Chapter 200: Useless 5

Lia could barely retain her sense of self as Min continued to torture her. The story of the Immortal King and first Ghost King was completely new to Lia and she wondered how Min knew of it.

Lia's Immortal King powers were after all attained in the abyss. The three graves she saw and the names that were inscribed… It was of the only Immortal King and the only two Ghost King's that have existed. Lia thought that there would've been more Ghost Kings but in the end, there were only two.

Yet those three sole kings of the Immortal World have felt despair of different kinds and the curse that lingered around them has responded to the hopelessness, resentment and hatred Lia felt when she was around the graves.

The kings felt a new peer, they could see what fate awaited Lia because it was no different than theirs. So, the curse of the kings have found a new target and heavens allowed destiny to unfold itself. This time in a more cruel and sadistic manner.

They gave Lia only a bit of the Immortal King's true power to have her struggle and suffer for revenge and the path of the Immortal King.

After all, heavens were moved by the sacrifices of the kings and have not intervened. But now it was time again to have a new era begin. The three kings could feel, even in the afterlife, that Lia had to walk the path they once took but they desperately wanted to spare her, but in the end, were unable to.

Thus Lia's fate was sealed.

Min glanced at Lia's pitiful form before stopping, "Do you know why I told you this story?"

Min went back to his throne and sat down with a heavy bearing as if he was carrying a world's fate on his shoulders, "Because the last remaining member of the E family, their sole daughter, managed to escape. She's none other than my great-great-great-grandmother, preaching about the atrocities of this world, what everyone has done. Do you understand Lia?"

Lia could barely remain conscious but at Min's last remark, she brought her tattered body up to look at him and sneered, "So… it's revenge."

Min severed the veins in Lia's body, deeming her limbs useless, however, Min didn't know that his life force couldn't kill her. She could heal again.

"Exactly, for everything they've done to me, to my E family. Both worlds will pay."

Lia found it laughable but no strength was left after true despair overcame her. It was a pure and genuine feeling.

Min was a descendant of the E family, no matter how many thousand years have passed by, Min still had the blood, shared the blood of the first and only Immortal King.

Then what was Lia? Was Lia in the end only a fake? Was this why she couldn't use the Immortal King's power? Because the true successor stood in front of her? All that Lia worked for, all that her friends had to suffer through was all because Lia was deceived and ultimately deceived everyone else?

She was never meant to be the Immortal King. This realisation broke the last bit of sanity in Lia.

A low giggle escaped her lips which made Min raise his eyebrows.

"You knew of the Immortal King?"

"Of course, that's why the hidden families and you are an eyesore," Min stared at Lia who continued to laugh.

Now, everything made sense. Min has planned this since the beginning. He has always known his true identity. Why he endured Lia, why he wanted to become the Ghost King, why he killed her family, sacrificed her and was after the lives of all the other families. It all made sense.

Min becoming the Ghost King was already attaining part of the Immortal King's power, then the sacrifice of Lia the only one with power and golden cores of all Elders he needed to attain the golden power was because this golden power referred to the Immortal King's. Min did all of this to become the Immortal King. To rule over the worlds and purge everyone.

The curse of the Immortal King. If Lia was the Immortal King, she could see why everything happened to her. But she wasn't. She was a victim who was a fake, a stand-in, yet she still had to suffer the effect of the curse.

"Aren't you afraid of the curse?" Lia grit her teeth and her body trembled. The cold ground was strangely soothing. The corpses around her were like a ritual.

"Of course not, I don't seek companionship. I don't feel loneliness, more than that, I will destroy the heavens myself," Min stood up and approached the corpses, "Do you know how heavens survive? Through the lives of the worlds it has presumably blessed. Through the deaths the Immortal King guides. That's why heavens gave us power to purge ghosts because ghosts cannot keep heavens alive. They also fear for their survival."

Min wandered through the corpses and extracted golden cores form Xavi and Nana as they were the Elders of their families. Then he absorbed them. Lia sneered again.

