Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 246: Old Gu.

Ozul looked vacantly at the unequal and the now indistinguishable body parts of Luthien on the ground mixed in with the mud and a puddle of blood.

What was once the Emperor ruling the Silverbird Kingdom was now only some bloody mess that even some Beasts might frown upon.

It was more than 30 years that he had been tormented because of this person, he had to get his anger out in some way.

He wasn’t even able to kill the main culprit, his ‘father’ who had severed his limbs in the first place. After that, he had already taken his revenge on his ‘uncle’ but it hadn’t given him any satisfaction that he thought it would either.

Even now, as he gazed at the mess in front of him, he didn’t feel any happier or light as he thought he would.

The hollow feeling inside of him did not seem to have filled even a drop. After a moment, a sigh escaped from his cold lips, and out of nowhere,

Meow!

.....

Jinx appeared rubbing the side of her body against Ozul’s feet affectionately. He did not understand the reason behind it but his mood improved to a considerable level.

As he bent down to pat Jinx, he remembered how she had been staring at him without any intentions of helping when he had laid there on the ground without any strength to do anything against that old ancestor.

‘Still... For some reason, I cannot get myself to dislike or be suspicious of you...’ he thought while warmly stroking her head.

“Haha! Young man, didn’t you promise him to give him a painless and quick death if he answered your questions? You even promised to let him keep his dignity in death, heh. This pool of blood sure doesn’t say dignity.”

Suddenly Ozul heard the old man’s voice from beside him. He wasn’t even able to sense his presence until he spoke!

By now, Ozul was already starting to get used to his sarcastic comments.

The old man shook his head while clicking his tongue, “Tche Tche... I thought you would keep your words. It’s a pity, Young man. I thought you were an honest man...”

Ozul didn’t wait for him to finish his nonsense and neared the puddle of blood to look for Luthien’s hands.

Once he found them, he used Ball of Purity to get them out of the mess and took off all the rings that were on the fingers.

At least a few of these should be Spatial Rings, and since Luthien was the Emperor of the Silverbird Kingdom, he would surely have heaps of valuables inside his Spatial Rings.

He only found five rings and two of them were useless for him. Only three of them were Spatial Rings. He didn’t check their content and just put them in his Spatial Pouch.

After that, Ozul turned around and walked away with Jinx gracefully following behind him. The old man didn’t mind that he was being ignored for so long and also walked behind them.

“Except you, only he heard what I had offered him. But He is now dead... and dead men tell no tales,” Ozul muttered as they got out of the forest.

Behind him, the old man’s face again lit up in a toothy smile. Ozul’s words perfectly described how this world worked.

The strong ruled the weak. Whoever lost was not only the loser but also the villain. In history, everyone would learn how evil would always lose and justice always prevailed, but the reality remained that whoever lost became the villain, and whoever won would become the winner.

After all, the one who lost wouldn’t be alive to deny any false claims.

Although Ozul had given Luthien a torturous death, he was not alive to complain to anyone.

. . .

After the two had flown to a relatively barren land with almost no vegetation in sight, much less other humans, Ozul stopped and turned around to face the old man.

“Tell me, who are you?” he said while keeping his eyes on every movement made by the old man.

The old man scratched the back of his hand to ease away the itching before he answered, “Haha. Don’t get impatient, young man. You can just call me Old Gu for now.”

Ozul squinted his eyes at Old Gu but did not press him for any answers. He had a feeling that he stood no chance whatsoever against this old man.

A few moments later, Old Gu continued, “You are a candidate, and you only have to know that much for now. Haha! I have already found other candidates, however, it would take me a little time to gather all of them in the Neutral Lands. Weird name if I say so myself.”

“Why have you been following me then?” Ozul asked as the old man had been following behind him for quite a while now.

He had just thought that this old man had something to tell him important or talk with him about something, but he refused to tell anything other than informing him that he was some kind of a candidate.

Ozul wasn’t even given the explanation or any choice about this candidate thing, but he could make out from his words that there were other candidates as well.

Even with no information at all, Ozul realized that asking this old man would be useless.

He also had his own personal questions that he wanted to ask, but he decided that he would wait till Old Gu tells him about his identity.

“Oh~? Haha! I forgot where I was going before, so I decided to follow behind you instead. And I realized I still have to search around those Neutral Lands for any possible candidates,” Old Gu answered him with that toothy grin plastered on his face.

Ozul didn’t doubt his words and turned around, ignoring him after that.

He flew at a lightning speed towards Neutral Lands. He had to start planning his next move and before that, learn about his own abilities all over again.

Old Gu followed behind him without saying a word for the next journey. While Ozul required a small part of the Ball of Purity to fly, the old man followed didn’t seem to be relying on anything!

Ozul didn’t even feel a speck of Mana from him as they flew towards the Neutral Lands. During the journey, he tried to probe him in various ways, but all of them failed.

It hadn’t been long since the Sun had risen. Normally, it would have taken Ozul at least two to three days to cover the distance from the Silverbird Kingdom all the way to the Neutral City.

However, he had surpassed his previous limits multiple times over after gaining his arm back!

His current speed couldn’t even be compared to back then.

Just a few hours later, he was already in the barren boundaries of the Neutral Lands!

What took him days before only took him a few hours this time, he was satisfied with his own improvement.

. . .

Ozul didn’t need much time to get back to the Three-Eyed Strangers’ headquarters. However, he realized that not only were Raven and Blaze not there, but even Irvin and Haley weren’t present.

He only sensed the presence of Oliver and a couple of high ranking members inside the tower.

‘Is the tournament still going on?’ Ozul remembered that yesterday should have been the start of the tournament and there were high chances that it extended to today.

“If you are looking for your friends, they may be there in the Neutral City along with hundreds of other people~” Old Gu interrupted his thoughts while pointing towards the Neutral City.

‘... just how powerful is he?’ Ozul could not help but be surprised at the fact that Old Gu could even sense people miles away from him!

Ozul was nowhere near that level and didn’t think for a second that Rank-10 Mages should be so strong. He still had doubts that Old Gu was really just a peak Rank-10 Mage with ancient techniques that let him hide his Mana even from him, but he hoped that his own doubts were false as well.

Still, he didn’t say anything and quietly made his way towards the Neutral City. Old Gu, with his face full of smiles as usual, also followed behind.

. . .

In the Neutral City, the excitement about the result of the tournament could be felt everywhere.

Unlike the first day of the tournament, the Mercenary Guild had decided not to use the Battle Colosseum of the Leonhard Dynasty.

Since the battles were between Rank-8 Mages today, it would be far more destructive than even when it was the Battle Royale.

On the first day, the six Rank-8 Mages hadn’t even gotten serious before the result was announced.

Although the Battle Colosseum was spacious enough, the Leonhard Dynasty wasn’t keen on watching things get destroyed left and right by the participants.

And since they did not have any other suitable place, the Mercenary Guild had decided to choose an isolated area without any human settlement at the edge of the Neutral City to hold the battles.

With their resources, it took their men only half a day to set everything up in the designated area.

They cleared an area of hundreds of meters and also erected giant pillars where the spectators would enjoy the show from.

And just like before, there were special seats designated only for the Rank-9 Mages.

The second day of the tournament had already started and things were getting heated because of the battle taking place right now...