This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat and StellarAshes.
Identity Exposed
As soon as Liola had gotten ahold of the Dragon Cross Necklace, he raced back to the dorm. He didn’t know when the Dragon Emperor would realize the necklace was back with him, so Liola used the fastest speed he could, and returned to the dorm practically instantly.
When he jumped into the room through the window, he realized there was no one there; even Kaiser, who was just lying down on the bed not too long ago, was gone.
“Crap.” Liola felt truly anxious, but he didn’t know where he could go to look for everyone. Perhaps he shouldn’t have gotten the necklace back so recklessly…
Liola put on a new Sorcerer robe as he instructed Baolilong to fly out to Auntie to see if Kaiser was there. As soon as Liola put on the robe, the door was opened. Liola sighed in relief as he looked at the door, but to his surprise, the person opening the door was not Kaiser and company, but Jasmine instead.
“Jasmine, do you know where Kaiser and others are?”
Liola asked worriedly, but Jasmine froze. At this time, Baolilong also barged in, and said, “Papa, Baolilong couldn’t find Kaiser.”
Liola looked at Baolilong in his Dragon form, and had no time to stop it before Baolilong spoke all it had to say.
Liola turned to look at Jasmine, and flustered to explain, “Baolilong i-is the Sacred White Dragon, and Silver Mask had asked me to take care…”
Before he finished, the bag full of groceries had fallen out of Jasmine’s hands, and a few pieces of meat had fallen out. She slowly walked to Liola, and she lightly put her hand on Liola’s face. Liola’s body trembled intensely — he hadn’t taken off his mask!
Jasmine slowly took off the mask, and put her hand on Liola’s face. Jasmine closed her eyes, and said unsteadily, “Why? Why did you lie to me and Lanski?”
Liola stood still, not knowing what to do. Seeing Jasmine’s sad face, Liola felt waves of guilt in his heart. After all, Jasmine had been nice both to him and Baolilong, and Liola did indeed really like being with this straightforward girl.
“I… didn’t do it on purpose.” Liola said, and then quietly held his gaze at Jasmine.
“Do you know how much this will hurt Lanski and me?” Jasmine held Silver Mask’s mask in her hand. Her heart was full of indescribable feelings. She finally helped her good friend uncover the identity of her love, only to realize he was her own crush. How was she going to face Lanski now?
Liola had no choice but said softly, “Sorry.”
Jasmine laughed bitterly. This “sorry” was not going to resolve the awkward situation between her and Lanski.
“Liola! Damn it, you’re still being slow.”
Liola was shocked, and Mizerui had already appeared in the room out of thin air, with a flustered and exasperated expression on his face. Liola, on the other hand, stared blankly at him.
“Blood Wolf already told me you got the necklace back. Why are you still here, are you waiting for the Dragon Emperor to come here and catch you?” Mizerui said as he quickly glanced at Jasmine, but he seemed to have completely ignored her presence.
Liola said with hesitation, “I couldn’t find Kaiser or Daylight.”
“Kaiser is with Barbalis, and Daylight… I’ll help you look for him. You should go immediately to Barbalis.” Mizerui frowned, and then suddenly disappeared.
Liola knew every second was important. He turned and said to the frozen Jasmine, “I have to leave for a long time, but I will definitely be back.”
Jasmine heard this, but she was even more shocked, She hurriedly asked, “Where are you going? What did other guy meant with what he said?”
Suddenly, a sound of explosion could be heard from afar. Liola’s face suddenly changed. Without responding to Jasmine, he grabbed Baolilong, and jumped out of the window without any further hesitation. He was worried perhaps one of his companions was caught by the Dragon Emperor.
Jasmine could only follow to the window, and she saw the gray robe disappear into the night. She couldn’t hold back her streams of tears, and she murmured,
“What is this? Not even a bit explanation. How am I supposed to explain this to Lanski, and how are we supposed to feel while we’re waiting for the same person…”
* * *
Liola did not know how depressed Jasmine was, as he had already ran out of the room. Completely forgetting about Mizerui’s instructions to look for Barbalis, Liola went straight to the origin of the explosion sound.
