Oblivion's Heir: Rise of the Sovereign - Chapter 43: Kade

Chapter 43: Kade

The narrow path opened to a huge dome.

’Wha—’ Ren couldn’t even imagine the scale of this place just from looking at the building from which he had entered, multiple houses and makeshift tents lined along the walls in a circular pattern.

And yet, Ren’s attention was attracted by the centre of this place.

A sunken fighting pit stood in the middle of everything, dry blood stains on the floor around it, and visible scratch marks were more than enough to describe this place’s motto.

’Strength decides everything.’

Turning his head, his eyes darted to another area and this time, his eyes lit up.

’Potions.’

There was a whole area dedicated to the vials, multiple people sat on the tiled floor and sold potions while people, some hooded while others without even a good piece of equipment bargained.

’A city inside a city itself?’

“This way.” The individual had already passed down his friend to someone else and directed Ren to go the opposite direction.

Nodding, Ren followed him.

Multiple people looked his way, and almost ninety percent of them were people who looked to be between eighteen and forty.

Not a single young or too mature person was present.

’This is a lot different from the citadel.’ Ren still remembered how the old and too young kids had to beg for food and some only survived by letting their daughters sleep with the players.

’Wait, then what’s the difference?’ Ren’s brows furrowed as he realised a frustrating truth.

Both places were doing something wrong, albeit a little differently.

Deciding not to think about it further, Ren settled his gaze ahead.

The individual stopped and motioned Ren to go forward.

“The boss is waiting for you.”

Nodding, Ren was about to move when the man stopped him.

“What?”

’Is he finally fighting back after luring me in?’ Ren was ready, he knew the strength of the vermyrex that he had turned into his minion would be more than enough to rip apart dozens of people at once.

Ren didn’t know how, but he could feel the strength of his minion somehow.

And this had given him a shocking revelation, ’The vermyrex’s strength is on par with that monstrosity.’

“Uhm… I need that sword.” The man spoke with a weird look on his face as he saw Ren’s alert gaze.

He wasn’t idiotic enough to fight right outside his boss’s office.

Ren blinked once, then twice.

“Oh.” Ren handed back the sword and finally fixed his gaze on the standard building in front of him that looked similar to the ones around him in this place.

Just as he was about to knock, the door creaked open on its own.

He swallowed hard and stepped inside.

And the first thing that caught his attention was its lavishness.

Golden racks stretched across the walls, potions hung along one of the walls while the other was covered with all sorts of weapons, some stained with blood while others appeared as freshly crafted, and maps hung on the wall across him.

But the room was empty, not a single soul was present.

’Do I… wait?’ Looking around, he hesitated but still advanced towards the wall filled with potions.

Only now did he realize some of them were labelled while others weren’t. His eyes darted around and he immediately found a potion with regeneration written on it.

It swirled with dark-green liquid.

But before Ren could even make up his mind to steal it, he felt another presence inside the room.

His eyes widened, and a feeling of dread crawled up his spine.

“You sure are taking your time appreciating those potions.” A voice cut through the silence behind him.

Ren turned around and finally saw the man who managed the third faction and the one Evan told him to be cautious against.

“Hello kid, I am Kade.” With a smirk, he sat down on the chair that appeared like a throne due to his weight.

A lean, towering figure with sharp cheekbones and sunken eyes sat before him. Pitch black pupils that felt depthless as a void stared at him.

’Wh-what’s this feeling?’ Ren’s chest heaved up and down as he forced himself not to lose composure.

An invisible pressure bore down on him, squeezing the air out of his lungs, and just as Ren felt like he wouldn’t be able to breathe any more, it vanished.

“Think again, think you can fight me?” Kade chuckled, a malicious grin present on his face.

“What do you want from me?” Ren questioned, he wasn’t going to kneel, if things came to worst, he would use Angel of Oblivion without hesitation—no matter the cost.

“I know you have a transformation ability,” the words left Kade’s mouth without a shred of doubt.

His breathing hitched.

’H-how?’ He couldn’t comprehend how the man knew about his main trump card, the one that provided him with the ability to fly and boosted his strength to a terrifying degree at the same time.

“Wondering how?” The man chuckled again, but this time, all Ren felt was dread.

’He needs something from me or I wouldn’t be alive.’ Thankfully, his brain didn’t freeze and Ren finally realized he held some leverage too.

“What do you want from me?”

“I need you to join my faction,” Kade replied, though this time, a serious look was present on his face.

“And what’s in it for me?” A frown appeared on Ren’s forehead, confusion visible across his face.

“Everything you want,” Kade replied with excitement, too much of it.

’He’s unstable.’ Ren was sure, yet he refrained from speaking it out loud.

“Hmm?” Kade looked surprised at the lack of response. Standing up, he turned around and traced his fingers along the information on the board before speaking again.

“Do you know what kind of people have the right to survive?”

“The strong?” Ren asked hesitantly, and his answer wasn’t from what he believed but from what he had observed.

The central pit of the dome was built for madness.

And the things they did — bad enough to force them into hiding from the other two factions told Ren more than enough about Kade.

Though he was slightly off.

“Wrong, the answer is those who are worthy,” Kade muttered with his back facing Ren.

“So tell me, Ren… are you worthy?” With a tilt of his head, Kade looked at Ren.

And Ren knew he had once again taken the wrong decision by coming here.