towns and cities. The journey to the capital should be unhindered," Silva said. He disconnected from Drake and looked down at the people fighting the abominations, and he had the urge to go down as well, so he did. When hended, he shed an evil smile at them, his wings spread, his horns fully out, and his eyes glowing like a dragon. "Finally, I''ll show you what a demon king looks like," he said aloud and took out his sword. Chapter 261 Serious Issue War, it was a fancy name for when people butchering themselves without a care in the world, when they got at each other''s throats and tried to kill each other. But could the fake war be used for what Silva brought to Olen? It was not war; it was a massacre. It was aplete massacre, because Olen stood no chance. When the main force made their move, d in the wonderful armors and weapons that Silva had provided, they ripped through Olen. There was no pity, hearts were sealed off, and Silva became a real viin. Regardless of who or what stood before them, they cut them down. The streets were littered with blood and the mutted bodies of humans. As for those that surrendered, they were teleported back to Fake Dragon, where they would know what to do with them. The main army of Olen refused to leave the capital; they focused all their resources on protecting the capital. They fought bravely against the abominations that made it to the capital, and they were able to defeat all and keep the capital safe. But before they could catch their breath, the main army, with Silva and the Guardians leading them, arrived. Silva wore full ck armor, the metal gleamed under the sun, and the purple runes on it shined. His wings and horns were all out, and he held his sword in his hands. His presence was striking, and all attention was pinned on him, even though he was one in the thousands standing around. From the walls of Olen, they could all tell he was the leader. Silva didn''t attack the gates of the capital as he arrived; he had the wyvern army circle the capital while he waited for someone toe and speak to him because he knew that would happen. As he had thought, the gates of the capital opened, and riding on the back of horses, a small group of fifty men in armor rode out to meet Silva. They stopped when they were a hundred meters away, and their leader came down from his horse and started walking towards Silva. Silva moved forward; he met the man halfway. "I assume you are the leader of this force?" the man said. "You shouldn''t engage in small talk, tell me what you want and walk away," Silva said. "Sigh, my name is Roger, the captain of the Beta Knight Order, the second strongest knight of this kingdom. We understand that you are tense and angry at our kingdom, but we have to find a peaceful way to resolve this. I would hate to go into battle with you," Roger said. "Roger, are you stupid or trying to be? We sent out word of this war, and your king refused it. Now thousands of innocents have died on our way here. Because you refused to protect them, and now they are dead, this war has started, and I''ll make sure to end it. After all, you came after my people and you hurt them," Silva said. "It seems you don''t want to back down, but we have seen your army''s power, and a war will lead to mutual destruction," Roger said. "Trust me, you have not seen half of what we can do. Do not assume you have a standing here; you are not the empire, or the holy kingdom. They are the only ones that can stand against me, and yes, I mean that sadly. Your kingdom? I could take it alone, so do not think that you have any standing here," Silva said. "I beg to differ, but I have something to offer, to save the lives of both sides. A duel, between you and I, a sword duel, and the winner decides what happens next. If you win, the war continues, and you can run throughout the capital, but if you lose, you''ll die here, and your people must return," Roger said. Silva heard the details and he felt bad for Roger; even if the heavens touched the earth, Roger would never be able to win. But Silva decided that he would humor him and actually fight against him, so he stretched out his hand for a shake. Roger shook his hand, and the both of them turned around to tell their people what would happen now. "I''ll be dueling him. If he wins, the war ends," Silva said. "Master, isn''t this a waste of time? He would need an impossible miracle to win," Drake said. Silva chuckled and turned to face Roger. Roger took his stance, and then charged at Silva. This was pure swordy, which meant only physical skill and swordy. Silva stood still, he couldn''t be bothered, but to his surprise, Roger sped up at thest moment and went for a stab. Silva stepped to the side and parried the sword, but Roger was not done; he stopped his movement, turned around, and went for a sh. Silva blocked the attack before using the broad side of his sword to m Roger away. Rogernded a good distance away, but before he could stand, Silva was already before him. "It doesn''t matter how good you think you are, Roger, you are outssed when ites to me. There is a reason I am the king, after all," Silva said and stabbed the sword into Roger''s leg. Roger''s men saw this and wanted to intervene, but they looked at the massive army behind Silva. What would they be able to do before they are all killed? Silva noticed that Roger''s men were holding themselves back, and a sick smile appeared on his face. He twisted the sword in Roger''s leg and then pulled it out before stabbing the second leg, while looking at them. Roger was on the ground crying out in pain, and blood poured from his legs, but Silva was not done. Silva looked up at them and said, "This is war." As he said that, he took his sword and drove it into the head of Roger. The final draw, then Roger''s men snapped; they attacked without regard for their lives. Silva shed with his sword, a me arc might gracefully cross and cut into all the men, killing them on the spot. "This is our revenge, take out their capital," Silva said, and the whole army behind him charged towards the capital. After they all got past him, he turned around and started walking away.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "This is fun," he said with a smile, and then flew away, not caring what the oue of the war was. --- Inside the castle of Olen, the king sat in his throne with all his best men standing before him. Silva''s army was approaching, and they needed to do something, or else they would all die. But they were the ones that tantly refused Drake and told him that they would attack his kingdom if he didn''t release the people they sent there. They didn''t expect that Silva would be this terrifying, and now they were faced with the results of their actions. They now understood that they were facing someone very terrifying; they had to find another way to handle this. "Let''s use the underground passages. There is one that leads to that kingdom," the king spoke, and everyone paid attention. It might be blocked, but there''s no one to stop us from actually opening it now, because all the fighters from their kingdom havee to take over us. If we can move our best men through that passage at top speed, we should be able to ruin his kingdom before he fully does the same to us. It''s a risky move, but it must be done, or else we will lose our kingdom. So prepare the Alpha troops and the elite troops. I''ll lead them to take over the kingdom myself, I''ll lead this war, and we will make sure that we win. This is the only move that we can make right now to ensure that we sink his kingdom," the king said and got up from his throne. He didn''t wait for anyone there to say anything, he simply left and headed to his room. When he opened the door, his wife was seated on the bed with two children by her side, one ten years old and the other nine. The older was a boy and the younger was a girl. "My husband, what is the situation of things now?" she asked, but he ignored her and walked into the closet room. Inside the gold and ck royal armor was there with his sword as well; he immediately donned it, with a serious expression on his face. --- While this was going on, something had slipped everyone''s memory, but Silva had mentioned it, and that was the fact that Olen had a huge crystal deposit. So while this was ongoing, his clones had been digging and transporting the resources of Olen. And while he was doing this, his clones ran into something that might turn out to be a serious issue. Chapter 262 The Black Man Inside the crystal mines, the clones stumbled upon something suspicious, something unusual. They decided it would be best for Silva toe himself. So Silva came there after leaving the war. He headed to the crystal mines and walked in, but what he saw sent chills down his spine. During the excavation of crystals, the clones had dug too far, too fast, and they stumbled upon a cave chamber and arge statue. The statue was over fifteen feet tall, and from the eyes of this statue, blood spilled and constantly filled the room, flowing through some holes that were created in the room. All this was confusing, and Silva didn''t know what to think at this point. What the hell was happening here? Why was there a statue there? Why was there even an underground chamber? Silva decided toe closer and check what was going on. He approached the statue, his feet going through the shallow pool of blood. His eyes darted around in all directions, ensuring that there was nothing else here. This was so random, and it made absolutely no sense. But when he looked back, he saw that the way they used toe here had vanished. The clones and he hadn''t even noticed when this happened. What the hell was happening here? Silva immediately took out his sword, and so did all the ten clones there. They watched around to see what was happening. Suddenly, they heard a voice. "Is this the task you were given to do? Raid a country?" Silva looked around to find the voice that spoke, but he couldn''t see anyone. Then the fully ck man that was with Ophelia appeared. When Silva saw him, he immediately got ready to fight, but the man raised his hands, and Silva, along with all the clones, were brought to their knees, unable to move even an inch. "Do you believe that because you have touched a little strength, you can fight everything? How very prideful of you. Your power and strength are merely a fragment in front of divinity," the man said and started walking about, still keeping Silva kneeling. Silva and the clones struggled with all their might but couldn''t do anything.