“...That foolish brother of mine has just been killed. Useless until the very end.” An archaic, deep voice echoed out eerily within the deep darkness, Its tone laced with contempt.

“Without furthering any of my goals at all. A simple job. I even dropped hints towards Alzinth to make sure he succeeds, and yet he still failed!” Slamming his hand on the armrest of the throne he sat upon, the ‘being’ in question abruptly stood up, yanking a chain in his hand along with him.

“...Say something, child.” His voice was threatening this time, yet still held equivalent amounts of contempt, as if whoever he was speaking to was no higher than the brother he spoke of. Of course, it could also just be that he looked at all beings besides himself in such a manner.

The dark, metal armor that wrapped around him like darkness was swallowed by a tattered black cape, inside of which was a young girl, battered, bruised, and missing an arm. Chained like a dog to a pole with a collar wrapped around her neck.

“I liked you better when you talked less.” Yet a strange fire seemed to burn in her deep green eyes despite the circumstances. A fire of deep hatred and resentment.

“Perhaps I should have taken more than just your arm. Obedience! If you can't even show your master at least that much, then divine blessing or not, I'll kill you on the spot! Painfully at that.”

A threat, and one that would make most grown men quake in their boots. Yet the young girl seemed unwavering and unafraid. Her eyes still piercing through her captor like daggers.

“I would be a bit more respectful if I were you. Your precious Luke’s life is still in my hands.” Perhaps noticing that its threats were not moving the girls heart at all, it decided to take a difference stance instead.

“...sorry. Just, don't harm him anymore.” Finally averting her gaze, the young girl's stick-like figure finally showed its first signs of true fear.

“Hahahahaha, indeed. Inflicting pain on him seems far more beneficial than whatever I could do to you.”

A booming laugh echoed out from underneath his helm as he grabbed the young girl by the waste, hurling her ten feet into the air over his shoulder. His every step as he walked out of the darkened halls of the room reverberated with a mighty thud.

“Do you know where I'm taking you now, Apostle of Samsara?”

“...”

“To begin your awakening ceremony…then, I will no longer need the void. I, comet, will bring our race back to its former days of glory.”

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“Dimensional Severance!” Slashing his spear horizontally, Samel's spear seemed to cut through the surrounding air, creating a black tear in space.

He could have used the attack to travel closer to his ‘opponent’, but he was having a hard time just defending against her attacks. The time it took to accomplish a dimensional shift was usually a strong opening for enemies after all.

Several animals, small foxes made of blue light got sucked into the rift he had opened up, disappearing into its depths. He had tried to dodge them before, and the result–The large hole in the mountain to his right, its top a hollow cavern. Each fox had the explosive might of a small mountain, deadly and destructive. If not for his bracelet, he might have taken far more damage for his negligence.

The spear's uses of dimensional severance were limited and could only be used several times a day. He could use them defensively like he just had or offensively to cut a user as he had done to Malgoth.

His class, King of the Void was a powerful divine class that allowed him to perfectly manipulate space and was the evolution of the prince of the Void class. Sadly, it was extremely mana intensive, and if he were to use the class abilities without gouging his opponent's skills, he might find himself lost off mana before he could finish his opponent.

In this case, his opponent was strong, far stronger than Malgoth who he had just fought previously. In fact, he believed she might even be on the cusp of a breakthrough into her class's third evolution. Something that he was still far away from achieving himself.

She still wasn't taking him seriously either, her gaze would wander away towards Malgoths location from time to time as she floated idly in the air, projecting exploding foxes at Samel.

She–has her eye on Tene somehow?! I need to end this quickly.

Samel hardened his resolve. he loved his daughter dearly and truly had not wanted to leave her behind. Even though she was still young, she would inherit the Renhart name and all the burdens that came with it. Burdens he had to shoulder since he was a child. Still–she was just his ten-year-old little girl, no matter how capable she was, it was his job to protect her, and by leaving her behind, he had already failed in that.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“What a fool. Begging for his life even in the end, and it looks like Comet had me fooled!!” Azinth shouted in the air, her shoulder length purple hair shaking under her anger as she took to a mini tantrum in the skies.

So she was watching Tene–it looks like she didn't like what she saw. Samel thought, relief plastered across his face.

“I wouldn't look so relieved if I were you, that's just the worst possible news for you. I won't be holding back anymore, your daughter–is too dangerous to let her join in our little date.”

So Tene won!! But for even this monster to call her dangerous? Just what did she see?

“Fox diety transformation.”

Alziths form began to bulge and grow, hair growing from her body as her limbs massively expanded. Her hands and feet became Quadrupedal as they became thinner and more cat-like. The mask on her face seemed to seep into her skin, merging into it as it expanded and grew, soon resembling a white fox.

