Meanwhile, Jason, Till, and Seron appeared at the Fler's home.

Rushing inside the house, Jason immediately went towards his room, where he took his belongings that he stored there.

Wearing his spatial ring, the conservatory necklace, and mana sphere bracelet, he immediately felt much safer than before.

Leaving the house again, he approached Till and Seron, without knowing what was going on inside Cyro-City's arena where Old Drake, the two beheaded sovereign ranks, and Shane were inside.

In the beginning, nobody inside the arena sensed something wrong, but when the dense killing intent that was intertwined with a massive amount of mana, leaked from the small room, Shane and Old Drake were inside, everyone's body stiffened without being able to move even a single inch.

While Jason, Till, and Seron entered the shaft that brought them to the mana vein, not knowing that something major happened, Shan's hand firmly grasped Old Drake's neck, pressing him into the wall behind, which already began to show signs of breaking apart.

Lifting him up, Shane's eyes were filled with the desire to kill Old Drake, as he asked with a chilling voice.

"Why did you even betray us at times like these? Aren't you digging your own grave like that? Was everything we've gone through over the last 200 years a lie? What happened!?" 

Barely being able to breathe, Old Drake almost began to laugh if that would have been possible, after hearing what Shane said.

Smirking lightly, Old Drake tried to open his mouth, as he said.

"Y-You are the r-real hypocrite! Are you just innocent or naive to think that you can save humanity by being kind to everyone like you were over the last 200 years… didn't you learn what it brought you 50 years ago?!"

Gritting his teeth, Shane knew exactly what Old Drake meant and it was obviously the truth, otherwise, both he and Dalia wouldn't be forced to flee from Canir without anyone really trying to stand by their side.

There were a few families that tried to help him somehow, but they would never dare to fight against an alliance of more than 10 big families which was established with the sole purpose of pursuing him and ending his life.

However, in the end, he and Dalia still survived, even if the last several dozen years could hardly be described as a free life.

Nevertheless, this should have had nothing to do with Old Drake's betrayal and tightening the grapes around his neck, Shane's eyes turned colder, as he said

"Even if I'm a hypocrite this doesn't mean that you can just act however you please! It's not like Jason has anything to do with this if you have a problem with my mindset!!"

Suddenly, Shane noticed a distinct gleaming in Old Drake's eyes which seemed to overwhelm him, forcing himself to smile, even if he was unable to breathe, as he said with difficulties

"You….should be more….than...aware, how precious…..Jason's talent is….With him...the Drake family….would not only reign over…Canir…..but we could even fight against….the foreign races….instead of being their underlings and fodder…."

'That gave him enough reason to betray us?!?!'

Hearing this, Shane was once again reminded about Jason's words, the last time they talked with each other over the messenger crystal.

His disciple, with his tender age of 14-years, had to explain to them that mankind was not only on the bottom of the food chain but the same applied to the whole planet... Argos was only considered an Infant planet next to an unimaginable number of other worlds that inhabit intelligent life.

Even though their planet was at the bottom of the food chain, how should Old Drake understand how weak mankind was if he only saw the small picture without knowing how insignificant they really were.

Old Drake didn't even know that their planet was only one small planet in a universe with the possibility of millions of similar planets.

Sighing, Shane's anger lessened as he was reminded about the Shadow walker with his terrifying strength and that he was barely considered a prodigy from the younger generation.

Loosening his firm grasp around Old Drake, Shane pondered what he should do with Old Drake because it was obvious that he couldn't be trusted anymore.

'F*ck!...' Gnashing his teeth, he was sure that if he were to disappear right now, everything would become even worse.

Old Drake would be able to explain over multiple detours to avoid their already existing soul contract's punishment that he killed the two sovereigns in order to take Jason away.

Jason was considered one of the most talented youths Old Drake saw in his whole, long life and it was clear to Shane that Old Drake wanted to help his family to soar even higher, even if he had to walk down the wrong path.

There was not much for Shane to do, as he tried to find multiple ways out of his current situation, without causing the worst-case scenarios for him, Dalia, and most importantly Jason.

He and Dalia were currently fine, without the need to venture out in order to become much stronger because their potential was mostly used up.

Without a path to rejuvenate their whole body, or renew their cells completely to ignite more potential, Shane was sure that he could at most enter a higher rank with the help of a high amount of resources instead of solely absorbing mana to strengthen himself.

To rely on resources was not something good, yet it was the only path he could take to become stronger, while Dalia's potential was still high as she took better care of herself.

Additionally, she also possessed an origin flame, preventing her potential to diminish too fast.

Sighing deeply, Shane knew that there was no perfect way out of their current situation, except killing Old Drake.

If Old Drake and the two sovereigns died, nobody would know who killed him, except the Darkness mana that lingered around the severed sovereign rank heads.

This drastically reduced the number of perpetrators because the number of people who could kill a forcefully advanced sovereign rank with a single sword strike could be counted with two hands. 

However, what was even more problematic for Shane was, if he let Old Drake survive, even if they were in the same room, indicating that he was reluctant to kill Old Drake.

This would only mean that the perpetrator and Old Drake were good acquaintances and if someone were to conclude the facts, Shane would be found out.

As such, killing Old Drake was the best thing he could do, when he thought about something.

Glaring at his old former friend, Shane coldly announced the two choices he could think of in order to prevent any disadvantages for Jason.

"There are two choices I can give you! The first one is obvious and I'll kill you immediately without causing too much pain.

However, the second option will force you to sign an advanced contract, preventing you from doing anything against me, Dalia, Jason, and everyone around him. You won't even be able to talk about them or think anything bad, as it will cause you unbearable pain.

Furthermore, we will create a story, telling that the two beheaded sovereign ranks behind me heard the news about the Ice Dragon mother and immediately rushed back, disregarding your instructions, like it was the case. However, they weren't killed and you don't know what happened with them, when someone masked appeared in front of you, subduing you, preventing you from talking or doing anything against the younger generation. 

I know what your and the two sovereigns' task was and you will just say that you were forced to send all students that entered the Top 50 of all three Big-Three tournament participants away, as exchange students at that!

With this scenario, Jason's disappearance wouldn't be too obvious, even if it can't be hidden completely….

Think carefully about what you choose….

I only give you the second choice because we have known each other for more than two centuries!"

Staring straight into Old Drake's eyes, Shane could visibly see how the old man raked his mind, as he tried to figure out what he should choose.

Most people would think that the second option was much better, but with the advanced soul contract, he would be incapable of doing anything against the clauses stated in it at all.

Furthermore, sending away 150 top students, even if it was only for the purpose of a short student exchange was not only difficult but could also end disastrously with them remaining on the Island or even Canir, where he would have to send them.

There was also the Drake family patriarch's wrath he had to endure and it would barely be any help that he was the Drake family's ancestor.

In the end, the current patriarch was the person Old Drake feared the most and he wouldn't be able to endure his wrath, as he shivered violently.

A deep sensation of fear could be seen gleaming in Old Drake eyes before his gaze turned firm, as he said.

"Just kill me…."