Damon had barely reached the banquet hall when suddenly a deep horn blared in the distance. Then another. Then three more sounded, echoing through the palace corridors.

Lysandra's head snapped toward the sound. All color drained from her face. Others looked equally shocked. The entire banquet hall became abruptly silent.

"That's the northern watch," Someone shouted. "They would not sound the war horns unless…"

A second wave of horns roared, louder this time, closer. The stone beneath their feet trembled faintly.

Damon did not hesitate. He turned and strode toward the massive doors of the hall, pushing them open with a single motion. The corridor outside was already in chaos. Servants were running. Guards were shouting orders. Armored captains were sprinting toward the outer ramparts.

So they had not waited. Of course they hadn't. If it was Damon, he would have also made this move. Mana gathered beneath his feet and he Blinked.

Each blink carried him further through space, the castle's interior dissolving into streaks of stone and torchlight until he landed at the edge of the royal gardens. He steadied himself, exhaling lightly. "Impressive," he muttered.

It had taken three Blinks just to reach open ground. The castle grounds were massive. The castle itself sprawled like an entire city. But that was not the most shocking part. Damon's gaze landed on the dozen figures at the distance. The enemy was already here and they could be counted in a single glance. They did not come at him with infinite armies or beast tides. Instead they had come at him with a handful of people.

Damon smiled bitterly. Since the entire castle was preparing for war, he had assumed that this war would also be like the blood hall siege. There would be barriers holding up the castle or the city and that armies would clash with each other.

He had also counted on this for some other things. The most important being the power boost from the carnage. Now it looked like all of that was a pipe dream. The golden rank world truly did not disappoint. It was cutting off all of his powersupply one after the other.

This still was not the worst part of what was coming. Damon sucked in air and then unleashed his primordial senses, sweeping past the dozen figures. Instantly his face changed. The enemy had the guts to show up with just a handful of them. This in itself told him many things but now his primordial senses confirmed all of his assumptions. Yup, this time he was truly fucked.

Three B rank powerhouses. Not one but three! There were three B rank powerhouses among the twelve!

"Fucking hell! How is this even fair?" Damon could only chuckle. The difficulty rating of this world was off the charts. How the hell was he supposed to face three B rank powerhouses?

Right at this moment, Necrogod chimed in. "BloodGod, there are three B rank powerhouses coming for you."

"Yes. I know." Damon replied. His mind was blank at the moment as he couldn't see any scenario where he would survive this encounter.

"I tried my best to dissuade them but it did not happen. Even though you are considered a weak and stupid heir, they still ended up sending their full forces." Necrogod hurriedly continued talking. "Sorry, I failed you."

"It's fine." Damon replied. At this point, nothing was going to make a difference.

"But I did not fail you completely. I managed to buy you some time." Necrogod did not even finish talking when another group appeared in the distance. Once again this was just a group of about fifteen but Damon could already sense the powerful auras rippling from B ranks.

Shockingly, the other side also had three B ranks among them!

The surprise did not end there. The two sides started talking to each other.

"Mahany, are you blatantly going to disregard the peace treaty signed by your first elder?" One of them asked.

Damon's eyes instantly lit up. The man who had been addressed, tall, dressed in pale frost-blue robes, smiled faintly. His hair shimmered like ice under moonlight, and even from a distance the air around him felt sharp enough to cut skin.

"Disregard?" Mahany replied smoothly. "You misunderstand the situation."

The other B rank, cloaked in silver crescent patterns, folded his hands behind his back. "Then clarify it."

"I don't think I need to do something like that. Since when do I owe you explanations for my actions?"

A faint ripple of killing intent spread outward. The next instant, without any long unnecessary monologues the two sides erupted into action. Damon instantly moved back several paces. An attack from a B rank powerhouse should not be taken lightly. Even the aftermath would be enough to instant kill a C rank. The gap between B rank and C rank was such.

"Vlad, this is awesome. I don't know how you did it but this is the best case scenario we could have hoped for."

"Idiot. I failed." Necrogod replied dejectedly. "The BloodGods have a secret. There is another B rank who will be joining them shortly. When he comes, he plans to first kill you and take the throne. I had hoped that they had changed the plan but it looks like they are sticking to it. I will do my best to stir the nest but I can't buy you any more time. You have a few minutes to prepare at most but after that, you will have to face one B rank or more no matter what."

Damon listened silently. He then smiled. "Don't worry about it. I knew that already. The moment I sensed B ranks were involved, I knew it would come down to this. What I am referring to is something else. I am talking about time. You got me some sweet sweet time and with that I am going to change this whole set up. Alright. Enough chatting. It is time to start the carnage."

Wordlessly, Damon rose into the air, he then let out a burst of his poisonous aura.