When he could finally see two people at the place of the explosion, Liola stopped. He realized it wasn’t Kaiser and others there, but instead Barbalis and the Dragon Emperor. Looks like the Dragon Emperor was locked in a confrontation with Barbalis.
Liola hesitated as to what he should do now, but the Dragon Emperor had already noticed him. His purple eyes glanced at Liola, then gazed back on Barbalis. He said lightly, “Barbalis, are you planning on harboring traitors?”
Barbalis’ face suddenly changed, but then it changed back to a smile, “What do you mean? At most, I’m just helping a thief escape. Dragon Emperor, your skill of assigning blame on the wrong person is quite amazing!”
Liola was shocked when he realized Barbalis was helping him hold the Dragon Emperor back. Liola hesitatingly looked at Barbalis, wondering if he was going to have an all-out fight with the Dragon Emperor?
Even though Barbalis had caused much trouble to him and Kaiser, and he liked to do all sorts of weird things, but after all, he did take Liola and Kaiser in.
Barbalis suddenly yelled, “Liola, are you still daydreaming! You stole it, so why are you still here?”
“As long as you carry the Dragon Cross Necklace, it’s impossible for you to hide from me.” The Dragon Emperor said lightly,
“Give the necklace back to me, and I will give you a fair trial. If you’re really not a traitor, I will not count stealing the necklace against you.”
Whether what Dragon Emperor said was true, there was no way for Liola to return the necklace. He glanced at Barbalis, and thought he probably had some unfathomable power, so he shouldn’t be defeated easily by the Dragon Emperor. However, his companions didn’t have such strength. Liola decided, and turned immediately to run towards Barbalis’ office to find Kaiser.
“Stop him!” The Dragon Emperor yelled, and a Gold Knights behind him charged towards Liola.
Liola grabbed ahold of Baolilong next to him, and flew out like a falling star. In an instant, the Gold Knights were left far behind.
Liola got to the principal’s office and, knowing that he was followed by a whole group of Knights behind him, kicked down the door, only to find a shocked Kaiser inside.
“Where’s Daylight?” Liola yelled.
Kaiser’s face sank, “Mizerui told us to leave first. He said he’ll be responsible for fetching Daylight.”
Liola calmed down a bit, “Is that okay?” He didn’t like to think so he threw the problem to Kaiser.
Kaiser knitted his brows tightly, “No. If it’s possible, I want to take Daylight with us. We can prevent Daylight from joining the fight. If it’s necessary, you could knock him out and carry him, but Mizerui probably wouldn’t have the patience.”
“Understood.” Liola didn’t have time to hesitate. He grabbed Kaiser and jumped out the window, at the same time releasing his aura for defense. As soon as his figure peeked outside, the Gold and Silver Knights outside immediately attacked him with varying skills, but when they hit Liola’s Storm of Blood, the attacks did not do anything.
“Baolilong, turn big immediately!”
“Okay, papa.”
“What’s the situation now?” Kaiser widened his eyes and asked.
“Barbalis is holding the Dragon Emperor back to let us escape.”
After a simple explanation, Liola took out Broken Silver and flew onto one of the Knight’s Dragons.
The Silver Knight was deeply shocked and immediately tried to unsheath his sword to fight back, but Liola had already blinked behind him.
Knowing he could not afford to be merciful now, his palm landed heavily on the Knight’s body. Though judging from the outside, this Silver Knight didn’t seem to suffer much injuries, but the insides of his body had already been damaged by Liola’s Ki.
Even though it wasn’t fatal, but it would take a long while of healing before he could return, especially when healing Maxun’s effectiveness on internal injuries was rather limited.
Knowing it was now a life and death situation, Liola utilized all of his powers, and his speed reached a whole new level. Even the Gold Knights could not handle such a terrifying speed. As soon as they saw their companions suddenly falling, a pair of cold eyes appeared behind them, and saw nothing else.
Before long, Liola had already beaten these Gold and Silver Knights to the ground. But in this short period of time, three rank-X mechas had already surrounded Liola in a triangular formation.
“We’re so dead.” Kaiser took a deep breath.