This crazy man. A real psycho. Going against the heavens. Killing everyone to become invincible. This pure mad bastard. Lia should have never fallen in love with him. Lia should have never made him the Ghost King. Lia should have never left him alive.

Heavens. Despite being immortals no one knew what, where or who heavens were, yet Min was so sure of himself about this unknown entity called heavens. But Lia knew one thing and that was heavens was an ally yet also an enemy.

It needed everyone to be alive and it needed Min to disappear but at the same time, it confined and controlled the people it saw as its toy.

If Lia managed to kill Min and become the Immortal King, then the next enemy would be heavens. To liberate and free herself as well as everyone else. But now, Lia's life might end here with Min. Min was angry and frustrated because he was deprived of his fate and actual life.

Yet Lia thought he was incredibly naïve. As if no drama, nothing would happen to the reign of the kings. It was inevitable for them to be thrown off their thrones or disappear. Did Min really think the E family could be ruling even after 10000s of years? What an absurd thought.

Min narrowed his eyes as he watched the green light dance around Lia. He pulled out his knife again and cut the nerves and veins connecting her leg to her feet. He couldn't let her run away. A person with the power to control the dead. Lia became more and more of an eyesore.

Lia's agonising screams were pleasant to Min. She huffed and panted, dug her fingernails into the ground until they split. Endure. Endure. Endure. Lia told herself but endure for what?

Lia realised that this was the end now. Even if she survived through another sacrifice what would be waiting for her at the end? No one and nothing. Everyone was dead and Min would've become the Immortal King. He probably would even realise his dream and destroy both worlds. And then?

There was no reason for Lia to be alive anymore. At least she should die here before suffering through another 10 000 years in the abyss. But Min seemed to have read her intention and stopped her, "You can't die yet. You haven't fulfilled your purpose."

She hated his voice. Hated his face. Everything about him. Absolutely everything. But then she saw Min walking to the door, opening the gate and calling a soldier, "Call the captains to the studies."

The soldier bowed and rushed away. Min walked back to Lia and summoned his life force as a long green rope, "Don't think about dying. You will have the chance in the abyss."

The green rope tied around Lia's body. Lia didn't have much strength in the first place, so she wasn't able to move as this disgusting thing slung around her. Min's lifeforce crashed violently against Lia's skin and entered her wounds. This feeling was too revolting.

Lia fell to the ground and heard how the door opened.

"Keep an eye on her. Are the preparations done?"

"Almost," Lia recognised his voice, "What about the corpses?"

"Take care of it, after we've settled."

"Ok."

The door closed. Then Lia saw the slender legs before she was sat her up. He leaned her against the wall but said nothing. His gaze flew past the corpses before he sat on the stairs in front of the throne.

Timo kept quiet and so did Lia.

***

Min went to his studies where Eri and Zayn already waited. Min sat at his desk and pulled out the square cube.

"Are you summoning ghosts, your Highness?" Zayn's curious and excited eyes followed Min's fingers dragging across the smoke-filled cube.

"Yes."

Eri didn't say anything but could see familiar places on the cube displayed. She balled her fists under the table but remained calm.

After a few more swipes, Min spoke up, his gazes still fixated on the cube, "Are you aware of what you should do?"

"Yes," both of them answered.

"Good, do it as fast as possible. I want this to be quickly done with."

"Yes," once again the word sounded before Eri and Zayn stood up and left the studies.

A few seconds later, the assistant entered.

"Where were you?"

Min's sharp tone made the lanky man flinch.

"Doing important things."

Min took a breath but said nothing for a while.

"I hope they're truly worth it."

"They are your highness."

The assistant handed Min a small box, "Your medicine, your highness."

Min took it without leaving a cube. Meanwhile, hundreds of ghosts started to appear out of nowhere in the capital and in various parts of the world. The immortals who thought they were all safe behind the doors and walls, had to make a bad discovery.