“Our families were destroyed by only two men of the scorched. I lost everyone that I cared for in just that short period of time.”

Hertic’s expression turned serious as he glared at the struggling Zilan.

“Two thousand people died at the hands of your Ancestors.”

He then started laughing as he slowly pulled up his sleeves, revealing scales trailing from his wrists all the way up to his shoulders and beyond. Those arms definitely did not belong to a human being.

“Ironically, it took me sacrificing my own hands in order to get rid of them.”

Zilan couldn’t bear to listen to this psychopaths ranting any longer. So he closed his eyes and tried to focus on something else. The image of his mother came to mind.

Suddenly, an even greater force that was infused with boundless killing intent pushed down on Zilan causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

“YOU WILL LISTEN!” Hertic’s shout was filled with so much power that the ground beneath started shaking.

“The hatred you feel right now, do not think that you are the only one who feels such pain. But don’t worry I have something special planned for you.”

His words were neither rushed nor were they spoken too slowly. He simply stated them plainly, just like one would do when preaching matters of fact.

“Ehem, so after we killed those two crazy people, we managed to find their base. Can you believe they were living in a pocket dimension? I certainly couldn’t!”

“We then killed all those useless trash we found. Nothing but weeds really! However, we came across two babies who we decided to take in and train. However as you can see from the box of eyes I now possess, that decision ended up poisonous.

As for the pocket dimension, it became our base of operations and it’s where we are now.”

“Any questions?” asked Hertic as he lessened the pressure on Zilan.

“ *Cough* Why bring me here? You can just take my eyes and kill me...”

“Good question!” Interrupted Hertic. “ The reason is simple. You my dear Zero, have the potential to open the second scorched gate thus you’re a thousand times more valuable alive than you are dead.”

Zilan smirked, as he looked condescendingly at Hertic.

“Me? Putting in the effort to train, for what? For you? And then what, you kill me?”

Hertic noticing this look, moved closer to the cage and said,

“Now I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do to you. If after hearing my words and that look still remains unchanged I’ll let you go free!”

Zilan’s eyes widened as he listened to Hertic.

“I accept.” He shouted.

“Ha! I don’t remember asking.” Declared Hertic.

“This is the second reason I told you the story of who you really are, Zero.

If your father taught you anything about cultivation then, you must already know that tribulations, goals and will, play a major part in it. With just the conditions we have here although I could make your life a living hell, it would be impossible to have the perfect environment.

That’s why I instilled in you all of those major factors with the story, thus building a base for the spell. No matter what changes I make to your memories that hate and drive that has been born today will still remain in your heart. That’s why I’m going to use that new born drive and cast a very interesting spell. I’ll use its power to build the perfect storyline and then I’ll place you in a place that I have complete control over.

In there, you will live. You will believe in your purpose to destroy our Order and you will want to protect your loved ones so I’m very confident that your path will lead to a second scorched gate opening.”

Before Zilan could react, Hertic called out two names.

“Halim, Ficha come in and meet your new relative.”

The young girl in a veil appeared once again and following behind her was a middle-aged man with a kind smile on his face.

“Zero, you may not believe me now but I can guarantee that you will fall in love with Halim and Ficha will unquestionably hold the highest position in your heart. Oh! and there’s also another slave that I’m throwing in with you just to make things interesting.”

“Is this my new nephew?” laughed Ficha as he scratched his head.

Hertic also started chuckling along. Halim however, looked at the Zilan on the floor like he was nothing more than an ant. A cripple that she could kill at any moment.

Feeling the killing intent, Hertic quickly patted Halim on the head and whispered.

“Don’t fail me.” Instantly her gaze towards Zilan took a one hundred and eighty degree turn, softening exponentially.

Zilan on the other hand was horrified by Hertic’s words. He tried assuring himself that such a thing could not be possible however, after recalling what Hertic had done with his father’s eyes. He could no longer lie to himself about the chances of such a spell not existing.

“I will never forget! I swear I will never forget! Revenge, Justice...I will have it all one day!”

“Oh! That expression of yours isn’t too bad. As expected of my nephew.” continued Ficha.

“Mm, I’m also satisfied. It looks like I won the bet.” smiled Hertic.

“I wholeheartedly believe in Elder Hertic’s skill. Unlike with those other trash, this time it looks like you can really showcase your abilities.” Praised Ficha.

“You mean, One, Two and Three. Even all of them combined cannot compare to the golden goose we have here. Naturally, my methods this time will be much more thorough than the “patching” I did with those three trash.”

Present day.

In a place far from Morning Dew City.

“AaaaHH! Nooo!”

In the room of a large mansion, located in the heart of the Longent Mountain range, two people could be seen.

One of them was writhing in pain as he twisted and turned while grabbing his head. The other worriedly tried to restrain the movements of the tormented one so that he wouldn’t hurt himself.

These two were none other than Hertic and Jibral. They had left the headquarters because Hertic had felt a sharp headache some days ago, which could only mean a change had occurred with Zero, which weakened his spell. So he immediately gave out orders to ensure that he absorbs the thousand year old ginsengs power, thus restoring the spells power. Not long after, they got confirmation that the ginseng had been delivered. Hertic then decided to take his time as he prepared a few things for his meeting with Zero.

Unfortunately, a few hours later and his spell, the one he had worked so hard to comprehend and perfect, was destroyed. And to make matters worse it was done by a cripple.

“How?” was the only word he managed to say before the backlash hit him.

Jibral who was drinking tea with Hertic couldn’t believe it when he suddenly saw Hertic go mad. Strange cackling sounds as well as wails of pain continued to escape from Hertics mouth as he fell to the floor and started foaming from the mouth.

Jibral acted quickly placing the respected Elder Hertic on his side and forcing him to swallow a normal looking white pill.

“What’s going on?” wondered Jibral as he injected his spiritual power into Hertic in order to find the root of the problem. However, due to the defences laid out by Hertic himself, it was almost impossible for Jibral’s energy to advance.

“Your own caution is going to lead to your death.” Thought Jibral as he took out all the white pills he had and one by one he started shoving them down Hertics throat.

Only after the twentieth pill, did Hertic’s body finally calm down. Jibral breathed a sigh of relief as he quickly sent word for healers from Headquarters to arrive.

“All these decades we’ve spent together and not once have I ever seen Hertic in this state. Yet, the moment we make a trip to see that thing, this happens? He is definitely involved!”

Jibral was no fool, he could feel it in his gut that all of this was connected somehow to Zilan. So he decided, instead of waiting for Hertic to wake up, the moment the healers arrived he would quickly head to Morning Dew City.