Hearing Lioran's words, the adventurers' gazes almost simultaneously turned toward one point: the Guildmaster.
Not out of betrayal.
Not to give her away.
But because fear had emptied their minds, and none of them knew what the next step should be.
The Guildmaster saw all those looks. She clenched her fist tightly.
Her nails dug into her palm.
'Damn it…'
She screamed in her mind: 'Pull yourself together. You're the Guildmaster. Now is not the time to tremble.'
Her gaze lifted and met Lioran's calm face.
The blood on his face had not yet dried.
She took a deep breath.
'Don't let fear or anger control you…'
The voice in her mind was calm but firm.
'First, understand what his goal is. And what he wants from me.'
She stepped away from behind the table.
She had only taken a few steps when murmurs rose around her.
"Guildmaster…"
"Be careful…"
"Don't go closer… he's dangerous…"
The Guildmaster ignored the others' concerns and stopped at a considerable distance, standing directly in front of Lioran.
Her eyebrows furrowed.
"What do you want from me? Why did you go this far?"
Her gaze fell for a moment on Siko's half-dead body.
"Why did you break his arms? What exactly are you after?"
Hearing the Guildmaster's words, Anahita immediately focused her concentration. Her gaze emerged from the darkness of Lioran's inner world and fixed on the Guildmaster.
Her aura was red.
Not blazing and wild, but compressed and restrained—like fire kept in a cage. It emanated from around her body, filling the space with a suffocating, unsettling heat—an aura that seemed even heavier than Siko's.
At its core, five fiery circles could be seen, with ancient, complex runes glowing on their surfaces—living symbols that pulsed with a slow rhythm.
Four circles were fully formed.
The fifth was still incomplete—as if it had only traveled half the path.
Anahita was surprised for a moment.
A girl who didn't even look twenty, yet had reached such a level?
Unintentional admiration settled in her voice.
"Lioran… she's a fifth-circle mage, intermediate level, fire element. She's a bit stronger than the one whose arms you broke."
A brief silence, as if she was still calculating.
"She's around your age… but reaching the fifth circle at this age…? She's a genius among geniuses."
Lioran, with no change in his expression, swept his gaze over the Guildmaster from head to toe—calm, precise, unhurried. Not like someone assessing an enemy… but like someone evaluating an asset.
'I think I've found a valuable dog.'
He murmured quietly to himself, then lifted his gaze and locked it directly onto the Guildmaster's red eyes.
"So you're the Guildmaster here… What's your name?"
"Yeah… that's me."
Guildmaster's voice was calm, cold, and controlled; but something trembled at its core—not fear, but a rage she was still keeping on a tight leash.
"You can call me Arezo, but—"
Her hand moved forward slightly.
And at that moment, the air cracked.
A massive fire erupted from her palm—dense red flames burning like a living mass, without spreading outward. Heat slammed into the hall with heavy force. Her face transformed in the firelight; brows furrowed, gaze sharp and merciless.
"Don't think you'll just walk away from this after what you did to one of my guild members."
For a moment, silence.
And then—the voices.
The adventurers still standing seemed to come alive again at the sight of the flames in the Guildmaster's hand. Fear retreated, or perhaps just hid. Laughter rose—loud, chaotic, overly boisterous.
"That's our Guildmaster!"
"Show him what it means to mess with us!"
"Burn him! Guildmaster, burn that bastard!"
"He needs to pay for what he did!"
"Kill that son of a bitch!"
The cheers piled on top of each other—shouts that sounded more like people clinging to a last hope than genuine confidence.
They had seen.
They knew.
They knew how Siko—the strongest after the Guildmaster—had been crushed with a single move. They knew this red-haired man hadn't even drawn his sword yet.
But now…
The fire was there.
And for desperate people, fire is always reassuring.
The laughter continued, but if one listened closely, they could hear the doubt; the invisible tremor hidden among the shouts.
And those cheers—
They didn't last more than a few seconds.
Lioran, just like Arezo, moved his hand forward slightly.
Not with haste.
Not with an open threat.
His cold voice, short and cutting, fell across the hall and smothered everything.
"You're all… completely mistaken."
And then—
It was as if the air itself retreated.
