Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Adlael stood over a bed in silence. Upon it, Ramon slept, deeply and soundly. It was hard to tell if he would ever awake, and from what Adlael could see, he was lucky even to be alive.

The feeling of helplessness overwhelmed Adlael, especially since he hadn't been able to find Ryu after he exited. It was as though the latter had just vanished into thin air and was nowhere to be found.

This filled him with frustration and rage, but there was nothing that he could do about it. Even within the Heavenly Path, even after Ryu had vanished, he still hadn't been able to take first place. He was too consumed by rage and couldn't fulfill what he wanted to.

It felt like all that time, all those years, all that effort, was completely worthless in the end. It hadn't meant anything.

"Ryu Tatsuya..." he gripped his fists. "...I swear I'll-"

"Who?"

Adlael was startled as a cloaked figure emerged to his side. If Ryu had been there, he would have recognized this cloaked shadow as the very one that had changed that ice woman's fate, the very owner of the cabin he had raided to learn of the Convergence.

"You-"

"Who?"

The voice echoed again, this time firmer and more undeniable. It pressed down on Adlael until he couldn't so much as breathe.

"Ryu... Tatsuya..."

"That name again. It's impossible for it to be that name again. On the First Heaven, not the Second, on the Third, and now he ruins my plans even on the Sixth and Seventh?!

"This boy-"

The voice echoed from the hood in a gravel-like rage. A finger stretched out and a rune emerged in the air.

"-Just die."

BANG!

The cloaked figure shot out and blood exploded from their hood. They quickly took out several talismans and only barely managed to stave themselves off from death as they collapsed. However, they could do nothing about their fading consciousness.

Adlael stood in shock, not knowing what to say or do. Did he know who this person was? He did. It was part of the reason that he had felt such a wave of fear all of a sudden.

This person was the very same master that had raised both himself and Ramon, but they were also the reason why he and Ramon had begun to grow apart. Adlael had been old enough back then to see through what was happening, but Ramon wasn't, and the latter's respect for their master only seemed to continue increasing while Adlael's own continued to plummet.

But what could he do against such a powerful existence but accept the cards that were dealt to him? There was truly nothing else to do.

But to his shock, this person that had ruled over his life for so long, this person that had controlled every aspect of his being from the moment he was a child until now... was dead?

No, they weren't dead. Instead, they were heavily injured to the point of falling unconscious.

The fear in Adlael's heart bloomed. He should help, he should prepare a bed for them and assist them to recover. Maybe once that happened, they would reward him... they hadn't rewarded him in so long...

That desire to be loved, to be praised, to just see a grin seemed to take deep root within Adlael's heart and he wanted nothing more than to have a master that treasured him the way he hoped to be cherished.

But then those disdainful eyes flashed in his mind's eye. It wasn't his master, though he felt that it was some of that in part. Instead, those eyes were a sharp silver, one that looked down on the world as though there was nothing at all that could possibly be worth his attention, his notice... That arrogant son of a bitch that looked down on him at every turn even though he could have killed the latter with a single stroke of his finger.

Ryu Tatsuya.

Adlael's stare turned cold and before he understood what he was doing, a dagger had emerged in his hand and he drove it into his master's heart. Rage consumed his fear and he didn't have time to hesitate.

If he had been of his right mind, he would have had several thoughts, several concerns.

If he killed this person, would binds of karma mark him? Who knew what sort of background this person truly had? They had kept their identity a secret for so long...

Or what about other kinds of karma? The kind that might form a heart demon? Or the kind that might cause him to fail in becoming a Sky God, or more importantly, a Dao God in the future?

But, for once in his life, he didn't consider those things at all. He cared for nothing more than these strokes of his knife, his insistence on making certain that this person died, not just to release his anger, but...

Adlael didn't know how many times he stabbed down, but his breath was heaving gasping breaths.

This dagger in his hand was the only treasure he had been able to exchange for. It was a Sovereign God Treasure and it was precisely created for the sake of killing those far beyond yourself.

He had thought himself foolish when he exchanged for it. His goal was to kill the Martial Gods, what good would a Sovereign Treasure do? It wouldn't be able to utilize its abilities on a Dao God, now would it?

But now he understood. He did indeed hate the Martial Gods with an undying passion, but the one this dagger was designed to kill wasn't them at all... it was his master.

As he huffed for breath, looking down at the mangled, unrecognizable corpse, he didn't feel a wave of disgust, nor did he feel any sort of pride.

Instead, he finally felt calm. For the first time in a long time, he truly felt calm.

Then, he got to work.

He didn't know how powerful his master was, he knew next to nothing about his master. But what he did know was two things.

For one, his master was a part of an extremely powerful organization.

And two, his master, for whatever reason, hadn't been able to return to that organization for countless centuries.

That meant one thing: All of the valuables that his master held was on their person.