A few minutes ago…

'Goddammit, it looks like I'll end up using the drugs soon..'

Claude gritted his teeth. He didn't wish for such a situation to happen. This wasn't a fight. This was a hunt. And he sure as hell wasn't the hunter.

Wham!

All of a sudden, Claude felt an intense premonition of danger. "Where's the enemy?" Claude's perception stretched to the limits, yet he still had no way to perceive the true location of his enemy.

"I heard you were an interesting fellow, and it looks like the rumours were true! It looks like it's time for us to finally meet, young man!" Abruptly, Claude sensed a pair of eyes appearing in the fog behind him, causing him to feel cold all over, and he immediately turned around.

"You!"

Behind him, stood the Third Elder, who looked at Claude with an amusing expression on his face. Sensing the frightening aura leaking out from the Elder's body, Claude couldn't help but tremble. 

This man was just too powerful! Claude knew that he wouldn't be able to escape from his clutches even if he tried his hardest. It was simply impossible!

"Third Elder, how on earth were you able to pass through this thick and dense fog?" Claude asked in an indifferent manner, trying to probe him for answers.

"Look at you, trying to act all innocent,"

The Third Elder sneered as he took a step forward and stood right in front of Claude, looking straight into his eyes, as if he was staring into his soul. He placed his hand on Claude's shoulders and continued, "You really are a sneaky little brat, aren't you? I've heard a lot about you and I have to say, you have definitely exceeded my expectations! In fact, my gut feeling tells me that I should get rid of you as soon as possible. And I must say, I feel extremely compelled to do so right now..."

As he finished speaking, the Third Elder tightened his grip on Claude's shoulder, and Claude could feel the strength of an expert cultivator pressing down on him like a mountain, causing him to feel so heavy that he could barely even breathe.

'Is this old geezer going to kill me right now?' The Third Elder's words caused Claude to break into a cold sweat. If the Third Elder wanted to, he could easily kill Claude right now, and there would be nothing he could do to prevent that from happening. 

"Look what your words did. You're bullying him too much, Third Elder!" Right at this moment, an extremely loud voice was suddenly heard from a distance. After that, the fog surrounding Claude and the Third Elder slowly began opening up, and two figures walked towards them.

"Senior Beldon!" Claude looked at one of the men, who was of course, his senior Wilfred Beldon, and yelled out in a surprised manner.

"Ha ha ha… Sorry about that. I just had to tease him for a few seconds because he looked so serious upon seeing me. It seemed like fun!" The Third Elder immediately loosened his grip on Claude's shoulders and let go as he let out a chuckle, but Claude wasn't so sure he was joking. 

"Well, I'm sure that we can all agree that getting threatened by an expert cultivator who's realms above you isn't exactly what someone would call fun!" Senior Beldon shook his head as he moved next to Claude and continued, "Are you alright, Claude?"

Claude nodded his head, indicating that he was fine. He then turned his gaze towards the person that came with Senior Beldon. Senior Beldon, who noticed his gaze, spoke with a smile. "Ah, this is Commander Rivaldo Dante."

"I saw him before," Claude responded with an indifferent expression and Commander Rivaldo Dante scratched his cheeks. "Sorry about that kid. Orders were to kill every person on that carriage. Didn't get the information that we had two of our allies within them.."

"And I'm pretty sure he would've killed me had it not been for the appearance of the Third Elder," Senior Beldon glared at the Commander, who shrugged his shoulders in response. He turned to Claude again and continued, "Commander Rivaldo Dante is part of a combat unit who is working for the Royal Family under the order of their employer, the First Consul of Barugh, Josse Guiscard!"

"The country of Barugh?" Claude asked as his eyes widened in surprise, to which Senior Beldon nodded his head. "That's right. It seems that both Barugh and Argria are working together… at least for now."

"For what reason?" Claude asked. He still didn't have the full picture, but he really wanted to know more. 

"You didn't tell him everything?" The Third Elder stared at Wilfred Beldon and asked, raising his eyebrows in suspicion as he did so.

