Chapter 252: Keeping the promise.

"Lady Panello!" Lee said, resolutely stepping forth. His initiative pleasantly surprised the rest – it was clear that the youth realized his death was inevitable, and decided to save the rest.His next words were confusing for a dead man, though. He said, "I promise to tell you everything in detail, no bullshit, as you asked. But may I take a look at the Scorpion King’s spark first?"

The elemental lord was as baffled as the rest, but Lee’s idea was simple. If he was meant to die today, at least he should use the opportunity to get an inspiration that could help to solve his condition in the next life. She was an arrogant elemental lord and it was highly likely she wouldn’t refuse his request, especially since he mentioned telling everything in detail.

If Seren really was her son, she had to know everything about his death, and Lee was prepared to satisfy her curiosity and use it to his advantage. With how ruthless she was, the main goal was to force her hand so that she would kill him in an instant, otherwise he might find himself suffering from torture for months or maybe even years.

"Why?" Lady Panello asked.

"Taking part in killing an old god has been the highlight of my life that could only be topped by holding its spark in my hand." Lee spouted random nonsense, "Elred got the other spark stolen, or so he said, but you surely have the Scorpion King’s spark with you. I’m afraid I won’t survive this day, thus I’m asking you for this favor."

"You’re too calm for a person who’s afraid to die." She said, slightly squinting her eyes, and Lee could only curse her and all the other monsters at the elemental lord level for having enviable intuition.

"I made peace with it." He said with a shrug, but while he was actually honest and his reaction looked natural, she still looked suspicious.

"Alright!" Lady Panello said, after giving it a bit of thought. The youth in front of her could try to play as many mind games as he wished, but an ant was still an ant in front of an elephant.

A wooden box appeared in her hand, but upon opening the cover, her expression turned weird. The rest, including Lee, couldn’t see the reason at first, but then she took from the box a round, glowing object that resembled a burning ruby. It clearly wasn’t the bright white spark the Scorpion King had – this was a fire spark of impeccable quality.

Lee knew there was no reason for Lady Panello to play games with him, and that could mean only one thing – the spark was that of the old god. And that, in turn, meant that no one stole the other spark from Elred – the earth spark he had was also the real deal.

’So that’s how it is!’ Lee inwardly smiled, praising himself for thinking of the previous request, ’The old god’s don’t have several sparks, and they also don’t have a special spark ... damn it! How does that help me?’

He would’ve loved to meditate for a few days in order to figure out the implications, but unfortunately this was all the time he got.

Lady Panello threw the spark back in the box, closed it, and it disappeared in her spatial treasure. She said, "I’m not sure what happened, but the spark changed. You saw it – it turned into a fire spark, except it’s form was still round. Now, your turn!"

"Alright!" Lee said, took a deep breath, preparing for the inevitable, "I killed Seren. After the old god was almost dead, Seren killed it, but Vaerin, the leader of the hunters was displeased that he didn’t help during the fight and came to reap rewards when the old god was practically defeated. Seren killed him, then I distracted him with some nonsense and sneak attacked, blowing up his head. That’s it."

The story was clean and, more importantly, true. Now she was supposed to ask for more details, Lee would colorfully describe how he implied Seren was gay, and then she would kill him.

Unfortunately, this was where his plan went awry.

"So it’s true!" She said with a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment, as if imagining the event, "Turns out one of the hunters was speaking the truth after all. Too bad I killed him. Right. Since I gave you my word, I’ll have to keep my promise! Die!"

Lee was pleasantly surprised by how quick and easy he had resolved his predicament, but instead of excruciating pain of his body burning to crisp, a wave of warmth washed over him. Lady Panello didn’t kill him, but her palms lit up in flames as she smacked the ground. At the same time the other seven hunters found themselves in pillars of fire, and within a couple of heartbeats burned to crisp.

Contrary to Elred, they didn’t suffer. Panello clearly was venting, and killed them almost in an instant. All that was left from them were charred bodies and the smell of burnt flesh that filled the surroundings.

Technically, Lady Panello kept her promise. She did say that the ones who didn’t speak up will die, although it didn’t make any sense in the current situation. She also promised to pardon the one who spoke, but Lee found it impossible to believe she would let him go after founding out he was the killer of her son.

"You have to keep your promises if you don’t want to create demons in your Dao heart." She said, brushing off her hands.

Most likely she said it to herself, but Lee couldn’t resist, and said, "Everyone can change their mind. It’s the common sense."

She looked at him, deeply, like staring right through, and said, "Thank you. I take it as a permission to kill you as well."

"That’s another load of crap." Lee replied with a smile, "You would think of a way to kill me anyway. There’s no way you would let the murderer of your son go, if Seren actually was yours."

Lady Panello ignored the first part of what Lee said, very well knowing it was true. The second part she didn’t like, though.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, furrowing her brows.

"You’re obviously an elemental lord who had comprehended a bunch of elemental laws." Lee said, "You’re probably several centuries old – I’ve never heard anyone giving birth at that age."

"Hmph! What does a clueless elemental warrior like you know!" She snorted, "How could you know the pain of a mother waiting for her child to be reincarnated again!"

"Don’t tell me you gave birth to Seren twice!" Lee was honestly shocked, "How’s that supposed to work? I don’t believe anyone has the ability to control the time and place to reincarnate. In fact, every following reincarnation will occur later than the previous one ... and that means ... well, even if you are elemental lord, I doubt you’ll see him again. How many times had he died?"

"What? You ... how do you know this? An elemental warrior ..." Lady Panello said. She was more confused than Lee, but the latter used the situation to milk more information out of her.

He said, "Isn’t it obvious? He had the Trexian’s seal! Running around bare-chested, showing off ... it’s disrespectful to the Overlord of the Voidforge. Seren might’ve been one of the chosen, but before becoming an overlord himself, no one’s omnipotent. He was too arrogant."

"Who are you?" Hearing Lee’s words, Lady Panello’s stare grew increasingly confused.

But then Lee missed the chance. For a split moment she appeared next to him, tore off his shirt and immediately retreated. If he had Soulcleaver in hand, she would’ve killed herself, but unfortunately the bitch turned out to be too cautious.

"What do you mean?" Lee grinned, inwardly kicking himself for the failing to grasp the opportunity, "You said it yourself – I’m just an elemental warrior!"

"Hmph!" All of the sudden she recovered her previous demeanor, "You might fool the simpletons of Skalara, but you can’t fool me! They said you could use three elements, but that’s a lie. Not only you don’t have the elemental warrior’s scar – I saw you using only fire and sensed you were using your own fire particles. Clearly you have peculiar artifacts that let you disguise as ... so that’s how it is!"

She seemed to have come to some kind of realization, but Lee was preparing to summon Soulcleaver the moment she moved. He missed one chance, but didn’t intend to repeat the mistake. Initially he thought she would immediately disable someone who had killed her son with a sneak attack, but for some reason she was so busy with herself she almost didn’t pay any attention to him.

Turns out, Lady Panello had a bigger fish to fry, an imaginary one.

"Which overlord sent you?" She asked, her expression turning grave.