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I''m sure you want to know why I can keep you restrained without doing much, right? Well, it''s something called worldw. It''s like your domain, where you can enforce your authority. The same way for me, I can enforce my authority andws in this world, and even more so in this cave. That''s the first question answered. Now Silva, you''ll be wondering just who I am, so let me tell you. I am a being that stands at almost the same footing as your beloved goddess. And because of that, I have power over this world. Now, I shouldn''t be able to do what I''m doing now¡ªtalking to you and enforcing my power on you how I want. But thank goodness for a special artifact: this cave, the Cave of a Thousand Bloodlines. With the help of this cave, I can bypass the power of order oncepletely for a set duration. But this cavees at a massive price: a thousand virgins. Their blood must be consumed by the cave. So I made it so that a human hundreds of years ago would find this artifact with some rules on how to use it. Saying it would grant them any wish, I suffered a heavy bacsh from order because of that move. But the man did as expected, and over years, he found a thousand people and killed them, putting them into the cave. He actually used humans, that stupid idiot. I told him virgins¡ªthey could have been from any race¡ªbut he thought it was only humans. Such stupidity. By the time he was about to use the artifact, he was caught¡ªsomething I orchestrated as well¡ªand I took back my artifact. I know what you are thinking now: how do I have more ess to this world than Ophelia? Well, unlike her, I have fewer restrictions," the man said. He looked at Silva and then released Silva''s mouth to talk. "What is all this crap you are saying? Ophelia never told me about anything like this," Silva said. "Oh, well, she can''t. Even what I''m doing now, she doesn''t really know about it. Otherwise, she would have never let me do it. I want to take a religion from your old world. They talk about the God, the Son, and then a Spirit, right? Well, you see, the God had the least contact with that world. The Son is the messenger of the God, sent to work in the world, trusting the God. The Spirit knows all the God''s ns, and due to that fact, he can make contact with the world, but not like the Son. I want to use that human-made reference to talk about Ophelia now. Ophelia is the God in this situation, and I am the Spirit. Thousands of years ago, the Dark Dragon was the Son. Now that is you¡ªyou are the Son. Eww, I hate saying that. You are our contact to this world, the one supposed to help the God save their world. But you have started going off track, kid. You really have. And that''s actually not your fault but because Ophelia refused to let me guide you. It would be very risky, as order would frown on it. Really, that''s a bummer. But now I have a few minutes to talk to you here before I go. I want to tell you a bit about the gravity of what you are facing, kid. When I''m done, you will understand that your conquests and activities are useless and pointless, and that you are wasting time. You have seen your own future¡ªyou have seen it through the eyes of that fairy. How much do you think you have changed that future? How much do you believe you have secured a win for when it happens? Or are you just delusional? Because you have no idea what real power looks like." Chapter 263 Not a fairy tale The idea of heroes and demon kings has filled your head, giving you the false reality that they are the strongest in this world. But before I go far, do you even know the true strength of a demon king or hero? You believed your dragon eyes could gauge their strength. Or you believe that with infinite clones, you can defeat them? No, that is naive and stupid because their strength is not gauged that way. A demon king possesses a curse, and a hero a blessing. When a curse or blessing is activated, it''s usually during a world-shattering event. If a hero activates his blessing, his power could shatter reality and bend the fabric of space, and that''s with a normal punch. Your millions of infinite clones would be destroyed before they got close. That is only a tip of how the demon kings and heroes are. You might be a candidate, but until you receive your curse, never try to go against a hero or demon king, Silva. They are not just nuts in a different league; they exist on a ne of their own. They see the world differently from you. This might hurt your dragon ego, but you are no match for them. But that''s beside the n. I have little time here, so I''ll tell you all that I heard, and the rest is up to you to understand. There are many things you don''t understand, and the task that the goddess has given you is not one that can be easily carried out. It might look like the simplepletion of tasks that she gives you to carry out, but it''s far more than that. The details are so vast that I would have to spend days exining them to you. There is also the fact that she believes you are not ready for that. Taking that into consideration, you need to understand that your task here is not simple and will not be a walk in the park for you. The wars you must fight¡ªthey are massive, and this thing you are doing now, battling some random kingdom, is not helping anything. Instead, it''s building more trouble for you. But you won''t listen to me; after all, you are a dragon, and your pride equals that of gods. But I need you to understand something, and it''s really important, Silva. Time is ticking; it''s running down fast. This new world adventure you think you are in¡ªit''s going to end. It''s going to turn evil, brutal, and filled with so much darkness that you might turn into a monster.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om What that Lily showed you is only the beginning. The darkness stretches far beyond that; it goes deeper¡ªsomething that, even with your strength, you''ll never fix if you don''t avoid it. Give me your hand. I''ll show you something now, but what I want to show you is a heavy defiance of order, so this artifact will use all its power to block order, but immediately after, I''ll have to go," the ck man said and stretched out his hand. Silva''s body felt free, and he stood up. He walked to the man and held his hand. Immediately, like a very powerful gust of wind, his face was hit, his head snapped back, and his eyes closed. He slowly opened his eyes, only to see a barrennd. The ground was scorched ck, and the skies were dark, covered with smoke. He looked around this ce, his eyes darting around, trying to figure out what this was. "Where am I?" Silva asked. "The future¡ªthe most likely oue of the path that you are treading. This is the world now, the world that was created after several happenings," the man replied. "Am I alive? Or did I die in this world?" Silva asked. "Die? You? You can''t die. You didn''t die. You became the ruler of this world. You were supposed to die, but someone risked their soul to keep yours. They snatched you from the jaws of death. The person is someone dear to you, someone who waspatible with you, and that was Elsa. She gave her soul to let you live. In the passing time before that happened, you lost all the guardians¡ªeach one killed in service to your crazy ns, butchered, mutted, deaths that came in different ways. Lily died in your hands, her only wish being that you never forget her. But in your rage and quest for vengeance, you forgot her. You forgot them, and you lost more people. Your sisters, your brothers, your friends, and everyone that stood for you¡ªonly Elsa followed, trying to save you from yourself. But you threw yourself into the jaws of death, and she gave her life for you. After that, you became a being driven by the purest form of rage, the purest form of anger. You destroyed all, until even Ophelia saw you as a threat and tried to seal you. And then you moved against her. You used everything you could and injured her¡ªa god. But you suffered your own injuries. You didn''t die, mostly because she felt she was to me for what you had be. She felt that she tarnished your soul and destroyed your life. She couldn''tnd that final blow. So you escaped, and using what divine power you had, you sealed the world away to be your domain. Trying to recover for the day she would recover ande back so that you could end her. This world was no longer her world. It became a ce that you used to gain energy, and the life that existed here was just to serve the demon lord that you had be," the man said and then removed Silva from the vision. Silva fell to the ground immediately, shaking and sweating. He had a deep look of unbelief on his face. "Silva, this is no story with a happy ending. There is no happy ending. You were brought here to save or destroy. This is no fairy tale," the man said and vanished. So did the cave, and Silva was returned to the crystal cave. Chapter 264 Finishing the war Silva stayed in the cave for a while, sitting and looking at the entrance, thinking of all that he had seen today. The war at Olen lost all purpose to him. "Drake, have you finished the war?" Silva asked telepathically. "No, sir. We are taking it slow like you asked, following the n," Drake said. "It has gone on for long enough. Use your strongest-level spells, destroy them all, hold nothing back. I''m done with the whole Olen thing. I don''t care about who plotted the whole thing. Just wipe them out. I''m going home," Silva said and got up. He walked out of the cave and started heading home. A lot had happened to him, starting from the fact that the ck man was capable of holding him down without much effort, and there was nothing he could do. And then there was the future that he was shown. Even when Lily showed him bad futures, he never felt as scared as what he felt today. "Am I really going to turn into a monster? Something that destroys everything, including those close to me? Sure, I have little emotions, sure I''m pretty much evil, but to that extent? Can that really be me?" Silva asked himself. "I just heard Drake''s order. What happened, Silva?" Lily appeared behind him. "I just got tired of the war," Silva said, not wanting to answer. "That''s a lie, Silva, and you know it. I can tell that something is bothering you, so what is it?" she asked. "It''s nothi¡ª" "No, there''s definitely something, so tell me," Lily said. "Fine, I saw the end. I saw the end of all this, of this life that I''ve found myself in," Silva said. Lily paused for a while and then spoke. "I''m guessing whatever you saw was not good, and from the way you seem, it must have been worse than what I showed you," Lily said. "Worse is an understatement, Lily. There was no world, there was only darkness in the purest possible form. And at the top of it all was me, standing on millions of corpses, of people I love and people that stood against me. I became the demon lord. The world was destroyed by my hands in the end. That was what I saw," Silva said, hanging his head low as he spoke. "So what? So what if you saw some bad future, Silva? It all depends on what you want. Do you want to destroy the world? No matter what showed you that future, it''s still a changeable future. No future is definite, it''s never definite. You showed me the same energy when I showed you the future, so show the same energy. We all look up to you, and we trust your decisions," Lily said. Silva looked back at her and forced a smile. "You don''t understand. You would if you saw it," he said and then brought out his wings, shooting into the air and flying off.