Outside the Gate.
Still that same round table.
Only this time, the main seat no longer bore the shadow of Lupotin.
"You all saw it, didn't you? You saw it clearly? That old fool Lupotin!"
"He didn't just sell himself—he handed over the wealth Starseer Tower had hoarded for gods know how many years!"
He swung his arms wildly.
"Don't tell me you've all been cowed by that guy at the gate?!"
"Lawrence, I must remind you," said Frena of the Thunder Mage Tower, her tone clearly uneasy, "that was a Legendary rank powerhouse!"
"And that proves it!" Lawrence snapped back, eyes gleaming.
"They're bluffing! A hollow show of strength!"
"Hm? What do you mean?" asked a dwarven delegate, puzzled.
"Think carefully. A Legendary warrior—an absolute pillar in any faction. Who would stick such a man on gate duty?" Lawrence's voice rose, sharp with conviction.
"The porcupine shows its spines, only to hide its soft belly from the hawk's talons!"
He paused for effect. And as his words settled, more than a few representatives began to nod. The thought really did make a certain twisted sense.
After all, what sane lord wastes a Legendary powerhouse on guard duty?
They'd been stunned earlier, yes—but turn the idea around, and it suddenly looked suspicious.
A faint murmur of agreement rippled through the camp. Several gazes toward Lawrence grew complex.
The Marquis of Crossbridge Empire smirked inwardly.
So even the orc brute, usually so smug, was now frowning hard enough to twist his face like knotted rope.
Hah. Who's laughing now?
"I wager that man is their only true powerhouse," Lawrence declared boldly.
"The strongest they've got! There can't be others like him inside. They're terrified of us storming the walls, so they put him at the front as a scarecrow—set an absurd entry fee to spook us into backing off. Or worse…"
His eyes flashed with self-satisfied brilliance.
"…once we pay this outrageous 'toll' and step inside, we'll find nothing but empty streets—or worse, an ambush, stripped of our lives and treasures alike!"
"Lupotin, that senile lunatic! He was just the first fool to march willingly into their trap!"
His words struck like a match in tar-dark air.
Faint, but enough to ignite the hearts gnawed raw by fear and uncertainty.
Yes!
It was illogical!
If the city truly held overwhelming power, why bother with such clumsy theatrics? Why not crush, enslave, or bargain openly? Why demand a laughably high toll?
Why this half-baked masquerade?
"Marquis Lawrence… speaks sense," rumbled the Archbishop of the War God Church. His eyes, once wary, now glinted with something far more familiar—greed.
"We must not be fooled by appearances! This reeks of trickery!"
"Yes! We mustn't fall for it!"
"Send word to the Church! Activate the Grand Transmission Array—let the High Pontiff decide!"
"Summon every soldier, every relic we can spare!"
"Your Majesty, urgent news—things have changed…"
"My Lord, we face a complication…"
In the chaos, envoys scurried to relay messages, summoning greater powers to bear.
Whether Lawrence's logic was true or not mattered little—none here could settle it. Better to dump the burden upward.
And in the meantime? Lawrence's lips curled into a sly smile.
"While we await reinforcements, there's no need to sit idle…"
His gaze drifted outward—to the fringes of the encampment, where smaller sects and ragtag adventurers loitered uneasily.
These had been driven to the margins like flies, yet refused to leave, unwilling to forgo whatever might be within.
Soon, oddly-dressed figures slipped into the outer rabble.
Words, honeyed and sharp as needles, dripped into thirsty ears—
like ink bleeding through clear water.
"Brothers! Are you content with this? That ruin belongs to the whole world! Who are they to shut us out?"
"Did you hear the toll? Ten million mana stones! Hah! Even if I sold my whole family, I couldn't afford that!"
"Be confident, friend! Even if you sold your whole race, you still couldn't afford it!"
"Dalton Town is too arrogant! This is our shared inheritance—every witness has a share!"
"They're hoarding countless treasures and legacies, afraid we'll claim our part!"
"The big factions are cowards—but we are not! We are many! If we unite—"
"Yes, yes, exactly! What can they do, kill us all?"
The mob boiled.
