A spray of crystal surrounded the exit in front of Ning who quickly opened up a portal to the other side. Even when he went through it, the Emperor followed behind him as well, going through the portal to grab him.
He tossed him back sending him through the portal that had yet to close entirely.
Ning skidded along the floor, rolling for a few dozen meters before coming to a stop. The portal disappeared and the Emperor destroyed the crystals the walk back to where Ning was.
Ning wanted to run away, but the black-clothed men had gathered around him, stopping him from going anywhere.
"You guys leave," the Emperor said, walking back up to where Ning was. "That girl is wounded and should be coming out of the shadows anytime soon. Go and kill her; even you lot should be able to do that now."
"Yes, your Majesty," the men said and immediately ran toward the crystal done where only a single door was available out of the place. They arrived outside, and circled it, ready to kill Clara.
Ning was a little happy to know that Clara was still alive at the very least. Even though he knew the system would save her, he still couldn't help but worry about her.
She had grown on him in just a few days he had spent with her, and knowing her tragic past, made him empathize with her even more.
'So she sunk into the shadows then, huh?' he thought. It seemed he had no reason to worry about her. For now, he needed to worry about himself.
He stood up, with pain all over his body, but not enough to keep him down. He looked toward the Emperor who stood tall in front of him and glared at him.
The Emperor held a light sword in his hand, which he had used against Clara.
The Emperor watched him slowly stand up, then turned to look in the direction of where Saburn's corpse was and where his Essence soul was pinned to the ground. "Not bad," he said.
"To kill someone in the True Essence Soul realm is not an easy feat. You are a strong fighter, stronger than what you showed in the tournament it seemed. You would've certainly won against my grandchildren had you had the chance for it."
Ning grinned at the man, hiding his grimace. "Well thank you for the kind words," he said. "I will definitely appreciate that as you try to kill me."
"Sarcasm?" the Emperor raised his eyebrow. "Cope with it however you wish."
"Father!" the Crown Prince shouted.
"The woman you love is about to die at the hands of the Royal Guards," the Emperor said, without even looking toward the prince. "Are you going to stay here and save him, or are you going to go save her?"
The Crown Prince looked stunned for a moment, staring at his Father and then toward the Crystal dome that was surrounded by the guards. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do.
"Save me," Ning said. "Clara will be fine, I promise."
The Crown Prince hesitated even more. On one side was perhaps the most talented youth in the history of Blackhawk Dominion, and on the other side was the woman he had loved since they were but mere teenagers.
The prince wanted to save what could be the future of his country… but he also wanted to save the woman he loved, the one he thought he had lost and had come back.
He couldn't bear to lose her again.
"I'm sorry," he said and turned around to run toward where Clara was.
The Emperor finally looked at his son leave and sighed. "Truly pathetic," he said. "Guess I'll need to prepare Darmon to take over the throne. I let this one try and change himself, but it is clearly not happening."
"Maybe you're just a bad father," Ning spoke.
"That's not something you should say to your executioner," the Emperor said, turning back toward Ning. "You could die this way, you know?"
He swung down his sword without warning. Ning had been ready for it, but even so, it was very quick. He barely managed to move a bit to the left when the sword fell on his left arm.
The muscle on his left arm was flayed open, the sinews and bones inside being clearly visible for a moment before they started bleeding.
At the same time, before the pain hit Ning, he swung his sword as well, slashing at the emperor's wrist.
The Emperor pulled back his hand, but the sword was too long to fully pull back, and as such Ning hit it.
The entirely light sword shattered in a single hit by Ning, turning into motes of light that brightened the dark area momentarily before vanishing altogether.
"Not bad," the Emperor said. "As expected, the Continental Sword truly is the greatest legendary treasure of all time. The fact that I managed to find it centuries after it went missing is a blessing in disguise for sure."
"Don't get so excited, you're not getting this sword," Ning said with a pained look on his face. The wound on his arm hurt him so much that his vision blurred to the point that he nearly fainted to protect his mind.
However, he persevered. He had managed to stay awake and now, he wanted to do anything to get away from here.
He pointed his sword toward the emperor as he started pouring Essence into it as much as he could to use an element, any element.
Fire, water, magma, ice, steam, any would work. He just needed to use it.
His mind landed on Magma as it felt the most damaging of the lot and used—
A crystal sword flashed be a second and Ning's right arm that held the sword was ripped from his torso, the sword and arm falling to the side.
The last attack that was supposed to save him never even formed before he was defeated by the Emperor.
