They all stared at the screen with horrid expressions on their faces as the people walked up to the container, made little cuts on their fingers, and allowed their blood to drop into the strange black liquid.

They were all terrified, none of them wanted to suffer the same fate as the man who had asked the question and the guards were there to make sure that none of them escaped.

Even the wealthy men in the kingdom who were known to work with the king didn't dare to say anything as they could tell that there was something different about him today and none of them wanted to lose their lives.

"You didn't tell me that your king was a tyrant," Layla said slowly, turning her gaze to Jude.

"He's a greedy man but he's not known for killing people like that," Jude said.

"And what's with the purple thing?" Tuchel asked. "You never told me he had any powers."

"He doesn't have any powers and if he does have power why reveal it now?" Jude said with a pondering look on his face.

"I think the sky's strange color has something to do with what's going on here," Tauriel said.

"Why does he even need them to put their blood in there, is it like some kind of ritual?" Layla asked with a disgusted look on her face.

"Matilda." Jude gasped after seeing his girlfriend get pushed toward the container.

She stood there for a while and turned her gaze toward Roy before bending down to pick one of the blades on the floor.

"Who is she?" Layla asked.

"His girlfriend." Tuchel jumped in to answer the question before Jude could say anything.

"Oh," Layla said.

She made a cut on her thumb and allowed a drop of her blood to fall into the container.

A woman who was holding a little child walked up to the container.

She picked up one of the blades and made a cut on her finger and after her blood had dropped into the container, she made a cut on her baby's finger and pressed it for a drop of blood to come out.

She was terrified and you could tell by the way her hands were shaking.

The baby burst into a loud cry as his blood dropped into the container.

"This is very cruel," Layla said.

"You see, if you do what you are told to do without asking questions, nobody gets to die," Roy said with a wry smile on his face.

He looked down at the people for a while before quickly turning his gaze toward the drone in a way that startled them and forced Layla to quickly drive the drone out of there.

"If he's doing something like this then who knows what he has already done to Festus and Carl.

"Who?" Layla asked with a confused expression on her face.

"Just drive into the castle," Jude said.

"Okay," Layla said as she controlled the drone into the castle.

Through the drone's view, they could see that the castle was empty, empty, and silent.

"Where are we going?" Layla asked.

"Down the hall and the first turn on your right." Jude directed.

"Okay."

She controlled the drone down the hallway and took the first turn on her right which was the rolls of the castle's prison cells which were all demarcated with walls.

She checked the first prison just like Jude had told her to but there was nothing there to see.

"Check the next one," Jude said.

She checked the next one and the next one after that one but still couldn't find anything.

"What are we looking for?" Bryan asked.

"My friends Carl and Festus," Jude said. "They were still here when I ran away that night so I figured he must have put them somewhere here."historical

"There's nothing here, all these cells are empty," Layla said.

"What could he have done to them?" Jude said with a horrid expression on his face.

"I wouldn't be worried about Festus, in fact, I wouldn't be worried about any of them if they are together," Tauriel said.

"How is he going to protect himself and another person from someone like that king?" Layla asked as she was slowly driving the drone out of the prison area now.

"He's a light wizard," Tauriel said.

"A light wizard?"

They heard a very loud bang come from the tablet and then the screams by the people quickly followed.

"What's going on?" Layla asked as she quickly drove the drone outside.

On getting outside, they could see that a dark red aura filled with little bits of black aura had shot into the dark red sky as the people had dispersed around it with horrid expressions on their faces.

"What the heck is that?" Layla asked with a horrid expression on her face.

She wasn't the only one that needed someone to answer that question as the others were also looking at it with horrid expressions on their faces.

The aura had begun to rotate in the sky and it didn't take long before a circular dark portal had been created on the spot.

"Layla," Jude called with his gaze still fixed on the screen.

"Yeah," Layla replied, she also wasn't able to take her gaze off what she was looking at now.

"Please find my parents and Matilda." The young knight said.

