Ning read through the information that the system gave him regarding Halios and how he came to the current situation. It was weird to see someone as great as a manifested will get taken advantage of because of their naiveness. But, one didn't necessarily have to be naive to be taken advantage of. From what he read, even the late emperor wasn't someone that was immune to being taken advantage of. "Poor guy," Ning shook his head as he read about him, but that did not matter anymore. His death had taken place thousands of years ago anyway. "Did you learn anything important?" Ely asked from the side. She had just finished cultivating and was making steady progress. She was a few realms into the High Immortal realm and was doing so much better than the few hundred years she had spent in this world cultivating. "I did learn something," Ning said. "As long as I can get my hands on that Oathstone, I can easily acquire the usage of the Origin. I might even get a personal guard for everyone." "Halios? I feel bad learning about him. Do we really have to take advantage of him too?" Ely asked. "We won't necessarily be taking advantage. I'm sure Anya, or Ning, or whoever handles this secret realm after we leave will take good care of him," Ning said. "I'm sure they will, but still…" "We have no choice," Ning said. "Let's rest up. I will go there later and take the stone. After that, I will try to come to some sort of settlement with the empress so that our people can live in the Origin while she still rules. However, I'm not sure if she will agree to it or not." "I doubt she will. Not after you steal from her. Anyway, why don't you just dominate her mind? That should be so much easier," Ely said. Ning shook his head. "That will cost a lot of energy, way more than I'm comfortable with at the moment," he said. "It would be okay if she didn't fight back, but she will and then I will have to spend a tremendous amount of energy just to control her. With so many Constellations back on earth, I'm not sure I am comfortable losing any at the moment." "Didn't you already kill one without this energy?" Ely asked. "Yes," Ning said. "But that was one. I do not know what I can do if they were to gang up on me. I really need to be prepared for it." "I see…" Ely said as she finally understood his train of thought. "I will still do that if all else fails. Anyway, I will go there later tonight and see what I can do," Ning said and lay on the bed. All he could do now was wait. Night fell, and Ning teleported into the compound of the royal palace. The moment he appeared, he heard the alarms sounding everywhere. Ning couldn't help but frown. "What the hell? How did they know I am here?" he thought. He was pretty sure he had concealed himself quite well. Just then, he heard a loud crack from the sky and saw a massive glowing fist launch from one side. At the same time, Ning saw the space being cut in half as the glowing fist simply fizzled out of existence. On one side was the empress, fighting with all of her powers. On the other side was a young man who didn't seem older than the princes and princess he had seen this morning. 'Who?' Ning wondered and checked the person. It was someone called Marcus Greiss that was fighting the Empress on equal grounds. His cultivation base was actually an entire realm lower than hers, but he was somehow matching up with the Empress in terms of strength. "Woah, how did he do that?" Ning thought as he continued watching. The entire palace was shrouded in formations so the people of the city had no idea that this was even happening. They were completely unaware that a battle of this intensity was happening right now. "Halios! Where the hell are you? Come and kill him," the Empress shouted. She was starting to realize that she simply did not have the strength to kill this young man on her own. Halios, however, wouldn't move. Even when ordered, he could not harm another person after all. "Ahaha! Bitch, you should know better than to rely on him to fight a human. He can't harm anyone," the young man shouted at her. The empress was getting increasingly afraid of the young man. "Who are you? How do you know this thing?" she shouted at him, but the young man ignored her and chucked out attack after attack at her. The defensive formations of the palace were shut down beforehand, so she had no choice but to fight on her own. However, she had never been a fighter. She was always the damsel in distress, which was why she had done what she did to gain power. She wanted to become so strong that she never needed another man's help. However, at the moment she wasn't finding that power any more helpful. "Please, what do you want? I will give it to you," the woman shouted. "Give me your life then, bitch," Marcus shouted and attacked even more furiously than before. The woman simply couldn't protect. "Stop, I give up. Don't attack me anymore," the woman shouted. Marcus attacked even faster. "You think I can't see through your lies, bitch? I have seen enough of that face to know just how fake it is," he said as he attacked. "Why… why are you doing this? I've never hurt you," the Empress cried out. At the same time, she prepared for a strong attack. "Never hurt me? Bitch, you betrayed me and then killed me. And now you have the gall to say you did not hurt me?" Marcus asked. "All for what even? That stone? That was yours, along with everything of mine anyway. But you were too greedy to share, weren't you?" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂 The Empress's eyes went wide as she realized just who she was talking to. "Dawn?!" she asked. "Yeah, bitch!" Marcus, the reincarnated Dawn said. "I'm back, and now it's time you die."