Regret

The experts of Tor City converged onto the Palace. Each and every one of their souls were shaken. Never in their lives had they felt so inferior.

One had to understand that until now, the fiercest awakening these so-called experts had ever experienced was that of a Heaven Grade talent, and even that occurred several dozen generations ago. On the day that occurred, the auspicious signs lasted for but a few minutes before dissipating into nothingness. Still, it had a profound impact on them all.

However, Ryu's awakening made that moment seem like a story retold in a children's book – petty, shallow and uninteresting. Even hours later, the dark clouds showed no sign of revealing the rays of the sun. In fact, Ryu's courtyard was in absolute shambles. How could the momentum of a talent meant to be born on the highest Immortal Plane be contained by the likes of a mortal Plane?

The King, his Imperial Censors, the Pillar Heads, the Princes and even the King's wife and concubines stood in the vast wasteland that had once been Ryu's home. Aside from a stain of pungent, rotting blood that sat unscathed at its center, just a few paces from a now evaporated lakebed, there was nothing left. Not even Ryu's shadow could be seen.

Of those in attendance, the only one who hadn't paled in fear was Second Prince Jedrek who had his usual lazy expression plastered on his handsome, but lanky, features.

Ryu had left without a word. There was no note, no promise of revenge, not even a cold glare to hang their hats on. The only thing that replayed in their minds again and again was the enraged roar that shook the capital. It wasn't a roar of a defeated man, it was the roar of a man who had woken up, one that would destroy everything in his path for the sake of his goals.

Not a single soul here didn't understand just how talented Little Ryu was, but should it matter how talented a young man was if he was suppressed since his youth? How could he grow?

Time and time again, they had stamped out his will to live. They tormented him, humiliated him, pushed him to the edge without regard for familial ties of love. Now, they stood trembling in fear. Cold sweats matted their backs and panic shook their souls. Not a single one of them could bring themselves to say a word even after several hours.

At some point, the two Princesses who had been preparing to head back to the Sect, hoping to never have to come back and face their young brother, had no choice but to rush back. When they saw the scene before them, they instantly paled. They too had heard the roar and they too were members of the cultivation world. Did they need any of these things explained to them?

It was in that moment that Patriarch Agnes lost his mind. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY GRANDSON, YOU BASTARDS?! WAS HE NOT A CRIPPLE?! WAS HE NOT UNABLE TO CULTIVATE?! WAS HE NOT USELESS?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

The old man's words were like a puncture through an already unsteady dam, unleashing a wave of pain and blood. Third Concubine Leilani could only fall to the floor, grasping her frail head as she seemed to age several decades in a mere moment. She could do nothing as her father was beaten savagely by the Death Guard Bhishak.

They hadn't believed in the little boy before, but now an incoherent regret caused them to lose touch with reality. If old man Agnes hadn't been restrained by the former General, it was certain that this matter wouldn't have ended with a mere beating. He was allowed to live simply because of the rarity of the matter and the fact the King was truly wrong. But he didn't escape several broken bones and a pain his old bones could hardly withstand.

Patriarch Cedar, an older man with olive skin and bright white hair glanced toward his daughter, Queen Tor. But, he only received her glance toward the ground. At such a moment, she couldn't find it within herself to meet her father's eyes. This matter should have ended when she poisoned Ryu, but it hadn't. She had believed that the Sky Gods were on her family's side after Ryu was suppressed irrelevant of her actions. Yet, the concept of destroying threats from the root shone through fiercely now.

Imperial Censor Digby sighed, his long white beard trembling along with his slight frame. "Karma is an endless current… No matter what roadblock it may meet, it will break through in due time. If it wasn't this generation… It would have been the next…"

"Your majesty, we must take action as quickly as possible! Even if the Fourth Prince has awoken his talent, he can't have become an Immortal in a single leap! He's still a blind young man with no knowledge of the world. With our resources, we'll definitely be able to find him!" Imperial Censor Orson's snake-like eyes darted. He refused to allow Censor Briggs the initiative again. But, who knew that his words would have been met by the opening of the King's reddened eyes.

King Tor's fury reached the high heavens. This had all started because of them. It was because of their schemes and tricks, their stupid talks of Fate and Faith. It was they who made him abandon his own son. If not for them, wouldn't his Tor Kingdom have gained an immovable pillar?!

"DIE!" The King's rage could not be sated. His palm shone with a bright light, barreling through the Censor Orson's chest and shattering his heart in an instant.

Imperial Censor Orson looked down at the bloody arm that had pierced him before looking up at his King with an unending regret. His eyes dimmed as he fell. Never had he expected that all the years he had built himself to this peak would end in a mere instant, and all over a boy he had thought nothing of.

So what if you're royalty or nobility? These were words he thought to himself all the time when he lay his schemes. Before his intelligence, what did your rank mean? Only now did he understand that he had never held any true power at all.

Would there be revenge for him? Would the King face punishment? Of course not.

Imperial Censor Briggs looked at the fallen body of his former comrade. 'Fool…' He muttered to himself.

"FIND HIM!" The King's enraged shout shook the Palace for the second time that day. Under the cover of the perpetual night, dozens of shadows blanketed the skies.

The darkness that blanketed Tor Kingdom wouldn't dissipate for several years.