Somewhere in Pandragea.

Inside a dark room.

A cloaked figure was sitting on the cold ground.

He was holding a crystal in his left hand when it suddenly flashed and then faded to darkness.

"She's here! She's finally here!" The cloaked figure victoriously laughed.

His hands shook in excitement and called out to the ceiling above.

"My plan was successful! Do you see this, my great Lord?!"

He stretched out his hands.

A dark cloud descended above the cloaked figure and soon formed into a hollow face.

"Archbishop Karl, I have seen your efforts and you've proven yourself well." The hollowed face stated.

"My Lord, my loyalty to the Fleeting Shadow is boundless! This is the precious gift I present to you!"

The hollowed face giggled.

"Very well, have you planned already?" It asked.

"Yes, the battlefield exercise will commence soon. That will be the time that my Lord will soon ascend in this world, and rule over Pandragea!" The cloaked figure proclaimed.

"Good, I await." The hollowed face turned back into a dark cloud and vanished from the room.

The cloaked figure stood up and laughed again. He gripped the crystal tightly and swore.

"Prince Kane, Emperor Marcus. The Great Human Imperium will soon be mine!"

…

Imperium Capital City.

Outside of the Mage Guild.

…

"Lightning Arc!"

Prince Kane suddenly attacked.

The students near him, including Amelia, were electrified and blown away.

3 students died while Amelia became unconscious. The recorder she was holding in her hands was blown to pieces.

"The likes of you should cease to exist!" Prince Kane declared.

An ethereal form of a woman-like figure appeared behind him. It had a dark long hair and dim red eyes.

"Nether Mist!" He casted some mysterious spell.

A dark mist was created. Beneath it were unfamiliar ghost-like figures who were screaming in pain and hatred.

It was emanating an aura of dread and fear to anyone who was near it or saw it.

"Apocalypse!" Prince Kane, or the ethereal woman behind him, launched an attack.

The dark mist rushed towards Zachariel. The ghost-like figures crawled as they approached him while screaming all the way.

Everyone was shocked to see the sudden change in Prince Kane.

The remaining carriages immediately galloped out of the area, including the wagon that stored the student's weapons.

The other onlookers had run to alert the nearby guards, while the others defended themselves and the students.

"Monster!!!" The other students ran away.

Lia was enveloped by an aura of dread and fear as the dark mist approached. She soon lost her rationality and fell into a nightmare.

"Nooo!!!" She shouted out of nowhere.

Instructor Rebecca immediately took action. She knocked out the students who were in a daze, catching them before they fell to the ground.

It was rather peculiar witnessing how fast and strong an elemental mage like her was.

`Oh no, those three!` She remembered that Iria, Lia, and Zachariel were the closest to Prince Kane.

The maddened prince was already close to them and she could not make it in time.

`F*ck, this wasn't part of the plan!` Captain Burton no longer hesitated and jumped towards the students to save them.

`Propulsion!`

He enhanced his movement speed and caught Amelia, Iria, Lia, and Zachariel.

At the same time, he set up a telepathic link to Elder Kent.

`Elder Kent, I request for your assistance!`

However, the latter did not reply to him. It brought despair to Captain Burton.

`Damn it!`

The dark mist closed in on him. Seeing the impending danger, Captain Burton had no choice but to go against Elder Kent's orders.

`Guards, save the students! Do not let anyone of them get near the dark mist! Alert the other guards nearby! The rest of you, to your formations!`

`Yes sir!` The guards replied to him.

`Lieutenant Marck, go to the Imperium Palace to alert his Imperial Majesty about his son going mad! Lieutenant Arriel, go to the Imperium Barracks and request reinforcements! Don't forget to tell them to raise the situation level to 2! Understood?`

`Yes sir!` A male and female voice replied at the same time.

Captain Burton continued running and looked forward.

The Imperium guards had grouped themselves and formed a wall, ready to attack or defend.

"Guards, on your mark!"

Captain Burton shouted.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Attack!" Captain Burton jumped after he gave his order.

He landed behind the guards and continued to escape out of the area.

"Guardian Formation!" The guards raised their weapons, pointed it towards the sky, slowly lowered it, and pointed it towards the approaching dark mist.

"Soldier's Charge!"

They shouted again and performed a thrusting action with their weapons.

An avatar of a soldier that glowed in golden light was created and charged towards the dark mist.

It carried the will of the guards as it ravaged through.

Captain Burton landed back on the ground and put down the students he was carrying.

All of them were dazed or unconscious.

"Captain, what can we do?!" Some of the onlookers stayed behind and volunteered to help.

"Please keep these students away from that dark mist, especially this one." Captain Burton pointed at Zachariel who was fast asleep.

"If possible, only the most powerful of you should take him away from here. The others can do whatever they want, just don't let the dark mist touch you or them."

`The dark mist seems to be following him!` Captain Burton analyzed.

The onlookers nodded. This was the only thing they could do for now. They didn't know what that dark mist was and how it worked.

It was best to give the trouble to the Imperium guards instead. After all, they were the primary defense that the Imperium had against any attack.

"Aaahhh!!!"

The Imperium guards that were blocking the dark mist were blown away.

"I need to get back. Please take care of them!"