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lily watched him go, a sad expression on her face as she looked at Silva. She decided that she would at least help him finish this war that they had started. --- Lily flew over the capital of Olen. The castle was thest ce left to be destroyed, as the other guardians had taken care of the rest of the city. She raised her hands into the air, and a veryrge magical circle formed in the sky. It began spinning and finally fired a massive me pir into the castle,pletely obliterating it and everyone inside. --- Inside the underground passage, the king and his people moved through the carriage on their way to destroy the Dark Dragon. This was the only way by which they would be able to win the war, or at least make some damage. If only they had known that the n had changed and their hopes were already destroyed. The king led them bravely, and they finally got to the blockage that had been made long ago. But they immediately noticed that someone was seated there. The person was ying with some sort of red mes. It was ady. "Who are you?" the king asked. "The name''s Aris. I was asked to watch you before, but things changed, and my master asked me to end everything. So sadly, I''ll have to end your journey here," Aris said. The king didn''t say anything. He immediately attacked Aris, but Aris simply sted him with a huge stream of chaos. The st killed the king and went ahead to kill all the people following him with ease. She sighed after they all died so easily and was about to walk away. But then she felt a sudden pressure out of nowhere and moved to dodge immediately. The de passed right before her face but didn''t touch her. She looked at who attacked and saw that it was the king, covered in blood, with glowing red eyes and bulging veins. "What did you do to yourself? A human of your strength should not be able to survive a st from my chaos," Aris said. "Raaaaaaaagh!" the king roared and attacked. It was like the king was no longer in control but was now a raging beast. "This must have something to do with that demon blood master talked about," Aris said. She dodged his attack easily and punched him with a chaos-covered punch,pletely obliterating his spine from the front to the back. Blood spilled in all directions as the king fell to the ground, almost lifeless. Aris walked next to him, looked at him, and the only look on her face was disgust. She raised her leg and stomped it on his head immediately, shattering the skull and killing the king instantly. She sted the blockage open and walked away, leaving the heap of bodies on the ground and the king of a kingdom bleeding out there from his skull. One of many deaths that Silva''s decisions would cause. Chapter 265 Master Stop The war ended, but it was the beginning of many things, as Silva was now seen as a threat, not by a few people, but by the whole of humanity. A small kingdom possessing the power to take out a kingdom overnight¡ªthat''s something only the empire and the holy kingdom would be capable of. It only showed that a third power had risen, and that power was a kingdom led by a demon king candidate. The humans didn''t like the sound of that. They didn''t want someone like Silva growing so fast and crazily, but they couldn''t really stop this now, could they? Silva, on the other hand, had changed his direction. He understood that there was no way he could enter the empire now, not with what he saw. His mindset and thought processes had taken a hit after watching that vision of the future. So he decided that before he stepped into the empire and continued the goddess''s work, he would have to create a new kingdom for himself. With the help of Drake and Lily, he wanted to bring to his kingdom all that they had on Earth, but modified by magic. If he did this, he would be able to create a world stronger than the empire and even the holy kingdom. He decided to modernize means for everything, with the use of magic. --- "Master Silva, the building that you asked to be cleared for the school has been fully set up," Drake said to Silva, who was on his throne. "That was faster than I expected. Well, either way, it''s good. You already have the setup prepared for it. It''s for children less than the age of twelve. Teach them the basics of everything," Silva said. "Master, if I may ask, why is it that you suddenly shifted your attention to the kingdom?" Drake asked. "Because I have been rushing. I have been blindly chasing everything that I was supposed to do. I forgot to stop, take a look around, and see how far I''vee. After the war a few days back, I took enough time to think. I tried to process so much that even my eleven minds could barely handle it. And I came up with a simple solution. As stupid as it sounds, I decided to take it easy. It doesn''t mean that I''ll stop. It doesn''t mean that I won''t go into the empire. I''ll, of course, do that, but I also have to have a beautiful home that I cane to. So we will expand, we will grow, until the Dark Dragon Kingdom has be one that is as powerful as the empire," Silva said and then looked around. "At the end, it also makes a beautiful distraction," Silva said.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Distraction?" Drake asked. "Oh yes, show the world that I have changed my focus to building, and that''s what they will see, while in reality, I''m still infiltrating the empire and getting what we need to. That''s not the main reason for what I''m doing, but it''s a pretty solid additional reason," Silva said. "Master, stop," Drake said, shocking Silva. Silva looked at him with a confused look¡ªthis was the first time that Drake had stopped him when he was talking. "Master, I may be out of bounds here, but I am still your right-hand man, and that counts for something. Have you ever paused to take a look at what you have created? This kingdom, this ce? Have you even taken in the beautiful ce around you? This was built by you on a whim, so I want you to imagine what it would be like if you actually put a lot of energy into it. I want you to think about what would be of this ce if you actually channeled all your resources and time into this kingdom. You would build a world beyond measure. I have looked at your work. I have tried to decipher the way your mind works, but it''s too sophisticated for me. So why not channel all that creative energy into your home, Master? I would follow you to every war and to every ce, but at the end of the day, we still have toe home. We have toe here. I can tell that something is wrong with you, but you don''t wish to share, so I will never pry. But still, whatever it is should not make you into a war-seeking monster. Always seeking out the next mission and the best mission. You need to stop and look at the little things, fix the little issues, be a king. In a room in this castle, Rose lies in aa. How many times have you thought about helping to bring her back? Somewhere as well is a woman waiting for Master Quin toe and marry her, but because he is way too busy, he has been stuck here with you. There are so many more little things that would put a smile on a few faces, but you have refused to look at those little things and have focused on the grand things. It might be due to the fact that you are a dragon and that your pride fights against it, but think about this: what pride does a dragon have if the people he was to protect died or vanished? All I''m trying to say is this, Master Silva: I may not know the urgency of going to the empire, but I want you to remember that you have to stop and enjoy the world that you live in," Drake finished talking and kept quiet. Silva looked at Drake. He stared for a while and then spoke. "Thank you, Drake. I guess I lost sight of many things in the pursuit of the task I had to do. Even if it''s urgent, I should try to take it easy. So that''s what we will do now, Drake. We will call back all missions that have to do with the empire and focus our efforts on the kingdom. We will build a powerhouse simr to the holy kingdom and the empire," Silva said with a smile. Chapter 266 White Fang killing "One person destroyed two kingdoms, and we sit watching him do what he wants? Is this not a deration of war?" A middle-aged man mmed his hand on the table in rage. He was seated inside arge room with a massive meeting table at the center, with close to twenty people, men and women, seated around it. The man had a vexed look on his face; he could barely hold in his anger at this point. Silva had been doing whatever he wanted, and it was getting out of hand. The man looked at the leader and asked, "So what do you have to say about this?" The leader looked down at the table and let out a deep sigh before speaking. "The holy kingdom decided that they would have nothing to do with what Silva is doing, and as long as he doesn''te near them, they have nothing to do with him. The heroes have also refused to step in, and the reasons they gave are that they don''t have time to deal with pests and that the empire doesn''t tell them what to do. We are the only ones that see him as a threat. Even the Royal Family doesn''t take his issue seriously. After all, they have to deal with the multiple openings of portals that have been happening. It''s risking the opening of the seal, and they don''t want that. To them, that is a bigger issue, so they don''t want to waste time with this Silva. There is also the fact that the war Silva waged against the kingdom of Olen waspletely following the rules set out. He sent a warning before he engaged in war, so on paper, he is legally allowed to do what he did. Though I doubt that he follows rules, to be honest. I believe that we should engage him, but he has shown how powerful he can be; he has shown what his strength is. Keeping him aside, there are also those that follow him; their strength is beyond what it should be. But all hope is not lost because I pushed for something, and the Royal Family responded. They also went the distance to ask the holy kingdom to sponsor a part of it. It doesn''t stop there as well; the Elves and the Dragons are in on it, as well as other races. It would be the first time that something like this is happening. I used what Silva did as a catalyst, giving them the idea that, for one time only, let''s try to have the biggestpetition ever. The first interracial event that has happened in years. We have been at peace, so let''s finally get into a deeper connection. But all that is a lie and a facade. It''s only because we have to take out the most dangerous demon king candidate. We will hold a tournament, a grand one, the first of its kind," the leader said, and everyone was shocked at what he said. He had basically just said that he forced a unitedpetition, all targeted at killing one person. It was absurd to think this was possible. Humans and the other races have always been at each other''s necks. Even when there was no war, there had never been any real peace. "What the hell did you just say? There is no way we are going to have a unitedpetition. It''s not going to happen," one middle-aged woman from the table spoke, and everyone nodded in agreement. "Well, it''s already in motion. I know what you are all thinking, and it''s very much valid. The reason why they epted to do this is really simple. The demons want to know our strengths, and they believe that we want to know their strengths. Everyoneing for the tournament has a hidden agenda. They are all plotting. It could probably lead to an all-out war, but in the end, that Silva will die. Can''t you see? It''s a n that makes sure we get rid of Silva. The risk is worth it." "You all have started