The referee stood frozen, his mind still struggling to process the disappearance of Wyvern. But duty called, and he shook himself out of his stupor, stepping forward to raise his voice over the murmuring crowd.

“The match is decided! The victor is—” He declared, but before he could complete his words…

“Wait.”

Alex’s voice cut through the air like a blade, halting the referee mid-sentence.

The official turned toward him, frowning at the interruption.

“What is it now, Alex?” He asked, his tone carrying both exasperation and curiosity.

He had already won, so what more did he want?

Alex’s gaze, however, remained calm, unwavering. “Before you officially declare the results, remind me—what was the last rule of this competition?”

The referee frowned at those words, hesitating as he was unsure of where Alex was going with this, but he obliged nonetheless.

“The use of any illegal drug or enhancer is strictly prohibited,” he recited.

At those words, a smirk flickered across Alex’s face. He crossed his arms. “Exactly. And while I have won this match, I can’t simply ignore a rule that was so blatantly broken.”

A ripple of confusion spread through the audience.

“Wait, what? What rule got broken?”

“Bro won the match and is still reading the rulebook?”

“Naaah, he’s cooking something again!”

“What must’ve happened though? I didn’t see anything happening…”

“Dude, just take the win and go home!”

The referee frowned harder, his suspicion growing. “What exactly are you implying, Alex?”

Alex didn’t answer right away. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Varacius, his smile never wavering. “Why don’t you tell them, Varacius? Speak up.”

The moment Alex’s words reached him, Varacius stiffened.

His fists clenched involuntarily, his jaw tightening. A cold sweat formed on his brow. He could feel every eye in the Colosseum boring into him, waiting for his next words.

However, the reason for his fear was something else. To him, Alex’s smile looked haunting rather than charming.

After a moment, his lips parted, but no sound came out at first. Then, after taking a shaky breath, he forced himself to speak.

“I… I used Emberhowl to bring the wyvern here,” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

For a second, silence reigned in the Colosseum.

Then, the crowd erupted into chaos.

“WHAT?!”

“Hold up—Emberhowl?! As in the ILLEGAL drug?!”

“Wait, wait, wait! That actually makes sense! There’s no way a Berserker like Varacius could summon anything!”

“Oh, he’s so screwed.”

“This dude really thought he could get away with using something banned?”

“YOOOOO, WHERE DID HE EVEN GET IT?!”

The uproar was deafening.

Emberhowl was notorious. A dangerous and illegal substance, it was known to force dragon-kin into uncontrollable rage, making them stronger but irreparably damaging their minds in the process.

Worse still, its creation required the blood of young, captive dragons—one of the many reasons its very mention was enough to incite outrage.

The referee’s expression darkened. His fingers twitched, reaching for his communication crystal. “My orders?” He asked, and after a static sound, a reply came.

“Punishment.”

That was all that was spoken from the other side before the connection was cut off, and the only people who could hear those words were Alex, the referee, and Varacius.

The referee, being the first to move, nodded his head, turning to Varacius. “Varacius, you are hereby—”

“Hold on.”

Once again, Alex interrupted.

The referee shot him an impatient glare. “Alex, this matter is beyond the match now. The use of Emberhowl is a crime punishable by imprisonment. Varacius—”

“Oh, I agree,” Alex cut him off smoothly. “Varacius used the drug. He broke the rules and should face punishment.” He then tilted his head, his smirk widening. “But tell me, do you really think he was the mastermind behind this?”

The referee hesitated at those words.

While it was true that Alex’s words made sense, was there really a need to do this right now? There were still many matches left for the day.

Varacius, however, paled.

His breath hitched, his eyes widening in sheer horror as realization dawned on him. Alex wasn’t just exposing him—he was about to drag down the real culprit. ‘H-He wants to drag savior out!’

“N-No…” Varacius whispered, his voice trembling. “No way…”

But Alex simply smiled, his eyes glinting with something dangerous.

“Yes way.”

As soon as he heard that, Varacius wanted to run away from here, or maybe kill himself.

The thought of lying didn’t even come to his mind, as he didn’t want to go through that unimaginable pain ever again.

Thinking about it, his mind drifted back to a few minutes ago when the fog was still covering the arena.

………………………..

Darkness. That was all Varacius could see the moment he inhaled the fog that suddenly covered the arena.

He had barely been able to register what had happened before his consciousness slipped away.

However, before he could even fall deeper into his sleep, he felt pain—a sharp, searing agony pierced his thigh.

Varacius’s eyes had snapped open, a guttural scream tearing from his throat as his body jerked awake.

His vision swam, his breath ragged, and his mind struggled to piece together what was happening.

The suffocating mist still hung thick in the air, but through it, a single figure knelt before him.

Alex.

His sword was buried deep in Varacius’s thigh, blood dripping onto the cracked arena floor.

“W-What the—?” Varacius had choked out, his voice thick with pain and confusion. He had tried to move, but his body refused to respond immediately.

His hands trembled as he reached for his wounded leg, but Alex hadn’t given him time to process anything further.

“Parcelia.”

The name sliced through the haze in Varacius’s mind like a blade sharper than the one impaling him.

His entire body had stiffened. His breath hitched, his pupils dilating as the world around him seemed to shrink to just that single word.

Parcelia.

Alex had watched him carefully, his gaze calculating, unwavering. Then, as if enjoying the reaction, he tilted his head and continued, his tone deceptively calm.

“Do you know this girl, Varacius?”

The arena, the pain, the blood—none of it mattered anymore.

Varacius trembled. Rage bubbled beneath his skin, clawing its way up his throat. His teeth ground together, his breath coming in furious bursts. Parcelia—his lover, the only person who had ever stood by his side when the world spat at him—why was Alex saying her name?

Before he could explode, Alex had continued.

“She’s currently in the custody of one of my subordinates. Apparently, she stole something from him.”

The words barely left Alex’s lips before Varacius had erupted. His body tensed, his veins bulging with unfiltered wrath.

“BULLSHIT!” That roar was all that had left his lips, his voice booming in the confined space of the fog. “SHE WOULDN’T STEAL A DAMN THING! IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HER, I’LL—”

“You’ll what?” Alex had cut him off smoothly. He exhaled mockingly, his lips curving into an amused smirk. “Eat me alive? Tear me apart? Oh no, I’m so scared.”

His words dripped with sarcasm, his expression remaining entirely unfazed. Then, as if flipping a switch, his smirk vanished, and his gaze turned ice-cold.

“Just kidding.”

Varacius’s breath caught in his throat.

Alex leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a whisper, but it carried more weight than any shout ever could.

“Get your act together, Varacius. Or Parcelia will be the one to face the consequences. And trust me, my subordinates… well, they’re young men. Their hormones tend to get uncontrollable when they see a beautiful girl.”

A shudder had wracked Varacius’s body.

He had wanted to rip Alex apart, to strike him down right then and there, but something stopped him—fear.

Not for himself, but for Parcelia.

Alex had him. And they both knew it.

All Varacius could do was clench his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms. He had no choice.

He had to listen to whatever Alex would say, and he might even have to do things that Alex would ask of him.

‘He’s finally showing his true colors,’ he had growled inwardly, but on the outside, he just closed his eyes, making it clear that he was willing to listen.

Alex, of course, understood that. “I like smart people.”

The area was already covered in a wind barrier that Alex had just learned, making it impossible for anyone to hear what was happening, and he would make full use of it.

Alex was grinning at that time, and that was the last time Varacius felt that Alex’s grin was simply a normal, victorious grin.

At that time, he hadn’t known about the hell waiting for him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep