It was early morning when Yurik and his people came to the pace, demanding an audience with the Emperor, which was granted only hours ter. Yurik was clearly incensed as he walked into the throne room where Feynor sat on the throne, with a calm, even bored expression as he deliberately made them wait. When he first received their message, he ignored it and had a pleasant breakfast with his wife before even dressing up to meet with the group.

  "This is unheard of!" Yurik protested at once.

  "It is." Feynor agreed, "I was never informed you are the new King, being able to ignore the protocol before this Emperor."

  Yurik halted his steps only for a moment before bowing to him as they all arrived.

  "Excuse us, Emperor Aerthus X." He forced his voice to be a bit more... polite, "The troubles we are facing are serious, making us forget our pce for a moment."

  "I understand." He nodded, leaning back on the throne, looking down at them from his elevated position on the top of the five golden steps. "What trouble is so important that I need to skip my breakfast and hurry here to welcome our friends?" he asked with a sarcastic undertone and half smile hanging on his face.

  "..." Yurik gulped back the first words that came to his mind before speaking, trying to calm his voice even more. "One of our brethren has been missing since st night."

  "Maybe he is lost; this is a big city, and millions live here."

  "Both of us know this is not possible." Yurik began pushing.

  "If I heard correctly, you went to a family dinner yesterday."

  "Exactly! So-"

  "I was also informed that only a few of you went." Feynor continued, "Now, if the missing person is not my Uncle or the young kid from your group, then…? What were you trying to say? Also… why should I be bothered by this?" He ughed, shaking his head, "It was a family dinner, not an international diplomatic meeting. Must this Emperor now meddle in family disputes too?" Feynor tilted his head, sounding deeply annoyed while waiting for his answer.

  "..." Yurik, gritting his teeth, was scolding him deep inside, but tried to remain subdued on the surface, yet his eyelids were already twitching. "One of my people is missing. He went missing in YOUR city. He is a representative of the Kingdom on an official mission. If something happens to him-"

  "I know, you don't need to continue." Feynor waved a hand, "Go back to your residence, take a day off, and rex. Tomorrow I'll send for you, and in the meanwhile, I'll find out where your missing person is," he said, yawning a little before getting up and leaving them there.

  The moment Feynor left, Yurik stormed out of the pace, red-faced and ready to explode, while the young Emperor went to find Carthus, as his Father was still absent.

  "Grandfather," he said as he walked close to his pavilion where he was staying, but stopped when he saw a kneeling figure before him. "Nameless?"

  "Your Majesty." The bck-cloaked man greeted him while Carthus turned to look at his grandson.

  "It's good you are here. You also need to hear this. Repeat it, Nameless."

  "We picked up the same energy that the seventh Emperor possessed," Nameless said while Carthus held a crystal in his hand.

  "We did?" Feynor furrowed his brow as he knew what this meant on a deeper level and instantly became nervous.

  "Mmm." Carthus nodded. "It has been recorded... I just checked the evidence."

  "Where is it from?"

  "From the General's house." Nameless's answer came swiftly.

  "You monitor one of the most decorated Generals of the Empire?" Feynor snorted, looking at Nameless, visibly annoyed by it, especially because he was in the dark about it.

  "There were strange energy fluctuations there. We were obliged to check it out," he answered calmly.

  "That can mean anything, My Brother-"

  "Rex!" Carthus sighed, shaking his head, "It's not him."

  "It's not?" Feynor and Nameless both asked at the same time, surprised.

  "I recognize this aura. I could do it anytime... as it has a familiar connection to me, being something coming from my... son." Carthus expined, shaking his head.

  "Sentios?" Feynor murmured, crossing his arms before his chest. "This could cause some trouble..."

  "We'll see... Nameless."

  "Yes."

  "Cease the surveilnce of my grandson."

  "..." The man remained silent for a moment before answering without arguing. "Yes."

  "Change it to protection."

  "Your Majesty?" he raised his masked head in the end.

  "You heard me. I have been thinking for a long time now." Carthus expined as he let out another sigh, "I tried to erase my Father's legacy for so long and hard, yet it still comes back again and again. Maybe I was running from it... I have to face it... So, I'll deal with this personally when the time comes. For now, keep a close eye on my grandson! That silver-haired trash may try to do something bad. I know my son; if he left with the kid, something must have happened, and he deemed it too dangerous to stay." He chuckled, remembering how Sentios left the Empire when he lost his favor, "He only likes to make a move if he has a better than 80% chance of success. Otherwise, he runs, so it must mean that what they are pnning is dangerous or stupid. Or both."

  "As you order, Your Majesty," Nameless bowed his head again before disappearing, while Feynor, now calmed down, reyed everything that had happened.