Liola jumped back onto Baolilong and observed these three mechas. One of them was a gold Mecha with a giant shield and blade, plus two giant cannons on its shoulders; compared to the gold, giant Mecha, there was a green dwarf-like Mecha, and it was laughably small; finally, there was a red Mecha in the shape of a female, and it was shaped quite similar like the one Purity had, with a giant bow in its hands.
A “huh” sound could be heard from the red Mecha, and then the Red Commander’s voice could be heard, “Why are you here, Liola.”
Liola didn’t have time to answer such a question. The three Mechas in front of him were imposing a sense of danger to him. He remembered what Kaiser had said before, rank X Mechas were practically identical to Lancelot and others in terms of power. Facing three Lancelots, and without breaking his promise, Liola was not confident that he could win.
“Little Red, you know this man?” The Yellow Commander asked with hesitation.
“What man? That’s a girl.” The Red Commander corrected with blame in her voice.
“Uh?” The giant gold Mecha tilted its head, as if it were examining Liola, and then the Yellow Commander’s murmur could be heard, “He looks like a man to me, how is he a girl?”
The Green Command said in a high-pitched voice, “He IS a man. Little Red is confused again.”
“How am I confused?! It’s definitely a girl. You just didn’t see how pretty she looks in a dress, so you’re saying it’s a guy.” The red feminine Mecha put its arms on its hips.
“Wrong! Liola is a man, and that’s the exact reason why we must run!”
Kaiser, who had been sitting quietly on Baolilong, suddenly screamed and got the three Commanders’ attention.
“What do you mean? We got news a traitor was stealing treasure from the Dragon Emperor and came here.” The green dwarf asked suspiciously.
“This is how the truth goes.” Kaiser’s face sank as he began to explain the “truth”,
“Because Liola had a bet with a scrupulous friend, and if he lost the bet then he would have to crossdress at the dance, but who knew all the misunderstanding would start there.”
‘A scrupulous friend?’ Liola glanced at Kaiser, ‘Well, it IS a proper description…’
Kaiser took a few deep breaths, which made the three rank-X audience anxious to hear what happened next. Seeing he had ignited their curiosity, Kaiser suddenly screamed, “The Dragon Emperor… h-he, fell in love with Liola at the first sight!”
“What?!” The Red Commander took a deep breath, but remembering how pretty Liola was in a dress, she didn’t think it was impossible for the Dragon Emperor to be infatuated with Liola.
“Liola! Take out your Dragon Cross Necklace and show them!”
Kaiser yelled loudly at Liola, and the latter slowly took out the Dragon Cross Necklace from his boots.
“This is the token of love that the Dragon Emperor gave to Liola! You all should know the meaning of this necklace to the Dragon Empire royalties, right?”
All of them slowly nodded, and Kaiser shook his head with a sigh,
“But, Liola is a man, and he is already deeply in love with someone! No matter what, he can’t be with the Dragon Emperor, but the Emperor wouldn’t give up, and swore even if Liola is a man, he will definitely marry him!”
At this time, all three rank-X Commanders dropped their jaws.
“But, this was something that can never happen. Liola can’t turn his back on his lover. If the Dragon Emperor married Liola, he will become the laughingstock of the world.” Kaiser sighed deeply, “Therefore, we have no choice but to flee.”
“So that’s how it is, such a tragic love story. I can’t believe the Dragon Emperor has a side of him like this.”
The Red Commander sadly wiped away her tears, even though there was no tear on the Mecha.
“So, please let us go!” Kaiser showed a begging expression and said his ultimate intention.
When the Yellow and Green Commanders were hesitating, Cappuccino had already arrived on his Dragon with Lanski, Blood Wolf, and other Knights.
Blood Wolf gave them a “why-the-hell-are-you-still-here” look.
“Don’t let them escape. They’re the thieves who stole the Dragon Cross Necklace!” Cappuccino yelled angrily.
A boy with questionable background strange love story, and the Dragon Empire’s third Prince simply stating the truth… the former obviously fell apart.
The Green and Yellow Commanders readied themselves for battle again, and Cappuccino led the Knights and surrounded Liola.
Lanski also resentfully said, “I was wrong about you, Liola; Jasmine is way too good for you.”
Seeing a battle was begin, Kaiser said as he pulled out his giant gun, “Had I known we will still end up fighting, I shouldn’t have wasted that much time coming up with a story!”
