Within an underground chamber, three little kids sat in cultivation. While the kids were of different ages, it was clear that the age gap between them wasn't much as the youngest was around 12 and the oldest was 15.
The two oldest among the trio had an evil aura surrounding them from which came wailing sounds of ghosts, uncomfortable and unpleasant to the ear. A green essence surrounded the youngest among them, as he worked on improving his innate talent. He didn't seem to be affected in the slightest by the demonic aura pervading the entire chamber, which was something that would shock countless minds if revealed.
Suddenly, a formation in front of the chamber lit up, as intricate runes appeared on the ground. A second later, a figure appeared on the ground, painful grunts leaking from his mouth. The metallic smell of blood spread out, adding to the debilitating aura of evilness.
"Father!" The three kids exclaimed. They quickly approached Emperor Razor.
"Father, what happened?"
"Father, are you okay?"
"Father!"
While the three simultaneously spoke, only one of them had a look of worry on their face. And that was the youngest.
"Enough!" Emperor Razor pushed the trio aside as he rose clumsily to his feet. Using his will, he stopped the flow of blood from his wound.
The previous calm had long disappeared from his face and was replaced by a vicious look.
"It is all because of that brat!" A burst of murderous intent exploded from his body, causing the three little kids a short distance from him to shiver. All his plans that he had meticulously worked for had all been ruined in a moment, and by a brat no less!
After venting a bit of the rage that threatened to explode his body, he finally calmed down.
'I can't let it all go down like this!'
'My dream of being even of little assistance to my Lord must not go unfulfilled.'
'I need to act fast!'
He wasn't worried about Scarlett finding him anytime soon, as the underground chamber he was in was surrounded by an ancient concealing formation, one that was supposed to be lost to history. But it wasn't like he could remain inside the chamber forever either.
"Even if I want to enact my plan, I must get rid of that bitch, if not it will all go down the drain!" The number of people who could threaten someone of his level could be counted on both hands. Still, he wasn't alone and had secretly corrupted more than a third of the magical beast population into demons. This was a plan that had been put into motion for almost a decade. With a terrifying army of billions, even less than five would be able to threaten him. But he knew there was one person who could immediately cause his plan to fail.
Scarlett!
Not only was she the strongest existence in the whole Lunar World, but she was even among the top five strongest figures across the whole galaxy, just falling a few short behind figures such as the ancestor of the Asura race and the newly acclaimed strongest, the Void Emperor.
However, even these two legendary figures wouldn't hold a candle to Scarlett's might if they were within the Lunar World. Here, she was a goddess!
"In other words, my greatest priority is sending Scarlett out of this world and holding her up!" He didn't even dare attempt to kill her as he knew it would just be a fool's errand. Even his Lord hadn't been able to accomplish such a feat.
After racking his brain for several minutes, Razor still couldn't come up with a viable plan.
"I have no choice!" Since the matter was so complicated for him to overcome, he would just ask someone who was leagues above him.
Demons, servants of the Evil Lord could be grouped into five in order of hierarchy and power.
Lesser demons! Greater demons! Demon Lords! Supreme demons! And finally, the strongest of the Evil Lord's servants, possessing strength that rivaled his...
Abominations!
Though they were few, they were strong enough to compare with the mightiest existences in the whole galaxy. Only they were worthy of becoming the Evil Lord's guardians.
Having made up his mind, he took out a communication stone, one similar to the one Zara had handed Arlo. Rather than calling it a Communication stone, the object functioned more like a transmission stone, as unlike the former that could only send and receive messages across small or long distances within a world, the transmission stones could do the same but across worlds. However, their use was limited to one time.
Emperor Razor sent his mana into the formation disc that was shaped like a stone, in his hand. Activating one of the two formations within the stone, it shone with a light orange color, before Emperor Razor started recounting what happened to him and the major obstacles he encountered. He also added information about the disappearance of the secret realm and didn't forget to mention Arlo's involvement.
Done, he activated the second formation, causing the communication stone to burn with a silver light. Soon after, the silver light pierced into the space before him, disappearing from his sight. He gazed at the marking left on his palm by the communication stone, and waited patiently. Since he was in the ancient formation, he wasn't afraid Scarlett would pick up his actions.
The three little kids who were supposedly his children stood quietly behind him, with servile looks on their faces. They didn't resemble a family in the slightest.
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An hour later, the space in front fluctuated wildly before a small crack appeared. A silver light soon flew out of the crack and into his hand, the marking left behind by the communication stone disappearing soon after.
Pouring his mana into the new communication stone in his hand, a deep voice boomed across the underground chamber, the mere power within the voice seemingly shaking the space within.
"Send her to me!" It was a short and simple reply, one filled with authority.
Just when Emperor Razor's face started distorting because of how he was supposed to accomplish that, the deep voice resounded once again, "...Use your life!"
Since the presence on the other end demonized him, he had no choice but to fulfill the order. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice himself as long as it contributed to his Lord's wishes, but now he was unwilling. He harbored so much hatred for Arlo, that he felt his heart might explode if he didn't kill him soon. How was he supposed to die with such a grievance?
If the order had come directly from his Lord, he wouldn't have harbored any other thoughts and would have fulfilled it without any hesitation. But since the order simply came from a superior, he could spare some of his time to kill Arlo. Of course, he also had to fulfill his Superior's order, it was just engrained within his essence. It also helped that his superior didn't tell him how to accomplish his mission, so he could do as he seemed fit, and just ensure that the mission was a success.
Suddenly, an idea lit up his mind. Looking at his last born, the one uncorrupted but had been brainwashed since he was little, Razor narrowed his eyes.