  "And why are you coming for me?" Carthus smiled at him.

  "For permission."

  "For what? You are the Emperor; you don't need anyone's permission. Not even from your Father or me," he patted his shoulder. "Do what you feel right."

  "..." Feynor thought hard before finally nodding. "Thank you, grandfather."

  "No need for thanks; being an Emperor has its perks, but times like this are when you will decide the future the empire takes. Having millions of people's lives on your shoulders can be tiring."

  …….…..

  "I'm surprised he is still alive," Leinor said, leaning against the wall as he watched Ren holding Feyn's head with two hands, slowly releasing him, while smoke was rising from his shaved, bald head. That was not all, as blood flowed from his nose as his eyes were rolled back into his skull, and only his whites were showing.

  "I know his limits by now." Ren ughed as she stood up, wiping her forehead with a towel.

  "How is it going?" Leinor asked, rubbing her head.

  "It's hard!" She moaned, "I'd need the original instructions on cultivating it to mimic their eye technique. But I got the gist of it... They can connect with another person's energy point in their head through eye contact. After that, they overpower it and force their own thoughts onto the victim's mind, being able to manipute the person's own thoughts, read their memories, etc. Who knows, they may be able to pnt new, fake memories, too."

  "Oh? Then you just need to come up with something simir yourself, no?"

  "I could. But it would save me a lot of time if I had theirs. I still have a lot of things to work on; this is not at the top of my list." She sighed, "It is fun and interesting, but not the most important, especially not enough to drop everything else." She giggled. "Also, if I am right, it won't work on people at the same level and may even backfire if used against someone stronger. Still, I'd advise you, and I'll tell the others too; If you ever fight with a Naulin, avoid their eyes!"

  "At least it's something."

  "I also have a different discovery." She added with a wink, "Or, more to say, I finally see the finish line of one of my ideas."

  "Oh? Which one?"

  "I already worked on how electricity drives our body. Now I had ample time to work out the quirks of it, thanks to my new toy here. Check this out~!" she ughed as she activated her powers, and Feyn's body convulsed as she left a chunk of energy back in his body.

  Soon, the unconscious man stood up, and his eyes slowly rolled forward, but if someone looked closely, they were dull, and his pupils were as wide as his irises. As Ren moved, Feyn's body followed her exact movements, mimicking them perfectly.

  "Whoa… how do you do this?" Leinor looked on with amazement.

  "Cool, eh? I control his body with my powers; it's like a puppet, and my energies within him overwrite his nervous system, giving me full control. I still need to work on it, as it has major drawbacks."

  "Such as?"

  "It depends on how much energy I leave behind." She expined, "For now, I can control him for around… fifteen minutes. Also, he can't use any spells, so in battle, he is useless... at least for now. The biggest drawback is that it only mimics my movements. I'm working on perfecting it so I can manipute it to the smallest details, down to facial expressions, so it does not just mimic me, but I can give it instructions that he can execute to the letter."

  "You made a puppet out of him… I don't think the others will like this!" Leinor sighed but remained calm about it, not really bothering with her antics.

  "I guess. I'm not about to teach it to anyone for now, and honestly, I don't have any reservations against someone who is my enemy." She smiled, hugging Leinor's waist as the flesh puppet did the same in the air

  "Creepy." Both of them chuckled as they watched Feyn hugging the empty air, still under her influence.

  "Ahaha, it's funny. Let him rest, and we can-" That was when a knock came, and Hal stepped into the room.

  "Excuse me, Young Miss, Young Lord… the Emperor is here. In person."

  "Feynor?" both of them asked simultaneously, looking at each other. "We'll go; just let me change quickly!" Ren nodded while Hal went back to entertain Feynor until they arrived.

  "Did I interrupt something?" Feynor ughed, seeing Ren's still exhausted expression when the two came rushing to meet him.

  "Ah? Oh, no, LeiLei insists it will only happen on the wedding night!" Ren replied with a grin, while Leinor just rolled his eyes.

  "Ahaha, sounds like you!" he sipped his tea, looking at his youngest brother before turning back to Ren. "Did you work on a new technique then?"

  "Yeah. Is it that obvious?"

  "Your so-called Uncle came before me," Feynor nodded, "Compining that one of their men is missing and has been gone since they visited you. It's a logical conclusion, knowing you, that he is in your custody."

  "True. He is here; they tried to come in without invitation, and my Father detained one of them."

  "Is he alive?"

  "For now, yes," she nodded, taking a cup of tea from Hal.

  "How long do you need him? I can dey it for a time." Feynor smiled, not even asking what her pns were with the trespasser.

  "I have a better idea! What if I present him to them?" Ren asked, suddenly a new idea forming in her head.

