Seeing their Queen in mortal danger, the soldier rushed out of the golden dome. Some dashed at Michael with their swords raised while some cast spells. However, the moment they came out of the dome, a circular wave shot out of Michael. The soldiers screamed as they turned into ashes in a split second. Queen Valeria's face turned purplish. Her legs slowly stopped moving.

"Stop!" Booth cried.

"I will kill that child if something happens to her," Booth roared.

Hearing their words, Lailah shivered. Ghost and Booth were talking about a child, and fear clenched her heart for some reason. She flew out of the hole to meet Ghost. She wanted to know whether her child was safe or not. Booth noticed Lailah flying towards them. With lightning speed, Booth grabbed Lailah and put a dagger in her throat. Lailah was caught off guard. Not only her, even Noah and Edith didn't expect Booth to make such a move.

"Now I have the mother and the child," Booth growled as Michael loosened his grip around Valeria's neck.

Lailah's body trembled. The temperature around them dropped by several degrees. Her calm eyes turned bloodshot. Soon, her bloodshot eyes turned watery. She may be a cold, tough woman, but she was also a mother. So when her child was in danger, she couldn't be her usual self. Seeing the tears rolling out of Lailah's eyes, Michael's killing intent shot through the roof.

"Where is my child?" asked Lailah with a stuttering voice.

"Booth, you kidnapped a child?" Valeria asked Booth. She was still in Michael's hold.

"It's for everyone's safety, your highness,"

"This is wrong, Booth. I order you to release the child this instance," Queen Valeria's words warmed the hearts of the thusian soldiers. Their courage to rescue such a kind Queen grew out of bonds in their hearts.

"Sorry, your highness. I can't do that. As long as his majesty comes out of his seclusion, i won't release the child,"

Lailah clenched her fist. Michael realized she was trying to get out of Booth's hold. However, Michael looked Lailah in the eyes, wordlessly telling her to stand down. Even if Michael controlled the SPyder on Lailah's neck and made it bite Booth, there was a high chance of Booth cutting Lailah's throat. The blade in Booth's hands was engraved with various runes. He couldn't take the risk of letting Booth cut her throat and then try to heal her.

"Lailah!" Suddenly, they all heard a panicked voice. They looked in the voice's direction to see Edith and Noah ascending to the sky.

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"Let her go!" Edith screamed at Booth, but Booth didn't even look Edith in the eyes.

"Are you happy now, Edith?" asked Michael.

"You successfully endangered a child and your sister's life with your naivety and loyalty towards Thusia,"

Edith couldn't find a word to respond to Ghost. His voice was filled with such rage and anger that everyone around him felt it hard even to take a breath.

"You cannot blame her for your fault," said Noah.

"I can when she was the one who forced Lailah to tell her about the child, which led to one of his lackeys eavesdropping on their conversation," said Michael.

"Everyone calm down," Xanali joined the scene.

"We don't have to resort to violence. Just let Queen Valeria and Lady Alden go. We can find a peaceful solution to all this," Xanali tried to calm everyone down. She saw hundreds of soldiers around her. Once Ghost had started to wreak havoc, who could tell how many lives would be lost as collateral damage?

"Booth, I am ordering as your Queen. Let her go and release the child this instance!" Queen Valeria raised her voice.

However, Booth just shook his head. Lailah looked at Michael. Every fiber in her body told her to fight back for her child's life, but Michael ordered her not to move an inch.

"Trust me. I won't let anything happen to you or the child," Lailah suddenly heard Michael's words in her head. She was shocked. Lailah didn't know how he was able to talk to her telepathically despite her mental fortitude.

"Don't try to be a hero bitch. You stood there watching him slaughter people without lifting a finger. You incompetent fools could do nothing. The guardians are just a waste of space," Booth growled.

"You started this war," Xanali snarled.

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"And you did nothing then, and you're doing nothing now," Booth snickered.

Noah couldn't disagree with Booth because Booth was right. This was the reason why Noah decided to reform the guardians from the ground up. It was once an institute that instigated peace and kept the world in order. Now, the Guardian Guild was nothing but a corrupted organization with a bunch of political snobs running the place to the ground. If he had been in charge of the Guardian Guild, he would have stopped Maxim Barnes from waging war against other kingdoms in the first place. But the Guild let King Maxim Barnes do whatever he wanted, saying the guild had no right to meddle with a kingdom's affairs.

"This will end in only one way. The destruction of Thusia. You just ensured the death of every single person you care for," said Michael. His words made every single Thusian soldier panic.

"Please, let her go," Edith pleaded as tears gushed out of her eyes.

