"You, you! You! You-you-you-you! You damn wretch! Ahhh! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Lord Yang looked up with bloodshot eyes, his face twisting beyond recognition.
Whether it was intentional or not, the magic protecting his clothes did not seem to be effective against his own blood. Following his roars, the crimson liquid streamed down his face, soaking into the robe, and staining it a brilliant red.
The sight was almost comical as one of his hands desperately clawed at the strange silver markings, while the other trembled violently to keep him up.
His eyes nearly bulged from the pain as several healing spells flashed across his body.
Golden light surged as a holy radiance erupted, but none of it worked!
The silver markings remained firmly attached to his flesh, and not only did they not disappear, but they also seemed to deepen, embedding more deeply into his skull like a brand.
"Damn it! Damn it!! Damn it!!!"
"COME!"
"COME!"
His furious roar exploded!
Boom!
The pressure of his Fourth Order cultivation shook the surrounding square.
Throughout the onlookers, several of the weaker practitioners stumbled, and some ordinary civilians nearly collapsed onto their knees.
"Where!?"
"Where!"
His bloodshot eyes arrogantly swept across the crowd, and as if responding to his call, a group of people, clad in white, quickly pushed their way through the surrounding pedestrians and ran to Lord Yang's side.
This group was split between priests, paladins, and mages, healers, scribes and new recruits! Most were far weaker than Lord Yang, but hidden within this group was undoubtedly a few true masters. Some of them looked furious, others looked deeply worried, and several hurried over and helped Lord Yang to stand, while also attempting to calm him down.
"Lord Yang!"
"What happened?"
"Who did this!"
"How dare they!"
Countless sounds came from the priests.
"What do you mean what happened?!" Lord Yang roared. "Of course, we're killing her! Kill her! Kill her dead! KILL!! Kill-kill-kill-kill-kill!" As he continued, a strand of hair fell and blocked his lip.
His expression twisted even further!
"That witch!"
"That whore!"
"How dare she show her face!"
"How dare she take that thing!"
"How dare she! How-dare-she!!" The veins on his forehead visibly bulged.
Amidst the group of priests, the oldest priest among them, a man with long eyebrows and deep-set features, frowned deeply. Unlike the others, he did not immediately speak. Instead, he looked toward the middle-aged healer beside him who was trying to heal Lord Yang's face.
The woman immediately understood, and while lowering her head, she carefully inspected the strange silver inscriptions attached to Lord Yang's face.
The longer she looked, the paler she became, and eventually, she shook her head, somewhat distraught.
Her expression was grave because she couldn't identify the runes forming this pattern, nor could she remove them. She was sure that they were not normal runes. The Shadow Clan usually used their own rune system, which was a mix of unique creations combined with the Dark Elves or Black Dwarves, but she was also sure it wasn't any of those.
After assessing them again and again, she gritted her teeth and concluded that the runes forming this pattern were most likely from the Curse Clan, an extremely terrifying and reclusive race from the underground world.
The moment Lord Yang heard this, his entire body nearly exploded with rage! His gaze shifted between the woman and the surrounding crowd, His handsome face hiding a bit of panic.
Even those from the church of light understood the terror caused by the Curse Clan.
They were only one step behind the Telltera, but unlike the Telltera, they were solitary by nature.
The Curse Clan was not the same as the other dark races. They held an extremely high prestige despite not having a large number. Although they did not normally participate in worldly affairs, much less appear above ground, when they did, it usually signified something big was going to happen, an upheaval on at least a continental scale.
The hatred in his eyes became increasingly obvious, indicating that there was some history.
At that moment, something seemed to snap in his mind.
The agreement he had previously reached with the First Princess of the Hellion Empire, Rotell, no longer mattered in his mind. His rationality was rapidly disappearing, and the blood in his eyes darkened even further. As the pattern glowed with a strange light, it mixed with his emotions and amplified them.
As his eyes darted from place to place, face to face, he finally couldn't hold himself back.
"Kill them! Fucking kill them!!" He roared!
The surrounding priests immediately stiffened at this shout. They realised a beat too late that he wanted them to kill the onlookers, to kill everyone here!
Even for them, this was a step too far!
There was a wave of unknown emotions that spilled through the crowd…
But before anyone could move—
The situation suddenly changed!
Tock!
A large group of armored soldiers, almost all from the city guard, finally arrived. In addition, their long-awaited reinforcements appeared alongside them, only one step behind.
Heavy boots thundered against the stone roads as dozens, no, hundreds of people appeared. They quickly pushed through the crowd and formed a defensive line.
These reinforcements were mixed between high-level adventurers, imperial soldiers, people from the palace, a few elders from the four Great Families, and a few secluded masters who usually lingered around in the city.
They appeared just like that, their group around the same size as that of the Church of Light!
The city guard and the Church of Light quickly found themselves standing opposite one another.
Neither side moved…
Neither side spoke…
…The air rapidly thickened as tension built!
The surrounding civilians unconsciously held their breath.
A priest quietly stepped beside Lord Yang and placed a hand on his shoulder.
It was only then that Lord Yang realized something.
They were surrounded!
Not by the soldiers…
Not by the city guard…
No, they were surrounded by the crowd itself!
His face darkened as he took a closer look.