Captain Burton joined the defense against the dark mist. He would have to wait until a general or one of the Golden Guardians arrived in here.

The amount of mana amplitude that the mad prince was exuding right now overpowered what a peak diamond-level fighter could achieve.

"Leave the boy to me."

A burly old man stepped forward.

"Elder Alpha! What're you doing here?" One of them was shocked about the appearance of this old man.

"Ah, I was just stretching my body and saw this commotion." Elder Alpha relaxingly replied.

"Go on now… I'll take care of it from here. Take them to the ward." The old man waved his hands.

The rest nodded and left.

Elder Alpha had long realized that this unconscious black-and-white-haired boy was the main target of that dark mist that Captain Burton was talking about.

There was no point escaping since the dark mist would follow him. If he did so, it would only cause more destruction than it should.

He sensed the mana essence flow on the top of the magic tower and found out that Elder Kent was there.

`Kent McKenzie, you seem to be rather happy from up there, eh?` Elder Alpha shook his head.

He was disappointed about the revolutionary faction. He hoped for a peaceful reform, but looking at things right now, that was just a foolish wish of him.

`Even those mages inside were restrained by him. How despicable!`

"Retreat!" Captain Burton and his guards retreated a few meters.

Half of the 26 guards were missing. Only 13 of them were left, including Captain Burton.

Elder Alpha narrowed his eyes.

`The dark mist's getting bigger. It must be absorbing the flesh or essence of a living being.`

He let out his fire mana essence and burned everything around a kilometer of him into ashes, except for the humanoid beings.

Captain Burton was shocked about the sudden burst but realized that Elder Alpha was behind him.

`A grandmaster is really different!` He complimented the old man in his mind.

Elder Alpha then looked at the dark mist that was rushing at him.

`Will it vanish if I knock out the Prince?`

He observed that a ghost-like figure floated behind Prince Kane.

`A source, what a pain. I need to destroy the link, or calm that Prince that down.`

Destroying the link was easy but it might bring harm to Prince Kane, while the calming method was harder, but wouldn't bring as much harm to the prince.

`This amplitude. It's almost at the boundary of a Lesser Divine being. I need a Golden Guardian right here to help me out with this.`

"Guards, I'll take it from here." Elder Alpha announced.

Captain Burton thanked him and retreated further.

Elder Alpha grabbed Zachariel using the air and had Zachariel vertically float behind him.

`Scorched Earth.`

He waved his hands and the ground in front of him became hot.

The wraiths inside the dark mist wailed in pain but continued in their assault.

`It's absorbing my fire mana essences?!` Elder Alpha was shocked when he saw the hot ground cooling off in an instant.

The dark mist didn't have an ounce of dark mana essence, but his spells were proven ineffective against it.

`I'll attack the source immediately! Wind Cut!` He gathered his wind mana essences and struck at Prince Kane.

'Pang!'

A shield blocked his attack.

Meanwhile, the dark mist was almost upon him.

Elder Alpha fled back while floating above the ground until he reached 25 meters.

He was about to make a move when the dark mist suddenly went upwards and followed him.

`Interesting.` Elder Alpha wasn't shocked.

He had already expected it.

`However…`

Elder Alpha suddenly smirked.

"Arrow of Repentance!"

A loud and deep feminine shout resounded in the entire Imperium Capital City.

The sky tore open as a bright arrow bathed in thick golden light rapidly flew towards the dark mist.

It was so big that Elder Alpha was comparable to an ant.

'Boom!'

The arrow and the dark mist clashed against one another, producing a large shockwave around a kilometer of their point of impact.

Most of the people were blown away.

Elder Alpha shielded both himself and Zachariel.

The wraiths screamed in agony, but it slowly died out as the light that engulfed the arrow purged them into non-existence.

Prince Kane and the ethereal figure suffered as well.

"Aarrgghh!!"

Their screams were horrific for the ears to hear but they didn't last long.

Soon, the dark mist shrank in size until only Prince Kane remained.

The arrow was gone, and so was the dark mist.

Prince Kane knelt on the ground while facing the sky. His closed eyes were surrounded by a dark miasma of unknown origin.

It faded and returned inside of him. Prince Kane then fell to the ground, unconscious.

Elder Alpha sighed after seeing that the situation was now safe.

`Elder Lena sure is strong.`

He thanked Lena in his mind and looked at the aftermath.

`A little disaster, at the very least.`

Although the entire 1-2 kilometers around the area was devastated, Elder Alpha thought that the scale of destruction wasn't worth the issue.

`The main problem here is that Prince Kane was actually holding such a terrific power within him, and the Imperium wasn't ready for that. If the public knows how volatile he was, they will surely be dissatisfied and angered.`

Elder Alpha narrowly looked at Prince Kane whose figure laid on the ground.

`Furthermore, 19 people were killed in less than 4 minutes.`

He faced the direction of the Central Continent, to where the CPL was located.

`There's also that little girl accusing Prince Kane of murder. A supreme trial will be held soon. I wonder what those Supreme Elders will think of this.`

Amidst his thoughts, an angry shout resounded atop the Magic Tower.

"Bastard, who dares to do this in front of the Mage Guild?!"