The Almighty Ring

“I…”

Unfortunately, there was someone behind her. Before she could even express her profound happiness to see the man she coveted, one of the “bridesmaids” snuck behind her and pressed a blade to her throat.

“Stand back or she dies!” said the hired fighter.

Jiang Fei crossed his arms, sulking whilst shaking his head.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Jiang Fei.

“STAND BACK!” she bellowed as she pressed the blade harder. Seeing as how he could even defeat the Highlord Advisor without breaking a sweat, she knew that a hired fighter such as herself would not stand a chance against this man in black. Nevertheless, there was still a way. His objective had been made clear when he chose not to do anything against the emperor or the groom. He was there to save the bride and that was her leverage against him.

“Oh no… You’ve chosen poorly…” Jiang Fei muttered.

“Stand back now!” the female fighter roared desperately. She was hired by Victor to make sure that nothing was to become of the bride so that the marriage can go on smoothly. Technically speaking, the entire wedding was ruined and there was no picking up where they left off. That being said, she was still doing her job until the end.

“Now, now. One must be taught for choosing poorly,” said Jiang Fei. And just like that, the blade that was pressed against Aurelia’s throat was dropped to the ground. The female fighter’s eyes froze with fear. She tried her best to move but nothing happened. Her entire being was frozen solid.

From the moment Jiang Fei talked to Aurelia, he had already noticed the presence of the female fighters behind her. A trail of black energy had been released and by the time the female fighter took Aurelia hostage, she was already contaminated by Jiang Fei’s power.

“N-No! Don’t kill me!” she cried. Her eyes quivered with fear as they swam about. None responded to her plea as she could feel all her powers being sucked away, as was her life force.

“What about you? What would you choose?” said Jiang Fei without facing the other female fighter standing not too far from Aurelia.

The woman said nothing as her hands still grip the sword in its sheath. Seeing as how her partner was incapacitated by the man in black who fought without even lifting a finger, her decision was swift. Between attacking or not, she chose to take two steps back.

“You’ve chosen wisely,” said Jiang Fei as he nodded. He then paced toward Aurelia and stopped, putting his face close to hers.

“You are mine to behold. Your life, your entire existence is mine to own. Now, spit out that vile capsule from your mouth,” Jiang Fei declared with such dominance that Aurelia, with her eyes widened, could not help but look directly into his eyes

She was stumped. Perhaps, for the second time in her life by the same person. If it were any other man, they would have been beaten to the ground for even daring to breathe the same air as her. However, she could not help but felt some sort of powerful attractive force from him. Everything he did was vile and repulsive yet she could not push it away. In fact, it would even be said that she welcomed it.

Aurelia turned to her side and spat out the uncrushed capsule.

How could a man, whose name she did not know, provide such an overwhelming sense of dominance, safety, and insurance for her. In fact, the longer he stood next to her, the more she felt like no harm would befall her.

“Now, will you take my hand,” Jiang Fei said as he reached out his palm.

“I would.”

Aurelia did not hesitate. She reached out her own and held the man’s coarse hand.

Was it fate? She could not stop thinking about it. How was it that she could not bring herself to hate this particular man when all men had been nothing but disgusting to even stand with.

“Hold! Know your place, insolent fool! You are standing in the presence of the Emperor of the Alderaan Empire! You are not to leave until I decree it!” Emperor Alistair bellowed. Everything that the man in black had done was nothing but a blatant spit to the face. It was only natural for him to be angry when one was rude in the presence of the emperor, right in front of his own house!

Jiang Fei scoffed without even turning to look at the emperor. He pulled Aurelia hands and headed out of the palace without a single f*ck given. He would have teleported away but the entire palace had spacetime warping disruptors installed. The only way out was to physically walk out from the front gates.

“Kill him!” the emperor decreed. All soldiers that were guarding him immediately complied. They broke out from their defensive formation and charged toward Jiang Fei. Now, there were more than tens of thousands of soldiers, royal guards and otherwise surrounding Jiang Fei from all sides.

Even being surrounded, Jiang Fei remained calm and stoic. The same grin on his face remained unchanged. Aurelia, drugged and powerless, held his hand tighter. It was not fear that made her do that. It was her attraction toward him, from the sense of security that he exuded.

“So be it,” Jiang Fei said. A small portion of the black smog around him split away and immediately attached itself to all the nearby soldiers.

Once the black smog condensed into black goo, the soldiers’ eyes changed to that of raging berserkers. Immediately, they turned to their closest partners and started to attack mercilessly.

“What are you doing? The enemy is there!”

“Bastard! Are you going against the empire?”

“Stupid boy! You dare to attack your own father?!”

…

Friendlies became enemies in an instant and chaos ensued. Those that were still clear of mind could not understand why their own allies were attacking them. On the other side of things, those that had gotten themselves controlled had not a shred of their original conscience remaining. Like a puppet set for “indiscriminate killing” mode, they attacked whomever was within their vicinity.

“What powerful psychic influence…” said Alistair as his face turned pasty pale. As the emperor, his natural mastery of psychic energy was unprecedented. Despite being old, he still had over ten million combat level. If he wanted to, he could easily put down the tens of thousands of soldiers, all by himself.

When a small portion of the soldiers started to rampage against their own, Alistair immediately unleashed a wave of purification psychic energy to unshackle whatever that was controlling them. Unfortunately, Alistair was no match for Umbral Jiang Fei that was possessing the ultimate cheat tool, the Core of Will.

Deep within those umbral eyes, a glint of silvery light flashed. The power of the Core of Will was pushed to its limits, overthrowing Alistair’s own psychic energy. Soon, more black smog spreaded out further, “infecting” more and more soldiers by the second. Alistair tried but as much as he poured out his own powers, he was soon drained to his last drop and was still unable to save even one of his soldiers.

“Who dares to disturb the peace of the empire?”

A deafening roar was heard coming from the heavens above. Three black lightning bolts shot down and three men dressed in gowns and robes materialized in front of Alistair.

“Thank you for coming here, archbishops,” said Alistair in between panting breaths. The emperor was fearless but he had his pride and honor to protect, as well as the sovereignty of the royalty. He will die fighting as the emperor of the Alderaan Empire and never flee.

“Here come three interesting fellows,” said Jiang Fei. The three, clad in thick robes decorated with many metallic accessories, were Alderaanian. However, the interesting part of those three old men were not their ages but their combat levels.

The weakest one had a combat level of 17 million, a strength that exceeded even Umbral Jiang Fei, while the other two measured at 18 million and 19 million. It was a good sign that it was time to run. The strongest one was particularly strong that if he chose to become stronger, surpassing his own limit, he would be as strong as the rumored League of the Hidden Ones, as strong as Theon, a supernatural being that was already unbelievable to begin with.

“Those three look strong. Can you fend them off?” 0541 asked worriedly.

“Can I?” Umbral Jiang Fei scoffed.

“…”

“Of course, I can’t!”