Peacemaker had never felt in his entire life the way he felt right now.

There were no words to explain it.

He had never truly believed in the existence of invincible supremacy. He had never actually accepted the fact that even the Origins who sat at the top of the food chain were untouchable—not really. Not in a way that mattered.

He had encountered few of them in his lifetime, and although their strength was legendary, Peacemaker had never felt fear like this. Not as he stood before someone who appeared, in all visible manner, to be an ordinary person.

Something was definitely wrong. There was something he wasn't considering, something he was missing, and the uncertainty terrified him more than the sensation itself.

'An Origin! He's an Origin!!'

At the same time, it couldn't be.

It was impossible for an Origin to pass the threshold between the Greater Fragment and the Lesser Fragment. What was going on? What was he missing?

It was also impossible for an Origin to... strip him of his identity by merely looking.

Right now, it felt like the world was not allowing him to exist on his own. As if the very fabric of reality had decided he was no longer welcome in it.

He felt like he had crossed a king, and the world of that king had damned him in return.

His shoulders trembled. He slowly looked up at Northern, and by the time he did, his handsome face from before carried a different persona—broken, despondent, terrified.

He tried to speak, but the old man's mouth only trembled. He was suddenly looking older than he had appeared just seconds ago, centuries of life weighing visibly on features that had seemed ageless moments before.

The other Elf—the one sitting on his bed, wishing he didn't exist in this present scenario—stayed as still as he had been. In fact, it was almost easy to forget he was in the room at all. That was how hard he worked not to be.

Eisha was shocked, her eyes filled with genuine surprise. Something that bordered on twisted glee, in fact.

Never in her life would she have thought it possible for Peacemaker himself to be in this position.

The man was on his knees, trembling, groveling before her... particularly before her son.

It was both amazing and terrifying to watch.

It satisfied her, but it also made her wary of just how powerful her son had become. Not in a bad manner, of course. But wary nonetheless.

'Peacemaker is one of the five strongest people in Stuart, and yet... he...' She stole a glance at her son.

Northern was probably the one most unaffected by this entire scenario. He looked bored, in fact. As if this was just another troublesome day for him.

The attitude this one had developed after defeating the alleged undefeatable was... odd. Certainly odd. But amusing nonetheless.

Northern looked at Peacemaker, who was shaking on his knees.

'What what what wh—what cou—could he be? Wh—who i—is he, ah ah... my chest, my lungs, I can't feel my breath.'

The man's mind was in disaster.

Northern watched him in silent amusement.

"Peacemaker... is it?" He paused, letting his natural hoarse voice settle into the room, almost echoing off the walls. "Do you want your essence back?"

The trembling Peacemaker froze.

And slowly, his head rose.

"S–S–S—Sir? C—c–can I?"

A corner of Northern's lips curled up. "Listen..." He placed his hand on the man's white hair.

'Ohhh... it's silky. Curiosity has been killing me for a while about what it feels like.'

The hair was silky to the touch, but that was beside the point. The scene radiated too much dominion for anyone to guess that Northern harbored a childlike curiosity about an elf's hair. From the outside, it looked like a conqueror placing his hand upon the head of a defeated king.

"Are you ready to enslave yourself to me?"

Peacemaker trembled. He was looking at Northern—really looking—his eyes shaking as he considered what it meant to be a slave.

At first, he thought to himself:

'All that matters is that I take it back. Then I can anticipate better this time.'

But Peacemaker was a wise and experienced man. He knew how to spot the flaw in his own thinking.

Someone who calmly took it before could calmly take it again.

In that moment, he simply came to truly understand that the white-haired boy with blue eyes standing above him, holding his head, was... beyond him.

He was lesser. And this strange human was greater.

Then the answer came.

"Yes. I will be enslaved. As long as I can have my power back."

Northern sighed and nodded his head.

"Okay."

Just like that, Peacemaker felt himself again. His essence flowed through his body, warm and familiar. He felt accepted by the world once more and felt truly powerful again.

So powerful, in fact, that it was almost easy to forget that the one greater than him stood right in front of him.

He furrowed his brow and lifted one foot to stand, but then suddenly stopped midway. His eyes met Northern's, and he reminded himself of what had happened seconds ago.

He lowered the leg and bowed his head.

"M—Master. What do you need?"

Eisha chuckled faintly, staring in disbelief.

'What?!'

To her, this was almost like a dream come true.

Northern smiled.

"Actually, the one who'll be your master isn't really me..." He gestured to Eisha, who was sitting next to him. "It's my mother."

At that moment, Eisha crossed one leg over the other, sat straight, and flicked her hair with pride.

Peacemaker slowly turned to her, his mouth gradually falling open.

His face contorted in rage, and he glared at Northern.

"Human! Do not take my submission for foolishness."

Northern sighed.

Then he stood up and drove his foot into the man's face with a motion so fast that even the air didn't anticipate it.

Peacemaker's head flew back and smashed into the metal wall of the room, bending it inward. Blood was already streaming from his nose.

Folding his arms and looking at the elven man with disdain, Northern slowly lowered his foot.

"Speak to me with respect. To my mother, double it."

Peacemaker slowly pulled his face free from the indentation and saw that it had been disfigured by a single kick.

Blood now stained his handsome, ancient face.

He raised his hand and wiped a little of the blood away, just to confirm he was actually bleeding.

And indeed.

He was bleeding.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.