Alden moved with intent.

His dear sister, Seles, the one he had been trying to get rid of for a long time but couldn’t due to her backing, was right in front of him, committing a crime punishable by the death penalty.

So he was sure that even if he killed her here, there wouldn’t be any useless problems down the road. Not that anyone cared enough in this situation to notice what he was doing.

Within seconds, he arrived right on the platform where she stood, about to attack that pitiful simp of a human, Luciel.

But he couldn’t let that guy die just yet, for obvious reasons. So he willed it, and his shadow rose from the ground, interfering with her attack as she finally looked in his direction.

"What are you doing, dear sister? Already tired of your slave?"

Alden said with a smile.

"How about we have that talk after you let me deal with him? And why do you even care about him? Just let me kill him, and we can go our separate ways as if this never happened."

She said, her hands behind her back as he could clearly sense her controlling the shadows.

"As much as it pains my heart to interfere in your lover’s quarrel, I cannot let you kill him just yet... and at least not today."

His smile widened before he vanished from his spot, appearing mid-air beside Seles, his sword already raised toward her neck.

He couldn’t use his shadow around her because Seles’s special ability made it quite tricky. So, he decided to rely on pure physical force.

But he did find something odd.

Why isn’t a single demon attacking this bitch?

He had seen her descending from the audience seating to the platform, but along the way, she wasn’t blocked by any demon. Even now, as he fought against her, demons steered clear of them.

Did she... join them?

He couldn’t understand, but even then, he kicked Lucien’s limp body in the direction where Amyra was. After all, she was his sister, so he thought maybe she would save him.

***

Lucien’s eyes widened as he saw Alden trying to save him, but he couldn’t say anything through the pain. He had already lost a lot of blood as his body flew through the air before landing in front of Amyra.

Amyra gave him a single glance before kicking him in the stomach mercilessly.

"Guaahhhhhhhh."

His body flew again before crashing into the audience seats with a loud thud, his vision darkening but before he could die, he quickly purchased a healing potion from his storage ring.

His left hand wasn’t attached anymore, and if he took the healing potion, the wound would heal without it and he could never recover his arm again. But he didn’t care, because if he didn’t take the potion now, he would die anyway, and that was worse.

Seles’s fresh betrayal still played out in his mind. He couldn’t understand why... Even now, he hoped she was being controlled by someone else, but he knew better which only made him feel more pathetic.

***

Meanwhile, standing opposite Seles, Alden’s expression shifted slightly.

That went worse than I expected...

He hadn’t expected Amyra to take care of Lucien immediately, but he had thought she would at least give him a healing potion or something... but instead, she kicked him even harder than Alden had.

But at least that guy was out of Seles’s range now, and the area where he had landed was already covered in countless dead bodies, so his body was difficult to discover in between them.

He turned back toward Seles immediately.

"So, mind telling me why you joined the demons?"

His voice was confident, as if he already knew that matter of factly, but in truth, he was just probing her for a reaction.

She didn’t deny or accept his allegation and instead smiled. "Oh my, since when did you become so curious about my life, dear brother? Don’t tell me you are worried about me?"

Alden didn’t bother saying anything else and just lunged at her, because he knew getting information out of this woman... was impossible.

His sword moved straight for her neck without the slightest hesitation. He was fighting to kill, but his focus on his surroundings never wavered, along with his awareness of the red button in his pocket.

He wanted to press it immediately and summon the executive of Luminous Accord, but unless he could find and catch Jeremy on the spot, it would be useless. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

And he didn’t want to alert Jeremy in advance for no reason. So, he waited for the perfect moment.

Seles, in the meanwhile, wasn’t playing either. Her mana flared as every shadow across the entire arena surged toward her. Sensing an ominous presence, Alden jumped back as the shadows engulfed Seles in a cocoon.

It barely took a few seconds before the cocoon erupted open, and from within, a new figure walked out. It was still the same old annoying, bitchy Seles but her entire body was now covered in a thin shadowy armor, shifting like waves as if it were alive.

Behind her, two massive draconic wings unfurled, and atop her head, two crown-like horns curled upward. She looked like an evil dragon descended straight out of some children’s fairy tale.

What in the hell is this transformation now...?

Is she using her special ability somehow?

In the novel, it was hinted that her ability had something to do with dragons, but it was never shown explicitly, even when she was close to death.

And yet...

Now, against Alden, she was using an ability she never had in the novel at her peak. And if that wasn’t all, Alden could clearly feel strength of at least an Expert rank or higher from her.

Yeah...

This is not going to be easy.

***

Meanwhile, standing atop the air itself, far in the sky, Jeremy looked at the masked figure, Semo, who had just arrived.

Jeremy’s gaze was heavy as he asked,

"Are the preparations done...?"