The Crowned Prince flew towards the ice wall, he stopped and looked at Delia, only to see her staring at Blake. With no other option, he created a hole in it which he used to leave the area, heading back to the Academy.
Blake remained mid-air staring at the Crowned Prince, he knew there was a hidden meaning to what the Crowned Prince told him before he left.
‘Looks like he’s giving me a heads up. But he should have already known there’s no way we would accept to be their puppets.’ He thought before landing close to Oliver and Delia.
Being lost in thoughts, he failed to realize that she was staring at him intensely, only after a while did he sense it.
“Huh! Is there something on my face?” He asked while touching his face.
“What? No!” The dazed Delia asked showing confusion, before answering.
“Oh! Then why were you staring that hard? Wait, could it be that you want to imprint my impeccable appearance in your memory forever?” Blake asked with a cheeky smile.
“You wish.” Delia rolled her eyes before removing her ice wall.
They soon started bickering while slowly making their way to the Academy.
Looking at Blake and Delia bickering, Oliver chuckled lightly and told Blake to come to see and see him when he was done before leaving the duo.
___
Some hours later, at Oliver’s office.
“The Crowned Prince is something.” Oliver said after dropping the book he was reading.
Blake looked around and was surprised there were no files in the office today before nodding to what Oliver said.
Seeing that Blake was looking around, Oliver guessed the reason and smiled lightly.
“What do you think we should do?” He asked in a serious tone placing both hands underneath his chin.
“About?” Blake turned his attention back to Oliver.
“The emperor’s motive. With Chris nowhere to be found, fighting against them is suicide.” Oliver said.
“I…don’t know.” Blake paused before answering slowly with furrowed brows.
He too was confused about the whole issue.
“Once the kids get back from the trial land, I’ve decided to step down as the mayor of Lunar City as well as the principal of the Academy.” Oliver said looking at Blake without any changes in his expression.
This move looks cowardly, but it’s actually the best decision. Klaus and Blake are his only family, he wouldn’t foolishly give his life away while putting theirs in danger just because he wanted to go against the emperor.
He had invested a lot of his time in both the City and the Academy, but the life of his son and student mattered more. Besides, even though Chris is powerful, he’s just one man. He didn’t expect him to go against the entire empire because of him.
Blake knew since Oliver has made this decision, there’s no turning back.
“I’ll step down as well.” He said not angry by his Teacher’s decision.
Oliver looked at him and sighed. He had previously thought of making Blake the next Principal, but given the current situation, there’s no use in doing that. What he wanted to do right now was to keep a good distance away from the emperor and his people, this was why he also wanted to step down from his position as Mayor.
“What about Senior Chris?” Blake asked.
“Stop worrying about him. If he comes back after we’ve left, he would be able to find us.” Oliver responded.
“Okay, Teacher.” Blake stood up and walked towards the door.
On getting to the door, he stopped.
“Should I inform the Crowned Prince, so he can leave?” He turned around to inquire.
“There’s no need for that. I’ll head over to the Capital in two days time.” Oliver said before picking up the book he was reading.
“Okay.” Blake bowed and left.
After Blake shut the door.
‘I promised your mother I’ll never put you in harm’s way. I just hope they’ll let us be.’ Oliver thought with a sad look appearing on his face when he remembered his late wife.
The sad look was quickly replaced by a smile before turning into a worried expression.
‘I hope that little rascal is alright.’ He thought.
____
At the trial land.
A young man could be seen running at the fastest speed he could muster through a forest. On his shoulder was a strikingly black cat, staring behind them with a hint of worry.
‘Run faster!’ A small voice sounded in the youth’s head.
‘I can’t go any faster! Shit! Why did you go and steal their treasure?!’ The young man asked angrily, only, his voice was only heard inside the head of the small cat.
‘It was shiny!’ The small voice replied.
‘Fuck you! Return it!’ The young man ordered.