"Boy, I have a task for you!"
.....
Within a dimly lit hall, a few figures stood quietly as if awaiting someone's arrival.
Principal Stanley, Teacher Julian, and a few teachers of the third year stood a short distance away from each other. Even though they seemed to be a group, none of them attempted to communicate and instead remained in silence.
On the other side of this group of figures was a young boy who despite looking to be at most 14 or 15 years, was already in his late teens. His short dark hair interlocked with several snow-white streaks was neatly trimmed, and his ruby eyes shone brightly within the dim hall. Even the darkness shrouding the area couldn't hide the light smile tugging at the sides of his mouth.
In response to the look of disgust and contempt some of the teachers and principal were throwing at him, Stefan flashed a small smile, his expression unchanged.
The group stood for an unknown time before a silver light suddenly lit from the front of the hall, brightening the entire place.
As the silver light slowly died down, five figures appeared within the hall.
Evangeline, Arlo, Arianne, Joe and Ella.
A short period of silence ensued, as Stefan became stunned by his junior sister's different outlook. Unlike before, she was now over two meters tall, even surpassing him in height. But that wasn't all. Her hair was now a colorful blend of snow-white and blood red, harmoniously mixed to elevate the natural charm emanating from her young yet bursty body.
Unlike him, the others were stunned because of the absence of the other students. Ten Darkblood students had left, yet only three returned. And those three were even the youngest and weakest among the group.
Just when some of them registered the appearance of Ella, a werewolf, and a member of their mortal enemies, Evangeline quickly voiced out before any of them could act:
"Out liege told me to bring the werewolf cub. Don't worry, she will remain by my side at all times!"
Unlike Arlo who was personally protected by Scarlett's command, Ella would be threatened at all times if she was left alone in a territory only filled with blood-sucking vampires.
None of them replied, but instead glared silently at the little girl for a while. If the party knew her status was not the least inferior to Arianne's, it was a mystery how they would react.
After a short while, one of the third-year teachers bowed to Evangeline, before voicing the confusion currently plaguing their minds:
"Lady Evangeline, where are the other students? Are they with our liege?" It wasn't wrong for them to think so, after all, a few of them knew Evangeline had left with Scarlett to check out the disturbance created by Arlo's heavenly tribulation.
Evangeline looked at them silently for some time, her emotions unknown. Then, her lips slowly parted, a mesmerizing yet cold voice sounding out without the slightest tremor:
"They are dead!"
"Huh!?"
All the teachers were rooted on the spot by the unexpected reply, their eyes slowly widening in horror, and their throats bobbling up and down, the voice refusing to spill from their outstretched mouths.
"Brother!" Uncaring about their reactions, Arianne leaped into Stefan's embrace, the latter rubbing her back affectionately. None was still the wiser that while Rook and his party had indeed killed the third year students, one of them had still escaped their clutches and he was the strongest among the group. Yet he wasn't present...
Because he had been killed before the dragon medallion could teleport him out of the secret realm. And the killer was none other than the little girl who was currently enjoying her brother's caresses, with an innocent smile on her face.
After finding out that almost all his team had been wiped out, Landon had been so overwhelmed by guilt that he had unconsciously blurted that he wished to die, something that his little princess was happy to fulfill the next second, to his great shock. He didn't know that Arianne had already condemned him to death, and her killing him was actually a favour. Because it was unknown what would have happened to him if he had appeared before Scarlett with such a failure. Atleast Arianne was sure he would have suffered a pain that was far worse than death. As the leader of the group, not only had he abandoned his teammates in order to help another team...from an entirely different race, he wasn't even aware of their situation till the very end. Not to mention that Eleanor had not even handed him any mana fruits in the end, after all, the reason for their cooperation was to defeat or if possible, kill the male Asura, something they had failed to accomplish. Yet he had continued to follow Eleanor to the fourth zone of his own free will, due to his lack of trust in his own strength.
Even though the Elven princess had also made the same mistake as him, she was in the end a princess, with a status that was only slightly inferior to Arianne's. While she might be punished, it was sure not to be anything life-threatening, especially after she returned with many mana fruits and other treasures.
Although, Arianne had informed him that Theodore had glanced in her direction before he was teleported, so he might have seen Landon explode into a bloody mist. That would also explain why the smart boy didn't make any mention of him.
.....
Arlo took in the sight around him, his clouded mind hidden behind a calm visage.
He could feel Joe's anxiousness and his gradually reducing patience. It seemed his first friend was truly worried about his sister's well-being. Not to mention his state of mind upon finding out that one of the only two living people related to him by blood was a demon. The thought of when Razor had been demonized filled not only Joe and him, but even strong figures such as Scarlett, Rebecca, Jake, and even Evangeline with apprehension.
Then there was Rose who had collapsed after catching a glimpse of the future...his future, and the words she had left behind.
There were the dreadful warning signals his dragon sense was still sending him...
His birthday was in two days.
Arlo took a deep breath and pulled his mind from the worrying thoughts.
'All I can do is keep my head straight and my eyes, focused. In the end, I just have to do my best, not to mention that I am not alone. I have Anita and my two new summons, Arianne, Joe, Ella, Scarlett, Rebecca, and Evangeline. I have no reason to be afraid.'
As for what he could for now, Arlo remembered the words he swore exactly a week ago, his eyes flashing with a dangerous light.
With the hall filled with Arianne's chuckle, and the teachers and principal yet to react, Arlo's voice spread out, the rage hidden within barely noticeable:
"Has the Second-year ranking war ended?"