"...you shall perish for the sins of your ancestor. Your bloodline shall not be allowed to exist in this world for even a moment longer."
Shuilong was in the process of monologuing when Aion returned his attention to the conversation.
It was clear that he was planning to revel in August's death. The grudge with Qinglong originally started with the Liqua Clan. His emotions in this moment were more heated than any of the rest.
However, they did not have time.
It would take but a moment to kill August, but they did not have even a single moment to spare.
"Shuilong, wait," Aion said sternly.
"For what reason? There is no reason for you to protect this boy, is there? Or could it be that your guilty conscience is disrupting your thoughts again? Aion, now is not the–"
"NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" Aion roared.
They were the swords that Shuilong wanted to speak, but with a completely different meaning.
"A thief has broken into the ancient vault. I cannot sense the presence of any of the artifacts stored there."
Shuilong's expression remained blank.
"Mere artifacts. It does not matter if we lose them. Killing this child before Qinglong's blood can bloom is more important."
Aion scoffed. He looked around at the others, and, frankly, it irked him to see the sexpression on their faces.
His aura turned serious to the point where the other Holy Dragons were forced to listen to him.
"Did you all forget what it means for the vault to be emptied? It was not merely treasures that we lost! Whoever was bold enough to enter that place…has taken the Book of Truth and the Scales of Fate."
The expressions of everyone present changed.
"And the fruit of the Primeval Tree?" Ignaqtus asked.
"Gone."
It was a response that left even these Holy Dragons shaken.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtNobody else understood what the treasures in the ancient vault meant. It was a secret kept between Holy Dragons exclusively.
Without those treasures…
'…everything will fall apart.'
Even Shuilong understood the dangers presented by the theft of those items.
He gritted his teeth, hesitant to accept it, but he had no choice.
"Noctum, place him in Eternal Darkness. We will return to this matter later."
Noctum's slight nod was the last bit of the conversation that August could see.
His entire world disappeared as he was surrounded by a blackness deeper than anything he'd seen before.
This was a prison he could never escape from. Not until Noctum himself returned to free him.
With August in such a place, the Holy Dragons did not need to worry about him fleeing. They could return to this splace and decimate him when they found the rat scurrying around their kingdom.
The Holy Dragons immediately departed, turning into blurs of light streaking through the sky
And as everyone in the vicinity of the third stage arena was left in confusion about everything that happened, August only had one question:
Just what could possibly make Holy Dragons rush away so hurriedly?
***
'Whew, that was surprisingly easy.'
Sure, the atmosphere was tense everywhere else, but that did not apply to Rose.
She was cruising, to say the least.
That energy wave cout of nowhere and made everything confusing, but the moment Rose realized that the ambient mana was dispersed, she rushed to the vault she'd been eyeing.
As expected, it was wide open without a single security measure protecting the items inside.
All she had to do was kill out the guards, quite an easy maneuver when they couldn't fight back, and run inside.
She took everything. Originally, her goal was only a single item–
'–but when in Rome, right?'
This was a great opportunity.
Even secret areas that were secured behind many barriers, arrays, and protection mechanisms were completely open right now.
Rose thought it was interesting for items to be hidden behind so much security, so without a second thought, she took them.
Truly, she had no idea what kind of mayhem she'd just caused.
But it didn't really matter to her, did it?
The dragons she'd seen while hiding in the Aureat Clan were pieces of shit. She didn't feel a single ounce of remorse for her actions.
And it wasn't like they could retaliate against her.
By the tthe ambient mana returned and the projectors showing the heir wars turned on, Rose was already in the Sanctuary.
Damien was the only one barred from the hidden universe, after all.
When Rose returned to the True Void Universe, she would be back at the palace with Claire and the rest.
She had nothing to worry about.
Though, if there was one thing more special about Rose's experience than her theft of everything the Dragon Kingdom held valuable…
…then it was what she would learn when she returned home.
***
Damien was actually in Zenith's hidden territory, which had been abandoned for a long time, when chaos ensued.
His attention was naturally caught by the Holy Dragons surrounding August. In fact, he was just about to make a move and slaughter them, but something funny happened.
It was only for a single second, but he suddenly felt Rose's presence in Arulion. When it disappeared so rapidly, he knew exactly where she'd gone.
It was surprising to realize that Rose was present all along. Damien had been doing things slowly instead of understanding anything and everything about Arulion so he could have sfun and feel the spirit of adventure, but it led to him narrowly missing his wife.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmOnce he'd felt her presence, however, Damien immediately did a scan.
It didn't take long for him to comprehend the situation fully.
And that was why it was so funny.
How coincidental did it have to be for even more members of their family to be wreaking havoc in Arulion at the stime?
It was hilarious how Rose's actions accidentally saved August, and what Rose had done was even funnier.
Of course, it wasn't funny at all that they'd hurt August. That particular action made Damien want to kill them and everyone related to them.
But…there was something vague, a kind of ambient aura that could only appear in times of chaos.
Perhaps that was why Damien kept the Holy Dragons alive.
Because even if they were a threat to his son, they couldn't do anything to him.
Instead, they'd be left scurrying around the kingdom, desperately picking up the pieces.
See, the energy wave that spread through the world did more than the Holy Dragons knew.
Rose and August weren't the only ones affected by it.
Actually, there was a specific group that found themselves empowered.
August's reveal, Rose's theft; they weren't the only interesting things happening in the kingdom.
There were two more big events about to begin.
And Damien desperately wanted to see how the Holy Dragons coped with them.
'This is going to be fun.'
Life had been a bit slow recently, but it was about tfor things to pick up.
Chaos.
It wasn't an ideal environment in any sense, but it was the place where people with the surn"Void" thrived.
Damien had proved it countless times, and soon enough…
…August would get the chance to do the same.