The man looked at me furiously as he raised his sword. I was certain he would try to capture me rather than kill me. After all, he would want to know how I had killed the Mind Harvester and what else I was hiding but before the battle could even begin, a shout interrupted everything.

“Arghhhhhhhhh.”

My gaze snapped toward the source but before I could even see what it was, a whisper echoed right beside me.

“Hmmm… you have an interesting soul, a soul even I cannot see through.”

My whole body froze like a puppet with its strings pulled tight as cold sweat began rolling down my skin.

The voice hadn’t come from the Arbiter, it came from something far more dangerous and far too familiar.

I barely shifted my head and saw a hand stretching toward my neck.

I felt Death.

But before the hand could grab me, someone intervened and shoved me to the side.

As I hit the floor, my gaze immediately snapped back to where I had been standing. Arza was there, standing before a man dressed in an elegant black suit layered over a bright red shirt.

His devilish features were framed by abyssal black hair and a smile.

Vael’runn.

Everyone else in the hall was frozen still, some of the weak-willed had even collapsed to the ground, even the Arbiter was no exception.

Only Arza was somehow resisting but her condition was worse than anyone else’s. Vael’runn held her by the neck as her entire body was bleeding and her skin was rapidly turning black.

Shit, she will die at this rate.

I need to do something.

The urgency finally snapped me out of surprise because… I couldn’t let her die. She was important… too important to die like this.

So, I spoke.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Vael’runn.” I kept my tone casual, my face entirely neutral as the Moon Card’s effect shielded my mind completely. “You surprised me there for a moment.”

I pushed my body up from the ground and dusted my clothes off as if nothing had happened.

What stood before me was merely an avatar and although his presence wasn’t enough to drive people mad just by witnessing it, the divinity radiating from him was more than enough to make every mortal freeze.

“Hmmm… who might you be?” He muttered with slight caution. “You don’t seem like that old man.”

He casually tossed Arza aside as she crashed into a distant wall but I didn’t even glance in her direction because if he thought I cared about anyone’s life here, he would use it.

“Why don’t you try taking a guess?” I muttered.

I knew nothing about him, so this was a typical scammer’s gambit of giving less information and letting the other party fill in the blanks themselves but my heart was pounding as if it would come out any moment now.

This was unexpected and I hated unexpected things because unlike normal situations I didn’t know what to do or say and it increased chances of making mistakes more than solving issues and any issues in front of this bastard would turn out to be too painful for me.

Vael’runn stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment and then he vanished before appearing right in front of me the next second and lifting me into the air by my neck.

Fuck.

That was the only word in my mind as his grip tightened.

“You see, I was duped by someone saying similar things not long ago, so I have developed some trust issues.” He said calmly. “So I’ll ask again, politely… who are you? And why can’t I see through you…?”

My mind raced but just then a voice echoed through the air.

“Release him, boy.”

The voice was accompanied by an enormous pressure, nearly equal to or perhaps even slightly greater than, Vael’runn’s but it was concentrated entirely on him.

Still, standing this close to him, I felt it too.

Vael’runn smiled as he released his grip on me immediately.

I rubbed my neck, coughing lightly, before looking toward the center of the room where a little boy floated with his white eyes glowing faintly beneath brown hair.

Winter.

Unlike before, he wore celestial garments now with his face completely neutral as he didn’t even glance at me.

“What are you doing in my domain, little boy?” Winter asked arrogantly. “Did your father not teach you manners? Oh wait… didn’t he abandon you at birth? I suppose that explains the rudeness.”

Vael’runn’s didn’t look offended in the slightest, instead he only smiled even wider.

“Still nasty as always, huh, old man?”

He chuckled softly.

Still, no one in the hall even dared to move.

Meanwhile, I slowly shifted a millimeter backward, inching away from this lunatic.

This was the closest I had ever come to kissing death and I had absolutely no intention of flirting with it any longer.

“I merely sensed that you finally revived your dear old father,” Vael’runn continued lazily. “So I thought , I should at least offer you congratulations for old time’s sake but I didn’t expect you to have collected so many interesting souls.”

I saw his gaze shifting towards the transmigrators… then toward where my friends stood, probably on Noah, before it finally settled on me.

“How about you give me some of them?” Vael’runn said, his dark eyes sharpening slightly. “I promise I will give you something worth your time in exchange.”

“Your greatest accomplishment was surviving conception and yet you think you can bargain with me?” Winter replied coldly.

Damn, that was a burn.

For the first time, I actually felt a little grateful that this guy was on my side.

I suppose there are benefits to having an annoying, bratty god as an ally but just as I was thinking of praising him in my mind, his voice echoed inside my head.

[Bro, we’re screwed…]

[…What?]

[I’m bluffing. In my current state, I couldn’t resist him, let alone fight him while my main body’s busy dealing with someone else right now and couldn’t descend, so yeah… we are screwed because this bastard would understand that sooner or later.]

And that was the moment I realized this bastard was pulling the exact same scam I had tried a few moments ago.

Before I could start cursing him in my head, that lunatic Vael’runn began chuckling.

Yeah…. we are definitely screwed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep