Ruin

Just as abruptly as his laughter had begun, it stopped, and he regained his calm.

His heart settled and his mind cleared. Despite this, he remained careful.

If a cripple had been able to deceive him, all those present, and the entire kingdom, it meant that regardless of his ability to cultivate, he was a fearsome individual.

If the prince had predicted the trials of these ruins centuries ago, who was to say he hadn't prepared for this exact moment?

What if he'd allowed himself to be thrashed around to weed out the unworthy from his circle?

Who was to say the royal family hadn't given him special artifacts to bypass this trial?

Despite being stripped of his jewels and born a cripple, he'd still made it here, passing the battle and wisdom trials.

The more Amon thought about this, the more he calmed down, and the more his gaze steadied.

"What the hell was that about, Amon?!"

Awa and Amato were the most shocked of all present.

Ever since they'd met him, this was the first time he'd shown any emotion other than apathy and cold rage.

"I'm talking to you! You fuc-"

Before Amato could continue, he swallowed his words as Amon briefly flashed him a cold gaze.

Amon's gaze focused on the third Prince.

He walked over and squatted down.

"What's the injury type?" he asked, patting the prince's body and checking his wounds. "Aether or regular? If regular, did they use any add-on? Like poison or something?"

He looked up and met the prince's confused gaze. The latter had expected a totally different response from Amon.

After spending so long torturing him, he had learned much about Amon and knew that if anyone was to find out the truth about his situation, it would be him.

He just hadn't expected it to be so immediate, but even then, this response was completely outside of his preparations.

For a few moments, he stood there, frozen, unable to muster any coherent thoughts as Amon's calm yet intense gaze drilled into him.

After a while, with a deep breath, he calmed down, regaining his composure, and answered.

"Mostly aether. The regular injuries have already been healed by me." Using Amon as support, he stood up. "I need someone to give me a bit of pure aether so I can cast a healing spell."

Amon looked at the others. This aether surely couldn't come from him. He had none.

Awa didn't wait for anyone to volunteer and gently placed her hand on the prince's chest, her cherry-colored aether infusing into his body.

He closed his eyes as runes began to flicker on his skin and his golden aether began to flow through him.

Seeing this, Amon raised a brow.

'I'm sure he's a cripple and I'm sure those runes are simply reflections of the artifacts fused into him, but what is this aether? Can cripples use aether?'

He slightly frowned.

[Father, it is possible the third Prince has been given artificial aether reserves that must be stimulated by foreign aether to activate. Normally, he uses the visible jewels on his body to activate them, but now, since the trials took them away, he can't do so.]

'What about the ones fused into his body? Surely they could serve the same purpose, right?'

[Most likely, but I think he exhausted the aether within the artifacts during the trial and since no one is here to refill them, he's forced to rely on outsiders.]

Amon nodded. This was most likely the truth.

'So he's almost fully circumvented his status as a cripple using his wealth. How lucky.'

Aether artifacts were objects created by either arcane forgers or natural springs.

These artifacts could display all and any ability, limited only by the skill of the forger or the level of the spring.

This could be seen with the third Prince as his artifacts were so advanced they could fully and permanently fuse into him, giving him unmatched power despite being a cripple.

'Let's keep observing.'

After a while, the third Prince had fully healed and without delay, their group began to move, leaving the grand hall and heading into one of the four gigantic corridors around them.

They were immediately thrust into a grand maze, containing hundreds if not thousands of intertwining paths, filled with traps and trials.

Beyond that, every path contained floods of monsters and warriors, each more powerful than the last. In just the first day, they were pushed to their limits.

Amon and Amato were forced to endlessly battle as Awa supported them from the back and the royal guards acted as her shield while the third Prince stood back, watching and giving orders.

"Watch out! Left! Left! LEFT!"

BANG!

In front of them stood a tall, green-skinned brute, its muscles rippling with emerald aether as it wielded a gigantic club.

Its one eye radiated an intense light that stopped them from accessing their aether.

"A Cyclope!"

"Its eye is a mutated aether organ that stuns you and dispels the aether in your body! It's an area of effect ability, so there's no trick to it! Pierce the eye!"

WHOOSH!

Amon weaved in and out of swings carrying wild gusts of thick destructive aether. In the blink of an eye, he breached its defenses and landed on its head.

Just as he was about to thrust down into the Cyclope's eye, an explosion echoed, and he was sent flying, crashing into a wall.

RUMBLE!

Somehow, at the last moment, the Cyclope roared out, creating a chaotic wave of aether that sent them all flying back. But this wasn't all.

From sixty feet in height, it rapidly shrunk, its muscles becoming more toned and refined. In the next moment, it stood at a mere eight feet.

Despite this, the power that rippled off the Cyclope was terrifying, having reached an entirely different level altogether.

Aether marks began to bloom all over its green skin as it roared once more.

"I got it!"