When the Emperor poisoned and Rhaegar slew … when Nyria left in Forlorn City… when Nyx and her subordinates nearly ended my life… when Rudra forced to the brink of death… and now, when Nyria lies on her deathbed.
Every single one of these tragedies happened for the sa reason.
I was too weak.
If I had possessed true strength, I would not have been affected by the Emperor's poison, my family and sect would not have been ruined, and Nyria would not be suffering like this now.
In the end, everything in this world cos down to strength.
Possess it, and the world will revolve around you.
Lack it… and you will spend your life revolving around the world.
The duel with Soren made realise how far I still had to go before I could take my revenge on the Emperor. At my current level, I would not even be able to reach him, let alone kill him.
I unsheathed my sword, laced it with my Sword Aura, and stared at the yin-yang mark on my hand. It was a gamble. I did not know what would happen once I activated the mark. Still, it could not be worse than the feeling of weakness and helplessness I was experiencing now.
With a sudden motion, I stabbed my palm with the tip of the blade.
Instead of the blood I had expected to spill from my hand, a dual dark and white energy erupted from my palm and, in the blink of an eye, engulfed completely.
The next mont, I found myself standing in a pitch-black space, darkness covering everything. In the subspace Vyaghra had created for to fight against Soren, I could still feel the ground beneath my feet. But now, I could not sense anything. It felt as if I were in a void devoid of any presence.
After a few seconds, a white floor materialised beneath , spreading endlessly in all directions. From the floor, two spheres of white energy erged, slowly taking the shape of human figures.
The female figure moved back, materialised a rock with a flick of her finger on the floor, and sat on it cross-legged.
anwhile, the male figure moved towards , his eyes narrowed. Slowly but surely, the two figures began looking more and more human, skin appearing on their bodies followed by clothes.
It did not take long to recognise the handso auburn-haired middle-aged man and the beautiful red-haired woman sitting on the rock.
They were Hana and Aruma, U's parents.
In an instant, the fox-man Aruma vanished from his position and appeared before my eyes. I could not sense his movent in the slightest. He was too fast for my eyes to follow.
"Why can I sense my daughter's energy from you?" Aruma asked, his eyes narrowed.
"Shit, shit, shit! How can he sense that?" I muttered inwardly. "And why do I feel nervous answering him?"
"It must be because of this ring U gave ," I said, revealing the engagent ring on my finger to him.
His expression only hardened, and his murderous intent intensified after seeing the ring on my finger.
"Was it a wrong decision to show him the ring?" I gulped inwardly.
"What is your relationship with U?" Hana asked, appearing beside out of nowhere.
"S-she is my betrothed," I replied in a low voice.
The murderous intent directed at increased several folds. My body instantly broke into a cold sweat and my breathing quickened under the suppressive pressure.
"I will be the one to decide whether you are worthy of her or not," Aruma muttered, his fists clenched tightly.
Ignoring Aruma, Hana said with a warm smile curling on her face, "Thank you for saving our daughter. I am truly grateful."
'At least decide among yourselves whether you want to thank or kill ,' I murmured inwardly. Of course, I did not voice those thoughts aloud.
With a deep bow, I said in a firm voice, "I am Taranis El Thunderbane. Please accept the greetings of your son-in-law."
"I suggest you do not say those words lightly, Taranis," Hana chuckled, pointing at Aruma who looked ready to explode upon hearing the words son-in-law.
"That's it," Aruma muttered, materialising a black katana in his hand. "You are dead."
Before I could respond, Hana vanished from my side again, reappearing on the stone seat, and Aruma's blade had already reached my neck.
I ducked low, barely dodging the attack. However, his blade suddenly changed trajectory in a zigzag motion.
Slash!
A stinging pain shot through my neck and the world began turning upside down.
The next thing I saw was my body, headless, still in a sitting position before .
Thud!
---
"Huff, huff!" I woke up with a sudden jolt, still in the dark dinsion.
My hands flew to my neck as I checked myself with heavy breaths.
"Did I just get killed?" I murmured, my breathing still ragged.
"Your head was sliced off your body. Of course you were dead, dummy," Hana's voice echoed from beside as she healed my neck.
"Tsk, he is weaker than I thought," Aruma muttered, throwing daggers at with his eyes.
"Isn't that why you placed our souls inside him?" Hana chuckled. "To make him strong."
"Get up, you weak brat. How long will you keep dawdling?" Aruma ordered, pointing his blade at .
I rose to a standing position and asked, confused, "What in the world is go—"
Before I could complete my sentence, Aruma had already launched his blade at at a terrifying speed.
I instantly unsheathed my sword to block his attack. However, with a single clash of our blades, my sword was knocked out of my grip.
In the sa motion, his sword pierced through my heart. Blood splattered from my mouth and a terrifying pain surged through my chest as I fell to the floor.
---
"Haah... haah..."
I woke up again, clutching my chest. Hana was once again sitting beside , healing my wound.
This ti Aruma did not wait for to pull myself together. The mont I woke up, his black katana had already reached my throat.
My Divine Sense scread in warning. Instinctively, I rolled my body to dodge the blade.
The katana stabbed into the floor where I had been lying monts ago.
"Use your Sword Aura, idiot," Aruma ordered, pulling his sword out. "It was the condition I set for you to activate this mark."
I rose to a standing position, picked up my sword that had fallen a few feet away, and activated my Sword Aura.
A wide blade of energy, nearly double the size of my sword, wrapped around the weapon, golden lightning dancing across it.
"Is this what you call Sword Aura?" Aruma muttered, disappointnt etched across his face.
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