In a lavish palace somewhere in the middle realm, a man looking to be in his mind-thirties was staring at the stones which were originally shining brightly, but at the moment, the light was weak and dying. "What happened to my children?!" Thomas Hillberg shouted in rage as he held the two stones. "They went into the lower realm, so how come their life stones are stopping shining?! Which bastard from the lower realm dared to challenge me like this?!"
As he shouted, a servant rushed into the room and knelt down. "Master, one person from the delegation to the lower realm returned. He has news about Young Lord and Lady." The servant quickly spoke.
Thomas' eyes shone with rage as he rushed into the main hall. Without even letting the member of the delegation speak, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and started shaking him. He shouted in rage: "Where are my children?!"
The delegation member was worried about Eleanor and Joseph Hillberg himself. "My Lord, a person named Michael Grayson captured them. He said that..." he gulped down in fear as he spoke. "He said that if you, My Lord, don't come to meet him yourself, he will kill the Young Lord and Lady..."
"Useless fool!" Thomas shouted as he threw the delegation member to the side. "Prepare my weapon!" he ordered. "I'll kill whoever that Michael Grayson is!"
Sitting in her room, Michelle stared at a small knife covered in blood. The blood was old and dried up. It was the item she wanted to use during the harvest festival banquet, but in the end didn't need to as everything was going smoothly. She didn't know how the Emperor Emeritus' concubine, the Crown Prince's mistress, obtained it, but from the memories of the original owner, Michelle knew that the small knife belonged to her deceased mother and was made out of bones of a huge beast.
All the bones of the beast were shattered into dust and then beaten together for such a long time that they turned into a small block of hard bones, harder than anything Michelle knew in the 21st century. A skilled blacksmith then turned it into the small knife. But it wasn't just an ordinary knife. Any weapon made out of beaten bones had the power of corruption, so even a small cut on one's skin with such knife could sever a part of one's spirit vein, drastically slowing down their cultivation.
And if a person was stabbed deep in their chest or back with such a weapon, their dantian would be shattered. But that wasn't the best part of the weapon. When stabbed into one's body, the weapon would suck a bit of their blood, but once someone pulled it out of the victim's body, the victim wouldn't have a single wound. Just the knife would be bloodstained and the victim would have crippled cultivation, irreparably.
But naturally, such a weapon had its downsides, or rather restrictions. Not everyone could use it. Basically nearly everyone was unable to use it. But once in a while, a person with special soul immune to the corruption of the weapons would be born and people like that could use weapons made out of beaten bones. But it wasn't that one was born with a special soul and could right away use the weapon. It required a lot of skills to not let the weapon control their mind to turn into a mindless killer, so most of the people with suitable souls still didn't use weapons from beaten bones.
Michelle didn't know if she had a suitable soul, but Ivona had, so she had Ivona stab the Hillberg siblings in their sleeps to completely shatter their wills, and then, Michelle, dressed and Michael Grayson, killed all their servants, leaving only one alive. That one she sent back into the middle realm to go call Thomas Hillberg down into the lower realm. She had no plans to go into the middle realm, as after she had dealt with the Hillberg family, she would go straight to the academy in the upper realm.
Knowing that she had to hide the Archduke, Alexander Terce and David Elether's presence in the lower realm, she took on the identity of Michael Grayson and went to live in an inn, waiting for the day Thomas Hillberg would arrive. Ivona's part in the plan was already completed, so she didn't need to engage any more and returned to the Beltrez mansion to her parents. So Michelle was alone with her beasts.
Sitting in the room silently, Michelle felt a bunch of people surround the inn, making her smile coldly. She turned her gaze at the door and waited for it to open. She was wondering if Thomas Hillberg was smart enough to fall into her trap, or if his stupidity would save him. Soon, she heard a knock on her door, making her eyes gleam. He was smart enough to fall into her trap.
Without her even needing to say something, the door flung open and Thomas entered the room, his expression a picture of rage and hatred. "I'm here now! Where are my children?" he hissed through gritted teeth.
Seeing him in front of her, Michelle's smile widened. "In the last two hours, did anyone check your children's life stones?" she asked lazily.
When Michelle's words fell, Thomas froze in shock for a moment before reaching into his sleeve hastily, taking out the two life stones. They were cold and dark, no longer shining. Or so it seemed.
"No!" Thomas shook in shock as he stared at the two stones. He was so shocked that he didn't notice the slight luster the stones had. His despair turned into rage, and he was about to attack Michelle when she clapped her hands. Mare and Snow jumped in through the window, each carrying one of the Hillberg siblings. They were breathing, but they didn't emit any spiritual energy. "My children..." Thomas took a step forward, wanting to take them from Snow and mare, but Michelle frowned and clapped her hands again. With that, Snow and Mare left just as they came.
"Don't worry..." Michelle smiled coldly as she stood up. "Your children will live. But..." She swept her cold gaze over Thomas as she spoke with clear amusement in her voice: "I won't give them back to you for free..."
Thomas understood that he had to pay a great price the moment he heard Michelle's amused voice. Outside the inn, he had stationed his men, but they couldn't catch Mare and Snow as they left with his children, and they were clearly just subordinates of the "young man" in front of him, so it was clear that the "young man" was even more powerful. Even he himself might be unable to defeat him.
"Who are you?! Why are you doing this to me and my children?!" Thomas asked. "And why would someone with the power to challenge me be in the Land of Exile of the lower realm?!"
Michelle stared at Thomas coldly, her smile disappearing. She took up the small knife from beaten bones and ran her finger along the edge. "Can you guess what I want for your children?" she asked, her voice cold and chilly as she stared at the small knife.
Thomas frowned. "What is it? Money? Fame? Power? I'll give you all I have so just don't harm my children any further..."
Hearing the answer, Michelle stood up from her seat and walked towards the door. "You really are foolish..." she chuckled cold as she threw the small knife into the wall. "I'll come back here tomorrow, so think about what I want." With that, she used Shadow Spirit Steps and disappeared.
Staring at the spot where Michelle stood just a moment ago, Thomas was shaken by rage. "Find out everything you can about him! I want complete information about him by the evening!" he shouted. His servants quickly dispersed, and he looked around the room, his gaze landing on the small knife stabbed in the wall. Before, he didn't recognize it because he was focused on Michelle, but being alone, his eyes narrowed when he stared at it.
"Knife from beaten bones...?" his eyes widened as he stepped back a bit. It was well known about him that he had the special type of soul which allowed him to use weapons from beaten bones. He finally understood the price he had to pay if he wanted his children back. Despair flashed in his eyes as he realized that Michelle wasn't after fame or fortune, but after revenge. But he didn't know what the revenge was for. When did he anger an entity like "Michael Grayson"?
After Michelle left the inn, she went to a different one, where Snow and Mare were keeping the unconscious Hillberg siblings. She gave Thomas a whole day to think, not because she thought that he wouldn't be able to figure out what she wanted. But throwing the knife into the wall, she made sure he would realize, and the time of a whole day, she decided to give it to him so he would sink into despair and decide if he wanted his children to die, or if he wanted to be crippled to save them.
What he didn't know yet was that his children were already crippled and poisoned, so even if he decided to save them, they would die a few days later, and him sacrificing his cultivation would be pointless.
Michelle didn't think her revenge was too cruel. He made her lose her mother when she was just born, so she, and the original Michelle, could never feel the warmth of a complete family, so she was going to ruin both his family and his life. Because when she took revenge, she inflicted tenfold the damage she received.