*****For a brief moment, the arena was utterly silent, the air filled to the brim with tension.Unable to react, every person present shuddered all over, feeling the icy, bloodthirsty aura radiating from Xavier, who stood like a grim reaper about to harvest lives.This lasted for a moment before finally, the lips of Jazzy, the only one not affected by Xavier’s presence, who had been observing him curved into a smirk at one end.“Interesting,” he mumbled playfully, his eyes suddenly glinting with a frenzied glow. The following second, his voice broke the trance in the hall, jolting the couple in the cage back to reality.Laura’s face turned a ghastly white, far paler than when she had first heard the fate awaiting her and her husband if Xavier didn’t come, and a wave of sheer terror, stronger than anything she had ever felt before in her entire life, washed over her.“Why—why did you come, why?” She demanded with a cry from within the cage, her voice trembling badly from despera

*****While the thugs in the arena were in a jubilant mood, mocking Xavier with newfound confidence and condescension, David and Laura sat dumbstruck inside their cage at this moment. The relief they had felt just moments earlier completely crumbled and was nowhere to be seen again, only to be replaced by a hollow, soulless look.Though they still didn’t fully understand what was happening, the current expressions and mood of the crowd, the words of Jazzy’s trusted aide, and the terrifying aura emanating from Jazzy, which was several times stronger than their son’s told them everything they needed to know.Time seemed to stretch on endlessly as they sat soullessly on the ground, trying to process the situation, but eventually, they became thoroughly drained of all strength and became utterly devastated, realizing they might just have been too quick to jubilate just now.“My—my son mustn’t face him,” Laura suddenly mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper. Then, as if lit by a sud

***** Although Xavier could hear the group of thugs gloating around him, he paid them no attention, instead, his demeanor remained as calm and emotionless as it had been since he entered the arena, his gaze tightly locked on the incredibly furious Jazzy. That’s right. Jazzy was seething with so much fury right now, his eyes already clouded with darkness. Only if gaze alone could kill, Xavier would have already died a thousand times from his death glare alone. Jazzy had never experienced such humiliation as he had just done in his life before, not even when he was an unranked fighter. Since becoming an F-ranked warrior, respect and fear had followed him everywhere he went, even among other ranked fighters, as his strength had always been above those in the same rank as him. Now, however, just after breaking through to a higher rank—something that should have elevated him and made him receive the treatment and respect of a deity—he was made into a fool and joke of the century

*****Jazzy’s brewing rage and madness vanished completely the moment he heard Xavier’s words and felt the deadly seriousness in them. Before he could process the words, however, he saw Xavier taking a single step forward.It was just a single step—harmless, unhurried, and casual—but in the next moment, Jazzy felt as though an immense, crushing force that could break through earth had been unleashed upon him, like an overpowered hydraulic press trapping his hand beneath it.For a brief second, his mind, body, and soul went utterly blank, lost in numbness. But then following this—indescribable, soul-searing pain—tore through him.“Rah!!!”The unbearably agonized scream of someone who felt as if their skin was sharply peeled off echoed through the hall, making everyone feel strong goosebumps run amok on their skin.Jazzy had never known this level of torment before in his life. No, he was certain he hadn’t experienced pain like this even in his past lives if such a thing existed.

*****“What—what did he just say?!” murmurs rippled through the crowd after a long moment of silence, then they exchanged bewildered glances, their disbelief palpable.“He—he really did just say that?” someone whispered in shock, their hearts pounding nervously in their chest, but realizing that the Lion King had really demanded what he just did and it wasn’t them hearing things, they all struggled to breathe, feeling terrified to the core.‘Has he gone crazy?!’ Several of the gangsters thought speechlessly.‘He already has the upper hand, why not ask for something more practical?’‘Why not just give him back his parents in exchange for him to leave us be? Why try to push him to the wall?’They felt like sobbing, knowing that Xavier would only be a fool if he were to take his life like the Lion King had demanded.‘Ah!!! What a deluded fool!’ Some of the thugs thought, feeling utterly weak and helpless. They wished to speak sense into the Lion King, but understanding how foolish