In the Telchine territory.

Sam still held Siola hostage. Krejin was constantly tracking his live location and kept on sending people to deal with him, but he was unfazed. No matter how many people went as long as they are within the levels of first grade, Sam folded all of them.

Sometimes he didn't even have to fight by himself.

Void hopper and shadow mice took care of things most of the times. If not, he used some of his tricks that he picked in the last few months within the academy realm and some other times the beasts did most of the work.

All in all, Sam had plenty of time on his hands to experiment more and more with these new runes.

Siola on the other hand, didn't have any choice. She had to following him along as he dragged all over the city. At first, she had utmost hope in the young master. Even with all the restrictions placed, she still believed that he would deal with Sam and save her.

But as time passed and she recalled Sam's words of how he would tear her up and bury her parts at various corners of this planet… she understandably lost her hope bit by bit.

After all, seeing her young master fail so many times… it is hard to keep her hopes high.

Meanwhile, Sam managed to gain some success in the runes and he even managed to mimic the inscription that the old man used on him.

With things like this, soon time passed and the one day deadline Sam gave was over. It was actually around the time when Vajan lit up the whole hub with his stupidity, Sam also managed to pass the trial of Krejin.

All of sudden, Sam didn't sense anymore enemies around.

He turned to Siola and said.

"Your young master lost. So, now I just need to tear you apart and we can move past this.

"

"Y…You…

" Siola wanted to threaten him, but she didn't know what to say to him. Sam saw first hand what Krejin is capable of. Even all academies in the Olympian region combined couldn't sacrifice so many of the first grade cultivators.

But Krejin not only managed to mobilize so many of elite cultivators, but they were even sacrificed.

The cultivators kept on coming consistently without any stoppage until the end of the time period. Sam smirked at her and took out the reaper. He was just about to swing, when…

*SWOOSH*

A familiar face appeared before him. It is one of the guard teams that previously interfered with Siola's killing.

"Not this again. What the ** do you guys think you are doing? Is Telchine clan so spineless that their descendants can't even stand on their own words? So much for separating themselves from the rest of the Olympian scum.

None of you Olympians are different.

"

"Please, Sir Sam. I am not interfering just to forcefully save her from this. Young master Krejin has a proposal for you. In exchange for her life.

"

"A proposal?

" Sam was intrigued.

"Yes, I assure that you wouldn't lose out on this.

"

"Alright, let's hear this.

"

"Then, please follow me.

"

"Nope, that is not going to happen. Either tell him to come here alone or we can use communication channels to communicate. I am not following you anywhere. I don't trust you guys.

"

With that Sam took a seat, but his sword is still pointed at Siola's neck.

"You have ten minutes. Or, I will make good on my promise. I hate going back on my word, anyway.

"

In ten minutes, the Telchine young master is standing in front of Sam.

"So, what is the deal that you speak of?

"

"Nothing much. Let's have a duel. No external interference, no use of formations of inscriptions, no usage of external help. We will fight, man to man. If I win, Siola will live. Since you already passed the test and I am kind of bending my words, I will give you the item you wanted and I will also help you go back immediately.

The trap set by Christos wouldn't bother you anymore.

I believe that it is a fair exchange. If you win, you can kill her and still leave this place without triggering Christos' trap. I will just give the item to you as well.

"

Sam frowned and looked at Krejin with wary eyes.

"When an offer is too good to be true, it often is indeed not true. Right now, your offer sounds too good to be true.

"

"You can think whatever you want. But you have to trust me on this.

"

"Can we make a soul contract, then?

"

"No, we cannot.

"

"Then why should I trust you?

"

"You have to, because you don't have any other choice.

" Krejin acted adamant as the whole team surrounded him.

*SWOOSH*

Sam used spatial blink and appeared beside Siola. He held her by her neck.

"Argh…

"

She felt like a huge needle has been struck in her spine as she stiffened. Sam held the sword on her throat and said.

"Come on, Krejin. You have to show me something more trustworthy than a threat to accept your offer.

"

"Sam, you must understand how important she is to me since I even went as far as changing the initial agreement we had. You need to understand that I will not break my word this time. Not if it effects her negatively.

You have to trust me on this and take my word for it.

"

Sam raised an eyebrow and asked.

"So, what if you lost? What guarantee do I have that I can leave this place unscathed?

"

"My word is a guarantee for that as well.

"

A cold glint flashed past Sam's eyes. He jerked Siola by her arm and she turned around. With a snap of his fingers, something fell in her mouth and she was forced to swallow it.

"YOU….

"

Krejin became anxious and yelled. The gang was about to make a move.

Sam took a step back and raised both of his hands. Siola staggered back and fell to the ground. Krejin ran to her and checked up on her. In front of his eyes, her wounds started healing. Even the wounds like her broken bones are healing at a visible pace.

"I just fed her something to heal her. Nothing more.

"

Krejin narrowed his eyes and asked.

"How do I trust you on that?

" Even as he asked, he realized what answer he is gonna get.

"You have to take my word for it.

"

Krejin was about to lose it, when Sam continued.

"At least, I have some proof. Her wounds are healing. And you can confirm with her that I only made her swallow one pill. You can check inside her body if you have any doubts. Unlike your words that appear truly empty, I at least have some truth backing me up.

"

Krejin calmed down and did some checks. Except for the lump of pill that was in her stomach which is slowly dissolving, there is indeed nothing wrong with her.

"Do you agree to the duel?

"

"That is why I gave her back to you. Of course, if you lose, I will take her back. The only reason I gave her the pill is for the past few hours, she succumbed to despair and I wanted to kill her in that state. But with this interference, she garnered faint hope.

I need to increase it and put her hope in a higher level so the fall would hurt even more. I am psychotic like that.

"

Krejin frowned. He wanted to call bull**. But he doesn't have any other evidence other than the pill and it didn't show any signs.

"Alright, let's get started with the duel. Where do you want to do it? Here? An arena?

"

"Here is fine.

"

Krejin looked at Sam coldly and took out his spear. Even as he spun it a bit, it felt like a current of water is following the spear.

"A spear user. Nice.

"

Sam waved his hand and the reaper is replaced by a spear. He swung his spear and water elemental energy surged.

"You can make the first move.

"

Krejin immediately lunged forward and swung his spear. Sam blocked it with his own, but he was sent like a broken kite in the middle of the storm and fell a couple of hundred meters away. The attack didn't look forceful, but up on impact, it really packed a punch.

Krejin didn't let Sam be and followed after him.

"Is this going to be okay, sir?

"

One of the guardians asked the captain of the team.

"Don't worry. When have you ever seen a Telchine lose to the people of same level. Young master Krejin could take on people in Late stage of Divine Plane Initiation if he wants and can easily win.

I understand your concern, this guy really did cause some chaos, but those tricks won't be useful here in a direct one on one combat.

"