The Guardian Spirit watched the scene unfold, her expression unreadable, yet the curiosity in her athyst eyes was clear. The slender figure in the black dress remained motionless, her gaze fixed on Ricky as if trying to piece together what exactly her strange master was trying to achieve.
Ricky ignored her.
His attention was locked entirely on Darius’ unmoving figure, still cocooned in the fading remnants of black magic threads. Shadows clung faintly to the prince’s limbs, but they no longer had the sa tight grip as before.
A stillness hung in the air.
Then it happened—a delicate thread of connection ford between Ricky and the prince. It wasn’t physical, but spiritual—intangible yet undeniable.
Ricky’s eyes glead. He could feel it—the sa ethereal bond that had connected him with Noctyss now pulsed between him and Darius. It was a brand, an invisible chain forged from the depths of the Mother and Son Poison.
He released a long breath of relief.
Without waiting another mont, Ricky stepped back slightly and gave the order, his voice calm yet commanding:
"Release him."
The Guardian Spirit didn’t move.
She simply stared at him, an unspoken question resting on her lips. Her elegant brows furrowed slightly in disbelief. A Stage 3 being... released? Was her master truly that reckless? Or was he simply suicidal?
The silence between them stretched thin.
Finally, Ricky offered a forced smile, the kind that barely reached his eyes. He could already tell what she was thinking.
Of course, he couldn’t explain that the so-called noble prince of Eldros was now bound to his will, his fate sealed through an ancient poison. Even if he tried, who in their right mind would believe such a ridiculous claim?
So instead of explaining, he simply repeated himself—this ti, his tone dipped into sothing colder, steadier:
"Don’t worry. Just release him."
His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an edge that made it difficult to question.
For a mont, the Guardian Spirit held his gaze, her athyst eyes flashing with a flicker of sothing unspoken—respect, perhaps, or wariness. Then, without a word, she lifted her delicate hand.
With a flick of her wrist, the shadowy bindings unraveled, dissolving like mist in the wind.
And just like that, Darius was free.
The aura of a Stage 3 being imdiately surged out like a tidal wave.
The room trembled under the sudden pressure. Dust quivered on stone, and the surrounding spiritual energy warped as the prince’s sealed power returned to him all at once.
Yet, Ricky stood there unmoved, his compound eyes calmly watching the awakening figure.
Because this ti...
The beast was already collared.
Imdiately, the air around them thickened—as if reality itself had been frozen in place.
The unshackled might of a Stage 3 being burst forth in full, crashing over the inheritance space like a tidal wave. The atmosphere groaned under the strain, individual particles of mana grinding to a halt, suspended in a dense, invisible fog of pressure.
"Master..."
The Guardian Spirit turned sharply toward Ricky, concern flashing across her face. Her voice was barely a whisper, her instincts already warning her of danger.
But what she saw next stunned her.
Ricky stood still—utterly calm.
His compound eyes glowed faintly in the dim light, and his expression remained completely relaxed, as if the overwhelming power that filled the space was nothing more than a passing breeze.
No resistance. No strain. Not even the faintest flicker of discomfort.
To anyone else, it might’ve looked like an act. But she could tell—Ricky wasn’t pretending.
Not even a little.
He was truly unaffected.
Inwardly, Ricky let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Now that his second spiritual space had fully matured, his spiritual force had crossed the 40-point threshold—ten points higher than the peak of Stage 2. Though he didn’t know the exact scale of power for a Stage 3 being, one thing had beco very clear:
Prince Darius wasn’t stronger than him.
Not anymore.
The realization struck like thunder in Ricky’s chest. The effects of the Mother and Son Poison were absolute—he had trusted in that from the start. But now, with this revelation, he knew one thing with certainty.
He didn’t just own the leash—he was the stronger beast.
His confidence surged, burning away any lingering doubts. His mind worked fast, analyzing the shifting power dynamics like a tactician reading a battlefield.
And then—
A smooth, indifferent voice echoed from ahead, slicing through the tension like a blade.
"What a surprise, Venom Fang Overlord. You’ve truly astonished ."
The voice held a strange, elegant amusent.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine a creature like you would inherit sothing so profound."
Prince Darius Eldros stood tall, his posture refined and regal. His arms rested behind his back in a casual display of control, and his aura—although no longer suppressive—still carried the commanding grace of nobility.
