In the entire group, it was only him and the Vice Sect Master who sensed the disaster that was about to befall them.

And in both cases, the warning originated from the faces on their chests which urged them to stop everything they were doing and run if they wanted to live.

.....

In one of the rooms nearby, Daneel, Kellor and Luther stood solemnly while looking at the display trinket which showed the situation in the central hallway.

Kellor had been here since the beginning, and he had had to watch as innocent Lanthanorians were slain without mercy in front of his eyes.

Although he wanted to go forward to attempt to save them even though he knew he would be killed easily, he had managed to control himself knowing that it was a foolish thing to do.

Yet, hearing the screams and seeing the faces of all those dying, tears flowed from his eyes due to the powerlessness he felt.

They had no way to know that the Sect was in possession of something that would render the Dragon Heart Formation ineffective in just a second. With his knowledge of the world, he couldn't even begin to guess just how valuable such a trinket must be.

Now, seeing that the culprits were all about to die, he couldn't help but smile slightly knowing that at least in this case, justice was going to be served immediately.

With similar feelings being reflected on the faces of the King and Luther who stood beside him, all three of them looked on as the biggest ma.s.sacre to have ever taken place inside the Palace of Lanthanor commenced.

...

It started with the Withering Leaf Sect Members feeling as if they had entered the best Energized Training Chamber in the world.

This sensation came instantaneously, making many stop their attacks to find out just what the heck was going on.

"Ker Energy!"

Seeing the red mists flowing down from the ceiling gracefully like willows in the wind, one of the Sect Members shouted these words.

Along with the mists, a red powder also fell which instantly covered everyone in the hallway.

This small time frame was enough to let the duo of the Eldest Prince and the Vice Sect Master react to try and teleport away.

Yet, high-tier s.p.a.ce lock trinkets had already been activated which meant that they would need some time to escape.

Knowing that time was exactly what they didn't have, both of them tried to flee in the direction they had just come from.

BANG

Hitting barriers which halted them in their paths, they hurried to conjure spells in order to break through while panic and terror clouded their faces.

Alas, it was already too late.

BUZZZZZZ

Mosquitoes, each three times the size of those which had been dropped in the Valley of Mist were released from the ceiling where hidden barriers had been trapping them till now.

Starved for a day, the sight of the tastiest delicacy in their entire world coating the humans in front of them sent them into a frenzy.

Barrier or skin, nothing would stand in their path.

In just a few seconds, the entire pa.s.sageway devolved into chaos with barrier trinkets breaking instantly due to the over 1000 attacks on each Withering Leaf Sect Member.

When the red mist had descended into the room, all of the Sect Members had taken deep breaths instinctively, which meant that Ker Gem Energy was also present inside their bodies that had just been absorbed.

This served as an added enticement to the mosquitoes, which proceeded to tear open the bodies after breaking through the barriers and the skin of the Sect Members to devour the Ker Dust on them.

The strongest individuals like the Vice Sect Master had absorbed the most, leading them to be the juiciest targets who attracted the majority of the thousands of mosquitoes in the room.

Through the display trinket, all Daneel could see was black clouds surrounding each and every individual in the room.

The weaker Sect Members didn't even put up a fight; only lumps of flesh and bone were left behind when the clouds moved on to stronger targets.

Although these stronger ones tried to resist, all they could do was flail around before reaching similar endings as their weaker counterparts.

In less than a minute, the pa.s.sageway only had two individuals remaining: the Vice Sect Master and the Eldest Prince.

Daneel was surprised when he saw this; after all, he had no idea that this man had trained to such a high level.

With a cold expression that would make one feel as if they were looking at someone who had no heart to call his own, Daneel strode out of the door and headed to the Central Hallway.

Deactivating the barrier, he came upon the scene where the two bodies which were still somehow fending off enough mosquitoes to stay alive were flailing around desperately while looking for some way to escape.

Their barriers had already been broken through long ago, and their tenacity was the only thing still allowing them to put up a resistance despite the pain which stopped them from conjuring anything stronger than the most basic of spells.

First reaching the Vice Sect Master who could be distinguished by his bulkier figure, Daneel raised his hand to make a blade of wind appear which cut off the figure's head.

Even after its head was detached, the body still tried to resist for a few moments before finally falling to the ground, motionless.

Glancing at the Eldest Prince, he considered doing the same, but remembered his promise to the people.

With a single flick of his finger, all the mosquitoes in the room fell to the ground twitching, leaving the hallway silent except for the ragged breaths of the Eldest Prince who had fainted.

While his shoes made squis.h.i.+ng sounds due to the blood, guts and bodily fluids on the floor, he entered his chamber and collapsed on the chair in front of the Dragon Heart.

.....

After what felt like an eternity in which he didn't even move an inch, Daneel heard a knocking on the door.

Finding out from the system that it was his father, he ordered it to open the doors while still sitting on the chair even though he couldn't even feel his body anymore.

Without a word, Robert entered and sat down in front of his son. Placing the bottle of wine and gla.s.ses he had been holding in his hands on the table, he proceeded to fill the gla.s.ses up to the brim.

"Were your reasons worth the results of your decisions?", he asked, putting into words the turmoil going through Daneel's mind.

"No", answered the King in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

"Drink."

Listening to his father, Daneel reached for the gla.s.s and downed it in one go.

As the spicy wine slid down his throat, he heard his father speak again.

"Son, I will not ask why you did not find a way to do what you did before the enemy got a chance to kill all those innocent people. I will also not call you foolish. You made a mistake. What matters is that you learn from it, and move on. But do not forget this pain. It is this pain which will stop you from becoming the person who previously held this throne. And it is this pain which will never allow you to make another mistake such as this for as long as you are alive."