Several days passed and the news about the destruction of the Drake family headquarter was already known throughout Canir and the Archipelago.
Everyone knew about it, but nobody dared to say or do anything as the news also reported about the death of the attacking Ice Dragon and that the Drake family patriarch bound a similar-looking Ice Dragon as his soulbond.
In order to kill a Mid-Monarch ranked Dragon whose strength was even stronger than that of an 'average' peak-Sovereign rank with its superior affinity and physical strength, the Drake family must have an extremely powerful trump card, which prevented the surrounding Kingdoms from starting a war.
Even if the number of high-ranked casualties was enormous, up to several tens of thousands, it didn't seem like the Drake family weakened in any way as the patriarch finally revealed his whole strength that was hidden before.
Previously, he wanted to remain lowkey without attracting too much attention until he was finally able to overwhelm everyone, but that changed now substantially.
His whole demeanor changed and it was as if the Drake family patriarch has gone insane the day after the Ice Dragon accident happened.
This was however intensified when he heard about Old Drake's death and his two sovereign ranks' disappearance, which felt as if it was too much of a coincidence to be even considered one.
The only person left on Astrix he could rely on to a certain degree was his own son, who was barely at the Expert rank which was not strong enough.
As such he went over to Astrix by himself because it was too dangerous to send other sovereigns over to handle the possible dangers on the small island.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})He couldn't be sure who killed his ancestor but there was definitely something wrong.
Yet, even after trying to investigate what happened, it was only clear that his ancestor's murderer was someone with a darkness affinity and that this individual had a strong combat strength according to the killing intent that was intertwined with mana, which everyone felt.
Unfortunately, not even Till Greil knew what happened because he was below the surface with Seron to pick his second soulbond and the Drake family patriarch could only suppress his anger and wrath towards the mysterious person.
Trying to remain level-headed was not possible anymore and Jael Drake decided to use all his means to recuperate his clan's weakened combat power by all means.
With this in mind, the Drake family patriarch took all participants of the Big-Three tournament that reached the Top 100 and offered to take them under his wing.
Astonished about this offer, most students also heard about what happened to the Drake family's headquarter and sensed the opportunity to change their designated destiny as they accepted the Drake family patriarch's offer without knowing what their decision would mean for their future.
Almost all prodigies from Astrix, even if they were not in school anymore received an offer to come over to the Drake Kingdom in addition to a large number of high-grade mana stones, martial art techniques, and much more.
The whole Kingdom started to search for youths with a high soul-awakening and a decent mana aptitude, making them eligible to join the Drake family side as he had his means to forcefully advance their mana core if enough resources were available.
Using all his means, Jael Drake sold the deceased Ice Dragon carcass to influential alchemists, blacksmiths, and even Beast Creators who gathered around him in order to procure the Dragon's scales, flesh, tendons, blood, and bones as every single ounce of it was extremely valuable.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Through this, he could finance everything necessary to rebuild not only his headquarters but it was also enough to slowly recuperate from his clan's weakened state.
The only thing he required was manpower, more finances which he would acquire in the future and the most important, time!
In the end, the Drake family patriarch didn't even bother thinking that anyone would reject his offer because it was too tempting for everyone, which included the most influential clans on Astrix
Rather than rejecting his offer, there were more than enough families that pleaded the Drake family soldiers to take their sons and daughters with them to open their path towards a better life, which was however ignored in most cases.
Nevertheless, this didn't mean that everyone was satisfied with what happened on Astrix and a few families and even influential clans tried to flee from Astrix towards other Islands to seek asylum because they could already estimate what was about to happen to their talented children and other descendants once they were to accept the Drake clan's offer.
The Fler's were one of these families and it was Greg who was adamant about leaving Astrix because he didn't want to accept the Drake family's offer after he got to know that the mana intertwined killing intent came from Old Drake's murderer.
Adding the fact that Jason behaved weirdly, desperate, and as if he was done with his life when before their tournament fight, Greg comprehended that not only was the mysterious Beast Creator, Old Drake's murderer but that something bad happened to Jason that his master acted like this.
