Back in Don's chamber in the castle, he and Arrora leaned on the wall and watched over the kingdom outside.
"Are we going to leave them like this?" Arrora asked.
"Where is Knight at?" The last time he heard, Knight was bringing the Lucroy family to Agoria because of some complications over the spell.
"Arwen said Yvonne still has some things to deal with and they will start their journey as soon as she finishes everything" She explained but he already established a connection with Knight through the Khal to know his exact location. He needed Knight to do something crucial for him.
"Knight, where are you?"
"Still in Vreston, Don, is there any problem?" Even through the Khal, Knight could sense a hint of tension in Don's voice and he didn't like it.
"I need you to do something"
*******************
A few hours after the fight between Sears and Don, Rosaline's party finally reached the Cold Moon Palace branch in the Crenad Kingdom, a rank 3 kingdom. The place was naturally defended by the mountains and covered by thick forests. There were many three and two-storied buildings for the classes and cultivation lessons while the teachers' quarters were located in the mountain peaks. Considering Sears was a teacher of the Main branch, they gave him the most luxurious guest house that was also located in one of the mountain peaks.
When Sears and everyone reached the guest house, the last of the sunlight disappeared and the stars began to glitter in the dark blue sky.
"Teacher" Rosaline approached Sears slowly. Along their journey to Crenad from Everlight, he didn't speak a word. His wounds were healed by the healing potion but he still wore the same blood-soaked robes. Rosaline knew that a man of Sears's personality, he was wounded mentally by Don more than he was physically. They knew it was not a duel but a straight-up thrashing.
Sears was fortunate to have some major influence in the Cold Moon Palace or he would have got punished for receiving an ass-kicking by a teenager in a duel. Until he defeats Don in an honest duel, he wouldn't get his reputation back. Besides, today's events put a knot in Sears's mind that would badly hinder his cultivation.
Thinking about all these, Rosaline tried to console her teacher.
"Leave me alone!" Sears said as he didn't look at Rosaline but walked into the mansion.
"Don't Rosaline, leave him be" The twins stopped Rosalien from following her teacher.
"Teacher Sears needs time alone, we should call for Aster and ask her to check him," Alexander said.
"Yes, the healing potion was not enough to completely heal Teacher Sears" Willian nodded but Rosaline slowly shook her head.
"No amount of healing potions will heal him you two. Don broke not only his body but his spirit and pride. There are no healing potions to heal those"
"Yes but when you think about this, it's all our fault. The Devil's triangle is a death trap and we basically asked King Don to send his men to death"
"Not to mention the way Teacher asked him. I know his sister got killed by a group of Astrels but it still doesn't give him the right to disrespect a king and his kingdom just because he opened his doors for the Astrels"
The twins spoke what they had in their minds. Unlike Rosaline, Sears was not their mentor, he was just a teacher for them.
"It doesn't matter, I will kill Don and regain my teacher's pride" Sparks flew around her hands and her eyes turned red.
"Don't be rash! you can't defeat King Don. Hell, we can't even touch him. In our generation, I think only Princess Audrey can defeat him" Although Rosaline felt furious, she knew the twins were right.
Meanwhile, in Sears's room, he was standing in front of a broken mirror.
He hated the person who was staring back at him in the mirror. The events that happened today flashed before his eyes, and he had never experienced a shame like this ever before.
Every time he closes his eyes, he could see Don's face and feel the pain in his bones. He went to Everlight disregarding the warning from Aqualis and now paid the price for it.
The worst part was he can't ask anyone in the Cold Moon Palace to help him defeat Don as it would bring more shame to him. How could a renowned teacher like himself ask anyone's help to defeat a teenager?
The only thing he could do now was to start secluded cultivation away from
the empire, or even this continent.
"Sears" Suddenly he heard a voice from behind and saw a figure in the mirror. For a moment, Sears couldn't guess what's happening. A spell that would alert everyone protected this mountain peak if an intruder entered the premises.
Along with that spell, he also shielded his room to prevent anyone from entering the room and seeing him in his current state. Yet, somebody entered the room without even making a sound. He couldn't clearly see the face of the person behind him in the mirror but he could vaguely see a skull mask on the person's face.
"Who...are" but before he could finish his sentence, Sears's vision went black and felt an intense pain in the back of his head.
********************
Somewhere in the middle of a snowy mountain, there was a small cabin. The snowstorm was consuming everything on its path and almost buried the cabin.
"Where...am… I?" Inside the cabin, the sound of chain rattling arose.
Sears slowly regained consciousness and opened his eyes while gritting his teeth in pain. He felt bone-chilling coldness in his hands and legs and heard the howling of the wind from outside. His vision slowly cleared and he vaguely saw two figures in front of him with the help of the torch burning in the room.
Again he tried to move his limbs but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move an inch but only made rattling sounds.
"Who...are...you?" Sears stuttered. "Don't say you forgot me this quickly" the moment, Sears heard the voice, his entire body shook.
"Don" Sears saw Don walking out of the darkness. He then stood between the two figures. Sears recognized the woman who was standing beside Don but he had no idea about the golden-haired youngster beside Don.
The woman wore the same red dress as before and the golden-haired youth adorned in nothing but black robes, just like Don.
"Where am I? How did you...you bastards!" It only took him a couple of seconds to realize that Don kidnapped him. The one thing he couldn't figure out was how did they kidnap him alerting no one in the Cold Moon Palace. If they had, they couldn't have kidnapped him.
All the spells and security arrays were designed to catch intruders by detecting magical cores. However, Knight had no magical core in his body and he avoided the security guards by flying way above them. He then entered Sears's room through the window and the moment he knocked down Sears, he left a special note for Rosaline and teleported here without anyone knowing that he was there.
This was not the first time Knight and Don had kidnapped someone. Compared to the kidnapping they did in the Divine continent, this seemed too easy as the security measures couldn't even find them due to the absence of the magical cores.
"Let me go...you've no idea what you have done brat!"
Pulch!
"Hhhrggg" Knight punched Sears in the gut for calling Don as Brat.
"They... will find me...Rosaline...will find me" Sears did not even try to think of escaping by himself before he knew DOn's power and his current weak status. If he was in his full strength, he might have escaped but now, it was impossible. His only hope was Rosaline.
"No, they won't. As far as they know, you left the empire to cultivate in solitude, so you can come back and defeat me. Also, you told them that no one in the COld Moon Palace to touch me or my people until you return"
"What are you talking about? I didn't say such thing" Sears said,
"Of course you didn't, but they don't know that. Reghys my friend here" Don said as Sears saw him pointing at the woman beside him,
"Forged your signature and handwriting to perfection. Even your favorite student Rosaline won't be able to find the difference"
"You shouldn't have come to our Kingdom, you old bat. You came to our kingdom, disrespect my brother, and expected to leave only with a couple of broken bones" Knight snickered and looked at him with a cold murderous intent in his eyes.
"Oh? What is this?" Following Knight, Sears heard the woman and turned to see her fiddling with his space ring.
"You?! How'' the space ring was not supposed to be opened by anyone else other than him. However, Sears saw Reghys taking out the contents inside the space ring with no trouble.
"Is that?" Knight and Don weren't surprised at the fact that Reghys opened his space ring as she was a dragon with a huge number of tricks under her sleeve. But the item she took last surprised them and even stunned them for a second.
"Yes, it's definitely a woman's undergarments" Reghys exclaimed as Sears's face turned extremely ugly looking at his long dirty secret's been exposed.
"Let me guess, Rosaline's"