getting too obsessed with that kid," a voice sounded in the room, and everyone turned to see White Fang. "I met a cult a few days ago, the ones that attacked Silva, and they were obsessed with killing the kid. I had to stop them, and now look at you. You went behind the backs of the heroes to try and host apetition so massive. So what did you n to tell us? What did you n to say as an exnation when we found out? You lot think you can walk around and do what you want when you want because you are a lousy council for the empire? I hate it. I hate it when ants do not know their ces, so I''ll make sure that none of you are capable of doing something like this again," White Fang said and allowed his pressure to fill the room. Immediately, everyone was choked and couldn''t move. White Fang walked up to a woman first; he could see the fear in her eyes as she struggled to breathe.N?v(el)B\\jnn "You guys think you have so much power, plotting to disturb the bnce that we, the heroes, have fought for so long to keep." He grabbed her head and added some strength, crushing it like it was nothing. The blood sttered in all directions, staining the ground and the table. He walked to the next person and ced his finger to the side of his head. "You all are stupid, way too stupid for your own good, so I''ll have to rid the world of your stupidity for now," White Fang said and pierced his finger into the head of the man. He forced it in until his fist entered the head as well, and then he pulled it out, allowing the blood to pour. He moved to the next person. He didn''t say a word and simply snapped his neck so hard the head ripped off. All while doing this, there was a smile on his face. Chapter 267 Mana Gun White Fang walked to the next person, grabbed the man by his neck, and lifted him up from the chair, choking him with so much strength that he shattered the throat and killed him. He dropped the body aside and walked to the woman that was next. While he did this, everyone stared in fear, praying to whoever they could to be able to escape from here. But no one was answering their prayers, as White Fang shattered the woman''s skull in a swift move. He went to the next person and killed that person as well. Blood had stained the floor and was flowing endlessly. He continued until all were dead but the leader. White Fang picked the leader up by the head and looked him in the eyes. "You are the plotter, right? I''d love to slowly torture you till death, but I have a message I need you to deliver. Go to the Royal Family. Tell them that the Heroes want to have a word with them. They should prepare, two weeks from now. If they aren''t ready, they will bear the consequences of their actions," Fang said. He was about to let the man go, but he realized it would be a shame to allow him to go like this. So he grabbed one of the man''s arms and tore it off. The man screamed in pain, but Fang was not done. He went ahead to pierce his finger into an eye hole and removed the eye forcefully before dropping him to the ground, bleeding. "You better not die here, because if you do, I''ll have to kill your family for disrespecting me," Fang said and left the room. The man crawled with one arm and a bleeding eye. He found his second arm on the ground, where his spatial ring was. He managed to get a healing potion from inside and drank it before passing out. --- "Alright, today I want us to work on a particr weapon that can be used by everyone with even a little bit of Mana. It can be used by anyone and offers an extra line of defense," Silva said. He was at a round table surrounded by Lily, Drake, Elsa, his two brothers, Aaron, his two sisters, and Amber. The rest had other things to do and could not be here. Silva took out a blueprint and spread it across the table. It looked like a rifle gun from Earth, but there had been several modifications made, especially to make it work in this world. "Drake and I spent a whole night trying to make my ideae to pass, and this weapon is called the Mana Gun, the first model of its kind. It will be called the First Gen Model X. Now let me get into the details of how this works. We used the cheapest metal that we have inrge bulk to make the bullets." "Bullets? What are those?" Mike asked. He had a whole lot of questions to ask, but he decided to chip in this one. "Well, I was getting to that," Silva said and took out a bullet prototype. It was like a normal bullet, the only difference being the runes that were drawn on it. "This is a bullet, the projectile that is shot out of the gun. Now, you might think that this little projectile can''t kill or really harm anyone. But it can, due to the speed and force. There are also little details to it, but I''ll not get into it. In fact, the best way to help you all understand the workings of this is by testing it, so let''s go outside," Silva said. "Wait, you have created it already?" Quin asked. "Well, of course. Drake is an engineering genius, and Lily is a master at Mana maniption. It took us less time than it took to draw the blueprints," Silva said and walked out. Everyone met at the training yard of the castle. Silva stood there waiting, in his hand was the rifle, spotting a slick golden look, with carved and glossy wood. The runes on its body added to its slick design. "That gun looks really expensive to create," Lia pointed out. "Well, yes, this one was, and there is only this one, one of one. The ones that would be created after this one would be reduced in quality and power," Silva exined. For the rest of the test, Drake set up an Orichalcum metal armor at the opposite side of the training yard near the wall. It was a really sturdy armor that would even take heavy spells ande out untouched. "Now, I''ll be shooting at that armor. The way I do that is by channeling the Mana in my body through my arms. Immediately it touches the gun, it''s powered up. The bullet will get charged up instantly, and when I pull the trigger, it will fire the bullet in the direction that the barrel is facing." After exining, he took a proper shooting stance and raised his gun. He aimed his gun and pressed the trigger. A loud bang resounded. It was as though the air shook as the extremely fast bullet sted out of the barrel, traveling at a speed that would put the best guns of Earth to shame. The bullet met with the armor, obliterating the armor into nothing and sting a massive hole into the wall. Everyone stared in shock. What the hell had they just witnessed? How could such destructive power be held inside that small tube? "Now, what you have witnessed is the power of this Mana Gun. Though we will not produce more of this particr type, we are going to give soldiers a version. It might give them more power, but I don''t want them to have power so easily. They should still have to train and not rely solely on the gun.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om This particr model will be a relic,memorating the first of its kind. Now, if there are any questions about this weapon, ask away," Silva said. And immediately, everyone aside from Lily and Drake raised their hands. Chapter 268 A Mole Silva spent a few minutes exining everything and answering all their questions. They all wanted to give it a try, but Silva refused, as he didn''t want to destroy the castle by ident. After the presentation for the day, Silva called all those that were yet to evolve. He wasn''t done with their training, even if it had been pushed back. So he called Aaron, Fay, Dawn, Lia, Mike, Roxy, and Sage. They all waited for him in the battle arena of the castle. While Silva was headed there, Aris met him and stopped him. "Silva, I''ve had something I wanted to tell you since the day I killed the king in the underground passage," Aris said. "Huh? What is it?" Silva asked. "Well, I know you already know about the demon blood situation, but it seems to have gotten worse. I fought with the king, and he used demon blood, but it was different from what we knew¡ªit was more refined," Aris said. "So what you are saying is that the empire is getting close to perfecting the blood?" Silva asked. "Pretty much. It seems that it''s getting better, and we will have to find a way to stop this. You have paused your n to enter the empire," Aris said.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I didn''t pause it; it''s still ongoing. But I''ve decided to try and build our home first. Also, I want everyone to be truly strong before we do. And that''s why, right now, I''m going to beat¡ªsorry, train their asses until they finally reach the level I want them to be," Silva said and walked away. As he went through the hallways headed for the arena, he thought about what she said. The demon blood was what he was supposed to find out about. If this blood was getting better, it meant he was running out of time. There was always the fact that the demon kings had given him a time frame. "So much to do, so much to find out. Is this family that I have helping me or holding me back?" Silva asked himself as he got to the arena. Immediately he stepped in, a hugence of ice shot toward his face. Silva took out his sword at lightning speed and shed the icence in two. He leaped into the air and chucked his sword at them with so much force that the sword hit the floor and caused a massive explosion, throwing all of them in all directions. "You guys will have to do better than a surprise attack," Silva said as he pulled out his sword. He felt someone approaching and quickly turned around to block their attack. Dawn''s sword mmed against Silva''s sword, and she was pushed back a dozen meters. Silva pointed his sword at her and fired a powerful st of abyssal mes. The mes hit Dawn square in her chest and sted her into a wall. Silva turned around, dodged Mike''s sword, and used the broad side of his sword to m into Mike''s stomach. Mike arched back and coughed blood before being thrown into the air. Sage moved to catch him, but Silva charged at her and kicked her right in the chest, almost knocking her out. He grabbed Mike in the air and chucked him into the ground. Silvanded on the ground and set his sights on Roxy and Lia. He went full speed and hit behind Lia. She tried to turn around, but he punched her in the spine. She fell to the ground, unable to move at all. He immediatelyunched at Roxy. She was weak in frontal battle, so Silva took her out quickly. After that, he turned his attention to Fay. She took her sword stance, getting ready to attack. Silva looked at her and then smiled before stomping his feet into the ground so hard that she stumbled. When she found her footing, Silva was already in front of her, but before he could attack her, Aaron used a powerful st of wind to attack Silva. Silva was pushed back a few steps, and Aaron took Fay and ran. But Silva was not going to let them go, as dark tendrils shot out of the ground and caught both of them. The tendrils raised them high into the air and mmed them into the ground with so much force that they nearly passed out. "You guys should heal up. Round two in ten minutes. We will have to keep going until you pass your limits," Silva said. "Master, you are smiling," Drake came to Silva''s side and said. "Huh? Smiling? I didn''t notice that. I guess I''m having too much fun," Silva said. "So