The Tale of the Void Emperor

"Father! These damn shadow guards trapped me! You must punish them!" Starfinn spoke with red eyes.

Starzin didn't speak anything as he arrived in front of Starfinn. The bubble was dissolved by the shadow guard who conjured it as he knew that the matter was resolved now that master Starzin was here.

Starzin arrived in front of Starfinn and slapped him with a glowing hand.

*Patak!*

The slap blew living nightmares out of Starfinn...literally!

Yep, some strange black waves with creepy facial features were released from Starfinn when his father slapped him and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Starfinn was stunned as his gaze became blank before he regained clarity and frowned, "this...what am I doing here?"

Lulu and other shadow guards were stunned, while Athan and others were startled to see the sudden change.

"Brother!" Lulu dashed towards Starfinn and hugged him, "you are back! I knew that you could never do something like that!"

Starfinn smiled, but he had a headache as the memories of him doing and behaving in a way that he never would surface in his mind.

"I apologize for my son's behavior as he was affected by a certain curse before returning here from his adventure in the Celestial zone," Starzin turned to Avelia and said with an apologetic smile.

Starfinn looked shameful as he bowed towards Avelia, "I am truly sorry for what happened. I didn't realize that I was cursed, which was changing my behavior and turning me into something that I was not."

'This is really a good twist,' Komin thought as he wiped the sweat from his face and sighed relief.

'Indeed,' Lienia and Cromwer also wryly smiled and wiped the sweat.

They really thought that they landed themselves in deep shit for a second when they saw Starzin arriving here. Komin was going to utter Lord Raizor's name to get out of the situation peacefully, but it seems there was no need for it.

"Uhh...well, I guess it's fine. He didn't really do anything to me, nor could do anything now that my Athan is here," Avelia said proudly.

Starzin looked at Athan with a curious expression. The Nihility Lord Staercia indeed told him that there would be a person coming to pick her up after a year when she left Avelia in his organization.

"How about you come to my Starling River Castle?" Starzin said with a smile, "I am very busy right now, but I can afford to have a meal with everyone."

"Father, how come you could not detect the curse before?" Lulu asked with a pout.

Starzin looked at Lulu and wryly smiled before saying, "At first, I also didn't sense the curse. It was really a unique curse, which was deep-rooted in him. If I tried to take it out recklessly, it would permanently damage his soul. As such, I scolded him hard and forced the curse to take effect in a drastic manner, and here we get the result."

"Ohh," Lulu and other shadow guards realized the matter.

"You really like to risk your son's life like this, huh?" Avelia muttered as he tightened her lock up with Athan's arm.

Athan smiled as he grabbed his waist and pulled her closer.

"Hehe, sister Avelia. I don't think your dear husband could do anything with his Supremacy-plane strength," Lulu grinned.

"Cough...Nah," Starzin shook his head as he wryly smiled, "I divined the possibilities with my power, and I was surprised that my son's death was in all divination possibilities despite there being ten shadow guards here with three of them having Arbiter-plane strength."

"Do any of you have a Fear-plane existence as your backing?" Starzin asked with doubt.

Hearing that, Komin, Lienia, and Cromwer's expressions slightly changed before they exaggerated it deliberately to mask it and shook their heads, "of course not. We really thought that we would die when we saw your presence, sir Starzin."

Actually, Komin, Lienia, and Cromwer are not really powerless. All three of them had gotten two talismans from Lord Raizor for their safety, and Athan was also going to get two once he decided to join them in support during the Grand Meet.

"Now, now," Starzin brightly smiled as he shook his head, "you can't fool me. Speak, whose party do you belong to? I don't believe you have not heard about my ability, right?"

"You can't hide things from father," Lulu giggled, "it's better to speak the truth."

Athan was speechless as he shook his head, "I really have no backing."

"Cough...well, I guess we can't hide it from Astral Eyes Starzin, after all," Cromwer said with a wry smile, "Indeed, we have a backing. We will be supporting Lord Raizor in the Grand Meet."

"So it's Raizor," Starzin nodded with a smile, "well, it doesn't matter. Come, let's have a good dinner at my castle. After that, you can go on your way."

"What do you say?" Athan turned to Avelia with a smile.

"Ahem, Athan...," Komin, Lienia, and Cromwer looked at Athan and called him at the same time.

"Oh, and Athan, how about supporting me in the Grand Meet?" Starzin suddenly spoke before Komin and others could say anything.

Komin, Lienia, and Cromwer jumped as someone stepped on their tails, "NOOOOOOO!!"

Athan was a big treasure for them!

He was a one-man army with his voidlings, and they also know about their voidling's formation because of that Calvacuz voidling. There was no way they would hand it to Starzin.

'Contact lord Raizor! Athan is valuable to us! With him, we can conquer 3rd Layer entirely, so even if Lord Raizor doesn't become the top 5 rulers, he will still get the majority of stacks in the other 50% area in this Okuluz Zone!'

'I...I can't make contact with Lord Raizor,' Cromwer said as he looked at Starzin, who was smiling like a fox towards them.

"Sir Starzin...this, you are bullying us," Lienia said with a pout.

"Athan," Komin turned to Athan as he spoke with a sincere and serious expression, "we can't force you to do anything, but I hope you can consider our friendship as well."

"Chill," Athan smiled at komin and others before he turned to Starzin, "I have already decided that if I join someone, then It will be them."

"Hahaha, fine!" Starzin said as he laughed loudly, "I only made that proposal after looking at their expression. I don't even know your capabilities, but seeing how eager they are to recruit you, You possess some weight."

"Come on, at least have dinner before leaving and allow me to redeem my son's mistake," Starzin as he turned around and walked into the portal.

"Astral Eyes Starzin," Cromwer muttered, "he is indeed humble as the rumors say about him."

Starzin left by entering the portal, meaning that the decision was up to them. He wouldn't mind even if he rejected his dinner invitation and left directly.

"Sister Avelia," Lulu said with puppy eyes, "we can't part messily like this. We've been friends for over a year now."

"Fine, let's go, Athan," Avelia said with a smile before she looked at Athan.

"Alright," Athan nodded as he walked towards the portal.

Komin, Lienia, and Cromwer looked at each other and wryly smiled as they never expected it would come to this and also entered the portal.

The shadow guards were the last ones to enter before the portal disappeared.