"Haha, idiot. Don't worry, I'll be back."
Looking around, he felt he had appeared in the wrong destination. "What's this place?" He thought, feeling an overwhelming force pressing him down. Looking around, he fell to the ground with a fearful expression.
"No, no! Don't do this!!" Lucius screamed, his voice echoing in the dark void.
Moments earlier, Kael had activated his abyssal energy and instantly stretched forth his hand making use of the abyssal domain as Lucius was about to escape.
With the skill activated, his abyssal heart surged wildly, releasing a pulse of energy that spread around the room. The air around him began to distort, the room trembled with a dark swirling vortex appearing before him. The golden portal flickered before dissipating into particles of energy. The swirling vortex began to expand, spreading over the room within seconds, and the surroundings began to change.
Kael felt himself back in the abyss with his powers surging wildly. The usual endless darkness was present with the beasts within the area attracted by the sudden appearance of Kael. "It wasn't like this back then," Kael thought while staring around. He could sense everything down to the strand of energy within the first layer of the abyss he controlled.
With his scythe placed on his shoulders, Kael stood before Lucius with a ruthless expression. The energy seemed to swirl around him, giving him an intimidating aura.
They were surrounded by the ferocious abyssal beasts that were under his control.
He collapsed on his knees, his legs unable to support him anymore. That was the last teleportation paper he had. An artifact that was rare within the realm.
Kael walked forward in calm, steady steps. "I warned you, didn't I?" He said, his voice now deep and filled with power. Swinging the scythe causally, he looked at the fearful Lucius.
"Arghhh," Lucius screamed out in pain. It was just a casual swing and had taken his only good arm.
"Please, I'll tell you everything! Anything you wan-"
"Arghhh!" Lucius screamed, holding the side of his head.
Now, finally, before him, Kael grabbed his throat, lifting him up. "I warned you, didn't I?" He repeated, increasing his grip.
"Arghhh! Please! My master! She's with my master! If you kill me now, you won't be able to get to him."
"Really?" Kael muttered with a mocking frown. "Alright, pushing him, Lucius staggered backwards in pain. "I-"
SPLATT!
Lucius felt the world spinning around before getting consumed by darkness.
A severed head soared through the dark sky, before it landed with a sickening thud, bouncing and rolling across the ground. Meanwhile, the decapitated body stood erect for a moment, a fountain of blood erupting from the open neck, before crumpling to the ground with a lifeless thud.
Kael felt no shred of emotion taking the life of someone. Rather, he felt a strange deep urge which he couldn't even explain. The beasts stood from afar in fear, watching their master.
Lucius' body soon began to melt into the ground as if getting devoured. Kael, in turn, felt a surge of energy flooding over him. The process was done within seconds with nothing now left of the deceased Lucius.
Kael felt the foreign energy within him surging wildly as if wanting to tear him apart. Yet, the abyssal heart released a pulse, a single pulse that began corrupting the golden energy rapidly. The golden strands of energy turned into dark energy which was absorbed into his abyssal heart.
Kael felt the scythe in his hand stir for a moment before going still. With the process fully completed, he felt he had gained an increase in his strength. "It's been long, huh?" He muttered, staring at the dark expanse.
"The Abyssal Dominion is truly powerful," he thought, clenching his fist tightly. Looking at the beasts, he felt no urge to slay them. Just as he opened a portal to return back to the other side, he staggered backwards, feeling a banging pain in his head.
"Memories? Whose memories?" He mumbled in confusion. "Now I see. It's Lucius' memories." The memories played in his head, filling him with important information he needed.
"It seems I have a long journey ahead of me. A journey to the west, huh?" Regaining his composure, he finally walked through the portal, appearing back at the room. The room was in a complete mess, rubbles and splinters from destroyed furniture covering most part of the floor.
"That's true. The item is still active," he thought, stretching his hand towards the far corner of the room. A medallion freed itself from the rumbles surrounding it and flew right towards Kael's opened palm.
With the memories, Kael had understood how Lucius was able to summon those items from thin air. It was all due to a storage ring. Unfortunately, everything got devoured along with his body.
"I'll hold onto this," he thought, keeping the medallion in his pocket. Walking towards the door, he pushed it open, entering a long hall leading to another large double door at the end. Not wanting to waste his time, he instantly teleported to the throne room.
"That's true. She would be in her room," Kael thought. Activating his void sense, he began searching the rooms in the palace. "Found it," he snapped his fingers, teleporting right at the location.
Appearing at the entrance of the large golden ornate door, he took in deep breaths before knocking loudly.
Waiting for some minutes, he heaved a sigh and was about to knock again when the door was pushed open. "What are you doing here? Are you lost? You're supposed to be spending quality time with your wife."
"That's not it. Aretha has been taken," he said, heading straight to the point.
"Taken! What do you mean?!" Queen Otrera's aura surged as she dashed across the hall. Kael followed behind in silence. Within minutes, they were back at the destroyed room.
"What the hell happened?" Searching through the room, her eyes landed on the gown stained in blood. "Oh no! Aretha," Queen Otrera, sobbed loudly.
"Relax, that's not her blood. Tell me all you know about the Wukong sect." Kael said, staring at her.
Although he had gotten all the information he needed, he still wanted to hear from the Queen herself.
"The Wukong sect? Did they do this?" Queen Otrera muttered, shaking her head.
"Yes, Lucius was the one sent." Kael replied, staring at her. "It seems I asked the wrong question... about Aretha... There's something special about her that caught the interest of most of the different races in the realm, right?"
"That... I can't say. It's something only known by a few." Queen Otrera said with a sigh. "Things are quite complicated. First, let's get you another room to stay." She said, beckoning on him to follow her.
"So are you gonna just leave her? What are you planning?"
"Leave her? I don't think that's possible given that the Wukong sect was the one that abducted her. Just stay in this room for the night, tomorrow I'll tell you everything you need to know."
Queen Otrera left Kael, heading straight to her throne room. "It seems the Amazon Kingdom has been quiet for long. It's time we show these mortals we aren't to be messed with!"