"Are you a Crowned Empyrean!?" With a trembling voice, the fire-wielding Grandmaster asked.
When the other two Grandmasters heard this, their hearts skipped a beat, as they looked at Jarek with some dread.
'They finally realized.' Thrain thought as he observed the situation.
He had already speculated that Jarek had surpassed the Empyrean stage and had stepped into that elusive stage of power.
Jarek had become a Crowned Empyrean.
In all of Outer Valdoria, there is only one place packed with Crowned Empyreans.
And that place is the Myriad Dao Academy.
Finding one elsewhere is incredibly difficult.
But what is it makes Crowned Empyreans special?
The Crowned Empyrean Stage is a phantom or illusory stage that exists between the Empyrean and Lord Stage.
The minimum requirement to achieve this stage is having a lord-stage foundation.
How far one can climb this stage depends on their combat prowess.
And now someone who has only cultivated for only three months has already reached this stage?
"How can such a monster exist?"
If they thought they could still pull off a victory, they now realized that they had no chance whatsoever.
The Spear Grandmaster even turned to look at Thrain's direction, directing a gaze full of rage towards the one who had led them to this calamity.
'Thanks to him, master has now gained an unimaginable enemy.'
This was originally a simple task to eliminate a Grandmaster, a future enemy to their master, due to his association with Thrain.
But who would have known that they would be facing a Crowned Empyrean foe instead?
If Jarek was informed of the entity behind them, Jurgen's death was a guaranteed outcome.
Sure enough...
Witnessing the fear he had inflicted on the hearts of the Grandmasters, he spoke up.
"I was wondering if you could quell my curiosity."
As all of the Grandmasters stared intently at him, he continued, "If you do, then I promise to spare your lives."
"What do you want to know?" The Spear Grandmaster, who appeared to be the leader among the three, asked.
Jarek pointed at them as he voiced his intentions. "I want to know the power behind you. That's all. I do have a few guesses, but it is always nice to have a clear picture."
The Spear Grandmaster's eyes narrowed in response, and he remained silent.
"You do realize that your master stands no chance against me, right? Any efforts to protect him on your part are futile. Unless he himself is an Empyrean, which I am certain, judging by your reactions, he is not, there was only one fate that awaits him—death." Jarek said with certainty.
However, the three Grandmasters were stubborn, as their resolve showed no signs of breaking.
How could they betray their master and their benefactor?
"What you say might be true, and our master stands no chance against you. But we would rather die than betray him."
As the Spear Grandmaster said, he pierced his own heart with the High Grade spear.
The others followed suit, ending their lives quickly, but Jarek didn't move to stop them.
"What great loyalty." Even though he found their actions foolish, he respected their resolve.
It was rare to have people willing to die for you.
'It's a pity that their trust was misplaced.' As he thought so, Jarek looked into the distance, in the direction of Arvenca town.
'Well, I'll know everything soon enough.' Although they might have taken their own lives to take the secret to the grave, there was still one other person who had the answer he was looking for.
As he turned to look at the person he was thinking about, he saw in his hand a unique treasure that was emitting a familiar energy.
'Space qi? So that's how it is.'
Thrain's face turned into one of relief as if a mountain had been lifted off his chest.
As he was enveloped in spatial energy, he looked in the direction of the forest and, with a sad expression, bid a silent farewell, trying to control his emotions. 'Luneth, it seems this is goodbye.'
Luneth was the only person left in his life who had accompanied him from when they were young.
Everyone else was gone, and now it seemed like he would be left all alone.
As the space around him distorted, he looked at Jarek, who was rushing toward him in an attempt to stop him.
But he was sure that even with his great strength, Jarek wouldn't be able to do anything to hinder his escape.
Just as he had expected, the scenery around him changed as he vanished from where he initially stood, transported somewhere else.
As he opened his eyes to his new surroundings, his eyes widened. 'This isn't where I was supposed to be moved to.'
Instead, the area looked very similar.
This feeling was proven right when he turned around and, to his absolute horror, saw Jarek, who was standing a few metres away from him.
'What happened?' He had barely moved from the area where he was originally.
Overwhelmed by his fear, he asked, "W-what did you do?"
"That treasure of yours allows you to travel through space by creating a tunnel between it and another similar treasure, essentially connecting point A and point B together, right?"
Thrain was stunned that Jarek had already understood the function of his treasure.
"But what happens if someone blocks that tunnel? As you have seen, my ability allows me to compress space, hardening it."
Thrain recalled the moment when a sudden invisible force stopped his attacks.
"When you activated that treasure, I was able to sense the formed spatial tunnel, and to interfere with it, I just had to compress a certain point of the tunnel. When you reach that point, you'll of course be ejected outside the tunnel at that point, which happens to be your current position, which also happens to be at the range limit of my abilities."
When Thrain had Jarek's breakdown, he could only sigh as a result.
This time, not in relief but acceptance.
He had come to terms with the fact that his time had come.
Despite all the efforts he had put in to avoid this outcome, he was still going to meet his end.
"Is this fate?'
At this moment, he couldn't help but think of his days at the Bloodfang House.
Even in such a place, there was a time when he had all he could ask for—a loving mother, a lover, and friends he could trust.
But because of the whims of those who were supposed to be his family, and because of his inferiority, most of them lost their lives.
But eventually, the Bloodfangs were completely wiped out from the world.
Now, as he looked at Jarek, someone who had lost his mother as a result of his orders, he wondered inwardly. 'Or is this karma?'
How many families had he torn apart because of his actions?
How many lives had he claimed indirectly for his own benefit?
Too many to count.
It was really ironic.
He became who he was, partly due to the loss of his loved ones, and he was going to die because of what he had done to another person's mother.
It was no wonder that he thought that today's results were a result of the bad karma he had accumulated.
Jarek's voice brought him out of his contemplation, "Before you die, I will ask you the same question. Who is your mysterious helper?"