Salazar turned back to look at Arthur, who was holding Caen hostage. 

"Heh, is that how the prideful Nobles fight? By taking hostages?" Salazar asked, scoffing. 

As he taunted Arthur, he expected him to look straight in his eyes, but Arthur also kept his eyes on his chest for some reason. 

Feronia had long guessed that the ability of Salazar worked when someone looked in his eyes, but it was just her guess. However, the current events confirmed her suspicions.

"Arthur, I was right," Feronia informed Arthur. 

"It seems that you are," Arthur replied, smiling. 

"So, Salazar, are you going to surrender, or should I kill your friend?" Arthur asked. "You can't save him any other way. Even in the slowed time, I'll kill him before you can even reach me. Think fast."

Salazar stood frowning with long knives in each of his hands, frowning. He knew that if he surrendered, they were going to die. But if he didn't surrender, he was going to be the bad guy and let Caen die.

'Instead of two deaths, one death is better,' he thought, frowning. 

He was tilting towards saving himself, but he also thought of a plan, knowing that he could escape easily compared to Caen and others. 

"Fine. I'll surrender but only if you free him and let him leave," Salazar offered Arthur. 

"Let him escape? We won't. You're both going to our prison. None of you is escaping," Arthur responded.

"Then why should I surrender? Since we'll both end up at your mercy then?" Salazar asked. "Caen is weaker than me. Let him escape, and I'll surrender. In any case, I'm a bigger threat to you all. That offer seems good, doesn't it?" 

"I think my offer is better. You surrender, and he won't die. As for you, we can still capture you after killing him," Arthur responded. "If you surrender, you'll both be alive. If you don't, you'll both be dead. It's as simple as that."

"Fine. Go ahead and kill him. And then we can see how easy of a time you can have in killing me," Salazar smirked, raising his hands. 

"Arthur, free him! Take his offer!" Feronia chimed in. 

"What? Why?"

"It's better if he surrenders peacefully! With the time we'll save, we can go and protect our Empire from the intruders. As for Caen, he's no threat. On the other hand, if we engage in fighting here, we'll certainly kill Salazar, but it'll waste a lot of our time. Take the offer!" Feronia explained, still inside the barrier. 

Salazar hadn't removed his domain either, and she wasn't going to take the risk by removing her barrier since Salazar was standing so close to her. With his single slash, she would have been dead without the barrier. 

"Sigh, fine. Salazar, I will accept your offer," Arthur agreed after thinking for a little. "You will surrender if I free Caen!" 

"I promise I will," Salazar responded. 

"Fine," Arthur let out as he relaxed his grip and freed Caen. 

"Now get down on your knees!" he commanded Salazar. 

"Not before Caen can leave this place. So give him ten minutes of a head start, and I'll go down on my knees!" Salazar said.

Arthur rolled his eyes, but he agreed. He glanced at Caen. "Run! You have ten minutes to run! I promise none of us will come after you in these ten minutes!"

Heath ran immediately, without thinking twice. As for Caen, he didn't run. Instead, he looked at Salazar. "You...?"

"Don't worry about me. You should run! You're the weak one, not me!" Salazar replied. "And don't forget what I told you in the stadium! One day, you can change your destiny. Just have faith and give yourself time!" 

Caen still felt like staying behind to help Salazar in whatever way he could, but he knew he couldn't. He only had his fast reflexes and battle skills. He didn't have any offensive or defensive special powers.

As for what Salazar just said, he understood. He was talking about being able to comprehend his skill to the extent where he could not only copy the looks but skills as well. With that ability, he could certainly become a big name in the world of Warlocks. 

"One minute is already over. Don't blame me after ten minutes. I won't give an extension," Arthur reminded Caen, keeping his arms folded. 

"Run, you idiot!" Salazar also scolded Caen. 

Caen took a deep breath before he started running. 

He ran through the hall, leaving the Palace. He kept running without stopping. Instead of walking to the main road, he took other ways to keep himself hidden as he ran so he couldn't be tracked later. 

However, Caen had only run for five minutes when he saw something in the distance, which brought a smile to his lips. He could see dark clouds in this distance. Soon, he even heard the crackling of thunder as black lightning bolts fell from the sky. 

"That's... He returned? It's about time...." Caen muttered, smiling wryly. He stopped running. 

...

"Ten seconds to ten minutes."

"Nine seconds."

"Seven Seconds."

"Three seconds."

"One second."

"Time up. It's your turn to surrender now. We kept our promise," Arthur told Salazar as time was over. 

"I know. But before I surrender, let me tell you something," Salazar said as he stood with his hands in his pocket. 

He slowly started bringing his hand out. 

As he brought his hand out, a gun was revealed, aiming it towards Feronia. " I did promise you that I'll surrender after you let him go free, but I didn't say that it'll be immediately after you let him go free. After he is free can be ten years after he is free as well."

"So you're breaking the promise with that loophole? And do you really believe a weapon like that can help you here?" Arthur asked. 

"What can I say? I can't break a promise without a loophole, or I'll be the one suffering. You should've been careful with the terms of the promise," Salazar replied. 

Even Feronia was chuckling at the face of the gun. She was still inside the barrier and knew that a bullet couldn't do anything. 

"You're so naive," she said, smirking. 

"Is that so?" Salazar muttered, smirking.

He walked a few meters away from Feronia before he lowered his gun and fired near the feet of Feronia.

A strange energy-filled bullet left the gun, hitting the ground. A different energy barrier appeared, this time even bigger than Feronia's defensive barrier, trapping her inside. 

Salazar kept the gun back in his pocket. 

"Now we can have some fun without any interruption," he muttered, cracking his knuckles. 

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