chucking them like rag dolls is fun for you?" Drake asked. "Well, it''s for their own good. And also, yeah, I love chucking them around," Silva said and went to sit down. "Well, there is an issue we have to discuss. I sent the blueprints of the mana gun to the factory we set up for it, and immediately someone tried to steal the blueprint. He was caught and is now in the dungeons. When we looked into it more, we discovered that the man was not in the right state. Something was controlling him. It was buried in his brain¡ªit was a crystal. We don''t know how or who has it, but we need to be careful," Drake said. "Well, tell me more about this person. I believe there is more to him," Silva said. "We couldn''t find anything about him or where he could have possibly gotten it from. I decided to ask you before I took any serious measures," Drake said. "You have my permission. Ask Lily to run through his memories with all the force needed and get what we need. There might be more problems with this issue, and we don''t want that to spread¡ªeven if it means affecting that man," Silva said without emotion. Risking one person was more important than risking the kingdom, and that was what Silva lived by. Chapter 269 The Forest Silva walked through the cold, damp hallways that led to the underground dungeons. The guards opened up the gate as soon as they saw him. He walked in and headed straight for the dungeon holding the man who stole the blueprint. Inside the dungeon, Lily was there, beside the man who was tied to a chair, her hand ced on his head as if praying for him. "Have you gotten anything yet?" Silva asked as he walked into the dungeon. "I have scoured his entire mind. I couldn''t find anything that points to what could have put the crystal in his head. But since I could not find any memories about that, I decided to search for missing memories, and I actually found something. This memory was about him going deep into the forest some days back. And then, for the next few minutes, five to ten minutes, his memory went nk.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It was like there was a jump skip, so I believe that that time frame was when this happened. And if this happened, there is a chance that the person or thing could still be there or around there waiting for the next person that woulde, so that he will nt. It is possible that they have moved on, but knowing the way humans think, when something works out, they start to gamble even more and more, with the belief that they will win more," Lily said. "I see what you are saying. If it''s only been a few days, that means the person would have tried again, and maybe he would have gotten someone else as well. But there is an issue. How many people go through that path in the forest? If it''s not a popr path, then there is a high chance that the person is no longer there," Silva said. "That''s true, the path doesn''t seem to go through there, but I think I know something that rtes to this issue. Our economy works based on what you say, right? What you decide sells is what sells. Well, a small herb business opened up on the outskirts of town. An old man runs it. I was going to report it in and have it shut down, but I decided to make an exception when I found out that he sold at your prices and also pays adequate tax. What I''m saying is that the man set up some sort of quests, like that of the adventurer guilds, and that required people to go into the forest and find herbs. Especially the forest that this man went to. This has been running for a week. I''m beginning to think that this old man had something to do with this case. He is probably sending them there to get captured and get the chip imnted," Lily said. "Hmm, I see. Then we will go and check it out. But before we do, Lily, next time, make sure you destroy any business we didn''t allow. There wille a time when people can do that, but not now," Silva said and walked out. She followed behind. --- Silva and Lily arrived at the little shop tucked away in a corner of the capital. Immediately, people saw them arrive, and everyone that was purchasing from the shop scattered. They all knew that the shop was not using the correct system that was established, and they believed that was the reason Silva hade here. Silva walked in without any care and headed straight for the counter where the man was seated. The old man got up to greet Silva, but Silva raised his hand to stop the man. "I''m not here for what you think. It''s not because I want to shut down your shop, even if it is being run illegally. But I want to know something about the mission to gather herbs you have been sending people on. If you give me the true and honest details about this, I''ll let your shop be the first of its kind, and I''ll not close it. But if you dare lie to me or withhold any vital information, I''ll have you publicly executed for treason and plotting against the kingdom," Silva said, making sure that the man knew what he was up against if he lied. "I-I swear I didn''t do anything wrong. The mission to get herbs was just because I needed the herbs. A man had told me that a particr type of herb is located at a specific ce in the forest. I went there myself the first time, and I confirmed that it was there, but because of my age, I couldn''t keep going, so I set up the mission," the man exined. "Hmm, someone told you about this herb? Who is that person? I want the full details and everything about him now," Silva said. "Yes, yes, he lives in the forest, I think, because the two times I went there, I saw him. He was also wearing pure white. He had white hair like yours, your majesty. Even his eyes, they were blue, blue like yours. He was extremely handsome with a bright smile on his face. He said everything with a smile. Oh, that reminds me, he told me that he woulde to the kingdom. He said something about wanting to meet the king. It was then that he showed me where to find that herb," the old man said. "I see. Well, thank you. When I return, we will talk about how to handle your business and what you need to do. For now, you can run it how you want and do what you want. Thank you for cooperating," Silva said and left with Lily. "So we are heading to the forest, I''m guessing," Lily said. "Yes, but I''ll be calling Aris and Drake too. Follow as backup. We don''t want to be taken off guard by whoever is behind all this," Silva said. He contacted Drake and Aris, filled them in on what happened and where he was going, and then asked them to meet him there. Chapter 270 Silva Versus White Fang Silva and Lily arrived at the herb spot in the forest. To not look suspicious, they started picking some herbs there. "You can both stop the pretense. I already expected you, and you expected me," a voice came from behind them. Silva and Lily turned around. They saw the man in white standing there with a smile on his face. "So, you are the one that has been nting crystals into the heads of those from my kingdom. What is your game? Talk now, and I''ll spare your life," Silva said. "Big talking from a measly demon king candidate. But the crystals were never the goal; it was simply to lure you out of your kingdom. I needed to have a one-on-one talk with you, and your city now has defenses that even a hero would have a hard time getting through. So this was the best method for me to get to you, and it worked. So here we are. As for my name, I am¡ª" Boom. A huge st of chaos mmed into the ground where the man in white stood. From the dust cloud that rose, the man leaped out andnded a small distance away. "Hero White Fang," Aris yelled as she and Drake arrived. When she spotted White Fang from a distance, she immediately knew who it was. "Hero?" Silva asked in shock. He looked at White Fang with his guard up. "Hahaha, if it isn''t the chaos spirit that refused to serve the heroes. To think that you would actuallye to serve a demon king candidate. You refused the heroes, and you refused the demon kings, so why did you choose this little demon king candidate? What is so special about him that has everyone up and boiling?" White Fang said and started walking toward Silva. Drake and Lily immediately leaped in front of White Fang to stop him. "Whoa, an original vampire? One that holds the blood of the first monarch? And the fairy, a royal fairy. How do you have such beings working for you, kid? Even heroes and demon kings would go through a lot to get their help, yet you have the best of them. Vampires are already rare as it is, but you have an original," White Fang said with a smile. Silva was hearing new information. This was the first time he heard about another royal fairy or original vampire. But that was not important now because right in front of him was a hero, and he couldn''t tell off the bat. It was as though White Fang had suppressed his aura.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Silva knew that he had to speak here. It didn''t matter if he knew what was happening or not; he had to be the king here. "So why did youe here? You said that you wanted to lure me out here. What is it for?" Silva asked. "Oh, nothing much, Silva," White Fang said, dragging the name Silva. "You see, I started hearing about you everywhere, and that piqued my curiosity. When I discovered that we looked simr, I had toe. You know why? Because there is only one other person that should look like me. My only family. I''ve known she has been alive, but I never thought she would be in a small kingdom, and so I never searched here. But you¡ªI found you, and I have a feeling you have something to do with her. So, I''ll ask you now toe with me so that I can ask you a few questions," White Fang said and stretched out his hand to grab Silva. Drake blocked the hand, and White Fang frowned a bit. He sent a punch at Drake. Drake blocked it but went skidding backward till he mmed into a tree and made it fall to the ground. Silva was shocked to see this because Drake was ten times stronger than what he was before, yet he was pushed back from a punch. "Vampire, where did you get that strength from? Even if you are an original, that punch had a hint of my blessing in it. It should have killed you or knocked you out regardless of your stats. You need a way to block my blessings or ridiculouslyrge stats, and you should not have that," White Fang asked. Hearing this, Silva understood that Drake survived due to their pact. The hero had used a bit of his blessing, and that was power beyond what Silva had. "Silva, this is the power of a hero. I am a demon king, and the reason I lost. Once they use their blessing or curse, it''s a whole different game," Aris said to Silva telepathically. "Oh, telepathy. You guys should let me in on the discussion," White Fang turned his attention to Aris. "All of you are centered around this Silva. Then he is special, really special. He must have given you all some sort of power-up. That''s why you survived the punch. Now I want to know all the details about you even more. Silva,e with me, and I''ll not have to kill your friends right here. Their bodies would make great research," White Fang said. "In your dreams," Aris yelled and fired a stream of chaos. White leaped into the air and dodged it, but Lily had already attacked with a massive fireball. White Fang didn''t