40 Continent of Pride[2]
In a dark cavern near the shore, eight figures could be seen, the three laid down on the ground while the others stared at them with vicious gazes.
"Boss, I don't think that we should do this, even though we're far from the mainland, if word of this gets out, we'll all be doomed!" A young man solemnly said to a young man who looked like a ball of fat, he was so fat that his neck could be barely seen.
"Heh, of course, I know about that, but we just need to get rid of all the evidence, right?"
"C-c-could it be..."
"Yeah, after we're done enjoying ourselves, we can just easily get rid of them..." The fat young man glanced the open ocean, causing the other young men around him to gulp in fear.
"Yeah, that's really a good idea."
Amidst the dimness of the afternoon, a cold voice rang out, causing the young men to jump in shock, they scoured around and readied a stance.
"I'm here," Khan's figure mysteriously appeared behind a young man, with a flick of his arm, he got a hold of his head and snapped. The young man's head fell in a weird angle.
The others stared at Khan in utter horror, "Y-y-you actually dared to-!"
"Hmmph! Since you resolved yourselves to kill, you should also expect to be killed." Khan's figure flashed, towards these bunch of bastards, he wouldn't be inclined to give an inch of mercy.
Lily moved towards the three figures that laid on the ground. She placed his palm on their foreheads as a green light materialized, enveloping their unconscious figures.
Khan glanced at Lily and the latter nodded her head. Khan piled the bodies of the young men, Lily stood up, approached the pile, and willed as a green fire materialized in the air.
Khan stared at the mysterious flame, the flame danced on Lily's palm didn't emanate any kind of heat or light, 'So this is the flame of her core?'
Every member of the Dragon Race has a core in their body that contains a great amount of energy, and they could, will it to become something that they desired, such as a flame or even objects.
Lily threw the flame towards the bodies and watched them burn with a cold look on her face. Khan checked the conditions of the three and found that they're more or less, healed.
'Damn, the healing powers of the Nature Dragons really are strong...' Khan uttered, earlier, when they arrived and saw the three, Khan could deduce that they were beaten quite roughly. But now, they didn't even have a trace of injury.
It was as if everything that happened to them was just a dream.
They stayed there for a moment to confirm that all pieces of evidence were erased, Khan activated an Acceleration type Rune and sped towards the house of the three.
Without a sound, they arrived in the house and placed them in their respective beds, the two pondered for a moment before placing the young boy on a couch. Before they left, Khan infused a part of his soul energy and ordered it to protect the three from mortal injuries.
Khan acted according to Lily's advice and erased their memories of him and Lily.
Later on, the three woke up to find that they didn't have any memories regarding about what happened earlier in the day, but they soon decided to not bother about it anymore and went on with their daily life.
Dinner time, the couple arrived at the inn where the Sect Master stayed only to see him sulking in the corner, according to what Khan heard, the Sect Master wanted to scuba dive but was refused due to the bad weather condition.
Khan glanced up the sky and he could see dark clouds forming in the air, their darkness dimmed the light that came from the moonlight, causing the already gloomy, Lema Island to become even more pitch-black at night.
"Stop sulking already, who in their right mind would even want to scuba dive at night?" Lily could be seen dragging the Sect Master who pouted in the corner towards the dining table, towards this stubborn and childish attitude of the Sect Master, Khan could only smile in helplessness.
As the darkness of the night thoroughly enveloped the entire island, the figure of Khan could be seen seating on a slab of rock, beside him stood the Sect Master, the two didn't speak, they just stared at the barely visible moon, their thoughts flying somewhere far away.
Khan sighed, he glanced at the Sect Master beside him and said, "Hey, Sect Master, can I borrow the Divine Sword for a moment?" The Sect Master was about to furiously retort, but upon seeing the nostalgic and sorrowful emotions that surged from Khan's eyes, he found himself unable to refuse.
Withdrawing the Divine Sword from his Spatial Ring, he handed it to Khan, of which, the latter held the sword on his right hand and walked away towards the distant shore.
The Sect Master stared at his disappearing back, hints of complicated emotions could be seen in his eyes.
Khan arrived in the dark cavern where he killed the young men, he glanced around and found that Lily's fire really didn't leave any trace. Khan sighed, he sat on a protruding rock as he swept his fingers across the rusted sword.
The sword on Khan's hand looked as ancient as ever. If one didn't any idea about it, they would think that it was some kind of a useless sword.
Khan's eyes became distant as he thought about the times where the three of them swept the entire continent with their might. Back then, the three sacrificed a hundred years of their cultivation to form three Divine Artifacts that would become the hallmarks of their Sects.
But now, thanks to the merciless passing of time, the sword emanated an archaic air. Khan calmed his thoughts as a sigh full of complex emotions came from his mouth.
Khan pointed his finger as a golden light surged through his body and condensed on the tip of his pointed finger. Khan glanced at the sword for a moment before infusing his soul towards the sword.
Khan's body shook for a moment before his consciousness appeared inside a dark space, inside the dark space, an emaciated old man could be seen looking at Khan.
His gaze pierced through the air, it flew towards Khan and struck him squarely on his soul. Khan approached the old man, on his face, hints of surging emotions could be seen.
"M-m-m-master... I've finally... I finally saw you again..." The old man's dignified countenance contorted as streaks of tears flowed down his cheeks, Khan approached the old man and found that a single tear moistened his cheek.
The two stared at each other for a moment, before Khan took the initiative and embraced the old man. His gritted teeth the evidence of his struggle to keep his emotions in check.
The old man returned his embrace as their minds flashed towards the events that happened in the past.
