After Jaxon's order, Gerd and his group were moving silently across the forest. A total of twenty demons, seventeen humans, and three beast humans made his group. Besides Gerd himself, there were another five Unification Realm experts, two male demons, one female demon, one human male, and one human female.

It was a group strong enough to walk across the whole secret realm without encountering problems. Only other teams of similar strength, those made by leaders of various races, could match up to them.

However, they currently had a strange face as Gerd was quite injured. The reason? Jaxon had beaten him quite badly after the event. He had received hits because he misinformed him about Yasenia's death; if Jaxon had known that the black orb was Yasenia's egg, he would have attacked it with everything he had and interrupted her birth.

Since this was a thing that went against the Natural Order, the Heavens wouldn't have interrupted any attack made this way, so Jaxon was confident in interrupting it.

However, he didn't know that Angel had created many layers of protection as time passed. Yasenia's dears would have retaliated if a battle had begun, and it was unknown if they could have interrupted the events and changed the outcome.

Moreover, the rage of having his shield, his best weapon, stolen by Yasenia made him even angrier. With nowhere to vent, that rage led him to hurt Gerd quite badly.

The result was the current him, who looked lost. His purple eyes looked forward with a lost expression.

After Yasenia's power-up, he could only dream of killing her. As twisted in the head as he was, he was not a stupid person. The strength that Yasenia displayed was terrific. Even if that strength was boosted by something, having entered the Unification Realm, she couldn't be weak.

The whole time, he had been eager to start a battle without fearing consequences because of this. Nevertheless, Jaxon's authority was many levels above his, so he couldn't really attack the beast group on his own. Yasenia's escaping maneuver was like the nail in the coffin, killing all hopes he had of finishing off Yasenia.

The human woman spoke, "Cheer up, Gerd. I'm sure we will be able to find Yasenia soon. If we do, all our allies aren't that far. As long as we can hold them off, numbers will end up getting Yasenia killed. Moreover, her recent strength increase may increase her ego."

Gerd sighed, "Mo Lian, that's not..." He shut up and stopped running. "That's not possible." That is what he wanted to say, but he kept it to himself. He said aloud, "Maybe, who knows."

Mo Lian approached and hugged his arm, speaking coquettishly to cheer him up, "How about we do something later? Chava should also join!"

Chava was one a female demoness at the side. She was actually from the gorefiend race, the sister of the one that entered the town. Her vertical mouth opened and said, "Sure, I don't care about having a good time with Gerd to cheer him up. However, we have to think of a way to avenge my sister."

Gerd looked at them and smiled slightly. These two were his lovers, and he had quite a lot of fondness for them. However, he knew that If he didn't manage to complete the mission of killing Yasenia, who knows what would happen to him and his sister?

The main reason he was able to gain so many resources was his commitment to killing Yasenia. If he did that, he would win quite a lot of influence and also be able to climb up the social ladder, making his and his sister's situation ideal. But Gerd had also placed all the eggs in one basket, so not achieving this goal only spelled disaster.

When Lucia's current situation entered his mind, his face twisted grimly. "Maybe… I shouldn't have sided with that faction of your race, Chava. Who knows what horrors Lucia will go through after I return unsuccessfully."

Chava also frowned, not because of Gerds comment but because of worry. "I will speak with my family, Gerd. I'm sure everything will be okay, and my sister-in-law will be able to live a nice life."

The reason it was so complicated was that one of the juniors from an important Demon family had taken a liking to Lucia, and the only thing that stopped him from directly taking her away was his current importance in the mission about Yasenia.

Now…

"All those things that may occur are because of your stupidity."

Gerd and the other forty stopped in their tracks, looking at the surroundings. They had all entered a combat-ready mood because of the familiar voice of the individual who spoke.

Gerd's slowly calming face twisted, and he shouted with rage, "Show yourself, Yasenia! Even if I'm turned into ash, I would still recognize your sickening slutty voice."

"Well, I don't appreciate those comments coming from you, Gerd. In fact, I find them disgusting."

Dragon Yasenia and the others slowly walked out of the bushes. They didn't know how they got so close, so their alarm bells rang quite loudly.

Even if they were fewer in numbers, their opponents' strength was apparent as the only creature below the Unification realm on Yasenia's side was Ebirah, who, after finding the Heaven-born Flame and bathing in it with Andrea, increased her strength to the peak-level third-ranked beast, one step away from crossing into the fourth realm.

Therefore, counting Mirrory and Valeria, Yasenia had nine Unification Realm experts on her side. Although numbers could overwhelm someone of a higher level, that only worked on normal Unification Realm experts, something our girls were not.

Gerd and the others had already begun preparing themselves as elemental coats appeared on them. Compared to Yasenia's group's calmness, it was quite a contrast.

Gerd took a deep breath and calmed his expression and bloodlust. Then, he stated quite calmly. "You are here to kill me."

Yasenia nodded her head, and her mellow and slightly deep voice spread around. "I want to pluck off the bothersome spines that are lodged in my skin. You know, although they are not harmful, they are still a pain, and it is better to eliminate them."

