A sliver of shock glistened in Maxim's eyes. Soon, his shock turned into absolute horror. He slowly realized what had happened to his kingdom while he was cultivating in seclusion. He hoped the Guardians and his men would keep Ghost away from him until he broke through to the Half-Immortal stage. In his shock, he didn't try to escape from Michael's hands. He felt too weak.

"This is payback bitch," Michael threw Maxim down.

"FATHER!" Victoria screamed. Her father hit the ground with a small thud.

"SAVE HIM!" Victoria shouted at Xanali. King Maxim Barnes coughed up blood several meters away from Xanali. However, her body refused to move an inch. The killing intent radiating from Ghost petrified both Xanali and Evan. Victoria was just an arrow. In Michael's mind, Maxim was the one who fired that arrow in his direction. So King Maxim Barnes deserved worse. He landed beside Maxim Barnes before kicking Maxim in the face. Blood splattered across the ash covered floor. Michael lifted Maxim by his torn robes and repeatedly punched him in the face. Michael heard the crunching noise of bones breaking in his face. Victoria screamed and begged from the pillar, yet Michael ignored her completely. He was completely focused on destroying Maxim Barnes.

"Come on. Fight back," said Michael. He grabbed Maxim's hands and crushed his palm. King Maxim screamed. Michael noticed Maxim's eyes closing. Quickly, Michael took out another healing potion and emptied it onto Maxim's mouth.

"There you go. Healed up again," the wounds on Maxim's body closed up as the rosiness returned to his face. Michael grabbed Maxim by his neck and slammed him against a block of stone behind him. The rubble collapsed by force. Michael began to punch Maxim Barnes as though the king was a punching bag. Each of Michael's punches broke a bone in his body. Victoria's throat ached because of her screams and shouting. She saw her father getting beaten to death. Maxim Barns managed to muster his strength and threw his fist at Michael.

"Again," Instead of blocking the punch, Michael let Maxim's punch land on his face. He grabbed Maxim's hand and slapped himself like a crazy person. Michael's face reddened.

Xanali and Evan felt a chill seeing Michael slapping himself with Maxim's hands. Suddenly, Michael stopped slapping. He squeezed Maxim's hands until Maxim began to scream in agony. Michael grabbed Maxim's throat before pulling his right arm toward himself. The skin on Maxim's arm stretched as much as it could. Michael's force slowly tore the skin as blood seeped through the skin. Maxim Barnes screamed. He began to bite Michael's hand to escape his clutch. However, Michael didn't even flinch. Xanali saw Michael twisting Maxim's hand slowly. She felt sick hearing the shoulder bone breaking.

Michael suddenly pulled out his arm with enough force to separate the arm from the shoulder. Blood sprayed out of the joint as it should. The blood sprayed in all directions, including Michael's face. His face turned red, making him resemble a demon. Victoria and Maxim screamed. But no matter how hard they screamed or yelled, no one came to their rescue. Even Xanali was in a petrified state. Michael threatened them with an onslaught.

"SAVE HIM PLEASE!" Victoria's screams kept ringing in Xanali's ears. Finally, Xanali couldn't see Ghost beat Maxim to death. She mustered her courage to face Ghost. He had already destroyed the kingdom. If Ghost wanted to kill Maxim Barnes and his family, he could do it without torturing them like an animal, no worse than an animal. Xanali didn't think an animal could be so brutal with its prey. Michael tore off Maxim's second hand. Evan felt a chill seeing Ghost hitting Maxim with his own bloody hand. All of his generals and ministers were either dead or stuck under the rubble.

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Unless the Guardian Guild comes with several Immortals, Evan knew there was no stopping Ghost. He wondered where the heck did Edith go. Not that Evan believed Edith could stop Michael but at least she would be stupid enough to try to stop him.

"Stop!" Xanali raised her voice. Michael ignored her completely. Maxim Barnes coughed up blood. Michael slammed Maxim Barnes's head against the wall. Whenever the light of life began to fade away in Maxim's eyes, he forcefully emptied a healing potion down Maxim's throat.

Xanali approached Michael. She grabbed his shoulder, trying to stop him. Michael shook his shoulder as Xanali fell backward. Evan saw Victoria screaming from above, helplessly while Maxim groaned in utter pain. He saw XXanali get back to her feet. Once again, she tried to stop Michael. This time, Michael stopped hitting Maxim Barnes. Instead, he grabbed Xanali by her neck and slammed her against a pillar next to Maxim Barnes.

"Look snake. The only reason you're alive is Gaya doesn't want me to kill you,"

"You already destroyed them. At least kill them. You tortured them enough," Xanali said. Michael tightened his grip around Xanali's throat.

"Why the fuck are you even here?" Michael said, gritting his teeth.

