Unsealing Emptiness

410  For this kingdom!

Ozul briefly looked at Kumaou before they were all escorted back to their rooms.

On the way back, they didn't miss how the whole estate was panicking. Soldiers were storming the palace as if the court was under siege.

Once inside the room, the whole group stayed deathly silent.

Ozul and Kumaou were in a contest of staring with no one willing to back down.

Sadly, all they could do was stare since the mid-ranked Origin cultivator was still outside their room. Although the Prince didn't believe the Dragon Hatchlings had any motive, he wasn't as naive as to not suspect them even a little.

Forget about leaving the estate, they weren't even allowed to take a step out of their room.

'This is bad...' Ozul thought, quitting the staring contest with Kumaou.

This was all a gamble. If they thoroughly interrogated Rose and believed that she wasn't even out of her room, they would be fucked.

It was inevitable to come under suspicion, but assigning a mid-ranked Origin cultivator was a little too much.

Even if there were two initial stage Origin cultivators, he would have been able to deal with them with a sneak attack. Or at the very least, he would have been able to run away with their entire group.

Now, however, the chances were slim.

If push came to shove, he didn't have the confidence to get them all out safely.

At the same time, there was an unexpected reaction from Kumaou. From what he had judged from his personality, that man shouldn't have interfered at all.

And he was so sure of his judgment because of the fact that he could always see exactly what a person was feeling.

All this while, he had confirmed that Kumaou was uncaring of most things. Although he expressed slight displeasure, he wasn't concerned about most things happening around them, be they just or unjust.

To conclude his evaluation of Kumaou, Ozul was confident that Kumaou would most probably just let everything happen silently.

But against his expectations, that man not only didn't refute them but even took it a step further! He lied with a straight face that Rose had gone out of the room before the commotion started.

Meanwhile, it was he who had gone out!

While it was a good thing for them, there was a question of what reason Kumaou might have for doing this.

He could later very well betray them and close any chances they might have of leaving.

There were very rare cases of someone doing anything against his expectations since he could read their emotions like a book, and Kumaou had done just that.

For Ozul, this was the worst situation.

Raven, reading the situation, drew closer to Ozul before motioning to him with her finger.

Understanding her gestures, Ozul drew the Purity and covered both himself and the trio.

The Purity acted as a sound barrier, preventing any sound from reaching the ears of the mid-ranked Origin cultivator outside their dorm.

Kumaou was left staring at the black dome as he huffed in anger before storming off to cultivate.

He too was a man of few words.

Inside the dome, Blaze and Zier remained silent on the side while Raven spoke freely, "There are high chances that they would suspect us."

Staring at her quietly, Ozul knew what she was going to say, but he let her continue anyway.

"If they do come after us, you have to leave us."

Blaze remained unperturbed, but the shock was evident in Zier's eyes.

"I know what I am doing."

"I'm not stupid, we will simply deny we had any involvement in this. There is no reason for them to suspect Dragon Hatchlings."

Ozul nodded his head in understanding. Unbeknownst to Raven, he had the same plan in mind.

Even if he was found out somehow, they wouldn't have any reason to believe that everyone was involved in this. After all, they had just stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm. No one would send people so weak for assassinating the princess.

"Don't worry. Even if they are suspicious, once that woman admits to being a spy, that would be enough for them to blame the neighboring kingdom."

Unlike what Raven thought, the chances of them being implicated weren't so high.

If he hadn't taken everything into account, he wouldn't have gone through it anyway.

But Raven was still concerned, she thought he might hesitate if things took a bad turn.

Reluctantly, she nodded her head. Blaze agreed with everything, meanwhile, Zier was genuinely impressed by their dedication to Ozul. Clenching his fists, he wondered if was truly that sincere.

Only Zier forgot to consider that he had no qualms with Raven's plan either. He might have not been able to propose the idea with such certainty, but wasn't against it either.

Even he hadn't realized how much he had changed.

Ozul took down the dome and went back to his bed. There wasn't much they could do now except for waiting.

'I don't want to confront him right now,' he thought while glancing in Kumaou's direction.

