Hearing Ezekiel's words, Gepard's thoughtful gaze fell upon the panting Luka.
Red hair, a steel arm, and clothing that clearly didn't belong to the Overworld.
After carefully sizing Luka up for a moment, Gepard had roughly confirmed the other's identity. If he remembered correctly, this person should be a member of the Underworld organization "Wildfire."
Although he had never truly met the other in person, Gepard had come across general information about him.
"Who are you?"
Even though he had already roughly confirmed Luka's identity in his mind, out of caution, Gepard still went through the formalities and asked for the identity of the person before him.
"Wildfire, Luka."
Hearing Gepard's question, Luka straightened his exhausted body, then pulled out an identification booklet from his jacket pocket and handed it to Gepard.
Taking the document, Gepard quickly skimmed through it. After verifying it was genuine, he returned it to Luka.
With both sides' identities confirmed, Gepard crossed his arms in front of his chest and scanned the group with scrutinizing eyes.
Wildfire's Luka stood there looking full of righteous indignation, occasionally shooting hateful glares toward the Interastral Peace Corporation group nearby.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel and the other company mid-level executives appeared completely unafraid, as if they had long anticipated that Gepard couldn't do anything to them.
Gepard's gaze slowly shifted, finally landing on the girl standing behind the company personnel—a girl with an extremely sweet appearance and an otherworldly temperament.
The girl looked very sweet and cute, with a gentle and refined demeanor. Dressed in a student uniform, just one glance at her stirred a strong protective instinct in anyone's heart.
But...
Carefully observing the girl, Gepard's brows slowly furrowed. He had the nagging feeling that he had seen this girl somewhere before, yet he couldn't quite recall it for the moment.
"Ezekiel, that girl behind you is..."
"That girl was deceived by them!" Before Gepard could finish, Luka—who had just recovered some strength—suddenly stepped forward and interrupted Gepard indignantly.
"Deceived?"
Though somewhat displeased by Luka suddenly cutting him off, upon hearing that the girl had been deceived by Ezekiel and the others, Gepard's expression turned cold as he questioned them.
"Regarding Luka's accusation, Ezekiel, do you and the others have anything to refute?"
"Heh," Ezekiel glanced at Luka, leaned back slightly, then spoke to Luka in a contemptuous tone.
"Kid, it seems you've gotten one thing wrong. From the very beginning until now, this young lady has been willingly leaving with us."
"On the contrary, you blocked our path without distinguishing right from wrong the moment you showed up. May I ask—what exactly are your intentions?"
"You…!"
Luka was just about to say something when Ezekiel suddenly raised his hand, forcefully interrupting him.
"Enough! No more useless talk. Since neither of us trusts the other, why not let Miss Sparkle speak for herself?"
"Miss Sparkle?" Hearing the girl's name, Gepard was momentarily stunned. His gaze instinctively turned toward the girl named Sparkle. In Gepard's line of sight, this somewhat familiar JK girl gradually overlapped with a figure in his memory dressed in neon attire…
"Miss Sparkle, why don't you personally—"
"Alert!!!"
With Gepard's furious roar, the Silvermane Guards present immediately began to form ranks and assume battle formations.
Spearmen in front, wielding heavy axes and long spears, stood at the very forefront in a long serpentine line.
Shieldbearers in the middle, dozens of massive shields stacked and arranged to form an impenetrable defensive line.
And at the very rear of the formation, artillerymen holding cannons raised their barrels high, encompassing all the Interastral Peace Corporation personnel within their firing range.
This sudden turn of events startled the mid-level executives. Apart from Ezekiel, the only other Pathstrider among them was one who walked the Path of Abundance.
If Gepard truly intended to tear off all pretenses and fight them head-on right now, there was no doubt that they would be the ones to ultimately lose.
"Captain Gepard, what is the meaning of this?" Ezekiel's expression was extremely ugly. He had originally thought he could use the Interastral Peace Corporation's name to pressure Gepard into properly punishing this hot-headed kid who had ruined their plans.
But he never expected the situation to reverse so abruptly—Gepard had led the Silvermane Guards to directly point their guns and cannons at them. Was he really going to tear all facades away?
To Ezekiel's question, Gepard merely gave him a faint glance and ignored it.
"Ezekiel, you and the other company executives are colluding with Belobog's 'S-Rank' wanted criminal with the intent to subvert Belobog. By the authority of the Silvermane Guards Captain, I am now arresting you. You have the right to remain silent!"
"Damn it!"
Seeing that Gepard was serious, Ezekiel's face turned completely black. He never imagined this hot-headed fool would act so ruthlessly—what kind of excuse was this?
S-Rank wanted criminal? They were clearly all from the Interastral Peace Corporation—where did any wanted criminal come from?! Truly fitting that ancient saying from the Xianzhou: "If one wishes to accuse, why worry about lacking pretext?"
Watching the Silvermane Guards slowly closing in, Ezekiel could no longer afford to care. He decisively reached out toward Sparkle, who currently wore a frightened expression, intending to take her hostage and make Gepard hesitate to act.
The other executives nearby—Merino, Lichi Xing, and the rest—saw this and did not voice any objection or dissatisfaction. At this point, beauty and the like no longer mattered—self-preservation was all that counted!
"Bastard!"
Seeing Ezekiel about to harm Sparkle, Luka immediately clenched his iron fist, eyes splitting with fury as he wanted to charge forward to stop him.
However, unfortunately, the distance between him and Ezekiel was simply too great. Moreover, his stamina had nearly been exhausted—he was ultimately a few steps too slow.
"Got her… Ah—!!"
Just as Ezekiel's arm was about to touch Sparkle's fragrant shoulder, suddenly, an anomaly occurred.
Under everyone's horrified gazes, Ezekiel's arm directly turned into a cloud of blood mist, scattering into the air.
The bloody mist drifted with the wind, landing on the faces and bodies of Lichi Xing, Merino, and the others. In an instant, the originally somewhat noisy environment fell deathly silent.
And upon closer inspection, Sparkle—who had been closest to Ezekiel—had not a single drop of blood on her. The girl's fair, tender face remained as clean and captivating as before.