Chapter 532: Frustration

"You... how could you possibly..."

Garrett's voice trembled, the sight before him completely turning his cognition upside down.

He had clearly seen Ronin being pierced by his own lightning, dissolving into nothingness with his own eyes, yet the opponent had descended from the sky like a specter, completely unharmed?

The doppelganger technique, he had indeed heard of it.

But he had never heard of any doppelganger technique that could fight him for so many rounds without dissipating.

Ronin laughed softly, his eyes full of playfulness: "Garrett, in the past I only thought that although you were conceited, arrogant, and narrow-minded, you at least had a bottom line, knowing to maintain the face and glory of the Alduin royal family. Looking at it now, I thought too well of you."

"His Majesty has ruled the kingdom for so many years, balancing all forces and saving the kingdom from war to lead it toward prosperity. But you, for your own selfishness and desires, not only abandoned your identity as a human to associate with foreign races, but even pointed your sharp sword at your own father, taking his life."

"Shut up! You traitor who betrayed the king, shut your mouth!"

Garrett grew frantic, his lightning battle-qi activating his body's vigor, pushing his movement speed to the absolute limit as his greatsword slashed fiercely toward Ronin.

The latter not only failed to dodge or evade, but did not even use a weapon.

One could only see Ronin slowly raising his hand, the ultimate elemental power covering his palm, forming a powerful protective aura shield.

With a resounding clang, Garrett's greatsword slashed heavily against Ronin's palm.

Although the protective aura shield trembled for a moment, it did not collapse because of it.

Ronin gripped his palm, holding the greatsword firmly, then raised his leg and kicked the opponent flying with a single strike.

"Someone like you who murdered his own father, betrayed his own country, slaughtered loyal knights, and degenerated into a lackey of the Demon God, is not fit to be the crown prince of the Alduin Kingdom, nor fit to inherit the throne!"

Ronin's words echoed across the entire square, but the minds of the people were still stuck on that blow just now.

Garrett himself was a Blazing Sun Knight, who even dared to claim to be invincible beneath the legendary realm when activating the Flame Seal.

Yet a Garrett this powerful actually could not even take a single blow from Ronin.

Then what level was Ronin at?

"He has grown stronger again!"

Ference was unwilling to believe it.

He had noticed before that whenever Ronin's title or territory expanded, this man would suddenly grow vastly stronger.

Looking at it now, it was indeed as he had expected; this time Ronin became the Duke of Conquering and obtained territories like Watchcastle and Mist City, his strength increasing once again.

Ference did not know the logic behind it, and given his current plight, he had no time to figure it out either.

"What should we do?" Andrea asked somewhat nervously.

He had lived seventy or eighty years and had not set foot in danger for a very long time; today counted as one such time.

"It is fine, Thranduil is here, we still have hope!"

Compared to their nervousness, the moods of the other noble lords and the officials who had rushed over were far more colorful.

For Ronin to dare to speak such words, did that mean he was going to depose Garrett and contest the throne?

They were very curious whether Ronin would claim kingship as an outsider, or support his wife or future offspring to become the monarch while he himself governed the country as the Prince Regent.

"Ronin, what do you mean by those words? Pledging loyalty to the Alduin family is our responsibility and obligation as vassals!"

Viscount Myron of Screaming Island stepped forward to denounce him: "Even though you cannot stand His Highness the Crown Prince, you have no right to accuse and slander His Highness. According to the law, you should be sentenced to hanging!"

Ronin looked over, cold light flashing through both eyes.

He did not say anything more, directly instant-casting a sixth-tier Fire Dragon Devouring the Heavens spell to assault the opponent.

"How dare you!"

Myron panicked greatly, wanting to pull out a scroll to resist but it was already too late.

Seeing that the fire dragon was about to swallow him up, Thranduil flashed to the front in an instant, propping up a thick Wall of Sighs with both hands to block the fire dragon outside.

A massive roar and trembling, accompanied by a fierce shockwave, swept in all directions, causing the surrounding weaker nobles and knights to fall to the ground one after another.

