Ning looked at Darian in shock. The tall man had a gray beard with black hair on his head that seemed to be dyed.
His age seemed to put him somewhere in his 50s, but who could really tell how old this man was. He might have even been nearly a thousand years old.
He wore a coat even on the inside as the cold chill of the night was coming in through the window.
Ning could hear the rain pelting the outside window.
However, a single question ran through the shocked Ning who couldn't help but ask out loud.
"Canon? Like Zand Canon?" he asked suspiciously.
The old man's eyes raised. "You know your history, kid?" he asked.
Ning chuckled a little when he heard the word 'kid'. "Are you a direct descendant, or…?" Ning asked.
"I'm as direct as they come," Darian said.
"Then why aren't you the Emperor of the empire? I thought the empire changed royal family because every single one of you was dead," Ning said.
A frown appeared on the old man's face. "Not everyone died in the coup. I survived for sure. And I will keep surviving until everyone involved in that event is dead," he said.
"Who was invo— actually, never mind. I don't have time for that right now. I need your help in stopping the tower," Ning said.
"What do you want with me?" the old man asked.
"You are an Underlord, so I want you to take care of the lord of the tower," Ning said.
"What use can I be? He is already mobilizing his entire organization. He will have people by his side," Darian said.
"I don't want you to beat him. Just delay him," Ning said.
"Delay? If I'm fighting that bastard, I will only fight until I kill him," Darian said. "But I can't. Not only is that bastard strong himself, but he is also in the presence of other supremes."
Ning thought for a moment. "I can take care of the supremes. You just need to worry about the lord. Can you do it?" Ning asked.
Darian's eyes shined. "If you can truly take care of the other supremes, then I can fight that bastard," Darian said.
"Great," Ning said. "She will take you to the lord. I will go take care of the Supreme problem. Afterward, I will go breakthrough and handle the lord myself."
"Okay," Darian said and took off his coat. He was ready to go battle.
"Take him there," Ning told Alexis, who hesitated for a moment but still followed his orders.
With a touch of her hands, the two of them disappeared.
Ning sighed as he looked out of the window. It was dark and raining, making him wonder where exactly he was.
He didn't have time for that. "Where is Merasi held?" he asked the system.
Once he got the information, he disappeared.
When he reappeared, he found himself at the bottom of the tower, in an underground cellar where people were kept.
Ning saw many individuals sitting around in a place where Aether was constantly pulled away from the location in spheres that Ning himself had provided.
Fortunately, the concentration of the liquid didn't work on anyone at Saint rank or higher. So, even though he was here, Ning's Aether wasn't being pulled away from him at all.
There were almost no guards here with the entire prison asleep for some reason. Even the two guards at the far end of the room reacted almost too late.
They quickly shot up to their feet when they saw Ning. "Identify yourself," they shouted with their guns pointed towards Ning. Since their Aether had been stolen away, they were stuck to using mortal weapons.
With his body enforced by the power of an Aether Supreme, he barged through them, neither of who could do anything to him. They were unable to shoot him since they didn't want to wake the other imprisoned people in the room.
They only stopped pointing their guns at Ning when he ripped open the metal door with his bare hands.
At that point, they knew their small guns were useless.
Ning walked into the room and found Merasi completely knocked out on the floor.
"Captain! Captain!" Ning called her as he slapped her cheeks lightly.
"Hmm…" Merasi suddenly stirred and opened her eyes. "Who…?" she asked when she saw Ning.
'Huh?' he thought for a moment.
Merasi snapped open her eyes and flipped up from where she was to move away, but the room she was in was cramped and she hurt her head.
"Captain, it's me," Ning said.
Merasi recognized the voice, but the face was not it. "Terran? Did you change your face? Why?" she asked even as memories from right before she was knocked out flooded into her.
"Yeah, it's me," Ning said. "This is my real face."
"What?" she asked in shock. She slowly pulled her hands up to get ready to fight.
"We don't have the time for this. Mercy, Silvers, and Alekor are in trouble. In fact, the whole world is," Ning said.
"What?" Merasi's eyes changed the moment she heard about her sister. "Where is Mercy? What happened to her?"
"She's being kept hostage so that they can gain leverage over you. All 3 of them have," Ning said.
"Huh? Leverage for what?" Merasi asked.
"To keep you away from opposing what they are doing," Ning said.
Merasi's eyes got cold. "What are they doing?" she asked.
Ning gave a brief explanation of what was going on in the world at the moment and concluded it by saying that someone was going to fight the lord, but in the meantime, she needed to take care of the other 2 supremes.
Merasi's cold eyes sharpened. "I will do it," she said. Then, they faltered again, as if she just remembered the problem that she had momentarily forgotten.
"But they have Mercy," she said with an unsure face.
"I know," Ning said. "That's why we are going to save them first."