A massive fire erupted from Lioran's palm—dense red flames, at least twice the size of Arezo's. Heat slammed against the walls like a heavy wave. The firelight shattered shadows, and the wooden ceiling began to groan; beams blackened, smoke rose, and the smell of burning filled the space.
"The one who's going to pay…"
A brief pause. His cold eyes slid across the frozen faces.
"…is you. Because you still haven't learned how to speak to your new master."
That false hope—
That trembling reassurance the adventurers had pinned on Arezo's fire—
Collapsed in an instant.
They all stared.
At that fire.
At that hand.
At that man.
Eyes widened with fear and disbelief.
"How… how is this possible…?"
"Wasn't he a swordsman…?"
"His fire's reached the ceiling… it's burning…"
"I can feel the heat of his fire… from here…"
"We… we don't stand a chance…"
"He's… a monster…"
Arezo first stared with wide eyes at the massive fire roaring in Lioran's hand. The flames surged mercilessly, their heat suffocating even from several steps away.
'His fire… at least twice the size of mine. How is this possible? Wasn't he a swordsman…?'
Then her gaze slowly lifted and fixed on Lioran's face—a face half-lit by the flames, the shadows making him look even more alien and terrifying.
Thoughts rushed in one after another:
'A sixth-circle mage? Or… seventh?'
'Could he really be from that place, looking for me…?'
'But they think I'm dead…'
'Then who the hell is this bastard? And where did he suddenly appear from…?'
Fear and anger tangled in her chest.
She shouted, her voice trying to sound firm but unable to hide its tremor.
"Tell me what you… what you want from me, you damn monster!"
Lioran lowered his hand without any rush.
The fire that moments ago threatened the ceiling vanished—as if it had never existed.
He shook his head slightly and said in a cold, emotionless voice.
"All of you listen carefully, you idiots."
His gaze swept over the crowd of adventurers—a look like an owner surveying his dogs.
"Although I really want to kill all of you in the worst way and show you what it means to torment people, I'm giving you a chance. From today on, I'm turning all of you into my dogs. From now on, you belong to me and I am your master."
And finally, with a contemptuous tone that landed like a slap on their faces:
"Did you understand what I said, you wild bastards?"
The adventurers were completely bewildered by Lioran's words.
No one dared to object, nor did they even know how to react. Their minds seemed frozen; fear and confusion flickered in their eyes.
But Arezo was more surprised than the rest.
The flame still burning in her palm quietly extinguished. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she murmured inwardly in disbelief.
'What…? He wants us to become his underlings?'
'So he's not sent by them… and he's not after me.'
This thought lifted a heavy weight from her chest, but it was replaced by a cold caution.
She locked her gaze directly onto Lioran and asked in a controlled tone.
"Just to make sure I understood correctly…" She paused briefly. "You came here to turn us into your loyal dogs? "
Her eyes narrowed. "All because we extorted and forcibly took people's money?"
Lioran replied without hesitation.
No anger in his voice, no doubt—only certainty.
"Exactly. You understood perfectly."
"Haaaaa…!"
Suddenly, Arezo burst into loud laughter. Her laugh was sharp and jarring—so much so that several adventurers jumped. Surprised and worried glances immediately locked onto their Guildmaster.
A few moments later, as if suffocating fear was searching for an escape route, the rest of the adventurers—without really knowing what was funny about Lioran's words—started laughing too.
Dry, nervous laughs, with faces drenched in sweat. Laughs that sounded more like begging than mockery.
Arezo's laughter gradually subsided.
She placed her hand on her chest, still catching her breath, and said,
"Sorry… sorry… I just found your words so amusing. I thought people like you only existed in storybooks…" She smirked crookedly. "Heroes who come to lead bad people back to the right path…"
Her laughter suddenly stopped.
Her gaze turned cold, like a frozen blade, and locked directly onto Lioran.
"I don't know who you are or what your real goal is…I know you're much stronger than me, but—"
At that moment, four flaming fists formed behind her shoulders. The flames lashed out, and the air around her grew heavy with heat.
"Don't think we'll surrender that easily…And become the dogs of a damn bastard like you."
She lifted her head and shouted loudly.
"Right, guys?"