Chapter 132: The Return
"This is you, isn't it, my son?" Claude walked closer to his mother and kneeled down next to her, nodding his head as he spoke, "Yes, it is mother. That is indeed Sakuto, your son." Claude paused for a second, before contemplating on his words, and continued, "After I reincarnated, I had thought that I had left behind my previous life. And yet, I realised that I have always acted as though I was an outsider to this world, still treating it as though it was my second life, instead of living it like it's my first! Perhaps I thought that it was me being careful, but I've now realized that deep down, I've always been Sakuto first, and Claude second."
He then stood up from his mother's side, and walked to the front, holding his hand high up in the air, as his katana appeared in his grasp. "But that ends today." With those words he immediately swung his katana, and it shot down, piercing his pregnant mother's belly and a loud scream burst out from the horrified woman's mouth, echoing throughout the white void.
"Goodbye Sakuto." Claude muttered under his breath and he pushed the katana even deeper inside his mother's stomach, as blood began bursting out, and the woman began twisting and turning because of the pain. "Goodbye, my old life, for it's time to start a new one."
SHHHH!
All of a sudden, surroundings began to shake uncontrollably, and the white void surrounding them began to warp into different environments and places in seconds, as though the whole realm was collapsing in on itself, because of what Claude had done.
"Ahhh! You vile human! How could you do this to me?" The demonic voice of the mind demon emerged through the pregnant woman's mouth, as her hair began falling off and her previously beautiful and young face started to peel off as she quickly began aging.
Claude simply looked at the woman with indifferent eyes as he pushed the katana even deeper, and the woman bent her neck backwards and screamed loudly!
AHHHHHHHH!
She continued screaming until all of her skin had been peeled off, after which she simply fell down backwards onto the white floor, seemingly unconscious.
ZZZZP!
Claude waited for a few more seconds before he pulled out the katana from her stomach and surveyed his surroundings, only to realize that the violent shaking of the void had stopped right after the woman became unconscious.
WHIZ!
The katana disappeared from his hand as Claude knelt down in front of the woman, and this time, he stretched out his two hands and pulled open the unconscious woman's stomach, which resulted in blood leaking out once again.
Claude ignored the efflux of blood as his hands reached into the inside of her stomach, and he began searching for something.
"Got it!" All of a sudden, his hands touched something and Claude's eyes widened in surprise as he grabbed it immediately and pulled it out, revealing a bloody foetus in his hands!
Claude looked at the foetus, which seemed to have lost a significant amount of blood, and said with a grin, "I told you didn't I? That I knew where you really were."
Splurt!
The bloody foetus slowly turned what seemed like it's head towards Claude, and it opened its mouth with great difficulty as it spoke, "Curse… you ….. human… worthless…. creature..."
Claude snorted as he tightened his grip on the dying foetus, which made it emit a weak cry. "You can curse me all you want, but at the end of the day, you're still the one who ended up in my palms, lying helpless under my mercy. So I'd say that you are the only worthless one around here, demon!"
Hearing this, the mind demon who was in the form of the dying foetus emitted a weak scream as it's weakly opened eyes glared at the smiling Claude with intense hatred. "Curse you…. damn human...!!"
Claude simply snickered as he looked at the puny thing in his hands. "Whatever makes you feel satisfied.."
He then waved his hand at the tiny creature in his other hand, and said with an insidious grin on his face, "I'd say we'll see each other again… but I'm pretty sure we won't, and I'd also be lying. I really do not want to see you again."
PUCHI!
With that, Claude squeezed the foetus as hard as he could in his hands, and the creature exploded into a bloody pulp, as blood and flesh spurted all across the white void, ending the mind demon's life in an instant.
Claude looked at the bloody mess that he had made, as he waited for the effect to take place. After all, he had defeated the mind demon, which was the primary objective of the mystical realm. Claude muttered under his breath. "From what I've heard, it should take just a few seconds..."
And he was right!
BOOM!
