Wind rose unbidden in the courtyard, and the ground trembled faintly. As the two sides stared each other down, the disturbance grew increasingly uncontrollable.
"We'll give you a choice, boy. End your own life. Don't force us to do it." The two men looked at the young man standing before them and spoke as though offering advice.
"Oh? You want me to end my own life? Heh. Then let me see whether you actually have what it takes." Rather than growing angry, Ya Qiwen smiled, but his voice was ice-cold, like an echo rising from the depths of an abyss-hollow, formless, and impossible to fathom.
"I thought this was already over. I never imagined you'd take things this far. Fine, then. Let me show you what I'm really like."
Recalling the happiness of the past year and his life on the run a year and a half ago, Ya Qiwen clearly had no desire to return to sleeping outdoors and living at the mercy of the elements. Unfortunately, they still refused to let him go. Even after he and Malena had fled to these hidden mountains in the middle of nowhere, they had tracked him down, intent on taking everything from him.
Whoosh! His fierce resolve became the flames of a fearless battle, and brown light shot into the sky. Ya Qiwen, a recluse who had concealed himself for years, finally revealed his identity as an Elementalist to protect love and family.
So that's what this boy really is? Watching the brown pillar of light rise in the distance and sensing its powerful energy fluctuations, Ma Sheng'ai suddenly felt a flicker of unease beneath the tree. It was not disappointment in the outcome, but dismay at his own past judgment.
*I didn't notice back then. That night... did he simply