Greed smothered reason, dressed now in the cloak of justice and fairness. The words spread, caught fire, and burned hot.
Weapons raised, voices clashed, a tide surged toward the gate.
"Open the ruins!"
"Dalton belongs to all!"
"You can't monopolize it without facing our wrath!"
Their faces blazed with outrage, brandishing their numbers and their so-called righteousness against the wall.
Yet—
Dalton's guards stood unmoved.
Silent as statues, their gazes flat, not a flicker of doubt upon their faces.
Only the faintest curl of a lip betrayed the contempt within.
For these soldiers—each one radiating power at Magus Lord tier.
Men who, outside, would be prized as royal court wizards, or granted land and title.
Here, they were simply… soldiers. Trained under military discipline—and educated.
Crowd Psychology, Propaganda and Counter-Control, Asymmetrical Conflict Policing—
all mandatory studies assigned by Leo himself.
The crude tricks of outside agitators? To them, nothing more than children's doodles.
Hiss—
Reize didn't even bother lowering his warblade from his shoulder.
He merely tilted his chin and let slip a laugh—short, sharp, like thunder before a storm.
It wasn't loud.
But it crushed the uproar, silencing the mob in an instant.
"What's all this noise?"
"If you're not convinced—"
"Then fight your way in."
His voice was cold, laced with unbridled sarcasm.
"Before, when those big shots shoved you out to the fringes, like garbage, not even letting you have a sip of soup, where were you then to shout 'fairness'?"
"Now, when you've been used as pawns, trying to test the boundaries, you should first take a look at yourself in the mirror and see if you have the weight to do so!"
One sentence instantly tore through all the pretentious packaging, exposing the ugly scheming and cowardice beneath.
The noisy group turned crimson, like ducks being strangled, the atmosphere thick with embarrassment.
Among the crowd, a voice from beneath a hood shrieked sharply.
"...Don't get too cocky!"
"The world is vast, far beyond what you could imagine in this broken city! There are ancient families that have hidden away for eons, secret cults passed down for millennia, even massive temples from other continents... Their foundations are immeasurable!"
"Don't you fear becoming the target of everyone's scorn, bringing about your own destruction?!"
"So what?"
Reize's expression remained calm.
This made many people clench their teeth in anger.
If they could, they would have charged at him long ago!
The city guard remained silent, their gazes fixed on the distant horizon, as if waiting for something.
And as if to respond to this silent wait—
Boom!
An indescribable, terrifying pressure, as hot as the core of a star, suddenly descended from the skies!
A golden streak of light tore through the clouds, appearing instantly above the city gates.
The light gathered, revealing an elder clad in the highest rank of the Crossbridge Empire's Marshal's military attire. His hair and beard were white, but his gaze was as sharp as lightning.
The energy radiating from his body caused the very air to tremble and distort!
An Eternal rank powerhouse!
The Crossbridge Empire's anchor, Marshal Otto Kroma, had personally arrived!
This sight immediately stirred the crowd below.
"This... this is... Unbelievable, the Empire's Imperial Marshal, an Eternal Magus, of the highest rank!"
"What!? My grandfather said his grandfather once served under Marshal Otto's command!"
"This is the foundation of the Crossbridge Empire's unshakable standing…"
Such legendary figures were appearing before them today!
Meanwhile, the representatives of other major powers tightened their brows.
Otto ignored the crowd.
His eyes immediately locked onto Reize at the city gates. His piercing gaze, having seen countless secrets of the world, was momentarily filled with deep shock!
He clearly sensed that the man below, carrying the war blade, though only at the early stage of Legendary rank, contained an extraordinarily refined and potent force within his body.
The purity of his power was enough to make even an Eternal rank powerhouse like Otto feel a tinge of danger!
Before Marshal Otto could regain his composure from the shock—
Crack!
A thunderbolt, thick as a giant tree, crashed down from the sky.
Amidst the lightning, a tall figure appeared, wrapped in destructive electric serpents. It was none other than the Thunder Mage Tower Master, another Eternal rank powerhouse whose energy was no less formidable than Otto's!
At the same time, the air temperature plummeted, and icy crystals began to form out of thin air.
