Rise of the Broken Warrior

Chapter 6

The Great Hall of the Azure Cloud Guild was ablaze with the light of three hundred golden chandeliers. Over five hundred noble guests, merchant lords, and guild elders sat around long tables piled high with roasted spirit beasts and sweet wine. At the center of the high platform, Lady Morana sat beside Lord Valen, laughing sweetly as she poured liquor from a silver pitcher.

A loud clinking of heavy iron chains suddenly echoed from the entrance of the banquet hall. Two burly guards walked inside, dragging a ragged figure whose hands and bare feet were bound in thick rusted irons. The man’s clothes were dirty rags torn to shreds, and his long, messy black hair hung low over his battered face.

A dead silence instantly fell over the grand hall as every single elder froze in their seats. Several guild masters gripped the edges of their tables, their faces turning completely pale with deep terror. They all remembered that towering posture, recognizing the legendary Zenith Dragon who had once defeated five hostile armies with a single hand.

"Do not soil your fine robes with fear, esteemed elders," Morana’s sweet voice rang out across the quiet hall. She stood up from her gilded chair, looking down at the chained youth with a bright, mocking smile. "The man before you is no longer a dragon, but a hollow shell whose core has been ripped out forever."

A wave of loud whispers and mocking chuckles washed over the banquet tables as the truth sank in. The noble guests pointed their fingers at Lucas, shaking their heads with cruel smiles and loud sneers. They all laughed at how the greatest warrior of the nine guilds had fallen into a helpless slave in iron chains.

"Bring the cripple to my feet," Valen ordered with a loud laugh, waving his silver cup in the air. "A great warrior should not waste his life rotting in a dark stable like common swine. Tonight, he shall have the grand honor of serving wine to the true sovereign of this realm."

The two guards pushed Lucas violently forward, kicking the back of his knees until he crashed onto the marble steps. Lucas’s knuckles scraped against the hard stone, his teeth grinding together as he stared at the floor. He could hear the mocking laughter of five hundred people, and every single cruel face was burned deep into his memory.

Valen rose from his golden throne, his heavy leather boot coming down directly onto Lucas’s right hand. He twisted his heel with all his weight, pressing Lucas’s knuckles against the cold stone until the bones groaned in pain. A cruel smirk spread across Valen’s face as he waited for the broken warrior to scream and beg for mercy.

Lucas did not utter a single cry, nor did he pull his bleeding hand away from beneath the heavy boot. His dark eyes flared with silent, deadly fire beneath his messy hair, holding back the boundless fury in his chest. He knew that any sudden explosion of his true power right now would put Clara’s life in immediate danger.

"Look at you, Lucas," Valen whispered, bending down so that only Lucas and Morana could hear his mocking voice. "You played loverboy with this woman for three whole years, and yet she gave your core to me without a second thought. My body was born for this divine core, while in your peasant hands it was completely wasted."

Valen stood tall and pulled open the front of his fine silk tunic to show off his chest. The golden dragon core pulsed with bright, blinding light, making golden scales appear across his neck and arms. A suffocating pressure rolled out from his chest, making the wine cups rattle and forcing the surrounding elders to lower their heads.

The banquet hall erupted into thunderous cheers, with elders raising their cups to praise Valen’s magnificent talent. Morana beamed with proud joy, leaning her head against Valen’s shoulder as if she were already the queen of heaven. Everyone believed that Valen would step into the Divine Realm during the coming solstice and rule the province with absolute authority.

Lucas bowed his head low against the floor, contacting the quiet system screen floating in his soul. System, is the foul curse we burned out of Clara’s spiritual sea still stored in the vault? His mind was cold, calculating every move like a hunter watching a foolish beast step into an iron snare.

[Ding! The purified soul-eating parasite essence remains sealed within the system furnace.]

[The refined curse essence is completely colorless, tasteless.]

[System Notice: The essence can be deployed silently at any moment upon your direct mental command.]

Release the invisible clone, Lucas commanded in his thoughts, his eyes gleaming with dark intent beneath his hair. While his physical body remained pinned beneath Valen’s heavy boot, his invisible shadow slipped out into the room. The ghostly form drifted behind the high golden table, holding a small drop of black poison above Valen’s jade wine pitcher.

The dark essence dropped into the sweet spirit wine, dissolving instantly without creating a single ripple on the surface. Valen lifted his foot from Lucas’s bleeding hand, tossing a clean jade goblet onto the stone floor before him. "Fill my cup, beggar, and make sure you do not spill a single drop on my clean rug."

