The message that made him decide to take them back was simple—it was a mission.
[Mission: Distractions of the Weak. The task has been hindered by your attachment to the weak. You must let go of them until the completion of the task.]
[Reward: The survival of your weak attachments.]
[Penalty: The death of your weak attachments.]
The system was doing everything to make sure Silva went after the task. He had been dragging it for too long, but now he was being pushed to complete it as fast as possible.
Silva didn’t rush to the empire, though. He walked up the stairs and into his room, shut the door, and sat on the bed. Then, he allowed himself to fall into the system’s space.
He floated in the void until he saw the floating light that was the system. The system immediately floated toward Silva when it sensed him.
[I can already guess why you are back. The missions were sent out today because the empire is on the brink of fully developing their blood into something really close to the truth.]
“The truth? What does that mean?” Silva asked.
[The truth is about the blood. The data I can give you is limited, and if I try to access more, it might raise some warning signals. But I can say for certain that you must go to the empire. True demon blood is not something humans should have.]
“I understand. I’ll head to the empire now and see what’s happening,” Silva said. He left the void and returned to his room, got up from the bed, and faced the window.
“This is a message to everyone,” he started speaking telepathically to everyone close to him.
“I have decided that all of you are to return to the Dark Dragon Kingdom. The only people coming with me are the guardians.
This order is not up for discussion or bargaining. I want everyone back as soon as possible, and to stay in the kingdom,” Silva said, without a hint of explanation.
He had to admit that the system was right to ask him to send them all back. Things were getting too real for him. He shouldn’t be putting them at the forefront of danger anymore. They could die, and all of that would be on him alone.
He was tired of thinking about this matter. He owed none of them an explanation. He didn’t need to tell them the reason behind his actions. He was the king and the Demon Lord candidate, after all. He was not their servant.
The only people Silva allowed to continue their journey were Elsa and Aris. Their job was simple.
Silva climbed up the window, then jumped out and started transforming. He turned into a full dragon and shot into the air. A sonic boom sounded as he went faster than the speed of sound.
He shot through the sky toward the empire at a crazy speed.
“Drake, Lily, Jade, Selax, Kratos, Zack, Maru—I want all of you to meet me. I’ll be landing soon at the border of the kingdom. All of you, come to my location,” Silva telepathically told all the guardians.
“Fang, Quin, the entire kingdom is under your care. I hope you two can take care of it,” Silva contacted them and said.
He made it to the border and landed there. He transformed back and waited for the guardians. It didn’t take long before a portal opened and all of them came out, all in human form.
“Seems you guys met before coming. And also, you chose to use human forms,” Silva said as soon as he saw them.
“I met with all of them as soon as I heard your order. I dropped off all the others at the kingdom—they weren’t happy. The guardians then came together. We also figured that we would be the ones going to the empire with you, so human forms were in order,” Lily explained.
Silva looked at them. He could tell who was who even in their new forms. Most of them already had human faces before, so it wasn’t much of a change, but for Zack, Maru, and Kratos, it was a massive change.
Zack looked like some buff warrior who loved the smell of blood. Only his lower body was covered, his ripped chest openly displayed for the world to see.
Kratos, on the other hand, looked elegant and graceful, like a man of skill and wisdom, wearing an elegant robe. And finally, Maru looked like a simple boy with a pretty good build, but not as crazy as Zack.
“I know you might want to know why I sent everyone back, right? But it’s a long story. The short version is that the empire has made quicker moves, and I need the best of my people to stop them.
Sadly, the others would only be distractions to me. Only you guys can keep up,” Silva explained.
“Well, we wondered why you made the plan so unnecessarily inclusive before, but we decided not to speak because that might hurt them,” Drake said.
“Wait, you guys have meetings of sorts?” Silva asked.
“Of course we do. We are the guardians. Our job is to protect you, the Black Dragon heritage, and the young miss Elsa. The only reason we let her go was because you said she should, and you allowed Aris to go with her. We all believe in Aris’s strength, after all,” Drake said.
“Well, this is a first for me. I thought you all got along and were like peers,” Silva said with a chuckle.
“Master, that has to be a joke. Each of us is the peak of our races, and with your help, we have surpassed the boundaries of what was possible before. Do you seriously think we see them as friends?
We only train and help them because you have use for them. Sadly, it’s hard to see them as anything more,” Drake explained.
Silva paused when he heard that. He let out a small chuckle. “I guess it’s the same for everyone who’s stronger—including me. Well, let’s get going. We have work to do.”