Chapter 4 - 3

The death might be quick but from those who had the privilege to have this fog touch their skin they had described it as a hundred times more painful than a burn. It was like their skin was being burnt and torn from their bodies that they begged for death but death wouldn't come.

One might ask if prince Rui didn't inherit any of the Nocru traits then how come he possessed such terrible power? It is because he discovered he could absorb a Nocru's aether, which is the source of their seraphic energy, stripping off their lifeline and connection to their motherland.

This temporarily powered his own empty shell of an aether and the effect was especially good when he absorbed the aether of his offspring. This is why Prince Rui had more than fifty offspring with forty-five of them killed by him.

Currently, he had five children who were alive but the one he wanted to devour the most was Rui Fei over there as he was the most powerful of his offspring.

Fei Rui's mother seemed normal at first when she was brought to him in chains but when he took her by force he felt a massive surge of power in his body. His aether seemed energized for a long time and he seemed to be growing stronger and stronger each time he ravished her.

With that in mind, he decided to keep her and conceive as many children as possible with her but the moment she gave birth to Rui Fei her body vanished into thin air leaving behind this child.

In anger, he picked up the newborn and threw him into the birthing pool. It was only after venting out his rage did he return to his senses and jumped into the pool to save his future source of power.

But as he entered the pool the rippling water suddenly became agitated before instantly evaporating leaving behind an irritated baby on the floor of the pool. That's when he realised that he underestimated how powerful his offspring with that Nocru would be.

Once he absorbs Rui Fei's aether he would gain enough power to take over the dragon throne. All he had to do was wait for the child's aether to mature enough for the harvest.

He threw this baby in the dungeon with all the other children but the problem was that Rui Fei was incredibly aggressive. The moment he could walk and talk he had been causing trouble despite having been sedated and chained. At the age of five, he blasted the wall and almost escaped resulting in prince Rui building a special dungeon for him.

He also sealed his power by directly injecting powdered lotrian into the boy's bloodstream every year. This severely affected the boy's physical and mental health but his aether wasn't affected as it progressively developed over the years.

Ninety-nine per cent of the time Rui Fei was locked up in the world's most fortified dungeon at the deepest part of Prince Rui's palace but the other one per cent was when he was pulled out to witness one of his siblings get their aether absorbed of all its seraphic energy and become a part of Prince Rui.

Being forced to watch this each time his heart grew darker and darker. He wished for nothing more except his father's death. He clenched his jaw tightly as he endured the feeling of having his skin scorched.

Despite suffering from such a painful ordeal he didn't so much as grimace with his expression remaining blank like it wasn't happening to himself. He had long been accustomed to this pain and didn't want to give his father the satisfaction.

Sure enough, Prince Rui was enraged by his reaction that he flipped the golden table in front of him before disintegrating it with the black fog. He strode over to Rui Fei and painfully grasped his cheeks pressing them together before forcing his son to look at him.

Because of the wound from his skin being burnt by the black fog just now, Rui Fei felt a stabbing pain travel through his nerve endings but his expression remained indifferent. "Ah-Fei... Ah-Fei Fei... when father says look you look..... do you hear me?" he said as the black fog began to seep out from his fingers holding Rui Fei's face. 

Rui Fei's skin started to crack with black lines spreading like vines from the point of contact.

Because of the intense pain from direct contact, Rui Fei's stoic expression started forming subtle cracks that prince Rui undoubtedly noticed. This satisfied his sadistic nature so he let go with a look of gratification on his face.

He flicked the sleeve of his shimmering green robe embellished with gold and let out a sinistrous laugh. With a swing of his hand, he removed the black cloth covering the cage revealing a pink-eyed girl with chestnut brown hair.

Her skin was as white as snow with cracked red plump lips. Her torn blue dress didn't negatively affect her appearance, in fact, it enhanced her features mesmerizing the servants kowtowing.

She felt a gaze on her that was different from the rest so she raised her head and looked in that direction. Her line of sight fell on the injured Rui Fei and a tear flowed down her cheek as she whispered, "Can I be saved?" into Rui Fei's mind.

Because she spoke to him through telepathy no one else heard her apart from Rui Fei.

Rui Fei felt a stabbing pain on his chest like someone had directly taken a knife and drove it straight into his heart. Maybe it was because he was directly feeling her pain from the telepathic connection that his anguish intensified. It was even more agonizing than the pain coming from his face that was slowly healing.

"I am sorry," he replied to her feeling immense guilt. This wasn't the first time he had helplessly watched on as his half-sibling got devoured by this beast but what could he do? He was weak without the ability to even save himself.

She was about to tell him that it was okay when the cage was suddenly grasped by an invisible force and smashed against the wall. With a loud thud, the girl fell from the cage and landed on the ground cracking some of her bones.

"You think he can save you, huh?" said prince Rui in a deep menacing voice as he ambled over with a wolfish grin. He crouched down and grabbed a handful of her hair forcing her to look at him and said, "No one, I repeat, no one can save you."

She knew it was game over for her but she wasn't going to go down without a fight. An ominous smile crept up her face as prince Rui forced her up by her hair. 'You think you are invincible but not to karma.....' she spoke to him telepathically before spitting in his eyes.. She might have lived her entire life being oppressed by this man but she was his daughter after all and possessed part of his stubborn nature.