Myron spoke with lingering fear, "Ronin, you are mad, to actually dare to publicly assault a nobleman of the kingdom!"

Ronin sneered: "Over these years, Screaming Island has backed pirate syndicates to rob how many merchant ships belonging to the nobility? Could it be that Viscount Myron thinks nobody knows? Heheh, I have not even settled the score with you for ordering Partridge to attack Jiliu Island yet. For this alone, I can declare war on you and the Fleming family behind you!"

"You, you, you..."

Myron shook with rage; this sort of thing he did was generally left unmentioned by tacit understanding, and he had not expected Ronin to speak of it so publicly.

"This is slander!"

Garrett propped himself up from the ground and stood up, panting heavily in large gasps, the fury in his heart already suppressed to the absolute limit.

He had originally thought that by advancing to the Blazing Sun realm and obtaining the Flame Seal, he would be able to crush Ronin, yet he had never expected such a result.

"I don't believe it!"

He suddenly roared, charging toward Ronin once again.

Ronin flashed to dodge, at the same time landing a punch squarely on the opponent's face.

Bang!

Garrett was punched flying outward.

But right at this moment, Ronin pursued him, throwing another punch right where the opponent was about to land.

"This punch is to beat you on behalf of your father, His Majesty Bruno, who died an innocent and wrongful death!"

Garrett in mid-air did not have time to adjust his posture before being punched flying once more.

Ronin followed the same pattern, catching up yet again.

"This punch is to beat you on behalf of your younger sister, my wife Blanche!"

"This punch is to beat you on behalf of Philimon and those other loyal, respectable knights who died innocent and wrongful deaths at your hands!"

"This punch is to beat you on behalf of Willis and those other nobles and knights who died in the Battle of Mist City because of your reckless advance!"

"The final punch is for my Wushan family, and also for myself..."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Garrett never stopped moving in mid-air, and it was only after the final punch ended that he crashed into the floorboards.

By now his face was highly swollen, completely devoid of the heroic bearing a crown prince ought to have.

The strength of Ronin's fists was not meant to be fatal, but this succession of actions rubbed Garrett's dignity repeatedly against the ground.

The Flame Seal at the center of the Crown Prince's brow flashed frantically, dense patterns spreading across his entire body, causing his aura to climb level by level.

"Go die for me!"

Accompanied by his furious roar, a massive phantom completely composed of lightning appeared behind him.

This phantom wielded a pair of enormous fists, carrying its master's fury, raising its fist to smash violently toward Ronin.

At this moment, heaven and earth seemed to be replaced by a blanket of purple, boundless lightning rampaging toward the surroundings!

Those exquisite and expensive buildings were all torn to shreds by the lightning, flying wildly everywhere, and some knights who failed to dodge in time were also turned to charred embers under the assault of the lightning.

The Flowing Flame Sword in Ronin's hand slashed forward, the Heavenly Fire Blazing Across the Plains transforming into a sky full of flames that completely enveloped the purple lightning, subsequently overpowering, devouring, and crushing it, thereby utterly shattering Garrett and the lightning phantom behind him.

Rumble...

The violent collision thundered like a sudden lightning strike, and everyone was thrown by its shockwave, feeling as though they were fragile boats adrift in a stormy sea, at the mercy of any single towering wave.

"Too strong!"

"How could Luoning possibly be this powerful?"

"With such strength, even dozens or hundreds of knightly orders combined would stand no chance against him!"

Trembling seized every heart. From this day forth, they would come to see Luoning anew—understanding his might, his terror.

And at the same time, a question stirred within them: What if Luoning truly replaced the Audoin family? What then?

The fierce shockwaves lingered before slowly fading, leaving behind a scarred plaza and the Audoin Hall split into ruins.

This sacred place, symbol of power and status, would exist no more from this day onward.

Lost with it was Garrett, likely buried beneath the rubble.

"The Crown Prince... is dead?" (End of Chapter)