I alone am the Honoured One!

Huh?

Zhao Tian's vision wavered as his mind struggled to fully grasp the reality of what had just occurred before him.

Time seemed to slow as his gaze remained fixed on the severed head that now rested upon the bloodstained stone.

Yao Jing's remaining eye, once filled with warmth, was now dull... lifeless.

The faintest trace of a tear clung to her lashes, trailing down her cheek, mingled with the blood that had splattered across her delicate features.

Her dark hair, tangled and damp with sweat and blood, framed her face in a way that made it almost look as if she were merely asleep.

A numbing sensation spread through Zhao Tian's chest... an emptiness that he had never known before.

His breath shuddered, as if his lungs had forgotten how to function.

The iron chains that held him in place bit into his flesh, but the pain they inflicted was nothing compared to the anguish that tore through his soul.

He wanted to reach out... to take her in his arms, to shield her, to turn back time, and to prevent this horror from unfolding.

But he could do nothing.

He was powerless and forced to bear witness to the death of someone very close to him.

Even in her pain, she had grasped onto the faintest sliver of hope, clinging to his murmured words, believing that if she could just reach him...

...if she could just remove the chains that bound him, she could free them both.

She had risked everything.

She had endured unimaginable pain and forced her battered body to move, all in the hope of giving them a chance to escape.

And in return, she had lost everything.

His lips parted, but no sound came... no scream, no plea, no curse.

His voice had abandoned him, drowned beneath the sheer weight of his sorrow.

"Hahaha..." And then, the laughter began.

A low chuckle at first. Then another. And another.

It spread through the gathered vampires as they all mockingly laughed at him in amusement and sadistic pleasure.

To them, this was nothing more than entertainment.

A spectacle.

Zhao Tian's trembling gaze moved, finally shifting from Yao Jing's lifeless body to the figures standing at the top of the citadel's bloodstained steps.

Selena stood there with a big, satisfied smile on her lips.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, stretching her arms as if shaking off a burden.

"Ah… that felt good."

Her gaze flickered down to the headless corpse sprawled across the stone before returning to Zhao Tian "Would you look at that? She really did try until the very last moment."

A smirk curled at the edges of her lips "Such a shame… but really, what else did she expect?"

Selena stepped forward, her boots clicking against the stone floor as she moved closer.

She knelt beside Yao Jing's severed head and tilted it slightly with the tip of her finger, as if examining a broken piece of art.

"You know…"

"When Elvoria died, I was devastated. Furious. But now that I see you like this, Zhao Tian, I think I finally understand."

Her green eyes darkened "There is a certain… satisfaction in taking something precious from someone else," she whispered, her fingers grazing Yao Jing's bloodstained cheek.

"In watching their hope crumble, their strength shatter."

Zhao Tian's fingers curled into fists, his nails digging into his palms so hard they drew blood.

Selena's gaze snapped back to him, and she tilted her head with an almost playful expression. "Oh, don't look at me like that," she chided.

"You should be grateful, really. I could have just let them tear her apart."

She gestured to the restless vampires behind her, who still hungrily eyed the corpse "But no, I decided to make it quick. Merciful, even."

Her lips curled into a smirk. "Don't you think you should thank me?"

Zhao Tian's body trembled, and the chains rattled as the energy-dampening chains tried to suppress him down.

"Ah..." she mused, standing up and dusting off her hands.

"You really are stubborn, aren't you?" She stepped back.

"No concern. You'll break soon enough."

With that, she turned her back to him and began to walk away, giving a lazy wave over her shoulder.

"Enjoy the show, Zhao Tian..."

"It's only just beginning."

Zhao Tian's eyes darkened as a black glint passed through his eyes...

And a deep, hoarse voice escaped his lips "I will... kill you."

Hm? Hearing his words, Selena stopped and looked back at him "What?"

His body trembled, not from fear or pain, but from the sheer intensity of the killing intent flooding his veins, burning him from the inside out.

Zhao Tian raised his gaze as blood dribbled through his eyebrow "I will kill you..."

He clenched his teeth as the pain twisted his gut "I will kill you all..."

"Shred you to pieces... drown you in your own blood. I will kill your family... I will slaughter your whole damn race."

Huh? Hearing this, Rhudamanth who was gazing at the spectacle, shook his head helplessly "Seems like he lost his mind..."

Selena couldn't help but smirk and gestured to Kaelith "Do your job..."

Zhao Tian gritted his teeth and tried to break away from the chains as the chains rattled "I will kill you..."

"I will kill you..."

He clenched his teeth and his jaw locked so tight it felt like his bones might crack.

"I will kill you..."

His heart swelled in anger and fury looking at the smirk on Selena's face.

Tears blurred his vision as he remembered his times with Yao Jing and that fueled the anger inside him.

"I will fucking kill you..."

A golden light flickered in his eyes, as a golden energy seeped into his irises, turning his blue irises to blood gold.

"I will kill you..."

"I will kill you..."

Kaelith sighed upon hearing him murmuring about killing "You truly seem to have lost your mind..."

As Kaelith took his blade to stab him again, he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

From Zhao Tian's body, tendrils of black energy slithered outward, coiling around his limbs, his torso, and his throat.

"I will kill you..."

"I will kill you..."

"I will kill you alll..."

"Slaughter... everyone..."

"Every one of you."

Seeing this, Kaelith was taken aback, and in the next instant *clang*

The noise was subtle as cracks began to form on the energy-dampening chains. Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

*clang* The chains shattered into countless fragments as the pieces scattered across the citadel floor, clinking and rolling through the pools of blood.

After breaking away from the chains, Zhao Tian slumped forward, and his battered body nearly collapsed to the ground, but just before his knees could buckle...

A blinding light filled his vision, and he saw a pair of black and golden energies intertwining.

And in that instant, he saw her.

A presence, distant yet intimate, veiled in shadow, standing at the threshold between the body and the soul.

A figure that did not move, did not speak, yet he understood. He knew.

Slowly, painfully, he lifted his right hand, reaching out toward the vision before him, and his golden eyes shimmered with an unfathomable depth.

"...Oh, I see you, Mother..."

He heard a flapping wing sound, but in the next second, it went silent...

As he muttered, a black cloth materialized out of thin air as it wrapped around his head, closing his eyes before a single trail of blood tear cascaded down from his right eye.

-------------------------------------------------

I hope you guys liked this chapter!