Gerd laughed in ridicule, "Well, I wouldn't call the Demon race a "Bothersome spine," am I right?"

Yasenia continued approaching him, getting closer as they spoke. "You are right. But the feud I have with the Demons is, in truth, not that deep. Although I hate them with all my heart for hurting mom and aiming for my dears, I'm not so unreasonable as to label all of them as scum. However, it is true that I need to purge a big part of it. Of course, their meddling in sweetheart's ritual is also a big mistake on their part."

Yasenia's lips raised, showing a row of sharp white teeth, and she said. "Now that I think about it, we have quite a few grudges, right, Demons?"

Chava's mouth opened grotesquely as she growled, "You wish! Not only are you on my lover's way to success, but you also killed my sister! Why won't you die and let us be happy!"

Yasenia blinked, stupefied at her outrage. "Wait. Is something wrong with your head? Who is the one that began targeting me? Did I ever provoke Gerd? Now you spout self-righteous nonsense as if my existence is the root of all your problems. How can such a mind even exist?"

Evelyn placed her arm on top of Yasenia's head, leaning on her, and said. "Dear, don't you see that even though she is a pretty face, that mouth almost splits her face in half? Some of her brains must have spilled out through that big mouth of hers."

Yasenia snorted with laughter.

Chava, on the other side, took out a sword identical to the one her sister carried and launched herself toward Yasenia's group. However, before she could do so, Gerd grabbed one of her ten wings and stopped her. "Wait, Chava. It is not time to fight yet."

Yasenia looked at Gerd and smiled, "You've been very confident since the beginning."

Gerd smiled and spoke a single name, "Feng Yuan."

Yasenia's slit eyes thinned, and her gaze focused on him. "Although I was speculating in the past, thinking about how and why someone would target Cecile, you actually had a part in it."

Gerd nodded, "Of course, I was the one that told him about Cecile. He appeared to be reforming, but he was communicating with the Demons in the dark. It is a shame they didn't accomplish taking over her. With that card, we would have been able to eliminate you easily."

Gerd looked grimly at Yasenia and said, "It is as if you always miraculously have an answer for whatever plan I create to kill you. Time and time again, you avoided death by an inch."

Yasenia chuckled, but her undeveloped draconic vocal cords only made her chuckle be similar to a low intermittent growl. "You underestimate me... No, you underestimate my mother. Do you know why my life is so smooth sailing? Do you know why I'm such a lucky person? That's right, my mother, the Death Empress, the Headmistress of the Academy. It is all because of her."

Gerd's smile crumbled. Yasenia continued, "She taught me about so many things; she prepared me for so many scenarios... I really can't love her enough. She pointed me in what direction I should walk and gave me all the resources I needed to clean the obstacles in my path. I only had to use them appropriately. Very few times have I exceeded her expectations."

Gerd's face became twisted, "Why? Why did you have to be born so lucky!? You have everything in your life! A safe position, a powerful family, close friends, loyal lovers, talent, strength, and potential! It is unfair!"

Yasenia was stunned, "What's this all of a sudden? Don't tell me you did all of what you did because of jealousy."

Gerd laughed in anger, "As if! I tried so hard to kill you because of a deal with the Demons! However, you had to get close to Lucia. You had to make her fall in love with you. You had to break her heart and deny her feelings! If you had agreed to be her partner, I still had the time to go back on the deal!"

Yasenia sighed, "You know why I never blatantly killed you even when I could?"

"You didn't have that-" Gerd mocked her but froze in the next instant.

Yasenia explained, "You lived inside the Academy, a place where my mother's authority is unmatched. I could've killed you quite easily, and you would've disappeared without a trace. I didn't. The main reason is that I was slowly becoming friends with Lucia. And although you are a scumbag, your love for her is real. I hate to admit this, but if I ignore you putting her in danger because you made a deal with demons, you are a very good brother."

Gerd's face didn't look good. What Yasenia said was the truth, but what did that matter?

As if reading his mind, Yasenia nodded. "Yes, it doesn't matter now. You are going to die. There is a world where I let you live, but that world can become dangerous very fast."

Gerd said, "If I die, Lucia will suffer."

"I know." Gerd looked into Yasenia's cold reptilian eyes and flinched. "I've heard your conversation, so I know what will happen. However, you've gone too far, Gerd."

Yasenia began walking toward their group, she seemed defenseless, but the cold and menacing aura around her seemed like a deterrent for them to move and attack. "However, there is something you and many people don't know understand about me quite well, Gerd. I'm not a good friend. I may be a good lover, but I'm not a good friend."

Yasenia's tone was extremely piercing and cold, showing no emotions. "If it is to protect a family member, I don't mind sacrificing every single friend of mine. The two people are not even on the same level of importance. Sadly, you are a danger to my lovers, so you must die, even if that means dooming one of my friends."

"You shall become the first I fight against, Gerd, so prepare yourself."

"[Empyrean Galaxy Domain]."

*ROAR!*