His silver eyes t Ricky’s.
And when he saw him, a faint smirk danced on his lips.
There was no hatred. No aggression.
Only curiosity—and a flicker of admiration.
"Truly," he said, his tone laced with amusent, "this little pest has beco quite the serpent."
When Darius had first heard the na Venom Fang Overlord, he hadn’t thought much of it.
Just another pest crawling out from the dirt. An anomaly, perhaps. A footnote in so distant forest.
He hadn’t been impressed.
He hadn’t even been interested.
But then ca the trial—and everything changed.
He still rembered that mont vividly. While they were struggling to comprehend the foundational principles of the inheritance, that monster had gone and done the impossible.
Ricky didn’t theorize. He achieved.
While his peers debated spiritual resonance and dinsional flow, Ricky had stepped into the domain of legends. Not by force, but by understanding.
It was a mont that shattered Darius’ arrogance. And even now, just standing before this evolved creature—this impossibility given flesh—he could still feel the echoes of that humiliation.
But as another thought surfaced in his mind, Darius’ lips slowly curled into a smirk.
He glanced upward, briefly calculating. The ti... yes, it should have started by now.
And with that dark realization, a flicker of amusent glead in his eyes.
The massacre.
He adopted a grand posture, spine straight and tone hoarse with faux benevolence. His voice rasped like wind through a cracked tombstone:
"Venom Fang Overlord, you should already be aware of the outside world’s condition..."
His words hung heavy in the air.
As expected, Ricky’s compound eyes imdiately flared, glowing with a violent light.
A sharp chill ran through him—not from fear, but confusion, sharp and sudden.
"What...? How the hell does he know what’s happening outside?"
The question hit like a thunderclap.
Ricky’s thoughts spun rapidly, a hundred scenarios unraveling in his mind. His gaze narrowed, mandibles twitching slightly.
"He’s not supposed to know... The entire forest is sealed. The inheritance space is isolated from the real world."
"Unless—"
Suddenly, a dreadful possibility erged.
His core grew cold.
Could it be... that this wasn’t Darius’ first ti here?
Or worse—
Had Darius made a pact with soone—or sothing—that could see through the veils of this place?
Whatever the answer, Ricky instinctively knew one thing: this was bad.
Very bad.
And Darius’ knowing smile, the ease with which he ntioned the outside world, only deepened that pit forming in his gut.
Or... was he the only one who didn’t know?
That possibility struck Ricky like a cold gust of wind.
His mandibles twitched.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he beca—this information must’ve already been circulating among the higher-ups. These high-stage cultivators must have known. Maybe even for a long ti.
And yet... no one warned the masses.
No signs. No preparation. No rcy.
Just silence.
Why?
Ricky’s compound eyes narrowed, glowing with a dull intensity as he sank deeper into the storm of his thoughts.
Unless—
A darker idea coiled in his mind like a viper.
Unless they wanted everyone to die.
Suddenly, without warning, his antennae twitched violently, as if struck by lightning. An icy pressure slithered down his carapace, wrapping around him like ghostly fingers.
Sothing was watching.
Ricky felt it with an instinct as primal as breath—the suffocating sensation of a superior existence focusing its gaze upon him. His body turned rigid. The air around him thickened.
It was like standing at the edge of an abyss that stared back.
His thoughts—his suspicions—had drawn sothing’s attention.
Sothing vast. Sothing unspeakable.
And in that mont, panic blood in Ricky’s chest.
"I need to stop."
He forcefully shut down his thoughts, trying to purge his mind of anything remotely connected to the topic.
But it wasn’t enough.
He needed noise—chaos—anything to drown out the silence that might betray his inner thoughts.
So he latched on to the first idiotic thing that ca to mind.
"Jiggle physics is the best!"
He scread internally.
"Jiggle physics is the best!"
He repeated, eyes blanking out the world.
"Jiggle physics is the best!"
He kept chanting it like a sacred mantra, focusing entirely on bouncing things and gravity-defying nonsense. A wall of ridiculousness to shield his mind from wandering into forbidden territory again.
Slowly... gradually... that terrible pressure began to recede.
Whatever had been watching seed to turn away.
And Ricky?
He stood there, silent and expressionless—but behind those insectoid eyes, he was shaking.
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