One of the elder asked: "Patriarch, are there no other options?"

The Patriarch shook his head as he told him: "If you were him, would you accept any other outcome?"

The elder remained silent. It was the truth and he was aware of it. As old men who survived this long, they knew what it meant to destroy the problem before it appeared. They were all sighing. After a moment, the Patriarch spoke: "Give the order, we shall eradicate Yong-Sik's direct line"

However, before the elders got up, he said: "Wait. We should go ourselves. This is a sin that we should bear"

Then, he got up along with the others and they headed for the teleportation array.

...

Inside the mansion, Min-Su's parents were finally told about their son and daughter. They hugged their daughter while crying and asking for forgiveness. But the daughter did not respond at all. Hae-Hyuk witnessed this and turned to Hye-Ja who accompanied him along with Song-Min.He asked her: "Can you check the damage?"

Hye-Ja didn't mind and went to the girl. She pushed the parents away gently and placed a hand on the head of the girl. Then, she began to say: "Her core is heavily damaged and saturated with a few space and chaos related elements. Her sight, hearing, smell and taste are inexistant, long corroded. Also, most of her ligaments and bones are torn or broken. She's like a broken husk. She's alive yet not alive"

Song-Min added: "Well, that's what happens to those sentenced to the pillars"

Except Jin and Sophia who didn't know what those pillars were, everyone had a sad expression. The fact was that this girl had been enduring gruesome and constant torture for more than a decade. Her parents were bawling on the ground not far.

Sophia couldn't help but ask what the pillars were and it was Hye-Ja who answered her: "It is what our jails are like in these parts, little girl~ The elements in the wild are very chaotic. So, we build a pillar there and tie the prisoner to it. He is forced to endure the raging space elements continuously"

Sophia couldn't believe what she heard. This was pure savagery. True evil. How could men push other men into such a torture?! Tears were threatening from falling as she tightened her fists. How could such a thing be allowed?! She was going to speak out her mind before Jin placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head sideways. His meaning was clear: "Not here and not now"

She decided to keep it in. For the moment. She had a lot to discuss with this new Master of hers. The more time passed, the more she saw how evil everything seemed to be.

Hae-Hyuk didn't bother dealing with her feelings yet. As Jin noticed, it was not the time. Instead, he took out a pellet from his spatial ring and sent it to Hye-Ja. She grabbed it and asked: "Are you sure? This isn't worth it"

Hae-Hyuk only nodded. Song-Min chuckled as Hye-Ja shrugged and forced the pellet down the girl's throat. The injuries began to heal at a rapid rate. As it did so, Song-Min expressed his opinion to Hae-Hyuk: "You're such a sucker"

Hae-Hyuk glared at him only to remember that he had a blindfold and returning his gaze back to the girl. Her eyes began to see the light once more. She was confused. She...Where was she? Wasn't she tied to a pillar? She saw an unknown beauty next to her, smiling. She didn't recognize her. Then, she looked further and recognized her parents. They wore rags and were crying on the ground.

She felt anger and confusion. But before she could do or think any more, the woman next her said: "She's back. That pill was truly a treasure, you will regret it later, Hae-Hyuk"

She didn't quite comprehend what this meant. But it didn't seem to matter since her parents hurried to hug her as soon as the woman's words finished. They kept expressing their sorrow and apologizing. She was truly unable to comprehend the situation...

...

It took some time but the Patriarch and elders managed to get every member of the direct line still in the branch quarters. Many seemed to have escaped under the lead of one of Yong-Sik's son. The Patriarch asked one of the elder: "Did he warn his son?"

The elder asked was the most senior of the five who went to pick Yong-Sik. He told the Patriarch that he did not but had expressed satisfaction towards his son... From there, it was easy to understand. Yong-Sik tried to get his son to die in his stead and his son realized. Or so it might seem. Knowing Yong-Sik, it probably did all this to give a chance to live to his son.

Yong-Sik knew he would die and that his entire descendance might not be spared. That was how it worked after all. He made his son believe that he betrayed him in order to push him to counter him with his own betrayal...All to provide him with an opportunity to escape alive. And his son did exactly so.

The Patriarch sighed. Yong-Sik was really a doting father until the very end. The elder asked him: "What should we do? Do we send a pursuit?"

The Patriarch waved away: "No need. If anyone asks, tell them that they were killed along the others. We couldn't protect our brother but we can at least grant his last wish"

All the elders nodded as they silently agreed with the decision. If it had been them, they would have hope for this same level of treatment. Yong-Sik deserved at least this much since he died for the clan to survive. His death was ugly, true, as not even a corpse remained, but it was an honorable death. He didn't die for nothing.

After a moment, the Patriarch words fell: "Let us sin one last time, brothers"

And then, a rain of powerful spiritual energy washed along the area, slaughtering every single clan member under. The direct descendant of Yong-Sik were no more.