Rivers of the Night

Chapter 829 829: Stupid and Bold

Theron wanted to laugh. In fact, he did laugh. It was quite amusing if you thought about it.

But this was the world of cultivation. Offense, the matter of face, pride, arrogance— all of these things were what these people had in spades.

He had read about sports psychology in the library and how high-performance athletes often had to think of themselves to be a lot more than what others might. They beat the odds, they became great.

Theron wasn't sure how this "sports" topic translated to the cultivation world in a literal sense, anyway. There were some cultures that played some variety of sports, but not enough for them to be as important as what those books mentioned them to be.

Honestly, sometimes Theron felt like while those books appeared based on the world he was in, they were often talking about a completely different world—a world of mortals that he had never seen or come across… despite how contradictory it seemed.

What was important, though, was that this arrogant high-performance athlete archetype was what you saw in the cultivation world all the time… except it was amped up a million times over.

While all those athletes cared about was a ball, the world of cultivation was always a matter of life and death. And when you made it to the top of a world where any wrong move meant death…

It was even more intoxicating to the brain.

BOOM.

Theron's fingers passed through layers of space, trailing dark motes of light following them. To the naked eye, his hand was still the same size as always. But to the member of the Chron Clan attacking him right this moment, it felt like Theron's palm spanned infinity.

In an instant, the young man lost control of the space he was wielding, his Mana reserves running dry.

Before he could react, Theron's palm had slammed right against his nose.

The gap between that pain and the pain of the back of his head smashing against the ground was near non-existent. It felt like they had happened simultaneously, his skull nearly shattering on impact.

No… if Theron had cared to use a little bit more strength and deal with the inevitable fallout of killing not just yet another Chron, but also a member of the legion he had only just joined…

That was exactly what would have happened.

The youth barely registered the humiliation he felt from being spared by Theron, and then immediately parlayed that into unbridled fury.

But even that didn't last long as Theron's grip tightened around his skull, the base of his palm grinding into the youth's shattered nose.

"Are we done here?" Theron asked as cobweb-like cracks spread through the stone-paved roads.

He had only just spoken when the sound of footsteps hurried over.

Well, to call them mere footsteps was probably too inaccurate. The steps were in perfect sync, but it was clear they were louder than what just one set of feet could possibly produce.

Theron looked up to find a small troop of five quickly jogging over. They wore an armor that was a combination of leathers and metals, its color scheme a gradient of lighter grey to darker greys. Their singular pauldrons shone beneath the sun, each of their weapons strapped to their backs.

In his walk earlier, Theron had noticed that many of the members of this legion wore some combination of this armor. It was just that none of them were fully dressed.

Many of them, including the Chron Theron was pressing into the ground right now, only wore the bottoms and a simple linen shirt. The bottoms were a long pair of pants with leather shin and thigh guards, as well as metal knee pads.

The entire armor really came together quite well, not just for its design, but its strength.

Theron had a sharper eye for craftsmanship now, so he could tell that the leather was made of Saint Beast hide at worst even for the Kings of the army, which was quite shocking.

This troop, though, had leather hide formed from Transcendent Beasts, but they were just Saints.

General Ameridia sure knew how to treat her soldiers well. But where was his set?

"Unhand him. Now."

Theron did as he was told, raising his hands in surrender. Soon, however, both he and the young Chron were arrested.

Half of Theron didn't expect this. He was even waiting for the "show" to be over and for the young Chron to be released after they got to some back alley while he was escorted to the real dungeon. Or, at the very least, they'd be separated and then the young Chron would be brought away in secret.

But that wasn't what happened. In fact, both he and the young Chron were put in adjacent holding cells.

All things considered, Theron had only been defending himself. But he knew from the books that military law was quite strict.

Platoons were often punished in groups. Uniformity and discipline were of utmost importance for powerful legions, especially ones that performed as well as Ameridia's.

Sitting in the cell, though, Theron still couldn't help but chuckle. He had only been here for ten minutes at most. This had to be a record or something.

'That Bloodline Sampling method is really trash, though…'

He could still feel it. If not for his control over his body, it would take him days to recover from something like that.

The sound of footsteps suddenly awoke Theron from his thoughts.

'Already? I expected them to let us rot for longer.'

The dungeon was probably the only real structure within the city walls, it was just that it was hidden underground. The walls and bars were heavily reinforced, though.

Alpha had already tried to chew some of them, having silently followed after Theron when he was caught. But in the end, even Alpha had been forced to stop for fear of what would have happened to his teeth otherwise.

When Theron saw who it was that had come, though, he was even more surprised.

When she walked right by his cage and stopped at the door to the young Chron's, though, he nodded to himself. This was probably what would always happen.

The young Chron would be released and he'd probably have to rot here for a lot longer.

But once again, that wasn't what happened.

"You've embarrassed the Clan today."

The gentle, chilly voice of Ameridia filled the dungeon. It was then Theron realized that despite the size of the legion… he and the young Chron were the only two locked away here.

"Big—General Ameridia, it's not my fault. This guy insulted our Chron Clan, and then he bragged about killing—"

Chi.

Theron's eyes opened wide.

There was not a single piece of him ready for what he had just seen.

Without another word, another exchange of ideas, or even hearing out her family member's full story…

General Ameridia directly killed him.

The youth's head fell limply to one side, then rolled down the length of his seated body before slowly bobbing to a stop on the ground. With a snap of her fingers, it was all erased like it had never been there in the first place.

'She did it like that on purpose…'

If Ameridia had just snapped her fingers and killed the youth, Theron might have believed it was all a trick and she used her Space Mana to teleport him some long distance away.

Theron's senses were sharp, but Ameridia didn't know that. At the very least, she couldn't possibly guess that a Middle King might be able to see through her Space Mana. And honestly… Theron didn't have 100% confidence in doing so either.

This had been nothing more than a display. A showcasing of just the type of person Ameridia was.

She was absolutely ruthless.

Suddenly, it wasn't such a surprise that the encampment dungeon was empty at all.

The slow sound of Ameridia's steps echoed and Theron's eyes narrowed. His entire body went tense, the chains around his wrists and ankles feeling a lot less amusing now.

Alpha rose to his feet and growled, his hair standing on end. It looked almost as though the hound had doubled in size because of it.

But Ameridia completely ignored him as though he didn't exist.

When her gaze landed on Theron, maybe it was because the rest of her face was hidden by those twists and pulses of space, but Theron felt as though she was looking right through him.

"I've heard that you like me," she said calmly.

Theron's pupils constricted. He did say that. And though he was saying it just to piss Daisy off, he half meant it too.

She was smart in a way he had never seen in anyone aside from himself. Though, that was just from an outside looking in.

That said, if Theron was correct about how intelligent she was…

She almost certainly already knew more than she was letting on right now.

Ameridia just stood there, letting the question—or was it a statement—hang in the air. She didn't seem bothered by the silence, or the fact Theron hadn't answered immediately. She didn't move a single inch, even her hair hardly shifting in the cold draft of the dungeon.

She really wanted an answer, it seemed.

"I do. Who wouldn't?" Theron finally replied.

"There are very few who would dare to say it. Even fewer when I am present."

"Sounds like this is the reason such a woman is still single then, no?"

"Or maybe it's the fact the only ones stupid enough to be so bold are Demons."

Theron's pupils constricted into pinholes.