Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Edinnica Arena.

A new day had just begun. And with it came the beginning of another conflict for Edin's citizens.

However, the scale of this conflict was unlike usual. That's because Layos forces had come out in the open for the first time.

Sansara World had just ejected the last batch of participants out. The newly out participants found out that they had been protected inside an opaque domain. This was done to ensure that Layos forces don't target participants directly.

Sage-grade mana was gathering in the surroundings. The air was charged and suffocating for lower-ranked entities.

Mortals had already been evacuated from the Edinnica Arena to safety. There remained only rankers in the audience– those who were bold enough to stay.

Motionlessness was a tacit understanding. The ability to blink their eyes was a luxury at this point– not something everyone could afford.

The silence was so loud in the surroundings that one could hear their own heartbeats. The participants took their time to adjust to their changed reality. However, they understood that this was not the time to do anything too eye-catching or say something stupid.

That's because the participants could feel several strong presences around them. And the high-ranking entities did nothing to suppress their presence this time. Therefore, the participants felt surrounded by deadly landmines.

Hansen Lehan served as the participants' protector.

He stood in front of the participants with his hands behind his back. He looked ahead with a grim expression– his presence made it clear that he was ready for a battle anytime.

The participants realized that the shield protected them from Hansen's presence. Otherwise, most of them would have been forced to kneel or lost consciousness.

Eren was taken aback by this sudden development. He knew that he had not only relit the old conflict between the two kingdoms but also expedited it to some extent because of his moves. As for the direct war between the two kingdoms, he guessed it would take a few months to over a year for it to happen.

The butcher guessed wrong.

Of course, he did not know what his wife and Argo had done. It could be argued that they went overboard by creating Grim Pillars out of Layos' royalty.

***

The kingdom of Layos sent its royal scions to Edinburgh to gain experience. It was meant to make them capable leaders and pillars for Layos. It was a trial for all the royal elves– their rite of passage.

As such, it was fine if the royal elves died trying to prove themselves better rankers than their competition. In the eyes of royal scions who lived and prospered, dead royals were not worthy of being called royals.

This was the dark side of being royalty. A cutthroat competition that made the participants in the Royal competition forget about the common blood they shared. Only royal succession matters in their lives and all their aspirations revolve around that dream. It was as simple as that.

The kingdom of Layos knew Edinburgh might not extend diplomatic asylum to its royal scions because of its sour ties. After all, it was Layos that acted as the aggressor after Isen provided crucial information. Technically, whatever the kingdom of Edinburgh did in response to the aggression could be more or less justified.

However, certain unwritten laws of war should have been observed by both kingdoms. A special rankers' code of conduct by which all entities on the land of Anfang were bound.

As such, the kingdom of Layos could have never imagined that someone would not only desecrate the bodies of its royal lineage. In addition, someone would put them up for a show for everyone. No kingdom or organization would do something like this.

Even cultists had certain boundaries. Only someone like Eren, who didn't respect the rankers' code of conduct, would go to such extremes.

So it was obvious that the Layos forces who had infiltrated the capital city of Edin were pissed after learning what had transpired in Grim Pillar Town. They were angry that so many of their royal scions were killed by a single trap. As a result of their post-death situations, they felt even angrier.

***

There was a group of rankers standing a safe distance away from Hansen. Ideally, there should be no safe distance when one's opponent is a Sage. This was true even for Grandmaster rankers.

However, the other side also had a Sage leading the group. As such, Layos forces showed no visible fear despite standing in the heart of the enemy territory.

The Sage ranker leading the Layos rankers looked like an old man in his 60s. His name was Gregory Grant.

Gregory had a nicely tied ponytail of lustrous white hair. He also had a long white beard that made him look older. He had long ears and short stature, measuring about 5.3 ft in height.

In short, the Sage ranker looked short and old in front of Hansen Lehan who looked like he was in the prime of his life. However, Hansen was wary of the enemy Sage.

'There's no way they thought the capital city of Edin would be swayed into submission by just this lot. They have come here to die.

I just hope I don't get caught in the crossfire. This pretty boy Hansen better protect the participants damn it.'

Eren glanced at the Layos Sage as well as the rankers standing behind him. He couldn't help but think that the kingdom of Layos had sent these rankers on a suicide mission.

After all, one Sage was not enough to change Edinburgh's capital city. The butcher was sure Hansen was only the face of Edinburgh's might. No matter what happens, Edinburgh won't let its capital city suffer.

The butcher wasn't intimidated by a Sage-level showdown. He even felt excited to see something like this happen in front of his eyes. He just hoped the two Sages would fight each other without harming him.

The butcher would have paid a premium to watch the Sages fight each other from his comfortable seat.