(Dupravel Nuna's POV, Black Serpent Guild Headquarters, Planet Twin Fang)
While the average civilian was bound by military curfew, locked behind hotel room doors with no freedom to leave, Dupravel Nuna faced no such restrictions.
A Monarch did not ask for permission.
And so, not a soul dared stop him as he left the Sky-God Arena behind, vanishing from the asteroid without a word, as he returned to the central headquarters of the Black Serpents on the shadowed plains of planet Twin Fang.
It was here, behind the soundproof obsidian walls of his private office, that the cold mask he'd worn throughout the crisis finally cracked.
He ensured not to show his real emotions before the common public, and even when alone with his so called allies he kept his cool, however, once inside the privacy of his office, before the only man left alive who knew him as something more than the guildmaster, he finally flipped out.
*CRASH—*
The million MP desk shattered as his fist slammed down on its polished surface, shards of glass scattering over the stone tiles, as Dupravel stood trembling with rage, shoulders heaving beneath his tailored robe, teeth clenched so hard the veins on his neck bulged.
"They have my son, Antonio… they took my son, my blood, my heart!"
His voice broke.
The terrifying, cold-blooded killer who ruled one of the most feared assassin guilds in the universe now stood with tears in his eyes, lip trembling, face pale with helpless fury.
"He's just a boy… He doesn't have the stomach for this… he's soft… too kind for this damn world… he won't survive this kind of trauma—"
His voice cracked again, as his fingers curled and uncurled, searching for something to break, to punish, to kill, but there was nothing left in the room for him to destroy that would help bring Darnell back.
Antonio, The Black Serpents Vice Guildmaster, long-time partner, and the only man who dared speak to Dupravel without fear, stood at the corner of the room with arms crossed and a tired sigh forming on his lips.
"Calm down, Dupravel. Your blinding love for that boy is exactly what made him a target. If you did not keep doting on him like a fool in public over the years, nobody would target a small kid like him to get to you–"
Antonio's words were blunt, honest and dangerous, but they were also necessary.
"The righteous alliance is already putting pressure on us," Antonio continued, eyes sharp, voice low. "They're claiming they don't trust your emotional state right now… They've demanded we hand over the Timeless Assassin's skill scroll for 'safekeeping' before you go and trade it away for your son's life."
*CRASH—*
Another crash— this time a steel ornament slammed into the wall, shattering against the stone with a sharp clang, as Dupravel turned, eyes blazing with fury.
"Damn right I'll trade it. I'll give them my own heart if they ask for it, Antonio. My life. My soul. I'll crawl across broken glass if it gets him back, you hear me?!"
Dupravel's voice shook the chamber, as Antonio said nothing at first, and only simply closed his eyes and breathed.
Because Dupravel Nuna, for all his tactical genius and unrivaled bloodlust, had always been a simp for his late wife, and after she died, all that irrational, obsessive love was poured into the one thing she left behind.
Darnell Nuna.
Antonio had never seen his friend's heart falter in the face of enemy armies or assassination attempts, but show him a scrape on his child's knee, and he unraveled like a nervous wreck.
Dupravel was a Monarch, yes.
A living weapon who could slaughter armies.
But at his core, he was still just a man clinging desperately to the only person he had left to love.
"If that's really your attitude," Antonio muttered, his gaze hardening.
"Then I agree with the alliance. Maybe we should hand the scroll over. Because if you can't think clearly now, then you don't have the stomach to protect it." Antonio said, as the glare that Dupravel gave him in response, could have easily killed someone faint hearted.
"I'll skin you alive where you stand if you even whisper such a statement again!" Dupravel threatened as he took a step forward, eyes cold now.
"You and I both know what that scroll means. It's not just a treasure, it's leverage, it's power.
The only reason we're untouchable in the universe is because of that scroll. The only reason the universal government doesn't meddle in our business is because they're scared that we might hand it to the cult."
His voice lowered, deadly calm.
"If we hand it over now, even under the banner of 'safekeeping,' it'll never come back. And without it… we're just another faction. Just another guild. Our respect, our immunity, our equal standing with the great clans… it'll vanish overnight."
Antonio's brow furrowed— but this time, he allowed himself a smile.
"Good," he said. "So you haven't gone mad."
Dupravel scoffed and turned away, waving him off.
"Of course I haven't. I'm not stupid. I would not hand over that scroll under any circumstance.
But the question is, has the Evil Cult even demanded for the scroll? Have they spoken about any ransom? Any demand?" Dupravel inquired, as—
"Nothing yet," Antonio admitted, shaking his head.
"No message… no conditions. Just silence."
Dupravel clenched his fists tighter.
"And us? Have we found anything?"
"I've dispatched every shadow we have. Our best scouts, sleeper agents, even mobilized our affiliate groups.
Finding Darnell is the guild's only priority for now." Antonio replied, as Dupravel nodded in understanding.
"Good. Because if we don't find him soon, I don't think I'll be able to control my bloodlust anymore…. At which point, entire planets will feel my rage—" Dupravel warned, as Antonio shuddered.
From time to time, Dupravel succumbed to violent episodes of unrestrained bloodlust— periods where his rage boiled so fiercely that he partook in the indiscriminate slaughter of entire civilizations, not out of necessity or strategy, but simply because his thirst for carnage refused to be quenched.
This was one of the side effects of binding with the 'Urn Of Death', the artefact that was both the source of his strength, and the reason behind his insatiable bloodlust.
As even Antonio feared standing across Dupravel when he was having one of those days, as when he lost control, he was known to forget the distinction between even friend and foe anymore.
This was part of the reason behind why he was forced to hunt down the previous dragon Noah.
As after one of his indiscriminate killing episodes, whereby he wiped out an entire planet under protection of the Du Clan, he was forced to pay reparations by helping the alliance hunt down Evil Cult targets, until he got his hands on the Timeless Assassin's skill scroll which changed everything.
By having the scroll, all his previous transgressions were pardoned, and he was given status akin to a big clan patriarch, elevating the status of the entire Black Serpents Guild in the process.
However, now with his son kidnapped, all that precariously achieved progress was on the brink of unraveling, as the pressure to give up the scroll mounted from all sides.