Chapter 282 - The Dark Sun II

Charles was satisfied with Aster's obedience. Although he knew that Aster was obedient because he wanted to save that slave, it gave Charles the sense of conquering. He had finally conquered Aster Di Arlingdon. There was nobody that could separate them now.

Charles glanced at Ramuja who was standing still. There was strangeness in Ramuja, he stood there motionless, even his eyes didn't blink. However, judging from the deep cuts on his body, there was no way that he could survive that.

Charles laughed and pulled Aster's collar up, then he pinched Aster's chin and turned his head to look at dead Ramuja, "Look at that s.e.x slave, tell him that you are mine now. I will cut his corpse into pieces if you don't say it."

Aster looked at unresponsive Ramuja in front of him. He didn't know whether Ramuja was alive or dead right now, because he still stood straight, although his expression was blank and unblinking.

Aster couldn't bear looking at the wounds, his body trembled in shock. His knees were weak, at this point, Aster almost fainted due to shock, and Charles forcefully supported him and shook him hard in order for him to stay awake.

The tears that had welled in Aster's eyes finally fell, then he said in a grieving tone, "I… I… Aster Di Arlingdon… only loves Charles. I am his, I will… I will love Charles forever…"

After getting the statement from Aster, Charles' four pupils turned golden again and he kissed Aster wantonly. He forcefully inserted his tongue inside Aster's mouth and pinched Aster's jaw, so he wouldn't bite his tongue.

Charles couldn't get enough of it, but feeling that Aster was getting weaker due to lack of breath, he released his kiss and licked his lips, "Aster, our love game has ended. You will be mine now, I will forgive you as long as you are obedient."

Aster said nothing. If his husband really died right now, all he could do was to send Ramuja's corpse back to Sun Kingdom intact. At least, he would be buried with honor there. However, his heart was slowly getting numb.

He subconsciously grasped his heart, feeling short of breath. Aster's breath was getting harder and harder, his face was really pale and he kept grasping his heart due to the extreme pain.

Charles gazed at Aster and laughed happily, "It's alright. It will be really painful once your golden circle dies. But with this, I can safely declare that your slave has died, Aster."

"You are naturally connected with your golden circle, when he dies, your subconsciousness will ask you to follow him to the grave. But I will not allow you to die. Remember Aster, no matter how much the pain you have to bear right now, if you dare to die, I will cut that slave into pieces and feed him to the wild dogs. There will be no honor for such horrible death, right?" Charles grinned maliciously. He watched Aster grasping his heart in pain, trying his best to survive.

It was true, Aster felt that his heart could stop at any moment now. When Ramuja finally died, his heart immediately knew it and wanted to burst. However, with Charles' threat, he didn't dare to die, because Ramuja's body would be mutilated.

'Don't die! Don't die! I want Ramuja to die in honor!' Aster repeated it in his heart. Charles grinned and let go Aster. Aster slumped on the ground, he curled as he tried to endure the pain.

Charles clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Why does it take so long? Is your feeling for that slave really deep? Well, I will not help you for now, Aster. I want you to withstand the torture. Because I felt it myself."

'Ramuja… I… I will not die. I will bring your body back to Sun Kingdom!'

Ramuja was thrown into an unknown place. He opened his eyes slowly, and there was nothing around him, only pitch-black void. He looked around, but it was too dark for him to notice anything.

Before he could open his mouth, a purple light came from above. The purple light descended and floated in front of Ramuja, then a voice came out of the light, "You've lost."

Ramuja clenched his fist, but said nothing. He knew that after he plunged into darkness, he was already dead. However, he still couldn't let go, he didn't want to leave Aster. He had a long life with him.

"Are you still thinking about your sun?" the purple light asked.

"Yes," Ramuja replied honestly, "I don't know where I am right now, but I beg you, if you can bring me back to life, I will pay for anything."

"You are dead, I cannot bring you back to life," the purple light said.

