Isaac stepped into the castle. Or at least, what was left of it.

The structure had been almost destroyed. Someone–or something–had attacked the building without mercy.

He could feel the Qi of the disciples beneath the rubble. Or at least the last wisp of Qi, which symbolized the death of a cultivator. Isaac closed his eyes for a moment. That scene, that feeling. Everything was familiar to the master. Too familiar.

To a cultivator, the cycle of life and death seemed something distant. Living a cultivator's life, always seeking personal improvement, strength beyond the heavens, makes death not a character in the scenario. The fear of the end is secondary to the quest for the top.

After all, what is the end of an infinite path?

Still, the ramblings didn't matter. Every philosophy, every method of thinking fell short in the face of the inexorable end. No rhetoric was enough to plug the hole left by a blade.

So, against all odds, that day disciples died.

Their paths have been closed for good. There would be no more correction, no more pointing that could bring them back from the beyond.

One last time before moving on, Isaac looked up to the heavens. It had been a long time since he had prayed. The heavens had never answered his prayers, after all.

But, at times like these, a dark corner of his mind wished that the souls of those dispirited people could find refuge.

In the days to come, everyone would try to find the culprit. Who let the monsters in, who handled the sector whose security had failed.

But none of these things would take the weight off the Slayers who were there that day. Everyone, collectively, had failed.

Whatever had happened, the enemies seemed to have gone underground. As Isaac entered the great hall, something caught his attention. Nearby, he could detect a remnant of life in a cultivator lying on the ground.

He wasted no time. With precise movements, he removed the debris in order to free the boy.

Isaac was surprised to see that there were several people underneath the rubble. A Qi nature cultivator had protected everyone in any way he could.

When Isaac gave healing pills to the cultivators, the benefactor's eyes snapped open.

"Get away from me. Please go away," Yajeel said, wide-eyed.

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Isaac looked at him deeply. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

Only then did the cultivator realize he was being helped by Isaac.

"I don't really know. We were grouping up when some power swept through the entire castle. All I could do was protect us from the wreckage."

"Got it. Now, get some rest, and when you can walk, go far away from here."

With that, Isaac resumed his walk. The pills he provided were far above the cultivation level of those cultivators. They would be fine.

The entrance to the castle basement was totally destroyed. More and more, a sense of terror gripped the master. He followed the footsteps of the invader. All the training rooms were also in ruins.

When Isaac reached the first seal, which led to the individual rooms reserved to the Slayers, his heart beat faster. The seal was broken. The invader had not even tried to bypass the system, and just used brute force.

There was no more pessimistic sign than this. All the Sapphire Sect castles were molded in resemblance to the original. Of course, the branches were only tiny parts of the mother structure. But, according to the prestige of each branch, the castle expanded, always following in the footsteps of the parent.

In this sect, because it was a world that provided many powerful Slayers, the castle was what they called level three. Almost all of them had the primary structure and the underground, which characterized level two.

Level three, however, was the special rooms. These rooms often contained monsters or treasures relevant even to Slayers who no longer belonged to the metal kingdom.

Thus, the threat that someone would have broken into this space and stolen the various treasures from the sect was terrifying.

Isaac dashed to the second seal. There, another door lay destroyed. Another broken seal.

After walking to the most special room in the castle, and coincidentally the one he had been using all this time, he finally came face to face with the invader.

The creature was a grotesque mix of monsters. With the head of a lion, the body of a werewolf, and the paws of a bear, there was no mistaking it. A demon had caused all of this.

Isaac let Qi flow freely through his channels. The energy filled him, filling the lack of security he felt at the moment.

"Are you Onyx Sect people so dirty as to do this? Kill disciples pointlessly, just to steal crumbs?" Isaac said.

The creature turned around to face Isaac, as if making fun of the cultivator.

"In my view, it's an equivalent exchange. A few crumbs for the ants' lives."

Only then did Isaac realize what the demon was holding. An energy-charged sapphire orb flickered in the creature's hand.

The master jumped toward the demon. His arms became magma as he prepared to finish off the enemy with a single attack.

"I'm sorry, little dog. This isn't the day we're going to play," the demon said.

A crack of Qi appeared in mid-air, and quickly enveloped the creature. Just as it appeared, the tear disappeared, leaving only air in place of the monster.

Isaac's attack didn't hit its target. When the creature was gone, he hit the floor, breaking that entire part of the room.

Now, the physical damage didn't matter anymore. Somehow, the creature knew what Zay had stored in that place. Worse, it knew where Zay had kept it.

Isaac punched the floor, unloading all his Qi into the obsidian stone. The structure trembled, withstanding the fury of the cultivator.

Again, the sects war had begun. And the sapphires were losing.

With a wave of his hand, Isaac opened a tear in the air. He would not need to go to the crystal world to reveal the truth.

With his intent, he fashioned an orb of Qi. Then he sent the orb to his master.

At the imminence of war, the king should be warned.

Only then would weapons be distributed.

This time, Isaac would be the guillotine of those damned.