Breakthrough

Blood dripped down Yihan's hand as he slit his palm before he handed the dagger to Khaitan. The suppressing power was increasing as time passed and they had barely a few moments left to execute their plans.

Without wasting their time, Khaitan and Ophir both slit their palms and placed them in Yihan's hand.

"Channel all your energy to your core and then, force out all your strength outwards." Yihan guided and the two men did as they were told.

At first, nothing happened. But soon, they felt the change in them. They could feel a different kind of power in them, one they had never experienced before. Blood continued to trickle down their palms and pooled at their feet.

The aura around the three men changed drastically and Yihan was the first one among them to feel the change in his cultivation level. From peak stage level six, he had changed to level seven and it was not long before the other two men too ended up following him.

"This will be hard now." Yihan cautioned and before he could speak another word, intense pain shot through all three of them. It was as though someone had plunged a dagger through their hearts.

"Why did you...." Ophir sucked in a deep breath as he endured the pain. "Not inform us about the pain?"

"If I did..." Yihan let out slow breaths and to some extent, it helped him. "We would have been in more agony and I did not want that to happen. This pain will fade once we reach the eighth level. Until then..."

Yihan stopped when he felt another wave of torment in his chest. It was too acute to ignore and he groaned in discomfort.

"Irrespective of what happens," He forced out the words with much difficulty. "Do not let go and keep channeling your energy. We have very less time now."

Not only was the pain turning into torture, but Iramal's suppressive power also overwhelmed them greatly until blood trickled down their mouth. Ophir's legs buckled when he felt his soul being sucked out of his body due to the pain.

"Please endure the suffering for just a few moments, Commander Ophir. We are done. We are about the move to the eighth level."

Yihan and Khaitan supported the young commander and as promised, the pain subsided as they broke through to reach the eighth level.

The moment they broke through, the pain disappeared miraculously and even the suppressive power around them vanished. All the three men felt was the strength they never had before.

"We did it." Khaitan cheered and wiped his lips, forgetting the discomfort he had been in barely a few moments ago.

Even Yihan smiled in delight, happy that his plan had worked out. Even though they were not more powerful than Iramal, at least they were at par with him and since they outnumbered him, it was now easy for them to handle the vicious man and his equally vicious family.

"Let us finish the evil family and end this rebellion. We are done enduring their assault for years." Ophir gritted his teeth and the three commanders smiled in triumph.

None of the men stopped channeling their internal energy to maintain their current cultivation level as they entered the palace. It was an easy feat for them to kill the guards who were protected under Iramal's suppression which was aimed at people only outside the palace.

With dead bodies everywhere, it became a mess soon and the palace resembled nothing less than a slaughterhouse.

The three men did not have to search the palace to locate the royal family. There was one place from where they could sense a strong power and it was the throne room. The entire royal family was cooped up in the throne room and Ophir kicked the doors open while Khaitan and Yihan handled the three guards outside the room.

Iramal was sitting in a lotus position with his eyes closed while his family was standing behind him silently. But the moment Ophir kicked the door open, his focus snapped and Iramal's lips parted in shock.

"How?" He mumbled, startled to see not just Ophir but even Khaitan and Yihan. "How did you break the suppression? It is impossible. It cannot be." He mumbled while his family members were mortified to see the three commanders sauntering inside the throne room as though they owned the place.

None among them was strong enough to handle anyone among the three, let alone the three men at the same time except for Iramal and his defense had been invaded even before they could hatch a plan of escape. Even their combined powers were not capable of stopping the men and it was then that they realized that they were really done for.

Their actions from the past were coming back to haunt them in the form of three men before them and it was impossible to escape from them.

"You must be astonished to see us here, Iramal." Yihan disregarded all forms of respect. The moment he had rebelled against him, he had stopped seeing Iramal as his king. "You must be wondering why your suppression did not work on us."

"Fire blast."

Iramal's son, Ashtor, launched a sudden attack. But Khaitan was quick to defend him. He snapped his fingers and a thin layer of water shield protected them immediately. Since he was stronger than Ashtor, the water killed the fire as quickly as it had attacked them.

"You have a lot to learn, child." Khaitan clicked his tongue in ridicule. "It is a pity though that you will not be able to."

Khaitan twisted two of his index and middle fingers into a cross and a few droplets of water transformed into ice before morphing into a dagger.

Ashtor's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the ice dagger aimed at him.

"Father..." He yelled before the dagger pierced his chest and he combusted into flames right away much to the royal family's horror.

"Have a good life in hell." Khaitan dusted his hands before he intertwined his palms behind his back as he smiled at the terror-stricken family.

"Who are we dealing with next?"