Liola glanced at Lanski and Jasmine, then said slowly, “Are we really going to fight?”
Cappuccino coldly responded, “Although I have no idea how you had gotten ahold of the necklace, that necklace is an heirloom of the Zhuogen family. Since you dared to steal it, now you have to pay the price!”
Though he was surrounded by powerful enemies, but Liola did not think anything about it; instead, the only thing he could think about was the sadness and despair in Jasmine’s eyes.
However, Liola didn’t have a choice; Kaiser and Baolilong were behind him. He slowly pulled out Broken Silver from the place he hid it in his sleeves. Other people may look at this as a strange weapon, but to Lanski and Cappuccino, who had just sparred with Silver Mask, this thin stick represented Silver Mask’s identity!
Lanski was completely frozen, and the only thing she could see was a stick with silver lights shining off it.
Cappuccino also stared blankly at the stick, and said with a stutter, “Y-you are Silver Mask?”
Silver Mask did not respond. Facing such strong opponents, Liola planned to give it his all. He twisted the silver stick, and after a click, it turned into a silver dagger.
Broken Silver flashed with a brilliant light, as if it were trying to warn everyone to never underestimate such a thin weapon.
The atmosphere froze a bit. Despite the fact Liola had unsheathed his weapon, Cappuccino was stunned; as for the rank-X Mechas, the Red Commander knew the person was her daughter’s friend and therefore a bit unwilling to attack.
Even though nobody moved, they all knew, as soon as Liola attempts to escape, even the Red Commander would be forced to stop him.
As such, Liola didn’t dare to move. Despite the fact he was the best Assassin, but facing three X Mechas, he felt a bit powerless, especially since he was with his companions. If they were caught, he would have no choice but to put down his weapon.
“Don’t say anything; listen to me quietly.”
Kaiser’s body shook, but he saw nobody else seemed to have any reactions. Kaiser immediately knew only he could hear this voice, and this voice was quite familiar to him.
“I found Daylight and others. I told them to stay at the roof of the Sorcerers’ dorm. Purity will put up a black hole there. You guys hurry to the roof and escape through the black hole.”
Kaiser’s irises immediately dilated. ‘Jumping into a black hole? My god, are there any other choices with a higher survival rate?’
The person acted as if he saw Kaiser’s face, and explained uneasily, “There are no other choices. Barbalis is holding the Dragon Emperor back, and it’s hard to say if he could even get away whole. I can’t do anything because I work for the eldest Prince, and I can’t betray the Dragon Empire.”
As there were no other choices, Kaiser sported on a long face.
“In any case, no matter where the black hole send you, be sure to hurry to a place to hide. Barbalis will do whatever he can to hold the Dragon Emperor back.”
Kaiser quietly nodded, and the voice disappeared.
Kaiser patted Baolilong’s back, who looked back at him with its confused, pink eyes. Kaiser said quietly, “Baolilong, can you communicate with your dad with telepathy?”
Seeing Baolilong’s long neck move up and down, Kaiser continued,
“Tell your dad to charge towards the Sorcerers’ dorm, and Purity is on top of it ready with a black hole for us.”
Baolilong nodded, and repeated Kaiser’s words verbatim to Liola. Liola’s figure seemed to have shook slightly, and Baolilong’s face seemed to be filled with dissatisfaction as it unwillingly nodded.
When Kaiser saw Baolilong act like such, he wanted to ask about it; but before he had a chance, Liola began to attack; he charged directly at the Red Commander.
“Liola, you…” Kaiser opened his mouth wide, not knowing why Liola would attack first.
As Liola attacked, the previously frozen situation suddenly exploded. The Red Commander deserved every right to be the best inventor and controller of the Mechas.
Despite Liola’s blazing speed, the Red Mecha had plenty of time to dodge. But after the Red Commander dodged the attack reflexively, she began to regret it: she should’ve pretended she couldn’t dodge it and act injured, so she could use that opportunity to leave the battle; how else was she to explain all this to her precious daughter?
Liola acted as if he had read the Red Commander’s mind. He charged at the Red Mecha as if he couldn’t even see anyone else.