A Frost Temple grand knight, clad in ice-blue armor and wielding a giant ice sword, rode an ice dragon through the air, his gaze cold as eternal frost.
"By the gods of nature! Is this... a divine being descending?!"
"I can't feel any aura. Are these just illusions? But why are the mana and elements in the air surging...?"
"What kind of beings are these, I've never seen or heard of any of them..."
"You idiots wouldn't understand. These people entering the stage now, they are the very beings sung about by bards…"
"What!? So that means..."
Eternal rank!
That was the stuff of legends in Aresia Continent.
For many young mages, it was even uncertain whether such a realm truly existed.
Let alone the legendary figures themselves!?
Yet, what was happening now?
One after another, these ancient beings were stepping out from behind the curtain, awakening from their slumber, emerging from the songs of bards...
Boom!
The ground trembled slightly, and the dwarf king Thrain rose from beneath the earth.
He wielded a divine craftsman's hammer radiating a terrifying energy, his beard seeming to be made of molten lava, and his presence was as heavy as a mountain.
Further away, a massive figure tore through the clouds. It was a warrior of the giant race, with each step making the earth shake.
An elegant and ethereal figure silently appeared at the treetops, one of the elusive Wood Elves...
The true top-tier powers of the Aresia world, whether attracted by the shocking energy waves erupting from Dalton Town or summoned urgently by their subordinates, were all arriving!
All the major forces stood in stunned silence as these beings, of varying races, forms, and styles, continued to emerge. The very fabric of the world seemed to be crumbling!
What was going on today...
Was the world going mad, or was it just me?
The combined auras of Eternal rank powerhouses intertwined, almost threatening to crush the very sky above them!
However, before these new giants could fully comprehend the situation.
Before the hope that had reignited on Lawrence's face could fully unfold—
Boom... Boom... Boom...
A deep, rhythmic thumping sound echoed from the extreme north, like the gods themselves striking the drum of the world.
With each thud, the hearts of the crowd surged with blood.
Then, an endless wave of extreme cold poured in from the north.
Many of the weaker individuals had no choice but to frantically circulate their mana to resist the terrifying chill.
"W... What is that?!"
Someone stammered, pointing to the north, their voice filled with dread.
At the edge of their vision, a massive white figure was slowly approaching.
With each step it took, the mountains beneath its feet silently turned to dust, covered by an eternal layer of ice.
Its body appeared to be made of the purest millennia-old ice and some sacred platinum alloy, its entire form both translucent and unbreakably solid.
Its shape resembled that of a giant ape, but it was even more massive and ferocious, exuding an ancient, primal beauty of strength. Its arms were massive, hanging down to its knees, and its fists were like two small mountains.
In the center of its forehead, a brilliant purple crystal slowly rotated, emitting an oppressive bloodline pressure that could suffocate the air!
"White Crystal Behemoth!! The guardian of the Frozen North!"
"The legendary mutated Purple Crystal Behemoth — the White Crystal Behemoth giant beast!"
The Frost Temple's grand knight let out a startled cry, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"How... How could it leave the eternal ice plains?!"
"They say its strength... is enough to tear apart an ancient dragon with its bare hands!"
All the powers present, including the recently arrived Marshal Otto Kroma and Thunderclap Tower Master, as well as other Eternal rank powerhouses, turned grim.
The Behemoth beasts, especially this ancient existence that had undergone a positive mutation, were legendary for their pure physical strength and defense, being the most formidable in all of Aresia's myths!
They rarely intervened in external conflicts, but if provoked, their destructive power was apocalyptic.
The White Crystal Behemoth had clearly been drawn to the overwhelming energy and radiant light emanating from Dalton Town. Its massive eyes, like frozen blue glaciers, stared intently at the city's magical shield, sensing some form of challenge within it.
"Roar——!!!"
It released a deafening roar, dispersing the clouds in the sky!
It seemed furious that the "thin" light shield was blocking its path.
With a mighty breath, the surrounding cold air surged into its body.
The purple crystal in its forehead erupted with the blinding brilliance of a supernova!
Then, it raised its giant fist, a force that could shatter stars gathering above its hand!!
Boom!!!
The giant fist crashed into Dalton Town's magical shield with immense force!