All of a sudden, a blood-colored divine energy broke through from the bloody pulp of a foetus that was in Claude's hands and entered his body, causing Claude to be levitated into the air, as his pupils turned white!
BZZZ!
As the powerful energy burst into his body, Claude felt as though his insides were being turned inside out, as if his meridians were being torn apart and remade from within him at the same time. The state of his body appeared clearly in his mind and the intensity of this powerful burst of energy made him feel like numerous raging flames were setting his body ablaze, as if his entire body and mind was being reborn.
ZOOM!
Claude felt as though the process lasted forever, as he was completely lost any sense of his world's time from the moment the divine energy entered his body. Perhaps he has been stuck inside this mystical realm for decades, even centuries. However, he knew that he had no choice but to endure this process.
Finally, after a really long time, the burning sensation that Claude was feeling all this time had started to decrease in its intensity, which made Claude come to the conclusion that perhaps the process was over.
But right then, his mind was enveloped in darkness and he completely lost his consciousness.
******************
Within the Royal Academy training ground sectors.
"Ahhh! This is too boring! Why am I being forced to stand guard in front of this place when I could be training?" A dissatisfied voice was heard.
In front of the closed seclusion chamber, stood over five young men who were watching the small building with tired expressions on their faces.
The one who had spoken was Brenden, one of Ian's lackeys who had previously informed him about Claude's decision to enter the closed seclusion chamber and was also the one who gave Ian the idea to kill Claude's servants as revenge. He had provided Ian with these ideas thinking that he would get rewarded for it, which he did. However, he wasn't expecting Ian to also give him the job to keep an eye on the closed seclusion chamber.
Brenden could still remember the conversation he had with Ian right before he sent him out.
"This is an important job, Brenden. The fact that I'm giving you this job is because I'm trusting you. Do you understand, Brenden?" Ian said as he placed his hand on Brenden's shoulder.
The hell you are trusting me! What a load of bullsh*t!... Is what Brenden wanted to say. However, as he wanted to get paid, he kept his mouth shut and simply nodded his head. "Or course, Ian. I understand completely."
Thinking back to it, Brenden could only cringe at himself, as he was now his fifth day of guarding this closed seclusion chamber. "God damn it! I should really learn to say now. Why am I such a pathetic b*tch?" Brenden muttered to himself.
Link, another one of Ian's lackeys who was standing next to him, shouted back, "You do this every single time, and yet you still come crawling back to Ian for more money..."
Brenden looked at Link and said, "I wasn't talking to you now, was I? Why don't you just mind your own business?"
Link simply let out a snort in response as he faced Brenden and said, "I would be minding my own business, but I'm stuck here guarding this stupid little closed seclusion chamber. And when I'm stuck here and have to listen to your whining every single day, then it kinda becomes my business. I would love it if it wasn't my business, but it is. So why don't you just shut up?"
"Alright fine, I'll stop talking if it bothers you that much." Brenden reluctantly waved his hand as he dismissed the issue. He was not interested in having a fight right now, especially since they both still had to sit next to each other until the next day.
If they fought now, they would simply be making it difficult for themselves later. Link, who also understood this, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Why don't you start looking on the bright side? We'll finally get to leave this job tomorrow, when the contest takes place. I'm pretty sure the kid probably died in the mystical realm."
Brenden looked at the closed seclusion chamber and nodded his head. Link was probably right, he thought. After all, it's been a few days since their junior entered the chamber, but they knew that time worked differently inside the mystical realm.
And since most of the cultivators who had entered the mystical realm had either suffered mentally or simply died, they were hoping similar results to their junior, who was the cause of their pain right now.
It was right then!
BOOM!
A loud explosion was heard from inside the closed seclusion chamber, which immediately alerted the five lackeys, who assumed their combat stances in an instant!
"What the hell was that?" Brenden, who was staring at the chamber, asked loudly.
"Oh sh*t! Don't tell me..." Link muttered under his breath as he gulped down his saliva, as the doors slowly began opening, revealing a young man standing behind it.
"Well, well, well… Look at what we have here!"