BANG!
The edge of a longsword broke off its hilt and dropped to the ground.
Gravis shook his head.
Liran looked with incomparable shock at his son.
Surem currently had half a sword in his hand, its broken edge pointing at Liran.
The saber's blade had broken off when Surem slashed at his father's shoulder with all his power. Surem's eyes were bloodshot, and Gravis was unsure if he had ever seen anyone that had gotten this angry.
The air around Surem turned red as his aura seethed and vibrated.
Surem was so angry that he had comprehended the Law of Rage just now.
Liran's words had made Surem explode. Even in this situation, his father had put all the blame on his Vice Sect Masters!? What could they have done!? The enemy had been comprised of six fucking Immortal Kings! What could they have possibly done!?
"Today," Surem growled through gritted teeth, "I swear upon the Heavens. I will never forgive you! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"
CRACK!
Surem stabbed forward again, but his sword broke again. There was an entire Realm between the two of them. No matter what Surem did, he couldn't injure his father.
"You are no longer my father! Your weakness has robbed me of everything I love!" Surem shouted, his voice filled with absolute hatred and wrath.
"When I become strong enough, you will pay!" Surem shouted as he threw the broken sword to the side.
SHING!
Then, he teleported away.
"If you leave now, you will die," Gravis transmitted to Surem calmly. Gravis' Spirit Sense had a far greater range than Surem's, which meant that Surem couldn't leave with just a single teleport.
"Shut up!" Surem shot back. "You have been here, and you have killed the attackers. However, I know that you could also have prevented this! I'm certain that you could have saved many disciples if you so wanted to! You are also not without fault! You were part of the Unrestrained Sect!"
Surem wasn't nearly as angry with Gravis as with his father, but he still blamed Gravis a little bit. Something inside of him told him that Gravis could have done more. However, Gravis hadn't given his best to protect the Sect. Instead, he had used this opportunity to temper himself!
It didn't matter if Gravis was in the right or not. In Surem's mind, Gravis was part of the Unrestrained Sect, and any disciple had to give their all to protect their Sect. Gravis had definitely not given his all, which meant that he was also at fault.
Gravis sighed. Gravis knew that Surem only said these words out of anger. As soon as he calmed down, he would no longer fault Gravis. After all, Gravis had killed all the attackers. This was already more than anyone else had done for the Sect.
'Sadly, Surem will never have the chance to calm down,' Gravis thought.
Why?
Because Surem would probably be dead before the hour was over.
The mission of Underworld had not been a complete success, but Underworld basically destroyed the entire Sect. This meant that the requester of the mission would become active very soon.
This requester most likely was Arthur, and Arthur knew when the attack had happened.
This meant that Arthur was already preparing himself for the last strike.
Arthur was most likely waiting in the vicinity.
Gravis knew that Surem made a decision that would result in his death out of rage. If Gravis wanted, he could hold Surem back and stop him from leaving.
However, this was not something that Gravis liked to do.
Allowing others to be free also meant allowing them to commit mistakes. Gravis had told Surem that he would die, but Surem brushed it off and left anyway.
If that was his choice, so be it.
Maybe Surem already knew that he was going to die.
Maybe, in Surem's infinite anger, he felt that it was worthwhile to exchange his life so that his father might receive the worst pain, the pain of seeing one's child die.
When one became unreasonably angry, one often saw such irrational decisions to be the best course of action. The payoff of getting revenge might even outweigh one's own life.
Surem was effectively committing suicide and writing a note that said that all of this was Liran's fault.
Meanwhile, Liran still hadn't moved. Liran just couldn't comprehend what had happened. Had his son just attacked him? Why? What was going on? Why was Surem so angry with Liran?
Liran had done his best for the Sect! He had done everything in his power to protect it!
Did Surem think that Liran could have just said no to the summons?
No, he couldn't have!
It wasn't that simple!
If Liran didn't go, the Sect would have had to placate the Sect Alliance with a ton of resources! If they didn't, the Sect would have been voted out of the Sect Alliance! What then? Then, the Sect would have lost everything!
They couldn't just leave this place!
Sending a Vice Sect Master instead of the Sect Master would have also been seen as rude. This would have made working together with the other Sects far harder in the future!
It was necessary to show their respect for long-term benefit!
Liran couldn't have done anything!
…that was how Liran's mind worked.
Over two minutes passed in which Liran still couldn't wrap his head around anything that had happened.
So many things had happened today.
Where could he even begin?
What to do now?
Liran tried to think of a plan but just couldn't formulate one.
However, he knew that there was one thing that he had to do.
"Where are the enemies?" Liran asked without looking at Gravis.
Gravis sneered in disgust.
Even in this situation, Liran was ignoring reality.
The enemy? That was what he was thinking about?
Liran probably thought that Surem was only emotional and would calm down. Surem was probably just distraught because of his Sect's demise. As soon as he calmed down, he would surely see that Liran couldn't have done anything, right?
Liran only had to wait.
Surem would calm down, come back, and apologize.
Liran had been hurt by Surem's actions, but he was a good father. He could understand his son's frustrations and would forgive him for his transgressions. After all, he was only a kid and couldn't know any better.
So, with the issue regarding his son taken care of, Liran thought about the next problem, which was the enemy.
"They're all dead," Gravis said.
And like that, Liran became shocked again.
"Dead? What? How?" he asked.
"I killed them," Gravis said.
"You… You killed them?" Liran asked in shock.
Gravis nodded.
Several seconds of silence passed.
"Then how did my entire Sect get destroyed!?" Liran shouted in absolute rage.
"You killed the attackers!? Then why didn't you do so earlier!? Why is my Sect destroyed!? Couldn't you have killed the enemy earlier!?" Liran shouted one word after the other in anger and hatred.
It was all Gravis' fault!
Gravis snorted. "I can take only one enemy at a time. So, obviously, while I take care of one of them, the others will continue to attack."
"You…. YOU!" Liran shouted. None of Gravis' words had any effect on him.
Liran had found a scapegoat, and his entire being embraced it.
Liran was not at fault!
Liran had not committed any mistakes!
It was all Gravis' fault!
"Am I interrupting?" a dark voice came from the side, filled with mirth.
Gravis sighed with closed eyes as Liran turned to the new arrival with hatred.
"Arthur! What do you want!?" Liran shouted.
Arthur chuckled a bit. "What an unfriendly welcome," he said. "I just killed one of the people that attacked your Sect, and that's how you repay me?"
Liran became shocked again, but his rage returned. "What are you talking about!? All the attackers are dead!"
"All attackers are dead!?" Arthur asked in genuine shock.
Arthur had thought that Underworld had succeeded and retreated. After all, the entire Sect was nothing but craters now. However, all of them died? Was that why they hadn't contacted him?
'Does that mean I don't have to pay them?' Arthur thought with excitement, feeling even better now than before.
His revenge was so close to being complete!
The entire Unrestrained Sect was dead!
Liran would soon also die since they would simply vote him out of the Sect Alliance.
This was great!
Arthur's face transformed from genuine shock into mock confusion. "Oh, okay," he said with a mocking tone masked as confusion. "But then, who was it that I just killed?"
"Could you help me identify the corpse?" Arthur asked with concern, although he couldn't hold back his filthy smirk near the end.
"Here, look!" Arthur said as he took out a head, holding it unceremoniously in front of him by its hair.
Liran's world broke down.
Gravis sighed.
"Tell me, who is that?" Arthur asked, shaking the head a little from side to side.
It was Surem's head.