RISE OF THE MARTIAL GOD

Joyce walked in to see Rona joyfully eating and enjoying the array of dishes on the table, not looking remorseful at all. She noticed another presence and looked up. Her face lightened up with a smile the moment she saw her mother.

"Are they gone? Come and eat." Her eyes met Joyce's and she immediately froze. The look in Joyce's eyes were ones she had never seen before. The love and indulgence with which she always looked at her was nowhere to be found, and in its place was bone chilling coldness. Worse, she saw disappointment and an emotion she couldn't decipher.

"So you're still in the mood to eat?" Joyce asked in a glacial voice.

"What's wrong, mom?" Rona whispered in a small voice.

"Rona Meyer, if Anthony doesn't return safely, consider me dead because you won't have a mother from then on." She said coldly, making Rona's eyes widen in shock.

"Mom, why will you make such a joke?" She whispered, quickly rushing to her feet.

"Joke? I guess your brother's life is a joke. After all, you hate him and want him dead, alongside the rest of your cousins. Rona, a daughter like you, I don't need one. If I lose a child, I might as well lose another. I don't need a stupid, gullible, cold hearted monster sullying my family. If Anthony doesn't return, don't ever bother seeing my face again. I will consider you dead to me." Joyce said coldly, making Rona speechless.

"Mom, how can you say that to me because of that weak gutter rat that popped out of nowhere?" Rona shouted, her voice filled with disbelief.

Joyce who was already turning to leave halted in her tracks. She turned to Rona with a bitter smile.

"Gutter rat? That brother you called a gutter rat is the reason you grew up with all these luxury! We sacrificed him, abandoned him during the fierce inheritance war to secure everything you now flaunt today. Yet the brother who grew up without a family or a penny to his name, scrapping forward on his own from the moment he was born, solely because he was born in a turbulent time turned to a gutter rat before you. You have lost any chance of forgiveness, I will let you have a taste of what it feels like to live without your parents loving and watching your back."

"Mom."

Joyce smirked and pulled her face closer to Rona's.

"And lest I forget, you won't just lose a mother, you will lose Kaiser too, and maybe your father. Congratulations in advance. And if you know what's good for you, you better go bring those treasures back from wherever you hid them, or whoever you gave them to. Otherwise, when Kaiser returns, he will bury you alive and I won't give a hoot."

Rona watched her mom leaving without looking back at her, not even once. And her heart felt heavy, as if she had truly been abandoned. She couldn't believe that a mother who had always indulged her, letting her do whatever she pleased will ever say that to her. Just then, Kaiser's face flashed before her, making her shiver in dread. She quickly grabbed her hoodie, and broke out in a run, rushing to the special hiding spot where she and Leo always met.

*****

The moment she sneaked in, the voices of people talking stopped her in her tracks.

"Is it done?" Brent asked, his voice light and cheery.

"Of course, I personally pushed him into the perilous lands' portal. And carefully sealed it with the help of the rest. He won't be able to return. Actually, he's probably dead by now. No one survives five minutes in there, no matter how powerful. Talk more of that vagrant whose cultivation is laughable. Besides, I made sure Rona took away everything helpful from the things Kaiser prepared for him. Rest assured, brother. Anthony has been eliminated for good. No one can survive the perilous lands." Leo replied with a slight chuckle.

"Your little girl is unexpectedly more helpful than I thought. Good. I will like to see Kaiser go crazy once he returns. Once he loses his composure and goes mad, things will fall into place. Killing Kaiser is especially tricky since he's immune to poison. But it isn't impossible, especially with what we have now. We are almost there, just hold on for a while. I will do the rest and place the pawns properly. Aha, did you manage to find a spy from Kaiser's side? What's his research team up to nowadays?"

"I couldn't get one. Don't worry about it, I will ask Rona about it once we meet this evening. Relax, you deserve it. Kaiser was incredibly suspicious and wanted to follow him, but you managed to lure him out. That in itself is a huge achievement, you should pamper yourself today." Leo added, followed by the sound of someone being patted. He was probably patting Brent on the back.

Rona took a step back in horror, unwilling to believe her ears.

"Perilous lands? Why?"

{"You better go bring those treasures back from wherever you hid them, or whoever you gave them to. Otherwise, when Kaiser returns, he will bury you alive and I won't give a hoot."} Her mother's words rang in her ears, making her panic. She bit her lips and quickly hid the moment she heard footsteps. She hugged her knees in the dark corner till nightfall, waiting for everyone else to leave. The moment she felt the place had gone empty, she went to the location she hid the treasures and quickly opened the carton. She immediately gasped and almost had a heart attack. Two of the most powerful treasures important for attack and defense were gone from the box. Worse, they had Kaiser's mark imprinted on it. Which means that someone trying to hurt him might find a way to extract his soul shards from them.

Her hands began to shake in horror, and she clasped them together, taking deep breaths to control her emotions. For the first time since she came in, hot tears rushed to her eyes and she quickly began to ransack everywhere in the room. But both the bracelet and the mysterious silk were gone.

"But why? The only one here with me was Leo, why is it missing? He assured me it was safe here and I will return it back once Anthony leaves to prevent him from cheating, and also protect Kaiser from the wrath of the elders when they realize he wanted to go against the rules. He lied to me." She whispered, rummaging the box again to see if it somehow squeezed into one of the bigger treasures. But she couldn't find any trace of it no matter how well she searched.

{"Killing Kaiser is especially tricky since he's immune to poison. But it isn't impossible, especially with what we have now."} Brent's voice rang again in her memory, making her collapse to the floor in shock.

"What they have now? They couldn't possibly mean the weapons with Kaiser's soul shard, right?" She whispered, her whole body shaking in horror.

"How did they know Kaiser had a soul shard hidden in the two weapons?" She whispered, searching her memories.

Rona suddenly gasped and slapped herself. She had blurted it out to Leo the other night when he asked how Kaiser was doing. She had seen Kaiser arranging the items in a box the morning Anthony returned, before they went to the great hall, and recognized the teleportation bracelet among the rest since she once saw it the day Kaiser was showing off the loot he got from an expedition to his father.

{"Ah? But it won't work anyway. It's useless unless he inputs his soul shard into it. And it's something very dangerous." Leo had said, looking very worried.

"Hmm. You know my brother, he's always brash and does not hesitate. Of course, I saw him inputting his soul shard into them. I wonder why he spent so much money to find such a disgraceful person. He even signed away his company to a woman." She had replied and shook her head, enjoying the bowl of ice cream before her.}

Leo was her best friend, so she never needed to mince words with him. She always told him whatever was in her mind, exactly as it was, and listened to his worries too. With him, her mouth had no filter. They were that close— or so she thought. Her phone vibrated at that moment, snapping her out of her reverie. With shaky hands, she brought out the phone to take a look at the caller, praying that it won't be Kaiser.

And yes, it was not him. It was Leo—that same Leo. She took a deep breath and put the phone back into her pocket, quickly rearranging the room to erase every traces of her presence. Once she was done, she carried the carton and made a hasty escape to think of how she will explain to Kaiser. Any other woman would have broken down in tears at the revelation, but she was not just any woman. She was Rona Meyers, and she understood the number one principle her father always drummed into her ears. 'Whenever you find yourself in a desperate situation, avoid confrontation. You should use your brains, not let your emotions speak. In essence, go to your room and think carefully. Because you're Rona Meyers.'

And that was exactly what she was going to do, return to her room and wait for heaven to collapse on her.