Under the palace of the emperor, in a deep underground prison.
A pair of wings flapped nervously watching a man far away.
When he fell from the prince's hall into the prison, his body was mangled and he was bleeding heavily. But he wasn't dead.
Since the level restriction in the prison was removed, unlike Varian, his powers remained since the start.
So, despite his injuries, he managed to move.
After nearly an hour of struggle, he was at the end of the stairs, just about to reach the surface.
"Go! Go! You're almost there!" The wings moved all around the room in anxiety.
Everyone in the ruins would be sent out once the 45th was over, but that only applied to 'free' people.
Or else, people in dangerous locations wouldn't be trapped there for decades.
There wouldn't be skeletons in the mystic castle—these were the people that entered it but failed to exit.
"You can do it!" The wings cheered on.
If the man remained in prison, he wouldn't be teleported out. If he got locked inside the ruins, then he'd be in grave danger.
The man didn't know that he was running out of time. But for some reason, he was in a hurry.
"S-Sar-Sara…" Muttering that name with his bloodied mouth, Evander reached the end of the staircase and entered the surface.
Seeing light once again, his eyes glowed before he collapsed onto his knees.
A few seconds later, a gentle light shone on him and along with everyone else, he was teleported out.
At the last moment, Evander glanced in a direction with a complicated gaze.
*** *** ***
Kreo was currently in a spaceship patrolling around the planetoids.
When Julius told him Varian could escape from Evander using ghost ship, he was a bit worried.
But he didn't think much of it later.
His real goal wasn't Varian. It had always been Enigma.
Since Enigma and Varian had a connection, he was confident that when Evander found Varian, he wouldn't take long to find Enigma.
"Once I get the potion made from her…" Kreo took a deep breath and calmed his racing heart.
The ruins of mars opened an hour ago and he only got time to contact Julius now.
But the result was something he never expected.
"Julius, it's a bad joke. I expect her corpse in an hour." Kreo looked at Julius' hologram and said in a cold voice.
Even though they were both colleagues, they weren't friends. They were collaborators who worked together because their goals aligned.
Both he and Julius wanted Enigma to get the potions. However, their reasons were very different.
So, Kreo felt that Julius was deceiving him.
"I don't have the humor for such a joke. Varian and Enigma, no, that girl is also Sia, they went into the mystic castle." Julius, seated in the cabin of a spaceship himself, answered with a dry tone.
"Enigma and Sia are the same people?" Kreo's brows jumped.
"Maybe. I don't know." Julius' eyes shone with a dangerous light as he recalled their escape.
Kreo went silent at the revelation, but only for a moment. He shot up from his seat and glared at Julius.
"Are you fucking kidding me? It's one thing if you and Evander can't find them. But you let them escape? Escape? From you? Don't they call you the strongest sovereign? You can't even catch level 8 kids?" Kreo was roaring at this point as he shot line after line, dropping any sign of courtesy.
Julius leaned back in his seat and propped his chin on his hand. His expression was one of disinterest, but his eyes were burning with anger.
Kreo wasn't intimidated at all and continued. "It was the surefire way I could've gotten the potion! Unlike you, it is very important to me, I—"
"Yeah, yeah." Julius waved his hands and cut off Kreo's words that were about to get emotional.
"I admit. I need the potion to increase my talent. I'm a simple man. Unlike you, the great father who is willing to waste that priceless potion on his useless daughter." Julius' words were sharp and hit where it hurt.
"Son of a bitch! Who are you calling useless?" Kreo slammed the table. "If her mental state remained fine, I bet she'd be a stronger sovereign than you."
"Hahaha." Julius threw his head back and started laughing.
Kreo's eyes turned bloodshot and he considered killing off a hundred Xanders. If anyone insulted his daughter, they'd have to pay the price!
As his consideration was beginning to turn into a plan, Julius' chilling voice jolted him.
"Do it."
"Huh?"
"You're thinking of killing my family members, right?" Julius asked with a casual smile as if he was hearing about a chicken being killed.
"You…" Kreo sat back down in his chair with a stiff face. "Don't you feel anything? They're your f—"
"Family? I know." Julius shrugged. "I didn't even bother to save my first son from the aftermath of my own attack. Do you think I care about this family?"
"…I thought we had some similarities once we began cooperating. But you are really a monster." Kreo said with a tired voice.
He forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart. He was sure that even if he killed every single member of the Xander, Julius wouldn't give a fuck.
If he did feel any pain, it'd be from his pride getting hurt. Nothing more.
So, he decided to talk it out.
"Julius, I don't care about your family business. But I need that potion. It's the only way out for my daughter." Kreo said with a sigh.
"Or you can go to demon abyss and get that herb…what's it called? Galini?" Julius said with a sadistic smile.
He was venting all his frustration from the mission on Kreo.
Kreo knew it too. But he didn't really have any other choice.
"If there wasn't abyss will, I would've gone in and grabbed the herb. With it, I can't sneak in." Kreo lamented.
Julius didn't show any sympathy for Kreo's sadness.
'What a waste of Sovereign. If I was born in his time, I'd have reached the Celestial Rank by now. I don't even need to try for Enigma's talent potion.'
A short silence ensued before Julius hung up the call as an emergency message rang in his spaceship.
Kreo heard the message and realized it was a message informing danger to a planetoid that Evander usually took care of.
"Wait…Evander!" Kreo's eyes widened and an idea formed in his mind.
"If Enigma is Sia…then, she is close to Varian. Sarah is also to Varian. If I can blackmail him with Sarah, then…"
Kreo's eyes lit up and he quickly sent a message to Evander.
The reply came quickly.
"Huh?" Kreo opened his mouth in surprise.
It was an unexpected message.
"Fuck. Your. Mother."
