"U-Ugh…what are you…just…"

"I can't move! Oh lord, I can't move! D-Duke! Duke!"

The two guards froze in their place and posture. Even the circulation of aura in their body froze.

"Oopsie, I'm still not good at full time freeze, brother." Primula stuck out her tongue and grinned.

Varian shook his head. "You just want to torment them. What a devilish little girl!"

"As expected of your sister, right?"

"Of course, as expected of my sister!"

"Oh ho ho!"

"Now that I think about it, that laughter doesn't sound too bad."

"I can teach you. Just appear arrogant, I mean, like your normal self and shake your shoulders while you laugh."

"…Is that the payback for pulling your cheeks earlier?"

"Would you do it again if I said yes?"

"And you still wonder why your chocolates and cookies disappear."

"Y-You devil!"

Ignoring the little girl who screamed in a professional heartbreaking voice, Varian moved into the manor.

And his heart did break as he sensed the presence of someone familiar deep inside the ground.

With a swipe of his hand, the power of slivers emerged, quietly dissolving the mansion into nothingness.

"H-He!"

"F-Fucking…"

The two guards that were still screaming shut their mouths. They didn't even notice that Primula's restrictions on them had come off. Heck, they now stood even more stiffly than earlier.

That mansion wasn't just for show. It was extensively used as a weapon of war.

The Duke despised it due to his rank 9 powers, but the mansion could easily destroy a platoon of rank 7s with ease. It could even withstand several blows of rank 8s.

And that mansion...vanished.

It couldn't even resist for a moment.

What sort of power was this?

Whoever this man was, he had no ill will. That's why they still remained alive.

The mysterious man vanished from their view, slipping into the ground as if it was water.

Mud, rocks and metal bits vaporized, letting him pass through before they condensed into their solid form again.

For a weaker being, it would've seemed as if Varian was just passing through ground like an incorporeal entity.

When he went all the way down, crossing a few barriers that allowed him in with ease, a flat land with a small house came into view.

The house…resembled one he visited not too long ago.

Varian's eyebrows lowered and he exhaled due to the tightness in his chest. He stepped into the house in a blur.

It was so familiar and nostalgic. This house was the one where Kyle stayed before it all happened.

This was the place which Kyle brought the fainted Varian to, after the latter fainted with his self-destructive practice sessions.

This place at least gave Varina a feeling that even if his mother died, he wasn't completely alone. It occupied a quiet corner in his memories but it was a rock that saved him.

And now, everything in the house was exactly the same as it was when he first visited it.

Kyle's room had the same posters about mech suits, Academy of Sciences, aura circuit diagrams and others.

Varian never entered Kyle's mother's room. There was no need to. Back then, he would've never guessed that she'd be his secretary and run the empire for him and for so many years.

With a creak, the door opened.

It was a simple room with a small desk and plenty of documents. But Varian knew it was all a lie. At that time, Kyle still hadn't learned that his mother was an intelligence officer.

With a tap of his finger, the room quickly changed and a bunch of aura weapons, traps and devices popped up.

Picking up a glowing blue saber, he walked back to Kyle's room and sat down in the second empty chair—his chair—the black and red against Kyle's chair which was blue and white.

He was seated comfortably without any conscious effort. His body still remembered.

Running his thumb against the blade, Varian muttered. "These were the latest trend two years ago..."

And then he paused.

He opened his mouth for a moment and then closed.

"Two years…twenty thousand years…"

Varian's speech faltered and he looked at the empty chair in front with a blank expression.

A hologram slowly materialized on the chair and Kyle, who looked to be in his twilight years, greeted him with a smile.

"How's everything, buddy?" Kyle's voice was no longer young. And his wrinkly face seemed active, it no longer had the vitality of even his middle-aged self.

"No." Varian shook his head with all his might but he barely moved an inch.

"Seriously, you are the worst friend." Kyle crossed his arms and shook his head. "I mean come on, you can miss out my son's bachelor party, my daughter's wedding but you even missed my funeral! What kind of friend are you?"

Kyle stared straight into his eyes, as if he knew he would be seated in this very chair.

The chair moved with a squeak and it slid forward, stopping just in front of him.

Kyle…was now just a hand away from him.

Perhaps because it's too old, the chair's wheel broke and the chair bent down, causing Kyle's gaze to focus at his shoulder instead of eyes like he intended.

Varian's hand moved before he could register and the wheel was repaired.

"You know I prepared a great euology. I praised myself a lot, you know, they're not really praises but my humble admissions of truth." Kyle said with a shy expression. "But people won't accept it, they won't accept that I'm a man of such gracious qualities! Tell me, I'm a kind man, right?"

Varian nodded desperately, wanting to tell him how thankful he was for the help he recieved during that dark year. If not for Kyle, he might have never survived.

"So I made a plan. People won't believe my words, but what if it's the Emperor who says them? At my funeral no less?"

Kyle smirked like he always did and Varian wanted to retort out of habit but the words stopped at the tip of his tongue.

"But man, all that planning went to waste." Kyle shook his head with a sigh and looked into the distance.

"The Queens, ah, I mean, your wives, wanted me to move out of this Hortus so that I can experience only a thousand years and have more chances of seeing you."

Varian inhaled heavily and held his breath.

"But…" Kyle gave a bitter smile. "I have a family…I can't just take them away from the world. I…I couldn't make that choice. So, here we have it. You and me, talking like this."