All of this culminated into this very moment in time, when Shadowheart casually held Maria over his shoulder during stopped time while Draco tried to snatch her back. Unfortunately, he was stopped by his two Soulmates who seemed to have planned this from the very beginning.
The core members who were watching this froze, all completely unable to understand what was happening and why. Not to mention that a conflict between the three of them was not something they could interfere in.
Draco calmly looked at Eva then at Shuangtian and sucked in a deep breath. He then opened his eyes and folded his arms behind his back then spoke.
"Eva and Shuangtian, please make way."
The two remained where they were without saying anything, still wearing their resolute and stubborn expressions. This caused Draco's expression to become colder and he snapped a finger.
Immediately, Maria on Shadowheart's shoulder seemed to become illusory. Shadowheart could no longer feel her weight on his shoulder and she floated in the air towards Draco.
The expressions of Eva and Shuangtian changed as they directly intercepted the flying Maria, but they were unable to touch her, their hands passing through her body.
"He's put her in a folded space!" Eva deduced what Draco had done quickly and tried to use her time ability to freeze time for that pocket space.
While Eva did so, Shuangtian tried to use brute force to smash the pocket space open, but Draco only sneered and created 10 layers over Maria. Eva froze time for the outermost one, allowing the other nine to remain free.
Shuangtian then struck the nine and with her strength that transcended logic, managed to break the outer five like glass while damaging the remaining four. However, Draco eventually collected Maria to his side and placed her in a full pocket space that neither Eva nor Shuangtian could detect.
He snorted coldly and turned to leave, but he found that Eva and Shuangtian had blocked him again. This time, Draco was shocked as he glanced at the two of them with incomprehension.
"What the hell are you two doing?"
"Release that woman to Shadowheart. After what she has done to him, she deserves to pay the price." Eva demanded seriously.
"I know why you're doing this, but you should know as well that she isn't the one you've interacted with! Wake her up and ask her who you are and she won't even know you." Shuangtian pointed out the brutal truth without hesitation.
Draco's expression became ugly, but he snorted and ignored the two of them as he teleported away. He wasn't in the mood to argue with his two Soulmates over this, especially not in front of their subordinates.
However, Draco's expression changed when his portal was destroyed halfway by a searing beam of light. Then, he was struck head-on by Shuangtian's fist, sending him flying out of the planets' range and into outer space.
Draco plowed through the Moon and then crashed into Mars' surface, causing a huge crater. The him stuck in the focal point was in a sorry state, his black hair disheveled and his skin dirtied by the debris.
However, he did not seem angry. Even as Eva and Shuangtian appeared above him and still wore serious expressions like they wouldn't let this matter go, Draco pulled himself out of the ditch and patted himself.
He glanced to the side and seemed to be speaking to himself. "Now you see why I told you not to let that shameless fool out all the time? Because of his playful behavior, no one respects us anymore."
Draco cricked his neck and flexed his muscles. "Because he has always played the fool and backed down when threatened by these two, it seems they think they are my match. Fine, our match, whatever."
"Let's test that theory out, shall we?" He muttered to himself, before spreading his hands out to either side.
Immediately a wave of blackness poured out of his body and engulfed the entire planet of Mars, turning it from a reddish hue to pitch black. The Darkness Energy formed tendrils that elongated into outer space and coordinated themselves perfectly, striking at Eva and Shuangtian.
Eva and Shuangtian remained together, one using her Light Energy to dispel that darkness that attacked while the other used the sheer force of her punches to shatter the darkness coming at them.
Draco smiled and was washed away by the darkness, completely disappearing from the senses of the two women. Their faces changed as they cast out all their methods to sense his presence, including Control, and their various bloodline branches.
When all failed, they tried to locate Draco using their Soulbond, but they were shocked to feel that Draco had completely destroyed it using his Destruction Energy.
Shuangtian and Eva were filled with sadness. Even though they had ways to restore the bond, to know that Draco would so easily and without hesitation cast something that was unique to them - connecting their lives together - aside.
From the darkness, a wave of bestial roars sounded as God Serpents of different types rushed out and confronted Eva and Shuangtian. The two ladies shook off their sadness as their eyes became bloodshot from anger.
They also released their avatars and had them clash with Draco's. The two women then by passed them and launched full-powered attacks towards Mars, turning half the planet into rubble immediately in order to expose Draco.
However, the darkness simply returned and engulfed the destroyed parts before reforming it. From outside, one could not easily tell what was going on as all forms of perception would be cruelly devoured.
Eva and Shuangtian would usually be able to track Draco using their Soulbond or mental link, but Draco had completely severed both the moment the dispute began. Fighting would also aggravate things and unless they were willing to go all out, they couldn't achieve their goal.
"Draco, are you sure you want to go against us for the sake of a Maria that you've never met in this timeline, a woman you've actively avoided even?" Eva asked with a dark expression.
