Thunderwood Forest, somewhere deep in the woods.
Arden, riding on the Storm Vulture, landed among the trees, looking frantic and utterly stunned.
"My lord, the scouts hidden at Thunderpeak Mountain have reported—Lord Ariel has been killed!"
Silence!
The entire forest went deathly quiet.
A gentle breeze slipped among the trees, brushing through the leaves and drifting away through the gaps, its faint rustling unexpectedly clear and soothing.
Lord Gareth slowly opened her eyes, wondering if she'd just misheard. Lord Ariel was a lord even stronger than she was—how could Ariel possibly have been slain? The lords in the surrounding regions were all relatively equal in power, so the odds of any one of them dying in battle were practically nil.
So Gareth gave Arden a frosty stare, frightening him so much that he started trembling from head to toe.
"M-My lord, there's no mistake about the news—our spy among the harpies confirmed it."
"Lord Ariel was struck down by the giant Orion in Stormrage City, and plenty of harpies witnessed it. Lord Ariel's two daughters were at the scene when it happened."
Arden's voice quivered as he delivered the fresh intelligence he had just received. Honestly, when he first saw this report, he couldn't believe it either. But after verifying its authenticity, he was so terrified he wet his pants.
"Lord Ariel was killed?"
"Killed by the giant chieftain, Orion?"
Lord Gareth murmured to herself, recalling the look in Orion's eyes—so cold and self-assured—when he destroyed her will projection. That gaze kept replaying in her mind.
"Does he really have the power to slay Ariel?"
"He wasn't lying to me?"
The news of Lord Ariel's death shook Lord Gareth to her core. Of course, it also frightened her. If the mighty Ariel could be cut down, it was impossible not to feel concerned for her own safety. Worry and dread often come as a pair, and such was the case with Orion and Lord Gareth.
Still, a mere hint of fear wasn't enough to deter Lord Gareth. She gave the order for her forces to march toward Stormrage City. She had to see for herself whether Lord Ariel was truly dead.
It wasn't just her life at stake—her interests were on the line as well.
So yes, Chieftain Orion and Lord Gareth simply had to meet.
…
Half a month later, at Stormrage City:
Roar!
Roar!
Two Abyssal dragons met, bellowing threateningly at each other, each regarding the other as an invader.
"Chieftain!"
"Orion!"
Orion raised a hand, cutting off Lilith, Onyx, and the others before they could say anything further.
"Wait here."
He leaped onto the back of the Abyssal dragon and headed off into the distance. From the opposite side, Lord Gareth rode her own Abyssal dragon forward.
Boom… boom… boom… The two Abyssal dragons stomped heavily across the ground, each circling the other warily.
Meanwhile, Orion and Gareth, perched on their respective dragons, studied each other closely.
"You look weak," Lord Gareth finally said, as though she had already spotted Orion's vulnerability.
"I just killed a Legendary-level being. If that had been your job, do you think you'd walk away without a scratch?" Orion's voice brimmed with confidence, the kind of cockiness you hear from someone fresh off a great victory.
At that moment, Orion was just putting on a show—he had to. He was faking that bravado so hard he almost believed it himself. And he was certain that if Lord Gareth tried anything, he could cut her down right then and there.
Lord Gareth's pupils narrowed, turning vertical in preparation for combat.
"You sure sound confident."
Her tone grew colder, and the breathing of the Abyssal dragon beneath her quickened in turn.
"I just want to survive. After all, I'm not at the Legendary level yet."
As he spoke, Orion pulled Lord Ariel's corpse out of his storage ring and tossed it toward Gareth.
"My esteemed Gareth, I assume you traveled here to find out if she was truly dead."
Although Orion used polite words, flinging Lord Ariel's body was a clear threat.
Roar!
Roar!
The two Abyssal dragons, still stalking each other, roared low and menacing, making the tension grow even thicker in the air.
Lord Gareth caught Ariel's body and sensed the traces of Ariel's power lingering within it. She felt shaken to her core—along with an undercurrent of fear.
Szzz… szzz…!
Just then, Orion took out another negotiation card he had prepared. Electricity flickered across his forehead—he was deliberately calling forth a faint spark of lightning energy.
"You've fused with the Lord's Stone?" Gareth's voice trembled. "For God's sake, how did you do it so fast?"
Orion laughed. Lord Gareth blurted out two questions in a row, which meant he'd unsettled her. On the invisible chessboard of this confrontation, he'd just seized the upper hand.
"Lord Gareth, nothing's impossible," he said. "Lord Ariel believed she couldn't die, yet here we are."
It was clearly both a reminder and a threat.
To be fair, Gareth was absolutely thrown—seeing Ariel's corpse hadn't rattled her half as much as seeing that lightning on Orion's brow did.
Only now did she fully grasp that Lord Ariel had truly been killed, because the lightning between Orion's eyebrows was transcendent power, a signature trait exclusive to beings at the Legendary level. And the Lord's Stone had already merged with Orion, meaning he was on the verge of becoming a warrior on par with—and possibly mightier than—Gareth herself: a genuine Legendary-level force.
What's more, Orion had managed to strike down a Legendary-level opponent while he was still at the Alpha level. If he reached Legendary level, just how powerful would he become?
The irony was, the moment this realization sank in, Lord Gareth's fear triggered a fierce urge to kill him. Her gaze remained locked on Orion; her pupils dilated and contracted as she wavered, clearly on the fence about what to do.
Orion stared right back, his expression cold, his demeanor stoic. At this moment, the only thing filling both their ears was the ragged, throaty snarling of the two Abyssal dragons.
Would they fight or talk it out? It almost felt like the dragons' growling might decide their next move.
"What do you want?" Lord Gareth finally asked, her pupils still at last.
Orion's expression lit up with a smile when he heard that. Another win for him.