Clara teared up, unsure herself if it was from the pain or from what Damien was saying. The sharp shadow limbs that grew out of her stabbed slightly deeper into him, drawing blood. However, she found it hard to push it any further.

She steeled herself, bringing back the ferocity that she had lost with the pain. “Your apology means nothing to me,” she said. “Your family is the reason I do not have mine today.”

The shadow dagger in her hand moved closer to his neck. And further and his neck too would start bleeding.

Damien was instantly mortified at the thought that he was going to be killed here, all at the hands of the woman he had thought he had lost all these years. Somehow… that thought didn’t bother him at all. He felt like he deserved it.

The Emperor saw this all and thought something to himself. He grinned internally as he realized something.

“You stupid little son,” he spoke. “I told you we had enemies that needed to die so we could be safe. Do you see what I mean?”

The Crown Prince’s eyes widened. He was trying to say that now? When he was about to die? Did he not realize what was happening?

His breathing increased rapidly as anger filled him. Words came out of his mouth before he could think and he finally said what he had wanted to say to his father all these years.

“You have enemies, Father,” he said. “Not we, YOU! Anyone who could become strong is a threat to you. Whether it was her family or the young man that is in the arena; you kill everyone that shows any sort of hint at becoming a strong individual.”

“You do not see the good in them all. What you see is a reflection of your own heart. That is what you do. You think of ways not to befriend a person of higher authority, but to get rid of them.”

“You have no faith in people at all, Father,” he said. “I am ashamed to be called your son. Kill me, I would rather die.”

Damien closed his eyes, ready for death. He had said what he wanted, apologized to the girl and her family that he felt he had done wrong, and now he was ready to die.

Except, the blade never came.𝓞𝗏𝑳xt.𝑐𝗈𝕞

“Dammit!” he heard Clara curse from behind him as he was pushed forward. He heard her run away and turned around to catch a glimpse of her disappearing into the shadows.

Had she chosen to not kill him?

“Pathetic!” the Emperor spoke to him as he rushed past his son arriving at the location where Clara had disappeared into.

“You won’t run away from me, girl. I have killed your people before and I can do it again,” he shouted. A long snake-like white Essence Soul floated out of him and immediately expanded to become a massive snake in the sky.

The Emperor used a technique, creating giant crystal spikes in the sky, and shot them into the ground. He made multiple ones of these and shot them down in a circle, enclosing the area where Clara had run off to.

He threw spike after spike on the ground, and once there was not a gap remaining, he used his Essence to grow out the spikes to a point where they completely enclosed the entire area in a dome.

The inside of the area was dark and shadowy, so the Emperor immediately brought out a Light sword and used it, creating a glowing ball of light that floated in the center of the dome.

Then, he turned around, looking at the only piece of shadow in the room that Clara could now access to come above from her Shadow Space. His own shadow.

“There is nowhere else you can run off to, little girl,” the Emperor taunted her. “Come out quickly, so I can kill you.”

* * * * *

Ning sent a large burst of fire on the man that attack him with fire as well. The two fires collided, the quantity and quality countering each other.

Ning then ran away from the man when another one came up close. The man didn’t attack him, but he also didn’t let Ning escape. They were all waiting for the Emperor to be done with his fight so he could come and kill Ning himself.

Ning was frustrated at the black-clothed men as he really didn’t want to push back against them since they were strong enough to hold him on their own.

He also saw Clara being captured in the dome and was worried about her as well.

“System, keep track of Clara,” he said. “Save her if any attack that lands on her ends up being lethal.”

He hadn’t used his system in over half a year because of his own self-imposed rules. But he would be fine to break it if it was for someone else.

“Don’t save me though. I asked for this,” he said as he looked around, thinking of a way out of this sticky situation.

Once the system’s words vanished, Ning started trying to list down what was happening around him, and what he could do.

The first fact was that Saburn had attacked him to keep him in the Arena. Ning wasn’t sure if he was under the Emperor’s orders, but he surely was helping him.

The second fact was that the Emperor was busy with Clara and wasn’t going to attack him in the meantime. Damien was there as well, trying to break into the crystal dome, but completely unable to.

The third fact was that the black-clothed men were here to keep him from escaping, and would only attack him if he tried to leave. If he stayed, they did nothing.

Gathering all those facts, Ning couldn’t help but frown at the knowledge that there wasn’t any fact there that was especially helpful to him.

‘No,’ he thought to himself. ‘That’s not true. There is another thing I’m forgetting.’

His eyes turned to Saburn in the distance.

Fourth and probably the most important fact right now was this; Saburn was angry.