Since his understanding of the man was flawed, he wouldn't take any chances and confront him now. There might once again be an unexpected reaction from him and it could cause an unwanted commotion.

. . .

It took them three hours before the mid-ranked Origin cultivator standing outside their dorm suddenly barged in without knocking.

"His Majesty summons you all."

Once again, there was little to no emotion in his voice.

For a while Ozul contemplated if it would be better to run away now since in the presence of the King and the Imperial Prince, he wouldn't even be able to do that.

In the end, he decided to go through with it. Considering how apprehensive everyone seems of the people who had summoned them to this Realm, the consequences might not be so severe after all.

They all followed the commander to the palace.

The state of the palace had switched suddenly.

There were no soldiers running amok. Strangely enough, there was an eerie quiet pervading throughout the estate.

'She gave up quickly...' Ozul thought about the woman. Despite her manipulative personality, she seemed to be a person with a history; sadly, he wasn't interested in people's history.

The commander brought them before the throne room as a booming voice resounded, "You may enter."

The atmosphere inside was quite somber and each step of theirs echoed throughout the dark and long hall.

Many men were lined up on the red carpet, all exuding a formidable aura. The combined force of these people was enough to rival that of a kingdom's full force.

What didn't surprise Ozul was the headless corpse of the woman named Rose. Her corpse full of fresh bruises and scars was still cuffed as it lay there curled to her feet.

Her severed head was nowhere to be seen, but if the small pool of blood and fleshy matter under the Prince's feet was anything to go by, one could guess what might have happened to it.

On the throne sat the king with his darkened eyes, resting his head on his fist.

"Do you have any qualms with it?"

The king asked in a voice so cold that Zier could feel his hair standing.

Ozul shook his head in reply, "It was only suspicion on my part."

The king waved his hand as if annoyed at the mere mention of anything that reminded him of his innocent daughter.

"I called you here to ask a question. Will you participate in the war or not?"

Ozul tilted his head, showing 'subtle' hints of confusion.

"The Blue Lion Kingdom is going to war with the Steel Mountain Kingdom. There won't be a truce. We might suffer, but those bastards will perish!"

The trio behind Ozul looked shocked but for a reason different than the onlookers assumed. They just hadn't expected everything to go so smoothly.

If they knew exactly how powerful those people were who had summoned them to this Realm, they wouldn't have been so shocked. Thinking about them, the King and the Prince instinctively didn't want to blame the Dragon Hatchlings.

"We can leave anytime we want?"

The King frowned, but he still nodded his head.

"Even during the war?"

Getting his affirmations again, Ozul replied,

"We will fight. Again, I am not speaking for him..."

He pointed at Kumaou again, separating that man from his group.

Since his intentions were unknown, he might implicate them in the future.

Although satisfied, the king didn't smile as he usually did. The Imperial Prince also didn't seem as charming as before.

Both of them instead looked as if they were already at war and standing in the middle of the battlefield.

"Summon the army! Mark this day for the destruction of Steal Mountain Kingdom was decided today!"

"For my beloved princess... for this kingdom! My men...We are going to war!"

The king stood up as the throne under him shook violently due to the pressure that he exuded.

A sense of awe and fear spread throughout the palace as they all heard the declaration of war.

The Imperial Prince led them out of the throne room as the other commanders all followed his orders to gather the army and secure the royal estate.

"You have chosen well. The rewards you have received till now are nothing compared to what you will receive if you contribute significantly to the war. The Blue Lion Kingdom has plentiful resources."

They might sound like empty words as no one knew what could happen in war, but Ozul could feel his sincerity.

'Well...that is why I'm staying. Also, they need experience.'

People grew exceptionally well during times of war.

Soon the talk of war spread throughout the kingdom as the spies of neighboring kingdoms made haste to bring this word to their respective kingdoms.

It took a while before the news of the princess' death also followed the talk of war.

Only then did people realize what had conspired in a single day and they were suddenly going to war.

The events of this day would alter the map of their continent.

After all, the king had made it clear that they wouldn't stop until they destroyed the Steel Mountain Kingdom or perished trying.