He clenched his fist.

"Let-' Before Xxanali could finish her sentence, Michael punched her in the face. A single punch knocked out Xanali cold. Evan's subconscious mind forced him to dash forward. He thought Ghost had killed Xanali. When Evan saw Ghost suddenly turn his head in his direction, Evan's legs put a break automatically. Michael kicked a football sized stone on the ground. It soared through the air and hit Evan right in the face. The sheer force sent Evan flying back into the rubble. Michael threw Xanali's unconscious body aside.

"Let...my daughter...go..." Maxim Barnes managed to utter these words.

Michael laughed out loud.

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"Did you know I killed your precious wife?" Maxim Barnes was stunned. His face was covered in too much blood to make out his expression. However, his eyes glistened with rage. The poor man could do nothing without his two arms. On the other hand, Victoria slowly lost her strength to scream out loud.

Michael slowly walked toward Maxim. He stared at the king without lifting a finger. After a few moments, he grabbed Maxim by his neck and shot toward Victoria. When he arrived before her, he grabbed Victoria by her neck with his other arm. Michael pulled Victoria out of the bonds before flying toward the burnt forest.

The explosion flattened the entire forest. Everything looked nothing but burnt. However, something was glimmering under all the burnt trees and ashes. The dark beams shot out from Michael's eyes, hitting the ground. As soon as the beams hit the ground, ripples appeared in the air. Soon, the scenery before Michael changed from a burnt forest to a small pond filled with glistening liquid.

The pond was barely seven feet wide and five feet thick. But it contained the most powerful energy source in this world, Cosmic energy. No one knew how this pond of Cosmic energy came into existence, not even Michael's sanctuary. The origin of Cosmic energy was still a mystery to them.

"Our feud started because of this. So it must end here," Michael released the two. They hit the ground, groaning in pain. Victoria immediately crawled toward her father. She embraced him tightly.

"Father," Tears rolled out of her eyes. At that moment, she had no interest in the Cosmic energy that she had killed and fought so many people for. In fact, she hated Cosmic energy. Because of this, she lost everything. If her father hadn't found a secret note in a meteor that hit Thusia, he wouldn't have found out about Cosmic energy. Everything began with that mysterious purple meteor. Michael won and successfully exacted revenge when she regretted everything she had done. But it wasn't enough for Michael. He collapsed to his knees and looked around the place. He could see the buildings made of wood, children running around, the elders feeding the little ones, and his friends playing with him.

A painful smile appeared on his face.

"Protect the stream," Maxim Barnes coughed up blood. Seeing the glistening energy made Maxim lust for it. He was like a possessed person. He wanted the Cosmic stream for himself, no matter the cost. This was the reason why the elders had never touched Cosmic energy. Whoever uses it would lose everything. The Cosmic stream was cursed. In a sense, the sanctuary didn't protect the Cosmic stream from the world but the world from the Cosmic stream. As a disciple in the sanctuary, Abras knew this.

Victoria shook her head after hearing her father's words.

"It's over, father. We lost. We lost everything,"

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"Even after all this, he still wants this, huh?" Michael snickered.

"If you're going to kill us, kill us. Get it done," Victoria growled.

"I hope you'll rot in hell, Abras,"

Michael didn't respond to Victoria.

"Azazel, gather all my subordinates and teleport to my location," said Michael.

"Yes, my lord," Michael heard Azazel in his head.

Slowly, Michael stood up. He turned around to look at Victoria and Maxim in her arms. With a flick of his wrist, Michael took out a crimson red dagger. He tossed it toward Victoria.

"You want this to end. Do it," said Michael. Victoria stared at the dagger on the ground without batting an eye. Her hands trembled as she reached for the dagger.

"No...fight him...No..." Maxim Barnes mumbled. He looked completely pale after all the blood loss. Since Michael hadn't given him a healing potion for a few minutes, his body started to lose vitality. Compared to being tortured to death by Ghost, killing her father and herself with her hands seemed the better option.

Michael waited for Victoria to kill herself. The despair and helplessness in her eyes quenched the thirst for revenge. He didn't feel like torturing her anymore. Instead, he wanted to absorb the Cosmic energy. Victoria finally grabbed the dagger. Even if she could fight back, she didn't want to because there was nothing to fight for. Her kingdom was gone, her mother died, and her father was on the verge of death. If she kept fighting, it would make only her people suffer more. At Least with her dead, Ghost would let the Thusians live.

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She slowly moved the dagger toward Maxim's heart. She placed the dagger's end on her father's chest. Tears gushed out of her eyes like a flood breaking out of a dam. She was about to plunge the dagger into Maxim's heart when they heard a shout echo through the place.

"STOP!"