  "Mmm? What do you have in your mind, Lil' Sis?" Feynor leaned forward, smiling.

  Quickly, Ren eborated on her experiment with the puppet technique, and Feynor just blinked his eyes, surprised at her idea that followed the expnation.

  "That would… cause a big stir. They would probably suspect something is not right from the start."

  "True, but it's a great excuse to detain them for the time being and demand an expnation from the Kingdom or even compensation. That old retive of a King of mine still owes me sixteen years of birthday gifts. You can draft up our demands, ahaha!"

  "Heh, you little devil! I like it." Feynor grinned, nodding his head, "How sure are you of succeeding with it?"

  80%. Give me until tomorrow evening, and it will be 90%."

  "Great! Then I'll invite them for a meeting tomorrow!" Feynor cpped, deciding, "Get ready with your little prank!"

  "Nyahaha~ This is going to be fun!" Ren giggled while Leinor smiled as he shook his head, already feeling sorry for Feyn and the others.

  …….…..

  When the next day's evening came, Yurik was pretty confident when they arrived at the pace, walking in like a peacock trying to impress his mate with his feathers. Arriving at the throne room, Feynor was already sitting there, calm while he was talking with Leinor, clearly in a good mood. In Yurik's eyes, Aerthus X was a young, still inexperienced Emperor, just recently inheriting the throne, overwhelmed with many things, so he should be trying to avoid any conflicts with them for now. This should be easy...

  "Oh, you have arrived." Feynor chuckled, seeing them coming in while Yurik was checking out Leinor, then the Emperor, but did not overthink it. "Great," he cpped as the Imperial Guard, consisting of twenty warriors, came in, surrounding them at once with spears.

  "What's the meaning of this?!" Yurik roared, but his words stuck in his throat as Feyn came forward with a shaved head, looking... eerily calm. "Feyn…?" he blinked his eyes, surprised and shocked.

  "We have found your missing person." Feynor started, "He contacted us to be honest, and showing he was not joking, he renounced his connection to his bloodline, shaving his head, telling us about your deplorable agenda."

  "What are you talking about?!" Yurik shouted, confused, trying to make sense of what was happening.

  "Silence!" Feynor said, his voice reverberating in the throne room. "Feyn. Tell them."

  "You are pnning a forceful intervention on the wedding day," Feyn began speaking, a bit slowly, as if he was fighting against his own words, "Disturbing the event and preventing the marriage. I was the puppet to be sacrificed if it did not work out. I'm not here to py the discarded pawn's role..."

  His words were heavy, finding it hard to say the… truth. At least that was how one would see it from the outside, a man still battling with his long-sting loyalty, just to be betrayed in the end… but in reality, it was precisely the opposite. Feyn was completely conscious at that moment; he was trying to wrest back control of his own body, but could only watch as it ignored everything he wanted and acted on its own. More precisely, as Ren wanted, hiding at the back, puppeteering him as she mouthed the words that came out of Feyn's throat.

  "You… you! What are you talking about?! This is ridiculous!" Yurik gawked with honest surprise. He felt like fainting from anger; his throat was clogged up, almost throwing up blood, and he was trembling from just standing there. He was lost as to why Feyn was betraying them or what he was even talking about. "We go! Now!" he shouted as they released their auras, ready to fight their way out.

  Feynor and Leinor did the same as the Imperial Guard, who fearlessly stood their ground, battling with the Naulins' auras.

  "This is not over yet!" Yurik pointed at Feynor before shing out at the guards. His affinity turned out to be the same as Anya's, as a water whip cracked loudly in his hands, striking out, sending three guards who were only at the 8th body refinement realm flying, crashing onto the hard, marble floor. At the same time, the others also attacked, trying to cut a path towards the door.

  "So you had chosen the hard way!" Feynor fshed, rushing into them, intercepting one Naulin warrior's fist and countering his attack, saving the life of a guard, who, with others, immediately, not caring about their well-being, attacked again. Being protected by the Emperor was a shame, a neglect of their duty in their minds, and they were not about to let any of the Empire's enemies escape.

  Leinor also jumped in as he exchanged blows with Yurik, who found it impossible to comprehend how someone at the 9th body refinement realm could stand up to him. Even though Leinor could only focus on defending himself, he couldn't pass him... What...?! HOW?!

  His attacks with the whip, even though they had left deep gashes on his body, all of those quickly healed, and his skin regenerated as if nothing had happened to it at all. It was the first time Yurik had met in battle with someone bearing the bloodline of Aerthus, and now he realized why the legends back home spoke of him as unkilble. He was someone who would rise again and again, even when he was defeated and believed to be dead... In the end, the only person who could go toe-to-toe with him was their family's Forefather. Nobody else.