‘No! It’s mine!’ The small voice replied.
‘Damn it! Get off my shoulder so they’ll chase after you.’ The young man tried to push the cat off of his shoulder but missed.
The cat disappeared from the left shoulder, appearing on the right shoulder within a second.
‘Damn it! I shouldn’t have allowed you to come with me. You have the space element, aren’t you faster than I am?’ The young man asked slightly frustrated.
‘I can’t travel long distances with it, yet. Also, you should know how exhausting it is using your elemental essence constantly.’ The small voice said while the cat dodged the hand coming its way.
‘Damn you! Of course I know, I’ve been using mine for almost thirty minutes now.’ The young man cursed while trying to catch the cat which had appeared on his left shoulder.
He threw his left hand towards his right shoulder while his right hand towards his left shoulder.
The cat disappeared from the left shoulder, and appeared on the right one, only to be caught by the waiting hand.
‘Hahaha, got you! If you don’t want to return it, run in the other direction.’ The young man said after managing to catch the cat.
He threw it towards the opposite direction he was headed.
‘Fuck you! How can you betray me?!’ The small voice yelled out.
‘Betray your head! Don’t run in my direction. Fuck!’ The young man yelled when he saw the cat coming his way.
And for some weird reasons, his speed was faster than the first time.
‘Stop! Where are you going?!’ The small voice screamed as the cat disappeared appearing closer to the young man.
‘Somewhere without you!’ The young man replied.
‘Okay, but take me with you!’ The small voice said.
‘How would the place be without you if I take you along, stupid cat!’ The young man replied.
The young man and the cat were obviously Grey and Void. Behind them was a horde of angry looking giant white ape, each ape had a silver horn at the middle of their heads with silver lightning snakes dancing around their bodies as they gave chase.
Of all the apes, five of them were more eye catching because instead of having silver horns, they had purple. Purple lightning danced around their snow white hairs.
Roar! Creak!
One of the five purple horned monkeys roared and sent out a lightning bolt towards the running Grey.
Boom!
“Fuck! I wasn’t the one who stole your treasure!” Grey yelled out after dodging the lightning coming his way.
‘Don’t try to explain, they’ll still chase after you anyway.’ Void said while capitalizing on the small time Grey slowed down and jumped on his shoulder.
‘Damn you! Return their treasure to them.’ Grey yelled at Void.
‘No! I believe we can escape this chase!’ Void said confidently.
‘Yes, if you return their treasure.’ Grey said.
‘How can you be so cowardly? I thought you enjoyed fighting, why don’t you take out that one that almost blasted you?’ Void said, not forgetting to take a glance behind them.
After training for two months, Grey had already reached the Fourth stage of the Origin Plane. He felt a little dejected about it when he thought about how quickly he advanced from the First stage to the Second stage, but then again, he knew had he not acquired those treasures, there was no way his strength would have increased that fast.
And compared to others, the essence he needs for each breakthrough was humongous, so he was happy he managed to advance two stages in two months, this should be the speed of a few others as well, so his speed wasn’t that bad.
He had ventured deeper into the trial land and had faced multiple beasts as well as humans. He also encountered Jonas on one occasion, but they didn’t speak. Other than that, he has faced off against some youths from the Azure empire, killing those who tried to kill him.
Of the eight he encountered, only two were left alive, and the reason for that was because they didn’t try to kill him. Even though the Qilin empire was enemies with the Azure empire, it didn’t mean he’ll kill every one of them.
So far, for the last two months, he could say his journey had been quite enjoyable. And just when he thought his luck was changing for the better, Void stole the treasure of these Horned Lightning Apes.
He initially went to their territory in search of a plant, according to a book he read, where ever there are Horned Lightning Apes, a lightning attribute plant would be present.
But who knew Void would go crazy and steal their treasure, he had always known Void loved shiny things, but he didn’t expect it to be this bad. He could be said to be obsessed with them!