The young prince’s pupils contracted. The man before him was neither human nor dragon. He looked like a vile demon that had crawled out of hell to steal his soul and leave him burning forever in the nether flames.

"Don’t mess with me!" he roared, his voice shaking. Yet even now, his overwhelming pride refused to let him become Max’s victim. His armor shone brightly, crimson light spilling from it before attacking Max in pulsing waves, crashing again and again against his void armor.

The winds born from the attacks shook the mana-born jungle around them, ripping through the trees and sending towering trunks crashing to the ground. Leaves scattered through the air like a green storm, and the ground beneath them kept trembling as if the whole jungle itself was trying to crawl away. It looked like a catastrophe, but Max stood there and faced it all.

It peeled the void from his scales little by little, each blow sending waves of pain through his body. But he did not react. He did not flinch, did not speak, did not even seem to feel it. He only stared at him with those fully black eyes, as if something far worse than a man was looking through them.

That scared the young prince more than the pain ever could. His jaw tightened, his breathing grew rough, and for the first time since he stepped into this tiny kingdom, his confidence began to crack. Never in his life had he met such a madman.

Despite being in a trance and seeing mostly darkness around himself, Max could still feel how terrifying those pulses were. His eyes scanned the armor, catching sight of small crimson runes hidden so well they almost blended into the armor itself. Every time those runes pulsed, another crimson wave came crashing down.

"So your power lies in your armor..." Max spoke slowly, his eyes falling on the crimson armor. The moment his words landed, terror spread across the young man’s face.

"I am the son of the great Emperor Augustus! If you dare to do anything to me, my father will end your entire tiny, puny kingdom! Don’t you know my name—?"

Max gathered void magic in his palm, forming it into a small ball, and shoved it into the arrogant, raging mouth of the invader. The terrifying energy immediately tore through his mouth, breaking his teeth and ripping apart his tongue without killing him.

He could not even scream. No matter how much he raged, Max’s grip seemed impossible to escape. Something about it was too strange, as if the black thing covering his hand was slowly seeping into his skin, gluing itself to him and invading his windpipe.

It was terrifying.

He could not even cry.

The pain he felt was something he would not wish on even his worst enemy, but Max no longer seemed to care about remaining human.

"A man who does not respect another’s home has no right to speak anymore. After all, you won’t need words inside an eternal prison..." Suddenly, void magic pulsed from Max’s palm, attacking the crimson armor and making the air scream. It was like two different lightning bolts clashing in the same place, each one trying to devour the other.

But slowly, cracks began to crawl across the crimson armor. Black light forced its way into every gap, eating through the protection that had made the young prince so proud. Then, with one final crack, the armor shattered, stripped away by Max’s power.

Meanwhile, the inside of the castle was a mess. Bloodied bodies lay across the ground. Corpses were scattered among the injured, and painful groans filled the halls. Even Agnia, Freya, and Gertrud had not escaped the young man’s beating. While Max was sleeping, they had tried to stop the invader, but he had been stronger than all of them combined.

Those who could still move were slowly crawling outside, following the explosion from before. Some dragged themselves with trembling arms, leaving thin trails of blood behind them, while others leaned against broken walls just to keep from collapsing again.

They could feel Max’s terrifying bloodline spiraling out of control. It carried into their own blood, allowing them to sense the sorrow and hatred burning inside him.

"King... please kill him... please end him..." A low, pained voice cut through the air as Light’s mother crawled out from the main gate, looking at the distant scene where Max held the invader by the throat.

His eyes turned to see her face.

Her eyes were red, her tears already dry because she had no more left to cry. Her body was beaten black and blue, and every movement seemed to drag more pain out of her broken frame.

Behind her, Senuna walked slowly as she clutched her bloody arm. Even she had not been spared after trying to defuse the situation before. A single man had handled all of them alone.

But now, her eyes were wide.

Max was dominating him with ease. Or at least, that was what it looked like from the outside.

Senuna did not understand how this was possible. Just how powerful was Max?

In reality, even Max himself did not understand where this strength was coming from. He only knew one thing. It had something to do with that black thing that had followed him out of the dream.

But it worried her. No matter how strong he was, the man he was about to kill was someone they could not afford to offend. Even her father feared that empire. She walked faster, stumbling a few times as panic pushed her forward.

"King Maximus, please... calm down! If you kill Prince Aurelius, your kingdom will be doomed... The Imperial Court Empire is too powerful!" she screamed, but the eyes that turned to look at her were so black and terrifying that she had no choice but to stop in her tracks and shut up.

Her soul shivered.

Something was not right.

She could no longer feel Max behind those eyes. It was not him. She did not know who it was, but it was not the king she had met half a day ago...