One day later, Priam finally finished assimilating all of Mikhella’s memories. She had been given the corrosive pill elixir, and it had taken a long period of torment to completely break her mentally.
When Priam opened his eyes, a cold, bloodthirsty light flashed in his pupils.
He turned, looking at Mikhella’s comatose body.
Without the slightest hesitation, he unleashed a merciless attack that turned her into a bloody mist, erasing her from the world forever.
Over the past few months, that bitch had personally slaughtered more than fifty disciples from her own sect. Six of them belonged to the 11th Branch. And among them was one of the Holy Mages Priam had recently welcomed into his faction.
Mikhella had killed her in cold blood, making her suffer slowly and sadistically. Since she had been alone and didn’t possess much offensive power, the girl hadn’t stood the slightest chance of fighting back.
Witnessing those scenes through Mikhella’s memories awakened a visceral and endless hatred in Priam’s chest.
The desire to torture her slowly until the end of time roared deep within his soul. But he simply executed her in a single swift move.
Priam refused to become corrupted and turn into a sadistic monster.
So he restrained his desires and gave that despicable existence a quick and definitive end.
After taking a deep breath, Priam focused on what he had discovered.
Mikhella and her 4th Branch had been directly supported by the 8th Branch, receiving the same inscription mechanism for internal communication. Because of this, she had detailed reports on every disciple from her branch who had murdered members of the sect.
That was because she had encouraged her subordinates to hunt down everyone from the 11th Branch without mercy, ordering them to ignore even the search for treasures. She had promised generous rewards to anyone who brought back the targets’ emblems as proof of the slaughter.
Furthermore, unlike the 8th Branch, the 4th Branch had a central and secure meeting point — a true fortress protected by high-level defensive inscriptions. There, they could safely store their loot, rest, and recover without fear.
Practically every disciple of the 4th Branch was required to return to the base regularly. That way, even if they were killed in this world, the treasures they had accumulated wouldn’t be completely lost.
After several long minutes of taking deep breaths, Priam finally managed to suppress the storm raging inside his chest. The fury he felt was devouring him. Witnessing the violent deaths of those he considered allies had been incredibly painful.
Suppressing those emotions, Priam took out two spatial rings: Dioma’s and Mikhella’s.
Inside them were the master contact runes, capable of sending and receiving messages from all the disciples of their respective branches. The system didn’t transmit voices, but rather packets of mental information. This meant Priam could perfectly impersonate both leaders.
For the 8th Branch, he transmitted:
"The plans have changed. Anyone who encounters people from the 11th Branch should only send a message of intimidation, without attacking them. Immediately head toward the great concentration of Yin energy to the east, and reach the island in the center of the lake. The *stranger* is waiting for you."
That last phrase was the code Dandara had created for the members of her faction. "Stranger" referred to Priam; upon hearing it, everyone in his faction would understand that he was calling them. And the place he had sent them to was precisely the 4th Branch’s meeting point.
For the 4th Branch, he transmitted:
"All disciples currently away from the fortress must return immediately. I repeat: this is an absolute order. Stop whatever you’re doing and return to base. In seven days, everyone must be gathered at the location."
***
Seven days passed.
Priam, who had been waiting in hiding inside a cave near Yin Lake, finally emerged onto the shore. Rising into the air, he flew over the water toward the central island.
The lake stretched for several kilometers, with a lush island sitting in its center. The island had a few mountains and soft, glowing vegetation.
The 4th Branch knew this place from previous missions that had failed. It was the perfect location to build a Yin-element defensive inscription array, since the lake’s pure waters served as an inexhaustible source of elemental energy.
With Divine Concealment activated, Priam hovered at a high altitude, observing the entire island.
At that moment, the place was packed with several thousand disciples from the 4th Branch.
He closed his eyes for a brief moment.
Mikhella’s memories were crystal clear: the daily reports showed that practically every disciple who returned to that base had murdered and looted members of the sect without the slightest remorse.
An overwhelming urge to wipe out the entire island in a single brutal and sudden attack roared deep within his soul. But Priam forced himself to suppress the impulse. He couldn’t turn himself into a monster without limits.
After all, there was a small fraction of disciples from the 4th Branch who weren’t evil and hadn’t participated in those atrocities.
There weren’t many, but they existed.