Lucas picked up the silver pitcher with trembling hands, pouring the scented wine to the very brim of the cup. He handed the goblet to Valen with a dull, vacant look in his eyes, acting just like a frightened dog. Valen snatched the cup away with a rough shove, turning his back on Lucas to face the cheering crowd.

"To the Grand Patriarch Rowan!" Valen shouted at the top of his lungs, raising the jade goblet high above his head. "Tomorrow afternoon, I will bathe the dragon core in celestial blood and ascend to the supreme realm! Drink with me, elders, for tomorrow the High Sky Guild shall claim dominion over the heavens!"

The crowd of elders roared with wild joy, raising their golden cups to match the young master's proud toast. Morana smiled brightly, her eyes shining with endless greed as she watched Valen drink the entire cup in one gulp. Valen wiped his mouth with his silk sleeve, tossing the empty cup aside as he prepared to release his aura again.

The moment the wine hit Valen’s stomach, the golden light in his chest suddenly flickered like a dying candle. 

The sweet spirit wine turned into burning venom inside his veins, waking the sleeping dragon core into pure, untamed rage. The pure dragon spirit refused to be polluted by the foul parasite, thrashing violently against Valen’s stolen flesh.

Valen’s proud smile instantly froze, his eyes bulging wide as thick black veins crawled across his pale neck. 

A loud, wet tearing sound echoed from inside his chest, followed by a thick cloud of foul black smoke. He let out a bloodcurdling scream that shattered the silence of the hall, clutching his throat with both hands.

"Valen! What is wrong?!" Morana shrieked in horror, dropping her wine cup as she rushed to catch his trembling arm. Valen could not answer her, his entire body convulsing violently as he fell forward onto the banquet table. The wooden table shattered under his weight, sending plates of meat, fruit, and broken crystal crashing across the floor.

Valen opened his mouth and vomited three massive mouthfuls of dark, clotted blood that burned the stone like acid. The golden scales on his skin turned sickly grey, peeling away from his flesh and leaving bloody, smoking burns behind. The bright golden dragon light in his chest dimmed, replaced by a chaotic storm of black and red lightning.

"His foundation is collapsing!" Grand Patriarch Rowan shouted in utter shock, rushing up the steps with several senior elders. The old man pressed his palm against Valen’s back, only to be pushed away by a violent blast of corrupted energy. "Foolish boy! You greedily swallowed too many spirit pills before fully taming the dragon core, and now your meridians are burning to ash!"

Valen lay on the dirty floor, twitching in his own pool of dark vomit while five hundred guests stared in shock. The great hero who was supposed to become a god was now shivering like a dying dog before their eyes. 

The hall was filled with terrified gasps and shameful whispers, completely stripping away the glory he had tried so hard to build.

[Ding! The villain Valen has suffered massive internal damage and supreme public disgrace.]

[Righteous Retribution Confirmed. +30 Karma Points Acquired!]

[Total Karma Balance: 30 Points.]

Lucas remained curled on the cold floor in his iron chains, watching the chaotic scene with an icy, calm gaze. He kept his head lowered to hide the cold smirk playing at the corners of his lips, letting the panic unfold. He knew that the parasite essence was only the beginning of the agony Valen would suffer for stealing his life.

"Get the healing elders!" Morana cried out in tears, kneeling in the mess of food and vomit to hold Valen’s head. "Valen, stay with me! Do not let the core break! You are going to become a sovereign tomorrow!"

"The core... it is rejecting my blood..." Valen gasped through his bloody teeth, his body shaking with ungodly agony. Every breath felt like hot knives scraping against his inner organs, and the black rot was spreading into his heart. "The pills cannot stop it... my veins are burning... I am going to die..."

Then, Valen’s bloodshot eyes suddenly widened as a desperate, insane thought struck his feverish mind. He remembered Clara’s rare Celestial Blood locked away in the dark cellar, the only divine medicine capable of soothing the furious dragon. If he could drink every single drop of her pure blood right now, he could suppress the rot and force his breakthrough.

"The girl..." Valen choked out, grabbing Morana’s crimson gown with his bloody, trembling fingers. "We cannot wait for the solstice tomorrow... I will die before morning comes! Bring Clara to the high altar right now! Drag her out of the dungeon this instant!"

The cold breath caught in Lucas’s throat as the words hit him like a hammer. Valen was moving the execution up to tonight, shattering the three-day window he needed to prepare his trap. He was not expecting that move, and now Clara was running out of time.