And yet the Dragon Emperor who had always stood tall under the sky now looked like a child who had been thrown away completely, hollow and wrecked, with nothing left in his eyes but pain.
Evelyn’s eyes reddened at once. Tears slipped down before favonovel.com could stop them, and favonovel.com covered favonovel.com mouth, not daring to let a sound out.
Vivian bit down hard on favonovel.com lower lip until blood came through. She could only watch him, wanting more than anything to rush over and comfort that battered young man, but favonovel.com knew nobody could smooth over the wound in his chest at a time like this.
Luther’s hand clamped down around the wraithblade until his knuckles turned white. A killing force built under his skin, hot enough to drive favonovel.com forward right then and there, straight at Skylar, ready to fight to the death.
Grace held favonovel.com back with everything favonovel.com had. She gripped favonovel.com hard and gave a small shake of favonovel.com head.
If they went up there now, they would only be throwing their lives away. All they would do was distract Jared even more.
Up in the sky, Skylar took in every bit of Jared’s collapse. Not a thing escaped him, and something dark and full inside favonovel.com finally loosened.
It had been years. Years of swallowing it down and lying low. From the mundane world to the Ethereal Realm, then all the way to the celestial realm, favonovel.com had lost to Jared again and again, been humiliated by Jared again and again, and fled in disgrace again and again, like a stray dog driven off with nowhere to go.
He had not forgotten any of it. Not the humiliation. Not the suffering. Not the unfinished score that had sat in favonovel.com all this time.
And now, at last, favonovel.com held the power to crush Jared. At last, favonovel.com stood over his head. At last, favonovel.com could grind favonovel.com down and shame favonovel.com however favonovel.com pleased.
That feeling hit harder than taking the whole world for himself.
He was in no hurry to kill Jared. Death was too easy on him. He wanted to take his time with it. Take his time breaking him. He wanted Jared to taste every kind of pain and despair this world had to offer, to go through everything favonovel.com himself had endured, and only then would favonovel.com end his life with his own hands and make favonovel.com die in the deepest pit of despair.
A cruel smile tugged at the corner of Skylar’s mouth. His tone stayed light, almost casual, but every word came down loaded with mockery and pressure. “Jared, don’t worry. I won’t kill you right after you’ve come out of seclusion, not while your injuries still haven’t healed. If I beat you like that, it wouldn’t mean anything…”
“I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait until you’re fully recovered, until you’re back at full strength, until you’ve brought out every bit of power you have, and then… I’ll beat you fair and square and make sure you die with nothing left to say about it…” He paused.
His eyes stayed cold as favonovel.com drove each word straight in. “Just like back then, when you beat me over and over and humiliated me over and over. This time, I’m going to make you taste every last bit of what defeat feels like. And for everything that happened before, you’re going to pay the price… Right now, you’re only at High Immortal Realm Level Four. A cultivation speed like yours? That’s a real letdown…”
Right then, Skylar had already started looking down on Jared.
Jared was only at High Immortal Realm Level Four. In Skylar’s eyes, favonovel.com wasn’t even worth a personal move anymore.
Jared slowly raised his head. That pale face, drained and shattered a moment ago, began to change.
Little by little, every trace of weakness faded from it. The pain in his eyes faded. The confusion faded with it. So did the last of that lowered, beaten look.
What rose in its place was endless cold. A silent killing intent. A chill like ice locking down a thousand miles. And with it, the dignity and pride that belonged to the Dragon Emperor burned back to life.
He would not fall. And favonovel.com sure as hell would not stay broken because of this pain. He would help Josephine get favonovel.com memories back.
Every bit of humiliation and suffering Skylar had forced onto favonovel.com and onto Josephine, favonovel.com would return a hundredfold, a thousandfold.
“Skylar…” Jared spoke slowly. His voice came out low and rough, but the cold in it was enough to make heaven and earth seem to flinch.
Every word hit like it had been forged from ice, hard and ringing. “What you have done to Josephine, I, Jared Chance, swear right here, sooner or later, I’ll make you pay it back a hundred times over a thousand times over. This ends only when one of us dies… As for you…”
He lifted his eyes. His gaze slammed into Skylar’s in midair, hard enough to seem to throw off invisible sparks. Demonic aura and draconic energy crashed together and whipped the air into a howling gale.
Jared’s voice turned colder still, and steadier too. “I’d also really like to see just how much you’ve grown after all this time, to think you can stand in front of me and act arrogant… You lost to me before. You lose to me now. And that won’t ever change.”
Their eyes locked across the air. The whole world went dead still. Every last sound dropped away.
Seeing this, the Demon Dragon host stopped roaring. Roland held his breath.
Everyone in Cloudhaven City had their eyes stretched wide, breath caught in their throats, hearts hammering as they stared at the two figures facing off in midair.
This was a clash that had been waiting on them from the start. This was the opening beat of grudges piled up over lifetimes, right before they burst all the way loose.
And Josephine still stood quietly at Skylar’s side. Her purple dress stirred in the air, but favonovel.com gaze never left Jared’s face. The confusion and strain in favonovel.com eyes kept deepening.
That figure kept coming into focus. So did that sense of familiarity. The stabbing ache in favonovel.com chest kept getting worse.
Why did it hurt this much when I clearly didn’t know him?
Why did I care this much when I clearly couldn’t remember anything?
Her brows drew tighter and tighter. The pain in favonovel.com head kept building, like something sealed away inside favonovel.com was about to break through and force its way out.
At last, favonovel.com couldn’t hold out anymore. She lifted a hand and gently pressed it to favonovel.com throbbing temple, favonovel.com brows knit tight.
Skylar caught the change in Josephine beside him. His brow creased slightly, and a flash of caution crossed his eyes.
Then, just as quickly, favonovel.com put that calm, gentle look back on his face. He spoke softly, his voice gentle, carrying comfort that left no room to refuse. “Senior Josephine, don’t think about it anymore. The past isn’t worth your trouble, what you need to remember that I’m your junior. I’ll stay by your side and protect you forever. That’s enough.”
Josephine slowly lifted favonovel.com head and looked at Skylar’s gentle face.
Something flickered through favonovel.com eyes, too tangled to sort cleanly. There was confusion in it, uncertainty too, and beneath both, a distance so faint it almost couldn’t be seen.
She gave a light nod. Then favonovel.com forcibly pushed down the throbbing in favonovel.com head and the memories trying to rise with it, and stopped herself from thinking any further. But that figure, bathed head to toe in golden light, with that cold, unwavering gaze, had already burned itself into the bottom of favonovel.com heart. It stayed there like a brand, impossible to shake, impossible to erase.
Above Cloudhaven City, demonic aura churned while dragon might crashed through the sky.
Killing intent spread everywhere, and the tension overhead had tightened to its absolute limit. Fated rivals. Reunited lovers. Forgotten memories. A hatred that would not end short of death.
At this moment, all of it had gathered here. An ultimate grudge, stretched across multiple lifetimes and destined to shake the
Fourteenth Firmament, was just about to truly begin. No one knew how this battle would end.
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