____ ____

Luis stood there staring at his system screen as Ace told the owner of the shop all the things he needed while checking out the snacks placed on display to see if there was any new product that he was going to like.

[ 5 days 22 hours remaining ]

That message had refused to go out from his system screen since he got that quest.

That was the first time his system was giving him a quest with a deadline.

'What happens if I don't complete the quest before the deadline?'

'This is like the seventh time you are asking me that question.' Lena said. 'I wish I knew.'

'Do I necessarily have to kill him? Crippling him will be a better punishment, that way he can leave and suffer every day.'

'Yeah, but a cripple man can still plot evil deeds just like he is doing now without showing himself.' Lena said.

'So you think I should kill him.'

'I didn't say anything.'

"Ummm...Luis, can you help me with a silver coin?" Ace asked.

Luis quickly turned to him and was quite surprised to see how stuffed the bag he was holding was.

"I should have asked them for the money they wanted to use for purchasing the snacks." He said.

"What do you need all that for?" Luis asked with a baffled expression on his face.

"What do you mean? There's me, you, Chloe, Tania, and Dylan, and then my inner hunger, these snacks won't even be enough." Ace said.

"How much do they cost?" Luis asked.

"A bronze and silver coin." Ace replied.

"And you only had a bronze coin with you."

"Yeah." Ace replied with a shrug.

Luis let out a sigh as he dipped his hand into his pockets and brought out a silver coin.

"Here." He said, handing Ace the coin.

"Thank you." Ace said as he took the coin from him and then handed it to the owner of the shop.

The Angel never had any coins in his pocket, all the coins he had made from working at the library were stored in his inventory and if he needed any of the coins all he had to do was put his hand in his pocket and then pull the coin out of his inventory.

"Let's go," Luis said, turning to leave.

The Angel expected someone to attack him out of nowhere during the period he had been standing there but it turns out the mind master had learned his lesson and was going to leave him alone and target his friends only.

"Hey, Luis!"

The Angel heard a familiar voice from the side and quickly turned there to see Ella walking toward him.

"I came to your dorm room to look for you yesterday but nobody was there," Ella said after getting closer to him.

"Why were you looking for me? Did anybody attack you out of nowhere?" The Angel asked.

"No," Ella said, shaking her head with an awkward expression on her face. "There was something that you didn't tell me yesterday."

"What?"

"After you left, Miss Nicole told me that something was going on with you but I should ask you myself," Ella said.

"Yeah, I was going to tell you about that but I've been really occupied lately," Luis said.

"Occupied with what?" Ella asked.

"What I am about to tell you now," Luis said.

"I think I will get these snacks to the stadium now." Ace said taking a step forward.

"No, you can't walk there alone," Luis said, quickly pulling him back.

In the process of pulling him back, he collided with a girl who wasn't exactly looking where she was going because she had her gaze on the tablet she was holding.

"Oh, sorry." Ace said as he tried to bend down and get the tablet.

"No, it's okay." She said quickly bending to get to the tablet before him.

Raising her head now, Ace could see that she was someone they had met yesterday, someone who had explained something to them.

"Oh, it's you two," Emma said with a smile on her face. "Ace and...Luis right?"

"Yeah." Ace said with a nod.

She had slowly turned her gaze to the third person with them and on seeing her, her mood had slightly changed.

"I see you made it to the tournament Ella." She said. The friendly tone she had used when talking to Ace had immediately vanished.

'Oh, come on, this was one of the things I was trying to avoid here.' Ella complained in her mind.

'Who is she?' Jasmine inquired.

"Why wouldn't I make it?" Ella said.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Ace said with a shocked expression on his face.

"Yeah," Emma said.

"Are you twins?" Ace asked as he could clearly see the resemblance Luis was talking about the first day they met Emma now.

"Trust me, we may look alike but I am nothing like her," Emma said slowly, turning her gaze to Ella who had folded her hands into fists now.

'Stark and Jones, the two lightning powerhouses.' Luis said subconsciously.

He had gotten some interesting information after going through the minds of both girls.