Priam opened his eyes.
"!"
Suddenly, every individual on the island felt the air around them grow dense and heavy, as if an invisible hammer had dropped onto their shoulders.
Everyone instinctively raised their heads, their eyes widening in shock.
The skies above the lake changed color instantly. It was as if a scorching golden sun had erupted from the void above them, bathing the entire island in a sacred and terrifying light.
High above, hovering like a punishing deity, Priam stared down at the crowd with a cold gaze. He had activated his Heavenly Battle Armor.
On the distant shores of the lake, two dozen disciples from the 11th Branch emerged from the vegetation. They stared at Priam floating in the sky with their jaws hanging open. During those days, they had received the coded messages and marched there in search of him.
At that moment, Priam’s voice echoed like the roar of divine thunder, reverberating not only through their ears, but deep within the soul of every single person there.
"I’ll say this only once: anyone who considers this branch’s actions an abomination and disagrees with what was done during this mission, leave the island immediately. In exactly ten seconds, I’ll settle this blood debt."
With his eyes pulsing with an intense golden light, the crowd was temporarily paralyzed with fear.
Priam let out an almost imperceptible sigh. If he unleashed a full-power attack without warning, he would wipe out all those Mages in the blink of an eye without losing much energy at all.
However, he refused to act like a monster and made sure to give the few innocents present one final chance to escape.
Five seconds passed in deathly silence before people finally began to react.
With only two seconds left on the clock, around a hundred figures on the island finally moved away.
They fled without looking back. They only felt free to scatter because Mikhella wasn’t there to enforce her orders; otherwise, they would’ve never dared to leave like this.
When the ten seconds were up, the initial fear of the remaining crowd evaporated, replaced by laughter and shouts of pure mockery.
What did they have to fear? A single Mage?
"Some mediocre brat from the 11th Branch! Have you gone crazy?!"
"You want to settle something with all of us by yourself?! Then come over here, trash! I wanna see how you’re gonna collect that debt, hahaha!"
Mocking shouts and jeers echoed throughout the island.
High above, Priam didn’t even blink. Without saying a word, he pulled out a pulsating artifact: the Qi Heart.
A considerable amount of energy was stored inside. After all, he’d been accumulating it for several months.
With a calm movement of his fingers, all that energy surged outward under his absolute control, forming a gigantic celestial-blue ring that completely enveloped Priam.
"!"
The mocking laughter died in the disciples’ throats. Everyone on the island went pale as corpses.
An overwhelming, visceral, and unavoidable premonition of death descended upon their heads.
"ACTIVATE THE BARRIER! NOW!"
Dozens of voices screamed in absolute terror at the same time.
In a fraction of a second, the entire island lit up.
Yin Lake seemed to lose a brutal amount of water and elemental energy as a gleaming crystalline dome rose at incredible speed, completely sealing the island beneath an imposing defensive array.
Priam looked at the barrier and flashed a cold smile.
He extended his palm downward.
With a single thought, Priam burned the cursed bloodline he had inherited from his mother.
A tiny, silent spark of pure black flame appeared in the center of his palm.
A barrier? Hellfire was capable of corroding even something at the Sage Level — that dome was nothing more than an eggshell before these flames.
With a flick of his finger, a ball of black fire shot forward. It was only a few centimeters in diameter, looking utterly insignificant compared to the colossal defensive barrier.
But the millisecond the black flame touched the surface of the dome...
**RUMBLE!!!!!**
A deafening roar of destruction echoed through the air.
The eyes of every Mage nearly popped out of their sockets as they watched the entire barrier freeze, crack into millions of web-like fractures, and explode as if it were made of thin glass, shattering apart in midair.
Before the turbulent fragments of energy could disperse, Priam mobilized all the stored energy he had at his disposal.
With the System’s direct support, Priam intertwined and fused the utmost essence of his other two bloodlines into perfect harmony.
The skies changed once again.
The firmament was completely consumed by an apocalyptic storm of wind and fire, distorting reality as if the very end of the world had arrived.
*Whirlwind Flare*
There was no time for screams, apologies, or any reaction from the Mages on the island.
Priam launched a single attack.
In the very next instant, it was as if the entire existence of that place had been swallowed by a sea of overwhelming, incandescent, and utterly deadly light.
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