Departure

A teardrop made its way down Hilda’s cheek as Seth surprised her with a sudden hug. Hilda looked like she wanted to struggle for a moment, but a look of resignation appeared on her face as she lowered her head over Seth’s shoulder and moved her arms to hug him back.

“Compared to what you told us of your past, as much as this doesn’t sit well with me… I’m still glad you’re here with us, Seth.” She whispered through silent sobs, the tears she was trying to hold inside earlier breaking like a dam, wetting Seth’s shoulder.

Seth didn’t reply, just sighing and massaging his mother’s back.

After a long time of silent hugging and crying, Hilda wiped the tears from her eyes and asked: “What’s with the sudden marriage? Everything feels so rushed.”

Seth smiled wryly and said: “Things have been quiet for a while, but the other kingdoms are starting to move on Oath, and I also need to strike back. Sitting here and playing king is no longer an option.”

“You’re leaving?” asked Hilda in surprise, to which Seth nodded and continued: “That I am. I’m heading north to break their plans. That’s why I need someone to watch everything I’ve built here while I’m gone.”

“Maya is the best option. She’s the strongest and probably knows me the best of everyone, so I trust her the most to make the best decisions while I’m gone. With her strength and status as queen, the people will probably respect her as much as they do me now.”

“But, does that mean you’re leaving alone?” asked Hilda with worry.

“Yes. No one can move faster than me, and taking someone with me will reduce my traveling speed by half. Don’t worry; after the recent breakthrough, not many people can fight me.”

The two spoke for a few hours until Seth departed his mother’s room and went to resume the wedding preparations.

Two days later, the grand wedding occurred deep inside the Palace Grounds. People have gathered from all over the kingdom for this great occasion, filling the entire place.

The ceremony began with Seth holding a grand speech, telling the people a little about his and Maya’s story before declaring the start of the feast. Since there was no official religion inside the kingdom or things of that sort, weddings were usually quite simple.

A speech from the groom and bride, followed by a declaration of their love and a grand feast. After the first two parts were done and the feast began, Seth and Maya returned to the palace and its throne room.

The other women Seth had a relationship with were also there, along with his parents and students. Seth walked up to Hollie, Henrietta, Tiana, and Aleena and apologized once more for not being able to give them a wedding now before telling everyone a few things about what he had planned.

“Are you leaving now?” asked Aleena shyly from the back, her eyes darting between Seth and Hilda, looking over all the girls there with a stern look.

Seth chuckled and nodded: “I am. Even if my space source is now in the fourth shell, the journey will still take a while.”

Seeing her pouting expression, Seth hugged her before addressing Maya and the rest.

“I have made more studying materials for everyone, all the way until the fourth shell, so in case anyone is especially gifted, you won’t be starved for materials, and the ascended of Asteria can keep moving forward.”

He continued instructing them about things they should watch out for before summoning a thick blue book from his storage space and handing it to Maya.

Maya looked at the book with a raised eyebrow before picking it up and opening the cover to read the title on the first page.

<Water spirit.>

“What is this?” asked Maya, her confusion hardly diminishing.

“Theory for the seventh shell of water energy. I know you still have many years of accumulation before you can attempt breaking through, but learning the theory from now will not hurt you.”

Maya’s heartbeat increased as she looked at the book in her hands like it was the most precious thing in the world. Hollie’s eyes shone as she stared at the book; even a trace of envy appeared inside them.

Seth noticed Hollie’s look and chuckled before saying: “You’ll get yours once you break into the sixth shell, but if you want to take a look after Maya is done with it, you can. I already told you I won’t hide anything from you anymore.”

Hollie nodded as she looked at Maya, her eyes sending a loud and clear message; ‘Go and read that. What are you waiting for?’

After spending some more time with the others, Seth said his goodbyes and disappeared from the palace.

While the entire kingdom was filled with celebratory sounds, people eating and drinking loudly, their king, Seth, was already hundreds of miles north, skipping through the thick fabric of space.

Once Seth’s energy was spent, he stopped atop a tall hill, looking at the village built at its base with a slight frown.

‘I guess no matter what changes the capital and its surroundings go through, the rest of the Blood Kingdom would still not change for a while…’

<I suggest host doesn’t interfere. Cleaning this village and the rest of the kingdom would serve as a good practice for the academy ascended once they graduated.>

‘It would, but they are still my people right now, even if they might not even know it.’ Replied Seth before disappearing and reappearing on the streets of the village.

It was barely late afternoon, but the same atmosphere Seth had found in the kingdom’s capital when he first arrived was also plaguing this village. A few small huts here and there, made out of wood and covered with dried leaves.

A large fire was burning in the center of the village, and a loud group of twenty-something people was sitting next to the fire, laughing while tying up a little girl to a wooden pole.

The other people in the village just sitting a bit further away seemed to have long been used to this sight, as they sat as close as they could to the large fire, but at the same time far enough to not gain the ire of the group.