even flinch at the sight of this. He swatted the mes, but to his surprise, the mes exploded. The massive explosion threw him into the trees. Hended with a bang. "Silva, you have to go now," Drake managed to get up and say. "Go where? I''m not going anywhere. I can already tell that he is stronger than all of youbined. Look at what he did to you, Drake, with a touch of his blessing. Imagine if he decided to do more. To fight his crazy power, I''ll need a power that isn''t bound by reality as well," Silva said. He activated Joker of the Abyss and got ready to fight. This was the only form he believed could stand against this. Chapter 271 White Fang versus Silva "You guys are really something. Your base power is that of a young hero¡ªthat should be impossible," White Fang said as he got up and walked toward them. He didn''t even look like he had been brought down by anything; his clothes were still clean, and there was no injury on his body. "I want to know more about you, Silva, so stop wasting my time and let''s go," White Fang said. He looked for Silva and then saw the Joker. He could tell that this Joker was Silva, but he had somehow changed. "This form, why does it give a strange aura?" he asked himself, but he didn''t have time for this because Drake, Lily, and Aris had started their attack. Drake formed dual blood des and charged at White Fang. Using his full speed, it looked like he teleported, but White Fang dodged the des easily. Then White Fang stepped forward and punched Drake, but ayer of shock-absorbing blood blocked the punch. The force from the punch still caused a powerful explosion that pushed Drake back. Immediately, a powerful me bullet shot toward White Fang. White Fang dodged the bullet, but the bullet followed him¡ªanother one of Lily''s spells. White Fang saw the me bulleting after him. He pointed his finger at the me bullet, and a bright light shot out and destroyed it. "You all are quite good, but that''s all it is¡ªjust good," White Fang said and vanished from their sights. He appeared behind Silva and tried to hold him, but Silva was able to detect him. He created a barrier around himself, blocking White Fang. "This power, it isn''t really your power. You are borrowing it from something, and I want to know what," White Fang said and pressed his hand forcefully, bypassing the barrier and moving toward Silva. Silva was shocked that White Fang was able to bypass it, but he didn''t stop. He pulled out a card, and the card vanished as a bow appeared. Silva pulled the bow, and an arrow of lightning formed. He fired it and hit White Fang head-on. White Fang was thrown back by the attack, and there was a deep wound on his chest. But the wound healed almost immediately. Fang still had a surprised look on his face. "You were able to actually hurt me? That shouldn''t be possible. This power of yours is strange. I''m starting to get more intrigued by you," White Fang said. He moved again, faster than before, vanishing from their sight. Drake, Lily, and Aris stood around Silva to block him. But then they heard a voice. "Blessing of Light, Pierce." With those words alone, the three of them were suddenly pierced with bright lights that they could not even block. They fell to the ground,pletely unable to move their bodies. Silva was shocked when he saw this. Was this the power of a blessing? Itpletely took them out. "This should not be so. Your blessing is too powerful," Aris struggled to say. "Aris, it''s not too powerful. You just never really understood how strong you were, but you seem to have befortable. In the past, you always kept thatyer of chaos around your body. It was hard to get through because it was chaos¡ªa power thates close to that of blessings and curses. But now you fell off. You have seemingly be toofortable and forgotten what it is like to be cautious.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Again, all because of this boy Silva. That''s why I find him interesting. There is also the fact that he looks like her," White Fang said. He wasn''t paying attention, though, and in that time, Silva pulled another card. The card summoned a shadow beast. It rushed White Fang, but White Fang used a st of light to deal with it and then rushed at Silva. "Even if you can do the impossible in that form, you still need the mana and the intelligence to execute it. As it stands, yours are both weak," White Fang said as he went for the attack. "You think so? Then why don''t I crank this up as much as possible?" Silva said and then summoned all ten clones. Five immediately entered the Joker of the Abyss form, while the other two stayed at the back, trying to create a Hell''s Gate right there with their blood. When White Fang saw the clones, he froze for a split second, and that split second was all the clones and Silva needed. They pulled a card out of all their decks. On all cards, it showed the Rain of Swords. A formation appeared in the air, and swords coated with magic shot out in their thousands,nding on White Fang. White Fang raised his hands into the air and covered himself with a light barrier. The swords mmed against the barrier, raising a massive cloud of dust. When the dust died down, a massive crater was formed, but White Fang was safe in the middle. Silva knew the attack would not be able to stop him, and that was why he had the others create the Hell''s Gate. The gate opened, and the force started pulling White Fang into it. He tried to resist, but this gate had the blood of five clones, and that made the suction extremely powerful. White Fang was only able to stop himself from being sucked in, but he couldn''t move or do anything else. He decided to wait for the spell to run itself out. But Silva had other ns. He transformed back to normal, took out the Abyss de, and started concentrating, trying to use the same skill he used in the Broken World. The skill of his will, where he enforced his will. But he noticed that it was more difficult to do so. The skill was taking a lot of time to activate. He used Dragon Eyes to see why it was like that, and he discovered that the presence of White Fang here was tampering with the flow of his will. White Fang''s will was dwarfing that of his. Chapter 272 Elaine and White Fang Silva saw this and was shocked because the sword amplified his will by a lot, yet White Fang had more than him. White Fang looked over at Silva and smiled. He suddenly increased his force and moved faster, breaking out of the grip of the gate and charging at Silva. Silva had less than a second to make his next move, so he made the move. He cast Domain, and his Domain spread out immediately. Then he used thews of time and locked the space to stop or slow down White Fang. But to his surprise, White Fang coated himself with his blessing, and the blessing nullified the effect of the Domain. But still, the Domain helped amplify Silva''s control and will, allowing him to get really close to the amount needed to replicate the sh from back then. And so he did that. He shed his de as fast as he could, and then the bright light shined, covering the entire Domain and even shattering the walls of the Domain. When the light died down, the forest for more than a ten-kilometer radius was totally destroyed. No trees, no life¡ªjust a barrennd filled with destructive mana still flying around. If anyone less than level fifty stepped into this barren field, they would instantly be killed on the spot. Drake, Lily, and Aris had been protected, though. They were in the Domain when Silva made the sh, so Aris used her chaos to cover them. And since the strike was not directed at them, they were able to survive. "Hahahaha," White Fangughed loudly when the attack was over. His entire body was covered in blood, from head to toe, but it didn''t seem like he was injured.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Silva was amazed by White Fang''s healing factor¡ªit was beyond this world. "That attack, that attack actually almost killed me. You almost killed a hero. That attack is crazy, Silva; you keep surprising me more and more. How can a Demon King candidate have such power¡ªpower to rival a hero? That''s abnormal. But still, I like it. It seems I''ll have to go all out with you now, Silva. Let''s hope what you showcased now was not your total best, because I have a lot more to test," White Fang said. "How did you survive that and still have the energy to walk?" Silva asked. He was genuinely confused and unsure of what to do. Sure, he had a million spells and skills to use and other ways to try and win, but he was running out of mana, and fast. He couldn''t even use the sh he did a second time. That sh had the power to destroy a small world, and the reason it didn''t spread too far today was because the Domain hindered it. He simplycked the mana to repeatedly do it. There was also another issue at hand, and that was the fact that White Fang had mostly been on the defensive and was yet to attack seriously. What would happen if he did? Silva was now realizing why they were the top of the world and why they were the powerhouses. Just simply growing in strength didn''t assure you a victory over someone like a hero or Demon King. White Fang finally decided to take this seriously. He took out a sword, and the sword immediately started shining brightly. Read exclusive chapters at empire "The true form of a blessing is what I could show you, but when a hero uses his full blessing, it''s a deration of war. It''s a rule that was set in ce to ensure that no one ever uses their full blessing or curses. These are powers that carve reality and change this world. But it doesn''t mean I can''t show you something simr. So here and now, I''ll attack you, and if you survive, then I''ll let you live." "That''s quite enough, don''t you think, White?" A voice suddenly sounded and stopped White Fang. He looked up and saw ineing toward them. "ine, what brings you here?" White Fang asked. When Silva heard her name, he turned around and saw ineing toward them. "Well, when a hero uses his blessing, even if it''s a false blessing like you did, all heroes and Demon Kings feel it because of the pact. And so I felt it. I could also tell that the location was close to Silva''s home. I put two and two together and came rushing here. Luckily, I made it in time. I thought we had all discussed that we would not interfere with this matter for now. Or are you here on a solo endeavor?" she asked. "Well, I came here because Silva bears a striking resemnce to me and someone dear to me. I want to know how and why. But then, I was surprised by the amount of skill and abilities he suddenly showed. He even managed to grievously wound me, and that amazed me. So I wanted to test how far he could go, but you came along now and spoiled that fun," White Fang said. "You both have already done enough damage. Take a look at the forest that once stood here¡ªyou leveled it," ine said. "That was all Silva''s doing. Amazing, right?" White Fang said. Silva watched them talk, and he was a bit confused. Shouldn''t they be on more enemy-like terms? "Aren''t you guys enemies?" Silva asked. "Well, you can call us enemies, but that doesn''t mean we don''t rte. We keep the bnce, and that means fighting ourselves at times. But still, on that note, we have peaceful