Chapter 4: A Losing Battle

An hour passed and Lucas finally woke up and to his surprise, he was perfectly alright!

However, the sound of clothes and some things being shoved into a bag echoed in the room, and to his confusion, he saw Nadia packing clothes and some essential items in a huge sack.

"Mom?"

Nadia smiled as she glanced at him, "Lucas! Thank god...you are alright. Get ready, quick! We have to run out of here before Yiman finds out we tricked him," She said in a hurry, making Lucas feel puzzled as he got off the bed.

"So your words about going to his palace tomorrow was just a lie?" Lucas asked with a relieved smile. He was feeling very worried and anxious about Nadia agreeing to Yiman's proposal and ending up as his concubine.

"Of course...Lucas...I am sorry that I didn't realize our feelings a bit early. Otherwise, maybe we could have run off together before," Nadia said with a loving gaze, to which Lucas shook his head and hugged her supple body as he said, "It's fine, mother. I will continue to love you no matter what, and we still have plenty of time ahead. I will go and get ready quickly!"

Lucas soon came back into her room, and Nadia hurriedly said, "Come. We can't waste more time. We have to leave now and put some distance between these kingdoms before they hunt us."

Lucas sensed the anxiety in her tone and nodded as he grabbed his bag and followed his mother while feeling a bit sad that he was going to leave the sect his mother had created with her hard work, all on her own.

The two changed into casual clothes while Nadia disguised herself as a commoner woman, masking her face with her qi and using a brown cloak over her body so that her beauty wouldn't stand out.

However, as Nadia and Lucas sneaked out the back, a bunch of men dressed in imperial army clothes were blocking their way. A man among them wearing silver armor stepped forward as he said, "As His Majesty guessed, you were really going to run away, huh? Do you have any idea who you were trying to fool? You not only killed his chamberlain, but you also want to commit a grave crime by escaping imperial punishment? You thought wrong, woman. Your life now belongs to His Majesty. So obediently, come with us, and your son won't be harmed. Otherwise, we can't guarantee anything if you make things difficult for us."

Lucas clenched his fists, seeing how his mother was losing her momentum, her attacks carrying lesser and lesser power over time, and how her body was appearing to be tired and exhausted.

If anybody witnessed this battle, they would be shocked at how talented Nadia was since she was battling someone who was a whole realm higher than her in cultivation!

She was not even supposed to last five seconds against him, yet she stood her ground all this time, and this only made Linaro even more frustrated and angry as he finally decided to use his most powerful attack to bring her down.

*BOOM!* A large ray of fiery orange-ray emerged from Linaro's palm before blasting onto Nadia, who got slammed onto the ground, her sword thrown away to the side.

"Mother!!" Lucas shouted as he tried to run towards his mother, but two soldiers suddenly grabbed his arm from behind, restraining him, making him unable to take a single step forward despite using all his qi.

Linaro wiped off the trickle of blood from his lips as he ordered, "Men, take him and her away. Make sure to use the strongest restraints. Otherwise, I will have all your heads!"

"Yes, general!" The soldiers replied in fear and awe.

"Wait, you bastard!!" Lucas called out to Linaro, his eyes filled with burning resentment.

Linaro's brows creased as he turned around to look at a pitiful, weak boy who dared to call him a bastard. If it wasn't for the king's orders, he would have decapitated Lucas's head.

And before Lucas could realize it, he lost his consciousness as well after getting hit from the back.