"I wanted to make sure that he was ready before telling him the plan," Senior Beldon replied.

"Ready? You said you didn't tell him the plan! How the hell can he be ready if he hasn't heard the plan?" Commander Rivaldo Dante shouted loudly, and Senior Beldon glared at him once again. "I wanted to figure out whether or not he had the appropriate mindset. Like it or not, he's still a kid. Betraying someone's trust isn't necessarily as easy as you may think it is. It's harder the first time."

He then focused his gaze on Claude and said, "I wanted to know if he would be on board with a plan which involved him betraying his master. I could only reveal the plan until I knew he was ready."

"And?" Claude interjected, causing everyone's attention to turn to him. "Can you tell me the plan already? Why are you doing this? What's the reason?"

"The reason is to protect our country," Senior Beldon replied, and Claude looked at his senior curiously. 

"Go on."

"I'm sure in a perfect world, the Headmaster and the Second Elder's wishes of a country free of the monarchy would be an achievable dream. But not in the martial world. As a part of the Reformation movement, I had been secretly keeping an eye on certain groups of people in the academy who I was suspicious of working for the Royal Family. And in an attempt to smoke them out, I used all kinds of techniques to gain information from them. But what I found, was something unbelievable." 

Senior Beldon was immersed in his memory as he continued, "The news of a conquest. The Ruler of the country of Itawar and the Emperor of the Dazearyn Empire, Gilbert Gottfried, had been planning to wage a campaign against the empire of the Middle East, the Stetopian Empire. For an invasion of the powerful Stetopian Empire, he was preparing to combine forces with other countries, particularly the nearest ones, which included Argria." 

"And? What's the problem? Can't we just agree to provide reinforcements to the Dazearyn Army?" Claude asked, confused as to what was the problem.

"The problem is, the Divine Commandments." the Third Elder spoke. "Gilbert Gottfried is a firm believer in God's will, and particularly, the Divine Commandment of God. It essentially declared anyone born from the Royal Blood to be the subordinates of God, and any country that doesn't abide by these principles were considered to be enemies of God!"

"So the Royal Family simply cannot just cease to exist… at least not all of them," Claude snapped his fingers as he grasped the situation. "You need to keep the Royal Family alive in order to appease Gottfried."

"Exactly," Senior Beldon nodded his head. 

"But you could've told the Second Elder this, and I'm sure he would've agreed to let go of the enmity to save the country," Claude asked as he looked at Senior Beldon, who in turn, looked at the Third Elder.

"Well of course, it couldn't be just a lose-lose situation for all of us now, could it?" the Third Elder replied with a sinister smile. "My faction was already in a good relationship with the Royal Family, and given the situation, we decided it would be best if we eliminated at least one threat to.. you know, appease ourselves. After all, we were in such a rough position, and we needed some kind of accomplishment to keep us happy."

"So you used a grim situation to gain a more powerful position?" Claude asked, his expression cold.

"That's right. I did," the Third Elder replied. "Why? Does that make you rethink your decision?"

"Not really… it's just that you were going on and on about the safety of the country," Claude sneered as he continued, "But in the end, it all came down to greed… Not that I had any problem with it, it's just.. for a second, I thought there was hope for humanity.."

**********************

"YOU SHALL PAY!" The Second Elder furiously roared out and unleashed an energy beam toward the Third Elder, but before the energy beam could hit its target, a powerful sword qi permeated the air, and a young figure appeared out of nowhere and blocked the attack using a sword.

"Third Elder, how could you not tell me about such an interesting opponent! You're too distrusting of me!" The young man, Commander Rivaldo Dante, said with a sneer as he looked at the Second Elder.

The fight had now turned into two against one!

Whoosh!

At the same time, Wilfred flew down and caught Claude, who was unable to move due to the effects of the drugs. Wilfred placed him down on the ground, and laid Claude next to a tree, and sat down next to him.

"That worked out well, wouldn't you agree?"

Claude tried his best to nod his head, but unfortunately, the drugs prevented him from doing so.