and normal conversations, even hang out together at times. White Fang actually got his nickname from me when he came to me to learn the Fynrir way of fighting," ine exined. Silva was stunned by this information, but it was only for a second. "There''s a lot I don''t understand about this whole thing, but I''m tired right now. I''ve never been pushed to the brink as much as today," Silva said and then sat on the ground. Chapter 273 Original Families After White Fang used mana to clean up, he got into new clothes and walked to ine and Silva. Drake, Like, and Aris kept their distance. They had faced too much stress today, and since they had ascertained that Silva was in no trouble, they didn''t want toe close to White Fang. "You said I reminded you of someone?" Silva asked. "Indeed, my sister. Her name is Azreal. It''s possible that she changed her name, but you bear a striking resemnce to her." "I believe there''s someone like that. She is my mother, but she had always had a family. She even told me about herst family. There''s no way that the person you are talking about is my mother," Silva said. "I see. So she didn''t pass it on to you, I''m guessing. You see, there''s a lot that you need to know about even humanity, and I think we need to see your mother before I get into them," White Fang said. Immediately, Silva became eager to hear what this was. He got up and immediately led the way to the city. When they arrived, he made his way to the castle while asking Lily to get his mother. He wanted to know the truth of what happened now. Silva got a seat in the lounge with ine, White Fang, and Aris. They waited for a few minutes, and finally, his mother walked in with Aris. But immediately she saw White Fang seated, she turned to face the door, but Lily shut the door with immediate speed. "It seems I brought that side out of you just by you seeing me, Azreal," White Fang said with a smile. "What are you doing here?" Silva''s mother asked in anger, a side of her that Silva had never seen came out. "Silva, do you really know your mother and what she is?" White Fang turned to Silva and asked. "Stop it! Don''t do it, Marshall. You can''t reveal the secrets; you swore the oaths as a child," she yelled at him. "Don''t use my real name like that, sister. You also forgot something. Silva is a demon king candidate, and that means in time he will know the truth, and he will alsoe to know about you. So why not today? After all, I''m reuniting with you after over thirty or so years. I''m sure both of you are happy to see me." "Keep her out of this. She didn''t have anything to do with this, Marshall," Azreal said in anger. "Well, yeah, because you have been in control of her since birth, leading her to believe whatever you want, crafting her into any shape at any time. She has never had a real say, just living based on your whims, Azreal. She has a son now, but she doesn''t even know her real origins because you manipte her. I''ve been searching for you to stop you before you did anything, but who would have known that you picked here of all ces to do it?" White Fang said. Discover more stories at empire "Uhm, I feel like I am not in the loop here, and trust me, I have a very powerful mind, so please fill me in," Silva said, looking at his mother and White Fang. "Silva, my son, there''s nothing for you to worry about. It''s all fine. There''s no need to listen to whatever he has to say," Azreal spoke. Her voice seemed to have some sort of twisting effect that forced Silva to believe whatever she was saying. But Silva had eleven minds. They easily overcame whatever was happening, and he was back to normal. "You tried to do something to me just now. You are not my mother. Who the hell are you?" Silva asked. "What she used on you now was her ability, reality maniption. But before I get to that, you all should listen to this tale," White Fang said. He nced at his sister as she shook her head, telling him not to. But White Fang smiled and continued. "In the beginning of humanity, the celestials decided that they would create the first humans to the best of their abilities, putting everything they had into them. Those humans were the ideal idea of humans. They were filled with special powers that could cause a lot of destruction, in short. These humans were special; they were one of a kind, but they were the only ones ever created. The celestials didn''t make more of them. They wanted to, but they couldn''t. Because at that time, the greatest war had broken out, and so the celestials had to mass-produce humans, and they did that. They did their best to make them as good as possible to fight the war, and after that, the celestials were sealed, and so no more humans were made. Only reproduction made more.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But now, that brings us to the current question: what happened to those first humans? Well, they became the original families, the first of humanity. Their powers were believed to be the only thing rtively close to that of heroes. And they basically ruled humanity publicly. But soon, normal humans didn''t want this. They felt the original families were way too powerful, and so they started fighting against them. The original families were winning this war and killing the normal humans, a testament to how strong they were. After some years of fighting, the original families decided that they didn''t want to wipe out humans. So the best solution for them was to vanish, disappear from the public eye, and so they did, going on to control humanity from the shadows and ces that no one knew. There were ten original families, and every generation thates, two or three heroes muste from the original families. The original families still control everything but hidden. The Royal Family of the empire is from an original family. The pope must swear an oath to one of the original families. Their control is what keeps humanity floating, aside from the heroes, that is," White Fang exined, leaving more questions in Silva''s mind. Chapter 274 Reality manipulation "So what you are telling me is that hidden away from the eyes of the public are humans capable of crazy feats? Why didn''t Drake or Ari know about this?" Silva asked, looking at them. "Well, you can''t me them because they don''t know. This information is only open to a select few. If the vampire had stayed with his people and be one of the rulers, he would have most definitely found out," White Fang exined. Discover more stories at empire "I see. So tell me how this has anything to do with you, my mother, or whoever this Azreal person is," Silva said. "Hmm, well, to exin, I''ll have to tell you about my family, which, by the looks of things, is your family as well. Our family was known pretty much for their looks, as you can tell. Of all the ten families, we could be said to be the ones that the celestials focused on more in the area of beauty. But that''s not all we are, as we are known as the third strongest original family. You see, the healing factor you saw me use is not something I gained as a hero. No, it''s my ability for being part of the original family. It''s called infinite regeneration, where as long as my heart exists somewhere in this world, I''ll never die. It''s a crazy ability, but all you have to do is eradicate my heart, and I''ll die. But you can''t do that because when I was only ten, my father ripped my heart out of me. He stored it in an imprable safe and then took it on a three-month-long journey to hide it where no one can remember, even me. He had his memory of the location wiped from his head, and now, no one knows where the heart lies. So that makes me basically immortal," White Fang exined. "That ability is too much. You can''t just be unkible like that," Silva said. "But I am. The abilities you get as part of the original family are beyond what you can understand normally. Now back to what I was saying¡ªthat''s why I have that healing factor. But you see, I wasn''t just born with one ability; I was born with two, because of my twin sister, Azreal. You see, my sister was not normal, even whenpared to us. She was beyond us by far. My parents knew this because our mother was carrying triplets, but Azreal one day consumed our sister in the womb. She allowed our sister to be a part of her so that she would be able to manipte and use her whenever she wanted to hide from the world. Azreal was extremely powerful, even from birth. Her ability, Reality Maniption, could change reality to her whims. She could do whatever she wanted, create whatever she wanted, and as long as she was still alive, that thing would exist. Compared to my ability to heal, hers was something else¡ªshe was leagues ahead. Now, this is where my second abilityes in. For some reason, I could intentionally negate her ability to a certain extent, at least to create a loophole or small gate that people could use to escape her new reality she made. And because of that, Azreal hated me, because my father had me move with her at all times to ensure that she didn''t do anything crazy. I was her fail-safe. She could never really do what she wanted with me around, and she could not kill me because, well, I heal up," White Fang paused a bit and then looked at his sister. "I''m about to get into the interesting part. Why don''t you take a seat?" he asked. "I''m fine. Your presence here is already irking me to no end," she said.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Well, fine," he replied and faced Silva. "So, you remember that sibling who was consumed in the womb? Well, Azreal turned her consciousness into a puppet. Whenever she wanted to lead a happy and new life somewhere, she would create a reality, changing the history of the ce¡ªlike making it seem she was their mother since birth. She wouldpletely alter that reality, fit herself into it, and then she would wipe the memory of our twin in her and ce her in that ce, filling her with the memories she wanted. So our twin believes that she is actually from that ce and that all her memories are true. My sister has done this twisted thing many times. But they onlysted weeks to months because I would find her easily. But then I became a hero candidate and became a hero, and something took me away for a year. Just a year was what it took. When I came back, my sister had vanished. She used that year to craft the reality she wanted. She made sure she covered every nook and cranny. It was not something I could track anymore. She reworked her history and the history of humans to fit her new persona. That''s just how powerful and terrifying her ability is. I searched for years and couldn''t find anything. She had totally vanished, and this time, she did it well. I had even begun to lose hope of finding her because the more time passed, the more she solidified her new reality that she had created. But then I found you, Silva. The hair, the look, the eyes. But you were a demon king candidate, not human¡ªhow could that even make sense? But I looked into it more and realized that you were born human and somehow shifted into being a dragon. After that, I believed there was a possibility that you had something to do with her. Never would I have expected that she changed the reality of a full kingdom and ced herself in