This second attack, however, was the same ultimate move used against Cappuccino. The Red Commander was in shock, and blocked Liola’s rocket-like attack. The rank-X Mechas were, of course, not on the same level as Cappuccino, and it was able to withstand Liola’s attack directly, even though the arm and shield which came in contact with Liola were slightly cracked.
The Red Commander decided to act like she couldn’t stop such an attack, flew back a short distance, and then lied on the ground, pretending to be dead.
“Little Red!”
The Gold Giant yelled worriedly, but the Green Dwarf obviously noticed what the Red Commander was up to, but he thought it best not to reveal it.
While Liola was entangled in his battle against others, Baolilong immediately opened its wings to fly away. Kaiser yelled surprisingly, “Baolilong, what are you doing?!”
“Papa told Baolilong to rush over first, and he will catch up.” Baolilong said with dissatisfaction.
Kaiser paused, and then turned to look at Liola, who, coincidentally, turned his head to look at Kaiser.
Seeing Baolilong was already close to the dorm, and a black hole was materializing above the dorm, Liola, who had little interest in continuing to fight, immediately charged out of the battle with his ghostly haste, heading towards the dorm with a long tail of pursuers.
When Baolilong reached the edge of the dorms, Kaiser saw Mizerui was holding Meinan and Purity in each of his hands. When they saw Kaiser, they both waved their hands wistfully, while desperately pointing at the black hole as well as Flames, who was carrying an unconscious Daylight.
Kaiser gave an “OK” gesture to them, and Mizerui beckoned Kaiser with his hands. And then Mizerui, Purity, and Meinan all disappeared.
Obviously, Mizerui wanted to take the other two away from this, so that they wouldn’t be tried as traitors’ accomplices after.
“Baolilong! Tell Flames to follow us.”
Kaiser yelled loudly. When they passed by Daylight, Baolilong obediently yelled at Flames, and then the two people and two Dragons charged into the black hole with unknown destination.
* * *
At this time, Liola had also reached the dorm. After a few jumps, he reached the roof. Seeing the black hole was already beginning to shrink, Liola increased his speed towards it. His pursuers were still quite a distance away, and it looked like their escape was going to be a success.
“Silver Mask!”
This yell made Liola stop, even though he knew clearly he shouldn’t have done so. He turned his head and saw Lanski was crying a few dozen meters away. Her face was filled with depression.
Liola’s heart skipped a beat, and then said towards Lanski, “Sorry.”
Lanski saw Liola stopped because of her, and said something, but Lanski couldn’t hear what he had said.
When she wanted to recklessly run up to ask what he said, a familiar purple figure suddenly appeared in front of Liola, and its purple aura was burning brightly like a fire.
“No! Father!”
Lanski screamed painfully, but the Dragon Emperor had already made his move. In an instant, the purple aura surrounding him concentrated at his right hand, and his right fist landed heavily on Liola’s chest.
Liola felt an immense power rushing into his body, and then suddenly exploded from within his body. The destructiveness of the power made Liola bleed from every inch of his body, and his entire body was bathed in blood.
“Sure-kill ultimate — Purple Tornado…” Cappuccino trembled as he said, as if he had trouble breathing.
Seeing her love bathed in blood, and hearing it was a sure-kill ultimate, Lanski faded into unconsciousness. Had it not been Cappuccino’s fast eyes and hands, Lanski might have fallen out of the sky.
After the explosion in his body, the Dragon Emperor had no intention of letting Liola go easily, and he continued to lay waste to Liola’s body.
Liola used every bit of Ki and power he had left to protect himself, and he didn’t even have the strength to take one step back. He felt the black hole behind him was almost gone, and Liola felt helpless. He looked at the Dragon Emperor’s eyes filled with hatred, and he was planning to attack again…
Feeling his death was near, Liola felt time was slowing down. He saw the Dragon Emperor’s eyes were seeping out endless amount of killing intent.
Liola could not understand why the Dragon Emperor’s hatred towards him ran this deep. He saw the Dragon Emperor’s hand collided with his head along with his purple aura, but the necklace hanging in front of chest suddenly exploded with a white light.
Liola felt a strong yet tender force pushing himself a step back, then he lost consciousness.