Chapter 2354

2354 - Uprooting the Short Roots

Somewhere in Sector 801—

Whoosh Whoosh

"Ah... ah... heh..."

A young man burst out of the dense thickets and branches of the purple forest in panic, running on both legs and hands, pushing off the ground and pulling at the branches, hoping to gain any momentum, no matter how small.

"Hoo... hoo...!!" The young man's eyes began to glaze over from exhaustion, sweat covering his body along with a quantity of dust, thorns, and torn clothes, but his legs kept running.

For the moment he stopped—

Bang

"Eeeek!!" The young man's legs finally failed him, and he fell flat on his face. "No..." He quickly pushed himself up to sit on his rear and began backing away between the trunks and leaves. "Eh... eeeh!!"

His entire being told him to flee, that his hour had come, but his body no longer responded.

Then—

Hoooooom

The young man stopped. He surrendered.

At that moment, his entire surroundings were erased, everything was crushed to dust and leveled to the same plane. Only he remained, the sole thing unharmed, there, looking upward with an open mouth and a tragic expression.

"Are you done?"

At that moment, a shadow descended from the sky. A young man about two meters tall, with dark skin, smooth black hair, and a white star tattoo on his forehead.

The young man descended slowly, his hands clasped behind his back, looking down with contempt. "You made them summon me here by name. Now that I'm here, at least put up a little resistance."

"Who are you... who are you..." The young man was trembling. "Who are you, and what do you want?!"

"My name is Drathan, the Eldest Son of Interas the Tyrant. Hehe, do you feel better now? Do you know who I am, you frog?" The newcomer looked down at the young man from head to toe. "You're barely 340 years old and you've reached level 29—that's not bad at all."

"I d-don't know what you're talking about," the young man began backing away again on his hands. "Please... I'm just a weak person who can't even fly. What do you want from me? Please let me go."

"Haha, weak? A user of the Master Law of Identity, and you call yourself weak?" Drathan laughed loudly, then suddenly turned serious. "Who helped you? Who handed you the law?"

"....?!" The young man felt his heart leap into his throat and didn't know how to respond.

But his brown eyes began to move in circles, and strange numbers and letters appeared.

"Right now?" Drathan scoffed. "Even if you had the Fifth Level of that thing, you wouldn't necessarily be able to kill me, yet you try the Second Degree on me?" He waved his hand. "Answer my questions, accept the Seal of Servitude, and I might allow you to live."

"I... I didn't receive help from anyone. I reached this strange law by my own ability!" The Young Man raised his voice slightly. "And I refuse to be anyone's slave!"

Bam The young man's eyes suddenly stopped, then—

Swoosh

The young man vanished.

"...." Drathan looked at the spot where he disappeared without panic or tension, the corner of his mouth lifting to a certain degree, expressing disappointment.

Then he raised his face and: "Hmph!" A quantity of Energy was expelled from his body and spread across the entire planet within moments.

Then he looked in a certain direction, clenched his fist, and said, "Come."

Paf The boy reappeared in the same spot. "Wh—what—?!"

Drathan looked down again with drowsy eyes. "You used Identity to change the clause of your existence here, so you were transported to another random location on the planet's surface... That trick might have worked on someone else, but unfortunately for you, this isn't the first time I've played this Game."

"....." The young man stared at Drathan's face in despair, realizing that everything was over. "Why? I didn't do anything..."

"We won't wait until you do." Drathan raised his hand and pointed it downward.

The young man panicked, "Wait, wait, you said you wanted to brand me with the Seal of Servitude? I accep—"

Bam

The young man's head exploded before he could finish his words.

"Eyes without Glow mean you're not a Candidate, and the absence of a Shard means you have no Patron," Drathan flicked his hand, "just another Weed that sprouted to ruin a well-prepared and orderly field... and the fate of weeds is one and the same."

Rumble rumble rumble

A Medium-sized Spaceship landed not far from Drathan at that moment.

"You may leave. I'll patrol Sector 802 for a while." Drathan had already begun scanning the nearby planets and preparing to depart.

"Sir!!"

Hiss The spaceship's gate opened, and a person carrying a Disc rushed out, running wildly toward Drathan, "Please watch this first. These are scenes from a Live Broadcast in the Soul Society. The broadcast is still ongoing, and these are old recordings that happened minutes ago, but you must see them!"

"What could it possibly contain that would change my mind about taking a little stroll?" Drathan scoffed at his follower.

Given the sheer volume of Deeds weighing on the Tyrant Galaxy, going out on missions like this every few thousand years gave him a chance to take a break. Nothing could make him cut his vacation short!

"Please open it," the vehicle commander begged him. "I've received information that His Excellency the Tyrant is watching these same discs right now and may summon you back because of them. At least find out why he'll call for you."

"...?" Drathan raised one eyebrow.

Then he reached out and infused his spirit into it with a hint of curiosity.

Immediately, he furrowed his brows tightly. ".....?!" He continued watching for a while, then said, "Hedrick was always one of the soldiers, but he never possessed this power. What is he now? An Executioner? ...Unbound?!"

Bang

"Damn you, Helmor, and damn the Syndicate for this disgraceful situation. What terrible timing they chose to make their move, and in such a provocative, public manner." The disc in Drathan's hand exploded, and he shouted, "But... Unbound? Has that accursed All-seeing God finally lost his mind from repeated losses?!"