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(Bing Xue’s POV)

With the revelation of the King’s father being an actual god, a few things made sense inside of my mind. The constant need to conquer other worlds was one of them. and I imagine he’s not the only one who has been going around conquering worlds either.

Not only was he conquering, but he was also enslaving every inhabitant of the worlds he conquered, while even forcing their queens and goddesses to marry him. He seemed like quite the devious character, someone who clearly didn’t think the same as his son, who was right in front of me.

“Do you agree with the ways of your father?” I asked King Caesar. “Do you think he’s justified for his actions, young King?”

“That’s…” King Caesar remained in silence for a few seconds before answering my words. “Of course not; I’ve always thought of my father as nothing but a monster. From the moment I was born, he never showed me a shred of love or anything at all! He abandoned his humanity in exchange for the power of becoming a god, and the only thing he’s obsessed with is expanding his domain endlessly.”

“He was probably always this way, but perhaps there’s also another reason why he is the way he is,” Seth commented. “The Divinity that Gods obtain often affects their minds. If a God obtains a War Divinity, they will always desire war. This also even affects Gods who once were mortals, not just the Gods that were already born as Divine Entities.”

“I suppose that makes sense; I don’t know exactly what Divinities that man has, but most likely something related to War and Conquest,” said Caesar. “But even then, I believe he was still wicked from the beginning.”

“Indeed, however, Divinities sometimes change a person even more,” said Seth. “I know that... from experience.”

Experience? What did he mean by that?

Did he have a friend who became a God, or was he a God in his previous life?

I’ll have to ask him some questions later on, for sure.

“I see how it is.” I nodded. “Does that mean that... Caesar, Elphiette, Cecil, are you willing to betray the Emperor?”

“Betray him?!” Elphiette wondered. “I-I mean… We’ve thought about something like that, but not now; we are weak, too weak.”

“I have, but it is nothing but a distant dream, something I had thought I could accomplish after becoming incommensurably strong,” the king sighed. “Not something I can do now.”

“Hmm, well, what if I told you that with my training, we could accelerate that process to just a couple of months? Would you go out of your way to help me kill him?"

At that moment, they fell into silence.

I knew this was too blunt, but I wanted to ask them this right away.

This way, with my perception, I can easily tell if they’re telling the truth or not.

And based on that, I can also gauge if they’re trustworthy enough to tell them about the future, where North America is almost completely destroyed.

And where their entire family dies, a future Seth told me about, which I later saw through his own, blurry memories.

A future event that must be stopped at all costs.

“I would,” the king said first.

“Dear?! B-But…” Elphiette panicked. “But you don’t know if that’s true; what if...”

“Elphiette, Bing Xue could have killed me; she could have killed everyone if she wanted,” sighed the king. “Yet she chose not to. She offered us food; she welcomed us to her home. She offered us strength; do you think I would take this opportunity? I want to trust her; she’s different. She’s not like everyone else. She’s not like my father or my siblings. She feels much higher, like someone who has truly become a master. Someone, I think we should... try to gain their trust.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Elphiette remained in silence for a moment before nodding. “I suppose you’re not completely wrong. I will follow your decision.”

Cecil didn’t say anything; she was mostly in silence but seemed to agree with whatever her father said, so there was no question about her loyalty either.

I could sense within the half-elf girl an incredible, blooming potential—not only the combination of her father and her mother’s powerful bloodlines and inherited abilities but also an innate talent.

Something very strong, even... otherworldly, I didn’t want to discern more because it might seem suspicious if the King noticed my Aura was trying to see through her daughter.

But I was sure that there was some hidden power inside her soul.

As someone who has raised hundreds of disciples and takes great joy in seeing budding talents blossom and become excellent warriors, I feel that it is my duty to teach her how to harness her internal powers.

And in the end, she’s also the king’s daughter, so another guardian for Earth wouldn’t be so bad! The more, the better!

I will make this planet, which is looked down upon by every single world, one that they will fear with all their hearts.

