The Dragon Lord (1)

"Oh, the ghosts? Some sort of soul stones lock their souls in and the evil accumulated over time, and someone unleashed it here," Lura answered, seeing me glancing behind them.

Rajah stood up suddenly, sniffing the air. He turned around, his face serious. "They're on the move, Lura. Something forced them too."

The mysterious twinkle in her eyes turned black as she glared in the direction of the dead trees. "C'mon. We waited for you long enough," she beckoned.

Fiona tilted her face, sensing the sombre mood. I kissed her on the forehead, and let her down. "Stay close to me, Fiona. This seems dangerous."

"Mhm," she mumbled in agreement. I took a long stare at her, wondering what she was thinking about before dashing behind her.

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My cultivation base wasn't high enough to catch up to them. I had to make many stops to catch a breather. However, I noticed that many of the ghost's weapons that formed from teh darkness did not disappear along with them. The black mist was layered with blue... and sure enough, I could use the Frost Devil Arts. The ghosts must've been some low level ones as they didn't provide me much for my cultivation, but I sure won't complain.

I don't have the time to meditate in a cave for some thousands years to cultivate as Fiona exists, you know. Her cuteness is there for me to spoil and her problems are there for me to solve.

My lungs wheezed as I squeezed another pill into my mouth. The familiar coolness immediate returned my energy, and I dashed right beside Fiona. Rajah's nose is amazing, to be able to detect people from this far away. Or is this the result of his cultivation base? And although I was dead tired from running, I could stay and observe Fiona out fo the corner of my eye. Her small body leaning forwards as she hovered across the ground, her indifferent face and eyes staring ahead. Too cool. Too cute!

I need to reach Nascent Soul soon, so I can fly like that with Fiona.

"Daddy. Pay attention, there's a tree."

"Douf!!"

Fiona sighed, as she turned around and helped me up. My heart felt warm feeling her the touch of her fingers on my skin and I threw her into an embrace again. "Thank you, Fiona. Now, are we here?"

She looked around, her spiritual sense scanning the surroundings. The ashes of the dead trees covered the ground, as their withered trunks and branches stuck out like pitchforks. The red sky now had white wisps of what I think was clouds the further we entered.

No, not clouds, I sniffed. This was some sort of mist that suppresses one's spiritual energy. "There," Fiona pointing, spotting Rajah and Lura behind some dead trees.

I walked over to a puddle of black. No, it was more of lake that spanned my entire sight, from left to right. The white mist was terribly dense, obscurely my vision more and completely suppressed my spiritual sense. That made me feel quite useless here, especially since... there was a presence around.

Rajah growled. Both Lura's and Rajah's eyes narrowed as the black figure emerged from the fog, and in his hands was somebody... an elf. A human carried an elf. Rajah let out a deafening howl, freezing all of us in our tracks as it echoed in my ears. I couldn't even seen him when he disappeared and reappeared behind the human, his eyes just an inch away from his neck.

Lura had her bow drawn, an arrow that was sending silver sparks like lighting. Her usual calm eyes and nonchalant expression was one of fury as her fingers trembled. That arrow could fire at any moment and probably blast his brains out.

"Let my sister go, human," she enunciated each word slowly. Rajah grr'ed from behind him.

He didn't seem to be bothered by the threats of these two. I followed his gaze that searched around our group, before it landed behind me.

"Princess Fiona," he said with a smile. "I knew you'd be here."

"Desmonde," she answered nonchalantly as they locked eyes. "Fourth in command of Mishadow, they told me you were dead." She paused and gathered a breath, her voice hardening. "Where is my father?"

He laughed. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but form the look of things... I'm expecting a betrayal of some sort. There is zero respect in how he addressed Fiona as princess, and the fact that he predicted our movements... my eyes narrowed.

Fiona was right, entering the Forbidden Lands was the right call. My mental fortitude and my cultivation both grew stronger and we even found a lead on her father's death. And this guy hold some clues... if he dared to betray Fiona and her father, will I won't show any mercy. Heartbreak glowed blue as killing intent seeped out.

As an assassin from Fiona's father top assassin organization, he naturally could tell. He turned to me and smirked. "Isn't this your father, princess Fiona? Qi condensation realm, interesting, and he's hanging out with the beast men and elves we were tasked to kill."

"Let go of her," Fiona stated without room for negotiation. Her aura really seemed befitting of a princess.

"As the Princess says," Desmonde shrugged and threw her into Lura's arms. "Now could you too leave us alone for a talk?" He asked, reminding me like those hooligans back on Earth.

Rajah snarled, clearly hostile towards us after he knew that Fiona recognized Desmonde, as well as his words earlier-the beast men and the elves that Mishadow were tasked to kill. What exactly went on after the Great War? "The Dragon Lord has requested an meeting. From all of you."