They were lingering beneath awnings, watching from the rooftops, standing inside alleyways, lurking behind windows, observing from the shadows, and scattered through the crowd.
He didn't feel it before, but now that he was looking, a chill suddenly ran down his spine!
The rationality that was slowly slipping away began to quickly return. His eyes swept past the city guard and into the crowd, only to find that deep within the shadows were countless pairs of eyes that were silently staring back. These were not the common pedestrians that were mingling around the Central Square, no, they were a mixture of forces all gathered in 'secret.'
Some stood out promptly while others silently hid, but what they all had in common was that they were watching him closely, like a monkey performing a play.
Mixed within the crowd were dark races like Werewolves and Vampires, Lamias, Ghosts and Ghouls.
If you went looking, they would look no different from regular people —
And that was because they were regular people…
Hidden on a nearby rooftop was a tall and lanky man with skeletal arms, clearly looking like part of the undead race. Hidden within an alley was a few dark elves huddled together, whispering with mischievous sighs. There was an Arachnid surrounded by other forest-dwelling beasts lurking in the open, and a group of Telltera that watched without even an ounce of restraint. There were red-haired girls with red eyes from the Blood Clan, and dark-skinned men with black hair from the Shadow Clan.
Sleek werewolves exposed their fangs in silent mockery, while elegant vampires smiled through blood-thinned lips. Members of the Telltera, Shadow Clan, Blood Clan, and numerous lesser dark races silently observed the unfolding spectacle with mockery.
To all of them, the situation was obvious…
The Shadow Clan woman was the victim, the Church of Light was the aggressor, and nobody here liked the Church of Light, not even a little.
All of them, regardless of origin, were scattered throughout the Central Square, discreetly observing.
They were not hiding like rats in the gutter, but they were not ostentatious either. They all had one thing in common, and that was that they were all glaring at the people from the Church of Light with cold eyes.
Their cold eyes pierced through the crowd and pierced directly into Lord Yang's heart.
Dark races, dark races everywhere!
This was the thought that exploded in Lord Yang's mind!
Why had he not realized it before!
What was wrong with him!?
The surrounding dark races, regardless of where they were, seeing his expression of realization, immediately burst into laughter.
Lord Yang's face darkened even further.
The timing struck perfectly, and his heart felt as if it were twisting.
His brain short-circuited, and that same rationality that was beginning to recover began to flicker once again. To many members of the Church of Light, the Cross Continent was nothing more than a cursed backwater island filled with heretics, demons, and darkness, a place barely worth acknowledging.
Why should he suffer a loss to these people?
Why should his pride have to put up with these pathetic people?
These people were beneath him!
Damn it!
Damn it!
Damn it!
Although he could think this over and over, reality was reality, and reality told him one simple fact—
He was vastly outnumbered!
If he, or any member of the Church of Light, acted right now, he had no doubt that it would be a one-sided massacre, and everything would end quickly!
Because every direction he looked—
Someone was staring at them!
He was like a lamb on a platter, and he had only understood this now! The suffocating pressure generated by the hundreds of hostile gazes slowly compressed the atmosphere.
In his eyes, the crowd had become a sea of predators.
Perhaps the first time since arriving on the Cross Continent, the Church of Light found themselves in hostile territory, and realizing they had completely lost control of the situation, the priests ultimately chose restraint, at least, for now...
Lord Yang glared hatefully toward the shadows one final time, then looked away.
After struggling to his feet, he clenched his fist, then he turned and left.
The priests followed him.
Together, the Church of Light chose to withdraw, not only from the central square, but from the capital altogether. They would skip out on the Royal Ring Secret Realm! Their departure was unwilling, their expressions were ugly, their hatred was obvious, yet none of them dared remain any longer.
Slowly, the tense atmosphere began to fade…
The city guards relaxed.
The crowd dispersed.
The dark races disappeared.
Everything gradually returned to normal, and soon, the Central Square, along with the Opening Festival, was back on track, and this little interlude was quickly forgotten….
-
Meanwhile—
Petra stood near the edge of the square and looked around.
The excitement from the chase had already vanished, and the surrounding crowd was shifting away.
Although there was a lot of damage, this was not too abnormal when cultivators fought, especially when it involved the Church of Light or other top-tier factions. After the arrival of the City Guard, the Church of Light chose to back off, and as for the Shadow Clan girl, she seemed to have disappeared, but Petra knew that right before she flickered away, she gave the little green-haired lolita a stern glare.
Petra didn't know what her problem was, but she seemed to have a grudge against her.
Whatever!
Petra, taking Wind's hand, walked away and slowly made her way toward the center of the Central Square, preparing to enter the secret realm.
After that farce, it was almost time, so she had to be ready…
During this period, Levy had said that she wanted to return, so she picked up Poya and returned to the Castle with her, so that only left Petra, Bell, Wind, Rose, and Lira to enter.
Soon, they reached the central stage, where many people were already gathered.
Time was quickly approaching…
-
At the same time, not too far away, the enormous formation at the center of the plaza had begun to glow brighter and brighter. Silver chimes softly rang in the wind, while the floating chains formed from golden light slowly rotated with the sun.
More and more people were gathering, and soon, people were densely packed.
Petra tilted her head up, then she grinned.
"...Mm!"
It was almost time…
The Royal Ring Secret Realm was about to open!
* * *