Since it was still spring, the evening air was quite cold, and the large fire at the center of the village served as a good source of heat for everyone.

Seth’s arrival went unnoticed entirely at the start, but the closer he stepped to the fire, the more eyes turned toward him.

“Hey, move the fuck back, idiot. You’re taking away my heat.” Yelled one of the people once Seth passed by, an angry look in his eyes as his arm reached for Seth’s shoulder.

Seth ignored the man entirely as a wave of perception energy left his body, pushing him straight to his knees.

The commotion and the man’s sudden kneeling in reverence stunned the other people who were about to call Seth on his cutting in line. They all stopped in their tracks, looking at him now with a trace of fear in their eyes.

Seth ignored the commotion as he headed straight to the group of twenty or so people who were carelessly continuing to tie the girl to the wooden pole.

When Seth was about ten feet from the center, one of the men there pulled a rusted spear from the side, stabbing it straight at Seth.

The spear froze in the man’s hand, and Seth asked: “So, what are you all doing here?”

A tall and muscular man, looking nothing like the skinny villagers from before, turned towards Seth with a raised eyebrow and said: “That’s what I should be asking you. Who are you, and why are you here ruining our dinner?”

Seth looked towards the numb-looking little girl, a trace of pity in his eyes as he asked: “Where did you take her from?”

The man looked quite angry since Seth ignored his question entirely. However, after noticing that his mate was still trying to move the spear frozen in mid-air, he kept his anger in check and gave a look to another one of his men by Seth’s side as he said: “We’ve been collecting them from the nearby forests, so we can pass the winter. If you want a piece, we can give you one.”

“I see.” Replied Seth with a sigh, a trace of pure disgust appearing on his face. “I guess there’s no redemption for any of you.”

The other man felt something was wrong and grabbed his greatsword, swinging it wildly towards Seth’s head as another man from the side tried to stab him with a knife.

Seth scoffed and let the knife and greatsword hit his body, both of them getting destroyed on impact, to the horror of the two attackers.

Seth disappeared from his spot, appearing in front of the muscular man who seemed to be the leader, catching him by the neck. Spreading his energy to freeze the bodies of every single person there, Seth created around twenty pillars, one for each of the men about to cook the little girl, and tied them to the pillars.

Everyone could see everything that was going on perfectly, but no one could even move an inch as they remained frozen, watching Seth tie all the men to pillars.

Once they were all tied, Seth retracted his time energy and started carrying them one by one into the fire, ignoring the begging pleas coming from them.

Loud screams and a smell of burnt flesh permeated the area, but everyone left there was too terrified to move a single inch, even after being released from the time freeze.

Seth burnt everyone in the group until only the leader was left alive, his face frozen in horror.

Once Seth started approaching his pillar, he lost control of his bowel movement as he begged: “Please, sir, spare me. I will never do it again. Please.”

Seth smiled with compassion in his eyes as he looked at the still-numb little girl. “Didn’t they beg as well? I imagine there were some like this poor girl, too long gone to beg anymore, but there must have been others who begged as well.”

Turning back towards the bandit leader, all the compassion was gone from his eyes as he asked: “Did you let them go? I wonder.”

The leader’s eyes became more terrified with each of Seth’s words, knowing that his fate was already decided, but his begging never stopped.

Seth carefully placed the bandit leader at the edge of the fire, letting him slowly get roasted as he created a small destruction bubble around him to block his screams and turned towards the rest of the people.

“I know you were all happy that you were not the one thrown into the fire and just chose to ignore everything, but there’s no excuse for sitting there and watching them burn a little girl alive. If all of you moved together, you could have fought them off.”

“Still, that’s not what annoys me the most. What irritates me is that most of you waited for the bandits to finish eating before licking and gnawing on the leftover bones, as well as even kidnapping some of the people these bandits ate before offering them as tribute. I get it that hunger makes people do some desperate things, but for this little girl and her already dead family... I will kill all of you.”

As his words ended, a wave of destruction left his body, leaving only ten or so people out of the over three hundred alive. Seth looked at the remaining people and said: “The only reason your lives were still spared was that your crimes were not as heavy as the rest, and I need someone to take the remaining captives somewhere.”

“Head south, towards the kingdom’s capital, and take everyone there. The capital has changed a lot over the last few years. There would be homes for you and the captives, food, and jobs.”

As his words ended, Seth turned towards the little girl still tied to the pillar, a destruction blade slowly forming in the palm of his hand.

“I’m sorry. You were just unfortunate and have no blame for everything that had happened to you.”

With a sigh, Seth started piercing his blade towards the little girl’s neck when his hand suddenly stopped.

‘Was that perception?’

<Affirmative.>

“So you still want to fight after all that…” muttered Seth before turning towards a man in the remaining crowd.

“Take this girl with you and ensure she arrives in the capital in one piece. You would share the same fate as the rest if anything were to happen to her.”

After the man nodded in panic, Seth took one more look at the girl and disappeared from the small village, continuing his long journey north.