“Very well, you’re not lying, your words are sincere, and you have the heart of a true warrior, the chivalry of a knight (to an extent), and the discipline of a king.” I nodded. “You’re all worthy of becoming my disciples. Let’s bygones be bygones, and let’s grow closer with each other from now on. I will require your trust in this matter because Seth here is someone very important and special.”

“Seth?” wondered the King. “So that’s your name, commoner?”

“Yes, your majesty,” Seth said, slightly annoyed.

I could tell he didn’t like addressing him as his king; he was quite rebellious, but I can understand him. I mostly address Caesar as “Your Majesty” ironically, but he takes it seriously.

“Before we talk about this, we will create a Soul Oath using my abilities,” I said. “I will need all of you to agree to it. Including the King, the Queen, and your daughter.”

“What is this Oath about?” he wondered.

“To ensure you don’t speak about what we’ll talk about without my permission,” I said.

“Hm, so you don’t trust me enough yet… Fair,” he sighed. “Let’s get done with it then.”

“Are you sure?” wondered the Queen. “Aren’t you trusting her too fast? Even after what you said…”

“I agree that he’s trusting my daughter too quickly, but I suppose between warriors, trust is earned through battle and respect,” said my mother. “Your majesty, rest assured, my daughter is a good person.”

“Ah… V-Very well…” The Queen seemed hesitant but couldn’t really change the mind of her husband.

“Wait, isn’t this going too far, though?!” Cecil complained. “If you’re doing this, then I won’t partake!”

“Cecil?!” The queen gasped.

“Hey, Cecil! What are those manners?!” the King said. “Do you want to be grounded?”

“Just ground me if you want, Father, but I will not do any weird soul oath with that woman; she killed you!” Cecil cried. “I won’t!”

She ran away from the room before her parents could do anything else.

“Cecil, wait!” Elphiette said, running towards the door.

“Wait, Elphiette, let her be,” said the King, sighing. “If she will not partake, then... that’s fine. She will simply not learn this information. She’s still young; she’s learning.”

“A-Are you sure?” Elphiette sighed. “Okay, if… if you insist. But once we’re done with this, that girl will have an earful from me!”

“I might also join that,” the King said. “Now, Bing Xue, let’s get done with this.”

“Alright.”

I quickly activated the technique, summoning a golden tablet from my Inner Realm, it was a small formation I had created for these things.

It was imbued with several hundred ingredients, synthesized, and beautifully, perfectly merged together into an Immortal Formation.

It was specifically made to create several different effects and Techniques.

And the Technique I was using it for was Soul Oath.

The process was quick; I first wrote the Oath and its rules on the table with one finger and Photon Essence.

Then, once it was done, the technique was activated, and I chose who to place the Oath into.

It included myself, the King, the Queen, Seth, Yanisse, and my mother.

We all agreed on not talking about this to outsiders unless I had permitted them.

It would work very simply: the Oath activates, shutting down any means of communication whenever they’re about to do it.

It works every time, and it will only activate once they give up. Communicating this indirectly will also trigger the Oath.

I might sound a bit paranoid for wanting this much security, but you never know.

“It’s done.”

The threads of light connecting each other slowly dissipated, becoming invisible.

Once this was done, I quickly explained to them what Seth was.

“He comes from the future?!” The King’s reaction was more shocking than I expected.

“Unbelievable,” the Queen said, covering her mouth.

“Yes, look, we don’t have much time to talk,” said Seth. “So I’ll go directly to the point: in about a year from now, a calamity will befall your kingdom. Gates from Floor 80 will open, and Divine Beasts will destroy everything. All of you will die too, unable to fight back against such powerful beings.”

“F-Floor 80?!” muttered the king. “That’s…! Such a high floor coming down to this pitiful planet?! But why?”

“Like hell, I know, I wasn’t even able to do a single thing other than run back then,” said Seth. “But I bet it has to do with your family and your father... He ended pissing off the real threat in the tower; this is just my theory, but I believe the Pantheon of Floor 80 wanted him and all his children dead.”

This revelation shook the King and the Queen more than we expected.

Especially because they seemed to know who these gods were.

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