Cultivation Through Artifacts

Inside the dark and almost horror-like hall, where the only light emanated from the small torches placed on the thick pillars on both sides, a creature clad in armor was kneeling before a huge throne, narrating the events that happened in the past few days.

Meanwhile, on the throne, King Zell listened carefully to the creature's story without interrupting, but the more he heard, the uglier and darker his face grew to become. At the end of the story, it became so obscure that one couldn't even discern his expression clearly as it literally became one with the darkness itself in the hall!

Once the creature finished his report without leaving out any detail, let it be small or big, he lowered his head even deeper than it initially was, fearing that slight misbehavior will ignite his leader's surpassed wrath, causing his inevitable demise on this very night!

Seconds ticked away which slowly turned into minutes, and even after 3 full minutes King Zell did nothing but stare deeply at the creature in front of his feet with a deep and grave expression, his thoughts seemingly unknown.

Only when another 3 minutes have passed by did King Zell narrow his eyes and ask, "This human you just talked about... Are you sure he was only at the Third Stage?"

The words King Zell spoke were calm and indifferent, however, the creature who was targeted with them thought completely otherwise; it felt like those words were like the scythe of the reaper, and if he does not answer with honesty or tries to hide something, he was sure to lose a few limbs if not his whole life!

"Y-Yes, my Lord. There is no question about it as I saw him with my very own eyes! That human, without a doubt, was a Body Temperer. And as a fact, he just became one before the massacres took place, I swear on that with my title and life!"

King Zell fell into silence when he heard the firm and confident answer from the creature and leaned back while rubbing his sharp chin with his ashen fingers, revealing several inches of acute nails, that actually, had the power to slice through even the strongest alloy in the Second Realm with ease!

After several seconds of pondering, which felt like an eternity for the creature, King Zell finally lowered his hand and took out a silver token from his spatial ring that rested on his right ring finger all this time before pouring a bit of his essence into it.

Whoosh!

Instantly, the token in his hand lit up with a silver light and a feminine voice that sounded both annoyed and cold appeared.

"What do you want this time, old man?"

The creature's body in the hall twitched when he heard the repulsive voice from the token, feeling that whoever spoke was either had a death wish or was arrogant enough to talk like this before King Zell; either of both, the creature couldn't help but sweat unwittingly under his armor, fearing that his lord will soon direct his rage onto him because of that idiot!

As for King Zell himself, his eyes only twitched slightly as a response before he snorted coldly and asked, "Little Sparrow, I think you have forgotten who you are talking to, maybe I need to give you a good rem-"

"I did not forget who you are nor do I care, dad. So tell me what you want and stop being a bother already!"

'...'

'...'

Both men remained silent by just how raw and irritated the voice sounded when talked to the leader of the Night Crawler Race in the Second Realm.

Wait... Dad?

The creature kneeling on the black floor felt as shock swept through his mind and was about to raise his head, when suddenly a piercing sensation rose on his skin, snapping him back into reality from his daze and lower his head so deep where his forehead almost touched the ground!

Fuck! He almost raised his head without approval! If he didn't regain his sense just in time and realize what seemed to be a normal behavior elsewhere was a forbidden sin in this place, he could have lost his life without a chance to regret his action!

'Thankfully the Lord warned me in time or else...' the creature sighed with relief in his heart while watching as thick sweat drops fell from his face onto the floor one by one.

King Zell just stared coldly at the creature before him, but after seeing his reaction decided to ignore and heed no more attention to him and shift his gaze at the token.

"Whatever, then I will be brief. Little Sparrow, I have a job for you..."

-

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-

On Planet Thov, inside a huge facility that once was Bane's headquarter, Khal stood before a huge door, seemingly locked tightly to prevent the likes of him from opening it and getting inside.

"Soul Obsidian?" Khal muttered in a low voice as he examined the floor, looking for a way to unlock it.

However, because the sole key that could have opened this vault was in Bane's possession, which was burnt to ash and dust a long time ago together with Bane and the rest of his accessories, Khal had no normal means to unlock it.

"Well, normal means, yeah..." Khal sighed and without hesitation tightened his fingers into a fist and threw out a quick and powerful punch.

Three Echo Punch!

BOOOM!

Three, almost concurrent blasts filled the air the moment Khal's strike fell on the black door, yet, the force which had the demolishing and crippling capability to kill almost any being on the Third Stage surprisingly failed to break the vault's entrance, shocking Khal deeply.

"Still not enough?" Khal tightened his brows into a frown and raised his hand once again before throwing out another punch, but this time with twice as much strength together with his Body Essence and Hell Blaze covering his fist.

BOOOOOOM!!!

A terrifying explosion that cracked the walls and the ground around Khal emerged, while the Soul Obsidian door that once stood majestically like an immovable mountain was sent flying, revealing the sight on the other side.

"That's what I thought!" Khal showed a small grin and walked inside the vault.