Chapter 288: In My Final Moments
A horizontal portal took out one of Unbreakable Right's legs as he ran, forcing him to trip and fall over. He wanted to pull himself forward, but two more portals made his hands look just like Supreme Left's—nonexistent.
He used his Cultivation to fight against the Gravity Domain, raising himself up and using his singular leg to propel himself forward. He wasn't giving up yet!
Other Pillars of Justice members rushed forward to assist, but they couldn't get close to William's Domains, so they were forced to launch Spells and mental attacks from afar. Unfortunately, Spells at such a distance would hardly have any effect on the man which made the Cultivators feel useless.
William was enjoying himself as he chased down the two Cultivators that were four Realms above him, almost five, but he knew he had to end it soon.
His Mana Reserve was only three quarters full and rapidly depleting as he maintained multiple Domains at the same time. Just this wasn't enough to have such a large effect, but the expanded Fire and Earth Domains cost three times as much Mana as before.
In terms of range, the Domains were countless times more Mana efficient, but three Mana per second was just one Mana short of his current Mana Regeneration. With the two SS-Rank Domains active along with the Space, Blessing, Summoning, Wind, Ice, and Gravity Domains, William was losing a net 8 Mana per second.
If he was stalled for a bit under ten minutes, William would be completely out of Mana! At that point, it wouldn't be surprising if they turned the battle around with some sort of trump card.
William stopped playing with his food at that moment and covered the two Cultivators with ice, removing their remaining limbs so they couldn't escape. Unfortunately, even that wasn't enough to kill high-level Cultivators, which was made clear when he failed to kill Perion and Vishnal multiple times.
He corroded their remaining Artifacts with Darkness Mana before they could trigger, then took what was valuable into his Space Ring. He walked up to the pair of frozen Cultivators while Uri caught up, then the Abyssal Weapon Shifter appeared in his hand and swapped to an executioner's axe.
As the blade swept sideways towards Unbreakable Right's neck, the man closed his eyes and memories of his past resurfaced. Thousands of years' worth of memories replayed in his mind in a split second, a single tear forming in the eye of his grizzled face.
"Big Brother Yoshiki!" a young boy of about six years of age yelled out with glee as he ran towards a then-thirteen Unbreakable Right. The boy looked up at Yoshiki's shoulder, which was hauling the corpse of a large boar in the Foundation Establishment Realm. "Did you hunt that? Big Brother is so strong!"
"I did." Yoshiki replied with a smile as he rubbed the boy's blonde hair. "It's for the ceremony tonight, since it's your special day. One day you'll be strong enough to hunt these things by yourself, but I'll still do it for you as long as you'd like. After all, I am your family's servant. And I'm strong too!"
"No!" the little boy replied with a pouty look as he tapped his face. "Just because you're my servant doesn't make you any less than I am! Yoshiki, you always talk like this!"
"Hahaha, I can't help it. You're so mature for your age." Yoshiki laughed. His expression became a little serious as he asked, "Shinpai, are you nervous? You always tap your face when you're worried about something, what is it?"
Shinpai shook his head, then nodded. "What if I don't do good and daddy is upset with me?"
"He won't be. I promise. You'll inherit the family's Cultivation Technique with no problem, and he'll be proud of you. He already is. You were born as a C-Rank Fire Manamatus, that's already impressive! Even I am only D-Rank!
You can reach the S-Rank one day, and maybe even whatever is above that!"
Shinpai beamed upon hearing Yoshiki's flattering words, nodding his head in agreement. "You're the best, Big Brother!"
The memory flipped to a scene ten years later.
"Yoshiki, you've done well all these years as our family's servant, but I can't have you stirring up such rebellious thoughts in my son." a blonde-haired man that appeared to be in his late fifties looked down upon a kneeling Unbreakable Right coldly.
Yu Yoshiki was a full head taller than his teenage self, and his Cultivation had reached the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, slightly slower than most members of the Yu Royal Family. His talent was actually much greater than theirs, but he was frequently held back over the last decade by his duties as a servant and didn't want to risk being targeted out of jealousy.
"I'm sorry, Master Gonyon, I meant no harm. Your son has worked very hard to please you, yet you still won't acknowledge him. Are his achievements not enough?" Unbreakable Right responded while lowering his head further.
"Don't speak of these things as if you know what's on my mind."
Yoshiki remained silent while Yu Gonyon prepared a scroll containing his servant contract. With this piece of parchment, Yoshiki was bound to the Yu Royal Family for life. His Cultivation and techniques were unrestricted, but he had to follow every order from the holder of the contract.
"Yu Yoshiki, servant of the Yu Royal Family. I order you remain jailed in the Nine Pavilions Sacred Prison for the next five years. Because this is your first offense and you have done well in your Cultivation, your punishment has been reduced." Yu Gonyon ordered while inscribing his words into the scroll with his Mana.
"Thank you, Master Gonyon." Yoshiki replied.
"Don't thank me yet." Yu Gonyon said before adding, "Yu Shinpai will also be jailed with you, and you will battle daily from within the Nine Pavilions Sacred Prison until you both learn the meaning of loyalty."
Yoshiki raised his head and looked at Yu Gonyon with surprise, "He's your son, how can you do this to him?" Read latest chapters at m_v-l'e|m,p| y- r
"And you were your parents' son, yet they freely gave you up to our family to save themselves. I'm not like them—I can do whatever I want, now go before I increase the punishment."
Four and a half years later.
"Master Shinpai, we're getting out soon. What will do you when you get out?" Yoshiki asked in the middle of their daily battle. Rather than a life-threatening experience, the two had perfected their teamwork over the last few years.
Without so much as a glance in the other person's direction, they knew exactly which Spells to use and when, and had even discovered a few combination Spells that would normally be impossible for any other Cultivators to use.
"I don't know, but I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to explore the World a little bit. Maybe we can even discover more new Techniques to improve my Cultivation further." Shinpai replied while casting a Fireball Spell with strength near the peak of the Golden Core Realm.
"You don't want to visit with any of your family first?" Yoshiki asked while catching the Fireball in a cauldron-shaped Earth Dome that absorbed the entire blast.
"Tch! As if I cared about them!" Shinpai called the Fireball to expand within the cauldron, the expansive force shattering the Earth Spell.