The wave of jeers and laughter broke out once more, echoing louder and sharper between the magnificent pillars of the Thousand Dragons University hall. Edward’s insults were like a spark hitting a pile of dry straw, burning away the last shreds of respect the invited guests held toward Lucas.A young man in a silk shirt bearing the golden pin of a major Hakward City clan stepped forward with his arms crossed. He stared Lucas up and down with a cynical, curved smile."No wonder there’s been a foul stench around here for a while," the man sneered, deliberately raising his voice. "Turns out the campus's former 'punching bag' managed to sneak in! Hey, Lucas! How much did it cost to rent that expensive suit you're wearing tonight? Did you have to drain all your bodyguard savings just to look decent standing on this red carpet?""Hahaha! Don't tell me even that suit was bought for him by Miss Evelyn out of pity!" chimed in a woman in a bright red gown beside him. She fluttered her fan in fr

The chilly sensation of the grip on her shoulder did nothing to calm Evelyn’s anger. On the contrary, the words of Clara and Via, who tried to justify the insults hurled at Lucas, only fueled an even more ferocious blaze within her chest. Evelyn brushed Clara’s hand off her shoulder with a violent swipe that triggered a sharp SLAP! sound amidst the silence of the hall."Let go of me!" Evelyn snapped, her voice trembling fiercely—not out of fear, but due to a towering wave of nausea that had reached her absolute limit.Clara gasped, clutching her roughly swatted hand, while Via halted her steps, staring at Evelyn with a look of disbelief.Evelyn stepped back half a pace, gazing at the three women she had considered the pillars of her life in this city for years. Her burning eyes were now welled with thick emotion—a mixture of profound disappointment and smoldering resentment toward the falsehoods that had just stripped away their masks."Friends?!" Evelyn let out a shrill laugh, the so

Clara's hateful scream still echoed through the dome of the University of Thousand Dragons hall as the bodyguard leader's giant iron mace rushed piercingly through the air. The sound of its wind-splitting swipe was so sharp it tore the red carpet beneath their feet. Hundreds of young elites watching reflexively closed their eyes, convinced Lucas's head would be smashed to pieces within seconds.However, what happened next plunged the entire room into the most absurd shock of that night.CLACK!Not the thud of crushing flesh, but the sound of a simple, incredibly light clash of contact.Lucas didn't even move his body from its original position. His left hand, which had just been busy tidying his suit cuff, lifted slightly upward, and with absolute casualness, two of his fingers—his index and middle fingers—pinched the tip of the giant iron mace hurled with full force!That high-speed attack carrying hundreds of kilograms of weight suddenly stopped completely in mid-air. Just two centi

The sneers widened even further across Eren’s and Clara’s faces. The suffocating fear that had gripped their chests vanished instantly, swept away by a sudden wave of renewed hope. To these members of the elite clans, an arena-grade assassin was the ultimate ironclad enforcer who would bring an end to Lucas's farce tonight."He's right... We almost forgot about Via's butcher boyfriend..." Eren remarked."Die, Lucas!" Clara spat with burning hatred, her pride wounded by Lucas's destruction of her forces.Yet, amid the cacophony of mocks and death whispers filling the hall, Lucas merely stood calm and collected. He glanced down at his flawlessly polished silver watch, then gently patted the fingers of Evelyn resting in his embrace."Ten minutes?" Lucas muttered flatly, his deep black eyes flashing with intense disdain. "Enough time to sweep away this minor trash before we have dinner, Evelyn."Before ten minutes had even elapsed, the quiet of the hall collapsed abruptly under the roarin

Dio’s blood-choked breath sounded ragged amidst the stifling silence of the hall.With the remnants of his strength and his consciousness slipping away, the seventeenth-ranked fighter of the Black Dragon Arena forced his blood-matted eyes wide open. His body trembled violently—not just from the burning agony of his shattered wrist and jaw, but from pure terror creeping into the depths of his soul."Y-You... w-who the hell are you...?" Dio whispered in a hoarse, indistinct voice, coughing up lingering streams of blood from his mouth.In Dio’s eyes, the precise assassination techniques, the absurdly absolute control over his inner force, and the sheer dominance Lucas had just displayed were not things that could be learned at any military academy or noble household. That was a murderous instinct that could only be practiced and forged in the hell of illicit, life-or-death combat."A fighter... as strong as you... couldn't possibly be a nobody in that arena..." Dio continued, his eyes ra