Incredible. A massive white fox nearly a hundred meters tall stood before him, with two tails fluttering behind its back.

I see, so it's now or never. Looks like I don't have a choice.

The Tensha ability for short, was the ability one would receive when they successfully survived their evolution trial. A skill that brought out the latent potential of the class, getting more and more powerful with every class evolution.

Tene already had her Tensha. It was one of the reasons Samel was so surprised at seeing her, at her class conception–she already had a Tensha ability. Unprecedented.

It was one of the only reasons he had allowed her to continue in her battle against Malgoth. The difference in a person's strength post-Tensha was that big and Malgoth had yet to evolve his class to gain the ability. To be truthful, if Samel had used such an ability from the beginning, Malgoth wouldn't even have lasted ten seconds. Sadly his Tensha ability came with terrible drawbacks, drawbacks that were too great to not prepare heavily for.

Abyssal King Transformation.

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Just how far away did they go?!

I had been looking for my father and Alzinth for close to an hour now and with no success. They shouldn't have gotten too far from the mansion and yet I couldn't find them anywhere as I flew around a nearly ten-kilometer radius of the mansion. As if they had just–disappeared.

Of course, I had first taken the opportunity to check around the mansion for Lizette or my mother. Sadly, to no avail. Thankfully, I couldn't find Urila's location either so I concluded that perhaps he had found my mother and taken her to safety. It was all I could think of for now.

I was beginning to get worried for my father too now. C-could he have been defeated!?

I could feel the negativity creep into my soul like a spreading crack in a pane of glass. For example…

What if my mother wasn't found By Urila?

What if they had been ‘defeated’ before we got here?

I thought back to Malgoths staff just before we got here and a shiver ran up my spine.

Uuugh! I was going to wipe that demon off the face of the earth when I found her!

Suddenly, an explosion shook the area as the entire region shook. Then the sounds of shattered glass echoed across the mountainscape.

What was that?! Alzinth.

I quickly flew towards the general direction where I had heard the explosion. Mountains and snow rushed past me like a blurry painting, until below me, I saw it.

My father's limp form was held in the paws of a fox beast as countless shards of glass rained down on them. Blood, my father's blood stained the snow as claw marks were apparent all over his body. His own spear was thrust inside his abdomen and released from his back.

“FATHERRR!!!” for the first time in my life, I felt a tight grip on my heart, like something had stopped its beat. It felt like a million ants began crawling over my skin. Then my heart quickened, and sweat began to escape the boundaries of my skin. I felt fear.

I rushed down towards him at my fastest speed.

I'll kill her!!!

“Ohhh, we have a guest, Samel!”

“T-Tene! Don't come any closer! It's a trap!”

Both Alzinth and my father said something, but I couldn't hear what. Like muddled water entering my ears, their voices seemed to drown in on each other as I felt needles of anxiety prick my skin in every direction. Was I always like this? Weak and unable to act rationally at every turn? A small voice in the back of my mind told me to try to listen to him, to stay away. But then what? I would lose my father, MY father.

Would I lose everything, again?

“Mirror dimension.”

“TENEEEEE!!!” Using every ounce of his strength, my father opened a vortex in front of me, harsh winds blew out from its depths.

“A-aaghhhh!!”

I felt my body get flung across multiple mountains, slamming into the snow a couple of kilometers away. Quickly standing back up and shaking the snow off my body, I tried to fly directly back in the direction of my father.

“Who!!” But I felt a soft hand press against my ankles, holding me firmly to the ground.

“Let Go!!” I was just about to heat up that hand to the temperatures of the sun before I noticed a tinge of red hair blending into the snow.

“I didn't take you as impulsive, Tene. But perhaps you just hid it very well.”

Ugh, so that bastard decides to make his appearance now, buried in the snow? Well here or not, what I needed to do didn't change.

“Relax. Your father is fine.”

“He was stabbed through his gut and you say he's fine!!!”

“She purposely missed his vitals, they need him alive. She just wanted to draw you in, and she succeeded.”

“You-YOU watched my father's entire battle from the sidelines!” There was a dark edge to my voice, depending on how he answered, I could kill him on the spot.

“Think straight, Tene! That woman is above both mine and your father's leagues! What do you think would happen if I or you just rushed in!!”

I was partly too surprised to act, this was the first time I had ever seen him raise his voice.

“...No, I have a better Idea. Break her contract Tene.”

“Contract–my father could be killed any second now and you speak of contracts?!”

“Lizette's contract. She's the only one who can defeat that demon right now. It's not a particularly guarded secret amongst the upper nobility and elites. The first sage and teacher of the original king of Aldara, Vritra”

What was he even talking about?

“The Duke engineered a method of breaking the curse.” Taking out a purple orb that looked worn, he gave me one last calculated look.

“Tene, I've found her true body. If you want to save your family, then follow me.”