Michael noticed Noah slowly moving his hands behind his back. Noah looked at Michael from the corner of his eyes as though he was trying to say something. Michael could tell Noah was about to cast a spell to stop Booth. Although Noah was his mortal enemy, Michael knew Noah wasn't incompetent. Hence, Michael trusted Noah to get Lailah out of Booth's hold.

Everyone stood still without even lifting a finger. Lailah felt the cold blade against her throat. The orb of light shined brighter and bright behind Noah's back. Noah made a fist and released his index finger, then his middle finger, as though he was counting. Michael noticed his fingers, and when Noah released his ring finger, completing the count of three, a bright light flashed across the sky. The light petrified everyone that it touched except Michael.

In a blink of an eye, Noah dashed at Booth, grabbed Lailah, and dashed away from him. Everything happened in a split second. Unfortunately, the petrification lasted long for only a second on Booth. He didn't even realize what had just happened. His eyes widened seeing Lailah with Noah.

Noah immediately tried to dash toward Ghost to save Valeria, but he was too slow. Michael tightened his grip around Valeria's neck as her head exploded into a bloody red mist.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Booth's roar echoed through the sky and made the entire kingdom tremble. Valeria's blood splashed across Noah's face, turning his white robes red. The soldiers were stunned by the brutal yet sudden death of Queen Valeria. Her lifeless corpse slowly fell down into the sky. Without wasting any second, Michael dashed at Booth.

"Wind Blast," he cast a spell while moving toward Booth and blasted away everyone around him, including Noah. Noah was thrown off balance, and so was everyone.

Booth and Michael clashed in the middle. Michael didn't cast any spells but used his fists to beat Booth. The two of them flew through the castle. Boulders and stones crumbled down as they cut through the castle. Michael punched Booth without holding back. Just like Michael, Booth too didn't cast any spells because he was too furious to do so. The castle trembled while the towers slowly tilted to the side, threatening to crumble down.

"Get everyone to safety!" Xanali roared. She noticed hundreds of soldiers who were unable to fly standing on the ground.

"Lailah!" Edith immediately dashed toward Lailah and embraced her.

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"Where is my child?!" Lailah raised her voice.

"Noah,' Edith turned her gaze toward Noah. if anyone could find the child, it was Noah.

The castle tower finally collapsed down as the soldiers on the ground tried to run away as fast as they could. However, the tower fell right on top of them, crushing them to death. Xanali was able to save some but not all. At that moment, Noah had two choices; saving the child which might be somewhere in the castle, which was currently crumbling down, or saving the soldiers.

"Save the child, Noah. The soldiers and the people have Xanali and the guardians. The child has no one," said Andreas. Noah didn't waste any time because every second cost a life. He didn't think he could stop Ghost and Booth from destroying the castle completely. In fact, he couldn't even see them.

"Teacher, you are a spirit. You can sense another spirit right?" Noah asked Andreas.

"Lailah has given the child a body, but I can manage to find it. But it will take all my soul energy. I won't be here to help you until you replenish my soul energy Noah,"

"Find the child, Teacher. I got your back," Andreas left Noah's body in a flash of light. The light blinded everyone for a moment. Lailah noticed a thin layer of light covering the area around her.

Lailah was about to rush into the castle when Noah stopped her.

"Found the child. Follow me," Noah led the two young women into the crumbling castle.

The castle trembled uncontrollably. The interior of the castle was in a mess. All the portraits fell off the wall, and many pathways were blocked by broken walls. Some parts even caught on fire. The fire slowly spread through the castle. While following the light trail only Noah could see, he saw his path was blocked by boulders. With a single punch, Noah destroyed the boulders, clearing the path.

Noah could still feel the effects of the battle between Ghost and booth. The screams of the soldiers from the outside echoed through the castle walls. Many who were trapped in the castle ultimately lost their lives. Even with several dozen guardians and Xanali, they couldn't save all the thusians. Noah wanted to stop hearing the cries for help. The echoes of their howls made Noah tremble with anger and helplessness.

"How far?" Edith asked.

"We are getting closer," said Noah. He led the girls into the dungeon. Many of the steps crumbled down in front of their eyes. The torches lit the dark path to the underground dungeon. The area sickened Lailah. She couldn't even imagine what her child is feeling in a place like this. They climbed down the spiral steps as fast as they could. Suddenly, the wall nearby shattered, almost robbing them of their balance. A powerful gust of wind went from one end to another. Noah could swear it was Ghost and Booth fighting like mad men. They endangered the life of the child trapped within the underground prison because of their anger.

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"Harry!" Lailah's shout echoed through the dark dungeon.

No one responded from the dark dungeon as they climbed down the stairs. The eerie silence brought tears out of Lailah's eyes.

"Mother," finally, a child's voice emerged from the dark underground.