With this in mind, Greg knew that the Drake family, clan, and whole Kingdom were not something he ever wanted to have any relation with!
Yet, before the Fler's could even flee, Drake clan soldiers arrived at their doors, inviting them inside the large bus that waited at the front door.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Nobody knew what was going on, but when Greg reluctantly accepted the 'invitation' because he could hardly reject it, he and his family who had to enter the bus saw all Top 25 participants of the Big-Three tournament from all three years in addition to their family.
This created a bad premonition in the Fler's mind and they knew that something bad was going to happen.
Arriving in front of Cyro-City's arena, they were ordered to enter the first floor, where they saw a middle-aged man with a perilous and slightly crazy aura radiating from him.
It was Jael Drake the Drake family patriarch, who started with a short speech.
However, instead of listening, Greg's mind was filled with other thoughts because his gut feeling told him that he had to escape, which was unfortunately not possible.
His parents and Malia were taken to the second floor while only the youths that entered the Top 25 in the Big-Three tournament listened to Jael Drake's speech in which he praised his own kingdom before giving them an exclusive offer to become his direct underlings in addition to a large amount of resources.
Nevertheless, after reading through the whole soul contract which Jael Drake manifested in front of all 73 Students, some students' eyes widened in greed before they turned serious.
From a joyous expression, their mood soured when they saw the soul contract's final clauses turning them into the Drake family's marionettes which was comparable to being enslaved.
A turmoil started but the Drake family patriarch ignored them as a cruel smile emerged on his face.
Snapping with his fingers a high-quality video call of the second floor was projected behind him.
The students turned immediately quiet seeing their family behind the Drake family patriarch because they were tied up and gagged which caused even some students to cry out in shock.
Greg gritted his teeth when he saw this but exclaiming now could end up in the worst possible way as he noticed the patriarch's gaze remaining on the noisiest students.
Pointing at a youth, he emotionlessly asked
"You! Will you sign the contract? I'll ask only once!!"
The youth, Jael Drake spoke to began to shiver as he perceived the patriarch's mana fluctuations and aura around him, as he could only stutter
"C-Can't we….m-ake a c-c-compromise? I- I want to b-e free!"
Disregarding the youth's fear, Jael erupted with his mana as he shouted
"YES OR NO?"
"Y-Ye..NOooooo!" The youth subconsciously shouted before he held his hand before his mouth, shocked about what he subconsciously said.
Hearing this, the Drake family patriarch didn't seem to be bothered, as he ordered
"Execute his family!"
Just like that, his parents and small sister were beheaded by the Drake soldiers without showing any sight of hesitation, as the youth shouted out in shock as he retreated several steps with trembling legs.
"nooo….w-why….Mother...Father!!! Aella!!" Tears poured down his cheeks as his sadness turned into rage and one could only see him utilizing his water affinity with which he manifested a compressed water blade, only to dissipate into thin air before it could even be shot towards Jael Drake who enveloped the youth with his mana.
Increasing the pressure around the youth slowly, everyone could witness how he slowly died, not being able to breathe only to be freed for three seconds before the suppression intensified once again.
With the youth's death, the whole floor turned eerie silent and nobody dared to voice their opinion.
The youths' faces were paper-white and only their expression showed how devastated and desperate they felt within them.
Greg, who already felt that something was wrong, was now completely sure that today would become the worst day of his life as he stared at his parents who only shook their heads, trying to tell him not to sign the soul contract.
However, how could he not sign the contract, if his parents and Malia, who he loved dearly were about to die in front of him only because of his selfish thoughts?
Even if he knew that the contract was comparable to being enslaved, Greg could only gnash his teeth in fear and anger, as he loosened up a thread from his soul in order to sign the contract.
'I'm sorry Mom, Dad, Malia…...Jason...I hope you'll continue to be stronger than me, otherwise, I don't know what is going to happen if we ever encounter each other again…'
