"I've never said this, but you've got beautiful eyes. They always reminded me of Tinka's, the way they shone under the light, promise me your shine will never dim." Minos said with a warm smile.
"I-I promise."
"Good, then I've got nothing to worry about. Shine on Rubella, because from now on, you're the new guiding light of Trin's Abode." Minos said, before swinging his fingers across her brow, causing her to immediately go unconscious.
In that moment, Minos had used the Forbidden Thought technique, completely wiping away any memory related to him from Rubella's memory.
As long as she was connected to him in any way, she'd perpetually be in danger, not to mention the emotional scars Minos's abandonment would leave behind.
So despite how much it pained him to do so, he did what he thought was best, proceeding to do the same towards the others.
With everyone's memory wiped, and Minos using his Omniscient Eyes to scan their memories and make sure no one was left behind, he finally nodded with contentment.
Like that, Minos walked off into the forest, off towards the shoreline, still having one more group of people he had to talk to before he could leave behind this continent forever.
…
Near the shoreline, the Salt Breathing Tribe was going about their days as they normally did, however in recent times, their conversation was nearly always about Mister Rovo, who they knew as Minos.
The people worried most about all this was naturally Ronkus and Meninka, who not only had Minos to worry about, but also their daughter and granddaughter.
"Do you think they're safe?" Meninka couldn't help but ask her husband for the hundredth time.
"Of course, after all you know Minos's character, I'm sure he prepared plenty for such a scenario." Ronkus replied confidently, though his stern face betrayed his inner-anxiety.
"Have you tried contacting him recently?" Meninka continued to ask.
"His Rovo's still shut-off, I can't get through to him." Ronkus said as he shaked his head.
Hearing the response, Meninka couldn't help but start nibbling at her nails, an action she only ever did when she was worried.
"Well we can't just stand here doing nothing. Let's go look for them!" Meninka said after a moment of contemplation.
"Impossible! We're only low-level cultivators, if we get involved in that chase we'll only end up harming Minos and ourselves, not helping." Ronkus immediately replied.
"What kind of father are you! We have to do something!" Meninka shouted in frustration, annoyed at Ronkus's lackluster response.
"You think I don't want to help!" Ronkus shouted back in anger, causing his wife to leer back in shock, having never been shouted at from him before.
Seeing his wife's fearful face, Ronkus immediately settled down, walking forward to embrace his wife before speaking again.
"I'm sorry for raising my voice, and yes I will help, but not now. If the three of them don't come back within 24 hours, I'll head out and lead a team personally."
"I'm also sorry, I shouldn't have shouted at you…" Meninka replied after a moment, realizing she was also putting a lot of pressure on her husband who was already anxious as is.
"Stranger!" A villager suddenly shouted from the distance, catching their attention, causing the two to quickly run out the door.
"What is it?" Ronkus asked, though he received his answer immediately as he spotted a strange old man slowly walking towards his hut.
"Who is that, and why does he look somewhat familiar?" Meninka said.
"He looks like… Minos?!" Ronkus said after some recollection, causing him and Meninka to look at each other with shock.
Having both reached the same conclusion, they immediately ran towards the old man, not even bothering to respond to the other villagers as they did so.
Soon enough, Ronkus arrived in front of the old man, standing at a slight distance as he waited for him to get closer.
After a few more steps, Minos finally arrived in front of Ronkus, finally looking up to reveal his weathered face and milky-eyes.
"My heaven's, what happened to you!" Meninka asked with shock as she finally saw Minos's face and confirmed for sure that it was him.
"I'm sorry." Minos suddenly said, causing the two's hearts to drop.
"Sorry for what?" Ronkus asked, despite not wanting to hear the answer.
"Tinka… She's dead." Minos finally said, having to fight the words out of himself.
"Wh-What did you just say?"
"Tinka… She's gone, I couldn't save her. I'm sorry."
"M–My daughter's dead?" Meninka said, dropping to her knees as her eyes went blank, her body in complete shock.
Ronkus's eyes also turned red, but fortunately he managed to hold himself, only asking another question through clenched teeth.
"What about Rinka, where is she?"
"She's fine, but I sent her someplace else, a place where she can truly thrive given her potential, and where I won't be able to hurt her anymore."
"What do you mean? Are you saying my granddaughter is gone, tossed away in some foreign place!?" Ronkus shouted, clutching Minos tightly by the collar of his robe.
"I'm sorry, it's my own fault. Heaven Forsaken… He told me one day I'd know what that meant, and now I do."
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Ronkus kept shouting, even further irritated by what he saw as Minos's rambling.
"It doesn't matter, I'm just a phantom to you anyways…" Minos said, before swiping his hand against Ronkus's forehead, causing his eyes to roll to the back of his head as he fell unconscious.
Seeing their patriarch faint like that, the other tribe members couldn't help but shout in terror, having never expected Minos to do something like that.
Looking up from Ronkus's body, Minos swung his entire arm forward, sending out a massive crescent-moon shaped Forbidden Thought, that immediately washed over the entire tribe.
Like that, one by one, every member fell over, completely knocked out, leaving behind only Meninka, who had yet to react.
With a sigh, Minos did the same thing to her, gently grabbing and lowering her body to the floor as she was knocked out.
After a final glance at the tribe, Minos headed towards the shore, using his incredible strength to toss a boat into the water before he set off, his destination unknown.
…
The hunt for 'Mister Rovo' never cooled down despite his apparent disappearance, in fact it got even hotter as the days passed.
However after a full month without any sightings, some people began acknowledging the fact that he was gone, either dead in some far off place, or having fully escaped.
At this point, the only people who hadn't let up their search efforts was the empire, and that was mainly because they had access to something the masses didn't, which was Minos's son.
Using a special technique, they could extract little Minos's blood and use it as a magnet of sorts.
However, with Minos having left the continent, this technique was rendered useless, causing even the empire to mostly give up on their search.
"So? Anything?" Loyfin asked the man below him.
"I'm afraid not your Majesty. By now we've already pretty much confirmed that he's left the continent entirely, likely taken to the seas."
"Dammit! That bastard. There's no way he's crazy enough to head into the deep seas, even my brother didn't have that courage. He must be hiding on some island, so keep the search going."
"But your Majesty, even with our strength, searching island by island is practically impossible!"
"I don't care! I want his body retrieved whether alive or dead, not to mention his wealth. Even a drop of that will have made years of searching worth it, much less all of it."
"Very well, your Majesty."
"And that grandson of mine, how is he doing?"
"Fine, in fact he's taken to leading the search, he seems very committed towards finding Mister Rovo."
"Of course, after all the man killed his mother, I'd be angry too. Anyways, just alert me if anything new pops up." Loyfin said, seemingly not even remembering that the woman in question wasn't only little Minos's mother, but also his daughter.
"Naturally, your Majesty." The man said with a bow, before exiting the room.
Leaning back in his throne, Loyfin couldn't help but think about Minos's wealth once more, but unfortunately for him, Minos's wealth had disappeared along with Rinka, not to mention he was much crazier than his brother ever was.
…
A month had passed since Minos had taken to the seas, and by now the occasional sight of small islands had long since vanished.
Not even the birds could be bothered flying out this far, the fish and the vast blue sea being the only two things left to keep Minos company.