Several cloaked figures tried to enter the city but were stopped by the guards. When the guards tried to intimidate them, one of the figures raised their hand, and blue light emanated from it, attacking the two guards. As soon as they were touched by it, the guards froze and transformed into ice statues. They were completely and utterly dead. The cloaked figures continued their march inside the city.
Realizing something was wrong from the power fluctuations coming from the city gate, Leron Frost tried to go there, but was intercepted by an unexpected visitor.
"I didn't think you would come back, my brother, Renus," he said, looking at the cloaked man standing in front of him. Although it had been a century, he could not forget his brother.
Removing the cloak from his head, Renus Frost looked at his brother, who used to be his comrade-in-arms all those years ago. Even after a century, he still looked the same as before, with his cyan eyes and hair. And the fire in his chest from looking at him was still burning as brightly as that day all those years ago.
"You could have at least lived if you had stayed hidden. Why must you drag everyone down with you?" Leron asked accusingly.
"Are you still saying that same bullshit after betraying us and joining hands with those filthy traitors?" Renus tightened his hold over the sword at his waist.
"I just made the right decision. After his fall, all our deaths were inevitable. It was either that or living in hiding for the rest of our lives."
"Is this the same reason you sold out even the hideout of the younglings?" Renus growled, his eyes menacing.
"Oops, you found out. I am really sorry for your granddaughter. But there was nothing I could do. I needed something of substantial value to get the recognition I received, and a Shard of God seemed like a good deal."
Hearing his words, Renus unsheathed his sword and slashed at Leron. A large blue blade shot out from the sword tip. In contrast, Leron just raised his hand, and as soon as the slash touched the tip of his fingers, it dissipated.
Just as it seemed everything was going well for Leron, he felt something approaching him from behind. Narrowly dodging to his side, he was still hit by the attack. Looking at his attacker, it was a young man in his twenties with the same cyan eyes and hair as him.
"Well, this is a surprise. I didn't think you, of all people, would become an Ascender, Ulrich."
Ulrich just stared back at Leron with a deadpan face. Then he slowly raised his hand and pointed ahead. Leron and Renus both ducked down as a slash centered around Ulrich shot in all directions. The white castle, which had stood for more than a century, was immediately cut in two and started to fall down. All the people below saw this sight and were horrified to the core. Soon, everyone started to run away from the castle.
By now, the cloaked figures had already reached the entrance to the castle. The door, which was locked, was easily broken through, and a bloody massacre began. Regardless of gender or age, blood flowed. The only distinguishing factor was whether they were an Awakener or not.
Soon after the initial confusion, the forces of the castle also started to fight back. Spells of varied elements were thrown all around like a festival—but this festival was one of blood.
Nel was doing experiments in her laboratory when this commotion occurred. Thinking it was some old Ascender here to settle scores, she got up from her seat and started to move toward the door. But just as her hand reached the handle, a hand broke through the door and pierced her chest.
But the attacker, a young girl, did not feel any happiness from it.
Nel appeared from behind her and asked in a confused but curious tone, "Who are you? From your age, you don't seem even twenty, yet you are at the peak of Paragon. I don't remember meeting such a talented person like you." Her jealousy was visible in her eyes.
The girl just gave her a deadpan look and said, "My master has sent me here to deal with you."
Nel started to laugh at this reply. "Pray tell me, who is your master?"
"Lex Frost," the woman replied in the same deadpan, calm voice.
But hearing the name, the smiling face of Nel crumbled. Just when I thought I would be free from him, he sends another kid to get to me. Well, I just want to know how his face looks after I send him your severed head.
The girl just shook her head. "My master said I am stronger than you. So he sent me here to kill you. I will make sure it's painless. I also hate pain."
A crazed, maniacal laughter started to come out of Nel's mouth, and the next moment she disappeared from her place and was already beside the girl. But as if predicting her movements, the girl slightly tilted aside and dodged the approaching shard.
"Your spell is very shoddy. It doesn't have the edge and the speed required for the attack."
"Shut up!" Nel started to cast multiple ice spells, but the girl easily dodged them. At some point, Nel had started panting, and her breath was ragged. Knowing she could not beat the girl in front of her, she took out a small crystal from her pocket and crushed it. Soon, cyan light was released from it and merged into her body. Her body, which had been exhausted previously, was suddenly brought back to health, and it started to glow slightly as she felt a strong surge of power from inside her.
Then she gestured to the girl standing in front of her by raising her hand, and the girl obliged.
Meanwhile, at the deepest level of the castle—which was completely off-limits to other people—a middle-aged man opened his cyan eyes. Standing in front of him was an old man wearing black, worn-out clothes: Lex Frost.
"It has been a long time," he said.
"A long time indeed, my boy, Liam."
"Are you still going to go on about all this fatherly stuff after all these years?"
"No. I am just here to right my wrong. The day I realized you had such treacherous thoughts, I should have killed you. But raising you had made me too soft to do it. I thought time would solve it, but I was wrong. This is the only way I can repent for the deaths of all the others."
Liam nodded his head. "I also regret not being strong enough and letting some of them escape at that time. Otherwise, you all would be dead by now. I will also take this chance to right my wrong."
Just as Liam and Lex were about to lunge at each other, they were enveloped by a mysterious force and thrown into the Void Realm. All around them, the rules and concepts were twisted and warped. Any normal person standing here would instantly die in several different ways simultaneously. But being Ascenders, both Lex and Liam stood there unharmed. Their bodies had already partially transformed into a type of energy form.
When beings at their level fought, it brought incomparable damage to the world. To prevent this, the world sent them into the Void Realm, which existed in a separate layer of space. If they wanted to stay and fight in the world, they would have to face several restrictions.
Several cyan-colored circles appeared all around Liam and Lex. They were of varied sizes, and their internal structures were also different.
Liam made the first move. Several of the circles surrounding him merged and created a large frost dragon. The dragon dove toward Lex. In response, Lex just raised his right hand, and a large lance made from ice appeared above it.
"I already taught you that after becoming an Ascender, you should reduce your reliance on spells and start to manipulate the base form of elemental energy. Yet even after a hundred years, there is only a slight improvement in you. Even my young disciple of a few years is better than you, I should say."
The lance hit the dragon directly on its forehead, destroying it, and continued flying toward Liam.
"Shut up!" Liam growled and shot another spell at his father, which was also easily deflected. This continued for some time, and Liam grew more frustrated.
"You should stop playing. Nobody is coming to help you; we have ensured that. If you don't get serious now, I won't even know how I killed you."
Liam suddenly stopped his frantic attempts and stood straight. The frustrated expression on his face was gone, replaced by a serene one.
"How did you know I was just playing? Being an Ascender yourself, you couldn't possibly properly measure my rank," Liam asked straightforwardly.
"A child raised by me cannot be this weak."
Liam smiled at these words. "Then let this child send you on your way."
Cyan light started to come out of his body, and a shard materialized in front of him. The shard soon merged with him, giving him an ethereal presence.
Lex just stood aside and let him do it without interrupting. Now it will be easier to retrieve that, he thought.