Ramuja immediately tried to grab the light, but the light was quick to float above him, "I am the Sun King! I know there must be a way!" Ramuja said frustratedly.

"There is a way, but it is costly."

"I don't care about the cost! I just want to protect my sun again!" Ramuja said bitterly. He was really desperate at this point, he had many thoughts about what would happen to Aster after he died, especially with Charles still alive, he would definitely lock Aster forever in his room.

"Why can't I get into Sun King state again? Where is my berserk state?!" Ramuja protested.

"Because you have been suppressing it," the purple light floated around continued, "You know the true potential of your Sun King state, and you know that it is much stronger than that. But you keep suppressing it, and now it will be hard to be triggered."

"That is why, I want to tell you, you can get a second chance. In exchange, you have to completely release the strength of Sun King," the purple light said. Soon, another light appeared, a warm, orange light that floated down in front of Ramuja.

"Once you release the true Sun King energy, there is no coming back. You will trade half of your life force with this," the purple light said.

"My life force?"

"Yes, by releasing the true potential of Sun King, you will trade half of your life force, your heart will stop beating after you've reached half of your true age."

"What is my true age?"

"Eighty, you will die at the age of Forty if you take this," the purple light explained, "This is the only way for you to come back alive."

"I will do it," Ramuja said resolutely, he didn't care if he had to die earlier. As long as he could save Aster, as long as he could protect Aster. He didn't care at all.

"It has been decided then, touch the yellow light."

The true potential is mass destruction.

***

Ramuja's body was surrounded by purple and orange aura together, his eyes had no pupil, and he growled low. Charles noticed the dead Ramuja actually came back alive, but there was something wrong. The orange-purple aura around Ramuja's body starts to melt everything inside the Emperor Chamber.

Aster's pain in his heart suddenly vanished, he looked back at Ramuja and yelled, "Ramuja! You are alive!"

Aster struggled to stand on his feet again and wanted to rush back at Ramuja immediately, but he was forcefully pulled back to Charles. Charles warned him, "Don't come near him, he is not your slave."

"That is Ramuja! He will not hurt me!" Aster struggled hard in Charles' arm. Charles was staring at Ramuja, and he was so sure that this person in front of him would not spare anyone. Aster broke free from Charles' grip and he rushed to Ramuja.

Aster got close to Ramuja, as he wanted to hug him.

"Aster, no!" Charles jumped and shielded Aster with his body. As result, Charles and Aster were slapped across the room with a slight sweep from Ramuja's hand.

"Argh!" Charles g.r.o.a.n.e.d painfully. Even Ramuja's slight push could destroy his strong golden blood body and break a few ribs.

Aster was left dumbfounded. He also got hurt with Charles. His back was bruised badly after he was slapped across the room, "Ramuja… what…"

Ramuja didn't recognize anyone. He stood on the same position for a while before his aura gradually thickened and Aster could hardly breathe inside the Emperor Chamber. Baby Ardent cried immediately due to the difficulty of breathing.

"No!" Aster heard Ardent's cries and rushed to save the baby. Ramuja turned his attention to the baby. He walked slowly towards the baby with undefined intention.

"Damn!" Charles endured the pain in his body and blinked, he jumped to take Aster and the baby with him. He took one last glance at Ramuja and then disappeared from the room.

Ramuja was left in the Emperor Chamber alone. He paused at this moment, and then, a twisted grin plastered on his face. In a matter of seconds, he also disappeared from the Emperor Chamber.

Charles actually didn't run away far, he only escaped with Aster and the baby to a smaller place near Golden Palace to hide. He didn't know what would happen with the Golden Palace now. Ramuja might actually destroy everything now.

BOOM!

And he was correct, he suddenly heard a deafening sound and faint scream from afar. Charles checked from the window and a huge explosion suddenly appeared from one room inside Golden Palace, it was his room. The explosion was big enough that it ultimately destroyed everything inside the room, even the tough wall was destroyed. Ramuja was standing inside Charles' destroyed room, he stood in silence for a minute, and then disappeared.