"Guardian Spirit, I, shall take a rest for a bit, I do hope that you enjoy your new master's company." A middle-aged Khan could be seen smiling towards another middle-aged man.
The latter nodded his head, his eyes glittered with determination, but unfortunately, fate was cruel and the Sect was struck by Khan's enemies.
Led by the Thousand Swords Sect, Khan's enemies rallied and managed to assimilate the Divine Talisman Sect as their own. Khan's sworn brothers Willheim Longinus and Hazwell Dragnil fought but were severely injured, later on, they indignantly left the battlefield and promised that they would definitely take the land of their brother, back.
Khan only listened at the side, his face strangely indifferent, in the end, the old man expressed his utmost regret towards the matter.
"Why didn't anyone wake me? I told them to wake me up if a great calamity, arrives!" Khan spoke in a cold and resentful tone.
"Unfortunately, the people whom Master ordered to wake you up were traitors, they were the ones who sent a signal to the Thousand Swords Sect when they confirmed that you truly slumbered."
"Damn it all!" Khan roared to the skies, "I trusted those guys! I even gave them a part of my cultivation just so that they would be stronger and have the necessary power to protect the sect from destruction, and yet..."
"How laughable, I, who stood at the apex wasn't even able to see through the hearts of the men that stood beside me."
The old man sighed, "Master, although you were powerful at that time, you didn't really have the heart to care about your subordinates, you just looked at them as if they were a chess piece, not caring about the emotions and desires that they had."
"What did you say?" Khan stood up, he glared at the old man with a venomous look on his face.
"Where did I go wrong? I nurtured them right, yet they became snakes that attacked me from behind! Was that supposed to be my mistake?!" Khan ranted, he only stopped when he ran out of breath as he stood there, huffing and puffing.
"Master, you were never wrong, at least, your intentions weren't wrong."
"It's just the way that you handled them wasn't right, even though they were willing to kill themselves for your sake, they still have the right to demand according to their heart's desire, but you... Master, you denied them that right."
The old man spoke in a heavy and tired tone, however, his eyes burned with a fierce light which made the indignant Khan stagger backward.
Eventually, he whispered in an uncertain tone.
"Was I really wrong at that time?"
"Master... Perhaps, you were not suitable to walk on the Slaughter Path, to begin with..."
Khan glanced at the old man, his eyes turned murky as he thought, 'I'm unsuitable to walk on the path of Slaughter? But why? Where did I go wrong?'
But his words didn't go unnoticed by the old of whom he created from his soul.
"You did not go wrong, Master..."
"But you went too far..."
"If you declare yourself as an Asura, you should have the capability to suppress your emotions and the ability to not wantonly kill anybody that gave you the slightest slight."
Hearing the old man's words ringing in his mind, Khan stood there like a blank piece of plank. He stared there for an hour before he took a huge breath and said, "Perhaps, I really wasn't suitable to walk the path of Slaughter, but for now, now, that I have someone precious for me, I shall take the goal of protecting her as my aim."
"But, of course, I won't forget about this grudge... This grudge that has been dormant for so long!" Khan clenched his fists, his desire to annihilate the Thousand Swords Sect burned as strong as ever.
For the first time, the old man's lips gave a joyful smile, his eyes filled with the light of relief, 'Finally... master, finally realized the truth...'
Khan's anger dissipated, his eyes gave off a deep and jet-black light of the abyss, he stared at the old man, revealed a gentle smile and said.
"Thank you, Robert."
His gentle voice slowly floated in the air as it flew towards the old man's ears. His figure visibly trembled, he fought back against his emotions as he said, choked with tears, "You're welcome, Master..."
He stared at Khan's figure and at the burning light that could rage everything on its path.
'Master didn't seal his emotions, instead, he suppressed it, and his rage, comparable to the waves of the ocean, capable of swallowing everything on its path.'
"But, Robert, can you tell me about what happened to him?" Khan's eyes softened as he talked about him. The old man's figure trembled, clearly, he was undergoing a huge emotional upheaval.
"B-brother was... Brother was captured by the Thousand Swords Sect... His soul was forcefully extracted and tortured for a thousand years before he was given the permission to die..."
"!" The calmed rage within Khan's eyes surged, a bloodthirsty and maleficient aura exploded within his body. His eyes reddened as if blood would drip from it any second.
"THOUSAND SWORDS SECT! I SHALL NOT REST UNTIL I ANNIHILATE YOU ALL!" Khan roared in the blank space, the complexion of the old man behind him also became grim as he clenched his withered fists.
The brother whom they talked about was the Guardian Spirit of the Divine Talisman Sect and the spirit whom Khan sacrificed the most to nurture.
"Khan..."
"Khan..."
"Khan!"
"Wake up, Khan!"
Khan's figure trembled, his consciousness returned from the blank space, he glanced on his hand and found that the rusted sword that he held shone in a golden light.
Khan turned his head and flinched as the blinding light of the sun pierced his eyes, 'It's already morning?' Khan glanced at the source of the shouting and found that Lily looked at him with a worried look, seeing that he seemed to be okay, Lily embraced him.
"What's going on with you? Leaving me and staying inside this cavern... I thought that you left me alone..." Her tone expressed her deep concern. Khan's eyes flashed with a gentle light, he lifted the young girl's head, the latter gave a sweet smile towards him and slightly opened her mouth.
'Perhaps, I was wrong at that time, or perhaps I wasn't... But for now, I shall take this responsibility of protecting this girl beside me... For eventually... The truth will reveal itself...'
Dispelling all of his thoughts, the dazzling light of sunlight bathed the two with its warmth as they enjoyed each other's company beneath the glowing sun.