  That was his st thought when a whistling sound came, and dark, specter-like shadows rushed in. One of the Naulin warriors screamed out as his hand was flipping through the air, severed from his body, holding onto a bloody chunk only, spraying blood onto the white and golden patterned floor tiles, painting it crimson.

  The newly arrived, bck-clothed people moved like ghosts, turning into smoke and merging into others' shadows before striking from their blind spots. More and more screams echoed in the throne room as Yurik felt a scythe's bde almost catch his neck, coming close to separating his head from his body.

  "Enough, we surrender!" Yurik said immediately, ordering the others to stand down, realizing there was no way to fight their way out.

  Looking around, he saw two other Naulins lying on the ground; one was already beheaded, still spurting out blood onto the floor with every beat of his slowly stopping heart, while another was trying to push back his spilled guts into his stomach, gasping for air.

  The bck-clothed warriors who arrived numbered only four, yet they were drenched in blood, all wielding strange, obsidian-colored weapons. One held a chained, dual scythe, while another brandished a pair of hook swords, or another was simply letting the blood drip down from their pair of kama in their arms. The leader of them, who stood at the beheaded corpse, held a clearly modur and foldable war scythe over his shoulder, and from his covered face, only his cold, blue eyes were showing, eyeing Yurik.

  “Tsk… the Shadow Corps of Aerthus…” Yurik murmured, biting into his own lips.

  "Take them away and lock them up in the dungeon," Feynor ordered with a cold voice. At the same time, Nameless nodded before swishing his scythe, beheading the still struggling Naulin warrior, who was so desperately holding onto his spilled intestines, giving him a merciful death.

  "We already surr-" Yurik fred up again, but the one with the hook sword pointed at him with his bloody weapon.

  "Move." The man said only one word that resembled the coldest winters. What Leinor didn't know was that he was the one who had once refused to report back to Nameless, hiding that Leinor had used his draining skill in his battle to save Poli's life.

  Soon, the remaining warriors were led away by them, and Leinor leisurely walked to the back with Feynor, where Ren was already there, looking excited. As for Feyn, once again, he was out cold, colpsed in a chair with blood dripping from his nose.

  "Are those the ones who you felt were watching us before?" Leinor asked as they arrived.

  "Yup. Now I am sure," his fiancée nodded.

  "Yeah," Feynor expined, as it was one of the throne's hidden forces. "They are the Shadow Corps, only answering to previous Emperors or me. I am still receiving their full reports and the details about them; for now, they are under my grandfather's command."

  "Huh. They are pretty effective, and as I saw, none of them are of common affinity." Ren murmured as she scratched her chin with an excited look in her eyes.

  "Yes." Feynor whispered, "All members have the same affinity for the shadow variety. They are selected early and raised in isotion."

  "You mean brainwashed," Leinor commented at once.

  "From that perspective… yes." His brother nodded, not denying it.

  "Rex, LeiLei." Ren chuckled, "Running an Empire at this scale can't be done by just walking in the light all the time. You need darkness to bance out the light," she said with a warm smile, looking at him.

  "I understand." Leinor sighed, throwing out his thoughts. "It went smoothly; I expected more trouble." He changed the topic instead.

  "What, you didn't have enough sparring with someone at the Harmony Realm?" Feynor ughed, patting his shoulders. "I saw how you were battered but still… holding out so long is admirable, Lil' Bro."

  "He is used to it~!" Ren giggled, sticking her tongue out.

  "Yeah, thanks to someone!" Leinor retorted jokingly. "Next, it's your turn, Eldest Brother."

  "Leave it to me." Feynor nodded at the two, "I won't squander this golden opportunity to give a good smack, straight to the Kingdom's face~!"

  …….…..

  "Ahahaha, the kids are good! This was nicely done!" Aerthus ughed, who was spectating from afar with Carthus, hidden from any and all eyes and ears.

  "Now, let's see how the King will respond," Carthus nibbled on his lips.

  "If he responds," his Forefather chuckled. "He probably will forsake them, telling us they acted because of Yurik's rage, incompetence, or something like this, and just tell us to execute them or give them back, and he will do it as an apology."

  "True. I would probably do the same." Carthus agreed with a sigh, "Then I can avoid paying a ransom and give pce for further complications."

  "Tsk, cold. No wonder one of your sons acts the way he does. Anyway, go keep an eye on the fugitives, so they at least stay alive until then."

  "Yes," he nodded before leaving, while Aerthus still looked on with a smiling face. "Now I need to think about a proper gift if I want to accept her as a disciple… or she may think up a prank getting back at me ter," he ughed in a jovial mood before disappearing.