Series of explosions happened inside the Golden Palace, the soldiers, servants, and everyone inside the Golden Palace were not spared at all. Golden Palace slowly crumbled and half of the huge palace was already ruined mercilessly. Everything happened so fast that Charles couldn't help but trembled in fear.

Ramuja was destroying everything meaninglessly now.

Aster was also too shocked to react. He saw how half of the majestic Golden Palace was already destroyed. He subconsciously held Baby Ardent tight to his c.h.e.s.t, "Ramuja… what are you doing…"

"Your slave, he comes back alive, but he comes back to destroy everything, including you and me, Aster," Charles said truthfully.

"No, he will not be so ruthless—" Aster choked on his words when another explosion happened and a piece of human hand flew from afar and landed in front of them. Aster held his breath, trying hard not to scream out of shock.

"Aster, we need to run away now," Charles said. Series of explosions happened again and it got nearer and nearer to this small palace.

Aster trembled in fear, but he didn't want to run away. If he ran away and Ramuja chased him, then it would rack up even more casualties. Because Ramuja would destroy the whole Roagelt.

"Y—You can leave by yourself, I can't leave Ramuja—"

"Aster, he is not Ramuja!" Charles said desperately.

"He is Ramuja! I will return him back to normal!" Aster persisted, "Charles, leave now if you still want to live!"

"No!" Charles gritted his teeth, "I will never let you die! I never want you to die!" Charles said, his words sounded begging, "We need to leave!"

"I will not!" Aster persisted.

Ramuja stood still, like a statue, his white eyes stared at Aster.

Ramuja then shifted his eyes towards Charles and then flashed in front of Charles. He grabbed Charles' hand and threw him on the wall.

"Argh!" Charles back hit the wall harsh that he couldn't feel anything at all at this point. Almost all his bones were broken, only head could move, "Aster… I—"

Ramuja flashed again in front of Charles and he covered Charles' face with his palm. In a matter of seconds, a small explosion happened from inside Charles' body, blood splattered everywhere, leaving nothing from the Emperor of Golden Camellia, not even his bones were intact.

Aster fell to the ground, his knees couldn't support himself due to fear. He never saw this much ruthlessness. Ramuja killed so many people inside this Golden Palace, even the innocent servants were not spared. And Charles died in a very gruesome manner.

Baby Ardent cried again, he cried loudly and Ramuja shifted his attention towards the baby. Knowing that Ramuja walked towards him to kill the baby, Aster pressed the baby tight to his c.h.e.s.t, "S—Stay away!"

Ramuja ignored him. His eyes focused towards the baby, he wanted to take the baby and destroy this thing. But Aster shielded the baby fiercely, "If you want to kill the baby, then you must kill me first, Ramuja!"

Ramuja paused, he crouched in front of Aster. His hand slowly approached Aster's cheek.

Aster was incredibly scared, but he stared at Ramuja bravely with his golden eyes, even if today was his death, he didn't want to die in fear, "Ramuja, promise me, once you kill me, you must not kill anybody else."

Ramuja ignored Aster's words. He paused for a moment, and then touched Aster's cheek.

Aster felt incredible pain from Ramuja's palm. Like a jolt of thunder, Aster's body was invaded with piercing heat.

"AAAAARGH!" Aster screamed as the right side of his body had been burned badly, leaving horrendous burned scars for half of his body. But Ramuja suddenly stopped and he lifted his hand from Aster's cheek.

Aster was about to faint, with his last strength, he put his other than that was still intact to Ramuja's cheek and said, "I love you, Ramuja."

Aster smiled and closed his eyes, while baby Ardent cried harder.

Ramuja looked at Aster's half burnt body. Slowly, he opened his mouth and said one word, "Aster…"

Ramuja covered the baby and Aster's body in his embrace, and soon after, a huge explosion happened inside the small palace. Destroying everything inside, leaving nothing but ashes.