In her mind, although Draco would not be happy about Maria's fate, he would not go this far for against his own damn Soulmates!
"Well then, let me ask you a question, dear Eva, are you willing to go this far against me for Maria?" Draco came out of the darkness engulfed Mars and asked with a cold face.
Eva shook her head. "I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing this for your own general and for yourself."
Draco smiled mockingly. "How self-righteous. I guess the Amaterasu side of you is getting stronger by the day."
Eva paled slightly and clenched her fists. Her golden eyes darkened to a pitch black and her aura became just as malicious as Draco's.
"Fine then, let's continue without the influence of Amaterasu! I will say what the other one held back in consideration for your ego!" Riveting Night spoke coldly.
"You protect that lowly whore because of the benevolent memories you have of her, but have you ever stopped to think of why she did what she did? Have you stopped to actually listen to Connor's full story and compare it with yours?" Riveting Night stated with a sneer.
Despite this, Draco was not bothered. "I know. I made sure to check the history of all my God Serpents, and I know what Maria did to him."
This time, Shuangtian spoke up with a frown. "So, if you know, why deny Connor what is his right?"
Draco glanced askance at Shuangtian. "You've spent so much time out of society so you probably wouldn't understand, but what does it have to do with me?"
"Do you know the number of people Maria had offended and harmed during her life? Am I supposed to let all of them come and have a round with her because they have grievances? What about those five girls Maria ruined in her craziness? Two of them committed suicide since, one became a pornstar and the other two got married."
"Should I also gather them beside Connor so they share their happy moment together?" Draco asked with a mocking look.
Eva and Shuangtian were speechless. "You can't seriously be saying this, are you even listening to yourself? How does that make any sense? We're not asking you to deliver justice for all who she wronged, but the man who is one of your subordinates!"
Draco shrugged. "It doesn't need to make sense because I am not acting out of logic. I am acting based on my emotions towards Maria my benefactor and someone I consider part of my family."
"Rubbish! Don't you dare put that harlot in the same category as myself and my son!" Shuangtian roared with rage in her voice, her body exploding with brownish energy.
Shuangtian's roar caused Draco's expression to become ugly as he was pushed back by the sheer force. He glanced at Riveting Night who was coldly staring at him.
"Well, don't you have anything to say?" He asked with a neutral face.
"I do. I'm disappointed in you Draco. No amount of Time Control could have let me know that you would act this way for Maria." Riveting Night stated with lament.
Draco rubbed his hair. "Of course, you are. That's exactly why I protect Maria, because she was never once disappointed in me. Besides, she was there for me after your betrayal, and helped me heal."
Suddenly, Draco's casual expression disappeared as he seemed to be clued onto something. "Wait a minute, back when we first needed 1st-grade NuSmoothies, you even jokingly suggested to me that we should search out Maria which I refuted out of shyness. Back then, you did not hate Maria at all and even liked her a bit for stabilizing me during those terrible years."
Draco looked amazed as he continued. "The only thing that has changed between now and then is that I have shared the totality of my memories of things from my point of view from the previous timeline with you and Shuangtian."
Draco glanced at his two Soulmates with a speechless look. "Could it be that you guys are against Maria just because her analysis made me get the wrong impression of Eva's actions and prevented us from reconciling earlier?"
Eva and Shuangtian shared a look with helpless expressions and seemed extremely sad despite their tough demeanors.
"It's today that I have realized that you have such a poor impression of us, Draco." Riveting Night stated with a shake of her head.
"I do not deny that I - and probably sister Eva - are unhappy with the effects of her words, but we were obviously grateful to her for being there for you and saving your life or we would never have had a chance to be cleansed in this timeline." Shuangtian continued.
"However, Draco, we have seen ALL your memories. We have seen Maria's expression and body language that you subconsciously chose to ignore or misinterpret and we have understood a lot of her hidden motivations as well as her lies from those memories." Shuangtian stated while folding her arms.
"You are currently looking at her through rose-tinted glasses due to the good memories you had with her. You are subconsciously ignoring all the bad, but unlike you, we have factored in both the good and bad." Riveting Night added by the side.
Draco rubbed his chin with a smile. "Oh wow, such wisdom. Oh please, fair maidens, please enlighten the ignorant and stupid me as to what I have failed to see."
The two ignored Draco's sarcasm and projected a screen between them. On the screen was a black screen, but one could hear the sound of grunting and fighting, like fists hitting flesh.
In the background, one could hear some footsteps and the door closing.
"Madam, we have placed the fellow in the bed as you stated. However, are you sure we should not send him to the hospital? His wounds…" A burly and rugged voice spoke in a crooked accent.
Then came Maria's sultry voice. "Don't worry about him, Jackson. The moment he passed out, his body glowed with a black light and his injuries began to heal rapidly. He should be a special kind of human like what the Old Master told me about."
Visit freewe𝑏no(v)el.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experience