Karel launched forward at an incredible speed to survive the explosion of the curse that was destroying everything behind him.
And when he saw that he had survived the explosion, he looked back and was astonished by the power of the curse that was in his hand.
But then he wondered whether Forn had been injured or not, yet he could not stay to watch,
for he had to escape the place immediately, as the explosion would attract the monsters in the wilderness,
in addition to any other pursuers. So he rushed quickly away from the place.
Forn's point of view:
Forn was in a very bad state, and although she was not severely wounded,
she was gravely hurt in her pride when she thought of how her uncle had deceived her.
She looked at the place of the explosion several miles away,
and muttered to herself:
"It's good that I carry a teleportation jewel… I…"
But after a few moments, Forn realized that the rest of the knights were not carrying teleportation jewels.
Forn was shocked when she thought that all the knights who came with her as part of the pursuit team had died.
She could not imagine how her father would react to the matter,
for every knight of the imperial knights is a treasure of the empire.
It is not easy for anyone to become an imperial knight;
they are all people who awakened their auras or became experts in using them.
However…
she could not imagine that any of them had survived the explosion that occurred.
The explosion was extremely destructive and carried a very strong curse;
and the person who might survive the wave of the explosion would not survive the curse.
Forn did not know what to do now after losing all the knights who came with her,
but she quickly gathered herself and thought that capturing her uncle and learning Zeus's location from him
might erase her grave mistake.
She took a deep breath and headed toward the place of the explosion.
Just like Arman and Laurent—
when they survived the explosion, they also went to the place of the explosion.
Forn was not the only one who would be punished for what happened;
but everyone who failed and let that fiasco happen before them,
and everyone who caused the death of the knights in vain…
would be punished.
But they all knew that if they found Zeus's location,
their mistakes might be completely erased.
So they all headed in the same direction,
even though the teleportation magic had transported them to random locations,
spread apart from one another.
Still…
each of them headed toward the same location.
As for Karel, he was fleeing,
unaware that the only way for Forn and the others to escape punishment
was to capture him alive,
and now they were more determined than ever
to catch him alive before he escaped the empire.
But he did not care about that.
All he cared about was escaping the place quickly
and meeting his son and granddaughter,
and hiding in the safe place he had made years ago.
And as he thought about that, he hastened his steps to reach them faster.
But suddenly, he felt a strange feeling approaching him…
a feeling that frightened him,
and he did not want to know what it was at all.
So he continued strengthening his body with the aura,
even though his body was already injured,
and could not endure the strong aura he was pumping into it.
But he did not care about the hidden injuries he might have received;
all he was thinking about was escape.
After a period of fleeing…
he stopped suddenly.
He looked around anxiously and said to himself:
"What is happening here?
How did they find me so quickly…?"
As soon as he spoke,
a lightning bolt shot from his side,
but he barely dodged it.
He drew his sword from its sheath with his remaining right hand,
and shouted while laughing:
"Still alive, Laurent!"
Laurent appeared, his purple burnt hair, angry, saying:
"You will regret your actions, Karel!"
Laurent then raised his hand,
and summoned his magical power…
a huge whirlwind of flames formed,
and he directed it straight at Karel.
Laurent said mockingly and with a voice full of anger:
"I will show you who can never be deceived, Karel!"
Karel looked at the whirlwind heading toward him,
and its range was so wide that he could not escape.
He sighed,
looked at his wounds… and at his missing arm,
then gritted his teeth tightly.
He strengthened his sword with the aura in his right hand,
and confronted the whirlwind that struck him directly.
The aura in the sword—
repelled the fire from him,
but that move drained much of his strength.
He was truly exhausted…
from fighting, injuries, and continuous strain.
He could not protect his entire body from the flames,
so part of his clothes and some of his hair burned,
but he did not care.
As soon as Laurent found him…
he realized that his end was near.
Laurent's magical power was tremendous,
while he… still could not control his aura well.
But none of that occupied his mind.
All he thought about now was:
how to cause Laurent and the others serious injuries
so his son and granddaughter would have enough time to escape the pursuit.
While fighting Laurent and dodging his magic,
he felt a great danger approaching quickly…
And he saw it already—
but his severe injuries prevented him from turning to protect himself.
And due to poor aura control and depletion of energy,
Karel was struck with a deep wound in his chest and fell to the ground.
But he leaned on his arm holding the sword,
so he would not kneel completely.
When Laurent saw that, he smiled,
and gestured to Arman, who had struck Karel, saying:
"Well done, Arman, let's finish him now."
Arman looked at him and said:
"He must not die… he knows the traitor's location, Laurent,
and the massacre that happened must also be judged."
Laurent thought a little and agreed,
"Let Karel bear all the mistakes he committed, and face the emperor's wrath, he caused harm to the knights."
When Karel saw them talking without caring about him,
he became very angry and wanted to speak,
but Laurent reminded him of information about Zeus, that he knew his location,
which made him laugh, for he was deceiving them with false information and they already believed it.
When the two saw Karel laughing, Arman spoke while looking at him:
"Have you gone mad, Karel?! This is your time to die!"
Karel looked at Laurent near him, and said with a bloody smile:
"I will take you with me."
And when he said that, he exploded the aura in his body, staring at them.
When Laurent saw something strange in Karel and his bloody smile, he realized he intended something dangerous.
Forn cast her magic to escape quickly from around him, but Arman was too close to Karel, so he could not respond like Laurent.
And when he saw something strange in Karel's aura, he understood that the latter was destroying himself to take them down.
Arman gathered all his aura around him, confronting the explosion Karel caused, committing suicide.