"Just kill me…."

Old Drake's gaze was firm, but Shane could see fear spreading through his whole body, and his legs began to shiver in fright.

It would have been a lie to say that Shane didn't expect this, however, even if that was the case, he was still frustrated.

Not only did Old Drake betray both him and Dalia, but he also tried to force Jason into signing a soul contract with the Drake family that was known for having soul contracts with cruel and harsh clauses.

If Jason were to sign such a contract, he would be shackled until he would die without being able to get out of the contract as it not only bound him to a single individual like it was the case with normal soul contracts.

Rather, he would become the whole Drake family clan's slave, with the sole priority being the person who contracted him.

Thinking about this, Shane's wrath ignited once again and even if Old Drake was an old acquaintance, there were two things he would never accept as long as he was alive and able to retaliate.

The first thing he couldn't accept was being betrayed and the second was someone trying to hurt or scheme against his loved ones!

Shane was still unsure if he had such feelings for Jason, but he was definitely attached to him and considered Jason already as his family, even if they weren't related by blood or overly close to each other.

It was just a special feeling Shane had, and the desire to protect Jason from all evil.

As such, he didn't want to see Jason being forced into submission by anyone and would do anything to help him.

He knew that Jason didn't promise him anything per se, but Shane knew for sure that the young youth was exceptionally talented with a good personality.

Giving Old Drake the possibility to choose between two options was already the most Shane could do.

He was generous enough and not known for being hesitant against his foes.

Standing in front of Old Drake, he couldn't help but sigh once again, as he lifted him from the ground where the old man slumped down due to the pressure coming from Shane's compressed killing intent that was intertwined with his mana.

Holding Old Drake in the air with one arm, he pierced out with his other hand which firmly grasped his sword.

Staring straight into Old Drake's eyes that widened involuntarily, Shane only mumbled.

"Rest in peace…"

Seeing his old acquaintance's eyes dimming with each second passing, it was impossible not to feel melancholic.

They fought together against hundreds of foes, and Shane would have never thought that it might end like this.

When Old Drake's eyes turned lifeless, Shane retraced his sword before he stored it away inside his spatial ring, to let Old Drake's dead body lean against the wall behind him.

Closing his lifeless eyes, Shane only wished that their paths wouldn't have crossed if something like this could be avoided.

Reminded about their past, where they took missions together and lived a more peaceful life, Shane couldn't help but think that mankind would have to overcome many perilous situations in the next several years, because the number of accidents increased by several times over the last few years, where he hid from everyone.

'Is it finally time to go all in?' Shane asked himself, thinking about Jason's talent.

His gaze became as he averted his attention from Old Drake, once he picked up his spatial ring and Storage device.

He only did so because it might slightly avert the Drake family's attention if they were to investigate Old Drake's death.

After turning around, he noticed the two beheaded sovereign ranks in front of him, and Shane began to wonder, how exactly they forcefully advanced to the Sovereign rank, as their combat prowess was much lower than what a normal sovereign would normally reach, even after one barely broke through.

Sighing deeply, he had to dispose of the evidence.

Thus, he stored the sovereign corpses inside his spatial ring, before he shattered the ground below him, where one could see blood sprinkled on it.

Shane used his spatial ability and spatial ring together in order to store everything that was in touch with the sovereign ranks' blood away.

Once he cleared the crime scene, Shane let go of the remaining marble stones and other materials the ground was made of, that fell towards the lower floor, where they smashed into the ground.

Seeing this, he once against scanned through the whole room in order to figure out if there was anything he had to do, except disposing of the sovereign corpses to make it look like they left Old Drake to help out at the Drake family headquarters, where the Ice Dragon mother was probably still wreaking havoc.

His plan was not perfect, but definitely better than nothing, considering that he acted rashly, led by his emotions.

Most people would think that he was too crude, harsh, or even a monster but after the mana breakout, Argos changed essentially and his decisiveness and other 'cruel traits were important to survive.

Centuries ago, Shane was also young and naive, only to see his whole clan being eradicated without anyone helping him or his family.

Rather than that, the surrounding families looked at everything with satisfaction in their eyes as if they loved to see their strongest rival being annihilated.

Through this, Shane was driven out of their territory while the other families started a war to figure out who has the right to annex the destroyed Blair clan's lands, once they took care of the high-ranked beast that continued to wreak havoc until its last breath.

At that time tens of thousand humans had been killed by the beast and it was only after a long time that the alliance of big families around the Blair clan territory acted. 

Witnessing this changed Shane's behavior completely and he became more rational and cold-hearted towards others with only a few exceptions. 

One of the exceptions was Old Drake who he killed.

Knowing that he betrayed him only to get his hands on Jason because of his talent and special trait, Shane could only shake his head as he opened a spatial portal in front of him to disappear from the crime scene, after taking another glance at Old Drake's dead body that leaned against the cracked wall.

As Shane vanished, the killing intent intertwined with his mana also dissipated, releasing everyone inside the arena from the suppression.

Being able to breathe more freely again, everyone was glad to have survived the terrifying mana fluctuations that suppressed and would have almost killed all humans inside the arena below the Grandmagus-rank, if the mana suppression had been focused on them

The Fler's were also shocked, sitting inside the infirmary, with goosebumps covering their whole body, as they looked at each other.

"W-What was that?" Malia asked, still not sure how she survived, as she looked at her parents who didn't know what was going on, as they noticed that Greg opened his eyes.

Looking towards the ceiling, Greg couldn't help but feel empty inside as he mumbled 

"Let's meet again, Jason…."

Hearing this, the others were shocked, and their expression turned into utter confusion, not knowing what Greg meant with his words.

Greg was also unsure why he felt that he wouldn't be able to meet Jason for a long time, but being woken up by the killing intent intertwined with somewhat familiar mana fluctuations led him to understand something important.

The whole day was already extremely chaotic, but the Old man who gave him a piece of paper, telling him to give it to Jason, was currently the most apparent in his mind.

And comparing the concealed almost negligible mana fluctuations radiating from the Old man he saw to the killing intent intertwined mana that awoke him, Greg knew that these two were the same!

Concluding everything together, Greg assumed that the old man he met was the mysterious Beast-Creator who accepted Jason as a disciple.

Releasing such terrifying mana fluctuations, indicated several things, with one of them being that Jason's master was at an extremely powerful.

Meanwhile, another fact Greg could tell from the suddenly released killing intent intertwined in mana was that Jason's master was extremely enraged because of something, leading him to think that something must have gone wrong.

Hoping that Jason was fine, Greg wanted to stand up and message Jason, only to figure out that he was unable to move a single inch.

Noticing this, Gabriella completely forgot the killing intent that infiltrated her whole body a short while ago as she jumped up, to assure her son that everything would be fine.

"Don't be afraid! You just exceeded your physical limit and overexerted your mana...You won't be able to move for a few days, but afterwards, there won't be an issue…"

Barely seeing his mother from the corner of his eyes, Greg couldn't help but feel sad, as he forced himself to ask.

"Jason already disappeared….am I right?"