The sturdy stone wall shattered to pieces with just a single movement.
Chunks of rock were thrown outward, leaving a gaping hole that billowed dusty smoke.
The cold night air immediately rushed into the narrow room.
Celine shrieked, reflexively stepping back and taking shelter behind Elian's back.
Her heart pounded wildly.
The wall was thick, it was impossible to destroy it with bare hands by a human without a blessing.
However Elian, after his shock subsided, instead felt a far greater anger.
His pride was torn seeing the bastard he had always trampled dare to show his fangs.
"You dare threaten us in front of me?!" Elian shouted, his face flushed with fury.
He raised his hand, and a moment later, two large-bodied guards in leather armor appeared from behind the shattered front door.
They were the personal bodyguards of the Mayor's family.
"Capture that filthy rat!" Elian ordered sharply. "Break his legs and make him kneel before me and Celine! Let him know where trash truly belongs!"
The two guards advanced without hesitation.
Kaelus resisted fiercely. He struggled as a pair of large hands grabbed both his shoulders, trying to force him to kneel.
However, something restrained him. Inside his body, the foreign power seeping from the crack in the seal reacted wildly to every aggressive movement he made.
Kaelus could feel it, a massive pressure boiling within his veins.
He realized, if he fought with his full strength now, this unstable energy could explode outward and flatten this entire area.
He tried to endure using only his physical strength, suppressing a groan as his knees were forced to bend.
"Kneel, Kael," Celine mocked, her fear now replaced by satisfaction at seeing Kaelus powerless again. "That is the most fitting pose for you."
Celine's crisp laughter and Elian's arrogant grin blended into a nauseating melody in Kaelus' ears.
That laughter echoed, shattering the remnants of rationality he desperately tried to maintain.
Kaelus' eyes darkened. Black, as deep as a bottomless abyss.
To hell with the seal.
To hell with this city.
Kaelus growled lowly, a sound that resembled the snarl of a wild beast more than a human.
With one violent jerk, he twisted his body. The energy he had been holding back exploded through his muscles.
He grabbed the arms of the two giant guards, and with a single swinging motion impossible for an ordinary human, Kaelus threw both of them at once.
The armored men were hurled through the hole in the wall and landed hard outside with the sound of bones cracking.
Kaelus stood upright.
Dust from the shattered wall swirled around him, responding to the aura now clearly radiating from his body.
He no longer cared if his power was starting to spiral out of control.
"You... you..." Elian stammered.
How could this loser bastard obtain such tremendous power?
Kaelus did not look at him again.
He turned around, intending to leave before he truly destroyed this place and killed the two of them.
"Who allowed you to leave?!" Elian shouted, after recovering from his shock. "You only destroyed the wall because it was already old! You threw them because I told the guards not to hold you too tightly! If you take another step now, I swear I will kill you without mercy!"
Elian's words were cut off.
Kaelus had already turned and dashed forward at a speed the eye could not follow.
Without warning, without a single word, his fist shot forward and struck Elian's stomach.
A loud thud echoed, followed by the sound of Elian's breath being knocked out of his lungs.
The prideful prince of the Mayor was lifted into the air for a moment before crashing heavily onto the floor.
Cracks spread across the stone floor directly beneath Elian's back.
"Uhukk... ahh..." Elian spat out blood, his eyes wide as he endured the pain tearing through his insides.
Kaelus did not stop there.
With a cold expressionless face, he lifted his foot and stomped on Elian's prone stomach.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Ignoring the groans and bloody coughs of his half brother.
Celine screamed hysterically, pressing her back against the remaining wall.
Her beautiful face was pale as a sheet, her body trembling violently at the sight of Kaelus' brutality.
Kaelus stopped stomping. He slowly turned toward Celine.
His gaze was as sharp as an ice blade, piercing straight into the girl's soul.
"Remember my words, Celine," Kaelus hissed, his voice low yet echoing in the room that suddenly felt suffocating. "You will regret it."
Without looking back again, Kaelus leaped out through the shattered wall, disappearing into the darkness of the night.
***
Kaelus kept running. He did not know his destination, his instincts only told him to get as far away as possible.
His steps carried him through narrow and filthy alleys, toward the farthest corner of the outermost district of the inner wall.
This area was the direct border between the inner wall and the outer wall.
During the day, the distance between these two walls was a place where people hunted or farmed.
But at night, it was a death zone.
Void monsters active at night often climbed the outer wall and roamed this buffer area.
That was why the inner wall gates were tightly shut after sunset.
Kaelus stopped in an open field directly bordering the sturdy Inner Wall. His breath was ragged.
"AAAAAARRRRGHHHH!!!"
Kaelus screamed at the top of his lungs, shattering the silence of the night.
His emotions were in turmoil, betrayal, anger, loss, and despair merged into one painful vortex in his chest.
And along with that scream, the last defense of the seal inside him shattered into pieces.
Suddenly, an extraordinary pain pierced through all his nerves.
Kaelus fell to his knees, clutching his chest.
He could feel something foreign, something ancient and massive, opening at the center of his body.
He felt energy rushing like a flood.
However, something was strange.
Within his inner self, he saw colors.
Not one, but several pillars of light intertwined.
Blazing red.
Ice-cold blue.
Thick brownish green.
Dazzling golden white.
And transparent blue like flowing water.
Five colors. Five elements.
Kaelus gasped while enduring the pain that seemed to tear his soul apart. His head throbbed.
"This... This is impossible..." he muttered between his groans. "Isn't it... Isn't it that a person can only receive one element of the god's blessing?"
He screamed again.
The stabbing pain attacked more aggressively. Sharper and more excruciating.
"How is it possible... How can I obtain five at once?"
He had no time to seek answers.
The five elements collided inside his body, searching for a way out.
The air around him became chaotic.
The ground beneath his knees trembled and froze at the same time, while sparks of fire began to dance around his body.
His power surged uncontrollably. If he did not release it, his body would explode.
With the remnants of his consciousness, Kaelus stared at the towering inner wall before him.
He raised both his hands, preparing to release all that chaotic energy toward the massive stone wall.
However, before the light from his hands could shoot out, a black shadow descended from atop the wall with extraordinary speed.
The figure landed right in front of Kaelus, and within a split second, a cold palm radiating extraordinary power slammed hard into Kaelus' chest.
Kaelus froze. He could not move.
And the surge of power mysteriously immediately subsided.
Before him stood a dark-robed figure, with purple eyes shining sharply in the darkness.