it. She basically modeled what this kingdom had be by her lonesome, while forcing our twin in her to believe this was her reality. Out of all the crazy things you have done, sis, this one takes the crown," White Fang said. Chapter 275 Tried to Kill you Discover hidden tales at empire The room became deathly quiet after White Fang finished talking because everyone finally understood. They were all intelligent, so if they didn''t get what White Fang was saying at this point, it would be stupid. Silva didn''t really know how to take this because, for the first time since he got here, this was the biggest and most astounding secret he had found out. He looked at his mother with cold eyes and a squint. "You mean to tell me that the person that decided to save me as a kid, the person that I came back for¡ª the one that birthed me and made me the man I am today¡ªyou mean to tell me that she is just a puppet in your sadistic game? The woman that gave birth to three kids, cried when one was killed, the one that loved me so much it caused her to hate her husband. The tears she cried, the moments she sunk into her lowest¡ªall those moments¡ªyou mean to tell me that she wasn''t real?" Silva snapped. He punched the table with so much force it shattered. "You think it''s so fun to use people as toys, Azreal? You lied to me, and frankly, that''s not the issue because I just realized something. You were in control of this kingdom behind the scenes, so you knew all my ns. You knew I killed your husband and son. You knew everything because this was your fucking reality. You have no emotions for anyone, no feelings¡ªit''s a game to you. I thought I was cold, I thought I was evil, I thought I was a demon. I have done so much pointless evil that it''s crazy how people are still around me. But you, you are a whole lot different. You are not evil, you are not bad¡ªjust sad¡ªa sadistic person. You create life and then still take it. You watched the people you made die, your children and your husband. So I want to know, Azreal, what is your goal? What''s the thing that has driven you so much to this level?" Azreal looked at Silva. She understood that Silva was not ying with her. Her ability was reality maniption; she was not physically strong. But now White Fang was here. He would be able to create a gap in her maniption and allow Silva out. "Satisfaction, that''s all I want," Azreal said in a cold tone and started walking towards Silva. "I want to create a ce where I''m truly happy. You see, you only heard about the summary of my life, but you don''t understand what it takes to be a member of an original family. It''s not all sunshine and rainbows. It''s hardly ever pleasing; it''s more like a torture house than anything else, where every day you are faced with new challenges that either break your mind or severely damage you¡ªall in an effort to keep the original family on top. Since I was born, I became one of the family''s greatest weapons, capable of creating realities whenever I wanted. My ability was so refined that it could tamper with the memories and minds of those caught in it. My father immediately saw this as an opportunity to make a soldier, one that would do whatever he wanted. With my ability, there was no limiting the possibilities of things he could do. And to better that, Marshall had the ability to be my fail-safe. At first, I had no issues with my twin brother. But I grew to hate him, and that was because every day, after all the tortures and pains we would go through, he would still be on Father''s side, saying our father knew best. He was like a puppet doing whatever our father wanted. We grew apart, and the hatred increased. The final stretch was when my father ripped Marshall''s heart out. That night, I could hear the screams of Marshall fill the house. His cries were so loud and painful. But when he came out, and Ished at my father, Marshall protected him. After that, I realized that the only way to get what you want is by controlling the minds of people, like my father did to Marshall. So I decided to use my power however I wanted, but the more I did, the emptier I became, falling into an emotionless void. So finally, I decided that I''d create a ce where my second consciousness would take over and live a full life till we died. And after Marshall left for a year, I started crafting the n. I took everything into ount. I searched for a young, underdeveloped kingdom that would suit my needs. And I found here. Using my ability, I began reshaping the reality of this kingdom, putting my existence into every aspect, creating a ce where I existed from childhood.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om It took me three months to finally make something that I could live in, and then I used the remainder of the years to perfect it as best as I could. Then, my new persona, with her changed memories and all that, started living her life here and even fell in love. That was when I started to lose control over all this. The reality I developed was so advanced that my mind alone could not control it. So it created a kind of consciousness of its own and started moving on its own. I never nned for my persona to have kids, but she did, so I let it continue. But then you were born. From the moment you came out, I knew something was up. None of the kids she gave birth to had any of her hair or eyes, but you had the perfect features of the family. I immediately knew that you were not normal. And so I quickly shifted the reality to make her husband want to kill you, but something out of the ordinary happened. My personapletely went against me because of you. She begged her husband to let you go, and in that period, I lost control over reality, and I couldn''t stop you froming and living." Chapter 276 Tell Sage Silva paused when he heard all this; so everything that he went through from the start was because of Azreal? "So what would have happened if you had allowed me to stay? What would my father have done?" Silva asked. "Like any normal parent, he would have at least kept you and watched you grow a bit, not immediately tried to cast you away. Your father''s mind was filled with the want for power, so my ability worked without any issues, and he tried to get rid of you for good. With a reality so massive, I can''t control everything any longer, so I manipte the desires of the people based on some of their wants," Azreal responded. White Fang, ine, and Azreal could not notice it, but Drake, Lily, and Ari could tell just by looking at Silva that his rage was reaching an all-time high, and he was doing his best to suppress it all. "Since you tried to kill me back then, I''m sure you tried to find a way other times, so tell me," Silva said. "I did try other ways, not as many as you think, though. Most of them failed because I didn''t know you would grow so fast. The second one I used against you was the jealous brother, Mike." Immediately she called Mike, Silva balled his hand into a fist, his eyes became sharp as he listened. "Your brother had a little bit of jealousy, and because he was a child, it was easy for me to manipte him, and that created the hatred he had for you. It amplified it more and more as the days went by, and your brother started to attempt killing you. But sadly, your power grew way too fast, and before I could really do anything, you had reached a level that no one in this kingdom could stop you. So I gave up and watched, hoping that you would not shatter my ns. But you did; you destroyed the kingdom and the anchor point, the king, taking the control from me. You rebuilt it, and with all the powerful people you had around, there was no way I would be able to easily start the process again. So I let it be, in the hopes that no one would still find me. But your looks gave it away, and now we are here, all fingers on the table," Azreal said. After she finished, Silva took a long deep breath. He looked at her face, trying to find his mother, but she wasn''t there, just this Azreal. "Tell me this, why didn''t you change your looks? Your ability to change reality should have allowed you to do it, right?" Silva asked. Enjoy new chapters from empire "No, it does not work like that on me. I could change people''s memories to believe I looked different, but I''d have to do that every time, and that''s crazy. But to change my look, I can''t. I can only change the reality around me, and not directly on me. That is the only drawback of my ability," she exined. "I see, so all these things I did, some of the people I killed, they all could be avoided had you not messed things up. But I''ll point no fingers. I''ll not say anything about them because I am in no position to. I''m a killer and a maniptor as well, and the things that I have done, I have no more right to ever im right. But I want to ask this for some people. What do you do about Sage now? What do you do about my mother now, the one you have trapped inside of you?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Do you expect me to walk every day knowing that you''re lying to both of them? What about Sage? Should I just refuse to keep her in the loop?" "I believe she should know," White Fang spoke up and drew Silva''s attention. "Even if this sister you speak about does not look like your mother due to your father and mother''s interference, there is still something Azreal can''t change. And that''s the fact that your sister has hidden deep within her an original family ability, and so do you. But these abilities don''t just show, especially when you were not born in the right environment. But if both of you should return to the family, they should be able to bring out those abilities," White Fang said. "I don''t think that''s possible. You are forgetting that I am now a demon king candidate, and my sister looks nothing like the family. Why would they let use in and then allow us to harness their power and use it?" Silva asked. "Oh, because the original families don''t have a hand in all these issues of war now. They just want to grow their strength, and you would be happily epted because it opens up new perspectives to them. As for your sister, it''s just a matter of looks. They won''t turn her away because of looks, you know for a fact," White Fang said. But Silva was very sensitive, and he noticed that White Fang had a very slight increase in heart rate. Normally, this would be overlooked because it was stupid to assume he was lying because of a very slight increase. But White Fang was a hero and one of the highest levels in the world. He had absolute control over his body, even his heart. So his heartbeat should not spike up easily. Silva took this as a sign that he was lying and had other ns. But Silva decided to y along for now. After all, meeting the family would open up his chances to get very quality information and know more about the workings of this world. He might even get some insight into the demon blood issue. "Alright, I believe you. But we have to find a way to tell Sage everything. She will be devastated for sure after it," Silva said. He turned to look at Azreal. "You also have to tell my mother inside you the whole truth, and I mean everything," Silva said, doing his best to hold in his anger. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!