"Just forget it, brother! No one is coming to your rescue. I’ve already done my research, and I know perfectly well that you are all alone here, hehehe!"

Ricky stood at the end of a dead-end alley. Before him rose a monolithic wall of reinforced concrete, the windowless rear of a towering skyscraper, blocking any hope of escape.

From the front, a group of twenty-two youths fanned out, cutting off the alley’s entrance. They were roughly his age, perhaps a year or two older, but they all shared hauntingly similar features.

Their features carried that unmistakable sharp edge common to their lineage. They were kin, bound by blood and a singular, murderous ambition.

"You bastards!" Ricky spat, his voice trembling with a mixture of pain and fury. "You do realise only one of us will make it to the throne! It’s not a power to share; it’s made for one, and only one."

Ricky turned around slowly, his back against the cold wall. One of his hands was pressed firmly against a gruesome wound on his chest, blood seeping through his fingers and staining his academy uniform.

He looked fundamentally different from how he had just hours ago. The air of casual arrogance was gone. The overconfidence that usually defined his posture had evaporated. Instead, he looked weak, he looked pathetic, like a cornered, wounded beast whose claws were finally failing him.

In front of him stood no ordinary street gang; these were people exactly like him. They were the PARIES of the Kraken God Paragon. They were part of the bloody competition his father arranged. And today, they had set aside their mutual aggressiveness for a singular goal: hunting him down.

Ricky had travelled to the city under the impression that he was meeting his most trusted subordinates, supporters who had pledged their lives to his claim for the Paragon seat.

This was a family that had sworn an oath of allegiance to him long before his birth, a strategic alliance arranged by his father to ensure his sons had the necessary firepower for the bloody competition ahead. Yet, for a reason he still couldn’t fathom, that ancient oath had been discarded like trash.

He hadn’t found a single ally at the rendezvous. Instead, he had walked directly into the waiting arms of his deadliest enemies. It was a perfect trap, orchestrated with cold precision.

The only reason he was still breathing was the instinct he had forged in the fire of the pocket trial. His swords had moved before his mind could even process the betrayal, allowing him to cut a bloody path through the ambush and retreat into this alley. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Hahaha! Trying to extricate yourself from this deadly spot by instigating trouble between us? Nice try!" one of his brothers laughed, his eyes glinting with amusement.

"Just forget it! We’ve already heard the news. We know what you recently did. Securing a passage to the new world? That’s something big, little bro. Too big."

"We will never stand idle and watch you grow to an extent we can’t compete against," another brother roared, his teeth gritted in envy. "Securing the doorway to the new world isn’t something trivial. Even the Paragons failed to do so. If we let you keep that merit, the throne is as good as yours."

"Just accept your fate, big brother," a much younger youth said, stepping forward with a cruel smile. "We are here to put an end to your story before you grow beyond our reach. No matter what tricks you have left, you’ll fall here today."

"I’m not alone," Ricky gritted his teeth, his body coiling. He arched his back slightly, his muscles tensing as he prepared to launch himself into one final, suicidal charge.

He was looking for any opening, any sliver of a chance to take at least one of them with him. "Help and rescue will come. My friends, my supporting family... They’ll find me."

"Your protector family? Ah, forget about them," another laughed, glancing at the others as if he had just heard the most pathetic joke in the world. "We already sent our protector families to deal with those weaklings. By now, they’re either dead or kneeling to a new master."

"And your little newfound allies in the academy? Those useless people you call friends?" another added, his voice dripping with sinister intent.

"They won’t be coming. We already sent someone more than capable to handle them. At this very moment, at least one of them is dying, if not all of them. Your club is being dismantled before it even has a roof."

"And even if none of them died," another snarled, "none will arrive in time to save you. When they finally do show up, you’ll be long dead, and one of us will have already absorbed your soul. You know how it goes, brother. We absorb each other until we grow whole again. Your power will just be a stepping stone for the rest of us."

The words pouring from the group made one thing undeniably clear: they hadn’t just stumbled upon him by sheer accident. They were prepared; this was a deliberate scheme targeting him.

Ricky’s mind raced, connecting the dots between their taunts and the confidential details of the pocket trial. Someone had leaked the specifics of their deeds. There was only one entity that knew this much and held deep grudges against them.

"Absorb me? You don’t plan on sharing?" Ricky’s eyes darted among the enemies closing in, his voice raspy but sharp.

"That means you intend to initiate the Blood Carnage ritual. But I know the old laws as well as you do. To trigger the ritual, thirty of the bloodline must be present within the fight. And I count only twenty-three, including myself."

"The other seven are busy preparing the stage for us," one of his brothers snorted, completely unfazed by Ricky’s on-the-spot deduction. He stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with a sickening hunger.

"Once the Instant Dungeon is manifested, no one can stand in our way. No matter who they are, no matter how fast they run, they will find nothing but the emptiness of an alleyway. You’ll be ours alone."