"Say, wasn't she the reason you arrived on Zamuria Continent in the first place?" Krune's words resounded like thunder in Cultivator's ears, causing him to gaze at Zamuria as all the dots in his mind had seemingly connected.
He stared at the other party in confusion, happiness, gratitude, admiration, anger, and various other emotions, finally opening his mouth as he uttered, "Mother?"
Zamuria sighed, clenching her hand into a fist as she stared at the ground. With that, she made eye contact with Cultivator, saying with a cold tone, "I'm not. That was just an accident."
"An…accident?" Cultivator stared at her with widened eyes, disbelief etched in his expression. "You mean to say, my birth…was an accident?"
"Indeed," Zamuria said as a matter of fact. "If it wasn't an accident, I wouldn't have left you with that man."
"How can you give birth through an accident? It's not a process that happens in a couple of seconds. You need 10 months, 10 freaking months to do so. How can such a long time be an accident?" Cultivator barely controlled himself, staring at Zamuria as his eyes reddened.
"When I was traveling through the Guria continent to temper myself, I fell victim to the scheme of a certain enemy of mind and suffered grave injuries. Even though a life-saving tool I had healed me back to full health, I had temporarily lost my memories," Zamuria replied, barely reigning in her hatred. "And in this state, I was just a na?ve girl. Your father took full advantage of it. The result of that was you."
"But how? Father was just a weak man. And he was a man of honor. He lived a simple life singing poetry about you daily," Cultivator shouted in return. "He's not someone that would take advantage of anyone."
"Are you sure about that?" Zamuria snorted in response. "He became like that after I crippled him. After all…"
She glared at Cultivator as she continued, "He was the one that had been the cause for my injuries in the first place. He was once an infamous bandit that had reaped countless lives. Do you seriously believe that he was a down-to-earth individual?"
"No." She shook her head vehemently. "He was as bad as they came. And you…"
She condensed a blade of light in her hands. "You are the smear in the family line of the Zamuria Empire. You're the spawn of something that's an enemy of my empire. And now, I'll eradicate you!"
Saying so, Zamuria unleashed countless fishes towards Cultivator, intending to drown him through quantity rather than quality so that even if he unleashed the green radiance, some of them would still manage to survive.
Everything Zamuria had said came off as a shock to Cultivator, emotionally devastating him, preventing him from being able to react. Surprisingly, all he did was stare at the incoming fishes as tears streamed out of his eyes, his body trembling as he was sad…for the first time since the death of his father.
But, right as the fishes were about to slam into him, a pillar of ice erupted, blocking their paths as a beam of white light landed on the fishes, slowing down their movements before turning them into ice sculptures that dropped to the ground.
"What are you doing? Don't interfere! This is the personal affairs of my family. Outsiders have no business poking their nose here," Zamuria shouted.
"Oh, I very well have my business here," Krune said, staring solemnly as he patted Cultivator's shoulder. "I'm his friend. And as a friend, I'll stand up for him."
"If he doesn't have a family, I'll be his family from today onwards," Krune declared. "A brother, a father, a grandfather, whatever need be, I'll be th—" However, Krune stopped there and thought it through. "No, wait! I don't want such an ugly child or grandchild." Krune pondered over it for a bit before continuing, "Alright, a brother should be enough."
Even in his sadness, Cultivator's mouth couldn't help but twitch a little after hearing that.
Krune didn't notice it, though. "If you don't wish to accept him as a son, then you have no right to even scold him."
"Shut up!" Zamuria shouted, slamming an energy sword at the ice, intending to hack it into two and reach Cultivator. But, right as it hacked the ice, Krune caused a pillar of ice to erupt from the ground, sending Cultivator reeling backward, causing him to evade the slash.
Krune then stared at Zamuria, activating his full power as the sounds of the ocean waves resounded throughout the region. For a moment, every single person there hallucinated the image of an ocean surrounding them, with its majestic waves thrashing about.
"It seems your primary ability is the Neon Radiance King," Krune said, unleashing a beam of white light onto her, beginning to freeze her body and at the same time, any attack that she launched at him. "I…have it as well. The speed of your attacks is terrifying. But I can do it as well."
"Don't…interfere…" Zamuria tried her best to rein in her anger, understanding very well that Krune was Feifei's husband, turning around to glare at her. "Tell him to stay away!"
Sighing, Feifei looked at Krune and said, "Let them resolve it between themselves."
"Sure." Krune relented immediately, saying after a second, "But, only after Cultivator gets some time to gather his bearings. Until then, I'll protect him."
Seeing that there was no other choice, Zamuria could only give in. She didn't wish to injure Krune and make Feifei her enemy. Having worked with her for almost six years, she was well aware of what Feifei was capable of. Such an individual, she never wished to make an enemy of.
So, she relented. After all, even if she was confident in killing Krune, the aftermath wasn't something she could handle. It would cause Feifei, Hazak, and even Cultivator to gang up on her. Considering the immense power Cultivator had displayed, he would be a threat to the Zamuria Empire even after returning to the God Realm.
After some thought, she had no other choice but to wait patiently while glaring at Cultivator, barely controlling herself from going all out and killing him through an ambush. She also noticed the Black Demons encircling them a couple of kilometers away, watching the drama that unfolded.
Right at this moment, followed by the powerful sonic fluctuations, a Black Demon arrived at the scene, landing on the ground with mountainous impact, bellowing at the top of its lungs, "Lord Krune! Welcome Back!"
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